We were all gathered in the foyer. And by all, I meant that my guards and Zaroon were there too. Izzy patted Salaar on the back and played with the car keys. I stood next to Rania as Salaar said his goodbyes.
"It was really nice of you to let me stay here Auntie," he said to Ammi.
"Oh don't be ridiculous, you'll always be welcome here..." Ammi answered.
He nodded and moved towards Rania. "Bye baby sis" she rolled her eyes but didn't correct him. He moved towards me and I smirked, waiting for whatever stupid thing he was going to say.
"It's a shame really"
"What is?" I asked, playing along.
"You... taken. You would have made an amazing guide" Hania coughed.
"Goodbye, Salaar. It was a pleasure meeting you"
"Oh, I hope so. Can't wait to see you again... bye beautiful" he said coming in for a hug. I stepped back and gave him a glare. He whipped his head to look at Zaroon, his eyes full of mischief.
"Okay... that's enough. Let's go before I have you physically removed." Izzy said dragging him out towards the car. Hania followed giving me a knowing smile and I smiled back. At least we were returning to our previous friendship. We turned away as the doors closed.
"How far is the airport from here?" Rania whispered. She glanced at Ammi Jaan, who was walking back towards her room.
"Around 40 minutes" I whispered back.
"Okay so we have an hour and twenty minutes to go and submit this..." she said handing me a document. It was Uncle EJ's bail application.
"What? Now? How will we... who gave this to you?"
"The lawyer..."
"And you didn't submit it this afternoon?"
"It wasn't ready this afternoon"
"We could have gone with Izzy, he could have dropped us"
"Uh... no. Because" her voice lowered even further. "We have a counter case against Hania's dad... to keep Naila's dad busy"
We stood whispering in the foyer, our guards forming a circle around us.
"Wouldn't that reflect badly on us?"
"It's a drug case... don't you want that closed? They conduct a raid tonight and get to keep half of the money... no leakage to the press"
I huffed. "This seems like a terrible idea" she nodded. "Fine. Who do we take? Because I don't know the roads of this city"
"Uh... I was hoping you would ask Zaroon"
"Why him? We could take Ahsan"
"That'll be more suspicious. Hussein will meet us there, do you really want everyone knowing about us? Do you really want to involve more people?"
"Fine"
I told Ahsan that I had an errand to run with his boss. He acquiesced to my request but not before I caught the amused glint in his eyes. Nice to see someone was having fun here.
I tracked down Zaroon in his office. Surprisingly, it was the first time I had been here. The office was plain and sparsely decorated, with papers placed in neat piles. Definitely an office of a military official. He was seated behind his desk, writing. Since the door was open, I knocked lightly and walked in. He looked up surprised and capped his pen.
"There's something we need to do. You'll have to drive" he frowned but caught the keys I threw towards him. I turned around and almost ran outside. I knew he was right behind me although I could feel him as if he was right beside me.
We reached the main doors and Zaroon went ahead to bring the car around. Rania stared at me.
"Well, that was quick. He didn't take much convincing, I gather?" I shrugged. We walked outside and waited. It didn't take him long and soon we were rushing towards the main police station.
"So... who wants to hear some music?" Rania said from the back.
I stared at the roof of the car. She had very smoothly, forced me to sit in the passenger seat. Now every time Zaroon did something, such as placing his hand on the gear, I jumped. For the past half an hour, I had been at the edge of my seat and pressed against the door.
"What have you got?" Zaroon asked.
"Um... rock? Pop, rap" he chuckled at the last one.
"Do your worst"
"No judgment!"She laughed and put on Kendrick Lamar.
This was surreal. The music flooded in the car and my mind whizzed in five different directions. She was treating him like he was a part of the family. I watched the city lights pass us by. It wasn't too crowded at this time but I could see people starting to come out for the night. The traffic would increase the deeper we went into the city. Suddenly, the music stopped and Rania cursed. I knew that whiny tone. It meant she had done something irresponsible.
"I can't find it Eli" Her battery had run out and she shuffled around to find her power bank.
"Fine, here, take mine. You're the only one who has Hussein's number"
"Which is funny since he likes you so much. He's so impressed with you, he's memorized your whole life's work. I'd thought he would have had added himself in." I laughed.
"You and I both know why he did that" Rania fell silent.
As we stopped at a red light, Zaroon took out his phone and handed it to Rania.
"I've got his number added in. Have fun" he said. She squealed and started to connect it to the audio system.
"Oh my God... that's such a pretty shawl. When did you get this Eli?" I froze and Zaroon cursed under his breath.
"What shawl?" I asked.
"This one" and she showed me the background on his phone.
It was of that day in the market. When I had worn that maroon shawl. The one that I couldn't buy. The shawl was around my shoulders. I was looking at myself in the mirror, a wistful look on my face. The sunlight was hitting the side of my face and I looked like I had been lit up.
"Oh..." my mouth was dry. I didn't know what else to say. Zaroon had gone tense beside me. I could see his hands gripping the staring wheel in a death grip.
"It's lovely. I like how it's your screen saver Zaroon bhai (brother)" Zaroon bhai? "Oh, here we are... this is it. Let's go"
We got out of the car, Uncle EJ's bail application in our hands. We walked into the magistrate's office and presented it to him. He gave me a slow and lazy glance and I felt Zaroon tense beside me.
"What do you want?"
"To submit a bail application for a case"
"When is it?"
"Tomorrow"
"Do you have the papers?" I nodded and moved to give him the papers. His fingers brushed mine and I jumped back. He smirked and I glared at him.
"It seems to be in order... but"
"But?" Rania asked.
"But it's 10 mins before I leave so I can't do it"
Asshole. I opened my mouth to argue when Hussein walked into the office with another man. The magistrate looked at the suited man and snapped to his feet.
"What's going on here? Why haven't you accepted their application?" He mumbled some reply and started writing the details and putting stamps on the relevant pages. He finished his task in less than two minutes and had our application placed on the top of the pile.
Hussein's friend stayed inside to check out the other employees while we walked out.
"That guy was a jerk... thank God you made it," Rania said to Hussein. Hussein smiled and Rania blushed?
"I figured there might be some trouble... so I called in a favor. The guy back there? Sameer? He'll be fighting Uncle Ehsan's case" I nodded, soothed and thanked him for his efforts.
As if summoned by his name, Sameer walked out towards us. I smiled in greeting as Hussein introduced all of us.
"It's lovely to meet you Begum Sahiba. Please don't worry about your Uncles case. It will be over tomorrow."
"I'm trusting you..."
"You're in good hands," he said.
"Do tell us if there's anything else..."
"No no... everything has been taken care of. I'll be off. I'll see you all tomorrow." And with that he was gone as swiftly he had appeared.
"You're a lifesaver Hussein," I said placing my hand on his arm. He smiled and blushed, his eyes on Rania. She looked away embarrassed.
"Thank you Hussein" she muttered, barely audible. They walked ahead, talking with their heads together, leaving me alone with Zaroon.
We walked to the car side by side. He did not say a word. I focused on looking straight ahead. Why wasn't he saying anything? He had been desperate to talk to me a couple of hours ago. Was he over it? Was that all he was going to do? Wasn't he going to make an effort to explain? Or at least try to get me to listen.
Fair to say I was in a bad mood when I sat back in the car, this time in the back seat. Hussein and Rania were planning to give the evidence to the federal agency so they would investigate this. They were going to meet the guy in a nearby restaurant from where Hussein's driver was going to pick him up.
"Well, why can't I go in?" I argued not wanting to leave my sister alone.
"People know you... do you want to be seen giving stuff to random men?"
"Well at least take Zaroon with you"
"And leave you alone unprotected?"Hussein countered.
"Why am I here then?"
"For backup," Rania said checking her makeup in her compact.
I frowned. This looked preplanned and suspiciously like a date. They walked to the restaurant together, a little too close. Guess, there was something there. Who knew. I tried to relax in my seat. We still had half an hour to go before Izzy and Hania got back.
And my companion still had not said anything. Who had pressed his mute button? If he loved me, wouldn't he want to talk to me? Why wasn't he saying anything? Frustrated, I glared at the darkness out of the window.
After ten minutes, Hussein walked Rania to the car and left on his own. Rania placed the food she had ordered, because why waste time, on the front seat and we zipped back to the castle.
We got there with five minutes to spare and started to walk to Rania's room. Zaroon had excused himself in the foyer so it was just us.
"So... background picture" I blushed and focused on eating. "Pretty intense"
"I didn't know he had one. I didn't know he took one"
"Kinda obvious since you're looking away. But he's had it for you since then?"
"It doesn't matter, it's over now..."
"What? What do you mean? The guy is head over heels in love with you!"
"He wouldn't even talk to me"
"Did you try?"
"No... why should I?"
"Did you by any chance tell him to not talk to you?"
"I said we were professionals..." Rania facepalmed. "What?"
"So he's respecting what you've said and you think it's over?"
"It's not that... he should want to talk to me" I mumbled.
"You're not ten Eli. You have to be mature about this. You can't throw this away just because of a misunderstanding, one that was caused by your ex, may I add" I rolled my eyes.
"Uncle EJ confirmed it..."
"Meaning he knew and that it wasn't harmful. Uncle EJ would never put you near a person who would harm you" I collapsed on the bed.
She was right. This was childish. I had to let him explain. I did not want to lose him.
"What's up with you and Hussein?" Rania dropped her baby carrot and fumbled for words. Intrigued, I watched as she tried to regain her composure.
"Nothing" she coughed out.
"Doesn't seem like nothing"
"I... He's nice"
"He's nice" I repeated slowly.
"We talked and we cleared a few things out" I chewed on the garlic bread. "He's not what I thought him to be"
"Surprise"
"Yeah... that's all"
"Is it really?" I teased. She blushed. "Oh my God, there's more!" She fell back on the bed her pillow on her face. I pried it out of her hands.
"It's... I like him. I get butterflies when he's around me... I, it's a problem" I squealed loudly.
"Eeee... I'm so happy. I can't believe it. He's an amazing person" she nodded, happy.
"So is Zaroon" she added.
"This isn't about him. It's about you"
"He is a part of this family Elena. We all saw the change he brought in you. Also, you want him to be in our family. We've all accepted that... it's time you did too" I did not reply and started to clean up the boxes.
I walked back to my room, my mind filled with new revelations. She was right. I was not letting him go. I had to listen to him. I had to give him a shot. Unbidden, Feroze's words came to my mind. He had accused me of not giving him a chance. Had I made a mistake then? I shook my head to dismiss that thought. His case was different. This was different.
I said goodnight to my guards and walked into the room. A crunchy noise snapped me back to my surroundings. Startled, I bent down to retrieve what had caused the noise. It was an envelope. My heart started to beat a little faster as I flipped it open. I pulled the folded paper out and stared at the name of the sender.
Zaroon.