CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13: A New Friend

---------------------------------------------------------

It was one week , since that had happened . She was dropped off home quietly and Fawad and Rudhra had to go to attend some meeting in Abu Dhabi , so they weren't in any contact. Which Safia felt happy for , a part of her wanted to meet Fawad again . She couldn't completely hate him knowing how his childhood was , but that doesn't mean she will stay with him either . She flung her bag from one side to another while walking down the streets heading to her job.

She didn't had to worry about making food at home too , as her parents went to village for a month , until her father's next appointment at doctor . He was missing his family , so Safia sent them there.

She was walking on the crossway , where there were red and white bricks and she paid attention to make sure she doesn't step on the red blocks. She was balancing herself .

"Hello Safia" A voice said from behind disturbing her side quest and she looked there to find Abhishek .

"Hello Abhishek" she greeted back.

"Want to walk to the job together?" He asked.

"Sure" Safia accepted the offer. She knew Abhishek wasn't a bad person for sure . He surely had a habit to gossip , but that was all.

"Can I ask something?" Abhishek inquired and Safia looked towards him as a gesture for him to continue .

"That day , you were worried . And when I asked you told me that you will tell me about it later . So what was the matter?" He asked.

"Oh" Safia laughed and then an embarrassment filled her heart.

She surely received her purse a day after the party . Apparently, the police called her themselves , because in her purse , there was her student id card , which had her number.

She remembered her talk with Ismail about it and it brought tears to her eyes from the embarassment.

"Hello Ismail!"

"Yes Chimpo?"

"Are you busy?" She asked .

"Not for you . Tell me what happened" Ismail inquired. He was in his shop , calculating the prices of the goods which were brought from the city.

"Remember I lost my purse?"

"Yes " He said while jotting down the calculations.

"I found it" her voice broke down.

"Oh congratulations , but why are you crying? Is something missing ? Money ? Id card or anything?" Ismail inquired and passed the booklet which had calculations to his sister who took it in her hand and started to roam around calculating the goods.

"It has 100 rupees and my id cards card" Safia told him.

"And?? Is the money lost?" He asked .

"No, my purse just had the adhar card and Id card" Ismail burst into laugh at her words , which made his sister turn her head towards him and asking if he was okay mentally .

"No way ! The thief put money in your purse"

"Yes don't laugh ! Even the thieves are pitying me . How worse can my days get?" She asked .

"Worse ? Lady you got 100 rupees for free. Enjoy it"

"Safia?" Abhishek's voice brought her to reality.

"Oh it's nothing. I lost my purse that day , but now I found it again" Safia told him.

"Okay . If that's the case" Abhisek wanted to just check up on her if she was really fine .

"What about you ? How are you doing ? You seem worried from the past 2 days" Safia asked him , as she could notice how lost he seemed and usually he enjoyed doing his duty, but nowadays he just ran towards the home as soon as possible.

"I-I wanted to talk about it with you since a week" Abhishek sighed.

"Feel free to share" Safia and Abhishek reached the place and Kashaf couldn't be seen today.

"Let's sit . Until Kashaf di doesn't come we can't do anything . Afterall she's the chef" Safia told him and walked towards the shop's door and changed the open sign to close.

"Safia...is it true that you live with just your parents?" He asked.

"Hmm . Why ?"

"Well , I-I have a big favour to ask from you" Abhisek told her.

"Go ahead" Safia was curious to know what was happening.

"Few days ago , I went to camping to a place which is just a little outside Delhi , and till the time I came , it was night . On road , a girl suddenly came in front of my car and she was severly injured . I took her home and tried to bandage her , but I saw a mark of K on her hand . Maybe she is a victim of Khalid Siddiqui . I can't let her die , but I can't let her stay here because I live in a place which is near to the same place Rudhra Rajpoot stays . I can't put a feet out , thinking what he will do to me if he knows I am sheltering their enemy" Abhisek feared.

"You can easily protect her. You are Muslim , you can give her a burkha and she will stay quietly there. She met me on the day of Raksha bandhan . I don't have a sister , I think bhagwan gave me , so how can I not protect her?" He continued . He wanted to just convince Safia .

Safia put her hand on her forehead with worry . Abhisek was fearing that he might come , but here she was sure that Rudhra will come to her house for sure, once Fawad comes back.

"So...can you do that?" He asked and Safia blankly nodded.

She can't let anyone die .

"Great ! Thank you so much ! I knew you would help . After work , please come to the place , I will handle her to you. I will pay you for keeping her with you too" Abhisek gladly said.

"No need . I am poor, but not cheap to ask for payment for a person's life . On top of that , my debts have been settled so money isn't a big issue for me. Atleast not for now" Safia assured .

"Okay , but when you would want , then please do tell me okay?"he asked and Safia just gave a nod.

Soon Kashaf entered and they all started working together.

After finishing the long hours of duty again and serving some customers , they headed towards Abhishek's apartment. It was a small area only . He was a student afterall who was pursuing distant degree and sent money to his mother who lived in Maharashtra.

On the ground , there was a bedsheet laying with a duvet . Abhishek scratched his nape.

"I forgot to clean it"

"It's completely fine even my house is looking like this for the past few days" she told him to make him feel comfortable.

"She is inside. Please be soft when you talk with her and be patient . She can't talk and is-she is always scared" Abhishek felt bad remembering about her condition. He wasn't able to take her to a proper doctor because she would start crying at the sight of any man . Including his own too . He would give food to her from a distance and then walk away to work. The food mostly remained untouched or she ate only a small portion of it.

"I will make sure to do that" Safia told him and opened the door . The girl was sleeping on the side of the bed curled into a ball . Despite her face painted with blue and red marks , she looked like an angel . Safia was slow in her steps . She stared at her face as her soft brown hairs fell on her face.

"Should I carry her?" She asked and Abhisek frowned.

"You won't be able to carry her Safia. You seem weak yourself" Safia just ignored his words and lifted her in her arms . Her arms were strong and Abhishek's mouth hung open.

"Now , let's go downstairs . Rudha isn't here , so don't worry"

"He isn't?" Abhisek asked in shock.

"No , he is out of the city with Fawad"Safia blankly said .

"How can you be so sure?" Abhisek inqired.

"I think I had read about it somewhere "Safia lied.

"Okay" Abhisek dropped her towards the auto and with a bit difficulty Safia reached her flat . Her arms were tired and the girl just clung to her neck while breathing heavily. She had woken up in the mid journey where Safia explained everything to her and she silently listened.

"You are safe" Safia whispered and a tear dropped from her eyes .

Safia stopped for a second before letting her down on the ground .

The girl balanced herself on the ground. She was awake and understood the situation without being told anything.

Safia pulled out the keys from her tote bag and started to open the door , only to realise that the door was already open . She frowned at that and pushed the door opening it .

There was a sound of cluttering of plates coming from the kitchen . She held her tote bag tightly while heading towards the kitchen and relaxed when she saw Ismail.

"ISMAIL!!!!" She yelled in happiness.

"Yes . Now sit down , I have prepared the dinner for you" Ismail came with the tray of food and sat on the table .

"How did you came here?" She asked him.

"By flying " Ismail joked.

"Wait , I have to bring someone" She said and walked towards the door and saw the girl who stood silently at the place Safia left her.

"Come sweetheart" She gently held her wrist and led her towards the room.

Ismail looked confused at the unknown girl.

'Who is she?' he gave the look.

'I will tell you later' Safia gestured him.

"Sit here, urm-what's your name sweetie?" Safia asked , while guiding her towards the mattress which was spread on the ground , and acted as a bed for them

"Ka-kalyani"She managed to say while looking at her lap. Her voice was deep and hoarse .

"Kalyani? Sweet name" Safia's mind quickly went to Rudhra's ex girlfriend , but then she quickly shook her head. How could she be here then?

"My name is Safia " Safia extended her hand and Kalyani stared at her Safia's hand . She quickly whiped her own hand on the hem of her dress while extending her hand towards Safia. Safia gently shook it.

"And he is Ismail . Ismail is my bestfriend and my half brother. If I am not here feel free to ask him for anything" Kalyani didn't dared to look at Ismail as she had a deep fear of men carved in her heart.

Ismail seemed to notice this and he stood up .

"I will be back . I need to boil some eggs . And a bucket of caramel popcorn sounds good to you both?" Ismail asked. He thought it was better to put some snacks instead of food .

"Kalyani would you like caramel popcorn?" Safia asked while hugging her from the side and she just stared at Safia not knowing what to answer.

"I don't know what is that" She confessed.

"Okayy , try it then. It's good . I saved up my savings to buy some of them and it's always worth it" Safia told her and Ismail understood what the answer was and went back in the kitchen.

Ismail gave them the food and Safia quickly dug her hands in the popcorn bowl and started to munch on them . Ismail on the other hand , again went back to a room inside where they changed dresses , and put their luggaes to provide a personal space to them.

"Eat" Safia told her noticing that she didn't took a bite.

"You should eat first-I will eat later"Kalyani mumbled.

"You aren't eating any leftover . Eat with me" saying that Safia took a boiled egg in her own hands and fed it to Kalyani . She put a hand under her chin to catch if any bit fell , but they didn't. Seeing this amount of care and affection , she could feel her eyes getting teared up .

She don't know how many years have passed . All she knows is that she was kidnapped when she was 19 and since then , she don't know how many time have passed since she was tortured brutally , without anyone telling her the reason .

She opened the phone and saw there was an unknown number texting 'Hi'

'is it Kashaf di?' she thought, because she remembers that Kashaf told her about texting with new number. Because she lost her old simcard.

Safia

Heyy how are you?

Unknown number

How are you doing ?

Safia

I am doing fine .

I was curious are we still meeting tomorrow? To go to the food fest ?

Unknown number

You want to go?

Safia

Obviously .

You forgot about it ?

Unknown number

Maybe

I don't remember us talking

about this . But I will come

tomorrow at your home

And from there we can go .

Sounds good ?

Safia

Yup !

Safia felt happy making the plan . She loves to eat and maybe she can take Kalyani too and show her around the place.

~~~~~

"Rudra, cancel the meetings for tomorrow. We are heading back to India tonight itself" Fawad ordered.

"Tonight? Why?" Rudhra's finger circled around the ring around his neck as he waited for the answer.

"I texted Safia from now new number and she wants to go to food fest with me" Fawad was happy hearing that . He thought that maybe she was finally thinking about it all and giving that marriage a thought .

To be continued...

---------------------------------------------------------

HEREEE we goooo !!! thanks for all the precious comments on the last chapter ! It just fuels me up to write more and more!! Please shower this chapter with love too ♥️