Junoon 2

Author's POV

After their midnight conversation, Salaar and Zara viewed each other in a different light. They went from being at each other's throats to good friends. However, they still were not very close. Zara's family was conservative and she did not prefer to have guy friends. Hence, they kept each other at an arm's length.

Midterms were finally done and instead of Zara going up to Salaar, it was the opposite that happened. Salaar jogged towards Zara as she was walking down the hallway with books in her hand. "Zara! Zara!" Salaar exclaimed, making Zara stop and turn towards him.

"Kia howa Salaar bhai?" Zara asked while fixing the dupatta on her head. Salaar bent down, trying to catch his breath. He heard Zara call him 'bhai' for the first time. It felt kind of weird. He shrugged it off. (What happened brother Salaar?)

"Wo um.. Midterms ke results aa gaye hen." Salaar hinted that he got the internship, waiting for her to explode. (The um...midterm results are out.)

"Ji mujhe pata he. Kion kia howa?" Zara politely said. (Yeah I know. Why? Is everything ok?)

"Wo..uh math ki internship mujhe mili he." Salaar said while scratching his neck, not sure how to say it otherwise. He was waiting for her to explode but what she did was the total opposite. (I....uh I got the math internship.)

"Oh woww. Good job! I mean I am not really surprised but anyway congratulations." Zara politely congratulated him, totally not angry at him. Salaar was very perplexed. He wanted to get a reaction out of her but this girl was congratulating him.

"Aren't you angry?" Salaar questioned, frowning.

"Nooo, why would I be angry?" Zara asked, not understanding his point of view. She was genuinely happy that he got the internship, although she wasn't really surprised. It was expected that he would win.

"No, it's just that you wanted the internship so I thought you might be angry." Salaar explained suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

"Yeah..chahiye to thi but apko mere se ziada chahiye thi and ap deserve bhi karte hen." Zara explained and gave him a smile to reveal her dimples. He looked at her deeply. Zara looked at her phone and continued. (Yeah..I wanted it but you wanted it more than me and you deserve it too.)

"Anyway, I should go. Mere class ka time ho raha he. Enjoy your internship. Allah Hafiz Salaar bhai." Zara said and was about to walk away when she was stopped by Salaar. (Anyway, I should go. My class is about to start. Enjoy your internship. Allah Hafiz brother Salaar.)

"It's just Salaar, Zara." Salaar corrected Zara. Zara felt a shiver run through her. She wasn't sure if it was because she was feeling cold or because of how he took her name.

Zara smiled and slightly nodded her head while saying, "Salaar." She did not get why Salaar even bothered to correct her. It was probably the last time they will have a conversation.

She turned around and kept walking to her class as Salaar stood there, his eyes not leaving her frame till she disappeared. Something in his heart stirred. He did not want to leave her. He knew he would never leave her. And he had just the right plan for it.

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Zara was sitting in her class when the professor was disturbed, he went out to see who it was. The professor saw Salaar with another teacher telling him that Salaar was now going to be in his class.

The professor asked why to which the other teacher just said something in his ear secretly causing the professor's eyes to widen. The professor cleared his throat and motioned Salaar to come in. Salaar stepped in and looked around the room. He marched towards Zara when he finally spotted her.

He plopped down beside Zara as soon as the other person who was sitting beside her moved. Zara lifted her head to finally acknowledge who it was. Her eyes widened and looked around the room to see everyone was looking at him.

She raised her eyebrows while asking Salaar why he was here. Salaar just shrugged his shoulders and faked innocence. Zara turned around to focus on what the professor was teaching.

After the class was done, she moved on to her next class. Surprisingly, Salaar just kept following her with his bag slung over one shoulder. Zara saw him entering her class and sitting beside her.

During her last class she saw Salaar once again. She decided to ask why he was following her. "Ap meri sari classes men kese hen? Mid semester he apne classes kese change ki. Besides, internship pe aap kion nahi jaa rahe" Zara asked, annoyed that he was everywhere. (How are you in all of my classes? It's mid semester, you can't change your classes. Besides, why aren't you going to the internship?)

"Men? Apka peecha? Han kr raha hoon." Salaar replied in a playful way trying to tick her off. Zara gasped and was about to reply when he continued. (Me? Following you? Yes I am)

"Nahi tumhara peecha nahi kar raha. Mujhe apni last semester ki classes theek nahi lagin issi liye change kin hen. Aur inhi classes men open space thi." Salaar lied smoothly, trying not to get caught. (No I am not following you. I didn't like my classes last semester so I changed. And the only classes that had some space were these ones.)

"Hmm" Zara just hummed and packed her bags to leave. Salaar watched his girl packing her bags and running away from him. He did not want to scare her away but he could not wait that much either.

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A few weeks passed by and Salaar had managed to tick Zara off to no extent. He would disturb her during lectures and sit beside her only to never shut up. She was getting fed up. She asked him about it and he just replied with, "Yeh meri bet ka hissa tha. Men bet jeeta to ab ap bina complain kiye mujhe bardasht karen." (This was part of my bet. I won the bet and now you have to tolerate me without complaining.)

Even her brother Adeel was now very suspicious. He kept on asking her about it but she just said that Salaar was with her due to their classes being the same and nothing else. Adeel had gone as far as even trying to approach Salaar once but Zara stopped him.

Zara could not take this anymore, she went to him during a spare and confronted him. "Meri baat sunein." Salaar turned to her as soon as he heard her. (Hear me out)

"Jee kahiye meri.....maa" Salaar coughed and covered what he was about to say. Zara gave him a weird look but continued. Salaar and Zara had started walking towards the common room by now. (Yeah go ahead my.....mom)

"Apki maa? Anyway ap kuch aur rakh len apni bet ki saza please. I don't like you following me around." Zara said as she entered the common room which was surprisingly empty. (Your mom? Anyway please put something else as the punishment for losing the bet. I don't like you following me around.)

"No, I'm not going to change it." Salaar said as he walked around the common room, seeing all the different games they had.

"Please Salaar, I'll do anything else." Zara tried pleading with him.

"First of all, tell me why don't you like me following you around?" Salaar said, as he sat down on one of the chairs.

"Look, it doesn't feel right. People get the wrong idea and even my brother was questioning me about it. So please understand. I'll do anything else." Zara tried pleading with him.

"Fine. Let's do another bet then. You know how to play UNO right?" Salaar asked as he went to take the UNO deck from the games section.

"Yeah... Why?" Zara asked cautiously. Salaar motioned Zara to sit down opposite to him. Zara cautiously sat down.

"Aik UNO ki game khelte hein. Agr tum jeeti to men tumhara peecha chor don ga aur agr men jeeta to tum wo karo gi joe main kahoon ga. Manzoor he?" Salaar asked. (Let's play a round of UNO. If you win then I'll stop following you but if I win then you will have to do as I say. Do you agree?)

"Seriously?" Zara asked while laughing. She thought it was another one of his jokes.

"Yes, I am very serious. If I win, I won't follow you but I will ask you to do something else. Manzoor he?" Salaar said while being very serious.

"Promise? You won't follow me right? Even if you win?" Zara said, making sure she heard right. Salaar evilly smirked and replied with a humm. Zara's eyes widened. She was getting a bad feeling out of this but she didn't think much as she was desperate.

"OK then I agree." Zara replied eagerly.

"First promise that you will do as I say." Salaar smirked knowing he had her exactly where he wanted.

"Ok I promise unless it's you following me around then men nahi khel rahi." Zara made her point very clear. (Ok I promise unless it's you following me around then I'm not playing.)

With that being said Salaar and Zara started playing UNO. Who knew such a fun card game would come to this. The first intense round was coming to an end and Salaar had 2 cards while Zara had three. Salaar placed a reverse and said UNO while placing the last card.

Salaar smiled victoriously and was about to speak when Zara cut him off. "One more round." Salaar just smiled and shuffled the cards knowing well that he will still keep on winning.

Salaar laid out the cards once again and another round began. Salaar was the first one to put down the last card as he won. He smiled knowing he pissed the little kitten off and he was enjoying it.

Zara stood up and crossed her arms. "You won the bet, what do you want now?" She said while rolling her eyes.

Salaar stalked towards her as she walked backwards giving Salaar a very confused look. Salaar stopped right in front of her.

"Marry me. Mere sath shadi krlo." Salaar said in all seriousness. He had wanted to ask her for a long time now. (Marry me.)

"Urdu men batane ki zaroorat nahi thi, mujhe English aati he. Aur wese ap kitne maaze ke mazak karte hen." Zara said while laughing a little. She calmed down after realizing he was serious. (You didn;t have to say it in Urdu too, I understand English just fine. And you make really good jokes sometimes.)

"I'm serious Zara." Salaar said taking more strides towards her. She realized he was actually really serious. "Oh.." Zara managed to get only that out of her mouth. She was confused and did not expect this.

Zara craned her neck to look up at him. "Salaar. Tumhara dimaag to theek he? Tumhe pata he ke tum keh kia rahe ho?" Zara did not know why but she was feeling overwhelmed. She gazed into his eyes to see pure honesty and adoration for her. (Salaar. Are you ok? Do you even know what you're saying?)

"I know Zara men kia keh raha hoon." Salaar said in a soft voice. (I know exactly what I am saying Zara.)

"Nahi Salaar tumhe nahi pata." Zara said as she tried to get her bag and leave. She could feel shivers running down her spine. (No Salaar, you don't know what you're saying.)

"MENE KAHA NA MUJHE PATA HE MEN KIA KEH RAHA HOON. MEN TUMSE SHADI KARNA CHAHTA HOON. TUMSE PYAAR KARTA HOON." Zara flinched as Salaar yelled and grabbed her arm not liking how she was not co-operating. (I told you I know what I'm saying. I want to marry you. I love you.)

"Mera hath choro." Zara said feeling very scared of him. Salaar did not leave her arm. Zara jerked her arm away from him and ran out the room. Salaar tried to follow her but she was already out the door. (Leave my hand.)

Salaar realized he messed up. He sat down on one of the sofas and held his head between his hands. He knew he could not let her go.