Chipkali aur Chamgadar [Neirohi ff]

Chapter 2

Aarohi wearing a simple white blouse with jeans grabbed her purse and keys and left the house when she heard a voice call her from behind.
"Aarohi kahan jaa rahi ho?"
"...Woh...Badepapa mere college ki dost Udaipur main hain for a few days. Usise milne jaa rahi hoon. Ab ghar main istarah ke halat main reh ke mujhe depression ho jaya ga."
"Thik hai beta, jao and have fun. Zhada dher seh Mat Ana."
"Done badepapa, bye."
"Bye beta."

Aarohi smiled and left the house she drove to the Starbucks she asked Neil to meet her at. As she entered her eyes scanned the somewhat crowded Cafe and landed on him. In the right side of the Cafe sat the Chamgadar looking out the windows. What stumped Aarohi was what he was wearing, A white dress shirt and blue jeans. They looked like a cringy teen rom-com couple. She hesitated to walk over but eventually sat down across from him. "Hey" Neil turned and acknowledged her presence. "Hey Aarohiii... are we matching?" She rolled her eyes at his obvious question. "Unfortunately. Can we get this over with?"
He rolled his eyes back and they went to ordered the drinks, "one frozen Caramel latte for me and a Iced Americano with two extra shots of espresso and only one teaspoon sugar please." He ordered without turning to ask for her choice and payed without asking to split. What the hell Aarohi that, when did he suddenly learn to be a gentleman. She couldn't help but think that this whole meeting had the vibes of a first date. 'And wait? How did he know what type of coffee I drink' As they went and sat in their seats to with their coffees she asked him "Aye, tumhe kaise pata main hamesha iced americano lethi hoon? Woh bhi two espresso shots and one teaspoon sugar keh saath?" He chuckled at the question and Aarohi didn't know why her heart skipped a beat at his chuckle. "We work together remember. I've seen you make coffee for yourself or go buy coffee a thousand times. I know what type of coffee you drink." She raised her eyebrows at the answer. 'Yeh didi ka devar itna notice karta mujhe? Ajeeb hai ghar wali nahi karte aur baker wale kuch zyada hi karte hain.' Aarohi snapped put of her thoughts. "Aacha by the way, I realized that Akshara took her passport and all documents with her when she married. So they must be in your house." Neil sighed,"I checked the house and Bhais cupboards and drawers, none of bhabis items remain there." Aarohi didn't know what to think after that. "I was thinking we should check the cctv footage of the hospital and of maybe ask for footage of nearby rooftop cameras aimed at the roof Anisha Do and Kairav bhaiya were on that day." Aarohi nodded finally getting a plan together. "Your a Birla you'll have easy access to the hospital cameras and as for finding evidence for kairva bhaiya I'll look into it. I have a old  acquaintance who Is a private detective I'll talk to him."
"Great idea, we defiantly need professional help with all this. I just hope we find something Aaru, I don't care how long it takes."
"I agree Neil, I just want a normal life again, a normal happy family."
"Seems like we finally agree on something for once, unfortunately our qismat doesn't agree with us."
"Yeah, but meri mama kehti thi, Qismat hamari muti main hain, usse Kas ke pakarna, apni muti khi Takata se hum surf apni qusmat nahi, apni Dunya badal sakhte hain."
"Kash main tunhari maa seh mil pata. She seemed like a great lady."
"Aarohi smiled, nostalgia and sadness glistened in her eyes, something Niel did not like seeing. Her eyes were most beautiful when they shined with happiness. "She was." She replied. With thay the conversation between the two unlikely of friends concluded. Agreeing to meet in next Sunday as they met on Sunday today too they said their goodbyes and went back home. What they hadn't noticed is the red thread that had been tied between them. They had gotten together to fight their date but it was their very fate which brought them together.