Meri jaan 🤍

Yes, I have a way

     "Hello" was the shortest of the words to greet, but hearing it from the other felt the warmest on that cold night. Farjaad didn't know how to unravel the chaos in his head without annoying her, and unabashed Umeed was perplexed about how to bring Reena into the conversation to confront him without offending his personal space. 

     THE TIME REALLY STOOD STILL, to the extent that they thought the latter wasn't on call anymore, but of course, Umeed broke the ice by asking why he called at that hour after ignoring her all night. He being him shrugs off saying "it was my birthday and you were supposed to wish me par tumhari AK ke sath guftagu hi khatam nahi hui ki tum mujhe mubarak do", she was already annoyed and this added fuel to fire so she simply went off saying "mai aapke aur Reena ke beech nahi aana chahti thi isiliye mubarak baat nahi di". 

     He didn't really understand why she mentioned Reena because he just accepted the gift from her as he did from others, mann mein hi socha ki maine to Reena se baat ki hi nahi thi. Before he could clarify, she continued saying aapke chehre pe muskurahat kyon nahi thi Reena se aapki pasandida gift milne par? At this point, Farjaad was lost because he neither remembered him talking to Reena, nor had a clue for how on earth Umeed knew ki usay horses se related kuch bhi pasand hai and why would he be happy with Reena gifting him his favorite? 

     He took her annoyance as a sign of jealousy for whatever reason, and decided not to aggravate the situation by mentioning AK. With a grin on his face, he politely stated maine Reena se gift accept karne ke baad sirf formal smile di thi, shukriya bhi nahi kiya tha par jo tum ghure jaa rahi thi hume ye jarur dekha tha. The last line was enough for Umeed to be left astonished, Changez Khan to aise baat nahi karta, ise kya hogaya aaj? Usne kab dekh liya ghurte hue?  With a slight blush on her cheeks, she pulled herself together and replied khushfehmi hai aapki yeh, mai kyon ghurne lagi? Aur ye baatein chode mujhe batayein abhi call kyon ki? 

     The chaos in his head didn't unravel but hearing jealous Umeed tonight was enough so he redirected the conversation to mesmerizing yesterday, wo to maine batane k liye call ki thi ki jo tum kal phone le kar chali gayi thi, aaj wo mujhe gift kar sakti thi. Irritated Umeed just reverted, wo phone maine wapis kar diya waise hi jaise aap ne ghadi lauta di thi. Farjaad couldn't help but smile and say I'm sorry maine yeh nahi karna tha, by this time even Umeed didn't care to bring Reena into the conversation and responded with acha thik hai, maaf kiya. 

     Being at ease now, he said chalo mujhe abhi apni presentation complete karni hai. Bye! Umeed was about to say bye before hanging up when she realized it wasn't too late to wish him so with a beaming smile she wished 'Janam din mubarak ho', and cut the call. Since she immediately cut the call, Farjaad couldn't say thank you. He didn't find the answer he was looking for but still, he was happy about his gloomy birthday ending on a happy note with a wish from whom he wished for throughout the party. 

     At the other end, Umeed was taken aback when he reminiscence him saying how he didn't even thank Reena after receiving the gift, this made her wonder if Reena was actually his fiance. Was there something else to the story, was Reena lying? She had questions that she wanted to be answered but thought to be a task for some other day and with a content smile after the call she lay on her bed and slept within minutes. 

     Umeed was asleep, but Farjaad couldn't concentrate. His mind was stuck on the watch he returned, if he hadn't done that he would have been able to make her smile. With that thought revolving in his mind he completed the presentation due by early morning. The next morning, he got ready and left for the office since he had multiple meetings lined up, at the other end Umeed was still asleep.

     The watch never left Farjaad's mind, he really wanted to make it up to Umeed but this time something with a personal touch so after wrapping up all his meetings by noon, he dialed a call to the hotel in Islamabad where he & Umeed stayed for the show. The receptionist helped him reach the manager on call, he requested the manager to provide him with the CCTV footage of their room's corridor for the day they checked in at the hotel because that is when she handed him the watch which he threw in his anger. Considering the hotel norms, the manager politely refused to do so; said sorry, and hung up the call.

     It was 1 p.m. in the afternoon and Umeed was finally dressed up for the university just to meet her friend Mimi. She reaches the university and meets Mimi in the cafe, while having chai Mimi inquires about the horse painting. She was curious to know how the painting that Umeed requested Sameer to paint for Farjaad reached Reena, and why Reena gifted someone else's bought gift to her brother. 

     Umeed was just about to answer, when she remembered about yesterday's call, and considered it better if Farjaad clarified about his engagement and not anyone else. So she didn't mention to Mimi that she herself handed over the painting to Reena thinking Reena was Farjaad's fiance but simply said ye baat hum phir kabhi kar lenge abhi mujhe shopping pe jaana hai to mere sath chalo, and on this note they leave the topic & the university. 

     Farjaad after failing his 1st attempt at retrieving the CCTV footage, was disappointed but not surprised for he knew it wasn't going to be easy to do what his mind thought about. The only thing was he didn't know what to do next to convince the manager so that he could hand over the footage. It was 2:30 p.m. now and he had one last meeting with Majid Sahab before he called it a day, Majid Sahab entered his office and they discussed business expansion for the next hour over a cup of coffee. 

     After the meeting, they were casually discussing the recent success of Socho Pakistan and somehow Majid Sahab mentioned his old friendship with the hotel's manager who helped book rooms at the last minute before the event. Farjaad couldn't believe his ears, so he asked 'Majid Sahab kya aapne kaha ki hotel k manager aapke purane dost hai?', Majid Sahab affirmed it saying haan bohot hi acha, bachpan ka dost hai mera. 

 Hearing this Farjaad had a sigh of relief thinking; YES, I HAVE A WAY!!