Hold on to your love

Chapter 1

ZAARA'S POV:

"Haye, meri jaaneman, meri humnava, meri jigarjaan dost.", Payal's voice greeted me as soon as I reached Payal's home.

I fell on my back with Payal in my arms. "Ouch! You bull. You broke my back.", I cried. Dude it really hurts. She looks petite but is quit heavy.

"Hey, I am not fat.", Payal said naughtily and started laughing. Payal and my friendship goes a long back. We are basically chadi buddies. I was only a month older than her. Her mother and Raghav came when she was 8 months old.

Our schooling was done together. She is extroverted but timid. I am introverted but bold. I am open to only few people and her family was one of them. I am a bit cheeky when I am relaxing with people I love. I am extremely protective of those few people which results in my bold personality coming out. Even though I mostly keep to myself, I become bold and violent for the people I love. Violence is the last option I choose, but when it does come to it, I do not hold back.

During our 8th grad, Payal's skirt got stained with period blood. Some senior boys saw that and started making fun of her. Payal was hell embarrassed and scared at that time. I decided to take charge and resolve the issue calmly first. But they started to make fun of her more. The limit was crossed when they started eyeing her dirtily.

It was the last straw of my patience and I started hitting them one by one. I took street boxing classes during those time which came in handy. That day even my teachers were shocked to see me fighting with boys.

But since they knew I was a sincere girl, they took my words seriously and expelled the boys.

I still remember how shock Payal was seeing me fight. Even though she was an extroverted girl she could be easily intimidated.

Raghav after the fiasco sent her to take some fighting classes. But she came from there as madam felt bored there. Hence I gave her the basic self defence training.

One of the main reason for their friendship was their contrasting nature. Payal was always extraordinarily dressed up even for simple events. Her taste in fashion was immaculate. Whereas I was exactly opposite. I believed in wearing good enough pair of clothes. I wore outfits to fit to the standard but nothing to make me stand out. See the difference.

Basically we both are different breed. The only thing that connect us is our love for science. She was crazy for chemistry. She got 105th rank in IIT-JEE. Raghav was so happy that day. Ah! that smile on his face. She still remembers that.

"Oye! Where are you lost?", Payal started, "Again in my brother's thought?".

Now this is making me shy. I look around to see if someone is looking at me. Thank god nobody was there. This stupid bestfriend of mine never knows what to say and when. She knows about me liking her brother. She was the first one to know about that. I didn't want to hide my feelings about her brother from her. I thought it was her right to know.

"Aye stupid look around before you speak.", I gave her a stink eye.

"What? It's not like nobody knows. You should look at yourself. The only person that becomes visible to you is my brother when he is present.", she started with teasing but ended in sarcasm.

Am I that obvious? I don't know why I start doing stupid things around him. Payal started mimicking me making me break into smile and then laugh at her.

A while later my eyes met with cold ones, or better say trying to be cold one. Even when he tries to hide his smile somehow there is always warmth in his eyes.

"Good morning Zaara", his said in his manly voice. His voice alone can send shivers down my spines. I get captivated with his voice. Common Zaara it is not the time for looking like a creep.

"Good morning Raghav. How are you? I am basically seeing you after a month.", I said as a means of greeting.

"Yeah. I went for a meeting to Singapore. I am planning to buy a tech company there.", he said detailing about his visit. Well that was not what I expected. I mean a simple hello would be fine. I asked him just out of courtesy.

"Cool. So you are also in the race for semiconductor industry?", I asked him. I mean India is trying to be a semiconductor giant. I just assumed he would be in Singapore for that. A businessman like him will definitely invest in it.

"Well I am not in the race. I am aiding the race. I am trying to bring the technology to Indian companies. Once I make the market in India, I can get more access to government permission and I can learn from failures of other companies", he said. Dang! He is smart. He will earn more this way.

"Yeah, Yeah. Forget about me. Who the hell takes effort to remember their friend or sister?", Payal said. her voice full of sarcasm.

"I have a sister? When did this happen?", Raghav said teasingly. "Well, it happened. 21 years ago.", Payal replied sassily "Now lets not waste our time. We have studies to do too."

And just like that laughing and teasing each other we started our breakfast. Raghav was just having a silent breakfast.