All is Fair

Chapter 7

One week later, Sanaa phoned Rasheed.

He picked up. "Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you, bye." He was really annoyed. What was the need to patch up anyone anyway?

"Hey, listen!" Sanaa began.

"Yeah, it's ok. I forgive you." he cut the call.

Sanaa sat staring at the phone, vexed. 'The size of that man's ego!' she huffed.

Just as Rasheed cut Sanaa's call, he noticed a message from Ameena's number. She had asked him to meet her at a coffee shop at 3 pm. Half an hour later, Rasheed sat at the coffee shop, waiting for Ameena. She had told him that the school was celebrating some event and that was why she could manage to meet him at 3 pm.

She came clad in a burkhaa and a scarf, her face veiled with a nose piece. She sat on the other side of the table, sticking to the wall. He got up and sat down beside her. He put an arm around her and she froze.

He whispered in her ear, "So, how was that video I sent you last night?" he shifted the nose piece to expose her cheek and kissed it. She pushed him off. He began laughing. His laugh was cut short as Sanaa flipped off the nose piece and sat glaring at him. Rasheed's heart beat sped up. He looked away. The only other person in his life who had managed to frighten him with just one look had been his father.

"I'm sorry. I thought Ameena..." he trailed off, feeling hot and stuffy all of a sudden.

She turned to him, still glaring. Before she could tell him anything, the waiter approached them with a notepad.

"Your order, ma'am?" he asked them. Sanaa glared at him and the waiter scurried off, almost dashing into the manager. Rasheed tugged his ear.

"So, you send videos to my sister?" Sanaa asked, one arm draped over the top of the chair and the other arm on the table.

"No, see..."

She tilted her head, giving him a look that said, 'Don't you dare to lie to me.'

"It was a horror video." he hurried to pull out his phone and brought up the chat. He handed it over to Sanaa. She read the messages. After some time, she handed back the phone, satisfied.

"If at all..." she paused, letting him fill it in. "I'll break your phone."

Rasheed looked at the menu card, nodding his head 'ok'.

"I had asked Ameena where you would be. Then I had asked her not to come because I wanted to talk to you about Shoba and Ravi." She looked at the waiter and gestured him to come over. Then they both gave their orders. "I didn't call you to thank you for patching up Shoba and Ravi. It was your mess, you cleant it. Good. And no, not to say sorry either. There's nothing to be sorry about."

'The little vixen!' Rasheed thought. He realized she was there to make another demand. And that was precisely why he never showed his weakness to anyone. "So now what do you want?" he asked her directly.

She smiled. "Well, I've got a very decent offer for you this time. Leave Ameena."

Rasheed had gotten up to sit on the other side of the table. He paused and fixed his eyes on Sanaa as he lowered himself onto the chair. This was the limit as far as deals and offers and proposals went. "Or else what? You'll make sure she leaves me? What's the difference who leaves whom? You want us to break-up, right?"

"It's not as simple as that. I mean, yes. I want you two to break-up. I'll be honest with you. But there's a difference here when it comes to who leaves whom. Now suppose you go and break it off with her, it'll be gentle and not soul-crushing. My sister will move on in no time. But if I were to initiate the break-up from her side, then she'll be devastated and heartbroken. So, now, it's up to you to choose between the lesser of the two evils."