RAABTA : A collection of short stories

K11

"May I come in"

"Aa jaein meri jaan" Hearing a giggle, Azeem lifted his head to see his annoying cousin shaking his shoulders in an inaudible laugh while his wife stood there all embarrassed.

"Ahhmm....." Azeem cleared his throat but to no avail

"Shamir kandhe gir jayenge..ho gaya bas" Azeem threw a glare at his cousin's way which made the acceleration slow and eventually stop after sometime.

"Haan Raniya...kya baat hai..?" Azeem asked after offering them a seat

"Wo meri half day hai to Shamir ke saath ghar jaa rahi hun.....wo idhar se guzar raha tha toh"

"Aap kab is raste se guzarne lage...."

"Bas kuch time hua hai bhai...mera matlab....ek dost rehta hai mera idhar"

"Dost ya Saheli..."

"Dost aur saheli me kya antar hota hai" The oh so innocent boy was not yet aware of the world's definitions

"Phone par aap jis Adeela ko Adeel ke naam se chipka rakha hai na..wo hui aapki saheli...aur dost batana padega" Azeem smirked folding his arms

"Let's change the topic bhai"

"Sure...." Azeem nodded and dialled Junaid's number and put it on speaker
"Dayals ki meeting me rehna zaruri hai?"

"Shehryar Malik aaya hua hai as a guest lecturer trainees ke liye....so meeting maine meeting postpone karwa di thi pehle hi"

"Good...mai bhi aaj leave le raha hun"

"No problem bhai..enjoy"

Junaid ended the call while Azeem kept writing something in his file.

"Chalein..phir aaplog niklein sath me"

"Aur tum"

"Mai bhi nikalta hun kisi ke saath me......matlab..dost neeche car me hai" Shamir gave a genuine smile validating his words which made Azeem nod and leave with Raniya.

"Raniya us corridor se nahin..idhar se chalo..."

"Us bande ne marriage proposal galatfehmi me aa kar bheja tha......otherwise I have heard..he is a decent man" Raniya tried to make her husband understand but all in vain

"Still.. I don't want you to be on the periphery of his vision" Azeem pulled Raniya towards the other corridor

"Ok baba..."

Azeem drove to a Chinese restaurant as Raniya recommended so.

"Ye kya aap chidiya ki tarah khaa rahe hain" Raniya frowned seeing Azeem eating one noodle strand at a time.

"Yaar mujhe bahar ka khana utna pasand hi nahin hai"

"Acha yeh try karein...." Raniya fed him a piece of Manchurian.

"Arre Azeem...."
Azeem smiled seeing one of his old friends from college

"Hey man..what's up"

"Great...who is this pretty lady"

Azeem mock glared at his friend and then turned to Raniya.."She is my wife..Ra"

"Oh Rasha bhabhi....maine bas naam suna tha yaar...."

Azeem's eyes immediately went to Raniya who got visibly stiffened at the  misunderstanding.

"Actually....She is Raniya..."

"Rasha is no more"

"Oh..sorry...I am extremely sorry" Azeem's apologised at once

"It's ok" Azeem whispered looking at the unshed tears of his wife.