Apple of your eyes - Part 14

There was deep silence between both of them. They were seated at small coffee shop with her books on the table. The books were heavy and thick. There were some notes folded inside the book which was handwritten by her. Both were hesitant to speak first. She stared at him eagerly , waiting impatiently for him to start. He only wanted to look at her wide eyes. He searched for words to say something with no luck over controlling his fear to disclose his true emotions.

They displayed momentarily smiles at each other. “Hmmm…”, he said but before he could say something, Nanda appeared from nowhere. He rolled his eyes in anger and disappointment. “ He had to come to spoil everything”, Abhinav thought. Nanda smiled sheepishly at Aafreen. When he turned to Abhinav, he was tensed. “ I am sorry but could you spare few minutes.”, he said nervously.

Nanda took him to the corner where Aafreen couldn’t hear their voices. “ This is ridiculous! Why are you here? Don’t you understand that I was trying to make the situation better between her and me. You spoiled it!!”, Abhinav said angrily. “ Don’t accuse me!  Your so called girlfriend’s uncle has struck it again. Sources have quoted him discussing about some deal with Anish Khan ( fanatic leader).”, Nanda whispered trying to control himself from raising his voice. He knew very well that there were spies everywhere.

“ Ok! If you want me leave you with the nation’s wanted man’s niece. I will make some excuse to Major who needs you badly.”, Nanda added. “ Stop blackmailing me ! You know what nation’s security is to me. I wouldn’t let anything come in front of my country. So chill! Let’s go!”, Abhinav said. He bid goodbye with apologising at the same time. She simply smiled and asked him to carry on. There was pinch of disappointment which she had hidden it with smile. But when you are in love, you can make out the slight disappointment or happiness on your beloved’s face. And indeed Abhinav saw that clearly on her face.

During the whole journey, he thought about her and Mohi-ud-deen. He wondered about how could two persons belonging to same family and bloodline be so different. He also thought about whether Aafreen knew about her uncle’s double face. Mohi-ud-deen was master of manipulation.  He was manipulating not only the society in general but his favorite niece too. He had heard from secret sources that she looked upon her uncle with pride and respect.

She knew that she shouldn’t have believed him too soon. She walked to her house with gloomy face. She did expect that her dreams would become reality now. But she was wrong. She felt guilty for accepting his offer. Sometimes risk taking never worked for her. She decided that when he would call her next day, she would say no- a word that she had never known existed in her life.

(To be continued)