37. Lizards, Veer Zaara, & Contracts
Sarhad paar ek aisa shaksh hai . . . joh aapke liye apni jaan bhi de dega (Across the border there is a person . . . who can give his life for you)."

* * *

All of us sat down in the Langar hall where free food was served for all. Thankfully, the plates were divided into small sections to try a little bit of each Indian food they were serving.

I surprised myself by accepting second servings of the black daal (lentil soup). It was light and delicious. Even Jhanvi was eating like she hadn't been fed all day. Actually, she had wretched out her breakfast, so she was definitely hungry.

We returned to the house after three hours and Ashar's dad asked us to settle in the living room. He wanted to catch up now that we had enough time to relax.

"Neither one of you told me about my lovely daughter-in-laws," Ashar's baba said. "I want to know more about them."

"Baba, Anmol's parents and Jhanvi's parents own businesses in the state where we live," Ashar told him. "I met Anmol at a restaurant . . . "

"He loved me too much and asked my mom for my hand in marriage," I said a little too giddily. Then, I remembered the contract and my smile dropped.

"That's not true," he said immediately. I raised my eyebrows waiting for him to continue. "Maybe a part of it is true—"

"Wait a minute," Sunny interrupted. "Her mom agreed to the marriage just like that? She's heir to her father's businesses and you barely have a father who acknowledges your existence."

Whether the dig was at his brother or his father, Sunny earned a moment of silence. Ashar opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it.

"My mom agreed after I said yes," I told Sunny. "Do you have a problem?"

I stared at Sunny with a challenging look. Although my yes had been forced at the time, I wasn't about allow Sunny relish in that. Ashar watched me rather curiously as if not expecting what I had said.

"Of course not, Annie," Sunny said, raising his hands in defeat.

"What is this Annie?" asked their Baba. "She's your bhabhi (sister-in-law)." Ashar pretended to rub his nose but he was hiding his smile. "Same for you, Ashar. She's Jhanvi bhabhi not Jhanvi."

"Sure, baba," Ashar said obediently.

"Does that mean I should call Sunny bhai (brother)?" I asked curiously, earning snickers from Jhanvi and Ashar.

Ashar's baba nodded while Sunny didn't seem amused. Thankfully, their stepmom announced she was bringing everyone chai.

Apparently, there was a designated time before dinner called chai time.

All of us had tea and Ashar's baba asked about Jhanvi and Sunny how they met. There was a point raised about them not having children as of yet.

To which, Sunny had replied, "Maybe you should worry about your children first before thinking about grandchildren."

Jhanvi seemed shocked by Sunny's cruel behavior towards his baba. But his father let it go. Both guys were on the same boat of hating their dad for abandoning them.

Ashar's baba moved on to asking me about my job and interests. Once the old couple heard I was into moviemaking, they promised to show me Bollywood classics.

Starting today.

While I had seen a few old ones from the 90s, they still had a list of what I had to watch. Ashar's stepmother went to the extent of putting one of her favorite Shahrukh Khan movies on TV. She had a CD of Veer Zaara.

Sunny excused himself to take a nap because he had no interest in movies. The rest of us politely watched the romantic drama between an Indian pilot and a rich Pakistani girl who had traveled to India under unusual circumstances.

To say I loved the movie would've been an understatement. Starting from the script to the acting to the scene setting to the music. Jhanvi shed tears, but I was too mesmerized by the beauty of the cinematic masterpiece.

"You have to show me another classic movie like this," I told Ashar's stepmom.

"Of course!" she said pleased.

She served us dinner with the maid's help. Surprisingly, Ashar's dad was rather well off with a decent sized house and two maids. One maid for cooking and laundry, and one made who dropped by to clean the entire house.

No wonder Ashar resented him for not being present. Ashar had to raise his sisters without family support.

When we retired to our rooms for the night, I set the pillow between us on the bed to create the line of control.

Ashar grinned seeing it, but took a seat on his side without any questions.

"Ashar," I said dramatically pointing to the pillow, "Sarhad paar ek aisa shaksh hai . . . joh aapke liye apni jaan bhi de dega (Across the border there is a person . . . who can give his life for you)."

It was the turning point dialogue of the movie. Something about a guy proposing to you and telling you he'd die for you was swoon worthy. No wonder the girl fell for him—it also helped he was Shahrukh Khan.

"No, thanks," Ashar said, shaking his head. "I don't want your life. But your Hindi is decent."

"Thank you," I said with a slight bow. "Papa hired a Hindi teacher for me when I was young. I learned enough to understand and get by."

"You understand Punjabi too," he pointed out.

"You noticed."

"A little," he said smiling.

"Papa spoke in Punjabi often," I explained. "I understand the basics, but if you say something in pure Punjabi, it'll go over my head."

He nodded. "That means I have to be careful whenever I have to say something mean about you."

"Hey!" I picked up the pillow and hit him. He laughed leaning back.

"I'm kidding," he said, raising his hands in defeat. "I'll turn the lights off. We should sleep now."

He went across the room to switch off the light.

Before I could argue with him, I saw something brown crawling across the wall onto the ceiling and back on the wall. It's beady eyes and long tail made me shriek.

"What the hell is that?!" I almost screamed. I was off the bed and next to Ashar in less than five seconds.

"I was hoping you wouldn't see it," he said in a tired voice.

"What is that?!" I asked petrified.

"Haven't you seen a lizard before?" he asked. "It's for mosquito control."

"You're telling me your dad has a pet lizard for mosquito control?!"

"Well, not exactly a pet," said Ashar. "It's common in India to see lizards crawling the walls."

"Oh my dear God." I was breathing heavily as the lizard went out of my sight. "Was that lizard in this room last night?"

He hesitated before saying, "Yes."

I clutched the sides of my face. The lizard was back in my line of vision. I saw it's tongue flash out to catch its prey before going back into the mouth.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" I cried.

"I wanted to sleep peacefully."

"You and your mosquito control can sleep together," I said decisively. "I'm going downstairs to the living room."

"There's one there too," he said. "It was right behind the TV. Not sure whether it was dead or not but it was still."

My heart thumped as my eyes refused to leave the lizard. How could Ashar keep this information from me? The lizard was still and then it was crawling quickly across the wall. I jumped with its each and every move.

I let out another mini scream when it neared the wall behind the bed's head board.

"Ashar!" I dug my nails into his arm. It was hard not to yelp. "Oh my God, Ashar! Ashar!"

"I'm right here," he said in a lowered voice. "Stop screaming my name. You're gonna give people downstairs the wrong idea."

It took me a moment to realize what he was saying.

"Who cares?!" I snapped almost tearfully. "Let's discuss how I'm supposed to sleep in a lizard infested house? I'll go to a hotel."

"You'll find lizards almost everywhere here," he said. "It's common knowledge. Now, stop over exaggerating. Let's go to sleep."

"What if it falls on top of my head?!"

"It won't," he affirmed. He turned the lights off and took my hands. "Come. It won't do anything except eat the little insects while we sleep."

I wished I hadn't told his baba we'd stay here. I'd rather have checked into a hotel right now. Tears slipped my eyes at the horrifying creature roaming around my place of rest. I sniffled and he turned the light back on.

"Are you crying over a lizard?" he asked half in disbelief half in amusement.

I wiped my eyes but tears kept flowing. I had never felt so helpless. Perhaps it was karma for lying to my mom and my uncle about coming to India instead of Brazil. Now, I was stuck with a nasty brown thing crawling the walls.

I turned away from him so he couldn't make fun of me.

"Hey," Ashar said moving around in front of me again. He hesitated before putting his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. If I had known how scared—"

"It's gross," I sobbed, not caring how I appeared. "It's nasty. I don't want to sleep with a lizard."

"You want me to kill it?" he asked, holding back a smile.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

His expression softened. "Of course not. I'll kill it, if that'll help you sleep faster. Mind you, its children or family members might come back to avenge the death."

"Seriously?" I asked with wide eyes. He nodded with a straight face. We didn't need any more lizards. "Fine, don't kill it."

"Come on, let's go to sleep," he said, turning the lights off.

He held my hands and helped me get under the covers. I was almost trembling in fear, my eyes wide awake. As Ashar hopped on his side of the bed, I kept rising up to check on the lizard thriving in the moonlight.

"Go to sleep," he said, watching me in the dark.

"I can't."

"Close your eyes."

"Nope."

He reached out and placed his warm hand on top of my eyes.

"I was seven the last time I was in this house," he stated in a low voice. "My ma was three months pregnant with Aara. We came to see my grandma. I vaguely remember all the details except for one."

I quietly listened to him. He didn't remove his hand from my eyes. The caring side of Ashar was the one that could make anyone fall face first for him.

"I slept on the terrace on a cot," he continued. "Baba was on his cot next to mine. The women were inside the house. All I remember is baba had his hand hanging off the cot right next to a wall. There was a lizard hovering around his hand. I watched that lizard the whole night because I couldn't sleep with it  near my cot."

"Then, what happened?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said flatly. "The lizard just crawled around. It never went close to baba's hand or put its tongue or something. It minded its own business while I lost sleep."

I relaxed slightly and he retreated his hand.

"Papa brought us once to India," I told him. He didn't say anything. "Six years ago. He showed us the Taj Mahal in the scorching heat of July. I don't know how I made it back alive. I swore I'd never come back—"

I stopped realizing what had flown out of my mouth. Before I could've said something to save the damage, it was too late.

"I find it hard to believe you changed your mind only because of my brother," he said.

"Why? Do you want me to say I came here all because of my dear husband?"

He laughed, not taking my words seriously. "As if. I thought you'd be enjoying an early vacation from me."

"What do you mean?" I asked puzzled.

"A mini vacation before the contract is terminated," he said. "Isn't that why you're being good?"

I blinked hard for a few seconds before sitting up in the darkness. The cold skimmed my face as my heartbeat picked up.

"Ashar, what are you talking about?"

He let out a heavy sigh. "Your mom didn't tell you the plan?"

My heart thumped as I feared the next words. The night he had disappeared to meet my mother to terminate the contract was a hard night for me. But I had assumed the conclusion they drew was to continue the existing contract.

"What plan?" I asked carefully.

He sat up as well and looked at me in the darkness.

"The contract will be terminated once I return from my trip to India."

* * *

A/N

Dun dun dun!

How was the chapter?

What do you think is gonna help?

I love Veer Zaara. It's such a visual treat. After seeing that movie, I had 20x more respect for Yash Raj Chopra.

Any predictions?

Any questions, comments, concerns?

Thank you for your support so far!!!! It means a grand deal. Hopefully I can wrap this book up. It'd be my third completed book after Dilli Wali Girlfriend and My Great Bollywood Romance.

One more update by Monday (no promises).

—K-K-Kiran