Present

"Get out right now, Tiger before anyone sees you here. And don't let know Salem know about Rhea and her mother. I will go away from here in the next few weeks. You can tell Salem you found me there." Pari ordered Tiger. There were only 2 people who could order Tiger. One was Saheb and the other was Pari. It was pointless to ask Tiger to hide anything from his 'Saheb' but it was worth trying. Tiger knows her location, which meant Salem would know it soon too. But if Pari could save Rhea and her mother, she would. 

"Doc did extremely wrong. There is no forgiveness for betrayers." Tiger commented. It took everything in him to not shoot Dr. Rhea for helping Pari run from home and hide her here. "After everything Saheb has done for her, she could still hurt him? She knows what you mean to him." 

"Fucking leave from here right now. There is no point talking to you." Pari showed him the door. 

"I am leaving and don't worry how much ever it angers me, I won't rat out the Doc unless Saheb asks." Tiger assured her and went towards his car and left. 

***

Past

It was definitely one of the best day of her life. She couldn't get over the cheesy pizza and the beautiful sunset.

At dinner, Pari's family was shocked to see her happily eat the vegetables she barely tolerated. Usually, when there was french beans at home, she used to create a fuss about it, but today she ate it quietly. Even when Kabeer irritated her, she didn't yell at him but ruffled his hair.

Kabeer looked at Priya with raised eyebrows asking her what is the matter with Pari but she shook her head, not knowing anything.

It was more shocking when Pari didn't fight with Kabeer once for the TV remote or asked him to change the channel.

"Is she okay? Or someone exchanged Pari di?" Kabeer whispered to Priya who smiled at his words.

"Shut up. You have problem when she fights and now that she is quiet, you still have problem." Priya replied.

"No! Something is wrong. Pari di being peaceful and nice...impossible." Kabeer said, thinking of what is wrong with Pari.

"Tch! You are too much. She isn't that bad." Priya took her sister's side.

"Yes, she isn't bad. She is the worst! She doesn't let me watch TV peacefully. She is always fighting and hitting me." Kabeer complained.

"You too irritate her? Don't you?" Priya said.

"Huh! You always take her side." Kabeer pouted and continued watching his TV.

But he had a point. Pari was never quiet at the dining table. She would always find faults in food or had complaints about other things in the house. There was hardly a day when Kabeer and her didn't fight. So what was different about today?

Her parents and aunt didn't bother to think about this. They were just happy that Pari didn't create a fuss about things today.

**

In the morning, Pari ate her breakfast without a word and finished her plate. This time, her mother stared at her and the plate.

"What happened ?" Pari asked when her mother kept staring.

"Poha tha, beta." Her mother said.(It was Poha) "You ate it without complaint? Are you okay?" Her mother asked concerned.

Pari hated breakfasts like Poha and Upma which were often made at her home. She always insisted on variety in breakfasts but her mother and aunt said Poha and Upma are healthy and affordable breakfast options.

"It was good." Pari didn't have much to say. She was still in daze of the day she spent with Salem. She couldn't help but feel a tingling feeling in her stomach. Is that what they call butterflies? She tried to ignore the feeling and control the smile on her lips. Since last night, she wasn't able to control her smile. She went to her room, picked out the new kurta, applied kajal and eyeliner, and a red lipstick, which she rarely used. She checked her look in the mirror and left for college.

While she attended the lectures, her eyes searched of Salem, expecting him to attend at least one lecture but alas, he didn't show up.

After the lectures, she accompanied Ashley and Ashish to the canteen, hoping he would be there but he wasn't. She was dejected at his absence. Ashley and Ashish went to meet their other friends at the neighbouring table while Pari sat there deep in her thoughts.

As the loud chatter continued, Pari looked at the canteen entrance hoping he would show up. She didn't even see Aman to ask him about Salem's whereabouts. She could see Salem's other friends sitting at one of the tables but she didn't know anyone personally to go there and ask upfront about him.

Ashley and Ashish came back to Pari and said, "Did you know Salem was on InStyle Magazine cover?" Ashley asked.

InStyle Magazine was one of the biggest names in the country. It was a huge thing to be featured on InStyle Magazine for any actor or model. The magazine was read by girl, women and boys interested in movies, gossip and fashion. It had news of the upcoming movies, trending styles and fashion and gossips from the movie industry.

Pari shook her head. If Salem was going to get featured on InStyle, why didn't he tell her?

Ashley then showed her the cover and it was clear to Pari why he didn't tell her.

Salem was on the cover with Tina...his ex-girlfriend!

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked concerned of Pari's reaction. She had an idea that they had something going on with each other.

"Yes. I need to leave. Bye." Saying so, Pari got up and left. She took a bus to Oliver's Cafe. The entire ride, her thoughts seemed to go back to the image on the magazine cover.

She didn't know whether she was hurt or angry or both. She closed her eyes, trying to erase the image from her mind but failed.

Once she reached Oliver's Cafe, she told herself that she needs to concentrate on her work. She wasn't going to cry for some boy. Not at all. 

In the evening, Oliver came by and complimented her for her look. She just smiled lightly and said nothing.

"Hello." She looked up and saw a boy who was a usual in the cafe. He often came with his friends.

"Hi."

"I was thinking about this for days...but I never had the courage...." Not now. Pari controlled herself from rolling her eyes. When boys a sentence like this, she usually know what was coming.

"But can we go out? I think you are beautiful and I would like to take you out on a....." As he was talking, a hand came on the boy's shoulder.

Salem removed his shades and made the boy face him. With a dangerous smile, Salem said, "Sorry buddy. She is already taken. But I agree, she is extremely beautiful." With a disappointed face, the boy said sorry and was about to leave when Pari yelled, "I am not! What time you want to meet?"

The boy gave them a confused look when Salem said, "She is probably angry at me. Go." And the boy left.

"What happened to you?"

"I don't want to talk right now. I am working." She said in anger.

"Oliver, Oliver." Salem yelled loudly and Oliver appeared. "I am taking her. We need to talk." Salem took hold of Pari's hand and took her behind the cafe.

"Speak." Salem said, not knowing what changed in one day.

"Didn't tell me about your InStyle cover or you wanted to hide it?" Pari spoke in a bitter tone.

"Until today morning, I didn't know for sure that it was going to happen. Why would I hide it from you?" Salem asked, lighting a cigarette.

"May be because it has Tina and you together." Pari answered.

"Huh? Pari, my love, it wasn't shot two days ago that I felt the need to hide it from you. It was shot two months back.
And I didn't know it was coming out today, otherwise I would have told you." Salem clarified.

"Okay." Pari tried to control the anger she felt and said, "You don't see the problem here. May be, we should stop whatever is going on between us."

"What the fuck? What has happened to you?" Salem asked shocked at her last statement.

"Is it so hard to understand or are you playing dumb? You shot with your ex! The pictures, you guys are so close to each other. I am going to lie, I am not okay with this."

"That was for a shoot. It's not real." Salem smoked his cigarette, trying to control his frustration.

"You think I am a fool, Salem? You did a photo shoot with her and you want me to believe that must be it?" Pari wasn't the one to forget Salem's ways with girls.

"Right now, you sound ridiculous! Let's just talk tomorrow when you are in sane mind, okay?" Salem tried to explain.

"No, let's end whatever this is. Because I don't want someone who is in contact with their ex." Pari said it.

"I said, we will talk tomorrow. Do you get it?" Salem repeated himself.

"We won't! Because I am not meeting you. And I am done talking with you." Pari walked away from Salem who didn't try to stop her.

****

Salem called Aman and went to their regular bar. Salem had also called Suri who was a art director in the magazine campaign shoot and had become a dear friend.

Suri and Aman laughed at how a photoshoot destroyed Salem's chance with Pari but when Salem didn't crack a smile, the stopped.

"This is not the first time you have broken up with a girl. Why so sad today?" Aman asked.

"I had never wanted someone this bad before her that's why." Salem said and drank another glass.

"She is so special?" Suri asked. He had just heard a few things about Pari from Salem.

"Extremely." Salem said while ordering another round of drinks.

"Only because she is beautiful and doesn't give him much importance, it's all his ego, Suri Bhai." Aman said what he felt like.

Salem looked at Aman and replied, "Have you seen a girl pick a stone and threaten it to throw on bunch of goons harrassing her and her sister? There was no fear in those eyes. She is beautiful. Extremely beautiful. But you haven't seen the way she handles the men who ogle at her at Oliver's. You haven't seen how gently she talks to the girls at the library. You haven't seen how much she concentrates while writing down notes. The frown on her forehead never going away.

When she dances, it's like the world follows her rhythm. You haven't seen her ferocious eyes, ready to kill me when I anger her. I want that. It tempts me. That anger, that rage, that raw passion. I want to tame all that."

"See, he is whipped." Aman said to Suri.

Suri was surprised that Salem was actually upset about this girl. There was so many beautiful women after this handsome boy and here he was upset about this rejection.

"Salem, there are many fishes in the sea." Suri explained. "And clearly, she is not okay with you shooting with other girls. Today, it's your ex she is objecting about, tomorrow it would be some other beautiful girl that you will be shooting with. It's either her or your career. You have to choose one." Suri said to Salem.

"Suri, people don't give me choices. I choose what I want. And this time, I want both." Salem said.

**

The next day, Salem followed her all the way from her area to college but she didn't pay him any need. When she went to Oliver's, he was there staring at her and then he followed her from Oliver's to her home. They stopped at an alley near her home. She looked back and requested him to leave from there as anyone would spot them.

"Does it look like I care or I am scared of them?" Salem asked.

"But I am. Leave now before anyone sees us." Pari said in hurry to leave her hand.

"First, you tell me that you got your mind back. You seriously have problem with me shooting with Tina? Babe, she is my ex. I don't care about her." Salem explained himself. He hated giving justifications but for Pari's sake, he did it.

"Salem. It's just better for the both of us if we forget each other. I don't want to complicate things. I don't think I will ever be okay with you shooting with your ex. And it doesn't look like you are about to stop." As she was about to leave, Salem hold her hand. She tried telling him to let it go but he didn't.

That's when Kabeer, her brother called her name. Salem left her hand and Pari walked fast towards her brother.

It was the first time Kabeer saw Salem. He hated seeing the sight infront of him. Clearly, Pari wanted to leave and the guy was not letting her.

"If he troubles you again, you can tell me." Kabeer said to Pari silently seeing how upset she looked.

"No, nothing like that. And you know, how well I know to deal with someone who troubles me." Pari said to not stress Kabeer. He knew how Pari handles people in her area who used to trouble her. She had once even threw chilly powder in the eyes of a boy who didn't take a NO. She had planned it all after giving him repeated warnings. From that day onwards, no boy in their locality came near Pari or even thought about her.

"But don't tell this at home. Please Kabeer." To which Kabeer nodded. He was a spoilt brat at home who used to irritate Pari but he was mature enough to know when to keep things to himself.  

What followed was two days of Salem doing the same thing. He followed her all around. He even kept a bouquet of red roses for her at Oliver's but she didn't give in.

The third day he came to her and said, "I signed a movie."

"That's great. All the best to you." She replied. She didn't know how to feel. She was happy for him but for once, she wished he would choose her over modelling. She knew it was unfair for her to ask this out of him. But she wished he had chosen her over his career.

"I may not come to college anymore." There were barely any days left, she thought. "I would straight away come to give exams. But I would have a tight schedule. This...this is my number. If you wish to call me." He gave her a chit with his landline number and cell phone.

"Come with me, once. Please." She couldn't deny his big innocent looking eyes and their plea. He was just too handsome to deny.

They went towards Oliver's small cabin upstairs. It was empty since he had not shown up yet. Salem locked the cabin and took her in his embrace.

"I don't told you I am going for a shoot. See, I have nothing to hide. The heroine opposite me is not Tina." He kissed her forehead. "It's a family movie." He kissed her cheeks. "The producer is running low on funds but has faith in me. I want this break. You will wish me luck, right?"

"I already did." She whispered looking down.

"No, I want you to say it with your whole heart. Wish me luck, love." He said, kissing her other cheek.

"All the best, Salem. Good luck." She said what he wanted to hear.

"Thanks, my love." He touched his forehead to hers and stayed silently as her tears flow.

It pierced her heart that he didn't choose her. She didn't think he would but she never imagined it would hurt her. Why can't he say that he would do something normal. He would get a normal job and they would give each other a try.

"Love, don't cry. I love you so much." He said and kissed her mouth. He didn't leave her until they were both breathless.

"I am gonna work so hard that I conquer the world." He kissed her one last time and opened the door.

She never saw him in college again. Not even during exams. Aman didn't greet her like before. He acted like she was just another stranger. Pari didn't even see him on the last day of their exam.

She sighed. Maybe, it was for the better to forget him and start anew. With the end of college, she pledged that she was going to forget him. She thought of sticking to her original plan of working to earn more money. This crush business was useless, she repeated to herself.

Not knowing that the next time their paths will cross, it was going to be forever and there will be no escape.
His embrace was going to be forever.

***
25/12/23

Hey guys!
Hope you are doing well.

Pls vote and comment.