Chapter 9
Abrar Point of View
I was shocked at the statement. I couldn’t explain to them what happened as it would raise more questions.
“You are getting it wrong. No such incident happened here.” I blurted out.” Sharma Ji, you know me well. Right? Why don’t you tell them?”
“What do you want me to say, Abrar? I too heard a girl scream, that noise came from your apartment,” he said. He was right at some point. The way Zoya screamed anyone could get it wrong.
“Now move. We need to check your house and rescue the girl,” the chairman said.
“Sir, please trust me. Nothing wrong happening here,” I tried to defend myself.
“Then tell us who the girl was. And why was she screaming?” My neighbor shrugged.
I had no answer to their questions. If I told them about Zoya I would have to tell them who she was. If I told them she wasn’t related to me, they wouldn’t have let us stay here as we were unmarried. If I lied to them that she was my wife, they wouldn’t have believed me as I had no proof to justify my statements. I realized I was in a great mess right then.
“Didn’t you hear us? We need to interrogate your house,” the chairman yelled.
I had no choice left. I couldn’t bear more mess in my life in less than 24 hours. I was about to move and let them in.
“Hello,” Zoya suddenly appeared there and held my arm. I shockingly glanced at her. People outside my apartment looked at her shockingly as she held my arm.
“See. There’s a girl,” the neighbors spat.
“Ok. So I’m a girl. What’s the big deal here?” She rolled her eyes.
“Are you ok? You were screaming,” the chairman asked her.
” Oh! That is a long story, uncle. First I saw some creepy cockroaches in the bathroom. They were flying and landing on my body. Eww!” She made a dirty face. I couldn’t do anything but only stare at her.
“Then I hurriedly walked out of the bathroom and slipped on the floor, gosh it was such a horrible experience,” she sighed. They looked at her shockingly, the way she was speaking was totally surprising.
“What did you guys assume?” She asked innocently.
“Nothing. Nothing,” the chair grinned as he waved his hands in the air.
“But who are you?” Sharma Ji asked. Now I was nervous, I had no idea how to answer that question for Zoya.
“Me? Abrar” she called me and jerked my arm. “Didn’t you give them the news?”
“Don’t start your drama here” I whispered into her eyes as she raised her eyebrows. “Our lie is not gonna work here. We don’t have anything to state that we are married.”
She drove her eyes away from me as if she ignored what I had said to her.
“I’m his wife” she beamed.
Oh no! This was bad.
Everyone looked shocked and looked at each other. This was gonna lead me into trouble.
“Wife?” Sharma Ji exclaimed. “Abrar, you have a wife? When did you get married?” He asked looking surprised.
I know it, they were gonna ask me all these questions. I wondered how she was gonna handle them. However, she was Zoya and no one could ever figure out what was cooking inside her head.
“I… Actually, I was about to…” I stuttered, unable to answer the question.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.
“It happened suddenly,” she replied in my stead, saving me from the awkward situation.
“We were about to announce it. The thing is it was so quick that we couldn’t tell anyone.”
“Yeah. She… She is right” I preferred to agree with her statements as I was terrible at making up stories and telling lies. She had mastered those skills.
“But Abrar, you didn’t tell me about your plans,” Sharma Ji asked.
“If both of you are really married, where is your marriage certificate?” my annoying neighbor Mr. Sheikh asked with a scowl on his face.
We never got along because he always had problems with me. I didn’t know why he was always so mad at me but I always respected him as he was an elderly man.
“Yes, Abrar. Then fulfill the formalities. Give me your marriage certificate,” Sharma Ji asked. Now from where would I bring a marriage certificate? My head started pounding. This was all Zoya’s fault.
“Marriage… certificate?” I stammered.
“Yes. Don’t you have it?” Mr. Sheikh asked, looking suspicious.
“Did you forget you gave it to me?” Zoya lightly punched me on my shoulder as I looked at her surprisingly. What the heck was she talking about?
At this point, she should just keep her mouth shut.
“Excuse me, everyone. I’ll be back with the certificate” she said with a smile as she walked inside her room. I was getting more nervous with every passing second. What was she up to? We didn’t plan anything when she asked me to help her in that drama. Basically, we hadn’t done any proper planning.
I remained silent when everyone was staring at me as if I had committed some crime by getting married. Until she came I didn’t utter a single word. After two minutes, Zoya returned with a file. I was confused about the file. Before showing it to me, she gave it to Sharma Ji.
“Here’s our marriage certificate,” she said, making me shocked.
Where did she get that from? How did she manage to get a marriage certificate? I couldn’t be more surprised. This girl was something else.
“Hmm… Take this” Sharma Ji returned it to her after looking at it thoroughly. “Make a copy and then give it to me. And congratulations” he beamed
“Congrats Abrar”, the Chairman smiled. And Mr. Sheikh also congratulated us too.
“Thank you,” Zoya replied to all on behalf of me and I half smiled. As soon as they left, I slammed the door and looked at her.
“Why are you looking at me like this?” She narrowed her eyebrows. I could not reply as I was still shocked by her actions.
I grabbed the file from her hand. I opened it and checked it carefully. My eyes popped out as I found it to be an actual marriage certificate.
“How did you manage it overnight?” I exclaimed, my eyes were not believing what I saw.
“Do I need to remind you that I’m Zoya Rehmat Ali? And now Zoya Zafar,” she chuckled.
“Bullshit. You are not Zoya Zafar. It’s just a lie, a scripted relationship”