Chapter Eight – Joy never felt before

“Would you like to have it wrapped, sir?” the man at the counter of ‘Delightful Captures’ asked Zayaan.

“A red wrapping ribbon will do…” Zayaan answered with a smile. The young boy at the counter smiled back as he began to fulfill Zayaan’s order. Then again Zayaan was left to his own thoughts which were now dominated with one girl’s face. He wondered for the thousandth time why he wasn’t able to get his thoughts back in order. It was those very thoughts that forced him away from his work to the place he was in at the moment. He contemplated on why he was so keen on going so far for a girl he’d just met, as he looked at the boy wrapping the gift he asked for. But his contemplation was to no avail in finding a conclusion that would give his restless heart a relief.

Zayaan put his hands in his jeans pockets as he turned his head towards the window to his left. He was about to move his gaze but couldn’t do it because of what he saw. It was none but her, looking straight at him from outside the window. For a moment he was puzzled as to why she would be looking his way. But within a few seconds when she began to look this way and that, giving fake smiles, he realized that she was looking at herself. A goofy smile appeared on his face without him realizing. He got a sudden urge to let her know that he was looking at her. He imagined how that would turn into a joke and it would begin their friendship. His fantasy came to a halt when the boy at the counter called him handing over a medium-sized ‘Delightful Captures’ bag. Zayaan thanked him as he took the bag and looked at Saba again. He began to walk out the store slowly while looking at her but began to take wide steps when he saw her rushing to go. Zayaan reached for the door and walked out to step right in front of her. Saba stepped back with a gasp, placing her hand on her chest with her eyes widened. She stayed the same when Zayaan looked at her, with her heart pounding against her chest.

“Hi!” Zayaan said with a hint of nervousness as he cursed himself for startling her again.

“Hi…” Saba said, trying to strengthen her voice but failing miserably as her heart refused to slow down even one bit.

“We happen to startle each other every time we meet don’t we?” he said, forcing a chuckle and telling himself that he wasn’t being cool. Nothing to laugh about ‘startling’!

“Yeah…I guess so.” she said with a light laugh before beginning to walk in hope she would get herself together.

“Where are you headed?” Zayaan asked, catching up to her and walking beside her. He asked though he knew the answer.

“To MCN studio that you see there….I’ve been invited for an interview.”

“I see….are you nervous?”

“A little….yeah.”

“Naturally so…..happens to everyone when they first get a chance to be on television. It happened to me too.”

“It did?” she asked in awe, completely forgetting about her nervousness and insecurities at that moment. She felt herself being pulled by an unknown wave of emotions. Perhaps because she found someone who shares one of her weaknesses. She was keen to know how he dealt with it.

“Sure….my legs would feel like jelly every time I looked at the camera for practice. But then I began to attend some court cases of criminals with my friend who was journaling the case. I saw them lying to everyone’s face without batting an eye. Then I thought to myself that if they could say the wrong thing so confidently, I should be able to say what is right for those who will be listening to me….” Zayaan shared his experience without hiding one bit.

“You are right! That’s absolutely right! Actually that’s what my father tells me all the time. Not to fear the people but to fear Allah only. If I say the right thing, I mustn’t care about what others think of me. Because at the end of the day, what matters is if Allah is pleased with you or not….it’s really comforting now that I think about it. Thank you for reminding me of this.” Saba said, looking at him with a smile. Zayaan smiled back with the amazement in his heart. He should be the one thanking her, he thought as he realized she’d brought out wisdom from his words they originally lacked.

“Are you going there too?” Saba asked as Zayaan stood right next to her as she faced the street right in front of MCN studio building and waited for the light to turn green. She was slowly beginning to lose the discomfort she had with Zayaan. She didn’t know how to feel as she realized that hence she decided to go with the flow for the moment.

“Yeah. I work there as a journalist and photographer. Have to go over a few more articles before I go home today.” he said as he crossed the street along with Saba.

“Good luck!” Saba said with a bright smile that was completely out of her control. Her hands turned cold for some reason as she realized that.

“You too…remember, you’ve got no reason to be nervous.” Zayaan said as they both headed towards the tall building.

“Guess so, besides me being short on looks.”

“Trust me, you are rich with the looks you think you lack. So rich in fact that you would be able sweep a man off his feet just by checking yourself out on a window.” he said and an instant shock got to him as he could not believe he’d just said that out loud. ‘Checking yourself out on a window’ immediately reminded Saba of how she’d just looked at her reflection on the window. It took her a few seconds to realize Zayaan must have seen her from the inside as she remembered he’d come out from that store. She felt a warmth on her cheeks as she flushed at the thought. Zayaan had a similar expression on his face as he walked into the building along with Saba. He was partly scolding himself as he thought that he’d then again affirmed the assumption that he was a pervert. He didn’t realize that a light smile played on her lips as she walked with him. The reason behind that smile was the shyness she noticed from him, as he refused to say anything more after those words, unlike a pervert.

Despite the shyness when he was with her, Zayaan ended up smiling once he was by himself in his cubicle. He was smiling throughout his work all the while replaying the conversation he had with her. Laaiq was teasing him the whole time but Zayaan denied that he was thinking about the girl he’d requested to bring for the interview. Looking at her picture that night, he knew he wanted to do something to build her confidence. And he also knew that he had to meet her. It all happened with his subconscious mind at play. All of a sudden, he had shared the idea with Laaiq that night. The idea of bringing a girl from the camp in the forest for an interview. He’d dug the information out of Laaiq enough to find out Saba was somewhat of an important personality to the camp. Hence he suggested inviting her at once.

He felt grateful for taking that decision. Because that decision has brought him closer to her today. He knew he wanted to know her for sure. If not anything else. He was asking Laaiq about her every now and then. He felt down when he heard that she’d taken some pills to calm her down for the interview. And she seemed like she was about to shake even as the interview began. But Zayaan was all the more impressed when he heard that even the interviewer told her she could come back next time if she preferred and yet she said she wouldn’t back down as she promised her friend and persevered through her anxiety.

Zayaan wanted to attend the most part of the interview but delayed his entry on purpose as he thought she’d get more nervous if she saw someone new from behind the camera. So he held himself back until the very end of the interview and entered the room along with the bag he got from Delightful Captures that day. He’d stayed near the door, as the director called out that it was a wrap and then she got up with a smile and shook hands with the lady interviewer. She’d smiled at everyone else too but she charmingly placed her hand on her chest when the men held out their hands to shake hers. If it was any other woman wearing a long black dress not shaking hands with men, Zayaan would have called her an extremist. But she’d come too close to him, or he had let her thoughts get the most of him, before he could call her that. So he’d looked even at her ‘odd’ actions with awe.

A few seconds later as Saba headed towards the door, her eyes met Zayaan’s and then again he got to see her full smile with a twinkle in her eyes. Zayaan smiled back as she came to stand right in front of him.

“How was the interview?” he asked.

“Better than I thought! Thanks for the last minute confidence booster..” Saba felt hyped at the moment as she knew she’d aced the interview. They both laughed for a moment before she spoke again as she checked the time from her wrist watch.

“Oh I’ve got to get going! Need to catch the bus at 6.” she said.

“Wait a second….take this with you.” Zayaan said, lifting the bag in his hand.

“What’s this?”

“A gift.”

“For me?!”

“Yes…”

Saba looked puzzled as she took the bag from him. She remembered how he’d had that bag when he’d come out of that store. She felt something rectangular as she held the body of the bag. When Zayaan let go off it, she looked inside and saw a dark blue glass frame with a red ribbon bow tie on the corner. She took out the frame and looked at the picture in it. It was her picture. Sitting at the river giving a shocked look at the camera.

“I did delete the picture from my camera and from my PC too. But I thought it would be a shame to do away with it completely. It was too nice of a shot. So I took this one for you…” Zayaan said in a calm voice and Saba could not help but look at him and then smile with a light laugh as her heart began to dance with a kind of joy it never felt before.