12. Budding wishes:

 

"sir I need an off after lunch",

Wali spoke up and his supervisor was staring at him and he, for the first time, was feeling strange.

"Wali are u sure dear?", he again asked, holding a the pen in his hands, "yes sir", he took a deep breath. He signed the leave smiling and Wali wanted to hide somewhere. His smile was so mischievous. Wali grabbed the leave and securely folded it placing it in his pocket. It was 11. There were still 3 hours for the lunch.

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"gauri pass me the portfolios", Farah spoke up, typing the names on the keyboard.

"ma'am, today the banner designers are coming ",

"hmm, ok, make sure they are not late", she hurriedly skimmed through the names on the paper, concentrating on the highlighted ones.

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Wali was not able to concentrate on his work today. Three times he had to drill the machine again, he was not able to take the correct measurements. He was again and again glancing at his wrist watch.

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"sandy are we done with the preliminary presentation?"

"almost done Farah, but I want u to go through once, we have to present tomorrow".

"hmm..alright, start the slide show" 

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"Wali start the machine na!", his co-worker shouted from the pulley and Wali realized that he had to start the lift so his co-worker could come down, but he was so lost looking at his wrist watch that he forgot everything, "oh sorry!", he immediately pressed the button and saw the pulley rushing down the string and his co-worker jumped down, "hmm", his co-worker glanced at his watch, "so Suhaib khan what is the time?"

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"It's 12.30 ma'am" her assistant informed her, "ok, just check have the designers arrived?"

"ma'am they said they will be half an hour late!"

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"Late!?", he was throwing bricks down the foundations when this doubt came to his lips, but he knew she was never late, she was always on time, always!

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Ma'am they are always on time!", her assistant insisted

"so what?, today they are NOT!, and moreover they are lying about traffic jams ' cancel their meeting, we will hire someone else",

"ma'am but they are the best", her assistant was not convinced, and Farah raised her eyes from the file, "they WERE the best!, anyone who cannot accept  his mistake is a loser for sure", she again bended on the file, "accepting mistakes needs courage, and courage guarantees excellence and the one who is excellent is the best"

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It was 2.00 ' sharp! All the laborers were busy in their lunches, and Wali as usual sat on his typical corner, opening is tiffin, he had paantheeli today. He started eating slowly, his eyes frequently looking at the road in front. She may be here any moment. His heart was feeling a strange anxiety. He didn't want to give this feeling any name, but at the same time, he was not able to shrug off the thought. He managed to numb his mind, he was not allowing his mind and heart to fight, so he started concentrating on the fact that paantheeli had less salt.

As the needles on his watch were moving forward, his heart was losing hope. He was constantly munching his lunch, trying to convince his heart that if she wouldn't come today than he would ask his sister, he would go buy the gift himself, he would send her sister money, she could buy of her own choice. He had many options, he didn't need her advice. So what if she won't come. He glanced at his watch,

It was 2.30.

Every day she came at 2.05, today she didn't come, she was late, or she wasn't coming ' she forgot her promise, she betrayed him - all these thoughts were crossing his mind, but then again she was just a stranger, it wasn't' her responsibility to help him, She must have said in courtesy. She was nobody.

Finally convincing his heart  that she was not coming, he took out his leave and headed to his supervisor's desk to ask him to cancel it. He reached the desk but he was not there, may be hadn't return from his lunch break, so he took the pen and signed the "cancellation of leave by employee" option. He was about to place the leave on his desk when the similar slender fingers, with no rings and neatly cut nails, grabbed his wrist.

"Tumhain kia laga  main nahi aaon gi?", she grabbed his wrist, taking the cancelled leave from his hand, "bolo?", she raised her eyebrows and Wali couldn't take his eyes off her. He was extremely extremely happy on seeing her. She narrowed her eyes on his constant staring, "bolo bhi!", this time she jerked his shoulder and he lowered his eyes, realizing what happened in the last hour, he took the leave from her hand and placed in his pocket. He glanced at her and headed towards the exit. "oye kahan ja rahe ho?",, she was standing in amazement!

"hum shopping pe ja rahe hain, tu I guess for that we have to move towards the exit",he said and Farah was again stunned at his reply, but this time she broke into a laughter and almost ran to catch up with him.

"kamal ho tum bhi!. Aisa chalna shoro kar zarminey", her breath was panting a bit and Wali slowed down so she could normalize her breath and Farah noticed it, she smiled a bit, stealing glance at him. She was not wrong ' He is a nice person!

They were walking down the road when Farah suddenly jumped in excitement, "ye hai mera office", Farah proudly pointed at the high rise building at their left. "main creative head hon is adversting company main".

Wali was walking quietly and Farah wanted him to talk, "btw main ne socha k tumhari bhen ki anniversary hai tu hamien kuch aisa lena chaiye jo dono k liye ho, mtlb us k liye aur us k husband k liye!", she again expected an answer but he just nodded. Meanwhile they reached the bus stop, "waise main ne socha k

"hum kahan ja rahen hain?', he spoke up, looking straight in her eyes and for a moment she was stunned to react, he spoke up so suddenly, and his deep voice seemed more coarse at this sudden gesture, "Eoten Centre", she managed to speak controlling her beats. He looked at the timings map on the stop, meanwhile Farah was staring him. She just wasn't able to take her eyes off him. Both of them knew the paths and bus routes very well, so as the bus arrived, they both headed forward seeing the number on it. Both of them took out their travel cards and sat in the bus.

 The bus was full, so they had to stand, it was nothing knew, it was normal routine for the buses to be full, Farah stood holding the bar, and Wali stood very near her, holding the same bar. He was looking in front at the road, through the windscreen of the bus, and Farah was looking at him. He was standing very close to her, so close that her lips would collide with his cheek skin at a slight push, she lowered her eyes at this thought, she noticed that his arms were completely around her, although they were not touching her, but still it felt like an invisible wall around her, she felt so protected, so enveloped, so secure, she looked at their hands on the bar, they were also very close, they were separated by just a millimeter, her fingers so itched to hold his hands, but she controlled, instead she slid her hand away on the bar, increasing the difference, but her heart ached while she did this, she herself increased the difference and this was not acceptable to her , so slid the hand again close to him, this time the difference was less than a mico-meter, she was lovingly gazing at their hands, and smiling lightly, when her eyes caught the other bar in the bus, where a boy and girl were holding it together, their fingers were completely entwined, and the girl had placed her head on his shoulder, Farah's smile widened seeing them, they are in love, she thought, again looking at their hands, the fingers were completely locked, again looking at thier own hands, which were away, although from just a mico 'meter but they were away, something budded in her heart, she wanted to hold his hand, but then she saw him removing the hand from the bar, she immediately looked into his eyes with amazement,

" chalo, we have reached!", he was shocked to see the amazed expression in her eyes, and she saw that they had reached, cursing herself on her stupidity, they both got down from the bus.

Stepping down she inhaled air, just to make her mind normal after what she was thinking in the bus, and Wali was staring at her, while she was mumbling something to herself, but as she realized Wali's stare, she coughed, "umm, kia hai?, chalo!", she hurriedly moved in the mall and Wali followed him, shaking his head.

The shopping malls were always a new world altogether, hustle bustle, lots of people, buying, selling, eating, she loved malls!,

she looked at Wali who was taking something out from his pocket, it was money,  he counted , and then handed to Farah, "ye lo, $500"

He plainly said and Farah was shocked, "mujhe ku de rahe ho?"

"ku k tum shopping karne wali ho.", he again said in a plain voice and Farah was getting confused, "han, magr paise tum rakho na.. hum..

"nahi, pasie tum rakho," he extended his arm further towards her and Farah hesitantly took the money, holding them tight in her fist and looked at Wali,

"per tum sath ho na?", she nervously asked.,

 he took a step towards her , looking in her eyes, "haan..main sath hon!"