The Contract by Zeenat Mahal Read Free Book Online Page B

looked at Hussain, her face sad but determined. He
    stared back at her endlessly, it seemed to her, and then without a word left the room.

    * * *

    Thankfully, the hot looks from Hussain ceased. He was cold and distant, but Aunty Salma became a
    force to be reckoned with. Shahira and Hussain were thrown together at odd times, in strange
    situations and it was impossible to thwart Aunty Salma. Shahira felt awkward and it was extremely
    unpleasant for Hussain, judging from his rigid expression and cold silence, which was fine, except if
    Aunty Salma was to be stopped they had to work together.
    The first time, Shahira was abandoned by Aunty Salma at a clothes shop. She was just left standing
    on the road and was trying to ascertain what had happened when a familiar black Mercedes cruised to
    a halt beside her. Hussain sat stiff and clearly impatient in the driver’s seat. The drive home was
    heavy with silence.
    Next, Aunty Salma insisted that she’d promised to go to a distant relative’s house but now she just
    couldn’t make it, so could Shahira go instead? Shahira, still an unsuspecting pawn, agreed. At five,
    when she came down all dressed and ready to visit this relative she’d never heard of before, Hussain
    was standing in the foyer, wearing his designer suit and looking at everything but her. When she
    finally descended, he opened the door and stood waiting for her, his face a mask of complete and utter
    boredom.
    She walked out and into the passenger seat, as he held the door open for her. She’d never had any
    one behave like this with her. She was a bit flustered and didn’t quite know how to respond. For an
    hour they tried to find the house but there seemed to be something wrong with the address because
    even when Hussain stopped and asked a few passers-by, no one had ever heard of the person or the
    street.
    Hussain scowled and after an hour of complete silence and no luck with their quest, they returned
    home to find Aunty Salma waiting for them, her eyes shining. Shahira was suspicious but she couldn’t
    prove anything.
    Aunty Salma didn’t give up though.
    She complained to Shahira after a few days, “I’ve asked Hussain so many times to do this for me
    but he’s such an angraiz ! Can you please go to Daata Saheb today and distribute food and pray in my
    stead?”
    Shahira was a believer, she couldn’t have refused going to Daata Saheb. She reached the darbar
    around one o’clock in the afternoon, crowded with a multitude of jostling, hopeful people. First she
    went to the place where she had to give money for the daigs and food, and then she went to pray at the
    shrine. It took her nearly twenty minutes. Turning back, she was struggling through the still dense
    crowd, when someone caught her arm roughly. Startled, she looked back, and to her utter astonishment
    Hussain stood there, looking like the wrath of God.
    “What were you thinking, coming here on a Thursday of all days? And if you can’t handle big
    crowds, you’re in the wrong place.” He was right about that—Thursdays and Fridays were the
    busiest days.
    He led her outside and asked shortly, “Where did you park your car?”
    “Over there…near the cane shop…”
    There was nothing there. Hussain gave her a look that told her exactly what he thought of her
    parking skills. He went straight to the traffic sergeant, nodded to him, shook his hand, and received a
    piece of paper from him.
    “Let’s go,” he said shortly.
    “But…my car…”
    He stopped dead and, said briefly, “Towed.”
    Shahira was upset. “But…it was legal parking. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “Shahira, it’s nearly thirty-eight degrees centigrade out here and I’ve been here for two hours. Why
    you’d pick this day, of all days, to come here, I don’t know, but thankfully, I was here.”
    Shahira interrupted him, “What? Why thankfully? And what were you doing here, anyway?”
    They’d reached his car, sensibly parked in the parking lot.