Her phone buzzed. She leaned forward to slide it closer, trying to see the caller ID when Samar’s nostrils flared over her hair.
KAHL Calling…
“Why is he calling you so late at night?”
“He must be in Srinagar.”
“But why this late?”
“We will find out.” She deadpanned, pressing her thumb onto the swipe button when he wrapped his fingers around her wrist — “On speaker.”
“You can’t be serious!”
“Speaker.”
“No.” She swiped and plastered her phone to her ear, glaring at him. “Hey, Khalil.”
“Hey, Am… What’s up?”
She glanced at herself, freshly pleasured and in between the thighs of the man she loved, on a dusty floor of his rented flat in Srinagar.
“Nothing much, tell me.”
“I am in your city and done with my work. Wanna catch up?”
“As I guessed.” She chuckled. The fist in her hair tightened. That’s when she realised it. He had wound her hair around his fist. The caveman!
“All other places would be closed but they have this 24-hour bar in my hotel that serves great margaritas. Want to meet there?”
“Oh, no, Khalil, I am done for the day.”
“Is this because of the breakup?”
She glanced at the profile of Samar’s dark jaw in her field of vision. “Umm…”
“It’s been a year, Am. We can still meet as friends, can’t we?”
“Of course! This isn’t the first time we broke up…” Her head was pulled around and Samar’s mouth stamped over hers before leaving it in a millisecond. Amaal pinned his neck back with her free hand, fuming.
“Sorry, I missed the last part.” Khalil raised his voice.
“Network issue… I said it’s not because of anything but I am just not up for it. Maybe another time.”
He huffed. “Cool, another time. Now that you are the mighty Press Secretary to CM Kaul, you don’t even meet me for work anymore.”
“I did meet you for work in Jammu.”
“With eight other editors in the room.”
“That was still meeting.”
“Yeah but I want to meet one on one!”
“Now I think you are tipsy or tired. Go sleep, Khalil.”
He yawned — “Yeah, maybe I will. See you, Am.”
“Bye.”
