“No.”
“You sprayed it on your back that day.”
“Hmm.”
She closed her eyes — “Samar, I could have gone on without hearing this Hmm today.”
“Get inside now,” he tipped his chin towards the gate.
“You also,” she tipped her chin just like his. “Or have you ordered more prizes for others?”
He stared at her a second longer than usual, and in that second, she hated how she thought about another girl from this lot getting a pepper spray from him. She also thought about how she would steal it from her if she did.
But then he locked his hands behind his back and gestured for her to lead the way with his eyes. She quietly turned and led the way inside.
12. Amaal stared out of her closed window at the Srinagar Airport…
MOM
Landed
AMAAL
I am parked right outside
DAD
You don’t have a car
AMAAL
My boss does
Amaal stared out of the closed window at the Srinagar Airport in the distance. Sun was out but hidden, the sky gloomy, wintry, but not snowy yet. December in Kashmir was not usually snowy, as her friends and colleagues had graciously supplied. After a month transitioning back into Kashmir’s autumn/winter, she suddenly missed the heat of Jammu. No worrying about keeping the car heated and idling.
She ran a hand down the leather steering wheel of the worn Indica that she had coaxed out of Atharva. It was Samar’s car, but he wouldn’t give it to her. She had, in true teacher’s pet fashion, gone to Atharva.
“Please, for a day, just to pick up my parents!”
“You know how to drive on icy roads?”
“I have driven in the UK.”
“Fine.”
She had then taken Atharva’s ‘fine’ and slapped it on Samar’s smug face. Not literally. She had still said it nicely, and begged a little until he had saidok. Not with his mouth but with his curt chin.
Her mobile rang.
“Yes, Fahad?”
“Are you coming to the office today? Atharva Bhai said your parents have come.”
“Of course I am coming. I’ll drop them off at home and come after lunch. What’s going on?”
“Ehsaan has brought 2011 Q1 calendar for events.”
“Is he at the office all day?”
