MEANT TO BE

Chapter-15

[7 months later (Los Angeles) 7 p.m.]

A black mini bus was passing by the road with a team of 6 scientists Tahir was also one of them. They have came two days ago to attend a seminar on behalf of their institute while one of his colleague state,

"What kind of trip was that! Totally unfair!" the other one also started whining

"Seriously only 4 day 3 night stay, that also in Los angels, how ridicules!. From the day of arriving to till now we are busy to discuss viruses and bacterias and here my wife's shopping list is piling up day by day (He left a long sigh) what a life!"

Their continuous whining started disturbing Tahir who was trying to take a nap with his eyes closed, they still have 15 more minutes to reach their hotel, "What are you whining about, you still have a day left, go and shop as much as you can and please your wife"

"Pleasing wife is an impossible work of this world but a bachelor like you will not understand this. I hope each of you all can get some of annoying jerk like wives than you will know difficulties of a married man"

"Hey Sharma sir don't jinx it there are only four months left for my marriage"

"Don't worry a cow don't die from the curse of a vulture" Tahir mocked Mr. Sharma with his eyes closed and the whole bus filled with laughter.

"Hey Tahir I strongly feel you will stay single forever" Mr.Sharma faked an anger

"Good for me"

"Here you all are whining about your life and there are these people...what a life bro! All about luxury!" Rohit who was sitting beside Tahir stated while scrolling on his mobile phone.

"Explain please" one of the colleague asked.

"Listen then, today's hot news ' Is Billionaire Maeen Ramia in a secret relationship with the famous Singapore based Indian billionaire Vishal Malhotra (Unknowingly Tahir's ears get alerted by mention of her), rumore started from a recent interview where Vishal was questioned about his business rivalry with Maeen Ramia he said 'she is totally my type & there is no rivalry between us actually we are very close'. Netizens took it as a hint of their love relationship . Sources tried to conform the news with Ramia but she still out of the reach however both of the party didn't confirmed anything yet. Stay tuned for more update" Rohit completed reading the web news. " The conclusion is Luxury follows luxury and generation by generation they gets richer"

The other colleague claimed " Really! That Vishal Malhotra! That nations playboy! Didn't expect our perfect lady would choose such a man!"

"True, she is my idol...no no I don't agree" another colleague said .

"Who are you!" Rohit mocked him

"I'm an admirer...she is our pride how can we watch her choose a wrong guy"

"Well to be honest I also don't like the pair, they are not compatible at all, isn't it Bro?" Rohit asked Tahir who was lying calmly with his eyes closed beside him.

"Their life their choice"

"See...end of the conversation! Such an indifferent person" Rohit hitted his shoulder lightly. 'Indifferent' was he really indifferent!

The bus halted in front of the 5 star hotel, be it's 3 days trip or long their institute have arranged best for them. All of them get off from the bus one by one with Tahir at the end, while entering to the hotel Rohit suddenly remembered something and turned to Tahir who was walking behind him,

"I forgot"

"As usual" Tahir rolled his eyes and tried to walk past him while he grabbed his arm.

"It's my medicine"

"What medicine?"

"I've told you I've an upset stomach"

"Then feed it something good to become happy" he again tried to walk past only to be stopped by him.

"Stop this nonsense and go buy this one for me ( he took out a prescription from his pocket and gave it to him ) I need to go to toilet...it's emergency"

"Ask some from hotel I'm sure they have some medicine"

"They have but not this brand"

"For god sake Rohit medicine and Brand!" He shouted with frustration and stressed the word 'brand'.

" Go Go hurry" He murmured and went towards the main door ignoring his protest.

"Wait...hey...why are you doing this to me!" He shouted while Rohit replied " Because you are my best buddy" before entering the hotel. He left a sigh in defeat and walked around to find a pharmacy, for his bad the least distant shop was also in 30 min walking distance. He started walking admiring the surrounding. After a while he saw a yellow sports car standing middle of the road it’s right side was damaged & police was surrounded around, seems like an accident but there were no injured person .He walked past it minding his own business. He bought medicine and was on the way back to the hotel and reached to the same accident spot, the car have already taken away there were no trace of any accident at that time, he walked past the area, it was quite dark and silent at that place due to the small forest like place beside the road. Suddenly he heard a rumbling sound from somewhere close and halted...he started walking again ignoring it but the sound continue to be heard and this time a faint sob also reached at his ears . He tried to look around to find the source of the voice and turned on his mobile flash light and looked at the forest but found nothing.... “maybe some animal” He was about to leave while a groaning sound reached to his ears and this time it was clear...it was a female voice . He once again tried to look around and found someone in a white t-shirt was leaning behind the tree she have long hair but no movement, for a second he think twice to step forward but soon after he gain some courage and get near to the source and called out.

“Excuse me!” She turned around and due to the sudden light she kept her hand in front of her eyes as a reflex but the slight glimpse was enough for him to recognize ‘her’. She kept her hand away and he looked at the clear view “Who are you?” she asked with a stern voice. Her shoulder was injured, one side of her white t-shirt was completely drenched in blood . She was sweating even in the cold weather of LA, there were a slight glimpse of terror in a corner of her eyes but the stick in her grip was screaming bravery indeed she is a strong woman. He was still standing in the dark so her confusion was normal. He slightly turned the flash light towards his face and her expression turned into surprise. She stranded up with support of the tree seems like her leg also injured.

“How...How come!...am I..am I dead?” Tahir face palmed himself in his mind by her response and slightly pinched her cheek while she hissed in pain.

“What do you think?”

“But How come you are here?” never in her dream she have expected him to be there at that moment.

“What’s all this?” Tahir asked her with concern and totally ignored her question.

“I was passing by and a car just came from behind and crashed with mine, it was a small accident” She said in one go without looking at him. She looked at him after not getting any response...he was standing with folding his arms and keenly looking at her.

“Do you want me to believe?”

“Yeah” She quickly replied.

“Explain or I’m going to report to the police. You were hiding from them right” She looked at him surprisingly...no wonder he was definitely that same arrogant jerk from months ago...didn’t changed a bit, he even guessed absolutely right. She was about to talk back but after seeing his stern face she started explaining him.