2

"Twenty questions?" Rahul asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Ayesha.

"No. It's lame."

She scoffed. "Guess what? So are you."

"I know," he replied and closed his eyes again. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

She sighed. "Don't ask."

"Okay."

Ayesha frowned. "I didn't mean it that literally..."

Rahul sighed and opened his eyes, turning to face her. "What do you want exactly, Raizada?"

"I - I..." She turned nervous all of a sudden.

"Keep going. I'm still listening."

"Um, I'm locked out of my house."

"No one's in, huh?"

"Nope. My parents are inside sleeping with their ears closed purposefully. They are giving me punishment by locking me out of the house for a night."

"They aren't afraid something might happen to you?"

"Pssh. You really think something wrong will happen to me in this colony? I don't think so."

"True."

He turned his head forward, and closed his eyes once more. Ayesha kept staring at him. He didn't seem neither nervous nor angry. He in fact was relaxed and noncholant. If it weren't for the bag, no one would've guessed he ran away from his house. Which made Ayesha have another thought.

"Rahul?" she asked, softly, afraid he was asleep.

"Hmm," he asnwered, eyes still closed.

"You live nearby?"

"Yeah."

"How come I never saw you around? I've been here since I was two."

"But I came around only a few months earlier. I know where your house is. It's on the opposite direction of mine. And you never even roamed around this colony anymore, right? You're always hanging around those people... ah, they're your friends, right?" He joked.

She slapped his arm. "Hey! They are my friends!"

"Then how come you didn't call anyone for help after your parents kicked you out?"

That got her thinking. Why didn't you, Ayesha? "Because that would've made my parents more angry," she answered.

Rahul shrugged. "If that's what you say."

Ayesha checked her phone, and it was dead. All the battery was gone. She sighed, and pushed the phone into the pocket inside of her jacket. The wind blew harder, and she clutched onto her jacket more tightly. She was so glad her parents left it for her. She remembered the biscuit packet she was tucked into another pocket and took it out. Unfortunately, it was all crumbled except for about three pieces.

Taking out the good ones, she threw the packet along with the crumbs into a nearby dustbin. She bit half of one, and she realized how good it felt. She was hungry. Swiftly, she finished swallowing the half of a biscuit and stuffed the other half in her mouth.

The eating noise made Rahul look at her, curiously. He saw Ayesha hungrily eating the second biscuit. When Ayesha noticed Rahul was staring, she offered the third one to him. Smiling, he rejected it and instead watched as she ate the third one too.

"Still hungry?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"You want to grab some chaat?" he asked.

"Chaat? Now?"

"Yeah. It's just close to nine. There is a stall neaby. They have the best Pani Puri and Pav Bhaji. Do you want to try?"

"No..."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine!" she nuttered. "But, for your information, I have no money with me. So, even if I want to, I can't."

Rahul sighed. "I'll pay, madam. And you can pay me back later," he added when she opened her mouth. "You seem hungry, Ayesha. And even I want chaat. Okay?"

She nodded, slowly. "Okay."

~

The place where Rahul her for chaat was a shed underneath where all the chaat was being prepared live, according to their orders. That was on one side of the shed, and while the others had some stools to sit on.

The moment Ayesha entered it, an amazing smell of masala and other stuff hit her nose and made her mouth water. The place was full and bustling with people.

"Wow," she said.

"I know right," said Rahul.

"It smells amazing."

"Just wait till you taste it."

Ayesha went and saved two spots for her and Rahul, while Rahul went to order Pav Bhaji. Five minutes later, Rahul struggled to hold two plates of steaming bread and the orange gravy. Ayesha widened her eyes and quickly stood up and rushed to help him. She took one plate from his hands. Oh, it's hot! They finally set both the plates on a third stool, which acted as a table.

"Go on," said Rahul as he slowly tore a piece and dipped it in the gravy.

"Blow on it," reminded Ayesha.

Soon, Rahul and Ayesha found themselves enjoying one the best Pav Bhaji they have ever tasted. It was hot, but it was delicious. They kept laughing and eating.

"Oh my," said Ayesha, after they finished eating. "That was amazing."

"I told you." Rahul grinned. "Gosh, I need some water."

Ayesha stood up and threw the plates in a nearby bin, while he bought a water bottle. He was happily chugging water from the bottle, and that's when Ayesha remembered the one she left at her home. Rahul passed the bottle to her, and she took it.

"I don't know about you," he started. "But I'm really full. Need to take a walk to get it all digested. So I'm going to take a nice walk, should I drop you to your house or you'll go by yourself?"

Ayesha felt her mood dip. She was just beginning to have fun and enjoy her time with Rahul.

"Do I really need to go home now?"

Rahul looked surprised. "Uh, you don't want to?"

"Can I walk with you? I'm full too."

He pondered for a moment. "Okay... sure. Just tell if you feel uncomfortable or anything, alright? I'll seriously drop you back home."

Ayesha rolled her eyes. "Yeah thanks. I'll carry your bag for you."

Rahul shrugged and gave it to her. Ayesha didn't show anything on her face, but was really surprised he actually gave his bag to her. She didn't think he would actually take the offer. But pushing all those thoughts aside, she slung the bag onto her shoulders.

"Let's go," said Rahul.

"Where are we going anyways?"

"Hmm... whenever I run away from home I really like going to the park nearby. So let's go there."

Rahul had already begun walking while Ayesha's eyes widened at his words.

Whenever I run away from home...

"So you already ran away before?" she asked, catching up with him.

"Yep."

"Wow. Why?"

"I don't want to tell you."

"Couldn't you be a little nicer about it?"

"No. By the way, you said your parents locked you out 'cause you went out. Where did you even go?"

Ayesha bit her lip. Whenever they talked about themselves, she couldn't help but feel like a bit of a loser. "A party."

"A party? Rebelled, huh. Nice."

"Pssh. What's so nice about it? I'm regretting it, you know."

"You're regretting what?"

"Going to the party. I wouldn't be locked out like this then."

"So you are regretting because you got locked out, not because your parents felt bad."

"Excuse me?"

"Think about it. If your parents hadn't locked you out, would you be regretting like this? Nope. You would have been proud of it and also happy and glad that you did it. It's very clear, you know."

"Stop saying crap about it. You know nothing."

"Oh, I know enough."

Ayesha was almost fuming on the inside. She was mad at Rahul's words but she didn't say anything. She clenched her fists and stomped her leg but she kept her mouth shut.

They didn't talk. They were quite. They were walking together but hadn't spoken a word to each other.

Ayesha found the route familiar. She realized she used to walk by this place with her Mom quite often before. She couldn't help but notice how different everything looks in the night, in the dark. Of course, the road is bustling with cars and bikes as usual, but the other inanimate objects that we usually tend to ignore turned to be amusing.

Rahul always turned back almost every thirty seconds to check upon Ayesha. He didn't say anything, but it was obvious he was worrying about her. They have been walking for almost fifteen minutes without talking and finally the park was visible. Except for two children, there was no one.

Ayesha - without glancing at Rahul - walked swiftly towards the swings and sat on one... only to see Rahul sitting on the one beside hers.

"Are you mad at me?" he finally said and sighed.

"I don't know," she replied slowly. "Am I?"

He sighed once more. "I am serious, Ayesha."

"Who said you aren't?"

"Okay, fine. I'm really sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean to cross a line."

Ayesha was a but surprised that he actually apologized. "Uh..."

"What? Not enough? Aren't you dragging this a bit too much?"

"It's fine, okay!" She turned red.

They kept swinging for sometime.

"Now I remember," said Ayesha, suddenly. "I used to come here. Especially in my twelfth grade. Whenever I felt too much stress was piling upon me, I used to come here. Just half an hour. I used to swing, go on the slides, and watch the other kids play. Sometimes I even bought ice cream."

"From Ahmed Kaka?" he asked.

"Yes!" she replied happily.

"He's a nice and warm person."

"Yeah... but it's been long."

"Why did you stop coming?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I got more friends and... less pressure since I finally entered college. Maybe because of that."

He didn't reply.

"Rahul?" she asked.

"Hmm."

"Can I ask you one question?"

"Go on."

"Why don't you have so many friends?"

Rahul looked at her.

Ayesha quickly said, "Not like that! I mean you are smart and you also seem nice so it is obvious that many would've tried to be friends with you. I mean you have looks too! But still... why?"

"I have friends," he said, softly. "I may not hang out with them all the time but my friends are always there for me whenever I need. I don't have many, but I have the ones that I really like. Most are from school, but I do have a couple from college too."

She nodded.

"You like it here?" he asked.

"Yeah. It's peaceful. Thanks for the chaat, though. Really. I mean it."

"It's fine. I can't just let you starve, can I now?"

"Where do you plan to go, Rahul?"

"Pardon?"

"You ran away," she reminded him. "Where do you plan to go?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I went over my friends place before, but I don't think I'll go there now. They'll catch me too easily."

"Isn't it dangerous?"

"Is it?"

"I'm asking you."

"It's escaping. That's the best feeling, I think."

"It's wierd, you know."

"What is?"

"We never even talked to each other before and when we do, we already know such dense stuff about each other."

"Wow, right. I am surprised I actually told you all this. I don't even know why."

"And I told you, too."

"Did you? I just stated facts."

"Hey!"

Rahul laughed, and soon even Ayesha joined. The night ahead seemed a bit more bearable to Ayesha.