SaHil story: The Stockholm Syndrome (updated chap 2 on pg 3) - Page 2

As they stepped out of the car, a fusion of vibrant colours and smells jolted their senses.

The mouth watering aroma of kebabs and sweets, the shouts of the vendors, the noise of trumpet in the circus tent, the laughter of children...all brought back memories of a long lost childhood to Aahil.

*They even have a ferris wheel here! Impressive!* the five year old inside the grown-up Aahil marveled.

"Aap ko yaad hai Aahil bhai, how we used to sneak out of school to come here?" Rehaan was smiling fondly. "It was like our own Disneyland in Bhopal." He looked at Sanam, who was clearly getting restless to step inside the carnival.

"Clearly, some people have never been to Disneyland." Nida snickered.

"Allah Miyan! Itna bada mela toh humare gaon mein kabhi nehi dekhi. Bachpan mein badi ammi ke sath jab mele mein jati thi, toh sirf kuch food stalls aur balloon sellers dekhne ko milta tha. Aur yahan toh circus bhi hai, aur ITNE SAARE RIDES!" Sanam looked like she was on the verge of bursting with happiness.

"Andar chale, Sanam." Rehaan laughed at her excitement. Her happiness was infectious. Some of it had rubbed on him too, as he felt a little bubbles of happiness inside his heart, just like old times.

"Ek minute! You guys can't be serious. NO WAY. We are not going inside THAT!" Nida stomped her feet in indignation.

*Why SO POUTY, Nida!* a joker-like voice mocked inside Aahil's head. The next moment, a weird imagery of Nida morphing into Donald duck', with her pout slowly changing into the duck's snout flashed in his mind  and he really had a hard time stifling the chuckle bubbling up inside him.

"Aahil, tum hans rahe ho?" Alas! It was difficult to escape Nida's eyes. "Don't you know baby, that I have dust allergy, and am allergic to stupid, stinking village people as well. Pata nahi kaha kaha se aa jate hai muh uthake, cheap cloths, sar pe chameli ka tel aur saste perfumes laga ke khud ko bollywood heroines samajh te hai, yucks!" Nida eyed Sanam from the corner of her eyes, disgust writ large on her face.

Sanam's smile faded in the face of such blatant humiliation pointed so obviously at her.  The tip of her nose turned beet-root red. Her lips quivered but no words came out of them.

Oblivious to the damage she'd just caused to someone's psyche, Nida continued her rant "I feel I am starting to get a headache just by looking at them. Mera sar bahut dukh raha hai, Aahil. Please, let's just get out of here, baby. Aur aaj raat ko meri bachelorette party' bhi hai na. Come on! I don't want to miss my own bachelorette party just because of some stupid village fair." Nida tugged at Aahil's sleeve.

"Aahil bhai, main Nida jee ke liye kuch dawaiyan (medicine) leke ayon kya?" Rehaan sounded genuinely concerned.

*My dear little innocent brother, you really can't tell apart a fake medical emergency from a real one, do you!* Aahil shook his head in despair.

Then a brilliant idea struck him out of the blue!

"Rehaan, why don't you drop Nida home...I mean, she looks SERIOUSLY sick! You can safely come back within one hour, I believe. Then you can finish off that inspection work you were talking about! Simple." Aahil shrugged.

Nida looked like she's not gonna buy whatever bullsh*t he was trying to throw at her. "WHAT! Aahil baby, I thought you're the one who's coming with me."

"Oh excuse us for one second." Aahil grabbed Nida's hand took her to one side. "Nida babes, just don't get me wrong, okay! But please try to understand baby, Sanam is the one who's churning out lunches and dinners like a goddamn cooking machine for all those people back there in the house. If we don't cut her some slack, she might turn hostile, who knows! We wouldn't want the main cook to go missing on the day of the sagai, would we now?"

"But, Aahil..."

"No more ifs and buts, Nida. Aren't you my good girl? Go home and take some rest. Or else you can select matching jewelleries to go with your green lehenga tonight."

Aahil managed to get her inside the car and within moments sent a confused looking Rehaan and an infuriated Nida *driving off to the sunset (well, minus the sunset cause it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon)*.

*Aah! Good riddance.* Aahil let out a deep breth he'd not realized he was holding till now. He took off his shades and glanced at Sanam from the corner of his eyes.

It was difficult to tell what she was thinking. She looked like she spaced out and her mind was wandering off in someplace else.

"Andar chale." Aahil tried really hard but for some weird, inexplicable reason, he couldn't bring himself to call Sanam by her name.

"Jee." Sanam bit her lower lip and nodded.

They walked silently, side by side, each one perfectly aware of the other's presence but pretending not to acknowledge it.

A good ten minutes had passed when Aahil finally mustered the courage to attempt at making some sort of conversation.

"So Sanam...you like cooking, huh?" He said casually, trying hard to ignore the falter in his voice when he said her name.

"Jee haan." Sanam sounded listless.

"I mean, bachpan se hi tumhe cooking ka sauk tha?" Aahil had started to sound like a broken record to his own ears.

"Har kaam zindagi mein sauk se nahi kiya jata. Bin maa-baap ki bachchi ko bahut kuch seekhni padhti hai." Sanam snapped.

*Remember, you're not the only one with parents' issues, Jerk. So please try and say something nice to her before she starts remembering her dead parents.* Aahil's inner voice warned him.

"Itna achcha khana pakana tumne apni badi ammi se seekhi?" Aahil knew she loved her badi ammi. He'd also met that nice looking elderly lady. Perhaps, the lady could be of some help to him right now, when he needed her the most.

"Haan." Sanam's eyes lit up at the mention of her badi ammi, but they darkened the next moment as the horrific images of the burning inferno flashed in her mind.

"Socha tha apni mehnat ki kamai se badi ammi ki seva karungi, aapni behen Haya kaa operation karwaungi, par mere saare sapne mere dhaba' ke sath sath jal kar rakh ho gayi." Sanam's eyes went moist. She glowered at Aahil through her tearful eyes.

*Nice work there, Price Ibrahim! You could just as well bury yourself three feet deep under the ground and put a gravestone on it. Remind me why you're an world class jack@$$ once again!* Aahil's inner self patted him hard on his back and disappeared.

Aahil stormed his brain to come up with something...just about anything for last moment damage control.

*How about some safe topic, like the weather, or may be onion ka bhaav (price)? How about Salman Khan's marriage...isn't that a national headache!* Aahil was deeply absorbed in whirlwind thoughts when suddenly he sensed something moving at his feet.

A slithery, ribbon-like creature CURLING ON HIS TOE!

"WHAT THE F...SNAAAKEEE!" a terrified Aahil jumped back in shock and lost his balance. He landed on a bunch of plastic chickens that gave out the weirdest and creechiest sound Aahil had ever heard before being deflated on the ground.

Before Aahil could recover from the shock, one more sound made him totally befuddled.

Sanam had burst into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. Her whole body was shaking. She was trying to hide her laughter behind the dupatta but failed oh-so-adorably.

Aahil forgot the entire world around him. He forgot the dusty ground, the stifled laughter from the small audience which had already gathered around him, even the flock of toy chickens poking his @$$ right now. He could just see a pair of hazel eyes sparkling with amusement, those little creases on her cheeks that made his world go round, the pleasant symphony of her laughter...

Aahil drank in that moment like it was the last moment of his life.

He wanted to lose himself in that moment.

All he wanted is to pull her against him and kiss the hell out of those rosebud lips.

*Till she becomes breathless.*

Aahil could've sat there till the end of time just to watch Sanam smile, but at that precise moment, a plastic flower vase decided to drop on his head from the top shelf of the roadside toy store he'd just now unwittingly destroyed, drawing more laughter from Sanam and the onlookers alike.

Sanam was practically howling now, clutching her tummy and bending over herself.

*Crazy chick is laughing at the fact that I almost died! Now that's harsh...but WHERE THE HELL IS THAT GODDAMN SNAKE?*

Aahil jumped to his feet like he was electrocuted.

How could he forget that ugly creature that almost got him killed? And why the hell was everyone having a ball at the expense of him being bitten to death by a poisonous viper?

*People are sick now-a-days! Like seriously.* Aahil grumbled, wiping the dust off his denims.

"Saab, khilona lenge? King kobra, magarmacch (crocodile), anaconda, Godzilla...ek ek biss rupaye, jo lenge who biss rupaye." An young lad, hardly ten, was smiling at him. He waved his hand in front of Aahil to proudly display his collection to him.

One look at his toys, and everything became crystal clear to Aahil.

*Goddamn toy snakes! SCARED ME TO FRIGGING DEATH!* Aahil swore loudly.

More leers and jeers drifted from the crowd. "Teri toh..." Aahil tried to grab the boy before he took off, but the boy turned out to be sneakier than the snake and made a timely escape.

All Aahil could hear was the broken fragments of his laughter as he disappeared in the horizon.

*Ughh! I bet nothing can beat this sh*t.* Aahil tugged at his hair in frustration.

TANG! TANG! TANG! TANG!

Everyone let out a collective gasp as a toy clown randomly burst into clapping.

*All right. I give up.* Aahil buried his face in his hands.

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Teddy ❤️