It's Just You And Me

Chapter 2

Opening the door of her house Shehnaaz got inside where Coco came running towards her and started licking her face showing he missed her. She found her only trustworthy friend in Coco who was a Beagle breed dog.

Ever since her parents died, Coco has witnessed all ups and downs with her, talking to him at night, telling him about her day was her daily routine. He immediately sensed her sadness and stopped with his yelping, she sat down on the couch exhausted from all the running she has done today arranging for the money. With pricked ears, he watched for a moment then
jumped on the couch settling down on her lap.

She was petting him as tears welled up in her eyes remembering how today her Chacha and Chachi clearly refused to give her a single penny.

"Tujhe pata aaj kya hua?" he whined and she continued "Aaj pata hai Coco maine bohot himmat ke aur Chacha Chachi ke pas gai, Thank God waha Chacha ny tha par Chachi thi. Mujhe unko dekh kar bohot darr laga, Mujhe roona bhi aaya par maine control kiya aur control karke unke baat bhi ke" her voice cracked at the end. Coco started licking the back of her hand showing he was there for her, she smiled with teary eyes and continued

"Chachi ji ne toh saaf mana kar diya. Mujhe bohot dukh laga, unhone mujhe phir manhoos bola, bolti hai ke maa aur papa ke tarha dadi bhi meri manhoosiyat ke chalte mar jaye ge." she started sobbing now.

"Mai ab kya karu ge Coco? kaha se lao paise?" Coco promptly got up from her lap and started licking her face trying to wipe her tears.

She engulfed him into a bone crashing hug and cried her heart out. She felt a little relieved after crying for a while she calmed down and arranged Coco's  food in his bowl, he started munching on his food as he was starving since afternoon.

She was really not in a mood to eat so went back to her room, after a while she felt some movement on the bed and understood it was Coco. The turmoil inside her mind didn't let her sleep the whole night.

A day passed by Shehnaaz paid a little amount from her savings and was now sitting next to  her grandma with a smile plastered on her face trying her level best to not show any sort of emotion on her face except for happiness.

"Dadi apko pata phir maine aur Coco ne mil kar movie dekhi aur fir finally soo gae" she was talking something random to avoid her unanswerable questions.

"Ho gaya tera? ab mai kuch puchu?" her tone of talking said it all, she was serious and she knew she can't run away from it now. Shehnaaz nodded.

"Yeh paise kaha se jugad rahi hai tu?" she asked.

"Ummm..... Vo dadi ap kyu tention le raho mai hu na, ap bas please jaldi se thik ho jao. Vo khali sa ghar mujhe katne ko dodata hai" she replied in an attempt to change the topic which was very well understood by her grandmother.

She thought not to interrogate her any further. She bid her bye and left to Coffee time.

Rita ji had decided to have a visit to his son's office and after that she would meet up with her daughter at the near by Cafe.

Sidharth had praised the dark chocolate cup cakes so much that she thought to finally try that today. Neetu was about to reach there in no time and had asked her mom to wait for her inside the Cafe.

As she was climbing up the stairs she lost her balance and fell down. Shehnaaz who was busy making bills at the counter saw that and immediately ran out to help her, Aayush followed her too.

"Aunty are you alright?" helping her get up, Aayush and Shehnaaz made her sit on one of the chairs.

"Aayush pani le kar aa jaldi, Aunty ap thik ho?" She seemed worried for her which went very well with Rita ji.