Mehendi & Moonlight || Ana

Chapter 19:: The Book Fair

Nisha stared at her watch, counting the seconds.

"25... 30." She scoffed, looking around to find people entering the area. 
"I already arrived at the fair. Why is that guy so late?" She groaned. Taking out her phone, she dialled Kabir's number and waited for a few rings.

'Sorry, the number you are calling is unavailable. Please try again later, thank you.' 

Her eyes slightly widened, "Where the heck is that douche?" 

She wiped her sweaty palms on her kurta, looking down. She felt nervous.

Was he ditching her?

"Never mind, I'll wait for five more minutes. After that, he can go to hell." She whispered to herself. A thought crossed her mind as she stared at the people entering. Most were couples and a few families. 
"Nobody's single in this place. Weird." She huffed, tapping her feet impatiently on the ground. 

She watched a dog pass by while looking at her and blinked twice.
"Did that dog... give me a side eye? Yah! Single people exist." She muttered to herself, glaring at her phone. 
Her attention was diverted when she heard a familiar voice, "Areh! Nisha?" 

She turned around to find one of her colleagues standing there.
"Ah, Nur?" Eyeing the male in front of her from head to toe, she heaved out a soft sigh. 
"What are you doing here?" He asked, running a hand through his raven hair. 

She made an awkward face, "I'm visiting the bookfair?" 

Who asked such an obvious question? She thought. 

He smiled warmly, "Well, same. You're alone?" 
"Do you see anyone around?" She asked, trying not to sound sarcastic but she was being so. Her mood was dull enough and these pointless questions were making her angrier. 
He made a thoughtful face, nodding, "Then should we go together? I'm alone too, it's a little... painful to be alone in here." 
She couldn't help but chuckle at the atrocity of life.

She found another dumbass like her.

"Sure. We can go, I guess." She said, glancing at her phone.

He was thirty minutes late. And she wasn't waiting anymore. That was her last straw. 

He backed away, letting her get inside first as she smiled a little. 

As they walked inside, entering a bookstore, she tried to appear cheerful but must've failed miserably because he kept asking her if she was okay. 
She was annoyed at Kabir but more than that, she was disappointed. She had high hopes for today. She wanted to show him around a few books and maybe, she'd like to bicker with him a bit as well. Or smile when he suddenly said a flirty line and bothered her.

She tried not to dwell on her thoughts too much, aware of the presence beside her.

"Do you like Zafar Iqbal's books?" He asked as she shrugged, "I've read a few. They're not bad." 
"How about Humayun Ahmed? His writings are quite famous amongst people for his humour." He spoke, going through a few books. She hummed, absent-mindedly tracing the wooden edges of the bookshelf. 

The book fair was crowded.

And Nisha was seeing why. The book fair in the country was so wide that going there meant running into at least ten celebrities in the span of a few hours. 
As if the whole country was confined into an area full of books, love and a bit of...

"Chor chor chor!" Someone screamed as their heads turned, noticing a few people running amidst the crowd. 
"What did they steal?" Nur asked a nearby man who sighed, "I guess it's a phone or something. Mohammapur isn't Mohammadpur if there isn't at least one news of stealing."