Muhafiz-E-Khan (Tere Bin MeeraSim FF)

7 - Mela

But it wasn't the first time she had been scolded infront of him, for being someplace where she shouldn't have been.

It was a school day. She should gone inside to class, but she waited for her driver to pull away from the school entrance before she crept back out the gates, funneling her way through the haze of students until she got to the shadowed side of the building.

Leaning into the tree, stood a Murtasim that was perhaps 17, and Irtaza besides him, also bunking his class. They grinned when their eyes met glinting devilishly, a pact of mischief forming between the three of them.

Her grey shalwar kameez had a paper thin white dupatta pinned to the shoulder, swaying with every step. It's a good thing that she wore comfy trainers as they intended to do alot of walking on their excapade.

The school was on a busy main road, but behind that was a quieter residential area, and passing that, interminable greenery that promised a fairground of fun. ''Kahan ja rahe hai,'' she asked, watching as Irtaza took the lead, marching over the roads. (Where are we going?)

''Mela lagga hua hai,'' murtasim informed, slowing down, both of them somehow ending up shoulder to shoulder. (There's a funfair on.)

''Hum mele pe ja rahe hai?'' Her voice was mirthful, but she controlled the simmering excitment at the prospect, as it wasn't usual for her to skip school. (We're going to a funfair?)

''Nahi jaana?'' Murtasim asked her incredulity. They took long strides over the grassy fields. Then when the floor was uneven, his arm came to grab her arm to stabilise her, acting as her external cerebellum. (Don't you want to go?)

''Tumhare saath tou kahin bhe chale jauge,'' she admit in a mere whisper, testament to the depths of safety she felt besides him despite only being a couple years old than her - it was instinct. Then they caught up to Irtaza in a jog, knocking shoulders as they stomped over shrubs and dirt on their path to fun. (I will go anywhere with you.)

''Acha? How about that ride?'' Murtasim asked, his gaze darting past his out streched arm just making out the top of a small ferris wheel.

''It's so high,'' she remarked, her eyebrows crinkling in apprehension, betting if she had the guts to rise to his challenge.

''Are you scared?'' There was a brief pause on consideration of wether she did have a fear of heights, but then the glint in his eye was enough to spurr her on.

''Main kissi se nahi darti,'' she exclaimed, the rest unsaid of, ' jab tumhare saath hun.' (I am not scared of anything when i'm besides you.)

'Acha,'' Murtasim scoffed, knowing that her family had overly coddled their sole daughter. A chuckle rumbled from his lungs from not believing the farce, but playing along anyways.

Murtasim looked down at her plump cheeks, her dewy makeup free face, and the wayward wispy baby hair curls in framing her face like a pretty boarder.Her presence caused a cosy warm hug upon the beating heart in his chest, and then the peace emanated outwards till his fingertips that twitched, yearning to hold her hand.

The golden rays of the sun peppered her in an array of gentle kisses, illuminating the otherwise invisible mini fuzz scattered on her cheeks and jaw and he wondered, that if his fingertips were allowed to stroke her face, would she feel like a ripe juicy peach, or be even softer?

And when they made their way over to the open land of the funfair, they witnessed that the street was lined with food carts and games. There was one that caught Irtaza's eyes - a shoot the bird game. It had a backdrop of blue felt, and cartoonish birds that moved along a train track.

''Bahi, yeh wala bandook dou,'' Irtaza ordered whilst passing over some change. He purposely tried to make his voice deeper in the company of me. His was confident, and a false sense of hope mislead him into thinking that this was a game he could beat Murtasim in. There had always a been healthy boyish need to outperform the other. (Brother, give me the rifle.)