Deceptive Affections

CHAPTER 13

ZAISHA

I am in my office, working on the biggest project of my life. I was so engrossed in my work today that I forgot to have lunch. The project is exciting and unique. This is the first time I am working on something like this.

My phone pinged and I picked it up. There was a message from Reyaan, 'I am waiting downstairs.' Is it 7 already? I didn't realize that I have been working for this long.

I texted back, 'Will be there in 5.'

I quicky wrapped up my work and gathered my things. I went downstairs only to find Reyaan leaning on the car door, immersed in his phone. He needs to stop looking like that. My stupid heart is not meant to handle this.

"Hey" I walked up to him, and he gave me a nod.

"Get in", he opened the car door for me to enter and then went to the driver's side.

When he got in the car, I asked, "Shouldn't I be the one on the driver's seat?"

"No, you are not ready for that. You need to have virtual exposure before the real thing, so that you don't crash my car." He smirked.

"That's rude especially when you were the one who offered to help. Anyways, how will we do that?" I asked, letting my curiosity win.

"You'll see." That was all I got before he started driving. I took out my graphic pad and started designing.

"You are really good at it." He suddenly said making me look at him. He was looking at the tab.

"Really? Thank you!" His compliment made me smile. I love it when people appreciate my work.

After a short drive, we reached somewhere. I have no idea where.

"What's this place?", I asked.

"Let's go inside." Will he just answer my questions! It is frustrating now and I am way too curious. I kept my laptop and tab on the back seat before getting out of the car.

We walked side by side to the entrance and I heard sounds coming from inside. The place was crowded with people laughing and talking loudly over the noise created by the machines.

We are in an arcade. What are we doing in an arcade? "What are we doing here? Does the arcade give driving lessons?", I finally asked to clear up my confusion.

"The simulation games", he pointed towards them.

"No way!" I exclaimed. "There's no way you are going to teach via a game."

"Why not? They are very effective. They'll give you an idea of how a real car works. You know, without crashing the car."

"Oh really?! How many girls have you taught before?" The words left a sour taste on my tongue. I don't want to know if he has done this before with someone else. I don't want him to do this with someone else.

"Do you want to learn or not?" he asked, bringing us back to the topic.

"Fine! But I am telling you it's useless." I gave in at the end and we walked towards a car simulation game although the bike one seems more interesting. I remembered the time when he drove the bike and I sat behind him, holding on to him.

I sat on the seat and Reyaan started explaining me what to do and how to do everything. He explained me the functions of all the buttons on the steering wheel which serve the same functions for a real car as well, just not in the form of buttons.

After that he started explaining how a gear works. He switched the settings to manual and placed my hand on it. He put his hand above mine and my nerves jolted with awareness. He was standing on my left and leaning towards me. His face was so close to mine that I could practically feel the heat of his breadth and inhale his scent, the smell of oak and spice.

His hand was still on mine, and he was shifting the gear. "Did you get it?" he questioned.

"What?" I completely missed whatever he said as I was too busy noticing and admiring how close he was to me.

"See, it was the right decision to start with a game. Otherwise, you would..." he was saying but I completed his sentence, "have crashed your car. I get it. You love your car." There is no need for him to say it again and again.

"Hurt yourself" he said after I finished my sentence. Oh! That's what he was going to say.

He explained everything to me again and this time I paid full attention. And now the moment of truth. Reyaan at last started the game. The simulation is actually pretty good, almost like the real thing. Although I would never say this to his face. There's no need for an ego boost.

I started driving and in the first 5 seconds, I crashed the car. Okay. Maybe the game was a good choice to begin with. "Don't laugh", I saw Reyaan trying to hide his smile from the corner of my eye.

"Try again." So, I did. It took me 3 attempts to not crash the car in the first few seconds, but I eventually got the hang of it. And I finally drove the car till the finish line on my 8th attempt.

"Oh my god, I did it. I did it." I yelled with happiness. I got up from the seat and hugged him.

All of a sudden, I realized what I did and slowly removed my hands from around his neck and took a step back, but he tightened his hold on my waist and pulled me towards him. Until now, I didn't even realize that he hugged me back. God, this feels so good.

My stomach grumbled, pulling us back to the real world. "Are you hungry?", Reyaan asked.

"Very. Haven't eaten anything after breakfast." I told truthfully. He then took me out for dinner and we ate our food in silence, but it was not uncomfortable.

We left after finishing our food. There was a birthday party going on in the next restaurant. "Look, they are having a tangled theme party."

"What's tangled?" he did not just say that. I looked at him utterly shocked. This is unbelievable.

"Are you from this planet? How can you not know tangled? It's a Disney movie about Rapunzel." I know guys have no interest in Disney but everyone has at least heard about all the princesses.

"Please tell me you at least have heard about Rapunzel." I asked while getting inside the car.

"Never heard of it." He said that so casually like it does not matter. Well, it matters. At least to me.

"So, you have never heard about any Disney princess?"

"I have heard about Cinderella, and I think Snow white? But that's it."

"It's better than I expected actually." It's not like he has a sister to teach him about Disney like Bhaiya, because he knows all of them by heart. I made him watch all the Disney movies more than three times.

After that I introduced him to the Disney world and to my surprise, he actually listened to all of it. He paid full attention, letting me blabber about everything, not complaining even once.

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