The Accidental Fiancée (4 page)

Salaar snorted. Swaba frowned at
her eldest brother for a full ten seconds before correcting
him,
“
This is my best friend since
kindergarten,
Zoella.
”

Fardeen smiled at Neha as if all
was clear and none of their business anyway. Swaba
wasn
’
t going to let it go so easily though. He knew
he
’
d made a
tactical error. He might as well have forgotten his
sister
’
s name.
Best friends were serious business and he knew this friendship
meant a great deal to his sister, judging from the fact that Zoella
was always around, staring at him like a lost
puppy.

Giving Swaba a disarming smile, he
said,
“
Aim the icy daggers at Salaar, Miss
Piggy. He
’
s been
seeing that girl you went to school with. Your arch-enemy,
Mah-something?
”

Swaba and Zoella swung towards his
younger brother in unison and yelled simultaneously,
“
Mahnoor
?
”

Fardeen wasn
’
t one of the best
lawyers in the city for nothing. He was forgotten and
Swaba
’
s attention
was now on their brother. Salaar could only scowl at the betrayal.
It made Fardeen laugh even more. Thoroughly entertained, he watched
his brother try getting out of that one.

“
Salaar, you traitor!
You
’
re going out with Mahnoor?
”
Zoella looked appalled as she asked the question,
while Swaba merely curled her lip in disgust. Then, very
deliberately, Zoella put the ball of string down on the ground and
crossed her arms. That meant Salaar was officially in
trouble.

He retorted somewhat
guiltily,
“
Yes, I am. And I
’
ll have you know that
she
’
s a very nice
girl.
”

“
Nice girl?
”
Fardeen asked in
a tone loaded with meaning. Then added,
“
Now, Zo
—
ella here is a nice girl. Mahnoor,
on the other hand
…”
Fardeen gave his brother a wicked grin and shook his
head.

Zoella felt a warm prickle of
embarrassment. First he
’
d forgotten her name.
He
’
d been seeing
her in his house for the last decade and a half at least and he
didn
’
t even know
her name. Now he was calling her a
nice
girl
.

She felt insulted. Nice girls were
boring. Nice girls were to be avoided like the plague. Nice girls
married the first man who asked their parents, bore said man two
children, and got fat. Nice girls did not have fun. Nice girls did
not have rich, handsome Adonises hankering after them.
She
was
not
a nice girl. Nope.
Hell, no.

“
I
’
m
…
I
’
m
…”
Zoella
stuttered, wanting to change the impression Fardeen had of her as
the bland vanilla nice girl. She didn
’
t want to be a nice girl. She
wanted to be the girl Fardeen would fall in love with, marry and
live with happily ever after. She needed to say something clever.
She certainly did not want to appear gauche and awkward by saying
the wrong thing, or worse, not saying anything at all. She wanted
to be witty and funny and dazzling. Instead, she was stammering,
frantically searching her blissfully blank mind for a droll
retort.

Fardeen however, had moved on
already and was addressing his brother,
“
I can smell nice
girls from across the galaxy. Take it from me, that girl
you
’
re seeing
is
not
nice.
”

There was too much noise to think,
Zoella consoled herself, as Fardeen casually snagged
Neha
’
s hand and was halfway across the rooftop before anyone could
say anything more. There, he turned and asked Salaar with another
wicked grin,
“
What do you want with a nice girl anyway?
You
’
re not
thinking of marrying her, are you?
”

“
F
…
Get off my
back,
”
Salaar
said with open irritation. His brother
’
s laughter at
Salaar
’
s
discomfiture made Salaar glower even more.

“
Fardeen, how very naughty of you!
What
’
s wrong with nice girls?
”
Neha batted her eyelashes at him. Still
chuckling, Fardeen walked towards the winding stairway with Neha on
his arm.

His eyes warmed as he looked at
Neha.
“
Nothing, I
’
m sure. I
’
d have no clue what to do with
them, however.
”

A dark, bitter disappointment
swelled within Zoella. He
’
d just called
her
a nice girl. Her brain however,
chose that moment to register, yet again, the dark hair that fell
in soft waves, his perfect profile and the broad shoulders that
carried his designer jacket so well. She sighed
again.

She
’
d lost count of
her sighs long ago. There were too many. There were different
kinds. There were those she secretly enjoyed because they were for
Fardeen. Then there were those that escaped from the depths of her
troubled soul because her mother never took her side against her
domineering brother, who treated her like his personal slave. There
were some she tried to suppress because she realized that perhaps
she was too much of a dreamer.

Perhaps it was her youthful
arrogance born of optimistic inexperience that kept her dream of
true love alive, because without it, her life was desolate. There
was a part of her that understood that Fardeen
’
s sexy smile, his
black unruly hair that fell roguishly across his forehead, the
angles and planes of his chiseled face, were not meant for the
likes of Zoella Khan, the wretched of the earth, who would neither
inherit said planet, nor Adonis-like older brothers of best
friends.

***

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T
itle: Haveli

ISBN: 978-1-927826-02-7

Genre: Romance

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Title: The Contract

Author: Zeenat Mahal

ISBN: 978-1-927826-15-7

Genre: Romance

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“…I’ll pay you a monthly salary to behave
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Circumstances have forced the young
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their contract, she’ll have his name, will be paid to look after
his ailing mother and motherless daughter and will be left well
alone by him. Perfect!

Until her new husband decides to stop
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One reason I love to read books set in a
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general."

Dear Author (Jayne S)

She is a blessed writer
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hails from Pakistan and her understanding of Pakistani culture and
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A perfect leisure read
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