Transformed - Chapter 21

I stared at mom. Did she really say that? Mom, who had always never allowed me to hang out with my friends, female friends at that, was asking me to go on a date with Jasim?

She was staring at me expectantly. "Well?"
Before I could answer, someone else said it for me. "Absolutely not."
Grandma came into sight. She looked extremely pissed.
"Mama!" Mom looked at her. "It's Jasim, she's going out with."
Grandma looked unimpressed. "I don't care. He could take advantage of her and after that leave her at the altar."

I could have kissed Grandma right then.
"Jasim won't do anything of the sort. And would you lower your voice, mama? He can hear you!"
I snorted. Jasim was sitting in the living room while we were in mom's room. There was no way he could have heard a word.
"I am NOT letting my Rumana go anywhere with him without someone to protect her." Grandma said with finality.
"Fine, Rizwan can go with them." Mom was pleased that Grandma had compromised.
"Actually, Rizwan is not at home, mom." I supplied. Thank God!
Mom hopes crashed. "Oh no." Oh yes! No date with Jasim!
Mom looked towards the doorway for a second. Then her face lit up. "He can go with her." She said pointing to the doorway.
I turned to look at the person she was pointing at and my jaw dropped.

It was Rehan.
Grandma's expression was similar to mine. "Him? Do you trust him?" She asked mom, who smiled brightly at her.
"Rehan was the one who rescued her, mama. He won't let any harm come to her."
Rehan, who was looking at a bookshelf, turned towards us. His gaze penetrated mine for a second before he turned to look at mom. His expression changed to one of confusion. I entered his mind. Why is she smiling at me? I rolled my eyes at him.

Mom made a 'come here' motion at him. He walked towards us, still confused.
"Hello dear. Are you free?" Mom asked Rehan.
I shook my head frantically. "Say no!" I mouthed at him. He ignored me.
"Yes, of course Mrs. Saif." Was his polite reply. I slumped my shoulders in defeat.
"Can you do something for us?"
"Of course, why not?"
"Look, Jasim wants to take Rumana on a date and Rumana's grandmother here." Mom shot a nasty look at Grandma, who returned it back at her. "Wants someone to accompany her. Can you do that?"
"Sure, Mrs. Saif."
"Aren't you going to ask me if I want to go or not?" I asked, annoyed. They were talking as if I wasn't there.
"Honey, do you want to go?" Grandma asked me.
"No!" I hissed so violently that everyone jumped.
"Come on dear, don't be stubborn, he came this far for asking you." Mom said in a sugar sweet tone, while staring daggers at me. Just go with him, her mind screamed.
"Mom, isn't his leg-"
"His leg is completely healed, honey."
"What?"
Vampire injuries heal faster than normal injuries sweetheart.
I stared at Rehan. God, seems like I have to go with Jasim after all. And take Rehan with me as a bodyguard. This was going to be a lovely date.

"Thanks for coming. I thought after what happened at the hospital you might not have wanted to come." Jasim said as we walked to the car. "That's why I brought Maryam with me."
"And that's why I bought Rehan with me." I said.
"Who is Rehan?"
I pointed behind me. Jasim turned to look at Rehan, who shot him a nasty look. Jasim turned back to me, "What is he going to do?"
"I am permitted to refracture your bones if you do something, she doesn't like." Rehan answered Jasim, who gulped. Idiot, moron, jackass if he lays a finger on my sweetheart he will become my next meal.

I glared at Rehan.
"What?" He asked.
"Be nice." I hissed at him.
"Those were your grandmother's words, not mine." He hissed back.
"And your thoughts are extremely loud. I wouldn't be surprised if Jasim heard them." I muttered under my breath.

That shut him up. I turned to Jasim and leaned towards him, just to irritate Rehan and asked, "Where are you taking me?"
"Where do you want to go?" He asked, opening the car door for me.
"Anywhere you want, dear." Rehan looked murderous. Stop flirting with him!

Ignoring him, I got in the car. A girl, one or two years older than me, was sitting inside, her eyes closed. At the sound of the door closing, her eyes opened and she turned to me. "Hi, I'm Maryam, Jasim's cousin. Finally got to meet you." She smiled at me, then turned towards Jasim with an accusing glare. "Took you long enough."
"Sorry." He mumbled, as he got in the driver's seat.

Maryam's eyes went wide when Rehan sat in the car, next to Jasim. Extremely hot. Who is he?
I felt annoyed. Maryam turned to me and asked, "Is he your brother?"
"No." I snapped at her rather rudely.
"I'm her bodyguard." Rehan answered her and smirked at me.
God, his voice! What a turn-on! She literally swooned. I felt like wringing her neck. This was going to be a long ride.

After minutes, but what seemed like hours, Jasim stopped the car at a movie theater. I sighed in relief. One more thought about how she was going to get Rehan to notice her, and Maryam would have lost a few teeth. I seriously felt like punching her.

Jasim opened the door for me, while Rehan opened for Maryam. I glanced at them enviously. Rehan smirked. Jealous sweetheart?
I snorted and turned to Jasim. "So which movie do you want to watch?" He asked.
"What's playing?"
"I don't know, let's find out." Jasim twined my fingers through his.

In a flash, Rehan pulled our hands apart. "No touching." He said smugly.
Jasim glared at him. "That includes you too." He said to Rehan, who was still holding my elbow.

Rehan dropped my hand immediately, as if it was on fire.
There were several movies playing and ironically, we chose Bodyguard, a Hindi film.
"Let's split up. You both" Jasim said to Maryam and Rehan, "Can buy popcorn while Rumana and I can get the tickets."

"No way. You are not going to be with her alone. How about you and your cousin buy popcorn while we get the tickets."
Jasim gritted his teeth. "Absolutely not."
Rehan opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. "Maryam and I will get the popcorn, you guys get the tickets."
Everyone looked disappointed by my suggestion, but before anyone could protest, I grabbed Maryam and steered her towards the popcorn stands.

Once we gave our order, I sighed in relief. "So is Rehan your cousin?" Maryam asked. "No." I replied.
"Then how is he related to you?"
"He is the one who rescued me. Mom invited his family to the wedding."
"He rescued you? When you were missing?"
I nodded. The salesman handed over the popcorn, cutting off the conversation effectively.

When we went back to Rehan and Jasim, I groaned. They both had a glaring match going on, eyeing each other furiously.

Inside the theater was no better. Jasim was sitting on my left and Rehan on my right. Maryam was sitting next to Rehan, which frankly was getting on my nerves.

Throughout the movie, Maryam would find any excuse to touch Rehan and he didn't even brush her off. Annoyed, I took Jasim's hand in mine, who looked pleased by my action. Immediately, Rehan pulled my hand away from his. "No touching." I growled at him. He grinned at me.

When the movie finished, I let out a sigh of relief. God, I would have ended up injuring Maryam, and Rehan looked ready to give Jasim a few punches.

Jasim then took us to a fancy restaurant for dinner. There he reserved separate tables for two, meaning I had to sit alone with Jasim, while Rehan and Maryam were sitting at a separate table away from us. Rehan didn't like it and poor Jasim had to endure half an hour listening to Rehan's threats.

I was bored. I mean, a vampire can't eat food. I was simply moving food around my plate. Jasim, who noticed this asked, "Don't you like the food?"
"No, it's good. Actually, I'm not really hungry."
Jasim didn't ask any questions regarding my appetite after that and for that I was grateful.
We ate, or in fact, he ate in silence. It was awkward.
Finally he broke the ice, "I've something to tell you."
"Shoot." I said taking a sip of water.
"Have you wondered why I sent a proposal for you after I saw you only once at the mall?"

I sprayed out a mouthful of water. His question had caught me off guard. I stared at him. When I didn't reply, he sighed. "I did it because you remind me of someone."
"A past girlfriend?" I asked. Maybe I could get some information to use against him.
"More like a one-sided crush."
"Crush?" Oh come on, Jasim could have anyone he wanted. Who could have refused him?
"She studied with me in college. Her name was Safa. I had liked her for a long time but was afraid to admit my feelings. One day, I summoned up all my courage and told her how I felt."
"What was her reaction?"
"She slapped me."
"Ouch."
"That wasn't all. She told me that I was an arrogant jerk, that because I had money, I thought I could get anything I want. She told me to take all my 'Malikness' and shove it up my ass."

My jaw dropped. Wow, this girl had some courage. "She really said that? To you?"
"Later that day I found out why she hated me so much."
"How?"
"My great dad," Jasim said bitterly, "had ruined her father's business and destroyed their lives, all because they had been enemies when they were in college."
I laughed nervously. "You're kidding me, right? I mean, who would do that?"
"My father, apparently. He is that kind of person who would ruin other people's lives just for personal satisfaction."

"I'm so sorry."
"I also found out something else. If you are a Malik, no one likes you."
"What makes you say that?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? People stick to us for money and fame. No one likes us for what we are, they like us for what we have. Actually, they have every right to hate us."
"They don't hate you."
Jasim laughed, but it was bitter. "Look who's talking."

I gulped. "I don't hate you or your family. It's only your sister's attitude that I find annoying. In fact, we could have been friends if she didn't dislike me so much."
"Zara doesn't hate you, she envies you."
"Me? She has everything she could ever ask for, why would she-"
Jasim cut me off. "You have the one thing she always wanted, one thing she never received."
"My height?"
"No, love."
"Love?"
"Everyone loves you, don't they? Your parents, grandparents, cousins, even strangers like him." He pointed to Rehan.

"Rehan?"
"He is so protective of you, even though he barely knows you."
"Your parents must love you." I said, trying to dodge the subject of Rehan and Love together.
"My father only cares about how much fame I bring to the family name, while my mother only acts the caring mother in front of others. Otherwise we always were a burden to her."
I couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"You see, that's why I want to marry you. You have so much love surrounding you, if you come into our family circle, everyone will learn to love and be loved."

When Jasim dropped us home, I couldn't stop myself from giving him a friendly hug. I realized that he was not marrying me for my looks, but for love. Rehan didn't comment on my action, he kept silent. I knew he approved of what I did.

"So what do you think?" Rehan asked me as we were walking towards the house.
"He wants to marry me for love, but I'm only going to break his heart. I don't love him." I looked at Rehan, tears filling my eyes, but not overflowing.

"I can't do this to him. It will kill him. He will be so heartbroken. What do I do?"
Rehan hugged me. "Don't worry sweetheart, everything will work out."
He pressed a kiss on my forehead. "Now let's go in. They are dying to hear what happened." Rehan dragged me towards the door. Before opening it, he whispered, "And don't forget to meet me at midnight." He winked and then turned the handle.