Esha sat on the hard concrete floor, lips now blue with cold as she stared at the ruthless man who was squatting under the large vehicle he was repairing. Then she turned her glare at her cat, who was drinking the warm milk and nuzzling his legs after every minute. Traitor.

She was quiet sure that she was trembling, her hands and feet
were freezing and the wet clothes were chilling her to the bones. Licking her now bluish lips, she thought of a way to survive this night.

Putting her self-esteen aside, because she would have never even see this arrogant person's face if she wasn't dying in the middle of nowhere, she cleared her throat.

No response.

Taking in a deep breath, she coughed again, this time a little loudly. She heard his tools stop moving but no response. Then she spoke up,

" Aap agar mechanic hain tau meri gaari theek kardain please taakay mey ghar jaa sakun."
( If you are a mechanic can you please fix my car so that I can go home?)

He didn't speak anything for a second and then his voice came from under the jeep, still as echoey as before,
" Pehla apna kar lu, phir dekh lu ga."
( I will do my work first and then see yours.)

Esha glared at the continued metallic sounds coming from there,
"  Kyun kal iss jeep par beth kar China jaana hai? Banda pehlay kisi madad kar dey."

( Why, do u have to go to china on this jeep tomorrow. Should help someone first.)

The man was rude and seemed mysterious, whatever, but she was not someone to keep her mouth shut.

" Mohtarma aap apna mun bund hi rakhain tau behtar hai."
( Woman, keeping your mouth shut is better.)

Esha stood up,
how rude was this man?
A noise vibrated through the slace like something had fallen, a glass or a plate. Immediately, she became aware of the other presence besides him and within a a second, she decided what she needed to know.

/////////////

He slid out from under the jeep and became still. She was not huddled in a corner like he expected her to. She was gone. Where?

Slight whispering fell into his ears and he understood right away. Dropping his equipment, he ran to where his grandfather was and saw the girl sitting there with him, talking or manipulating.

Anger turned his ears red,
" Yahan kya kar rahi hain aap, bibi?"

His grandfather threw him a look as Esha started to look at her nails, observing the red manicure thoroughly.
" Yey kesay baat kar rahay ho tum Hadi? Aur yey kya tareeka hai? Bachi bechari pareshan hai aur tum badtameezi kar rahay ho?"

Ahad scrunched his eyebrows. 'Badtameezi' ka matlab pta hai issay?

" Dada, yey..."

" Chup! Jao iski gaari dekh kar ao. Dekho theek hoti hai."

Ahad threw a nasty look at her, before stomping back and Esha followed after smilingly.

             ///////////////

It was pouring rain now, Esha noticed as they stepped outside. She also understood his act of taking an umbrella.
She quickly followed behind to take the shelter of the umbrella as they walked. She wanted to laugh as she saw his grumbled expression. Like a child's tantrum after not getting a lollipop from his dear mummy.

She collided against his back as she stopped and he threw her the nastiest look. She coyly smiled while he started walking again until she bumped into him again, trying to keep the rain from wetting but he stopped, looked at her angrily before throwing away the umbrella.

Esha could only gasp as the cold rain wetted her from head to bottom.

" Ya Allah! Yey kya harkat thi? Jaahil insaan!"

Esha could not help but yell at him as she started to shiver and her jaw started to shake.

He did not say a word but she was sure he wanted to raise his middle fingers at her by the look in his eyes.

He opened the bonnet of her car and started to look through it. Esha waited with her feet slapping the ground. Until her straightened up and said,
" I will need some equipment from the warehouse."

Esha quickly nodded but with distaste. Itni kesay khraab hogyai gaari? Wesay hi nalaik lagta hai.

She thought but he was already walking backwards and she hopped after him.
" Yey warehouse kahan hai ab?"

He didn't deem it necessary to answer her. After walking like ten minutes in pouring rain, she saw him stop at a shop that looked like all the other ones.

She saw him messing with the lock, then raising the shuttle up until it stepped midway. She saw as he tried to raise it further but to no avail. Then he looked at her,
" Yey pakro. Band na karna, jam hai."

Esha held the shutter and watched as he ducked under it and went inside the warehouse. The shutter was quiet heavy but she waited. After five minutes of waiting and hearing him messing around with stuff, she started feeling the cold slithering around her like a venomous snake until it chilled her bones. She ducked under the shutter, deciding to hold it from the other side while she gets some shade from the rain. But all went downhill as her hand slipped when she ducked and due to the dark, she couldn't hold it right away hence, it fell down and closed itself in a second.

" Yey kya tha?"

She heard his voice. Immediately tried to pull it up but to no avail. She pulled with all her might but nothing. She closed her eyes.

" Yey kya tha?"
She heard his footsteps coming closer.

" Wo.. wo shutter gir gaya."
He stopped behind her before trying to raise it up. She watched him try to pull the shutter up with all his strength but to no avail. He even went to get some tools and try to raise it but the metal didn't even move an inch. Then his hard eyes directed towards her,

" Tumhara dimaag khraab hai? Kahan phans gaya mey! Ab saari raat beth kar yahan kaanpo!"

She jumped at his loud voice, internally gathering al her confidence to speak up,
" Tau yey khtara theek kyun nahi karwaya? Hadd hoti hai!"

He had always blank stared at her but now he was staring at her in anger and Esha made a face when she eyes his body clad in drenched clothes and surprisingly still his hair defied gravity, standing tall even though they were wet.

" Meri workshop nahi hai, mohtarma! Jis ki hai wo kuch dino k liye meray paas chhor kar gaya tha."
He spoke while putting pressure on every word aa he worked on his phone but threw it aside in frustration. Esha checked her phone quickly and wanted to smash it against the wall when she
it was dead. But she didn't, cause it was expensive.

Frustrated, she asked him,
" Ab?"

" Ab chup kar k wahan baith jao."
He pointed to a place far away where some piles of hay was gathered. What was this? A farm of a warehouse? However, she didn't listen to him.

" Tumharay Dada? Wo nahi dhoonday gay humein?

He rubbed his temples, showing he was irritated by her constant questioning.
" Neend ki goli kha kar sotay hain wo. Kal subah dus bajay sey pehlay nahi uthein gey chahay zalzalah ajaye."

//////////

The next two hours were spent with Esha reaching every corner of the warehouse to search for signal to call someone, trying to make her clothes dry. And he, well, she didn't know what he was doing. He was rummaging through some large cabinets for a while.

It was extremely cold, the cold was seeping in her bones. Due to rain, the air was wet. So were their clothes. Esha was sure she was already getting the cold and tomorrow she would be burning in fever. Tired of trying, she sat down on the pile of hay disappointedly. He emerged from the cabinets with two large bottles of something that made Esha scrunch her eyebrows.

" Yey kya hai?"

" Nazar nahi araha?"
He sat down a little distance away from her opened the cap of one, taking one large swig.

" Tum- tum! Tumhey yay time peenay ka lagg raha hai? Hadd hogayi besharmi ki! Chichoray!"

She was fuming as she saw him take another swig. Rascal!

" O mohtarma, aap ko kya takleef ho rahi hai? Mjh sey sardi nahi bardasht hoti, tum shoq sey freeze ho."

" Aag jla lo!"

He looked at her like she was stupid as he pointed towards the hay she was sitting on.
" Tumhey jall kar marnay ka shoq hoga, mjhey nahi hai."

Esha slapped her shoulder as ge drank. Wet clothes were making her shiver. She felt like her hair were crispy frozen and lips were soon going to be. Minutes ticked by and she started to stare at him, who looked peaceful as he drank swig after swig. She rubbed her hands together she eyed him again and their eyes met. He raised his eyebrow before putting a long, detailed glance at her. Then, he set the untouched bottle aside, putting it towards her.

Esha glared at him, letting the bottle sit. But only two minutes later, she grabbed it. Opening it, she smelled it. It smelled weird and better. She took a swig to taste. It tasted bad and she started choking. She was aware of his constant stare and told herself to be brave before taking a large sip. It didn't taste that bad now.

Half a bottle down, Esha was more than just a little tipsy. Newbie at drinking, she didn't know how much she could take before totally losing her mind. She took another sip before looking at him. He had nearly downed the whole bottle and was smoking a cigarette now. Rubbing the cigarette butt on the floor, he got up and pulled his shirt off.

" Ankhain band karo."
He told her when he saw her staring with her eyes wide open. Suddenly, Esha closed her eyed, flustered. The image of his chiseled abs flashed before her closed eyes.

" Boht geelay kapray hain. is liye.."
She nodded her quickly as she tried to take a swig with her eyes closed.Accidentally she dropped some on her shirt, staining it around her chest. Esha scrunched her nose in distaste as she opened her eyes. She stood up abruptly, spilling the remaining bottle as she dizzily fell forward but he held her within in his arms but could not prevent them both from falling on the pile of rough hay.
" Oof."
He murmured but Esha could only stare at his face two centimetres from her.

His eyes were a little grey up close. Slightly hazy because of l the alcohol, bushy brows, a straight nose that Esha was suddenly jealous of, lips pink, a chiseled jaw and cheekbones. The greyish hair on his jaw didn't look bad on him, rather gave him a careless charm. Her hands warmed up from the heat emanating from his chiseled chest, her abdomen against his stone hard abs.

" Meray bhi.."
She licked her lips.

" Kya?"
His eyebrows scrunched again and she anwered,
" Kapray geelay hain..."

" Oh."
His lips formed an O as Esha tugged her shirt off which was so quiet stuck that he had to help her.

" Ankhain band karo."
She watched as he closed his eyes and tugged her wet, clinging pants off. When she looked at him again, he was staring at her unashamed.

Wet hair, wet skin, the sound of the rain, the smell of wet mud, the wetness in the air, the cold, the roughness of the hay, the roar of thunder and the blueness of their shivering lips joined with intoxication poisoned their blood and he could not help but turn them upside down, now her beneath him as he bent down.

/////////