"I am not going to talk to him," said Raheel with a frown, standing in the parking lot. "Don't act like a child, Ray. This could be the only chance we will have," Aaryan said. The two of them were staring at Taha, who was on the ground alone, reading something from his cell phone. "No, Bro, like, seriously, he has been ignoring us for weeks and didn't even bother to say a hello in the morning. After all of this, you want us to go to him and talk?" Aaryan hated it when he had to do something that hurt his ego and he would never in his entire life care about a person showing him this weird-egoistic-attitude but this someone was his very first loyal friend who had been with him in thick and thin. It doesn't matter he wants it or not, he would have to go "Listen, Ray, it's not like we are going to him to beg or something. We just need to ask him his reason, okay?" After a dramatically long pause and a continuous increase in his frown, Raheel agreed, "Okay," with a scowl.
Before Raheel could change his mind, Aaryan moved, and the two of them strode towards the ground. Taha was sitting on a beach while his phone stayed in his hand as it was the most delightful and precious thing he had.
They stopped in front of the bench. Taha instantly turned his phone off and almost dropped his most delightful and precious thing. He stood in a blink, shoving his phone in his pocket. "Hey," he said abruptly, and Raheel laughed out loud at this greeting. "What the hell, Bro? You have been shadowing us for weeks, and now, Hey?" He was visibly angry but Taha said nothing. He kept on staring down to the ground "Where have you been, Taha?" Aaryan was now feeling angry himself. "Nowhere," He tried to laugh. "I was just…" Taha abandoned the sentence as he seemed unable to complete it. He was panicking for apparently no reason, and this was abnormal. "Have you taken us for fools, Taha?" Raheel yelled his annoyance, as it crossed the limit "No, Ray, I- I was just–"
"What have you done to yourself, Bro? What's up with these clothes? What's with this unshaved beard? Were you living in the forest or something?" With every question Raheel asked, his irritation kept on increasing. "I was at home." He finally answered, "No, you weren't. I went to your house daily in the afternoon, and your mother said you weren't home," Aaryan said, and Taha's eyes started to wander here and there. "There is somewhere I go in the afternoon," he replied in a low voice, making him look even more suspicious. Aaryan was trying to be patient, but now he felt angrier than even Raheel. "What the fuck are you playing at, Taha? Why won't you tell us directly that what the hell happened to you?" Aaryan's hand turned into a punch of fury, ready to land it at his face. "I am sorry, I–" Raheel cut him again, terrified this time. "Sorry? Are you shitting me? A sorry from you?" Taha closed his eyes and mumbled something but never replied to them directly
"Okay, Bro let's take it straight. I don't fucking care wherever the hell were you. Tell me what was the message about?" Raheel asked, and Taha's eyes opened wide. "Are you leaving ART?" No one spoke for moments, only their ragged breaths were audible, and then a "Yes" was all Taha said before walking in the other direction. For an instant, Aaryan and Raheel stood in shock, and then Raheel yelled, shaking the silence, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAID?" Taha didn't turn around at his ear-tearing scream "IBN AL KALB!" his curse never worked on Taha and now he was gone
Taking angry breaths with stretched eyes Raheel turned towards Aaryan "Ya Zalami, dae Taha yadhhab iilaa hayth yurid" he was set on his Arabic mode and when he looked at clueless Aaryan he translated "Let Taha go wherever the hell he wants to" he paused and took a furious breath in "We got Mary, right?" There was a problem, actually a huge problem in saying "Of course" with that much confidence but Aaryan was just as angry and he acted stupid "I will give you whatever you want if you make Mary agree to join ART" he inhaled after about two minutes "Yeah" Aaryan said in the same idiotic confidence "Now, I need to get the hell out of here and smoke some cigar or I might punch someone" he breathed another time and then he was gone
Other than the thing that happened with Taha a moment ago he had something else on his mind. He made a promise to Raheel, and he did need an acoustic-electric guitar which cost six thousand dollars, even though Aaryan had been saying money for it for three years, he just had four thousand and was two thousand short so if he won the bet against Raheel then his dream with come true— it wasn't important at the moment, but Taha, his friend, of years, acting strange was. He couldn't understand why Taha was acting differently. His friend was the person who shouted words, and his damn ego would never let him keep his eyes on the ground, he would have dug them into other people and freaked the living hell out of them, but this wasn't the Taha he used to know. He had because someone else and Aaryan labeled this as humble or something unfamiliar. After a while, he just stopped thinking about it because there was something else he needed to run his mind at
Mary.
Aaryan had told Raheel about Mary being in love with him, but that was a big fat lie, and now either he had to tell Raheel the truth, which would definitely not result in anything good, or he could just find a way to beg Mary on his knees.
He wasn't done deciding when he saw Mary with a guy and a girl standing on the other ground. Aaryan knew both of them, James and Luna, a famous couple from the university and he also knew that they were not good people. Even though he had never been close to any of them, he knew that James and Luna were the type of people you can't call your friends because they were selfish and would never care about anyone if its not for their advantage
Aaryan didn't care at that moment as well and he never got to Mary and told her to stay away from them because even though he found Mary attractive, she wasn't his responsibility. He already had a lot of things to deal with, so he ignored Mary and went straight to the home