Disclaimer: The following story was told to me by a close friend.
My friend texted me one night to accompany him “somewhere”. “Waila” (free) at the time, I agreed. I was really confused because my friend wasn’t really telling me where we were going. He might have been feeling embarrassed I assume, for he took me to an area near Barkat Market (Lahore) where I experienced, for the first time, how street prostitution works. An “aunty” accompanying a young, provocatively dressed woman was standing near a petrol pump. It was pretty obvious they weren’t looking to buy petrol. Anyways, my friend rolled down the window and asked for the price. “3000 Rs. for the night” was the answer. My friend told her to sit in the car. She refused because apparently she wanted to be paid first. My friend gave her half of the amount and asked her again to sit in the car. She told him to wait on the opposite end of the road. We took a u turn and reached the opposite end. I hadn’t seen my friend this happy ever in his life. We waited for a while. Then went back to check for her again. She was nowhere to be found.
All that happiness. Gone. The poor soul was really dejected but driven by his desires; he started looking for another one. It wasn’t long before we found another one. I swear she looked a lot similar to the one who had just mugged us and could’ve easily passed for her sister. Maybe she was her sister. But my friend wasn’t thinking unfortunately. The same conversation ensued and she refused to enter the car too. It seemed like my friend was about to be fooled again. I had to do something. I chimed in, “We were just mugged by another woman who did the same thing and vanished into thin air!” Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say, for she thought I was questioning her “morals”. “How dare you say something like that? And by the way you aren’t even doing “it”. Let your friend speak. He is a “proper” man!” Touché woman!
She finally agreed to follow us in a rikshaw. We were to rendezvous at a nearby hotel. I discreetly remember they were following us. I also remember I started calculating how much money my friend here had wasted and how we could’ve eaten a pizza or something. Amidst the thoughts, I checked again. That rikshaw was nowhere to be found!