'She loves you', Noor told him, only to see him scratching his temple, clearly annoyed. 'She loves you because she's your sister! Najma Ahmed Khan!'
Asad could feel a shiver go through his body at the mention of a sister he only knew existed somewhere in the world. He couldn't take his eyes off of the girl in front of him, trying to replay her words in his minds to make sure whatever he heard was exactly what was said. He felt the earth swallowing him up slowly, but gradually, the word 'sister' reminding me of the past he had moved on from. Or atleast spent his whole life trying to.
'What nonsense are you talking about, Miss. ?', Asad asked, his teeth gritted, his eyes shooting draggers, is hands behind his back to prevent the younger girl from seeing his throbbing nerves. 'What kind of a joke is this?'
Suddenly, Noor regretted blurting out the truth to the clearly devestated yet, extremely dangerous man in front of him. She could see his haws clenched, his arms shaking through the shirt he wore. No comments could be made about his eyes, as words would possibly not be able to explain the anger in them. Could she run away now? The door was just feets away behind her, she could make a run for it. She felt herself taking a step back but once again she was proven that either her starts weren't with her, or Najma's were very much with her. Her pained face flashed somewhere in the back of her mind, and she stopped moving backwards.
'N-Najma. She's your sister and my friend', Noor replied, her eyes counting the patterns on the marble flooring.
Asad closed his eyes, and roughly rubbed his temple as he felt the previous headache setting back in.
'She longs to meet you, sir. I may not know exactly why you are not with her, have never even met her, but I know one thing, sir', Najma said, finding herself almost begging. 'I know that a barely eighteen years old girl day and night wishes to be loved by a brother. She doesn't know exactly what happened that broke up the family and she doesn't care. All she cares for is to be loved by a brother she admires even though she has never met him'.
Asad stared at the girl's face and noticed tears brimming in her eyes. A lump formed in his throat realising the irony. Only a few minutes ago he was listening to his mother's voice and now the reason his mother died was being brought back to him.
'You please stay out of this, Miss. This is a private matter', Asad almost yelled.
'Najma has always treated me as a sister, how can you call it a private matter?', Noor retorted. 'You, a very sucessful business man living the life everyone wishes for, right? Atleast thats what the world would see you as, won't it? And there your sister, who reads the tales behind your eyes in every damn interview of you that comes on television! Who breaks down everytime she sees past your eyes, blaming her existance for those clouded features'.
Asad was rooted to the spot. The sheer intensity with which this girl spoke, was hitting him right on his chest. She shook as she spoke and he could only imagine what the atmostphere would've been if this Najma had actually been here instead of her.
'I can't meet her, I'm sorry. We don't share our lives, we never had, we never can. Now please if you can just leave my family matters to me, I would be very grateful', Asad replied, desperately in the need to be alone.
Asad was stumped by the sudden laughter from Noor. He looked at her to see the tears now making way across her face.
'What family sir?', Noor asked sardonically.
Asad averted his gaze not knowing what to answer. It was true that holding a grudge against a newborn baby who was now eighteen for something that wasn't her fault was foolish and selfish. But how could he let is past him? When he knew the baby caused his mother's death? Sucked away the happiness from his life? How could he make himself love that child? At that point he wishes his father would just die for messing with lives of three people. His wife's, his innocent baby daughter's and his only son's.
**Flashback**
They waited some more before the red light on top of the operation theatre went out. Asad saw his father standing up suddenly, alarmed, his hands joined together, tears rolling down his face. Asad too stood up, scared.
He saw a man wearing a white coart come out, wearing the most undecipherable expressions ever. Asad saw his father running to him, and he followed.
'Doctor, sab th-theek tou hai na?', he saw his father beg.
Asad saw how the man in the white coart shook his head placing his hand on his father's shoulder.
'I'm sorry. We could only save the baby. We're extremely sorry for your wife, we did everything we could'.
**End of Flashback** (Author's Note: Part of the flashback from chapter 6)
'You blame her for your mother's death', Noor said in a low voice.
Asad wasn't sure if that was a question or a simple statement, but it made his whole body rigid instantly. He had never in his life, even as a boy discussed his personal matters with anyone, especially strangers and hearing it from the girl in front of him wasn't going well with him.
'You blame her for being born, don't you?', Noor tried once again.
Asad found himself once again drifting off to the memories he dreaded the most.
**Flashback**
Everyone was gathered in the hall around the white blanket covering a body. The body of his mother. He could see white everywhere. Were people actually wearing white or had he gone color blind? The motionless body of his mother,, covered with the cloth made him think his mother was just fooling around with him, pretending to be asleep like she always did when he asked her for more pudding.
But then slowly, his eyes shifted to another bundle of white in his father's arms. But this bundle had movements within it. He could see tiny legs and tiny arms waving at him. He tilted his head to see the creature inside it and found black pools staring at him. He chuckled at how funny the baby looked blinking so frequently and waving at him.
He looked around himself to find everyone with their heads down, reciting something or either shaking for whatever reasons. His father had told him his mother would never come back. Hah. What a joke! Once sure, noone was looking at him, Asad waved at the baby slightly only to see it suck its thumb in response. He waved again, and the same reponse. He crept closer to the baby and waved again. Nothing this time. He glided even closer and once again looking around, tickled the baby on its feet, holding up the white blanket. The baby moved its feet, making Asad chuckle to himself slightly.
'Rashid Miyaan, bitya humein dijiye, its time to leave for the graveyard', his father's best friend had said in a low voice.
And Asad saw first his sister being taken away from him, inside the house. And then the men gathered up to lift his mother. His body turned stiff as he saw his mother being lifted, and he ran after the men, into the bus in which his mother was laid. That was the last Asad saw his baby sister, and soon it would be last when he would see his mother.
**End of flashback**
'The baby', Asad said in a daze. 'They took away the baby before they took away my mother'.
Noor felt someone stab her chest as the man she had always seen as a powerful business idol for people in India, now looked extremely vulnerable.
'It wasn't Najma's fault', Noor whispered walking closer to her best friend's brother.
She hesitated before she kept her hand on his arm and directed him towards the couch. Asad let himself be walked towards it, and once he felt teh girl slightly put pressure on his arm, he let himself drop on the couch, his mind travelling to and fro like a time machine.
'What is she like?', Noor to her utmost surprise heard him ask, his eyes fixed on her.
She sat on the table in front of him and smiled at him. He did look like Najma, she thought as she saw him more closely.
'She has long dark brown hair till her waist. And she's quite fair. Just like-', Noor was cut off by Asad.
'Just like Ammi', Asad said in a daze, a slight smile forming on his face.
'Yes', Noor smiled seeing his face curve up in that smile. 'She's gone a little chubby lately, but she's beautiful. A little crazy in the head, though, but the sweetest thing I've ever known'.
Asad looked at the barely legal teen in front of him and thought whether his baby sister looked like her. He could feel a lump refusing to go down his throat. It wasn't the baby's fault. It had been as clueless as he was that day, eighteen years ago. A little bundle wrapped in a white blanket, kicking her tiny limbs everywhere.
'Is she tiny?', Asad blurted out, suddenly feeling stupid and aware of his surroundings.
Noor let out a laugh that echoed through the hall at hearing him ask her that. She could really like him as a brother, she decided. He wasn't so bad. Besides, Najma was like a sister to her, he could be like a brother. Or was she rushing up things?
'I-I mean-', Asad began but was shortly cutt off.
'No, she's not tiny anymore. She's quite a perfect lady. So, she's lady sized too', Noor replied chuckling.
Asad smiled to that. He didn't know what would life make him to next, where it would lead to him, would it open a gate to his darker fears, but he was definitely going to try to be a little open mindedd about life. He had to be, he couldn't run away from everything his whole life. He had aready damaged a great deal of his life running away, not that he regretted any bit of it.
'Where does she live? N-Najma?', Asad asked carefully, the sound of his baby sister's name sounding like an alien sound in his ears, but he noticed it made him feel proud of himself too.
'We're staying at the River View Hotel', Noor replied excited.
'How about I pay a visit sometime this week?', Asad asked smiling at the clearly excited girl in fromt of him.
'YES ! OMG YES, PLEASE! THANKYOU SO MUCH!', Noor shrieked, jumping onto him for a quick hug, them drawing herself back quickly as if his body was on fire.
Asad was definitely not comfortable with such gestures, but if he was going to be a brother to his baby sister, he would have to be a brother to this young lady too. He smiled at her crimson red face.
'I'm so so sorry', Noor replied, wanting to kick herself. 'Will never happen, sir'.
'Bhaijaan', Asad said smiling, earning an even wider smile by Noor. 'Please don't tell anything about this meeting to Najma if she doesn't know.
'I'm not even planning to', Noor replied imagining the look on Najma's face when she finds out what she did for her.
**
Zoya had gone for a little window shopping to ease her mind. On her way back to the apartment, she found a letter placed on the door mat in front of Asad Ahmed Khan's door. She carefully took steps towards the apartment and picked up the letter.
'Mehta's & Mehta's' it read.
Zoya gaped as she realised the letter was from the company she had presented too. One of the biggest clients for Dilshaad Industries.
'Why would the mail man leave such an important letter outside like this?', Zoya thought out loud, shaking her head.
Should she knock on AAK's door and give it to him? Or should she take it with her and ask Ayaan to do a when he comea back home? But what if it was urgent?
Letting out a big sigh, she lifted her hand to press the door bell when she heard someone laugh from inside the aparment. Ignoring it, she inched closer to the doorbell when she heard it again. It was a woman's laugh, Zoya recognized. Would it be okay to disturb him?
Zoya thought of knocking and as soon as she knocked, the door swung open. The door was open? What the?, Zoya thought. She peeped inside to see a young woman wearing a skirt revealing her mid thighs hugging someone sitting on the sofa, quite intimately, her back towards her. Zoya quickly gasped and drew her head back, closing the door.
Was that girl his girlfriend?, Zoya thought. But if he had a girlfrind, why would he have ordered a prostitute from Giselda's?, Zoya thought. Was she someone from the Giselda's? Zoya placed her one of her hands on her heaving chest at the troubling thought and the other on her 'O' shaped mouth. Even after what happened with her, he still ordered prostitutes?, Zoya thought horrified. She ran back to her apartment, shutting the door with a bang, and throwing herself on the couch.
The faces of nervous women hoping to impress men with their bodies, hoping to see them impressed, their faces though seductive, their bodies rigid with the low-esteem flashed before her eyes. The dark cellar where girls would curse the men who didn't like their bodies, or who treated them very roughly, or came back with bruises or blood came into her mind. Zoya took a fist full of her hair and applied a great deal of pressure on her head to stop the images in her head.
'Stop!', Zoya let out out aloud, begging the images in her head to stop.
Reaching for the phone, she quickly dialled the second number she had memorised.
'A-Ayaan?', she said. 'Can you please come home early today? I-I feel...bored'.
A/N:
Hello, another update. Tell me how you guys liked it. Thankyou all who comment and liked the previous updates. Owing to my college, and exam preparations I couldn't individually thank you all. But seriously, I LOVE YOU ALL ❤️
Also, you guys want romance between Asya. Well, I do too. There would be lots of romance between AsYa, but right now the plot needs to be reached, and right now, romance would make no sense a all. Please bear with m for sometime. 😳
Next update: Either Sunday or on Monday.
Edited by -ElmoFuj- - 10 years ago
comment:
p_commentcount