AsYa Story-UNRECOGNIZED EMOTIONS-Thread 3- chapters 9 to 13 - Page 13

The time was decided. 5pm sharp. Asad would pick her up from the bus stop near her house. Several emotions were working in her mind now. She would get to know Asad more, she would get to see trust in his eyes for her, she would get a chance to support him, she would be by his side, always. She was happy for this new step in their friendship.

Asad's condition was no better than hers. If he was happy just by the thought of trusting someone so much, he was nervous too. He has never been an open book to anybody, but today, Zoya was going to be his first reader. He did not know where all this was leading to, but he knew that he needed her and thus there was no turning back now.

Dear Diary,

I hate to lie to Ammi and Abbu. But what would have I said to them if Asad would have come to pick me up from home? What if Ammi saw us?? No, I could not take that risk. So I asked him to wait for me at the bus stop. I told her that I am going out with Najma. She trusts me and I hope I am not doing anything major that can break her trust on me. Sorry Ammi. I am really very sorry to lie to you. But I have to meet him today. He needs me.

Asad and Zoya had a quiet journey on their way to the park. Asad parked the car and Zoya led the way inside. They came and sat on Zoya's favorite bench, the same one on which they had sat before. There were comparatively more kids than other days as it was a weekend.

"Do you want to go somewhere else?", asked Zoya, seeing the amount of commotion the kids created.

"No, it's fine here", answered Asad, giving a slight smile.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to blame me later"

"I won't. I have started liking this place"

Zoya was satisfied with his answer, so did not say anything more. She waited for him to initiate a conversation, but he was still quiet. Zoya looked towards him and followed his gaze. He was busy admiring the beauty of nature around him. The park was huge and surrounded by trees and beautiful flowers. Zoya saw a faint smile on Asad's face who was observing the kids now.

"Have you read the story of The Selfish Giant", asked Zoya, bringing Asad out of his trance.

"Yes, I have. But why are you asking that suddenly?", asked Asad, who was confused by her question.

"Just like that. It seems like these kids are playing in that Giant's beautiful garden. Isn't it?"

Zoya said this and looked at Asad, expecting a confirmation from him.

"You know, you are weird. Did anybody tell you that before?"

"Allah Miya!!! What's wrong with you Asad?? What weird thing did I say huh?"

"Nothing", said Asad, giving her a sarcastic look, which was probably not unnoticed by Zoya. But she didn't reply him back. She was successful in making Asad talk and that was what she wanted.

"You know, I loved to come to these parks with Abbu when I was a kid. He never usually got time, but he always took me out on weekends."
Zoya did not say anything. She just looked at him showing her dimpled smile. Asad smiled back.

"Things were different then and beautiful too. Now it has all changed. Abbu has changed and I have changed too."

Zoya placed her left hand in his which was a gesture for him to continue. Asad went back to the memory lane of his childhood. He thought about the days that were beautiful but were later replaced by his hatred towards his father. He started telling Zoya everything that he had never told anyone else before.

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Flasback starts

Asad, like any other boy was very close to his father Raashid Ahmed Khan, an influential businessman. His company, Dilshad Constructions, ranked among the top most construction companies of India. Dilshad was his wife and Asad was their only son.

Dilshad was a highly qualified woman. She helped her husband in every possible way when he was starting his own company. They had a love marriage and Asad was born to them after five years of their marriage, until everything was settled in business. Dilshad never left working even after Asad's birth. Raashid was always in favor of her work. He always encouraged her in everything. They were like a perfect couple and perfect parents to Asad.

Like every other child, even Asad had a superhero, his Abbu. He always idolized him in everything. Raashid loved his wife and son the most and the three of them lead a happy life, until one day.

Asad was a school boy then. He was in seventh standard when all of this happened.

Many times, Dilshad had to stay for long in office or even had to go out of town for business purpose. The work load on Raashid was increasing everyday and she tried her best to help him. She had her secretary, Shireen, who used to take care of all her work at office in her absence.

On one such day, when Dilshad was out of town, Asad came back from school early. He used his spare keys to enter into the house which Dilshad always kept in his bag in case of emergency. He knew that nobody would be at home at this time so he went straight to his room, freshened up and came downstairs to eat something.

Though he was just a boy of fourteen years, he was mature than his age. He knew that work was important for his parents and he respected that, specially his mother who managed to take out enough time for him even after being so busy.

He was taking out food from the refrigerator when he heard someone's voice. He got afraid but he was also brave enough to find out the reason behind the noise. After sometime, he didn't hear anything else but still did not stop searching as he felt someone's presence in the house. He went up to his superhero i.e., his father's room and opened the door which was not completely locked.

What he saw was something that no child would ever want to see. He saw his father, his idol, in a compromising position with another lady. He recognized the face to be his mother's secretary, Shireen who used to come home sometimes for collecting files.

Asad did not make any noise, but his feet were frozen in that spot. Within just one minute, he lost his superhero, his perfect father, his best friend and his mother's loving husband. The man in front of him lost all respect and love that he used to get from his only son.

Asad moved away from the room and closed the door carefully without making any sound. He went inside his own room in slow footsteps and wished this all to be a bad dream. He was no more hungry. Food that was taken out from the refrigerator remained on the dining table, uneaten.

After sometime, he heard the main door open and then getting closed. He went to the balcony and saw his father leaving with Shireen in his car.

Flashback ends

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Zoya listened to everything what Asad said. She was in a state of shock. She knew that it had to be something serious, but he never imagined anything as such. She knew it had to be something extremely difficult for him, but she did not expect anything as difficult as this. If she was shocked now, then Asad was devastated back then. No one looked at each other, they just tightened their hold on each other's hands.

Zoya wanted to ask him a lot of things that were going on in her mind at that time. But she decided to say nothing until Asad finished with what he started saying.

"For the first few days, it was still difficult for me to accept all that, but then, I understood that Abbu was cheating on Ammi. I started going against everything he said. I started disobeying him. I always considered him to be wrong, even if he suggested anything good to me. I started hating him more with every passing day."

Asad looked at Zoya after saying the truth behind his hatred. Zoya noticed his eyes. They were bloodshot red; there was so much pain and anger in them.

"Did you speak about it with your mother?"

Asad nodded his head in denial.

"Why?"

"What would have I told her? How was I supposed to tell her what I saw?"

Zoya understood his dilemma in talking about it with his mother.

"Do you think she knows already?"

"I don't know. I never saw them fighting as such ever. Ammi is really a kind-hearted person and I have never found her getting too much angry at someone. But...", Asad stopped.

"But what?"

"But after that day, I never saw that lady, Shireen in our house. She never came to give or fetch any files from home. I got to know later that she wasn't working at Dilshad Constructions anymore. But I don't know the reason though."

"You were too young then, but did you ever not try talking to your mother about it later?"

"I was afraid Zoya. I was not sure of how she would react to all this. I can never see her hurt."

"What if she already knows? What if she was herself the person to fire that lady?"

"I don't want to know. I am afraid."

"Afraid of what Asad?"

"What if Ammi knew about it, but she decided to stay back with Abbu even after his betrayal, just thinking about me? I won't be able to accept the fact that Ammi had to embrace all the pain throughout her life just because of me. If you think that that I am a coward, then maybe I am"

"I never said so Asad. You have known about it yet you kept it to yourself. That is a sign of bravery, not cowardness. But in this way, you have been hurting yourself. What about that?"

Asad could not say anything. He could feel her concern for him.

"There is no point in trying to do anything now. It has been years now."

"There is a point because this thing is still affecting you. Your hatred towards your father is still increasing every day. You don't consider anything he says, but you said he is not wrong always. If he has been pressurizing you to join his business, then it is also true that he has given you the liberty to choose your own path. You can't deny that. But you are still negligent about it and this is not good for you. You can't live hating someone all your life. It has to stop somewhere now."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Will you do what I say?"

"Yes, I will." Asad, who was looking at the grass below, turned towards Zoya. She was happy to know this. She did not presume Asad to agree to anything even before listening to what she wanted him to do. She looked into his eyes and said with maximum integrity, "I want you to discuss everything with your mother. Will you do it? For me?"

Asad was anticipating this, but he never expected that Zoya would ask him to do this for her. Did he really take so much time to trust this selfless girl? He mentally cursed himself for this.

To Zoya's surprise, Asad gladly obeyed to her proposition. She was now relieved as now he will have his mother by his side too.

The rest of the time was spent without speaking anything. It was time for sunset. Zoya enjoyed the beauty of the setting sun, whereas, Asad's gaze was stuck at the mesmerizing beauty of the angel sitting beside him. He noticed before that Zoya was beautiful, but today she looked ethereal. The red glint of twilight that fell on her beautiful face, made his heart skip a beat. He never felt like this before, not for her, not for any other girl. But he loved this emotion. He didn't know what it was, neither did he intend to know, but he loved the new feeling that he felt at that very moment. His face was automatically lightened up when he felt Zoya's hand in his. He realized that she had been holding it all this while. It gave him strength to face whatever comes in his way.

Zoya was going to sit in the car, but stopped mid way. Asad could see a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"Let's have ice cream."

"What?"

"I said, let's go and have Ice Cream", she said again, putting stress to the word ice cream this time.

"Are you serious?"

"What made you think that I am not?"

Asad understood that there was no point in arguing, so it was better to give his consent.

They went to an ice cream parlour on the way to their house. Zoya had her all time favorite chocolate ice cream and Asad chose vanilla. They were about to get into the car when Zoya stopped again.

"Now what?"

"Let's walk."

"What? You really want to walk all the way back to your home?"

"Not me alone, we are going to walk."

Once again, for the second time a day, Asad gave in to Zoya's another kiddish and innocent wish. He called up the driver and asked him to get the car back home from there and started to walk for the rest of the way, with Zoya by his side.

A/N:Please let me know what you felt about this chapter. Personally, it was a bit difficult and time consuming for me to write this part. I hope you all liked it.

Please drop your likes and comments. It motivates me a lot. 😛

"But after that day, I never saw that lady, Shireen in our house. She never came to give or fetch any files from home. I got to know later that she wasn't working at Dilshad Constructions anymore. But I don't know the reason though."