AsYa SS- Autumn To Ashes ❤️ Complete - Page 73

Originally posted by: -waitingforyou-

please update soon !

I am super sorry for not being able t update for ...I don't know months. But the update is FINALLY ready. Today when I started writing this, there was not a single this in my mind. I just did the take-it-as-it-comes thingy, because I could not keep you people waiting for any longer now. Some people were sure gonna hunt me down.

😳

A little recap about the store, in case you have forgotten what was it all about, which im sure most of you have.

Recap:- (Main points only)

This was a story about a girl, who lost her love just days before her marriage. Lost her everything to a mysteriously unknown stalker, who haunted her days and nights and was finally able to succeed in whatever was his mission. Zoya leaves the place to return back six years later for her grand dad only. He dies but the series of black mailing starts again. This time an adamant Zoya decides to stay back and find out the truth behind her broken relationship. It turns out that it was Ayan, Asad's brother who has designed every crue bit of the tragedy she had to face... and now the ending.

Chapter 12 (last)

In The End

There in the crowd he saw that face; the face that was drowning him in oceans of guilt for the past six years. Her name reverberated in, around and every possible where.

"Zoya..."

He thought his shell shocked existence will explode.

"Neha you came with her?" Akram asked her. She eyed him with an air of indifference.

"She will be leaving soon... you need not worry..." Saying so Neha realized if Akram had seen her; Zoya might have caught her with him too.

"Did she see you?" She asked nervously.

He shook his head.

"I guess not... I'll be back soon Neha..."

And he left even before she could stop him. She slammed her fist against her palm.

"Damn you Zoya..."

***

Why is she here? Why would she want to jump back into this dreadful place? The place which took away everything from her... ha... who am I trying to fool? The place didn't take anything way from me... its people did. Its people are your sinners Zoya. I am your sinner. Ayan is... and everyone who knew about it is... Akram started his car and drove rather slowly on the man boulevard.

But not this time... I cant do it this time... I can live with this guilt of stealing away everything from you for the rest of your life Zoya... no I wont...'

He pressed his foot against the accelerator and the car sped away.

***

"Asad...please listen to me this once..." Akram pleaded. He knew there wasn't going to be any warm welcome from him at Asad's place but he wasn't here for one either. He was here to prove himself guilty.

"Akram just get lost before I call the guards and tell them to kick you out of here..." He growled through his teeth. Akram sighed.

"You have to listen to me... Just this once...please I swear I'd leave after that and wont ever show you my face again...please..." He begged his hands literally together seeking understanding.

He almost nodded, the creases on his forehead visible under the dark spell of his anger. And Akram told him everything, every little detail he had, every little detail he had been collecting for the past six years, every little detail against Ayan, every little detail to prove Zoya innocent. Asad didn't believe him; he was expecting so anyway. But his reaction was certainly out of is expectations. Aram didn't realize when Asad's fist came and crashed against his face; he couldn't register the tiniest second in which his body flung to the farthest corner of the room and droplets of blood oozed out mercilessly. He gaped at him in utter shock. It took him seconds to gather up energy t get up. Asad paced towards him.

"First Zoya and now my brother...how dare you Akram?" He roared furiously.

Akram held his hand in front of him. And shook his head.

"Don't believe me.. don't believe my words... Just see what I have to show you..." It took him several attempts to make Asad agree to his consent. He swore that if Akram could not prove his point he would kill him on the spot.

***

It was an unusually dark and ugly night; actually the smell of truth which scattered everywhere made it look even uglier. The naked truth of the people in his life made it look terrible; his own brother's voice filled it with the silence of death.

"Ayan...?" He almost whispered his name in utter shock. Akram standing a few yards behind him saw Zoya slapping Ayan. They obviously couldn't see him or Asad; imagining them there was also out of thinking. It was the only was he could make Asad believe what he told him was the trugh. That his brother was involved. That even though blood is thicker than blood his brother was the one who dictated that he wasn't his true blood. That their relationship was as vulnerable as a thin piece of paper.

Akram saw the crumbling existence of a man who thought himself true for his entire life. Of a man who regretted loving a sinner, a betrayer, a traitor... he still did but now it was his brother in place of his love of life.

Asad's eyes dint leave the sight of her. He was emersed in the shock of betrayal by his brother but his eyes dint leave the sight of the one he had betrayed; the one who had stood by his side when he needed her but he left her when she needed him the most. He wanted to burry himself alive. For that one moment was taking away every ounce of respect he had for himself. He hated himself; hated himself more than once could hate the one who betrays you; after all he was the one who had betrayed himself.

***

Akram left after Zoya. He didn't know if Asad confronted his brother after that or he stayed there in that state of misery and for how long. He followed after Zoya. He followed her to her home then to the air port and then to the silent bridge where he was otherwise going to look for her.

***

Zoya sat still staring at the bouncing city lights in the water flowing underneath her. The silence of the night prevailed everywhere around her. She could even hear her own heartbeats. She wanted to cry but the tears wont come out, she wanted to yell but the voice wont support. Everything was out of her control so she sat there still. Zoya didn't know what made her decide she was leaving but she was leaving in another two hours. Going back to the place she shouldn't have left in the first place.

Minutes passed, but they felt like eternities. She slid her hand inside her pocket and took out a tiny band. The ring he had slid in her hand back then... the same ring whose identical he had thrown on her face and called off their engagement. Called off everything between them. Forever.

She gazed at it for God knows how long. Until finally her vision began to blur. Every thought that came was associated with him; with Asad. She want thinking about her stalker, Ayan, the one who took away everything from her but she was thinking about him. About Asad.

But it was time t let go. Let go of everything she had forcefully bound to herself. It was time to let go of him. She loosened her grip on the ring; it fel. It fell but not in the water but in another pair of hands. She followed the hands to find their owner.

"Akram?" She called his name without any emotions and scuffed.

"Don't let go if it now..." He said. She kept silence, trying to remind herself that this was the same face of a man who had contributed towards the apocalypse she was suffering through. But no emotions came. Like they were dead or mute somewhere in a silent corner inside her.

"I am sorry for everything I did... you don't know what I go through everyday in guilt... I am sorry Zoya... I know I'm way too late but please one more act of selfishness... please forgive me... set me free of this guilt...please..." He said with his eyes red and voice hoarse.

Zoya wanted to laugh. Could anyone be in more pain than she was in for the last six years. It seemed to be a great joke.

"Go... you are free... I forgive you... go find relief if life gives you any... I don't remember where and why you existed in my life... go... I don't hold anything against you." She said and saw his face change clour from red to white to something she couldn't understand.

***

Her flight would leave in about two hours. She had to reach the airport by the next thirty minutes. She took a grant of five more minutes. Last five minutes before she said goodbye to herself. She was going to leave herself behind. What was she going to take along? She did not know.

***

He took slow calculated steps until only yards away from her. She wasn't looking his direction, her head was skewed down. Asad come nearer, and then came to a stop. He didn't know what to do. He felt so little so ashamed that words wont come out. He saw the air tickets lying t her left. And he knew that if he disnt stop her now he would lose her forever. As if he had her before. You lose things or people you already have. Not the ones you never had or perhaps will never have. He rephrased it in his mind. He had to get her now. And this time for the entire life time.

"Zoya..." Her name escaped his lips even before his mind decided to do so. She did not turn around but he saw her figure turn stone.

"Please go away Asad... go away before I do something insane..." She said half turning her face towards him but not looking at him; not for once.

"I wont... Not until you tell this sinner of yours his life time punishment..."

"Don't ever show me your face again...I died the day you left me... that Zoya is lost and you cant do anything to get her back." She said looking him in the eyes this time. He stared back, trying to decipher what lay inside but she didn't hold the contact for long.

"just give me a chance... one last try..."

She scuffed and gazed at the tickets lying to her side.

"its futile Asad...its futile..."

He kept quite, there was only the sound of water singing to the air in the atmosphere.

"Water always scared you na? you'd never swim...never have invitation accepted to beach parties...no scuba no cannoning...you feared drowning right?" She laughed, much to his surprise. "You know love drowns you in places where you don't even find water...I've faced that feeling everyday of my life for tha past six years... can you imagine bearing that every single day?"

Asad looked on, there was an acute pain in her words if not in her voice. He felt that, it hit him on his chest and passed right through his heart. It gripped him from inside and for a moment he thought he'd die of the pain. That kind of pain was alien to him and he was alien to it.

She got up, took the voucher in her hand.

"I'll give you another chance Asad... see this water down here... its enough to drown tens like you... dive in and you are forgiven... but remember you wont be able to see the next rays of sun...you'll find yourself in another world...a world without love... just like the one I've been living in..." She didn't know what she was saying, but she was sure Asad wont do any such thing. She was wrong. The next thing she heard after turning around was a huge splash of water. He was gone.

"Asad!" She yelled at the top of her voice leaning on the edge where just seconds before he was standing. There wasn't a sign of a human soul in the water. He was gone.

***

"Why the hell did you do that you moron?" She yelled at him as soon as he opened his eyes. The doctors and nurses turned to look at her. He stared back blankly, then a faint smile spread across his face.

"You said this world's without love..." He said in his crooked voice. She stared back aghast then rolled her eyes.

"You are not dead..." She said through her teeth. He smiled sadly and looked out of the window. The hospital's bed was very uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Don't do this to me... I cant imagine all that happening again...its just too much."

"What is too much?" He took her han in his, she didn't resist.

"Asad... I trusted you blindly but what did you do? You proved me blind... yes that is what you did. Let me go and try to live with the pieces of me I carry around... because if that happens again...if you do that again...leave me at the mercy of this cruel wrld, believe them before me...I wont be able to collect these pieces again... let me go... "

Her words chained his heart and every minute pulled the chain making him endure an discriminating soreness. It throbbed with every look she gave him. He placed his hands in front of them, blocking her vision all together. She walked away towards the window.

"Its only fair... " He said making his way towards her. "Its probably best of you leave... Leave me now.. just like I left you...its only fair that I should also go through the same torment I made you suffer for six long years... its only fair that I should die of guilt every living second of my life...its only fair I should have to live a life without you... because I lost you long time back and now..." He trailed off. She closed her eyes and sore water ran down her cheeks. He placed his hand on her shoulders and she turned around to hide her face in his embrace.

"If you really have to die... die with me then..." She sobbed and uttered her words like they were bound, caged for a very long time.

"Die with me you idiot..."

***

4 years later...

Asad knocked on her door, again. And again and again.

"Patience... Asad.. you really break Zynah's record..." Zoya said opening the door.

"Oh hello... Its been an hour and you... " He stopped abruptly and came closer. Closer still until mere inches away. "You'll kill me..." He whispered.

Zoya smiled and pushed him away, a scarlet line broke across her cheeks. "You say that every day Asad..."

"Because there is something which blooms in you everyday, every time with a new vigor..."

"and I'll like to hear this cheesy talk tonight... children must be waiting...come one its their day... you romance sovereign..." Zoya pulled him out of his cheeky moods and made it for the hall downstairs.

"Wait... There is something I need to tell you..." he stopped her AGAIN.

"Now what?"

"I love you..."

Zoya blinked her eyes and then smiled in approval.

"I know..." She gave him the most expected yet the most irksome reply.

"When will I know that you love me too?" he asked in utter exasperation; which was only fake.

"Perhaps...one of these days..."

"Who knows..." She sighed and grabbed her hand to take her down stairs.

***

And who knew that there lived some Ayan, who had everything in his life but family and LOVE. Because he hd once snatched it from someone.

Who knew about the Akram who lived a life of isolation, somewhere in the heart of Europe; because no one wanted to sta more than a fortnight in his life.

Who knew about the Neha who was married off to a gold-digger family who couldn't value her worth, because once she couldn't value the worth of true friendship.

And Who knew about Ali, who had found another Zoya to brighten up his life. And his sister who had ditched Ayan to marry his subordinate.

Who knew Dilshad and Najma would one day dedicate their entire day to two little angels Zoya and Asad were blessed with.

Who knew that life could finally turn out to be so different in the end? Who knew?

Because the Autumn was gone and the Ashes settled...

----------------THE END------------------

This update is for you Kiki and Suri and Jas and SimplySmile and every single reader I made to wait this long. I know im cruel but im sorry. Zoya forgave Asad, I hope you guys can forgive me too. Pretty please.

Will be waiting for your generous comments. I hope I was able to live up to your expectations.

P.S. everyone who had been PMing me appreciation all along...thank you people. I wish I remembered and could recall all the names.

Love,

KUKU.

😳