AsYa SS-A Walk Back Home-NOTE- Pg153-updating soon - Page 48

A Walk Back Home

PART 3

Zoya's POV

Flashback Starts

I removed his hair gently that fell over his face and troubled him in his deep sleep. I let my knuckles touch his stubble cheeks and trailed my right thumb on his lower lip. He mumbled irritatedly in his deep slumber and turned around to face his back towards me. I have always loved this gesture of him but right now; it was annoying me as hell. I had been trying hard to wake him up since last few minutes, but his actions showed no signs of it. I touched his abs, the ones that I love so much, and drew patterns over it but his undistracted sleep was doing no good to my patience. My hands roamed around a little more and reached farther up to his chest where I felt his heart beating in soothing rhythms.

I never intended to wake him up at the odd hours, but my cravings were also not helping me in any way. I was going crankier than before, and Asad, like the most obedient husband ever, did everything to please his wife and his unborn child.

I felt bad, really bad, but I had to do it..! I strolled my hands down and slid it inside his 'kurta' and placed it on his well built abs. Without thinking again for a moment, I pinched him hard there and the next moment, he woke up with a sudden jolt and started babbling in panic.

"What happened Zoya? Are you in labor? Did your water just break? I am calling Ammi.. No.. No..let me call up the doctor first!!"

He kept rambling and I struggled hard to calm him down.

"Come on Asad.. I am in my seventh month now... How can I get into labor? And even if I was, do I look like I am in one? I am so relaxed.. Just look at me!", I said and he seemed to have calmed down his erratic breaths.

"Oh... Thank God you are fine!... I got so frightened...But wait... I thought you are in pain and...Wait..Why did you even wake me up like that then?", he asked me looking startled at my composure.

"Actually.. I... I...wanted to have ice-cream!", I said and he pinched his nose as he tried to register the real reason behind my deed. "I had tried waking you up... in a more civil way.. but like always.. you refused!", I spoke again before he could.

"Did you look at the time Zoya? It's 4 in the morning! Couldn't you have waited for few more hours?", he asked me in a polite yet annoyed tone. This was indeed the best thing about my pregnancy. However irritated or angry he might get, he would never let his anger out on me. He always treated me like his most prized possession and handled me with more extra care as my due date approached nearer.

"What's wrong with you Asad? I know He is your baby, and as you say, he would be much wiser than me, but how can you expect him to know what time it is now? I am sure you haven't taught him to read and write yet!" I tried to dismiss his witless excuse with another stupid reasoning of mine. His hands automatically reached up to his head and his fingers pulled at his silky locks as he got down the bed.

"Does that mean you are taking me to out to have ice cream, then on a drive and am I supposed to get ready now?", I asked him excitedly when I saw him proceeding towards the door.

"No sweetheart! It only means that you are going to sit on the bed quietly and I am going to get you your ice cream!" ,he mimicked my excited tone. "It's already there in the refrigerator..", he added, smiling at me.

"Okay!", I said it with a pout when he dumped my idea of going out. He laughed at my pout that he said he always found cute and moved towards the door to get me my latest craving.

"Ummm... Zoya.." , he turned back again.

"Hmmm...", I faked my anger, though I was equally happy on Asad's thoughtfulness for keeping the refrigerator filled with all my latest cravings.

"It's a 'She' in there, and not 'He' ", he stated and left. I could not help but laugh at his confidence of having a princess as our first baby.

Minutes later, I was busy digging in to the tub of Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce, my present favorite flavor and thanked Asad for being the best husband and the best father ever!

"I llooovvvee you shooo muchhh for this Asad!", I spoke with my mouth full of ice-cream.

"And I love you for everything!", he said as he kissed  my nose and rubbed the corners of my lips that were smudged with chocolate.

"Asad...", I called him when he placed his head on my lap ad caressed my tummy.

"Hmmm..."

"Thank you for everything.. for being so patient with me!", I thanked him with honesty as I always knew how much difficult I could turn at times.

"Hmmm..."

"But I really wanted to go on a drive with you tonight!", I said dejectedly.

"Hmmm..."

"Asad!", I called him again, but didn't get any response. It was then when I realized that he was already asleep with his head still on my lap. I kept the empty ice cream tub on the bedside table and let my swollen fingers brush his silky hair. He always got a headache the next morning whenever I used to call him up at night. I felt guilty for my actions as well as blessed for him being a part of my life.  I pressed his forehead for some more time until he was in his deep slumber and till the time I could see the Sun rising and basking the nature in its morning glory.

Flashback Ends

I saw him stealing glances at me, just like I was. I believe his mind had been as preoccupied as mine, since the day we welcomed silence between us. However hard I tried, the old memories always sculpted a deep impact in my mind and forced me to rethink over my decision. As the worries took me over, my fingers automatically started tying several knots with the ends of my 'dupatta'. My mind was getting all suffocated and I rolled down the window and Asad like always, didn't object at this action of mine.

And then, a sudden jerk and a screeching sound, and our car came to a halt.

Asad's POV

"What happened?", she asked me as she smoothed the creases on her dress and brushed her disoriented hair with her fingers.

"I.. don't know. Will have to check.", I said and got down the car.

After a few minutes of taxing attempts, I realized that the fault was something major and calling a mechanic was the only option. I took out my phone and called up Faraz, my most trusted mechanic and informed him about my location.

"It's a major fault. Faraz will be here in some time. I'll get you a cab. You can go home.", I told her when she got down the car and stood beside me. This gesture of her told me that she was eager to know what the problem was.

"How long is he going to take to come here?", she asked me, ignoring my suggestion to her about taking a cab.

"In fifteen minutes I guess. His garage isn't that far..", I answered as I calculated a tentative time and looked at my watch. It was already 8 pm now. The meeting with Rajat had really gone long!

"It's okay.. I'll wait till he comes. It's not that late either.", she said as she dodged my idea of sending her back home. "It's okay Asad.. This road is one of the busiest ones. So getting a cab won't be as difficult as you think. Waiting for Fifteen minutes wouldn't do any harm.", she said again, not allowing me to come up with a valid justification.

"Fine.. As you wish!", I gave up, as arguing with her at the middle of the road when we stood stranded with an immobile car didn't sound much appealing to me. Considering the day's events, silence was something that I would choose as my first preference.

I took a few steps ahead, and she did the same, just not in the direction towards mine. I rested my back against my car and she stood a few meters ahead of me. I followed the direction that her eyes looked at without fluttering her lashes even for a while. I wondered what was so alluring that she had seen, but before my mind could transpire that, my phone rang flashing Faraz's name.

Zoya's POV

My eyes stared and stared, as long as it could, towards the road at my left that I had always found mysterious. It was the same route that had always fanned my curiosity to know where its end was; the road that Asad had always avoided whenever he took me on a drive.

Asad was now busy with Faraz, who had arrived just a minute back, on his scooter with his assistant. Taking this as an opportunity, I took some long strides towards that road. I saw several cars passing me in a high speed and getting vanished somewhere just in a matter of seconds. That raised my curiosity even higher and I took a few more inevitable steps. I saw many more vehicles doing the same and my feet again covered a distance as my mind scrutinized what was happening.

"What do you think you are doing here? I just got busy with Faraz and you went out of my sight? What's wrong with you Zoya? Even Meher is more sensible than you are...! Are you even listening?", I heard his voice from behind but my eyes could not remove their gaze from my queer enticement.

"What the hell are you looking at? Look at me when I am talking to you!", this time the words spit out of his mouth in anger.

"Shhh...Just wait a minute!", I said ignoring his fury that amplified every second with my non responsive conduct.

"What?? Zoya.. I am talking to you!!!!",he yelled and took me back by a few steps as a speedy car passed us.

"Asad.. Isn't this the same road that you had always avoided whenever you used to take me on a drive at midnight?", I asked him as my eyes glittered under the bright street lights.

"Yeah.. It is.. Now let's go.. Faraz said it's going to take a couple of hours. So I will get you a cab. Come with me.. Now!", he ordered in his authoritative voice.

"Why did you always avoid this road?", I asked him the same question whose answer I had never got from him before.

"Zoya... I am tired.. Trust me... Please spare me from your questionnaire...and go back home!! I'll be there soon too!" This time he pleaded as weariness took over him.

"You go back home.. I will be there in some time. I want to be here for a while... I want to find out something that I had always wanted to but you had never let me!", I said in a dismissing tone as there was no way that I was  going to back out. Not now as he had no right on me anymore.

"Fine! Do as you like! I don't care!", he said but could not go further leaving me on a road that he had always avoided.

"This road leads to a Highway.. And you have always had your cravings at very odd hours. You know how dangerous highways can be at midnight right? So I had never brought you here, however how much you wanted to.. Now let's go.."

"That same old story! Tell me the real reason for it Asad.. Or else, I am not going anywhere now!" I took a deep breath as I said this and sat on the boulder that was just behind the milestone that marked the distance after which the highway began.

"Look at the road.. look at the lights... Doesn't it look weird?", he said as he placed himself beside me on that rock. 

The not so big rock could accommodate us, but not comfortably enough. His broad figure brushed with my lean one whenever any one of us tried to move. His masculine scent had always played effortlessly with my senses but the distance that had brewed between us had also taught me to bring back my senses in tracks. I have by now learnt to control the shivers that always ran through me whenever he touched me accidentally.

Asad's POV

"I don't think so.. I am rather curious.. Look at the cars.. They are rushing through the mist and then disappearing somewhere...", she disagreed with my point.

"They are just going out of your vision Zoya!", I stated the obvious with an irritated smile.

"Tsk.. Not like that.. Look at lights... They look so beautiful from here. Didn't you ever want to know where they actually end? Or where they begin from?", her inquisitive mind asked me.

I inhaled a deep breath and let out one before replying to her. "I find these roads so aimless, so directionless... I always have a sinking feeling whenever I have to pass them... They seem to have no end at all... They aren't exciting for me, they are frightening... They always give me those unavoidable tingles of discomposure, that one day, everything is going to be over, and I will be left with nothing.. Nothing at all!" 

I let out my fear that I had always kept within me even after seven years of our marriage.

"What if that aimless road brings you something that you might have never thought about.. Something good...Something worth?", she asked me and I could sense optimism in her tone.

"And what if that one unpredictable thing brings you  something unpalatable, turns your life upside down and descends you to a depth that you can never recover?", I voiced my trepidation again.

"But that might just help you to overcome your fear and..."

"It might.. but again, overpowering that fear wouldn't help me to regain whatever is already lost...You can never get back anything that you have lost!"

"But Asad..."

"It's getting quite late Zoya...", I decided to disregard her views on this matter for now as being in presence of my phobia was getting unbearable for me. I couldn't deny that my mind did focus on her words, but my heart bypassed her every justification.

"Call up Meher once.. You know how grumpy she gets when none of us are around her..", I suggested her as a change in the topic would do wonders for me.

"I don't have my phone with me... I have left my bag inside the car...", she admitted and I took out my phone and forwarded it to her, forgetting about the number of queries that would rise in her mind now.

Zoya's POV

I took his phone reluctantly but calling up Meher was much more important than my hesitation. But what I saw next did leave me all surprised and it was not because I had seen something unanticipated, but because I saw something that I had wished and expected to see. On his phone's screen, there was a photograph of him with me and our one year old Angel in my arms!

Asad has kept the promise that he had made to me years back, only if that could mend things now.

Flashback Starts

"I can't believe this Asad! You won't be there on your daughter's first birthday?? Is work more important than her?", I asked him as I tried putting Meher to sleep.

"Work isn't important than her, but who am I doing all this for?", he answered while looking up from his laptop.

"First of all, close that thing when you are talking to me!", I ordered in a low anger filled voice as I got up to put Meher in the cradle.

"Fine! Look.. I have stopped working now.. Happy?? But Zoya, this meeting is important.. I can't afford to postpone this.. Try and understand.."

"Try and make Her understand that when she grows up and asks you why you weren't present on her first birthday!", I replied angrily and Asad chuckled at me.

"Stop laughing Asad.. This isn't funny! This was supposed to be grand.. We have been planning so much for it.. And now, all of a sudden, this meeting of yours turns out to be so much more important to you, than us!" My voice expressed the amount of hurt that my heart felt.

"I really can't cancel this Zoya.. I would have if I could have!" His voice didn't lack sincerity, but it was not sufficient either to make me concede to him.

"Do as you like, and from next time, don't plan a party if you decide to be absent from there!", I snapped back at him.

"I am sorry Zoya.. trust me, this new project is really important! I can't delay this meeting.. I will be running at a huge loss then..", he pleaded and his imploring eyes did placate my infuriated soul.

"And if Meher asks you where her Abbu was on her first birthday, then tell her that he had been away to make a beautiful life for his princess..."  He had already stopped me once from placing Meher in the cot, and did that again only to receive a strict glare from me.

"Wait a second..." ,he said and went towards the table and came back with his phone. He quickly took a 'selfie' of three of us and set that as his wallpaper in his phone.

 "Happy Birthday Princess!", he said while kissing Meher on her forehead while I turned around to check the time. It was three past twelve at midnight and Asad had officially been with Meher on her first birthday and for the last time.

"If Meher asks me anything about her first birthday ever, then I have this proof to tell her that her Abbu had been there with her and was also the first person to wish her.. And you are a witness to that..Don't you dare to back out then!", he warned me and I rolled my eyes in disbelief,  showing my pout which he lovingly kissed.

"I am so sorry Zoya..And I promise, this picture stays in my phone till the day I remain guilty of my act!" His ardent eyes had never failed to mesmerize me with their intensity.

"Then I wish that you don't have to keep this one for long, because we will take many more of them on her future birthdays!" I assured him by giving him a quick peck on his lips and he reassured me the same by taking us in a tight hug.

Only if I knew then, that assurance never came with any certainty and some promises never had a fate to get fulfilled!

A/N: A little glimpse of what might have gone wrong..😉

Hope you have enjoyed this chapter! 😛

Please hit the like button and also comment on the update because it really means a lot to me! 😳🤗

120+ likes and i will be updating! 😉😳

 NOTE: IF is not allowing me to send PM's!!  😡

So I am really sorry if I miss out someone or if I PM you multiple times! 

If somebody has blocked me from sending you PM's, then PLEASE DELETE ME FROM YOUR BUDDY LIST RATHER THAN BLOCKING ME!! IT'S A REQUEST! 😊