Hello!😊
Butterfly Weed 
He was a butterfly weed who craved the vibrantly coloured butterfly when all he had to offer was a chunk of his colourless heart.
He stood at her door, clutching the life out of the little box he'd spent weeks searching for. Glancing up, he sent a silent prayer that he did this one thing right. He took a breath to calm his screaming nerves and proceeded to knock on her door. He'd barely made contact with the wood when the door was flung open and a blur of red collided with his chest with the force of a moving train. Her startled yelp was muffled by his chest and he instinctively secured her slender body in his arms, taking a step back to steady himself. He felt her hands grab fistfuls of his shirt and his arms reflexively tightened around her. He closed his eyes inhaling her soft fragrance, feeling butterflies wreck his insides at having her so close. Realizing his hands had no intention of letting her go even after making sure that they weren't likely to go sprawling down the floor, he reluctantly unwound them from around her.
He felt her slightly shake her head before she pulled back hastily, glaring at him. "Allah Miya, what's wrong with you Mr. Khan?" she accused.
He considered shoving the gift on her hand and retreating back to the safety of his room but dismissed the idea as soon as it came. People don't just impose gifts!
"Don't you think you owe me some gratitude for saving your fall?" he asked, just for the sake of stalling his big moment.
"Excuse me?" she narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms and he had to force his eyes to stay glued to her face and not travel lower. "If it weren't for you standing before my door like a stalker, I wouldn't have fallen in the first place!" she huffed. "What were you doing here, Mr. Khan?" she asked a second later, cocking her head to the side.
There it was. The big moment. He just needed to repeat the actions he had gone over a thousand times in his head. Hold the gift before her. Look at her surprised eyes. And SMILE. He could do it. He straightened, forcing some confidence into his stance when he heard her gasp.
Pulling his eyebrows in, he followed her wide eyes to the wrapped box peeking out of his hand. He groaned internally. There goes the surprise!
"Mr. Khan, what's that gift for?" she asked with an unsure voice.
Okay. So, looking into her surprised eyes came before holding the gift out to her. Not that big of a deal, was it? Just a little swap of events. He could still pull it off. Repeating that in his head, he held his hand out to reveal the carefully wrapped box.
Zoya still inspected the box with doubtful eyes as if it contained an alien off-spring.
"Miss Farooqui, I-" he stopped as she raised her eyes to meet his. Words dissolved in his mouth as he stared into her big eyes twinkling with hope. A hint of a smile appeared on her lips that encouraged him to continue. He couldn't stop the smile that made its way to his lips either as his insides fluttered with anticipation.
"Miss Farooqui, I got this for-"
He saw a hand come out of nowhere and the next thing he knew, his outstretched hand was empty, the gift gone.
He looked up to see Zoya's face mirroring his shock. He pursed his lips in irritation as he turned sideways to tackle the intruder. Tanveer stood there holding the box to her chest, looking at him with awe, confusing him even more.
"You remember my birthday, Jammy?" She exclaimed excitedly.
His breath froze. Birthday? What?
He couldn't wrap his brain around what was happening. He needed to stop where this was all headed to.
"Tanveer, wait. You've got this all wrong."
"It's been years since I've been gifted for my birthday. I've spent it all alone this long." She continued gushing, as if he hadn't spoken at all and reached forward to hug him. "Thank you, Jammy. Thank you for making it so special." She mumbled into his chest.
He stood stiffly, hands clenched to his sides. What did he say to that? Of all the possibilities he had imagined, he hadn't foreseen this. How could it all go so wrong?
He dared a look at Zoya and felt his heart clench. She stared silently at him for seconds before dropping her eyes. He didn't miss the way her eyes glossed over. Watching her face fall knocked the breath out of him.
Tanveer pulled back, gleaming at him and he pulled the sides of his lips up hoping it would pass for a smile.
"I'm dying to see what you brought me!" she exclaimed, tugging at the purple ribbon he'd spent hours tying into a perfect bow.
He felt like someone had thrust a bucket of ice water on him. Just when he thought the situation could not get any worse.
"Tanveer, I think you should go to your room." he said with a desperate urgency.
"Now don't be shy, Jammy! Zoya, don't you want to see?"
"No!" he said a little too forcefully, hastily trying to push her away from Zoya but she wouldn't budge.
"But why, Jammy?"
"I- I think I left the faucet on." Zoya cut in, not letting a hint of emotion sneak into her voice. " I'll see you later Tanveer. Happy Birthday." She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes.
He felt a heavy weight settle on his heart as he continued to gaze at her, willing her to somehow understand while she looked anywhere but at him.
Tanveer grabbed her hand before she could duck into her room. "I want you here, Zoya. I want to share this moment with all of you. Stay, please?"
Zoya hesitated, her face torn, before smiling at her and stepping out of her room. His heart sunk even more. She could be reckless and irresponsible but she never let people's feelings down. Something, he did to her over and over again. Tanveer snuck her hand into the box and he knew it was too late. He closed his eyes cursing his God as he imagined the situation spiraling down henceforth.
It wasn't Tanveer's excited squeal but a barely audible gasp that tore his eyes open. He found himself looking at her with hooded eyes despite his struggle not to. Each emotion that flickered through her face stabbed his heart some more. He had imagined this moment so differently. He had expected to see her emotional but not this way. Never this way. When the tune of the snow globe from Tanveer's hand flitted across the room he felt his last flicker of hope drowning. He saw arms wrapping around his midriff but he felt numb. Nor could he acknowledge when Tanveer mumbled her thanks and retreated towards her room, leaving him alone with the girl whom he wished to give all the happiness within his reach but ended up doing everything but that. He stood silently staring at the ground unable to find it in himself to look up at her.
"Was that a joke, Mr. Khan?" she asked breaking the suffocating silence.
He lifted his regretful eyes to meet her searching ones, glossing with unshed tears. He cursed himself and clawed at his brain for words to explain himself.
"You knew, Mr. Khan." She whispered, her voice cracking. "You knew just how much Abbu's gift means to me." A tear escaped, gliding down her flushed cheeks. "Yet you go and find something identical to that, only to gift it to Tanveer?" she accused, her voice full of disbelief.
"Miss Farooqui-" he reached out to her but she flinched back.
"Why would you do that Mr. Khan?" she snapped, angry tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I would never do that to you, Miss Farooqui, you have to believe me!" he pleaded, his eyes begging her to understand. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way." He said more to himself than her.
"Then please explain how it was supposed to be." She glared at him, folding her arms. "Because I'm finding it really hard to believe that you could not find any other present for Tanveer's Birthday." She continued, her voice cracking with the attempt to hold in her sobs.
"I got that present for you, Miss Farooqui." He whispered, his own eyes glossing over. "I've spent weeks searching for the perfect one." He said, pouring as much truth into his words as he could. "I had the tune of your Abbus's gift incorporated into this snow globe because your Abbu's gift brings grief and loss with it. I wanted you to have something that would bring happy memories too. I wanted it to remind you of the good times you spent here. With us."He inched closer to her, his eyes unflinching. "With me."
She considered him with wide eyes and shook her head ever so slightly as if she was having a hard time processing it. He watched her in silence, hyperaware of their close proximity. Shock and hope flickered through her eyes before the brightness in them faded off and a sad longing loomed over her features.
"Why couldn't you let me have it then, Mr. Khan?" she asked in a small voice as if she was afraid to know the answer.
Such a straight, simply put question knocked all wits out of him. Why couldn't he bring himself to say anything that would remotely pass for an answer? He racked his brain madly to come up with something, anything but every time found himself grabbing at thin air. Because there wasn't any justification. He was just that weak to confront his own feelings towards her. He was that much of a coward to let anyone reach out to his stone-cored heart. His heart clenched into a tight ball of fear as he felt himself running out of time looking at her waiting eyes slowly being crowded by exasperation. There wasn't so much as a hint of doubt that he would do anything for this girl, break mountains to bring that 'killing' dimpled smile to her face but couldn't bring himself to voice his feelings even when he could sense that he was on the brink of losing her. If there was anything that he hated more than his current situation, it was his own damned self.
"You never have an answer, do you?" she let out, her voice distant and cold. "If this was an excuse to show how insignificant I am for you, you did it perfect, Mr. Khan! As perfectly as you steal my heart only to shred it to pieces. Every damn time." She whispered the last part, her hurt leaking into her voice.
He dropped his gaze, unable to hold her hurtful one. He thought he couldn't possibly hurt more than he was a few seconds ago. But he was proven wrong as the searing pain tightened its vice-like grip on his heart with each passing second. He sensed her still rooted to her spot as if some part of her still believed that he would have an answer. But he could not dare to speak a word, afraid to hurt her more.
She finally let out a ragged breath and stepped back into her room, standing behind the door. She proceeded to shut the door but stopped midway.
"Mr. Khan?" she called, her voice worn out. "I'm so sick of you!"
His knees hit the floor as soon as her door closed shut. He felt his own breath choke him as his eyes burned with unshed tears. He buried his face in his hands as the last shred of strength melted away and the tears racked their way through his body.
He was a butterfly weed who lost his heart to the butterfly he knew he could never have.
Sooo what did you think??😃 Good? Hideous? Continue it? Abandon it?
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Cricket
Kumkum Bhagya
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
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