Hola! I am back with the next chapter, thanks for the amazing response to this story guys. And do lemme know what you think about this part too :)
Chapter 2
Zoya's POV
"This is your weapon, I am going to count to ten and then come find you all!" I said while handing four water guns to Sanam, Seher, Rehan and Aahil a week later.
Ammi had gotten a psychologist to work with Aahil and she wasted no time to get down to business, God bless her soul. She had shown up with a police officer and a warning letter for Raza Ibrahim a few days ago and I was happy to say that there were no new marks on Aahil's body. Sadly, the man still emotionally abused his child by not talking to him at all but there wasn't anything I could do about that. So I made sure that Aahil got minimal contact with his father at home, he spent a lot of time at our house due to it but I think it helped him to have positive adult role models in his life. And I decided to keep Rehan away from the house as well, since he could be the asshole's next target.
Sanam and Aahil tended to stick to each other like glue these days and it was all sorts of adorable. They even tried to steal cookies together, I saw them while they were doing it but didn't have the heart to stop them because they were so adorable. Aahil had pushed the chair against the counter for Sanam and helped her climb on it making sure she didn't fall. But the funniest thing in the world was when Sanam opened the jar and there were no cookies...but dried apricots. Aahil's eyes grew wide with shock before he had yelled "she's onto us!" and helped Sanam down from the chair before running away.
And then Seher had rolled her eyes and told them that they didn't know how to do anything and the cookies were obviously in the jar beside the cookie jar because and I quote mommy knows we can read now and she won't put cookies in a cookie jar. She was so cute! And then Rehan and Seher had put a chair against the counter and ransacked every jar on the counter before they finally got the cookies. I didn't have the heart to stop them because they were all so cute and worked so hard to get them.
I was interrupted from my thoughts and brought back to reality by the sweet voice of my daughter, I realized that we had a water fight to get to. "MOMMY! You forgot the marks!" Seher said pointing to her cheeks.
"Marks?" Rehan asked confused, he was such an adorable child.
"Oh yeahhh! You know those markings people have on TV when they go to fight." I said.
"The black lines?" Aahil asked.
"YEAH! Mommy make em!" Seher yelled.
"One minute baby." I said trying to find my black eye shadow, it would do. "AHA!" I said finding it and holding it up. I popped open the old and swiped some with my finger. Sanam stepped forward and I swiped a line on both her cheeks and then the same thing to Seher who wanted two lines because she was team captain. She painted two lines on Rehan's cheeks before running away with him.
"Your turn." I smiled to Aahil who looked a little unsure. He stepped forward and let me put it on him.
"But what do these do?" He asked.
"Chachu says they make you look fie - fie, mommy what's the word?" Sanam asked.
"Fierce baby." I laughed, she was adorable.
"What does that mean?" Aahil asked.
"I don't know!" Sanam shrugged. "I am not five yet."
Aahil nodded as if that was a completely valid explanation. Ah, I love kids.
"Okay kiddies. No pushing or doing anything dangerous okay? If something happens yell 'code red' okay?"
"Yeah mommy."
"Yes." Aahil said smiling.
"Okay, run!" I said and the two of them ran away in the same direction laughing as I counted from one to ten before following the way they went. They would be good at this game if they didn't giggle so much, I had no clue where they were at first but then they started giggling and I followed the sounds.
Here I thought I was a ninja as I stepped out to the front of the house but the four of them were waiting for me, their guns pointed and ready. They attacked as soon as I came into sight, and I decided to run, I could hear their little feet behind me but they were way too slow. So I ran inside and hid behind the kitchen counter spying on them as they ran into the living room before deciding that I was probably in the garden and running out. I quietly crawled behind the counter and peeked to see them leave.
"What are you doing?" A whisper came from beside me causing me to shriek. I turned around to see my husband sitting beside me with a glass of water in his hands, his eyebrow arched accentuating that little space in his right eyebrow.
"Allah Miyah, what's wrong with you? You scared the hell out of me Asad!" I said whacking his arm.
"What are you doing though?" He asked confused loosening his tie, he had lost his coat somewhere and was left in just his crisp white dress shirt and tie.
"Hiding from the munchkins." I replied. "We're having a water fight."
"Ah, so this is what you do when I am not home!" He all but yelled.
"Ya Allah, shut up! Or they'll hear you." I said as I heard little footsteps running into the room.
"Mommmyyy, where are you?" Seher said her voice getting closer and closer. I knew she knew where I was when I heard her giggle. All of a sudden Aahil and Sanam were on one side of the counter and Seher and Rehan on the other side. And then they were spraying me.
"HI DADDY!" Sanam and Seher said spraying him as well as he was in the line of fire. Rehan just stood there giggling at the situation, but not spraying anyone, the kid was way too nice and wouldn't do anything that the other person may not potentially like but he was fiercely over protective of his friends, as he was of Aahil and Seher, even Sanam to some extent. Rehan was also finding a huge corner in my heart, I felt like I had four kids instead of two these days.
"Hi Mr. Khan." Aahil said not spraying him, he just nodded at him cutely. Aahil had taken to Asad immediately, at first he was a little wary but when Asad had said that he would teach him how to play football he'd all but beamed at Asad. They were all sorts of adorable together and I really wanted a mini Asad now.
"I surrender!" I yelled causing the four munchkins to yell happily. "Why don't you all go play Xbox now?" I suggested.
"YEAH! Mommy can we play Fruit Ninja with the Kinect?" Seher asked.
"Of course baby, but be careful okay?" I said and they both nodded before moving themselves into the living room. Aahil, at the mere age of four, was a pro at turning on and setting up the Xbox, kids these days I tell you.
Asad was now throwing a huge towel on the floor to soak up all the water and watching the kids when I realized that I in fact had a water gun in my hands. An evil idea struck me and I moved away from him a little. "Hey Asad!" I said causing him to look up, I watched as his eyes grew wide when I sprayed him and ran away.
"Oooh! Water fight again! Go Mommy!" Sanam and Seher yelled from the couch.
"Mr. Khan!" Aahil yelled passing his water gun to Asad and giving him a thumbs up. I didn't know what happened after because I was running through the house and into the garden with Asad behind me, a water gun in his hands. I was a ninja though and stuck to hidden corners, peeking out from the sides to see if Asad was approaching.
But of course I didn't have eyes at the back of my head because before I knew what was happening my back was soaked and I could feel Asad's breath on my ear as he pushed nozzle of the gun to my side. "You've been cornered." He sounded so smug so I decided to knock him down from his pedestal and held my gun properly before jumping around and spraying him.
"Ah damn." I yelled when my gun ran out of water. Asad stalked towards me and pushed me against the wall. He opened the top of the gun where the water went it and dumped it over my head smirking. "Let me go."
"Nopeee, I like you like this." He said pushing me further into the wall before attacking me with his lips. My arms found their way to the back of his head, my hands tangling in his hair pulling slightly causing him to groan and invade my mouth with his tongue. Mother of god, I could feel him harden against me. He groaned again when I moved my hips against his.
And then I heard giggling, little girly giggling as Asad pushed me away and stood up straight. I turned to my right to see Sanam, Seher, Rehan and Aahil standing next to each other.
"Are we getting a baby brother?" Sanam asked hopefully and I blushed. Ya Allah, this was embarrassing, and Seher had a big mouth so I knew she was going to be running around and telling everyone that she was getting a little brother because daddy was kissing mommy. I could already imagine the teasing. So I decided some distracting was in order.
"Who wants ice-cream?" I asked causing the four of them to yell and forget all about what was happening. They ran into the house before me. I looked back at Asad and winked. "You may want to take care of that before you come in." I giggled looking at him up and down, he groaned, again.
X-X-X-X
I was awoken by the clatter of a spoon falling onto the floor, I shot up in the bed and noticed that Asad was not beside me, well if he was beside me then I wouldn't have been able to shoot up like I did because his arms were always wrapped around me. I blinked a few times trying to wake myself up and heard hushed whispers coming from the kitchen. I grabbed Asad's white shirt that was neatly placed on the ottoman, definitely not where I had thrown it last night, and pulled it on before buttoning it and quietly making my way towards the door. I pulled it open just a crack and peeked outside.
Asad was standing in front of the kitchen island with Sanam and Seher sitting on the island on either side of him, all three of them were in their pajamas. Well the girls were in their pajamas, and my sexy husband was in his pajama pants, sans shirt and I was really enjoying the sight. Asad was stirring something in a big red bowl and Sanam and Seher seemed to be throwing little chocolate chips into it one by one, they were counting as they put it in too, and they were currently on number 86.
"I think that's enough chocolate munchkins." Asad said to them quietly.
"No Daddy! Mommy loves chocolate." Seher said stressing the word loves, the truth was that the two of them loved chocolate more than I did.
"Yeah, we need more chocolate." Sanam nodded.
"Okay then, the recipe says that we need to mix everything and then put it in the cake pan. Now what is a cake pan?" He murmured and I stifled my laughter as I stood peeking through the door. This had to be the most adorable thing in the world.
"Momma is right, you are hopeless in the kitchen!" Sanam sighed putting her elbow on her knee and resting her head in her hand, she was such a drama queen, such a cute one though.
"Hey, that is mean." Asad said tapping her nose.
"But daddy, you told us not to lie." Seher said and Sanam nodded. I watched amused as Asad sighed.
"Okay, help daddy find a cake pan." Asad said as he looked around the kitchen.
"Should I wake up dadi?" Sanam asked.
"No, we have to do this ourselves."
"But what if the cake is bad daddy?" Seher asked.
"It won't be." Asad said.
"Mommy makes cake in the round metal thing." Sanam said pointing towards the cabinet on top of the fridge and Asad nodded before pulling out the right pan.
"This one?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, so we need wax paper...what is wax paper?" He murmured.
"How are we supposed to know? You're the dad." Seher whispered exasperated causing me to giggle.
"Daddy down!" Sanam said wiggling her hands in front of her in the universal pick me up sign. Asad picked her up and put her down, Sanam ran towards the drawers and opened the third one before pulling out the roll of wax paper. She was mommy's little cooking helper so she knew where a lot of things were.
"Thank you princess." Asad smiled picking her up again and putting her on the counter. I watched amused as Seher and Sanam rolled out the wax paper in the pan and held it in place as Asad poured the batter into the cake pan. Oh man, I should have sooo recorded this.
"Okay, now we put it in the oven." Asad said reading something on his phone and putting the cake pan in the over before pressing a few buttons.
"Where is the icing?" Seher asked.
"I hid it in the fridge with dad's potein shakes, mommy doesn't look there!" Sanam giggled.
"Protein shakes princess." Asad smiled before reaching into the fridge and pulling out two tubes of icing.
"Mommy's birthday card?" Sanam asked.
"Daddy down!" Seher said this time, Asad picked her up and put her on the floor before walking to the sink to do the dishes. She ran towards the living room and came back a second later with a huge card in her hand.
"Oooh, so much glitter!" Sanam oohed over the card as Seher held it out in front of her.
"Mommy's presents?" Sanam said looking towards her daddy.
"Hid them in the closet." Asad replied, ah, so that is why I wasn't allowed to go into the closet but I knew what was in there already, mwahahaha.
"Candles?" Sanam asked.
"Got them."
"Okay! Is the cake almost done?" Seher asked.
"Not yet baby, it's going to take a while." Asad said.
"Good job cleaning the kitchen daddy!" Sanam smiled.
Asad wiped his hands with a towel and put Seher on the counter beside Sanam. "Thank you for helping me." He smiled.
"You're welcome." They said simultaneously as Asad picked them up and walked towards the living room. I quietly shut the door and pulled my pajamas and shirt on before walking to the bathroom and washing my face and rinsing. I walked back into the room and lay back down in the bed again, if they wanted to surprise me I'd let them.
I guess I did fall asleep again because I was being awoken by little hands on my face and whispers of mommy. I opened my eyes to see Sanam and Seher on either side of me leaning over me giggling. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" They yelled and I felt a smile break out on my face.
"Thank you." I whispered.
"Why don't we let mommy sit up?" I heard Asad say from somewhere behind them, they scrambled away a bit and I saw Asad standing at the foot of the bed with a cake in his hand, sadly he was also wearing a shirt now.
"WE MADE YOU CAKE MOMMY!" Seher and Sanam yelled, simultaneously.
"Oh wow! With lots of chocolate?" I asked and they frantically nodded before turning to their father and giving him their pointed I told you so look. They were so cute! Gah.
Asad pulled out the little bed table we had acquired over the years, he hated crumbs on beds and I loved having breakfast in bed, so we had come up with a solution. He put it front of me and put the cake on it before leaning over and kissing my forehead. "Happy Birthday." He whispered looking down at me.
"Daddy! Knife!" Sanam yelled.
"I got it!" Ammi yelled from the door as she walked in with plates, spoons and a knife. "Happy Birthday Zoya!" She smiled.
"Thank you Ammi." I laughed as she handed me the knife.
"Mommy, maybe daddy should cut it...your slices are weird." Seher said.
"Yeah, they aren't tiangles." Sanam nodded.
"But daddy takes forever to cut the slices." Seher said looking at Sanam who nodded speculatively.
"DAADI!" They both yelled simultaneously making me laugh.
X-X-X-X
"Are you sure we can leave all four of them with Ayaan and Humeira? I mean Humeira is pregnant...and Ayaan is Ayaan." I said to Asad.
"I told Ammi to check on him from time to time." Asad laughed.
"I just hope my kids don't come back tattooed." I whispered.
"CHACHUUU!" The munchkins broke into a run as soon as they spotted their favourite uncle. Aahil and Rehan followed behind them tentatively. Aahil and Rehan's grandmother was good friends with Ammi now, and she had mentioned that her son was going to be home all weekend and he was throwing a huge party, so they had decided it was best for Rehan and Aahil to stay away. Which is why they accompanied the twins over to their Chachu's house while Asad and I went out to dinner.
"And who are these gentlemen?" Ayaan said turning towards the two little boys.
"Aahil Raza Ibrahim." Aahil said sticking his hand out for a handshake, I felt Asad laugh beside me, he really found Aahil's sense of propriety adorable.
"Well hello there Mr. Aahil." Ayaan laughed shaking his hand before turning to Rehan. "And you are?"
"Rehan." Rehan smiled shyly.
"Rehan, it's nice to meet you." Ayaan said. "Girls, why don't you take the boys inside and introduce them to Chachi-Maasi?"
"YEAH!" Sanam and Seher said simultaneously.
"Chachi-Maasi?" I heard Rehan ask.
"Yeah, she is our chachi cuz she married chachu...but she's also mom's sister." Sanam explained, Aahil and Rehan nodded but from the looks on their faces I knew that the explanation just went over their cute little heads.
"Don't you two look hot?" Ayaan waggled his eyebrows at us. "Mona, is that a white hair I see?" He laughed.
"Shut up Raabart."
"Eh, I am just kidding. Happy Birthday Mona Darling." He smiled hugging me.
"Thank you." I smiled at him before breaking out into instructions for him. "Make sure you don't feed them too much sugar, don't let them stay up to late and for godness' sake don't corrupt my children, all four of them."
"I love how Zoya acquires children." Ayaan laughed looking at Asad who smiled. "Are y'all working on Asad Junior today?"
"Shut up Ayaan." Asad said whacking his brother in the head.
"Ow, Bhai!" He whined. "Be kind, I am babysitting for you."
X-X-X-X
"Where are we going?" I asked as he drove further and further from Bhopal.
"Something about a highway that is haunted by an aatma." He smirked and I gasped looking out the window and I finally recognized where I had seen this place before.
"But why?" I asked as he pulled up in front of the same house from all those years ago, it brought back memories that were buried in the back of my head to light again. The rain, the abandoned house, the bhang pakodas, the song and the subsequent talk.
"You'll find out." He said getting out of the car and walking to my side. He opened the door for me and held out his hand which I took and stepped out of the car, amazed that I didn't end up tripping over the sari I was wearing.
We quietly walked up to the house and he stood in front of the bottom step and pulled me in front of him so my back was to the front of his body before wrapping his arms around my waist. "Happy birthday." He said as we looked towards the house.
And I gasped when things clicked, there was a red bow on the door of the house and a name plate of the side that said Mr & Mrs. Ahmed Khan.
"You bought it?" I asked, the shock evident in my voice.
"It took forever to get the people who lived here to sell it, they wouldn't agree, I've been after it for years now." He mumbled and I stood there shocked, this was the first I'd heard of it.
"But why?"
"Zoya." He said turning me around. "We both know what this place means to us, I guess we knew it back then too but were too busy denying it." He whispered as he rubbed his fingers across my cheek. "And I know I said that I didn't remember what happened that night but I did-"
"I know." I smiled. "You said that I should use these dimples to kill someone else because you don't have a heart...and I knew you remembered." I laughed.
"So now that we both remember this, why don't we actually go inside?" He laughed taking my hand and walking up the steps. I smiled when I noticed that the door was exactly the same, the one that Ayaan had locked from the outside and I laughed.
"I can't believe the things we used to do sometimes." I laughed as he opened the door and stepped into the house. It was fully furnished and updated, I am sure Asad has something to do with it though. The walls were a light grey and the furniture in the room was of a charcoal grey, a couch sat in the middle of the room in the same configuration as it had the last time we were there. It was different that it was all those years ago but with the way it was set up it didn't feel different.
"Why are you crying?" He whispered before his body blocked my vision and his fingers rubbed away the tears I didn't even know were streaming down my face, I was just really emotional these days.
"I don't know." I laughed. "This is just so sweet, I- I didn't expect it. And it just brings everything a full circle doesn't it? I mean we literally sat right there the first time we admitted our feelings out loud but then - I just didn't expect us to be here one day again, since we were so misfit."
"I am such an idiot." He groaned. "I never did explain that whole statement did I?"
"The part where you told me that you liked me but shouldn't because I wasn't right for you?" I laughed, I was over it, I understood him, yeah, it had hurt back then and it had haunted me for a while but after everything it was just a blimp on the radar.
"I was so wrong, just to clear it up. I didn't understand why you affected me the way you did, before you my life was so concrete, everything had an order and there was a plan, love was never a part of it and I thought I'd be able to avoid it. But then you came along, and the plan just went down the drain, I tried to fight those feelings as long as I could and I've never been gladder to fail. I was an idiot, and I am sorry for what I said, for making you feel bad about yourself, but you must know that you've never been the misfit, it's always been me-"
"Hey, shhh." I said putting my hand over his mouth. "I remember the last time we were here that you could barely get a few words out of your mouth while sober. I know why you said what you said Asad, I know what you were trying to fight and I don't blame you for it. After seeing your parents the way you did, it wasn't a surprise that you were so afraid of love."
"Still, I am sorry." He said kissing my forehead.
"I accept your apology." I smiled up at him. "Now, tell me that gazebo is still up at the back of house!" I said and he laughed nodding, I squealed as he grabbed my hand and led me outside, the path that led towards the gazebo had been worn down by the elements or maybe I just didn't remember the path well but I certainly recognized the gazebo. "Allah Miyah! It still looks the same!" I laughed running up to it and stepping inside the space. "Are you going to sing for me again Mr. Khan?" I teased.
"You know, without the bhang in our system it may feel a bit clich and funny." He said holding out his hand in front of him. I took his hand and he pulled me up against him, his arms wrapped around my waist and my hands rested on his shoulders. "But we can give it a try...if I remember the words."
"Do you have your phone on you?" I asked and he nodded before reaching into his pocket and handing his iPhone to me. I slid across the lock screen and went to the music app before typing in Bol Na Halke Halke and clicked on the songs, the first few chords played. "There." I said putting the phone into the pocked in his shirt.
There was more laughing than dancing and singing as we swayed around the space, but it was better than anything that I could ever imagine, even the last time we were here. Because this time I had a name for the feeling in his eyes, and there was no hesitance and pulling back. He swung me around, pulled me close, kissed me and caressed my face between laughs as the song played and it was absolutely wonderful, especially when it started to rain, we looked at each other and then around us before bursting out into laughter and running back towards the house in the rain, getting thoroughly soaked.
"Some things just never change." I laughed as he closed the door behind us.
"Some things do though." He said wrapping his arms around me again.
"Like?"
"Like instead of lounging around here, I get to take my beautiful sexy wife inside our bedroom and have my way with her." He whispered.
Edited by astonm - 10 years ago
Anupamaa
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon
Indian Mythology
Sampoorna
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