Six months had passed since that day. The day when the dark clouds overshadowed his happiness and took a part of him with them. He had seen enough troubles all his life but being rejected in love was a whole lot more...it pained him still, but he couldn't keep his mind from wandering to those painful memories.
Asad was deeply in love with Samira and was going to propose her...they were childhood buddies and Asad had never thought that she could love anyone else but him. It came as a blow to him when she introduced an average looking guy as her fianc. Asad tried talking about his feelings but alas!
"Asad, you know we can never be in love...we...we are friends but you know...we are...not so compatible. I am sorry."
She had left him just like that. Since that day he had stopped coming to this beach...which was the place where they used to come as friends, where he fell in love with her. But today he needed the solace that only this place could give him...his baby sister was getting married and he was apprehensive to lose yet another loved one.
He felt someone mumbling and snapped up his head to look around, after all this place wasn't much crowded and this time he needn't have a company. A girl was coming towards him, "No!" he thought to himself. But she surprised him by passing across him without even an acknowledgement.
She halted few feet away from the swinging waves and stood still for many minutes. Asad panicked seeing her..."Is she here to end her life?" he decided to keep an eye on her, in case she tried something stupid.
Another wave came and she bent down and Asad couldn't stop himself from leaning forward for watching what would she do next? She was picking up something and putting it in a small basket which she carried.
She turned around and Asad managed in time to sit back properly so as to avoid being caught staring. As she passed by him, he noticed a faint smile on her face through the corner of his eyes.
FEW DAYS LATER:
Tired from working all day, Asad needed a hot cup of coffee and his favorite novel to relax his nerves but when he drove out from the parking lot of his office, he surprised himself by driving towards the beach rather than his house. He sat on the same bench, denying to himself, waiting to see her. She came at the exact time...repeated her actions. "What does she pick up each day?" he mumbled to himself.
Days passed by and Asad became a regular visitor to the beach...and for a change he didn't think about Sameera or any of his family member, just that mysterious pretty girl who picked up something from the beach, each day, same time without fail.
Today he was determined to see by himself what she was doing. Instead of sitting on a place, he strolled around casually and a smile formed on his lips when he saw her coming. She stopped for a moment seeing him standing near the rising waves but then composed herself and strode towards him. As she neared, Asad felt something different in him. She stood some distance away from him and Asad smiled a little in courtesy and she surprised him by nodding lightly with a ghost of smile on her face...She was beautiful, no doubt!
He saw her waiting for the next wave to touch her feet...she bent down and picked the various sea-shells that the roaring waves brought from the depths of water. Asad scrunched his nose in confusion...she was big enough to play with these things. Was she mentally unstable? The thought appalled him...
It was a Sunday and Asad wasn't sure why he was here. Once he saw what the girl did every day, he was sure she wasn't normal...he promised to himself that he won't go there anymore. And he kept the promise, though only for 4 days! He was back, waiting for her and this time he wanted something more...to talk with her, to know if he could help her somehow, just in case there was any trouble.
She reached at time and stood rooted to her place when she saw him and Asad was sure that he saw a wide smile on playing on her lips. Their eyes met and the time stopped for them. The girl kept moving towards him while he stood numb.
"Hello..." He couldn't believe that he actually spoke to her.
"Hm...Hi..." she replied.
"May I help you today?"
"N-no...I can do it myself..." she stuttered.
"I know..." he was more than dejected.
She bent down and began rummaging the sand to uncover those small treasures. He gazed at her some more and then bent down himself...
"Umm...this one." He pointed to a colorful stone that she missed. She picked that one and smiled a little.
"I am Asad." He casually told her.
"Zoya..." she told in an almost inaudible voice.
"You like collecting these stones...umm...shells?" he asked.
"No...these aren't for me." She stated.
"Then?" he was curious.
"My daughter..." Asad stopped searching and his head snapped up towards her.
"You...you are married?" was all he could say before standing and running out of the place. He surely wasn't so numb to not notice the dull ache that gripped his heart.
ONE MONTH LATER:
Zoya burned the ceiling with her gaze. She had been accustomed to his presence so much...not seeing him every day was like a punishment. She had seen him first time over a month ago and she felt an instant connection with the unknown man. Maybe it was the pain that she saw in his eyes that connected them.
She was a happy-go-lucky woman who had no worries in the world. But nothing is permanent...an accident occurred on a family trip where she lost her husband and her 3 year old daughter suffered a spinal injury due to which she lost her ability to walk. Her life drastically changed since that day. Her daughter and managing her house became her first priority. She didn't live for herself now...just for her daughter, Humeira.
Humeira loved sea-shells. She used to collect it with her father since she was too small...but as she wasn't able to go to the beach anymore, Zoya took it as her duty to visit the beach once in a week and bring her, her happiness. On one such day, she encountered Asad...he kept staring at her, she could feel his gaze on her.
That day her life changed again. Instead of visiting the beach weekly, she went their each day, in order to see that stranger whose presence seemed to fill her soul with happiness and a sense of positivity. She did something for herself after months...she was thrilled to feel those sensations which she had buried since her husband's death. But life again played a game, he stopped coming to the beach after the day when she revealed the truth partially to him...but she didn't stop trying. She went their everyday...hoping that someday Allah will bless her with the happiness of seeing him again. She needn't be surprised at her audacity...these feelings weren't unknown to her...
It had been raining cats and dogs since dawn. Asad couldn't keep himself away from the beach anymore...he had sent away his sister, who was dearest to him, in marriage. Already, the past month had been tough for him, he hadn't for once thought that she could be married. Maybe God hasn't made someone for him. Dejectedly, he strode towards the beach after safely parking his car...he looked up when he heard giggles coming from somewhere near. He craned his neck to see silhouette of two people who were there on the beach. One of them was on the wheel chair while the other, probably a girl, stood behind the wheel chair. He neared them in order to sit at his favorite place but a voice made him stop.
"Ammi, humein yahan bahut accha lag raha hai. Aap Abbu ke saath yahan aati thi?" little Humeira asked her mom.
"Haan beta. Your Abbu liked collecting unique shells, just like you."
Zoya's voice!
Asad stopped and looked towards the source of that voice. He recognized her...it was her indeed! And not alone...with her daughter. It was good that she hadn't noticed him, he turned around to walk away but stopped on listening the kid's question.
"Ammi, abbu ab mere saath yahan kyun nahi aate?" she complained in her baby voice.
Zoya hid her tears and replied in a composed voice, "Humi, Abbu har raat yahan aate hain aur yeh dher saare shells aap ke liye yahan chod jate hain."
"Woh humse milte kyun nahi?"
"Kyunki woh Allah ke paas hain...wahan jo jate hain kabhi wapis nahi aate." She turned around to mask the painful emotions, that threatened to burst through her eyes, from her daughter.
Through her blurry vision, she saw someone nearing her. She wiped her eyes dry and looked ahead. IT WAS HIM! Her face broke into a grin when he stood just inches away from her.
"I thought you would never come..." she complained.
"I have to...someone was waiting for me." He replied with a smile.
Asad extended his hand and Zoya put her's in his without any hesitance. At their back, Humeira squealed happily as the bouncing waves brought her yet another shell...just like love made its way in Asad and Zoya's life, bringing the hopes of a jubilant life ahead!
P.S- ASHI FOR YOUR PROMOTION...đ
Waiting for your feedbacks!!
Cya soon
~Srashtiđ
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