The fault in our...tears?
Hello everyone. :) This One Shot's idea came to me very randomly.
Just like I first stumbled on Qubool Hai. Randomly on tv. I'm still on the first season, but I've been spoiled a quite a bit about season 2 and season 3's events.
The thing I love the most about the show Zoya's craziness and Asad's reactions to it, and this is what this OS centres around. I hope you enjoy my first participation in the Qubool Hai forum!!
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I stepped out of the shower feeling very refreshed and relaxed. However, the relaxation was short lived. Just as I walked towards my bedroom to change, I heard a sound that immediately had me tensing. Sobs. One of the women in my house, who were all dear to me, was crying. And it didn't take me more than a few seconds to figure out which one. Zoya. Without thinking back to the fact that I was half naked, I ran towards her room.
Many, many times before; I had made her cry. And that might sound awfully cruel, but even that was better than hearing the heart wrenching sobs I currently was and not knowing what had caused them.
When I pushed the door open and barged in, I found her sitting cross legged on the bed; not even surprised by the presence of a Cola can on her left side and a bag of chips on the other. Tears had rolled down her cheeks and trickled into her chin, giving her the cutest raccoon eyes I had ever...Get a grip, Asad Ahmad Khan! The girl is crying, at least get to know why.
"Miss Farooqui?" I called out. Although I hadn't spoken loudly, she jumped when I did. Only when I followed the direction of her eyes did I realise it wasn't my voice that had startled her.
I looked away. "I'll be right back."
And so, in less than 10 minutes I was back and decently dressed. Her reaction was repetitive. It wasn't as though she had never seen me topless before, and yet she always gawked when that happened.
When I came back, I found her crying even harder, this time with her face in her hands, practically curled up in a ball and her IPad thrown on the other side of the bed. Ya Allah, what could I do with her?!
Taking a deep breath to psychologically prepare myself for the interaction I knew was likely to make me face palm or give me a headache, I walked up closer to her bed. "Miss Farooqui? Why are you crying, is something wrong?"
I heard her breathe in, then out, and after a few minutes that seemed like an hour to me, she finally uncovered her face and deigned speak.
"This book!" She muttered, sounding scandalised. "This book is wrong." Before I could inquire about the book', she took her IPad with both of her hands, and placed it in mine, pointing to the words at the top of the screen. "The fault in our stars." I read. Hm. Rung a bell, definitely.
"What's so bad about this book? And if it makes you cry why are you reading it?" I regretted my words as soon as they were out. The loudest sob I had heard so far escaped her, shaking her frail shoulders before she surprised me, wiping her tears in a flash.
"Why do women fall in love with the men who hurt them?"
For a second, I thought it was one of her silly poetic' moments. But, say it was, that question she had just asked me had always been in my head. Would Ummi be able to answer that question?
"No, Mr. Khan." Zoya's voice brought me out of my thoughts suddenly. "I know what you're thinking, and not even a woman who goes through that can answer it. Just like me."
I frowned in confusion. Like her?
Was Miss Farooqui...?!
"You do realise, there's nothing like that and boys nowadays make an excuse out of love?!"
She stared at me as if I had just told her the most shocking thing.
"Mr. Khan...I am." She smiled. "In love. With a man."
I felt like the breath in my lungs had stopped circulating around my body.
"And why are you telling me?!" I snapped, sounding harsher than I thought I could be when her tears were still drying on her cheeks. She rolled her eyes at me, but when they focused on my face again; they were tear filled.
"Because just as you walked into this room, he had died!" She whisper yelled at me.
"Miss Farooqui." I was the definition of confusion right now. "What is wrong with you?!" I muttered, frustrated with how little sense she was making right now.
"Augustus Waters dying is what's wrong with me." And then it made sense. The fault in our stars. That movie Najma had been begging me to go see for about 3 weeks now.
"It's a movie, not a book!" She gave me a glare that I had only ever received from (a very angry or offended) Ummi before.
"There was a book before the movie." She stressed on the work book. "And that book has just broken me!" She flapped her arms about, effectively flinging her bag of chips away from her side, right at my face before it fell to the ground
Surprisingly, not a single chip or crumb had fallen out.
"Oh my God!" She squeaked. "I'm sorry, Mr. Khan." When she stood up to take the bag of chips back, her foot somehow slipped, and if not for my arm sneaking around her waist, she'd have joined the chips.
As she looked into my eyes, I soon found myself in the state of dazed enchantment they always sent me in. The khol had streamed out and over her face from the crying. Speaking of crying, she was sobbing again?! I sighed.
"Miss Farooqui, are you..." ASAD AHMAD KHAN!!!, I scolded myself. You were not just going to ask that. She frowned at me in confusion, before she understood and screeched, tearing herself away from me and plopping back on the mattress.
"How do you even know such a thing, you, the conservative man who judged me for wearing jeans?"
"Miss Farooqui, being conservative doesn't mean being uneducated, and the...subject at hand." I blushed, scratching my five o'clock shadow awkwardly. "...Is taught in elementary school biology classes."
For what seemed like the very first time, I had managed to shut Zoya Farooqui up. She didn't speak up for a good 10 minutes before looking up at me, as if surprised I was still there. What? It was Sunday, and I had finished all my work earlier in the morning.
"You know, Mr. Khan. You should read this book. I always see you reading, but maybe you should try this, a book where feelings are in question."
I looked up at the ceiling. Allah had really done a special job on this creation of his, Zoya Farooqui.
As I sat on the couch facing her bed, I heard her giggle lightly, making me raise a brow. "Augustus Waters aside, it really is awful. Falling in love with a man who hurts you...Hurts you one day, and saves you the next."
Time stood still. I saw tears running down her cheeks again, towards her chin & could take it no more. Setting her IPad away, I brought her closer by the shoulders.
I had just hugged Zoya Farooqui.
And we stayed that way, until her cheeks were dry, leaving only raccoon eyes as a memory of her sadness.
"The fault in our stars is the wrong title. They should've named it the fault in our tears." I muttered under my breath.
x-x-x
So, how was that? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, please!! I tried to keep our lovely AsYa in character & hope I succeeded. :)
Kumkum Bhagya
Tu Dhadkan Main Dil
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
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