If someone would have told me this even a month ago that my life will become like this, I would have laughed at their absurd prediction, may have said a few words on their imagination too. But life certainly isn't a conclusion of random guesses. Every step has a purpose and every step land you at a place where you neither thought nor wanted to be.
Life has shown me a fare share of darkness, threw a mountain of hardships in my way and ripped open my heart, filling it with unbearable pain and leaving it with a burning, gaping hole at the mere age of three. But I this thing called life hasn't always been canopy of scorching heat for, it offered the cooling shades of love over my head too, in form of my Api and Jeeju. I could have spent my life under their wings, in my safe heaven. But safety is a funny thing. It wraps you in its folds like warm blanket. It drugs you, intoxicates you and makes you desperate for the unsure, the uncertainty. And maybe this tranquility of my life in New York worked as the moderator for me to embark in this blind expedition in the turbulent ocean which I know nothing of.
I never knew that finding my father would be that easy. This seemingly impossible search turned out to be as hard as breathing. The first thing I did after coming out of the airport was to bump to my father's car and the next thing I knew were my father's teary eyes as I woke up in a hospital few hours later. It turned out that my father came across my music box, a gift from him to me when I was a toddler, and an old photo of him that I have when the nurse handed him my belongings while taking me in for the check-up. I told him about my mother's death, something I wasn't sure he knew about, and he informed me that he didn't know, confirming my doubts. He told me that me and my mom were missing and all these years he had desperately tried to find me at least. This broke the damn inside me and couldn't be thankful enough to God for granting me my biggest wish, my father. He also informed me, albeit hesitantly and reluctantly along with a lot of nervousness, that he married again after few years and had a daughter from that marriage. I had already expected something like this. I wasn't nave enough to fool myself into believing that he wouldn't have moved on in so many years but it still my heart stung, surprising me. Stupid heart.
He brought me home and to my utter surprise, my step-mother and sister turned out to be real sweethearts, accepting me whole-heartedly without any negativity. My dad's distant cousin Shireen lived with them with her family and they embraced me in their clan too. Everything felt surreal but I was still on the edge, always. It was like living in the blurry haze of my most beautiful dream and it was that beauty which scared me the most.
I was brought back to the tiled floors of present, a shopping trip to the mall with my step-mother, by the loud crashing noise from my side. The old lady beside me had dropped her bags. I bent down to pick up the bags for her. As I handed her the bags with a smile after picking them, my caught the sight of something that sucked my breath away and my lungs forgot to expand. I could vaguely hear her thanking and blessing me as she walked away but couldn't bring my mind to care and my eyes to move away from the guy standing a few feet away from me, facing my direction. My eyes slowly took in his perfect, lean and muscular form in a black tailored suit, devouring each delicious second as my eyes took the journey from his shiny shoes to the most gorgeous face I had ever seen. His short and styled hair in the richest shade of dark chocolate, his sharp nose, high cheekbones, full lips and then my gaze slammed on his orbs, the strangest and most magnificent thing I had ever seen, and my heart spiraled out of control. The purest shade of brown mixed with the faintest shade of violet was frozen in two bottomless pools of clear crystals that right now stared right into mine, burning my core, caressing my heart and stripping my soul naked. Those cold daggers of fiery warmth sent a shiver from the tips of my brunette hair to the ends of my pink toe-nails. I didn't know for how long I was staring at this stranger. It could be minutes, hours, years or an eternity but my spell was broken when I an arm encircle around my shoulders. One painful aversion of my eyes revealed my step-mother at my left, looking directly at that guy, spitting venom through her eyes. I turned my head towards him again and to my astonishment, found him reflecting that look of absolute hatred. Then I saw him eyeing her hand on my shoulder and his lips lifted in one corner. This could be a sarcastic smirk, a display of disgust or simply the sexiest thing ever but I couldn't think anymore as my stance locked on the impressive curve of his lips. He strode out of the store after this without a single word.
" Don't mind him. Our families aren't really fond of each other." I could hear my step-mother speak and I nodded absentmindedly while my eyes refused to move away from the place where he stood a few moments ago.
~~~~~
I was roaming in the mall when something caught my attention. I walked to the magazine stall and tentively picked up the magazine of my interest. The gorgeous stranger cum family-foe stared right back at me with his unusual eyes, this from the cover of Times magazine.
ASAD AHMAD KHAN, THE RISING STAR IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS."
My face reflected over his glossy, printed one as my eyes took another plunge in the enigmatic mystery called a certain Mr. Asad Ahmad Khan.
~~~~~~
Ok guys, so this is something new and before you, the very few people who may recognize me, start attacking me for abandoning my previous two, let me tell you that it's because they had way too "HUGE" numbers of likes and it is useless to write if no one or only so few people is interested to read, though I wanna thank those few people the most for liking my works and say sorry for being a disappointment. Anyhow, I had a lot going on since the past 4 days. From my great-grandmother's death to my exams and my nana's illness, all starting together. And you can call this the result of all my pent up emotions and a desperate attempt to divert my mind. So if you are interested in reading more, don't forget to show it. I will continue only if I get 50+ likes. Thank you.😊
46