I AM BACKKK! I have started watching QH again, my mother thinks SaAhil are so cute so I decided to give it a chance and she was right. So I decided to re-imagine the show had Asad + Zoya been alive and had gotten Tanveer arrested after she tried to kill Zoya and con Asad. This is totally just fluff, focusing on Asad as a father. Do let me know what you think!
A Father's Sacrifice
Asad's POV
There comes a day when you fall in love with a woman, a woman that
you want to spend the rest of your life with, a woman whose happiness means the
world to you, a woman who you cannot live life without. At that moment you
think that this is it, you will never love anyone as much as you love her,
there can't possibly be anyone else in the world that can wrap you around their
finger, there is no one who comes before this woman.
And then you fall in love again, at first sight, it's a different kind
of love - one that comes with fierce protectiveness and unbounded awe. You feel
all those emotions again, in a complete different way, when you hold your
daughter in your arms for the first time. You feel like your heart is going to
burst out of your chest when she wraps her little hand around your finger and
nothing can explain the feeling in your chest when she calls you "abbu" for the
first time.
Your life then revolves around two women, the woman you choose to
love and spend your life with and a little girl that you can't help but love.
Watching the two of them together fills your heart up, and you realize that you
don't need much more in life as long as you have the two of them, smiling and
laughing along with you. And you know that you'll kill anyone that tries to
hurt them in a heartbeat.
But the problem arises when the person you want to kill, or harm, is
one that you can't even hurt without hurting your little princess - a princess
who isn't so little anymore. At the age of 23 she is a mirror image of her
mother and that just makes life harder for me. When the two of them look at me,
with that same adorable pout, I cannot deny them anything.
And this weakness is why I found myself in the middle of the love of
my life and our charming daughter today. The latter was pleading and begging while
I was trying to hold my resolve on this matter, the matter of a boy in my princess' life.
"But Abbu! Pleaseee, for me. Ammi, please!" Sanam pleaded, I
didn't look at her because I knew she was going to make those eyes of her wide
as saucers and look at me pleadingly and I'd say yes. She had been begging for about ten minutes now
and it was a miracle that I hadn't caved yet, why? Because she was Sanam Ahmed
Khan, daddy's little princess and she always
got what she wanted. When she wanted a pony for her 5th birthday I
got her one, albeit it was just for her birthday party. When she was ten and
she wanted to go to Disneyland, we went. When she turned 16 and wanted that
outrageously expensive Chanel bag that her mom had - she got it. When she
turned 19 and wanted a black Audi A5, she got one. But this one thing...well, I was more than
reluctant.
"Mr. Khan-" Zoya tried to speak but quietened as my head span in her
direction, her beautiful big eyes grew wider, probably taken aback by the look
on my face, the two of them probably expected that I would melt by now.
"Not going to happen Zoya, so don't even try. And Sanam, I said no."
I said turning around to our daughter with an exasperated look on my face, I ran
my hand through his hair because this conversation was going nowhere, I was
caving in and Zoya knew it because she smiled at me with that perfect little
mouth of hers as soon as she noticed me running my hand through my hair.
"Please please please!" Sanam begged literally pouting, she looked
so much like a young Zoya that it was eerie. And that is why I couldn't resist
the pout. It was the pout that had been thrown at me since Zoya Farooqui walked
into my life, the response to this pout is a yes, it's a built in response now
- 25 years of marriage will do that to you.
"Allah Miyah, what's wrong with you Mr. Khan, she just wants you to
meet him, it's not like she's getting married to him tomorrow!" Zoya quipped.
MARRIED. NOT IF I COULD HELP IT.
"I don't like him." I said. And I didn't, albeit I didn't know much
about him apart from what I had heard from other businessmen and seen at
various business conferences. He wasn't good enough for my daughter, no one was
but he definitely wasn't. I refused to cave in no matter how much my daughter,
wife and mother insisted.
My mother had left to see Najma after yelling at me to stop being
overprotective. She went on and on, I was surprised that a woman her age could
yell so loud. My ammi had a soft spot for Aahil Raza Ibrahim, she had for over
20 years. She was his saviour, the one who realized he was getting beaten by
his drunk and abusive father.
He was barely five when she
brought him home one day and reported his father to the authorities. It was
quite the scandal but his father died in a drunk car crash a few weeks later
stopping the wagging mouths. Luckily his grandmother was there to take care of
him but he grew up and turned into a bit...well, an arrogant asshole. And he
had his reasons, but I wasn't about to let an arrogant asshole marry my
daughter.
"But why abbu?" Sanam groaned.
"He is a womanizer, arrogant, disrespectful and he's way too old for
you." I said pinching my nose, okay, that was partially true.
"He is only two years older, he isn't disrespectful and okay, I
admit that he was a womanizer, but he was,
he isn't anymore. He loves me Abbu!
And he's a bit cocky, yes, but the guy has built up an empire for himself, I
think he kind of has the right to be..." Sanam blabbed. And the last part was
definitely true, his father had left behind debts and a failed business to the Ibrahim
name but Aahil Raza Ibrahim had been able to turn that around and make himself
one of the biggest names in India. But I still didn't like him.
"And if I recall a certain Mr. Khan was quite arrogant back in the
day too." Zoya said.
"I was not!" I said looking at her.
"And I don't love pizza. You know that both those statements were
essentially false, you were so arrogant and prejudiced!"
"Ms Farooqui-"
"It's Mrs. Khan now! Allah Miyah, what's wrong with you?"
"You started arguing first!"
"Oh and that completely justifies calling me Ms. Farooqui whenever
we have an argument!" She yelled,
Whenever we got caught up in an argument of any sort I would resort
to calling her Ms. Farooqui, because well...that's all we ever did when she was
Ms. Farooqui and it kind of just comes back to me when we argue. We were both
very different people so arguments were a necessity to keep things working.
But as time went on we learnt to fight like grown-ups...we talked
about whatever it was either until she caved and crawled into my lap or I caved
and pulled her into my lap. Then we sat there and talked. We'd figured out
really early on that it kept the two of us calm. And it was easier to make out
after we reached an agreement.
"Old habits die hard." I quipped flashing her a smile.
"This one should have died."
"But you are always going to be the clumsy, loud, messy and amazing
Ms. Farooqui I fell in love with." I said causing a wide smile to grace her
face. That smile still lit up my whole world.
"I love that you've moved on from your woh-actually', who knew Mr.
Khan would be so smooth." Zoya teased.
"Uh, hi, parents! Still here, you can continue this love-fest after
we solve my problem." Sanam said interrupting us.
"I said no!" I said again.
"Just give him a chance Abbu! Please." Sanam pleaded.
"Asad, please, she loves him." Zoya said staring up at me and
pouting. I sighed and looked back at Sanam, who was pouting at me just like her
mother, it was almost as if they planned this.
"This is not fair." I groaned. "Fine, invite him over for dinner."
"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" Sanam said hugging me. "He'll be
here at 7."
"Don't you have to ask him first?" I asked.
"Oh, I already told him to come over -" Sanam started to say but
stopped abruptly looking behind me, I turned around and noticed that my
beautiful wife was waving her arms around to telling Sanam to shut up.
I'VE BEEN PLAYED.
"You two planned this." I sounded almost surprised, but I really
should have been used to this.
"Well, Ammi said she would get you to agree..." Sanam said.
"Allah Miyah! What's wrong with you? My own offspring ratting me
out." Zoya sighed.
"Oh great, so now my wife and daughter are teaming up against me for
him. Great." I said walking away towards my room.
"Sanam...sometimes you really act like my daughter." I heard Zoya
tell Sanam behind me, probably recalling her sad, yet wonderful, attempt to
delay my visit to the court. Stealing gasoline, creating a ghost story and
intoxicating me...and then admitting to it all.
And that reminded me of someone else instrumental to that plan, a
someone that would derive great pleasure from making Aahil Raza Ibrahim squirm,
I was going to call in back up.
"I need help." I said into the phone as soon as I reached the
confines of my room.
"I'll bring the shovels and a pick-up truck...where are we burying
the body?" My brother's voice came from the other end.
"That was only funny the first few times Ayaan."
"It is still hilarious. What do you need help with?"
"Sanam is in love."
"WHAT? SHE IS BARELY 18!" Ayaan yelled from the other end.
"She's 23." I sighed.
"That's the same thing. Who is this cradle-robber that she is in
love with?"
"Aahil Raza Ibrahim." I announced, the line went silent for a
minute, which was the opposite of what I had expected.
"Well Bhai...he's not bad...I mean."
"He's not good enough for her."
"But no one is going to be good enough for her. Hell, I wasn't good
enough for Humeira but her parents got us married." Ayaan sighed.
"You were supposed to be against this and come scare him with me."
"I don't think he's going to be scared. If he was then Sanam would
have scared him off by now. Bhai, you know she doesn't take shit from anyone,
she's probably knocked him off his high horse by now."
"So you approve of this?"
"Well...if he makes Sanam happy then I don't see anything wrong with
him."
"He's a womanizer!"
"Bhai, page three news isn't always true. And even if it was true,
well...he's changed since then because he hasn't graced page three news in a
few years now. Take it from someone who's been through it, I flirted with just
about every girl out there...but it all changed when I realized that I love Humeira...maybe
Sanam is Aahil's Humeira Bhai."
"Hm, we'll see about that. Traitor."
I said before hanging up. My own brother teaming up with the cradle-robber,
what has life come to?
With nothing better to do, I sat there contemplating life. It was
only three years ago when Sanam walked in the front door after her first day at
her internship at his company
screaming about what an egoistical jerk he was. She said she hated him. She said that he was and I
quote a sexist, arrogant womanizer that thinks he is god's gift to the world,
I have never wanted to slap someone so bad in life.' I was worried, of course,
since this was the company she would be interning at for the remainder of her
last year at university but she assured me that she could handle it and I let
her.
So this was literally the university's fault, I should just sue them
for her making her an intern at his company...isn't there a "no fraternization"
clause in most companies anyways, I am sure it applies to the owners as well. I
wish I had seen it sooner but I thought she hated him because she would always
go on about what a jerk he was.
But her hate for him went on for a while and slowly dissipated and I
thought nothing of it. Here I was nave and oblivious while Zoya smiled
covertly while listening to Sanam go on and on about this guy for months. And
then I stopped hearing about him, nothing. No "he's such a jerk" or "ugh, how
can he even do that". Nothing at all.
She ended her internship and graduated with her BBA and then decided
to get her MBA, I had never been more proud of her. I thought life was normal,
she was going to classes, going to work and hanging out with friends &
family. Everything was normal.
And then her phone started ringing all the time, she was always
smiling and happy. She would stay out longer than she usually did, and I didn't
put any of it together. Nor did I find anything suspicious, I was just happy
that she was happy. That was until Zoya came up to me a few weeks ago and told
me about Aahil Raza Ibrahim.
Of course I was mad at first, she didn't tell me before. But then
she said that she thought I knew, why else would Sanam's room be filled with
flowers all the time. And I slapped myself, here I was thinking that Sanam was
my little girl, I had failed to realize that she was actually 23 now, almost as
old as Zoya was when she met me.
And a part of me knew that I wasn't against Aahil because he was
Aahil...I was against him because he was stealing my little girl away. He was a
cradle-robber.
X-X-X-X
I sat at the table while Zoya set it, it was now 6:55pm and there
was no sign of the cradle-robber, I'd taken to calling him that since Ayaan's
phone call. If he doesn't get here in the next five minutes I would have
another thing against him.
Sanam was sitting in the chair by the door in a pink anarkali, she
hardly wore traditional clothing and I knew this was all to impress him, psfht,
like my daughter needed to impress anyone...he was the one that needed to
impress. And I was a tough man to impress. I would make him squirm. Zoya
excitedly squeezed my shoulder, trying to be reassuring.
"I hate this." I whispered pulling her onto my lap into the space
between my chair and the table.
"Asad." She whispered holding my face between her hands. "You have
to realize that she's not a little girl anymore, and she loves him. A lot,
almost as much as I love you."
"Well, he can't possibly love her as much as I love you, so I don't
even know why we are talking about this." I pointed out.
"You are going to have to accept him, she loves him and as far as I
know there is nothing wrong with him."
"I'll be the judge of that." I said as the bell rang. Zoya got up
and pulled me along with her towards the living room. Sanam opened the door
with a huge smile on her face and was greeted by...white roses and a bouquet of
roses in every colour possible for a rose.
"These are for you beautiful." A deep voice said as a hand moved
forward to hand the colourful bouquet to Sanam who smiled even bigger, if that
was possible.
"Come in." She said as he walked through the door. He was what most
women would declare good looking, he had an angular face albeit his nose was a
little big for his face - but it didn't look horrible with the rest of his
face. He wore a crisp white shirt with khaki pants, his hair swept up...almost
like mine when it grew a little long.
"Hello Mr and Mrs. Khan." He smiled at us. "These are for you." He
said handing the bouquet of white roses to Zoya.
"I LOVE white roses. Thank you so much Aahil." She beamed at him as
I glared; the cradle-robber had done his research. You might have won her over
cradle-robber, but I am not that easy.
"Does that get a little eerie after a while, they look exactly the
same!" He smiled, flashing me his pearly whites, at least the man had good dental health.
But I didn't respond to his little trying to be cute and smart'
statement, why? Because I was Asad Ahmed Khan and I did what I wanted to do.
And I didn't want to respond to him. I just cleared my throat and motioned for
him to sit on the couch. "Why don't you two set up for dinner? I have a few
things to discuss with Mr. Ibrahim here." I said looking at Zoya who rolled her
eyes at me.
"Be nice Abbu!" Sanam said before walking away, after she smiled at
the cradle-robber. He smiled back, ah, you won't be smiling for much longer
cradle-robber.
I stared at him for about two minutes trying to make him
uncomfortable. Staring at people for extended periods of time made them think
about what you were thinking, it also made them think about their inadequacies
and anything they were trying to hide. The boy didn't flinch though, he didn't
look away or move in his seat. He sat there expectantly with a smile on his
face waiting for me to talk and that irked me. I decided I would have to break the
silence and continue this conversation.
"Let us get straight to the point Mr. Ibrahim, I don't think you are
good enough for my daughter but I am giving you a chance here because she loves
you, for reasons unknown to me." I watched him flinch a little at my words, and
I felt almost devious inside while maintaining a calm yet intimidating
expression on my face. "You don't have the best track record as far as I know,
and I need to know why I shouldn't just kick you out of my house right now."
He ran his hand through his hair and let out a small sigh before
meeting my eyes again before he started speaking. "I guess we agree on one
thing then, I know I am not good enough for Sanam, no one is, but I want to be.
I love Sanam, more than I ever thought I could love anyone. To be quite honest,
I didn't believe in love until I met her." He said looking earnest and it
sounded a lot like something I would have said to Zoya's dad had he been...less
of an asshole. So I let him talk.
"I know I don't have the best track record with woman and I didn't
even realize it until your daughter called me out on it. After what happened
with m .parents...I never really talked about it to anyone, I didn't want the
pity and the sorry looks. I didn't want people to make fun of me or to think I
was a fragile little boy. So I used girls, as part of my cover, I wasn't sad
little Aahil who lost both his parents then, I was Aahil the guy everyone wanted
or wanted to be." He said, he looked almost fragile at that moment. I realized
that this wasn't easy for him to admit to me but he did for some reason, and
that is exactly why I nodded for him to continue.
"I know it doesn't give me an
excuse and I understand that it sounds really bad, but I was young and stupid.
I didn't believe in love...I didn't really have the best example. And then
Sanam waltzed into my life and she yelled at me, she didn't fawn over me like
everyone else, she made me realize what a douche I really was. It was
refreshing, she was like a breath of fresh air, I have never met a woman like
her, she isn't afraid of anyone or anything when she believes what she is doing
is right." I stifled a small smile when he said that because I knew two women
exactly like that, my wife and my daughter.
He didn't notice me trying to hide my smile and continued. "And I
don't know when it happened but I fell in love with her, she's...she's my
everything. I can't imagine my life without her anymore and I don't want to
because the thought alone scares me. I want to spend the rest of my life making
sure she's happy, I want to give her everything she wants and I want her to
feel as cherished as she makes me feel. I could never hurt her and I know that we
both realize that I am not nearly good enough for her but I know for a fact
that no one can love her as much as I do."
His rather long and earnest speech was met with absolute silence and
I am sure I could hear both Zoya and Sanam sniffing in the kitchen, it was
probably Zoya's idea to eavesdrop on the conversation . I gave Aahil a hard
look, I knew that he meant what he said because I could see it in his eyes, he
really did love Sanam. And as hard as I tried I couldn't find anything wrong
with him and his speech struck a chord with me because I could relate to it, it
was what I felt for my wife.
And at that moment I sighed deeply, internally of course, because I
had to do something that I really didn't want to do. Something no father wanted
to do but had to, it was a sacrifice that every father had to make. Aahil
clearly loved my daughter, he wanted to marry her, he was educated, from a good
family, he could provide for my daughter, he hadn't graced page 3 news and
scandals for the past three years and most importantly - my daughter loved him.
So I did what every father in my situation would do. I nodded and
didn't say anything before getting up and motioning him to do the same. He looked
almost scared, his eyes flashing towards the door and I had to stifle a smile
again, he thought I was walking him to the door. I walked towards the kitchen
and motioned for him to follow me and join the beaming ladies in the kitchen.
They both smiled at me, Zoya with tears in her eyes and Sanam mouthed a thank
you at me before she looked at Aahil.
Dinner was an interesting affair, the boy was definitely not dumb
and had an air of charisma around him. But I wasn't impressed by the fact that
he had an intelligent opinion on every topic, no, I was impressed by the way he
looked at Sanam, he absorbed every word she said and he seemed to know what she
wanted to grab before she even said anything. And at that moment I decided that
Aahil Raza Ibrahim would be fine for a son-in-law, as fine as son-in-laws get.
So when he left he got a handshake and a smile from me, but I was going to make him work for anything
more than that. Zoya even convinced me to let Sanam walk him to the car, for
some reason I caved and a beaming Sanam followed him out to the car.
"He loves her." Zoya sighed dreamily as the door closed behind them.
"He is so sweet."
"Hmmm." I said trying to peek outside.
"Allah Miyah! Are you trying to spy on them?" She asked shocked.
"Well obviously, that's my daughter out there, I want to make sure
he doesn't do anything inappropriate."
"Allah Miyah, they are outside, in front of our house - he's not
going to do anything but kiss her good night."
"KISS HER?" I all but yelled trying to open the door but Zoya threw
herself against it blocking my exit.
"Calm down Asad!" She gasped. "She's a grown woman."
"But she's my little girl."
"Yeah well your little girl loves that boy, and she can kiss him if
she wants to."
"Ugh, I hate this." I groaned.
"I love you, even though you are way to overprotective." Zoya smiled
up at me before reaching up and pecking my lips.
"I love you too, even though you manipulated me into inviting him
over for dinner." I said back wrapping my arms around her waist.
"Hm, why don't we go to sleep now?" She asked.
"I need to talk to Sanam first, I'll join you in a bit."
"Be nice." Zoya said.
"What's with you two? I am always nice!"
Zoya laughed before walking towards our room as the front door
opened to a beaming Sanam. She beamed at me before hugging me. "Thanks Abbu." She
said.
"I haven't agreed yet."
"I thought you liked him." Sanam said confused.
"He's fine, but I am supposed to dislike him since he is stealing my
little girl from me."
"Awww, Abbu! No one is stealing me from you, I am always going to
be your little girl."
"Promise?" I asked.
"Promise." She smiled.
TADAAA! Do let me know what you think and if you would like to read more AsYa as parents with Sanam and Aahil hybrids ? :)
XOXO,
Anjali
