Azmaish-e-Ishq

Ch. 15: The Vanishing Act

🎶"Mainu te lagaya nibhaoge, wafa bhi kamaoge, mainu raunda vekh ke te aap royi jaoge. Tere bina meri har raat hoyi masya. Mere agge mere te zamana kinna haseya. Khush aa main, thik aa, ae jhoot nahin bolne. Haan, mainu dukh hain ke tera ghar vasya. Jadon da judaa tu hoya, main vekhya kade ni soke.

I thought you would continue with our relationship, that you would earn my loyalty/love as well, that upon seeing me cry you would too. Without you, every night of mine is without the moon. In front of me, society laughed at me a lot. 'I am happy, I'm fine,' I won't say these lies. Yes, I am sad seeing you settle down. I haven't slept since we got separated."🎶

-           Mera Yaar | Jaani | Gurnam Bhullar

Heer's P.O.V.

"When Salaar brought me here last weekend, I didn't realize this was your café, Heer," Hina said, brushing her caramel highlighted locks over her shoulder.

It was now Thursday. I hadn't seen Kamran since Sunday, which was when he came to my house. I was hoping now that he was done with that case he was working on, he would be freer, but that wasn't the situation. Since it was the end of the year, everything was just extremely busier at his firm. He told me he was trying and I could tell he was—he invited me to his flat tonight for dinner, and I was excited to finally see him again.

"I'm surprised Salaar didn't tell you haha. Thanks for coming by the way," I passed her the drink she ordered after sitting down in front of her.

I had asked her to drop by.

"Of course. What did you want to talk about?"

"Salaar's birthday is nine days. I was thinking we could do something for his 23rd birthday."

"Nine days?"

I nodded. "He's always been into art."

"It makes sense. I imagine that pulled him towards architecture."

"Yes! It did. There this Vincent Van Gogh exhibit thing in town. It's kind of like being inside his paintings. Salaar would love it," I said, clasping my hands together. "Maybe the four us, meaning you, Salaar, Kamran, and I can all go and then we will come back here for coffee," I made air quotes around 'coffee.' "In actuality, his family, my family, Daniaal and his family, and Bhai and Api will be here with a nice meal, cake, and balloons." I pointed towards the seating area, "I'll have that area rearranged to put tables together with nice table cloths. He likes sushi so we can get sushi platters and other food for our elders since they're not really into sushi."

She smiled, sitting up straight with excitement, "That sounds like such a fun idea!"

"Right?!"

"I'm in. What can I do to help?"

"Mmm, maybe you can drop off some decorations the night before and I'll have my employees set them up?"

"I can do that."

"Great," I grinned.

I could tell she wanted to help out with Salaar's flat, and I felt bad about her not being able to. Hence, I was happy to include her in the surprise.

I glanced over my shoulder to check if Alejandra had arrived yet. She was the best candidate I had interviewed to become the manager of Hayat. We were going to do a trial period so I could see how well she can handle the café. She was in her late thirties and quite experienced in the service industry, but it was scary handing off the reigns to Hayat like this. The café has been my baby for the longest time.

"Heer, can I ask you a question?" she mixed her drink with a plastic stirrer.

I looked at her inquisitively.