Love So Far

Discipline

"Hang him?!" Ahad looked surprised.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm just exaggerating, duh. But he will find him and make him pay for it. Witnesses saw that it was definitely a man, but he managed to recover quickly and rode off." 

"Zaf bada dheet hai. Dhoond nikalay ga us bande ko, dekhna." He chuckled.

*"Zaf is very determined. He will find that person, you'll see." 

He looked at me as he thought of something. "You didn't tell Ammi and Papa, or Arhaan Bhai, did you?" 

I averted my gaze from his. "I told Jasmina and your parents." 

He groaned. "Papa ne meri bachi wi salamat hadiyan bhi todh daini hain." 

*"Papa will break my remaining bones as well."

"You know your parents are not like that, Drama King. And, this time, it really wasn't your fault." 

"Ammi and Papa hate my bike." He muttered. 

"They're your parents, and motorcycles are generally not popular with parents when it comes to their kids." I sat beside him on the bed facing him. "The doctor has advised at least two weeks of bed rest." 

"Advised, not ordered."

"Well, the order comes from me." It was my turn to smirk. "And Ammi." 

"You will order me around?" He raised an eyebrow. 

"Watch me." I leaned forward until our faces were inches apart. "I'm the boss for a while, and you must listen to me."

"Or what?" His tone was playfully challenging, the way it is when we are up to no good in our bedroom.

"Or I will have to punish you the Zoya Ahad way." I pursed my lips to stop my smile, but I'm sure my eyes must have given away my amusement.

"Us saza ke liye mera jism tadap to raha hai, laikin tayar nahin hain." He looked almost rueful. 

*"My body is eager for that punishment, but it's not ready for it." 

"I meant that I will be sleeping in the guest room, Ahad Sheikh." I laughed. "Why does your mind always go there?" I stood up. "Anyway, Ammi and Papa will be arriving from Islamabad soon. I'm going to pray Asr, and will come back after that. Zafar Bhai will be coming here in a few minutes to talk to you."

"How's Dua?" 

"Alhumdulillah, she's recovering, poor girl. Apparently, her body reacted badly to one of the dishes at the party yesterday. It turned into a severe case of food poisoning."

"And a sever case of Nazar." He shook his head. "May Allah grant her good health. Ameen."

"Ameen." I repeated. "I'll be back soon, okay?" 

It was weird. Ahad claims that he had started praying five times because of me, while I didn't even use to pray five times. I'm very ashamed to admit that I stopped completely while I was grieving for my mother, but out of all the people in the universe, Dr Ali was the one who brought me back to the right path.