Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

41. Reminiscing

*I highly recommend listening to the song above while you read the chapter. It sets the mood just right :)

The familiarity of the chaos the road of Karachi is, was the first indication of homecoming, a kind of warm welcome infused in smoke and dust. This city was never changing and its people loved it that way.

Hesham swiveled the steering to turn a corner. His eyes were focused on the road. He was humming along to a tone that was playing from the stereo. He took a fleeting glance of his sore knuckles, bruised and mildly stinging and then looked ahead again. He was used to this by now. The routine, never changing cycle and whatever came with it.

Six years back when he had ventured into the criminal world as a lawyer, he hadn't expected it to be all roses and rainbows but in the beginning, the twisted ways humans can work and the extent to which they can go to hide their dirty laundry had him shocked as well. Ansar Minhaj was at his back guiding him through every case he was assigned. The man never looked baffled by all this, used to it with years into the profession. His flawed yet accurate experience gave Hesham a good insight of what he was getting into.

Atif hadn't doubted his abilities but in the beginning even he was a bit perturbed. He was a high profile lawyer running a law firm but more than that he was also a father who loved his only son to bits. Not only Atif, even his friends were initially not that happy with the course he had taken, especially Safwa.

But Hesham was unfazed and determined and slowly, through all the murk that the criminal world is, he finally got the hang of the things and now he could play this game anytime and anywhere. He had built sources and made his way to big lobbies through the cases that he had taken up, won some and lost some too. It was different from what he had seen his father doing all his life. He couldn't sit in his office and work through the details. He had to go out there, test his own limits, put his mind through riddles and use his hands.

He wouldn't say he was completely clean. This was the reality of his professional work. Sometimes, for the greater good, you have to compromise on smaller things. But that didn't mean he had ever compromised on what he believed in. He just learned how to use the tactics of the sharks he was surfing around.

The career lines of his friends were very distinct from his so he never actually expected them to understand the intricacies, just like he wouldn't know shit about a heart surgery, workings of a mechanical process and the points to keep in mind during a business meeting. These were the areas of expertise of his cardiothoracic surgeon, head engineer, and CEO best friends.

The only person who was somewhat close to him in this mayhem was, not so surprisingly, Zonish. She was a badass journalist as Hesham always knew she would be and she also knew how to play her cards and use her sources. Both of them hadn't lost contact even when they got busy in their lives professionally.

Because they kept on colliding and on more occasions than Hesham could count, they partnered up, just like old times. And what a partnership it was, a fearless lawyer and a no shit journalist. Hesham could say his most memorable wins as a lawyer were mostly those where Zonish was working with him.

She had changed over the years, not losing her core spirit. Not in the slightest but she had warmed up to her family. Her rapport half brother had formed into something Hesham could only call wholesome. She was cordial with her step mother and with her father, she had resorted to getting all the love and giving it back as well, something she had missed out on for a big chunk of her life. He was happy for her.