Pasoori

Chapter 21

Uss ki mehfil main Naseer, Uss ke Tabassum ki qasam
Ham ne dekha hai apney haath se... Jana dil Ka

☽

Faris soltani

IT had been a tiring day, working between a frantic father and an upset brother. Both were at the brink of their tethers and Faris was hoping that their already strained relationship wouldn't be damaged any further. He had managed the company outlooks for the day, as he had been doing so since the past 5 years, ever since he graduated. It would be a funny thing to know, the future CEO of the infamous Soltani co. software Ltd, was barely a graduate in software engineering, let alone a masters or a doctorate. Alas, education wasn't needed in this world, he had understood from a young age. All you need is luck— luck to be born into a rich family.

But whenever he would philosophise this, Serina would always appear in his mind, muttering "and where has that gotten me?", in her poor usual state. He discredited her case to be an anomaly.

That particular day, he was coming home from work when he got a rather weird looking text.

Your lover is here
— Daudzai haveli ;)

The message was suggestive, it was gruesome, and Faris certainly understood who the sender was and whom the sender was chattering about. He sighed ruggedly, not wanting another fiasco in his life. He knew Serina was safe and sound in his home where she should be, and this was probably one of Dawar's ploys to get him to come there, then lure him into whatever dark work he committed. Faris ignored the message as he parked his car within the driveway of his house. Just then his mobile phone vibrated once more, this time a notification of an "image". Faris instantly clicked on it.

The image was loading, had been sent by the same anonymous sender. Who wasn't so anonymous. Once it had loaded Faris clicked onto the file, to view what it was.

To his dismay he wished he hadn't.

It was a picture. Of Serina. In her bed. Surrounded by her cousins. Her eyes were closed? She looked to have a brutal mark on her face. The picture taken was sent from a distanced angle so everything wasn't clear. The sender probably didn't want to disclose their identity or rather didn't want everybody to find out about their gruesome works. Faris grew faint, and he understood Serina was in trouble.

He quickly sat back into his car, and drove to the Daudzai haveli. Whoever was sending the picture knew well enough that Faris would protect Serina, regardless of whatever relation or lack of relation they shared. Their bond was pure and that's all that mattered. And so, the sender definitely had an ulterior motive, but at that point and time Faris didn't care.

Once he had reached his destination, he, haphazardly parked his car, and rushed to the gates of the house. He remembered how he had brought all of their guards, one time before, who now personally worked for him at his office. He noticed they had set up a new pack of guards which was quite amusing but Faris didn't waste time pondering over the fact too much.

"Apney sahab ko bolo, Faris aya hai... Faris soltani", he spoke with a peculiar vibrato. The guards at the gates, stared at him for a few moments before sending the message in. Not moments later emerged Dawar. He looked disheveled. His face had a bruise on It, his collar looked like it was ripped open. Faris feared by the second what had happened in the span of a few hours.