Her hands clutched her dress as she looked down. I placed my both hands each side of her head on the wall and caged her. She was terrified to be in that position. "Move back. What are you doing" Turning her face to a side she pushed me with both han...
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When Arsh returned to his own mansion, silence greeted him like a stranger. The grand halls, once a symbols of his pride and solitude, now felt unbearable empty. For the first time, he felt something unsettling twisting in his chest- loneliness. A strange sense of absence weighed heavily on him, as if a part of his world had stayed behind, with her.
He hadn't planned to leave Shafiyya there. The decision hadn't been his-it was forced upon him by his grandmother's stern demand. And for once, he couldn't go against her. Not yet.
Without wasting a moment, he headed to the study, hoping to drown his thoughts in word. Files piled high, his lap top open, documents blinking— he buried himself in numbers of papers, trying to ignore the unfamiliar feeling.
But even as he worked, her image kept slipping in to his mind-her soft voice, her hesitant glances, the silence between them that now screamed louder than ever. Hours passed unnoticed.
When he finally glanced at the clock, its hand pointed to 2 AM. A sigh escaped his lips, heavy and tired. Closing his laptop with a snap he leaned back in his chair, her ocean blue eyes flashed inside his memory.
Before heading to the bed, Arsh decided to take a shower, hoping that the water would wash away his strange feelings. The warm stream poured over him, but it did little to ease the restlessness stirring inside. His mind reminded clouded with her.
After drying off, he walked into his dimly lit bedroom, towel draped over his shoulders. The bed looked too big, too empty. As he lay down, his eyes instinctively drifted to the side where she had slept in his arms yesterday.
Her presence still lingered.
A faint trace of her lily scent clung to the pillow and sheet. He turned to his side, trying to push the feelings aways. But the silence only grew louder and sleep refused to come.
Then suddenly, a thought sparked in his mind.
"She must be sleeping with Zahra" he thought. Without thinking further, he grabbed his phone from the night stand, and dialed Zahra's number, hoping Shafiyya was with her, he wasn't sure what he would talk to her that too at the middle of the night- but he just needed to hear her voice.
Shafiyya was in her deep slumber when she felt someone gentle shaking her, trying to wake her up. She slowly blinked her eyes open, still lost in sleep's warmth.
It was Zahra who woke her up, her eyes half-closed with sleep. Without saying much, she placed the phone in Shafiyya's hand and mumbled, "Talk.....he's on the line," before turning away to lie back down.
Shafiyya stared at the phone in her hand for a few seconds, still groggy and confused about who could be calling at this hour. Sitting up slowly, she brought it up to her ear.
"Hello, my janoom," came Arsh's deep, familiar voice.
Her eyes widened in disbelief-and without a second thought, she ended the call and placed the phone beside Zahra. Turning away, she lay back down and pulled the blanket over herself, determined to go back to sleep.
