Manzil

Chapter 1 - Beginnings

Zara's POV:

"Uth Jao larkiyoun 2 baj gaiy hain." I heard Amma scream through the door. My sister pushed me as well and asked me to get up first if I wanna use the washroom just so that she wouldn't have to get up. Since I was a heavy sleeper it took some time for me to wake up but when I did the first thing I did was check my phone for time. I knew my mom always lied about the time to wake us up and indeed it was just 12:15pm.

"Ammi kabhi tou sahi time Bata ke utha liya Kare, aj tou wese bhi chuti hai Thora aur sone de deti." I screamed back in frustrations. Apparently sleep was highly important to me specially due to a thing called the weekend, me and Sania were busy goofing around and watching movies in my room hence ended up sleeping pretty late last night.

"Chutti hai tou iska ye Matlab nahi ke poora din sote raho, tum logoun ke abbu kab se nashtay par wait kar rahay hain, uth jao. " Amma said as she came into our room and stood beside the door.

We were a family of 5. Along with me and my parents, and my older sister Sania who is 3 years older than me and a little brother named Ali who is 10 and is basically the heart of the house. We live in a relatively nice neighborhood in a two story house in Karachi. Baba own's a nice car selling buisness so you could tell that we weren't exactly poor.

After freshening up and stuff, me and my sister rushed down to greet baba and Ali who were sitting in the hall watching TV. Later we served breakfast (or you could call it a brunch) and sat together chatting away.

I'm currently a medical student in my 3rd year studying to be a surgeon. I fairly enjoyed my choice of soon to be profession although it was nerve wrecking at times and barely made up for the things i actually wanted to do, i managed to pull it off as it was something that made my parents extremely proud and happy. Sania was different though she didn't let anyone even so much as take a bad look towards her dreams and ambitions, she was so sure and confident towards what she wanted to do and always did everything in her means to get what she wanted. She was a journalist and a pretty darn good one. Just like that we were your ever so typical loving family living the life.

Soon after we got done with brunch and namaz. Me and my sister made plans to go for bowling later at night since baba had to go to a friend's house for dinner and no kid there was our age so we decided to go out on our own.

Around evening me and sania started getting ready. Mama and baba along with Ali had already left for dinner, so it was just us two left. I wore my favorite pair of jeans and a printed white T-shirt with my converse. I put on some make-up and left my long wavy brown hair open. I was relatively a normal looking gir- lol who am I kidding? I am gorgeous, or at least that's what i thought to myself everytime i wanted to build my confidence.

"Bas bhi kardo sheesha toot jaiy ga" Sania said from behind me, even tho she was a bigger bimbo than me and dressed up 10x more, but since she was always quicker than me hence made me look like the extra one.

"Zahir si baat hai itni khoobsurati bardasht thori hogi ise" I said back flipping my hair.

"Tayari tou aisi chal Rahi hai jese aj tou pakka kisi ko pata lo gi." She said taunting knowing I barely had the guts to set up with a stranger.

"Lol hum single logoun ki kismaat Kahan aisi, ke hum kisi ko pataein, hum tou akele he marein gaiy." I said painfully and dramatically.

"Acha bas bas ab mein gari nikal Rahi Hun 1 min ke andar andar mujhe tum nechay dikho" she said.

"Hmmm" I said while applying my last coat of mascara and rushing to get my things knowing she'll pull my ears if I didn't get down in time.

After a 40 min drive, due to the traffic we finally reached there and met up with our friends who we had planned to meet. Sania had two close friends, Ahmed and Umera. Also Ahmed wasn't just her friend but also her fiance, they got engaged sometime a year ago as they used to study together in the same university, he was a really nice guy and we got along really well. I just called my best friend/ cousin Aliya. She was pretty chill just like me and although was a year older than me she was in the same year as me and was studying Architecture. Not to mention how gorgeous she was almost with her fair flawless skin and short brown hair had that kind of aura that made the guys go crazy over her.

We went in and ordered food, bowled
and basically had a great time with each other. We were all laughing at a joke Ahmed had said when suddenly two tables beside us we saw a women, probably around our age throw a glass of water on a man in frustration, who by the way I could not see since his back was towards me. The whole arena was in silence beside the music playing in the background. The women then got up, said something and took her bag and left in anger while the man hung his head low for a couple of moments and after a while rushed to the opposite side of the arena.

"Lagta hai larki ne isko dump kardiya hoga" Sania said snickering.

I shaked my head in pity and starting eating my fries. Although I enjoyed drama, I didn't want to make fun of them as I felt pitiful. Soon after being done with food I excused myself to go to the washroom to wash my hands. As soon as I got done with washing my hands I walked out.

As I was passing by I saw a corridor with an exit door open, I could see some city lights through the open door  since we were on the second floor and knowing I'm a sucker for it I went through it. The view was breathtaking outside and the air was fresh and cool. As I was inhaling in the air and enjoying the view I heard someone clear their throught. I turned around to see it was the same man from before who i recognized from his side profile and color of his shirt. Looked like he probably had a fight with his girlfriend/wife, whatever she was. He was quite good looking too, tall and good hair. Had to stop making myself from shamelessly checking him out. But in the back of my mind i couldn't get the familiar feeling of seeing him somewhere before.

"Oh I'm sorry, mujhe nahi pata tha idhar koi hai" I said as I was turning around to leave I saw his hair and shirt were still wet from before.

"Here" I said softly while reaching for him with the pair of tissues I had in my bag. He looked at me as if I was handing out my kidney or something. Hence I pointed at his shirt which made him realize why I was doing so.

He gave a small nod of appreciation and I nodded back and left knowing he had the aura that said 'leave me alone or I'll destroy you' at least at the moment so.

I went back to the table where my friends were, we countinued with our activities. Later after we got home, I quickly changed and went through some of my notes and assignment for tommorow, medical was really a hard field, as I was sitting on my study table I looked to the Left side of my wall which was full of paintings made by me, they were bright and colorful which somehow always found a way to cheer me on. I wondered what it would be like if I had opted for Art, but then shrugged the thought off, calling it a 'hobby' just like my parents put it to be. I couldn't help but give a proud smile, my room was nothing less than a work of art. Although it was huge, no wall or space was empty, i had my walls painted the lightest shade of pink (blame the 12 year old me for being a barbie fan). I had a couple of my own paintings along with my friends paintings hung up on one wall where as the pictures and posters were stuck on the other. I had tons of Polaroids hanging with clips on thick white thread and fairy lights all over the wall right above my bed. I shook off my head, procrastinating seems to be a major con due to the set up my room had.

I went back to studying. I wasn't super smart hence had to try extra hard to be an average plus it wasn't easy being as cool and famous as me and also maintaining my studies. It was true though, I was a kind of an 'advisor' in our campus, that's what most of the kids called me, be it of family, relationship or friendship I was always there to give out the best suggestions, but that's all I ever was good to be.

After about an hour I finished up and threw myself on the bed. I went through the day and thanked the Lord for such good company. The guy from the bowling arena popped up in my mind and I wondered what his story was and why he looked so familiar but then tiredness took over me and i soon went to sleep.