Chaos in the Canvas √

24 | conference

If the hurt comes,
so will the happiness

Friday - 8:14am

"We found him." Shahriyar Khakwani said simply and Hemayal's heart dropped in the vicinity of her stomach as her mouth turned dry, eyes widening fractionally.

"Wh-what?" Hemayal felt her voice coming from an abyss, heart thumping wildly in her chest as she stared at her father.

Too many thoughts ran through her brain as she sought to grasp a thread of sanity and understanding; failing at it miserably, however. The notion of her father finding about Ibrahim Yazdani was one she couldn't even afford to think right now, knowing how severely it will puncture her own plans. The look on her father's face told Hemayal that things weren't as simple as she had initially thought and with that, she felt a kick in her gut as she realized the grave outcome that would unleash.

"What-what do you mean you found that man?" Hemayal asked, voice still hollow as she regained her senses and her mind kicked into action.

"The one who kidnapped you that night, the one whose picture you helped that man draw." Hemayal heard her father saying and suddenly, she felt foreign relief entering her stream as she exhaled loudly.

Her father had not found out about Ibrahim yet.

Just as she had promised her father on Sunday night, she helped the man he called the next morning to draw a sketch of the only man she saw when she was kidnapped. Back then, she wasn't too sure of her father's contacts and how easy it would be for him to find that man.

And her relief was cut short when she realized that it was only a matter of a few more days and her father will find out about the real man behind the kidnapping too, only if Ibrahim Yazdani wasn't smart enough with his name appearing in the whole scene. But knowing him a little, she knew he was.

"Yeah?" Hemayal said, unsure as she regarded her father's face with caution, hoping against hope that he wouldn't utter Ibrahim Yazdani's name the next second.

"Yes, I just got off a call. The man was located and he was...well, a hired goon. But you know that already, of course." Her father mumbled and Hemayal nodded her head slowly, not sure where this conversation was heading.

"Yeah, I guessed." Hemayal, too, mumbled in response as she looked at her father, nerves relaxing slightly as the thought that he hadn't yet found about Ibrahim began to settle in.

Yet.

"But we at least have a start. The police are looking for that man and hopefully, we'll have him in a day or two. If he hadn't been warned beforehand, of course." He replied and tightened his jaw at the end, looking at Hemayal with worry and uncertainty in his eyes and Hemayal gulped.

She still wasn't too comfortable watching such warm emotions in her father's eyes, and that too for her. She was used to seeing indifference in them and had no idea how to handle this new influx, not knowing how to respond. After all, she had remained deprived of them for nine years now.

"We'll find him, Baba." Hemayal replied softly and saw as Shahriyar Khakwani stilled in his place at her words.

God, it had been such a long time since she'd address him with that word.

"Yeah," he coughed slightly, as if uncomfortable before continuing. "I just wanted to tell you to look out for yourself when you're gone. Karachi is a big place and with your kidnappers still out there, you have to be cautious, Hemayal."