It was around three a.m. in midnight, and Ginny was snoring softly near his legs as she cuddled him tightly. Sleep was far away from Murat's eyes. His mind couldn't stop thinking about how boring his life has become now. He rolled on the other side, disturbing his cat, who meowed in her sleep.
The sparkling star stickers on his ceiling was a great distraction at that moment. It was so green and sparkling. But his mind drifted off to what kept him bothered all day.
Why are you so moody and annoyed these days? It was a simple question that his mother asked naively this morning and he was speechless for a while, unable to answer her properly. It took him by shock as realization dawned upon him.
He was not happy.
How did it take him so long to realise that?
It's been four months since he last smiled. Since he laughed heartily. Since he felt relaxed or happy. He was not happy for so long. What a pity it was. He felt so pathetic. It hurt. But he wanted this hurt to be gone. He wanted to be happy. Again.
Happiness was a choice. Ups and downs are a part and parcel of life anyway. How you're going to handle things is what matters. And Murat was trying so hard to let go of things that are holding him back from being happy. It was very frustrating, but he wanted to come out of this darkness that he has surrounded himself with.
He wanted his happiness back. And no one but him can do that. He wanted to work on himself, to make himself a better person. He didn't want to be known as the bitter ex-boyfriend. He wanted to let it all go. He should choose to be happy. It was one of the best self-realisations he has ever had.
Murat has messaged his assistant immediately and gave him all the responsibilities for two whole weeks. He decided to go for a long, long drive.
He left Ginny at Chris's mother's caretaking. She loved cats and was always willing to take care of her for him.
Two weeks seem to pass in a blur as he spent the time with the things he liked doing the most, things that defined him. His cheerfulness. His wild and outgoing behaviour. He went trekking with his group of close friends, built a treehouse in the middle of the jungle, jumped off a cliff and swam until his limbs begged him not to. It was relieving in its own way. He liked to swim, a lot.
And God that was the much-needed break he had in two long years. So wild and crazy, just like him.
He used to be this person once upon a time. Now all he could remember doing was work, work and work. He turned into something that he is not. Fame and success have turned him into the worst possible human. He had neglected his duties as a son, as a brother and as an uncle. He had drowned himself in so much work that even the supposed love of his life didn't love him anymore.
Eliza fell out of love with him. That's the bitter truth, it was very hard to accept, but he did. He began to wonder if there was any love at all in the first place.
The past two years were busy in all senses and he remembered going on a similar vacation with Eliza before this. It was a good memory. And he wanted it to be just a memory. He no longer gave memories the power to overpower him. Thinking about Eliza didn't bother him all that much.
She was a part of his life. His past. It was good, whatever they had. At least he thought it was. But not good enough to survive a lifetime.
He had accepted this fact and successfully moved on from everything, it was hard to let go. But he did. He deleted her number the first thing one night and deleted all the photos they had clicked together. His heart ached. It did. But he breathed a sigh of relief after he finished deleting everything, even those Instagram photos that he kept in the archive was sent to the trash.
He doesn't want anything to do with her anymore.
Eliza Hossain was his past and he liked it better that way.
But those memories spent with her will be coming back every now and then, he knew better than to dwell in the past. It was done and dusted. He looked forward to a new beginning as he drove back home. He was going to his parents home first.
A wide smile appeared on his face as he parked in front of their gate. He could see his twin sister's car was here as well. He didn't know that she was here as well. He felt genuinely happy after so long. Gosh! He missed his family.
"Ammi!" Murat called her out impatiently as he walked into the living room and was met with surprised gasps and smiles, his sister ran towards him and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug first.
They shared a close bond. But he hardly called her in the past two years.
"Murat, I can't believe you're here." Syra smiled heartily as they broke apart, "where have you been? Thank God for those Instagram posts, otherwise, we were going to call the police. You didn't call for two weeks straight." She complained while their mother twisted his ears.
"You could have called me at least," Hania complained with a frown, he didn't whine like he usually does but enjoyed the love behind her words.
"I'm here now, I'll stay for a few days to compensate for the mistake," Murat said in a loving tone and Hania left his ears with a wide smile and stared at him in disbelief.
"Really? You're going to stay? I can't believe my ears. Where is Saad? Saad... Did you hear this boy..." She turned around and went in search of her husband.
"You're still a little boy for her. And you want to get married it seems," Syra laughed at the irony and bumped his shoulders, "how was the vacation?"
"I'm sorry, Syra." He apologized with a bitter smile, she gave him a puzzled look in return.
"I'm sorry for not keeping in touch all these days. I don't even know what happened and how it happened. I shouldn't have missed out on my niece's birth nor her first birthday. I love her, more than you actually. I'm really sorry for being the stupidest brother and uncle, please forgive me." He held his ears with teary eyes. Her face fell at the end.
"Just don't repeat this again. I didn't take it to my heart. You're my little brother at the end of the day, I love you. That's why I'll always forgive you."
"But yeah, I missed you." Syra chuckled dryly.
Murat missed her as well. Too much actually.
"I didn't realise what fame was doing to me. I just wanted more and more of it. The money, the success. Everything felt so nice. I didn't see what all I was losing to get those things, aapi and they don't matter all that much anymore." Murat sighed in dejection.
"Gosh, aapi sounds so weird. Don't call me that. I'm only two seconds older than you." Syra joked to cool the atmosphere and was pretty successful at that. They laughed together and it became silent once again.
"Where is Shazia? Did she come?" He asked about his little niece, who has his whole heart even if he didn't say it aloud.
"Don't you dare disturb her now, I put her to sleep after a lot of tries. So don't you risk disturbing her now." Murat smiled sheepishly at his twin, she can be terrifying sometimes. A lot of times, actually.
"Calm down, princess furious. I'll not disturb her," Syra stomped on his foot at that nickname. She gets angry easily and he has named her as princess furious for the same reason. It's so easy to get on her nerves sometimes. It's not her fault that people are so annoying these days.
"Don't call me that," she glared at him before walking inside as her phone began to ring. A smile played on her lips even if she was mad, she missed hearing that stupid nickname from him anyway even if she hated it with all her heart.
Murat chuckled before walking inside his parents' home, it was the place where he grew up. It held the most beautiful memories. His childhood and youth were spent here before he decided to move out.
Moving out of here was the most heartbreaking moment of his life.But his parents gave him only two choices, to stay under their roof or to leave Eliza.
Obviously, he picked Eliza. It's been five years now. He was so young and stupid at that time. Only twenty-two years old. Now at twenty-seven, he knew why his parents were so against dating.
His old bedroom was still the same, just like he has left it back then. He didn't remember spending a night here after that fateful day. The photos and video games placed on his shelves brings back a lot of bittersweet memories. He felt relaxed after a long time as he laid on his old King sized bed, it felt like he could finally breathe.
Letting go of things was hard. But there's no use holding onto something that doesn't make any sense. Eliza was one such chapter of his life.
With all these thoughts, he went into a deep slumber and slept like a baby without care of this world, for once.
Somewhere around five in the evening, his mother knocked at his door before walking in and smiled chirpily at him as she took a seat on his computer table. He was checking the output of the advertisement that his team did in his absence which she should be released tomorrow morning.
"So Murat, how was your vacation?" Murat smiled at that question as he shut down his laptop.
"It was great, ammi. I'm sorry for giving you all a scare by not calling anyone. I just wanted a break. From everything. I'm better now, Alhamdulillah. I'll call you guys every day after this like I promised to do." Hania nodded understandingly, she loved him a little extra than Syra. He was always special to her. Not because he's a son but because he's so lovable and kind. Parents do have favourites among their kids but they don't say it aloud nor do they show any partiality. But they always have a favourite child and Murat was that child for her.
"So, Murat. You told me about marriage a few days ago. Are you really ready for that huge step of your life?" Her tone was hesitant and soft this time. Almost like she was scared.
"Ammi, please relax. I did get emotional that day when I called you, but I meant what I said. I'm ready to get married. I want to share my life with someone in a halal way like you always wanted me to." Murat held her hands as he stood beside her.
"But, did you-" she became hesitant to ask the next question. It wasn't something a mother usually asks her son.
Murat understood what she wanted to know. He sighed inwardly, "I'm ashamed of my past, ammi. I was not my best self. I have done things that were against my religion and culture. I shouldn't have done that. But I promise you ammi, I haven't crossed certain limits. It will be hard to believe I know, but that's the truth ammi. That was one of the reasons why she left me,"
Hania didn't meet his eyes. She was still very mad and upset with him for this one thing. She knew Eliza was bad news. Knew it five years ago. But it took her son this long to come out of that relationship.
"I didn't commit Zina if that's what you wanted to hear. I did kiss her, held her hands, cuddled her... That's the farthest we went in terms of intimacy. I wanted to do that only after marriage. Eliza was patient first, she understood my emotions. But in the end, she wanted it. I asked her to marry me. She didn't want that. Which led us to part ways." He never said the reason for their break-up to anyone. As a guy it was a big deal for him, to be dumped because he didn't give her s*x. It bruised his ego. Broke him mentally. It took a lot of courage for him to utter these words.
It took a lot of self-control actually. There were times when he wanted to toss aside his values and just do it with her. She was so beautiful. But he was firm on his beliefs.
They wanted to succeed in their career first which is why, they kept marriage aside and also, he valued his religion a bit too much to sleep with his girlfriend just like that. It was hypocritical of him, yes. He knows that. But he just held himself back from doing something that wouldn't please his Almighty and damn, he was so glad.
"I trust you, and I'm happy to hear that. Otherwise, it would be unfair to the girl who you'll be going to marry. I'd never want that." Hania sighed in relief.
"Yes. It will be unfair indeed."
"So, are you genuinely interested in marrying someone now? It wasn't just to please me, isn't it?" His mother questioned him back.
"Why? Do you have someone in mind?" He felt nervous suddenly. Even if he was ready. This was a huge step. But surprisingly, he was ready for this. He wanted to start afresh. A new beautiful beginning.
"Yes. There's this girl. Amina suggested her for you actually, I gave it a thought and was wondering why not? They're a good family. If you say yes, we can meet them for dinner tonight. We have already talked about it, and they're okay with this to go ahead. You kids should talk out and decide further." Hania asked excitedly. She sounded like a child getting excited to visit an amusement park.
"You're so silly sometimes, ammi. But yes, do whatever you think is right. I'm ready to meet up with this person." Murat agreed with a chuckle. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing his possible future wife.
"Are you sure?" Hania asked again, "you can still back out. If you want to," she tried so hard to keep away her excitement.
"I'm not backing out, ammi. Don't worry, I accept this wholeheartedly."
"I'm so happy for you. I'll call Malaika and let her know that we are visiting them tonight, you made me so happy, Murat." Clapping her hands in excitement, she walked out of his room with the brightest smile on her face.
And so, the Saeed family drove to the Baig House that night. Murat was still oblivious of who the girl was. He was nervous nevertheless. His heart was pounding in a fast-paced rhythm throughout the ride. He can't believe he has willingly agreed to this.
But his eyes went wide as he realised something.
They were heading into his street. His father was the one driving today. He and his sister sat in the backseat, while his baby niece cooed on his laps. She was an adorable little thing. He loved her a lot.
There was hardly three-four homes in this lane. And they crossed all the houses and came to the dead-end of the street.
His father parked the car exactly opposite his house.
Which could only mean two things.
Either his family was pulling a prank on him which wasn't funny at all. Or otherwise, the girl is someone from his neighbour's house.
"Look at his face," Syra laughed aloud, starling her two years old daughter, who began to cry as the car stopped moving.
"Ammi, are you guys playing a joke on me or what? This isn't funny." Murat groaned at his parents, who passed him a smug smile.
"We know. It's unexpected." Saad added mischievously.
"But it's a small world what can I can say." Hania laughed.
"The girl is none other than your neighbour, actually. I guess you have seen her already?" Syra held her daughter and rocked her gently, trying to put her to sleep.
"Are you guys serious?" Murat couldn't believe his eyes nor his ears.
"Seriously serious." Hania laughed from the passenger seat.
"I can't believe this."
"Start believing it then, come on. Get out now. They're waiting for us." Saad added nonchalantly as he opened the door and walked towards his wife's door and opened it for her. He always does that. His parents loved each other dearly. Murat learnt how to love someone from his father.
"After you, shorty," Saad kissed her hand mischievously and received a smack in return. But Hania blushed nevertheless, just as expected.
"Okay love birds, tone it down a little bit." Syra joked as she got down from the car as well, whilst holding her daughter securely.
Murat was still inside, unable to move even an inch. He couldn't comprehend what in the world was happening actually. Were his parents serious or was this a big prank? Knowing them, they'd actually do something like that. His family was crazy.
But...
"We can't back out at the last moment, Murat. They even cooked dinner for us," Saad opened his door and glared at him.
"But Baba, are you guys sure we are on the right house? Please check the address again." Murat couldn't get himself to believe this. He didn't even want to do anything with her a few days ago and here, his parents want him to get married to the same person. What an irony.
"We are in the right place. Will you get going now?" Syra asked him impatiently as her daughter's loud cries annoyed her again.
"Fine." He sighed, still in disbelief and came out of his car, almost reluctantly. His heart skipped a beat as he stared at the house across his.
Looks like he is going to meet up with his possible future wife.
Who is none other than his little neighbour.
He couldn't believe this indeed.