Fayd sprawled on the bed in the darkness of the night with sleep way far away from his eyes. He was excited that he was getting to go back to his parents but it got delayed because he agreed to help Adil with the new case. He palmed his face as he whined out of annoyance.
"You little shit." He cribbed to the air and tried to fall asleep for the umpteenth time.
There was silence everywhere, so much that he could hear the ticking of the clock. He would be having a long night before dawn broke out. Getting up from the bed, he made his way to the kitchen after throwing on a vest to make a drink. The entire house was packed and covered and nothing was really there, except for the things he was going to leave for Adil because that guy loved the flavoured and high caffeinated coffee and hazelnut spread that Fayd owned and they were literally the only things left.
He would have to go to the bureau in the morning to cancel his resignation. The aroma of brewing coffee wafted loosely in the air as he walked around the living room to get his airpods. The plan was to run till the sun came out and it did seem like he would be having a long time running. He grabbed the mug and sat down on a chair with a pen and notepad to write down the things he needed for home and cooking and while listing he flipped a page and found notes of something- notes that he had mindlessly written while thinking about a case, only the case was closed long ago.
"How the hell did I miss this out? Shit me." He growled and tore the paper and tossed it to a corner. His head hurt because of two continuous sleepless nights. He had yet to inform his parents that he was not coming back until after three months. Although he didn't need a reason, he must say it in the way that they wouldn't feel bad or feel that he was pressured, which infact he was.
"You better bring some breakfast for me or I'm eating your head." A voice text from him was sent to Adil. He switched apps and opened Spotify to play his exercise playlist. He changed into a t-shirt before stepping out in the air.
The air had the wetness of the night and the breeze was so soft on his skin that he smiled. It felt ecstatic and it was also one of the reasons why he loved stepping out. It gave him his needed space to be with himself and to think with an open mind.
It was hardly past four but he was running. Running away from the chaos of the job he once loved and admired. He ran away from the chaotic times when he had to disguise himself to pry someone. The bursting red and bewitching white flowers in the park moved rhythmically with the wind, forming a peaceful ambience. The greens enhanced the beauty of the earth, while the wetness in the air refreshed his mind.
Far away from the place was a woman who sat on the beach with her eyes staring into the inkness of the sea. Fayd squinted his eyes to see better or to confirm that he wasn't imagining things. He sure was not. Dressed in a black leggings and a leather jacket, she looked like she was about to toss the world upside down. The paleness of her skin was like porcelain that he could feel the fragility from his place. He stared at her for a whole minute before he averted his gaze. Intrigued by the unknown woman, he found himself walking closer to her. The more he walked closer, the more he realized that she was unfazed by the world and too lost in herself to give a damn about anything. She gave out vibes that were of a leader— someone who had been ruling a kingdom. And before he could walk anymore closer, she stood up and left. Left like she was never there.
He snapped out of his world when an acerbic cry rang in his ears. The cry turned out to be an ad for the premium subscription, "The hell with your subscription." He took off his airpods and shoved them in his trousers as he sat there on a bench to retain the lost energy. He felt dizzy, for the last thing he ate was the biryani and two sips of coffee that he had forgotten about. Grunting, he put them back in his ears.
The playlist stopped as his phone vibrated in the pocket, indicating him of a call which ended before he could even receive. Turned out to be one of his senior officers who had requested him to get a file from one of the investigation houses they worked with. It pissed him off, knowing their attitude towards the younger officers. He was already done for the day. Also he didn't know how he was going to explain everything to his family. His four years old nephew was so excited to meet his chachu for the first time and had also asked Fayd to love and pamper him as his phuppi. Too many thoughts at once that he hadn't got anything else to think about.
"Get it done, Fayd. You got this." Patting his left thigh, he encouraged himself to get ready for the run. He so was going to make Adil payback for every-fucking-thing.
He was going back into the place he was trying to come out from– the house he never thought he would visit again after the last investigation. To say he had a problem with the people working in the house would be understatement, they treated him like trash, like he was not a part of them and that he would just remain an American no matter how hard he tried to blend with them. He had it all together until now– until that day.
“Oh, you’re here, I was waiting for you.” Khalid sahb spoke and smiled at the young investigator, he was happy when Fayd told him that he decided to stick to his job as he thought fresh and young talent was required in the industry, “I’m happy you decided to stay.”
He looked up from the papers that were supposedly about Ayat Wajdani, “Not for long though.” He said and went back to reading the papers.
“Why is someone running an investigation on a businesswoman?” Fayd asked, puzzled. He could not understand why someone was so desperate to know about a businesswoman that stayed away from hassles and was already preoccupied with her work.
“People in the corporate industry are not as sorted and direct as we think they are. They have their own secrets that they want to protect at all costs.” He nodded thoughtfully, so did Fayd.
“Track suit me ho, seedha jogging se aaye ho?”
“Hmm, files mil gaye hain toh main nikal raha hon kabhi aur mulaqat hogi ab.” Saying so, he walked out of the office leaving the old man to wonder how long it had been since they met for the first time and how Fayd had not changed. Even then, he would not answer if he found the question irrelevant and never really cared about the questioner.
The sun was yet to rise and the officers from the night shift were still on duty, enjoying a cup of hot tea so early in the morning. The aroma oqf malai made him slightly nauseated as he passed by, the murmurs were achingly low but he could vouch that it was about him. They did not do it for the first time.
With his eyes still on the paper, he was slowly walking through the hallway that took him to the main door. It was easy for him to enter as everyone had dozed off. His shoulder bumped into a man who was coming from outside and the papers fell down. Masking his irritation behind a straight face, Fayd crouched down to pick up the papers.
"I'm sorry." The man apologised.
"It's fine." He replied. Although it had been years since Fayd left America, the American accent was still so rich in his tongue that anyone could say he hailed from there.
"Oh, a whitewashed Pakistani." Fayd growled at the officer's comment, stopping on his track and turning around, the man seemed younger than Fayd was. What little respect he had for the house washed away. He wanted to tell him how he could snap his life with his fingers and what all he could do as an investigator to make his life hell.
"Fuck off."
~
"I'm going to drain your blood." Fayd yelled at Adil. That poor guy didn't even know what went wrong in his absence as he came in to find Fayd yelling at everyone for not doing their work promptly and tried to shut Fayd off.
"Senior, aap yahan se jayain." Sayrah mouthed but Adil was stupid enough to not listen to her. Sayrah shook her head in disbelief, collecting the files and her laptop to leave the place silently.
"And you-!" Fayd turned to Sayrah. She put her things back on the desk and braced herself knowing what was coming her way.
"The report?"
She blinked, "What?"
"The report."
Shit, I'm busted!
Sayrah was a workaholic woman who liked to get everything on time from the time she started working as an investigator. The house was filled with intelligence and knowledge but they turned out to be the people who fooled around a lot. Fayd was the one in charge of training the youngest ones and he made sure he did his best.
Sayrah was aware of his nature. She knew how he would react but she was carried away by her emotions when she was told that he was leaving. Her one-sided love story didn't get its closure and it threw her off the edge, obscuring her from thinking but now that he was here, he was asking for the report she forgot to make.
"You didn't do it?"
Taking her lower lip between her teeth, she looked down and closed her eyes. Because well, she didn't do it. She nodded in a no.
"Wow. No, do one thing leave everything to me and fool around." With that he dashed out to the terrace to get some fresh air. He was suffocating from the time he returned. He was in his country but no one was ready to accept him as Pakistani– as he was. He was, by nationality, a Pakistani and no one could possibly change it yet it constricted his throat. This was one of the reasons why he wanted to leave everything and go back to America.
After a little while and when he calmed down a bit, he noticed the person who sat a little far away from him with a frown on his face, he very well knew that Adil held himself responsible for what happened but Fayd wouldn't have stopped if he hadn't wanted. Adil did not try to act clueless and knew what exactly was wrong with Fayd. He didn't know how he would break it to his parents as they were hopeful to see their son again after a decade and he was going to break their hope. Again.
Turning his face away from Adil, he closed his eyes thinking about it. The relationship between him and his family was turning cold and growing thin. He had already lied so many times and was running out of excuses. Lies upon lies he told to his family and himself to stay back but not anymore. He could clearly see what he wanted and what he needed but he also understood that Adil needed his help more than anything at that moment. He wouldn't have been able to forgive himself if he let Adil to deal with it alone and run away.
"Fayd, mere bhai?" Adil came closer and sat next to him with a faint smile. He didn't know how to react as it was the first time to see him burst out on people like that, "I'm sorry." He apologised.
"I stayed because I wanted to.. don't flatter yourself." He rolled his eyes, masking a smile after seeing Adil frown.
"Fair enough and I buy your excuse but don't be so cold and yell at people like that." Adil pushed a chewing gum to Fayd's side.
"What? I've always been like this and you find me cold now?" He chuckled, playing along.
"Maybe but I'm feeling it now."
"Good for you." Taking the gum in his hand, he looked at Adil who was crossing his legs over the table.
"Legs down or I will chop them off." He groaned, getting up from his chair.
"Bitch."
"Shut up."
"L-"
Their cribbing stopped when they heard a knock on the door. They both turned to find Sayrah with reports in her hands. She looked tired like she hadn't sleep at night, the natural pink shade of her skin was gone and she looked pale. Fayd felt sorry for being harsh on her when he saw her tired eyes looking up at his face.
"I'm sorry, I had a lot in my mind." She said, looking down.
"Proposal?" He asked her as he highlighted a point in the report. He might not even know what he asked but she felt her fears going up her bones and freezing her heart. How would she marry another man when she was in love with her mentor.
"No." She smiled through her pain but he barely heard it. The reports, from the last few investigations that were supposed to be submitted to someone else, were actually nerve-wrecking, he actually thought he was going to miss all this just a day ago. The papers and investigations were his from the very beginning and he felt a bit empty for leaving it to another person to deal with it.
"Uh, sorry?"
He didn't hear it, ofcourse. She thought. With that she took her leave, leaving him to study the file.
"Yo, one more thing."
"Bol."
"We have to meet Ayat Wajdani."
His hands stopped midway and the pointer of the highlighter rested on the paper as Fayd focused his attention back on Adil. They were meeting the subject of the investigation and it sounded ridiculous. Never in his entire career had he done anything in that sort.
"What in the world is that nonsense?"
"The client requested. We can't help."
"No, but-"
"This is the kind of shit we do for a living and its nothing new for us, every client has weird demands and this one happens to request this." Adil replied, chewing the gum.
"How are you going to approach then? Are you going to go, 'hello, we are from a private investigation house and in charge of your case that was supposed to be kept from you but we are here to investigate you, please cooperate.' Very well then." He mocked.
"You will take care of Ayat Wajdani, I'll try to gather from her employees."
"It's your mess, you will pick it." Fayd groaned. Not just a while ago, he decided to stop think about it and be good to Adil on this case.
"So we can end up in jail."
"You are not doing anything illegal to end up in prison, I'm so done with your dramatic ass."
"But you love me." He blinked innocently to annoy Fayd.
"I'll dig your grave in the middle of a forest for you to dance with jinn that live there."
He did not say anything as he slowly returned to his work. Sayrah continued to bring more reports and submitted to him so it took longer than the brothers thought it would. While on the other hand, Adil was edgy since he had an appointment to meet Ayat Wajdani. The person who helped him get an appointment warned him to not come to him again if he missed the chance as she already had a packed schedule.
"Who wants it?"
"Not sure. He goes by the name Ali, we tried to know but there's no Ali in her life.. both personal and professional." Adil mentioned the fact he found weird. Never in the last few of his career had anyone wanted to be anonymous.
"I hope this ends well."
▪︎
❝Ab ke hum bichhde to shaayad kabhi khwaabon mein mile
jis tarah sookhe hue phool kitaabon mein mile.❞
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