Chandni knew it was hard for him to show his emotions to a girl who was nothing to him.
He was loathing it from inside when she saw the tears in his eyes. Maybe that was the reason that he turned around, showing his back to her.
She heard the pain in his voice more than the anger.
"Sabiq," she whispered, her voice so soft as if she was worried this rowdy, arrogant, unbreakable man would break down in pieces.
Her mind begged her to not get attached to him, it was telling her to ignore his eyes drenched with tears and just move towards the bed and let the remaining night pass in silence, however it was not what she was.
She cannot see anyone in pain, she cannot ignore a silently crying soul even if it was a murderer.
Her fingers trembled as she raised her hand and touched him.
Sabiq flinched as soon as her skin touched his. He was not expecting her to touch him that too so warmly.
"Don't touch me!" He snapped at her, creating a speaking distance between them as he walked towards the window. He stood there watching the bright moon in the night sky.
Chandni looked at his broad, scarful back. His muscles were rigid. He was hating himself for telling her the truth.
Mohsina was his sister, his sister was raped...hundreds of times.
It was hard to believe. For a moment Chandni did not believe him but his tears were true.
A crease formed on her forehead as she wondered why mohsina was away from him, living a life of a sex slave when she is a sister of a mafia king.
Why Sabiq let his sister become a sex slave, did he did it intentionally?
No, he cannot.
She saw love and care in his eyes. The way he was holding her a few minutes ago, the way he kissed her that night.
Chandni felt it. He loves his sister.
Then how and why Mohsina became what she is today. The poor girl was screaming her throat out in the middle of the night.
Remembering her ashen face sent shivers down her spine.
Chandni can not even imagine how hard it must be for her to still be alive, to breath after going through the horrible experience of rape.
Not one or two but multiple times.
Sabiq's sister must be so strong to survive this animality.
If she was in her place she would have died till now.
But why... why Sabiq did not saved his sister ?
The questions were too many but there was no answer.
Chandni came out of her thoughts when the baby in her arms stirred in her sleep.
" Shh..baby" she cooed to the baby girl as she looked at Chandni with tearful eyes. Her pouty lips were quivering indicating she was about to cry.
Chandni brought her to her chest after adjusting the pink furry blanket around her tiny body nicely.
Chandni walked to and fro in the room, trying to make her stop crying but the baby girl only cried as if she was feeling the sudden gloominess in the atmosphere.
Sabiq was hell bound to not show his emotions to anyone, especially to Chandni. But today he had told her something which he was afraid to even whisper to himself.
He was not only getting attracted to her but he was also getting attached to her.
He really started to like a girl for the very first time in his life. He wanted to hold himself back, not wanting give up to his feelings, however Chandni had already made a place in his heart.
He likes her.
His emotions were becoming naked in front of her and he did not like it.
He was adamant to not turn around and show her the moistness of his eyes however when he heard her soft angelic voice he could not help but turn around, witnessing the beautiful angel singing a song to another beautiful angel.
Heart beats fast
Colours and promises
How to be brave?
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt
Suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more..
She was singing to the little girl, holding her close to her chest as if she was her own daughter.
Her lips were moving slowly like a bow moving against the violin.
She was looking deep in the child's eyes, a dim smile on her face was becoming the replica of something extremely beautiful.
One part of him wondered if all this was her pretentiousness or if she really was some angel who has a heart so strong yet so tender.
He saw her as she placed a warm kiss on the baby's forehead and the baby closed her big lashes, drowning again into a sleep.
Placing her tiny body on the white mattress she leaned down beside her ready to sleep.
That shocked Sabiq. For the first time since he had met her she was not asking him her million of questions.
Was she not curious tonight? Did she not want to provoke him to tell her about Mohsina? Sabiq wondered.
Sabiq was unaware that Chandni had read a first hidden chapter of his eyes. She now knows how he really is.
And she was glad that he was not as bad as he tries to show her.
He was just like her, a closed shell who did not share a part of him to anyone, especially those parts in which your old wounds get scrapped.
He saw her as she slept beside the baby girl, at the very edge of the mattress. Her eyes closed instantly as if she was desiring this night to end soon.
Something ticked inside him, why was she not asking him questions? Why is she not looking at him with her brown curious eyes ? Sabiq did not appreciate this change in her nature.
His lips thinned in a flat line as he approached both the girls on the bed and laid down on the other side of the baby girl.
The baby girl's little fingers twitched as they made contact with his hot skin and soon she was snuggling to his muscular arm.
Tonight the sleep was far away from his eyes. Something did not seem right to him.
After a long time, he had this sudden yearn to speak.
He turned his gaze to Chandni. She was deep in sleep.
His eyes then looked down to the baby clinging to his arm.
His lips twitched as a ghost of a smile curved into them.
Shahzeen used to do the same.
She would cling to his arm like a koala bear almost every night."She used to do the same," he smiled, pressing his lips to the baby's forehead.
He wiped the drool off the baby's mouth just like he used to do with his Shahzeen.
Keeping his hands beneath his head he remembered the old times.
When he was only thirteen and she was merely a few months old, his Shahzeen, his little sister.
"She is not Mohsina. She is my Shahzeen, my baby sister. I was only thirteen when I first held her in my arms, she was so tiny and so soft. I never cried in front of anyone but that day my tears were not stopping," Sabiq's eyes were set up on the ceiling as he was reliving the day he got a new sister.
His eyes sting with tears, warm and full of love as he recalled the first time he held her," I was ecstatic to see her eyes. They were of the same color as mine. I told my father we share the same nose and lips also but he smiled, shaking his head, denying me. You can not imagine how infuriated his denial has made me. I used to love him the most but after Shahzeen he happily took second place in my heart."
Sabiq kept speaking, knowing very well that no one was listening to him. Both the girls were deep in sleep but it did not stop him, he kept speaking about his childhood.
He told them about his father. His father was a worker in a coal mine, his mother was a housewife and Shahzeen had come as a light of their family.
He turned his gaze to Chandni. Her sleeping face looked as beautiful as always. The fringes of her hair ran down her forehead while the long tendrils kissed the warmth of her cheeks.
He removed one tendril of her face and she shivered involuntarily when his fingers grazed her plump cheek.
"Everything was good until our father left us," he said, and a sudden pang of hurt hit his heart.
"I became the man of the house at the age of fourteen. My father's death had hit me the hardest. I have to leave my studies in the middle and join the coal mine in his place. I used to work from seven in the morning to ten at night. Most of the time the work hours would expand but just for extra bucks I used to work without complaining or saying a word. My hard work, my patience, my time and love everything was for my family. For my Saba didi, Ammi and Shahzeen."
(Didi- elder sister)
Sabiq took a deep breath as he remembered that unforgettable day when he lost his little sister.
"I was sixteen. My Shahzeen was only three. She was the apple of my eyes. To be very honest I used to work long hours only for her, I wanted to give her the best future, education, dreams, everything. I wanted to make nothing impossible for her."
He stopped as suddenly that day started revolving in his mind. It was Holi. The day he lost his little sister.
"I found her everywhere but my baby was nowhere to be found. I cursed myself, beaten myself I just wanted to kill myself when I could not find my baby anywhere but I couldn't because I had the responsibility of two other woman."
The tears poured out like some river as he again became that sixteen year old searching for his little sister among the sea of people and for the first time in years he did not control his tears and let them be free from his restraint.
There was colour and colour everywhere, he himself was coloured in red and blue, that day those colours had hid the tears streaming his eyes.
Everyone was so happy, so lost in themselves to give their attention to the boy hauling in pain and crying for his sister.
The night that followed after that day was hardest and it became harder as more days and nights passed.
He never had a peaceful sleep again.
He begged everyone, police, gangsters, politicians, every other person who could help him find his sister but his every plea was unheard.
Until the day he took the power in his hands and became the King of the Mafia.
"After searching for more than ten years, finally three months ago I got to know about jainab. Initially he was like any other trafficker for me who deserves a ruthless death from my hands but when I recognized him as someone old and familiar to me I connected the dots."
"He was the one kidnapping my sister and selling her to the black market," Sabiq said, his eyes set on Chandni's sleeping face but his voice holding that edge. The anger, the hate burning inside him.
And why will he not burn, won't cry he was the one who lost a three year old sister.
He was the one who begged everyone.
And he was the one who killed everyone who once rejected his pleas and laughed on his face.
"It was hard to find my Shahzeen in the dark world of black market but in the end I found her. Even now it is not confirmed if she really is my Shahzeen or not but somewhere deep inside me I know she is my baby especially after seeing those eyes of hers. They are the same as mine. I know she is my sister, not any mohsina."
The night was passing in a blur but his words did not stop.
He told her more about his baby sister, about the kids that he intended to save not harm. He knows the pain of losing a soul of his life so how can he harm the soul of another's life.
The stories of him, his father and his Shahzeen not stopping a bit.
He was finding it to be a thing of pride when he spoke about his late father and his life values.
While telling the stories of his late father, when did he fall asleep Sabiq did not know.
...
When Sabiq woke up the next morning he found the side beside him empty.
Chandni and the baby girl were nowhere in sight.
In a second he stood up on his feet. His eyes widening, alarmed.
Where the hell did she go ? The first thought that came to his mind.
Did she...did she run away from him? The assumption did not settled well with him.
"Chandni," Sabiq screamed her name in hope of listening to her soft voice in response but when he didn't hear it the anger surged within him.
He raked his hands through his black hair, letting out uncountable curses, hating even the thought of her leaving him.
Taking out a silver gun from one of the cabinets, he stormed out of his room in search of Mehzabeen.
How dare she leave him?
Who gave her the right to leave him without his permission.
How the fucking hell could she ran away from his Mansion when the security was air tight.
"Chandni! Where are you, woman!" He called her once again just in a hope that she would emerge from one of these many rooms.
But she didn't.
Sabiq entered the living room and his angry eyes zeroed at Arjun.
The bastard was flirting with a maid while he was looking for his Mehzabeen. Did he made his second in command for fucking flirt with the maids!
Sabiq stormed to Arjun, grabbing him by the back of his collar and started hitting him directly to his nose with the back of the gun.
"My Mehzabeen is nowhere in sight and here you are flirting with a maid," He gritted out each word after every hit on his nose. The cracking sound of his bone immensely satisfied the Mafia King.
In a mere minute Arjun's face was full of blood.
Sabiq didn't stop until the man lost his balance and dropped to the floor.
Sabiq's breath was harsh and deep as he glared at weak thing on the floor,"You are no more my second in command," he snarled, his nose flaring in untamable fury. "Bloody weakling," he spat.
His angry eyes snapped to the young girl who was flirting with Arjun. His eyes were so sharp that it made the girl in front of him shiver in fear and she stumbled back a step or two before ending up on the floor, kneeling before her King.
"I a-m s-or-ry, m-y lo-rd," she stuttered terribly, her eyes full of tears looking down.
Sabiq clenched his jaw more tightly, looking away from the pitiful looking girl," aren't you too young to flirt with a man years older than you," he said, knowing very well that the girl was merely sixteen.
"I am so-rry capo," the maid said, crying pitifully.
"Get out of my sight before I kill you," Sabiq sighed, frustrated with the crying girl.
Sabiq pressed his eyes shut, not believing that Chandni had really left him.
He knew that girl was brave but he did not know she had the guts to go against his words.
"Chandni!!" He yelled again just in the hope of her still being here in his Mansion.
"C-capo," an older maid stumbled through her words. Her eyes down in respect, her body shivering seeing Capo's fury.
Sabiq snapped his eyes to her and the poor woman flinched back,"Madam.." stammering, she pointed towards the kitchen.
Sabiq's thick brows knitted together and he looked towards the kitchen from where a gentle, very soothing humming was coming.
It was her. His Mehzabeen.
She was in the kitchen, humming a song while he was shouting for her like a madman, calling her name again and again, beating his second in command only for her and all this time she was ignoring his calls like a brat.
Giving a disgusted look to Arjun who was whimpering in pain on the floor, Sabiq directly stormed towards the kitchen with blood dripping from the back of his gun.
...
The scene in the kitchen shocked Sabiq.
His eyes widened as he gawked at Chandni who was looking ravishing in a light blue saree.
He gulped as his eyes zeroed at her thick waist swaying lightly from right to left as she hummed a song while cooking.
"Kaisi hawaa hai khuli khuli.. sara nazara nya nya. Dil ne pukara piya piya.."
(What's this wind that seemed washed away...the whole scenery is new. The heart called out for you, my love...)
Chandni was in her own world. Happy and excited for the day ahead.
The smile that had arrived on her lips this morning was now not going anywhere as she hummed a Kishor Kumar song that was soothing her through the ear phones.
The intoxication and romance of the song crawled up to her mind and she started moving sensually without knowing that a pair of eyes were gawking at her, enjoying the free show.
Sabiq smirked, all of his anger vanishing into thin air as his grey eyes settled on the young girl moving sensually, possessing his dark mind into her dark hypnotizing world.
That is what she was. Hypnotizing.
So hypnotizing that it made him spill his feelings to her even when she was not in her conscious.
The baby girl was looking from Sabiq to Chandni and Chandni to Sabiq while drumming her little hands on her baby seat.
Chandni turned off the gas, finally done with the delicacies she was making.
Wiping her hands in the kitchen towel she again sang along with the singers,"I love you..." and turned around only to come face to face with Sabiq.
Chandni gasped in shock, her one hand flying to her racing heart while the other holding the edge of the kitchen slab.
"Sabiq," she whispered.
Her eyes blinked rapidly like a doll as they met with Sabiq's mischievous orbs. Her fingers tangled with the wires of her ear phone, taking it out of her ears and buzzing the sensuality of the song in the air.
Sabiq's lips curled into a handsome smirk as he mused smugly, "Are you trying to seduce me ?"
"what ?" Chandni asked, eyes bewildered, lips parted.
His grey eyes scanned her from up to down. The blue saree was suiting her delicate brown figure. The all so innocent and curious Chandni was resembling a hot siren and a dewy eyed angel at the same time.
"The way you are dressed up in a saree and dancing so seductively, Is all this for me, Mehzabeen?" He rasp, his eyes, deep and sensual. So out of his character.
"No," she denied, her voice coming out in a whisper though she did not intend it to come that way.
"She chose my outfit today," she said, pointing to the baby girl who was looking at them with her big brown eyes.
"And I love Kishore Kumar songs so I was enjoying it," she muttered underneath her breath, moving her gaze down.
Sabiq's brows pulled together, his demeanour changed in a second hearing her lie. He despises the lies more than anything.
"She ?" he mocked, gesturing to the baby.
"Don't lie to me, Mehzabeen, I don't appreciate it," he said, giving a flick on her chin.
Shaking her head, Chandni again said,"Believe me she does. She talks to me and helps me with everything. She is my best friend now," Chandni explained, her voice eager and high to proof herself right.
She huffed a little when Sabiq still didn't believe her. Looking at the baby girl she asked,"Baby girl, do you hate me?"
Baby girl looked at them innocently with those big brown eyes, a big bubble of drool forming on the corner of her pouty lips.
"Baby girl, do you love me?" Chandni asked and instantly the baby replied, raising her tiny arms,"Ya ya ya ya ya."
"See!" Chandni exclaimed, clasping her hands together with a full blown smile.
"She talks to me. It's her birthday today so I asked her what I should wear. I gave her choices of all the ethnic clothes that you gave me and she chose this saree. Isn't this pretty?" Chandni gushed, knowing pretty well that she was looking gorgeous in a chiffon saree.
Sabiq's eyes narrowed at the young girl, suddenly out of nowhere she was acting like the girl that she was when he had first met her. The fear in her eyes was nowhere to be seen.
The brightness missing from her eyes from the last one day has suddenly come back again and it made her look good in a better way. So good that she actually looked convincing even when she was speaking nonsense.
"How do you know it's her birthday? She merely looks like a four month old,"a sneer sitting on his words as he asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"No. She is not four months old. She is six months old. She has started teething. I just noticed it today, that's why it's her birthday today and we are celebrating it," her eyes roamed to the bloody gun in Sabiq's hand before it again met with his eyes as she said everything with a smile.
Sabiq studied her under his scrutinizing gaze. She was looking at him with no trace of fear and nervousness on her face.
Something has changed. Definitely had changed.
"Cut this crap. There will be no celebration here in my mansion and you should bloody inform me before going out of my room" Sabiq snapped, not really able to comprehend her all so chirpy behavior.
Chandni pouted as he take a seat on the kitchen bar, completely ignoring her.
Taking the baby girl on her hip she settled the plate full of gujiyas in front of him.
"What is this?" Sabiq asked, looking at the half moon shaped sweet, weirdly. He was definitely not familiar with any sweet dish other than kheer.
"This is gujiya. My maa taught me how to make it. I am also planning to make some samosas and kachoris for the kids. After all, it's our baby girl's birthday," Chandni said, giving raspberries on the baby's plumpy red cheeks.
The cute baby giggled loudly, making Sabiq smile.
However his smile vanished as soon as it came when he registered her words,"Kids ? About which kids you are talking about," Sabiq asked, his voice again turning all serious.
"The kids that you have sav.. I mean that you have kept hostage," Chandni did not meet his eyes as she spoke.
"Please let them come out from wherever you have kept them. It's babygirl's birthday. It will be good if she has her friends with her," Chandni eyes were set on baby girl's little hands as she clasped them under her palms.
"Friends ?" Sabiq scoffed.
"She is a baby. She does not have any friends. You should be grateful to me Mehzabeen that I am letting you keep her with you otherwise..." Sabiq left the sentence unfinished as he picked a gujiya from the plate and had a bite of it.
Hmm, delicious.
Chandni chewed on the inside of her lips as Sabiq ignored her every plea, that too so scornfully.
"Please Sabiq let me celebrate her birthday with other kids. I promise we will not make any noise. We will not disturb you at all," she said with a most innocent look on her face.
"No," Sabiq denied, straightforwardly.
"Look even babygirl is asking for a birthday party with all her friends," Chandni said and looked down at the baby girl,"Right sweetie?"
"yaaayaaa"
Sabiq looked at baby girl's innocent face and then at Chandni's pleading eyes.
"Look Mehzabeen, it's good to see in your old self, curious, talkative one. Believe me jaana I like this side of you more than that gloomy, scared side. But I have already told you my decision Mehzabeen which is, no birthday party in my mansion and that's final," he said, looking directly into her eyes.
Chandni's face turned gloomy and her lips pressed in a line.
Sabiq patted her cheek lightly and got up from his chair ready to go out.
"Sabiq," she called and Sabiq looked back at her as she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, stopping him.
"Hmm," he raised an brow.
Chandni took a deep breath before meeting hus eyes and saying,"I am only planning this birthday party because I want to invite the girls who are locked in that room. I really want to show them the bright colors of life and a child's smile is where all the colors of life reside. I want them here Sabiq...I want them here with me."
"Especially Shahzeen."
....
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