WORD COUNT ∹ 2000+
PUBLISHED ON ∹ Mar 13, 2024
A tale of love, laughter
and happily ever after
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Beirada raston ki ban gaye ho manzilein
Mushkilein hal hai tumhi se
ya tumhi ho mushkilein
~Tum kya mile
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"Ammi Ji, Please pray that we get this land without any problem" Shehbaz said to her, and she responded with a positive, cheering smile to hype them up.
"My prayers are always with you both," she assured. Mahira's lips eventually curved into a wide smile after she saw the trio smiling. Then, Sherkhan quickly pecked her knuckles before saying 'Allah Hafiz.'
Shehbaz planted a soft kiss on Mahira's forehead, as he does every day before going to work.
Ayesha adored their beautiful moment from the back, waving at Shehbaz when his gaze met hers, and he waved back.
Both seated inside the car, Sherkhan was driving, and Shehbaz was in the passenger seat.
"Do you know the location?" Shehbaz asked, as they were visiting that palace for the first time, and he had heard that it's quite far from their Pathan mansion.
"Bahadur has sent me the location. By the way, I'm very excited to launch our factory," Sherkhan's eyes sparkled as if he had been waiting for this day for so long.
"Of course. It's Abba ji's dream project, and ours too" Shehbaz mirrored his excitement level, his eyes definitely flashing back to the days when their dad used to talk about this dream, which is now being fulfilled by his sons.
It took them around 1 hour to reach the royal palace. Sherkhan leaned his head out from the window to have a scanning look at the palace, and he was quite amazed by the architecture because it was very classic and old.
"I'll just park the car and come. You can go ahead" Sherkhan said, and Shehbaz headed toward the gate. Shehbaz talked with a guard, and he guided him inside.
They both left, and the door got closed. Sherkhan quickly came back after parking and proceeded to walk further.
As the palace had a huge garden before it, he was confused about where to actually go, nor could Shehbaz be seen in his sight. He looked for guards, but no one was present there. He took a few more steps and saw a lady watering the plants.
He walked towards her direction so that she might help him. It was a sunny day, and the lady was watering the plants in direct sunlight. She felt a shadow coming closer to her.
"Suniye-"
(Listen)
She got anxious as she felt it was a man who was going to touch her shoulder.
"AHHH--" The distance was very short between Sherkhan and the lady when she twirled back panicking, and the water splashes on his face shook his soul.
"Koun ho tum? Aur andar kese aaye?"
(Who are you?
And how dare you come inside?)
She got defensive, taking her steps back, and her heart started pounding out of fear. Sherkhan wasn't able to open his eyes for a few seconds as the water suddenly slapped his face with high quantity.
"Yaa, allah. Aaj kal toh log din dahade bhi chori karne lage hai."
(Sigh, God. Nowadays, people have started stealing even in broad daylight)
She whispered under her breath, but Sherkhan heard it and quickly looked at her and responded, "I'm not a thief."
"Every thief says this! God has given you two hands and legs, so why don't you earn money with your hard work, huh?" She started scolding him, and now Sherkhan properly looked at her appearance.
He felt she was a maid as she wasn't well dressed, but she was quite beautiful to look like a royal girl, especially that mole on her side of the chin, which was very mesmerizing.
"How could a maid have this much audacity to speak to my face?"
Sherkhan gritted his teeth while thinking in mind. The lady always stared at him as if she was showing that she wasn't scared of his gaze.
"Listen, I'm a businessman, and I've come here for a land deal," he managed to vocalize calmly because if he wanted, he could have responded arrogantly as she did earlier, but she was a woman, so he didn't raise his voice.
"I feel he's lying," she thought in her mind and silently stared at him without blinking.
"Which deal?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows, and her hands were on her waist.
"Argh- I will find my own way," he groaned as she was wasting his time with nonsense questions, which he felt weren't required to answer at all. As he started to walk away, she came in between and stopped him from walking further.
"You can't enter without telling me! I'm still not convinced that you aren't a thief" she pointed her finger at him, testing his patience level.
Meanwhile, he was thinking about who has hired this overzealous guard because she is annoying to a level where a person would willingly walk away from the gate itself.
"Yes, I admit I'm a thief, and now go away from my sight" he uttered furiously, making her mouth widen open in shock as she spelled out,
"YOU!!! I was right."
She kept walking behind him while he was taking big steps to avoid her, and then finally, another guard bumped into his way.
"Pathan sahab, they're waiting for you" the guard said to Sherkhan, who took a relieved sigh while that lady was confused. Sherkhan immediately headed towards the way the guard gestured him to follow.
"Listen?" She stopped the guard; he nodded, lowering his gaze towards the ground as a form of respect.
"By what name did you just call him?" She questioned, wanting to reconfirm his surname. After hearing 'Pathan' somewhere, she felt he wasn't lying about being a businessman.
"Pathan. Sherkhan Pathan. He's Ruksana Mam's client" the guard exclaimed, making her expressions nervous.
"The one who was going to come regarding the land deal?" She asked with a nervous smile, cursing herself that she messed up badly and prayed to all angels that he shouldn't be the same guy.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Congratulations to me! This is going to be my last day on earth" she exclaimed with the fear of her aunt, Ruksana.
"Thank you, you can go"
she said to the guard, who left from her sight without lifting his gaze from the ground.
"God, how can I be this dumb? I even threw water on his face, but it was by mistake, nah. And who told him to stand behind me sneakily?"
She blabbered while biting her nails due to anxiety as she knew she is gonna get well scoldings from her aunt for how she behaved with her guest.
She wasn't ready to face her, that's why she kept walking back and forth until someone came to inform her that she needed to get inside the palace. She quickly followed the instructions given to her, walking barefoot as she didn't want to come in front of Ruksana.
Letting out a deep breath when she arrived in the kitchen, knowing very well that Ruksana never bothers to come into the kitchen as she always orders the maid to do her work.
The next moment she turned back,
"AHHHH--"
Her soul left her body witnessing Ruksana standing behind her back, which was evident by her scream. It's definitely not her day today as everyone made up their mind to scare her from behind.
"Chach-ii Ji--" she gulped hard, preparing herself for the huge lecture she was going to get, because obviously, Ruksana would have known that she misbehaved with her guest.
"Where were you, Sofia?"
Ruksana crossed her arms, passing death glares. Her short question was enough to dry up Sofia's throat completely.
"I-i was... here only"
she started breaking her knuckles and avoiding eye contact. By her behavior, it was a piece of cake for anyone to catch her lying.
"Well, is the breakfast ready for my guests then?" She asked, making her realize that she isn't really aware of that incident till now, which made Sofia feel a little better.
"Yeah, yeah. It's ready. You can go join them, and I'll just arrange the table in two minutes"
Sofia exclaimed with full confidence, and Ruksana gave her a simple nod because she wasn't accepting this.
Sofia smiled widely, thanking God multiple times in her heart because most of the time she tries her best but messes up everything.
"You don't have to show up in front of my guests, stay here! Sana will serve them"
Ruksana informed her strictly, not knowing this makes Sofia feel very insecure deep inside. Ruksana does this always, yet it hurts on a different level. This behavior of Ruksana makes Sofia think that she is lesser among them and her presence is worthless.
"Ji" she agreed, carrying the lamp in her throat. Ruksana left from there without further conversation.
(Okay)
Sofia quickly arranged the dining table while some maids helped her, as they always do. After taking a confirmation look at the arranged table, she was going to walk away, but then she saw Sherkhan heading towards the bathroom.
Without thinking twice, she rushed towards his way and came inside the bathroom without any hesitation.
"Thank you so much that you didn't complain about me" she uttered, gathering his attention while he was busy looking at his ruined shirt in the mirror.
Sherkhan thought she must be thanking him because if he would've complained about her behavior, then she might have lost her job, as he thinks she works here as a 'maid.'
"I'll, I will," he thought to annoy her too, but in his mind, he wasn't going to do anything like that.
"Dekhiye, Mr. Pathan- Jo bhi hain aap, it was just a misunderstanding, and I didn't purposely splash water on you. It was a sudden reflex, still I apologize from all my heart. Please don't do this! You don't know my aunt, she is very--"
She exclaimed all this in one go, making him stare at her continuously moving lips.
"Aap normally bhi ek saans mein itna sab kuch bol leti hain?"
(Do you normally speak this much in one breath?)
He pretended to sound amazed by her skills, but she felt as if he mocked her on face, so she gave him a tight-lipped smile before responding.
"Kya aap bhi normally itna hi, s l o w. Baat. Karte. hain?? Yese Lagta hai jese pata nhi kis khadoos qism ke serious insaan se baat kar rahi hoon" she remarked, trying to match his level, but she went to the next level, making him clench his jaw at the tags she just gave him.
(Do you normally talk this slow? It feels like I'm talking to some kind of grumpy, serious person)
After witnessing his deadly eyes, she realized she was convincing him a couple of seconds ago, and now she just dug her own grave by not having control over her tongue.
"K khush-hh, Khush mizaj kaha maine. Wuh slip of tongue ho gaya ji," she tried to cover up while twisting the corner of her dupatta.
(I-I meant 'cheerful' person
It was just a slip of the tongue)
"Ohh, really, Then 'serious' ko toh 'sweet' kaha hoga haina?" Sherkhan acted as if he totally agreed with her white lie despite her avoiding eye contact and body language.
(Ohh, really? Then by 'serious' you meant 'sweet' right?)
"Yeah. Exactly! What a great understanding"
she was back in her hyper-excited behavior, thinking that she just chilled the moment. In excitement, Sofia raised her hands for a high five, but she received a straight look in return.
"Behave yourself!" Sherkhan showed that typical grumpy behavior.
"What were you going to do, he isn't Armaan bhai! Whom you can touch & give high five. He's na mehram"
Scolding herself to remind her own boundaries.
She immediately lowered her palm to keep it on her pounding heart.
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I hope their chaotic conversation made you smile and even if it didn't, fir bhi hasdo yaar. Hasne par tax thodi na laga hai.
Yesa👆 xofi ka kehna hai
(Jo aapki author hai) And you guys were too sweet in cmt section 😭🤌 I read everyone's cmts and replied also
My favourite one was 'Aapki likhai se ishq hai" wala. My stories always have certain motive behind it, so even if one single person understands the message which I wanna give it through my story then my job is done. (I took classes from bilal to become a full time Gyani)
Thank you so much for reading 🤍