#NotEdited
And upon a certain request I have gone back to writing point of views! Tell me how you guys feel about it!
A little bit from Nayal's past ;)
Nayal
November 2010
"Why don't you call it a night? I can't stand the dark circles under your eyes."
Amal stroked the over-grown bronze hair that were sticking out of the red beanie. The little tug was a clear warning for me to get a haircut.
"There's still a few things I have to go over before I can head back home." A yawn escaped my mouth as I stared at the pile of papers surrounding me.
"I'll stay." She dragged her chair back and slumped down. "And no arguments. I'm ordering Indian food."
I knew very well that arguing with Mrs. Tahan would leave me with a severe headache (no offense to her). I cracked my neck and rubbed the red eyes before opening the laptop to feed the spreadsheet. Mrs. Tahan had leaned over the table with a tired smile on her face triggering guilt inside of me.
"Mrs. Tahan you can go home. I'll be just fine."
Instead of replying she rolled her eyes and picked up of the cartons from the floor.
"Mrs. Tahan?"
"Yes dear."
"Do you think this bill could be served as an evidence?" I handed the paper to Mrs. Tahan who perched the glasses on her nose looking carefully read it.
"You are brilliant! Alice couldn't find a single thing from that box, that lousy witch!" She growled and attached it in the file.
A year ago Nayal wouldn't have imagined sitting with one of the top most lawyer in the business. A few months back there was a case he helped the Yard with and after exactly ten days he was recruited as a Sergeant. For a guy who worked at a pizzeria after graduating high school, it was surreal. Due to his father's medical bills he was deprived of attending college, but he didn't mind at least he showed that he didn't.
"Don't tell anyone but I saw her sticking a bogger under her table last week."
"Ewww!" She exclaimed in disgust and then both of them burst into laughter.
"What time is it now? Damn! It's 11 freaking o'clock. I'll kill this girl!" I stole a few glances Mrs. Tahan who dialed a number and adjusted the phone between her ear and shoulder and took out the food from the delivery box. Having no close contact with a female before I kept my gaze down, that's what one of the only things my father taught him.
Exotic fragrance of biryani filled the room in no time, making his mouth water. To me, there was nothing better than an extra large serving of chicken biryani with a chilled Coke and no forget my favourite gulab jamun.
"What do you mean you don't know, Zeeny?"
"Why can't you take the first flight home? I'm worried sick about you!"
"Hand over the phone to Adi. Right now!"
"Adi get her home and I don't care how. I'll talk to the Coach."
"Take care, honey. Mama loves you. Allah Hafiz."
Mrs. Tahan clearly noticed his quizzical expression as she ended the call.
"Zeeniya is my daughter, if you're wondering. She's currently on country tour with the rest of the football team."
"That's pretty awesome."
"Awesome?!? I never wanted her to go but Allah know how stubborn she is! I have always warned Nasir not to spoil her and see what we have here now. I should have stopped her the very first day she wore Omar's football clothes and went to the playground. She was only five! Can you believe it? And then came the worst! When I spotted her in the bathtub cutting her beautiful hair at the age of six! Said 'she wanted to look like her brothers'! Nine of her teeth broke off during football games! You know when she was eleven she didn't come from school with her brothers and I was in the middle of a hearing I got a call from my good-for-nothing husband. We searched everywhere! The school, playground, even the nasty tunnel where she skateboarded and I swear it was absolutely horrible! I was going to call my contacts in the police.."
I stared at her with jaw hung low and eyes wide open.
Women wonders! Now that's what I call breathless!
"She was huddled in one of our neighbor's bushes, shivering with cold and her jacket in her hands. And guess what was in it? A little kitten with a broken and bruised body. She apparently found it on her way home."
A tear escaped her blue eyes and absorbed into her glowing skin.
"Are you okay, Mrs. Tahan?" I gently asked offering her a tissue.
"I just miss her! She's so reckless that I'm afraid that she'll get hurt in some way. And I can't be there to protect her." As I watched her worrying over her kid, after a long time, I wish I had a mother too.
"I speak from no experience. But from what you describe her as, she sounds extremely...." I scratched my neck, struggling to find a suitable word for it.
"Nice?" Lost for words I looked towards Mrs. Tahan who started laughing the minute I answered.
"Nice? And Zeeniya!?! Hahaha! Wait till you meet her." She managed between laughter.
In the next hour I did what it was duty as an Sergeant. I didn't mind when my friends who were now attending prestigious colleges mocked me on his rank or often accuse me of using my father's name to get into the Yard. My sole job was to either do some minor paperwork or fetch coffee for the seniors. I wasn't allowed on the field nor I had the privilege of owning a gun.
"How's your father doing, Siddiqi?"
"Allhamdulilah." The only answer I could come up with for the past one year.
"Your a strong boy, you know. Not everyone can do what you did." Spending nineteen years without a mother left me yearning for the love Mrs. Tahan showed a glimpse of.
"I met your father in Glasgow in 2006 I guess and I must say he raised you well." I wasn't sure but there was a curtain of water in her eyes that made me glad that maybe there was someone who understood what I was going through.
"I guess I must leave now I have a husband waiting at home." She chuckled and ruffled my hair the second time before muttering 'Allah Hafiz'.
The young Nayal 😍
June 2011
"I'm so much happy for you, my boy! MashaAllah may Allah shower upon you his blessings and mercy." Mrs. Tahan placed a feathery kiss on my forehead and gave me a tight hug.
"I don't think there was anyone in the last ten years at the Yard who got double promotion! See there my boy? That's how Allah bless obedient and hardworking kids." I wanted to correct her that he wasn't a kid anymore but refrained from doing so. After a tough six months training course, I was supposed to be upgraded to Chief Inspector but that didn't happen and instead I was elevated directly to Superintendent. the higher rank didn't matter to him but it was the more money he was thankful for. The medical bills were exhausting and even working two jobs wasn't helpful but now there won't be any need for overtime. Apart from my father, and a runaway mother who never showed her face to me, I had no one. But it didn't matter now I have learnt to live alone, I have learnt to bear my responsibility alone and I have learnt to live without love.
"I think you need to have a look at it, Sir." I was brought back to the Earth with a knock on my door.
"We've got no record of her; no dental records, no National Insurance Number. I'm very sorry sir, I did everything I could." The Sergeant bowed his head down as I peered at the computer screen showing the picture of the woman who wasn't worth being called my mother.
"But there is something else I found..." He clicked a button and with that another picture appeared o the screen. Same brown orbs, same nose and even the smile was same except for the dirty blond hair everything was exactly the same as the picture I stole from my father's cabinet.
"That is Jessica Calvin, daughter of Issac Calvin and...erm Sheila Ludwig. 19 years old, majoring in nursing from one of the top medical institute in the country and I'm afraid to say your half sister." After years of hardships, I have gotten quite used to of handling harsh and shocking news.
"You filthy piece of flesh! Your mother left you the day you were born!"
"Never ask for your mother! She is dead to me and to you!"
"I can't afford new clothes for Eid."
"Do some work! You are no use to me! That bi**h left your useless to me!"
"There is no need of going to college. Find a job and settle down!"
"I need every single piece of information on her in the next half an hour...."
"What's your name?" The guy was about my age with a nervous look on his face, he blinked several times before answering.
"A-A-Anderson. Sean Anderson."
Not the first one to be intimidated by me.
"Report me before lunch, Andrew. And remember, I don't want you to tell a soul about this. Am I clear?" My cold and stern order affected him immediately as he nodded vigorously and rushed back to his cubicle.
A month later
What if she refuse to accept it?
What if she thinks that I'm a creepy sociopath?
What if she isn't the girl whom I'm looking for?
There was no backing out now.
I murmured to myself for the tenth time this evening, soothing the turmoil creating inside. After a whole month I had built up the courage to stand in front of her college and now isn't the time to back out.
Over the years, I have grown out of that scrawny, skinny and shabby boy to the handsome man with a badge. The hazel eyes were the only evidence of the runaway mother, the nose was slightly crooked in the result of an encounter with a thug. The jawline was chiseled perfectly along with those high cheekbones and not to forget the stubble ladies dig for. The adversity for life had casted a shadow of hardness on his sharp face. The tough training had contoured my abs perfectly. Not that I brag about it or something. But there was a major change in my personality too; the shy and timid boy was long gone leaving behind a stone-hearted man.
After an hour of searching I finally found something that said 'Hey! I'm your long lost half brother. Wanna join me for coffee?' A semi formal jacket along with a denim shirt and a pair of decent pants. The sleeves were slightly folded and the hair slicked back.
"Excuse me?" I said in a rather low voice to the girl with the dirty blond hair.
"Yes?" She turned 180° and for a second I felt as if a virtual connection was already present between them.
"Can I...um..talk to you? Alone." I specifically eyed the group of students she was surrounded by.
"I can't say no to a dashing guy like so, yeah sure." I mentally chuckled at her but maintained a neutral face.
"Where is the guarantee card? So I know that ain't gonna kidnap me." Jessica Calvin, my supposedly half sister failed to make a joke.
"I'm a police officer. Kidnapping you is my least worry."
"Shit! I swear it wasn't me who ran over that old lady's cat! The freaking cat was already on the verge of death, I just made that easier for that poor creature." She had stopped walking and with eyes wide open confessed the whole crime.
"We'll go to that later but I just need to ask one question." I looked straight into the hazel eyes that were a clone of mine.
"Are you the daughter of Sheila Ludwig?"
A wave of silence spread across the vicinity with a shocked Jessica whose mouth was almost touching the ground.
"You are Nayal...aren't you?" Every word that came out of her mouth was shaky and I knew that it was a matter of time before the Niagara Falls burst open.
"How'd you kno...?" Before I could complete my sentence, I was trapped in a tight hug. Her face was pressed against my chest and her hands couldn't wrap around my body. The tears and snot absorbing in my jacket couldn't kill the his emotions that were out if control at the moment. I stood there, still as a statue, unable to process the sudden affection.
"She a-a-always...always talked about you..." I could only decipher those words as she hugged me even tighter.
"You're my brother! She used to say that you will come day and you did!"
Nothing mattered anymore, nothing other than the fact that I had a baby sister who had accepted me. There was no feeling alike in the world, no promotion or extra money could have been compared to it. Then I did something I never expected myself to do; I smiled widely and wrapped my hands around her small figure.
Present
The most awaited P.O.V
Stroking a finger on my bruised lip, I sat down on cold hard ground. The garage was closed but he still had to fix a few broken radiators and bumper. Life wasn't easy right now, not for me at least and the thunderous knock on the shelter proved it my worst suspicions right. After the fight last night, they were bound to come after me but seeing three men twice my size was quite intimidating.
Even though I had zero ounce of energy left inside, I wasn't ready to give up.
"Let's move boy, we don't have all day." I recognized on of them as Big B, one of his minions who had cigarette hanging from his huge mouth.
There wasn't a need for resisiting when I was well aware that his people would find me in my grave, let alone my workplace.
We were in the manor in no time and before I could know, I was thrown in front of him (literally).
"You thought you could get away from me?" His slurred words made me flinch but I kept my mouth shut.
The room was filled with smoke and reek of alcohol just like every time I came here. In the middle of the room a few men were playing cards with the amount of alcohol that could murder their livers.
Serves them right!
"I won't give you what you want. You and I both know that." A sudden wave of confidence stroke me when I realized why I was here.
"That piece of filth is not your bloody sister!" He growled angrily throwing the bottle of tequila a few inches sparing me.
"And only you can bring her to me, Adam."
"Hahaha! And what makes you think that I'll bring her to you, Father? "
Muahahaha! Evil laugh!
Ramadan Kareem amaZAYN people!
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