Aariz POV
Time....this one word can change everything in your life. In one second time can make your life full of roses, while in just one second it can also make your life full of thorns. We try to adjust ourself according to the time, but not always we get what we want.
Time changes evryone. It teaches you lots of things whether it's good or bad. We often blame time whenever something bad happens and whenever something good happens we forget time. What we don't understand is, though, time teaches us everything, it doesn't tells you which path to take. It's totally our decision to choose the path we want to walk on, then why blame the time?
Time erases each and every memory. I don't believe it!! I believe that time helps you in making your memories more stronger that no matter how much you try you can never break through that wall. I tried overcoming every memories that pained me to death but everytime her smile flashed in front of my eyes.
There was a time where we were together and there came a time where I had nothing of her. All she left behind was her memories. It pricked me everytime whenever I thought of her. It pricked me to that extent where I didn't wanted to even be with her. Here, I was dying for her and over there she was living the time of her life unknown to every pain that I was going through for her, because of her.
Hoorain, this one name had kept me alive all these days, months, years. She is like a cold breeze during warm summers. She is like a rays of a bright sun who can fill your entire heart and body with warmth during chilled winters. She is the prefect shade where one can find shelter during monsoons. She is the best doctor in the world which can heal your heart like the trees heal themselves after all the leaves falls down during Auntum.
One smile from her can make all the flowers bloom in Spring.
This is how my Hoorain is. You like her or not, She'll always be my Queen. I'm no one without her. I'm crazy for her and I'm crazily, madly in love with her. She's my World and my life revolves around my World. I'll do anything to protect her, even if it takes my life. I'll rather prefer dying than to see her in pain!!
I still remember the day where Uncle Zulfiqar was telling Dad that how it would be the best decision to marry us both!!
"I don't think it's going to work, Zulfiqar" Dad said
"This is the only way, Parwez" Uncle replied.
"Hoori is very small, Zulfiqar. And moreover, they both are not matured enough!!" Dad said.
"First of all Hoori isn't that small that she can't get married and about the maturity part, Aariz is very much matured enough to handle this relation. And I'm only asking you for the Niqah, rest of the things can happen when both of them are matured, till then Hoori is gonna stay with us." Uncle said.
"Hoori hates Aariz, why can't you see this? She just can't stand him." Dad said.
"I know this very well but haven't you seen that how much Aariz loves Hoori. He's head over heels for her." Uncle said. My eyes grew big and big haaaawwww came out from my mouth. How did Uncle knew that I love Hoori.
"Zulfiqar..."
"Parwez, do you like Hoorain or not?" Uncle asked.
"Of Course I do and I would love to make her my daughter in law." Dad replied.
"Then what is stopping you?"
"Aariz won't be able to protect her, Zulfiqar" Dad said. Huff!!! Of course, I can protect my Hoorain. Just like yesterday I didn't allowed her to go outside because it was raining, she'll catch cold. Though afterwards, she bit me and scratched me!!
"He's the only one who can protect my daughter."
"Fine then, I don't have any problem with this propsal. I promise you Zulfiqar that not only Aariz but all of us are gonna protect Hoorain till our last breath." Dad said.
"I knew it Parwez. I knew it that you'll not say No to my promise." Uncle said.
The week passed and nobody talked about it. I remember getting frustrated so much that I broke almost every furniture present in my room. I couldn't break the bed so I damaged it at it's best. Mom and Dad thought that I've gone mad and they even took me to the doctor.
Worth the wait, that night finally arrived when Dad came to my room.
"How are you son?" Dad asked entering my room.
"I'm good" I said closing my book.
"What were you studying?"
"History" I said rolling my eyes. He chuckled.
"I wanted to talk to you about something, important." He said sitting beside me. My ears perked, I suddenly became interested.
"Yes Dad"
"I know that you're too small for this, but this is the best for you, at least from our side." Dad said.
"Eighteen is not small Dad." I said.
"I hope so..."
"What's the matter Dad?"
"How to frame this....well there's a proposal for you" he said.
"Marriage?" I asked.
"Yes"
"Okay..." I didn't know what else to say.
"Hoorain" I choked on my own spit. "You okay?" He asked rubbing my back.
"Yes. Dad, but isn't she thirteen?"
"Yes, but we only want you two to do Niqah, rest of the things will be done once she gets to a certain age." Dad said.
"Does Hoorain knows about this?"
"Suprisingly Yes, she even agreed for this." Dad said and I felt someone has thrown a bucket full of ice water on me. Hoorain, the girl who hates me have agreed? Nope, I don't believe this.
"You gotta' be kidding me, Dad!!" I chuckled.
"No I'm not son. Even I was surprised, and you know Parwez, the last thing he'll do is to force her." He said
"No way...Uncle will never do such thing." I said.
"So, what do you think, Son? You can take your time but try to answer soon." He said.
"It's not about time, Dad. I know you all very well know that how much I like Hoorain.."
"Then what is bothering you, Son?"
"We both are young, Dad. She's just thirteen, for her, marriage will be like attending a wedding function of a closed one. She doesn't even know the meaning of Niqah properly, how will she gonna hooked to it? Moreover, we both will grow up in a total different cities or countries. I'm going to U.K. for my higher studies while she'll be in her high school. We both might even forget each other. I still might able to remember her, but what about her? She might fell in love with another guy and I might too...don't you think that it's too early for us to get binded in a relationship which is all about of love and trust?" I said.
"I understand your dillemma Son, but what you both don't know is, the power of Niqah. It's not a small thing, Aariz and neither it's just a piece of a paper, it's way more than anything and everything. You both don't have to do anything, it'll alone do everything for you both. Always remember this my child, no matter how much Satan diverts your mind or your heart towards someone who is not for you, the bond of Niqah will always bring you back to the one who is written only for you." Dad said.
"I hope so Dad..."
"We're all the with you, my Son."
"Dad?" I called out to him.
"Yes?"
"From whom does she needs to get protected?" I asked.
"Amjad."
It was enough for me to prepare myself. Days passed, Weeks passsed...I didn't got the chance to see or talk to Hoorain. I misssd her alot.
Day came when we both were Niqahfied....everyone congratulated us. She just sat there giggling away. I was amused. Masha Allah, she was looking so stunning in a pink lehenga.
"Hoorain?" I called.
"Yes Zee?" She giggled
"Why are you giggling so much?" I asked.
"I'm still not able to digest that I got married to you." She giggled.
"I'm not that bad!!" I said in my defence.
"No no...that's not what I meant. The person that I hated to the guts is my husband, this amuses me the most!!"
"Opposites attract"
"You're not at all attractive!!" She insulted me.
"Every girl in my school drools over me" I said brushing my hair back.
"They're blind" she giggled again.
"Hoorain" I huffed. She laughed
"Okay okay, I'm sorry. You're smart, handsome, cute, sweet, caring...oops!! Lying is haram!!" With that she laughed loudly. I punched her lightly in the arm.
"So Hoorain Ahmed, how does it feel to be Niqahfied??" My cousin asked
"It's Hoorain Aariz Aatish" she corrected him. I raised my eyebrows at her, she winked at me!! And here I thought that she's thirteen.
After we finished eating, I took her out in the lawn. A swing was attached on the tree, she ran towards the swing and sat down. I started pushing the swing slowly.
"Hoor?"
"Yes Zee?"
"You loved Al, right?" I asked slowly.
"Yes"
"Then why did you said yes to this marriage?" I asked
"Because you're gonna protect me" she said.
"Hoor, what do you mean?"
"When Dad told me about you and asked for my permission, I had a dream that night. Someone was holding my hand and taking me in to the darkness, I was crying, shouting for help but there wasn't anyone to save me, just when I was about to disappear in to the absolute darkness, you held me hand and brought me back in to the light. I even heard Dad saying to Mom that how you'll be the best man who can protect me, take care of me for the rest of my whole life. I thought and thought until I came to a conclusion that if you can save me in my dream then you will definitely take care of me for my whole life." She smiled
"Yes, I will take care of you till my last breath, Hoorain." I smiled back. "But wait, what about Al?"
"What about him Zee? He said he loved me then he should have come in my dream to save me but he didn't!!" She pouted.
"So you're saying is that just one dream made you flip your mind?" I asked.
"No!!"
"Then?"
"Your eyes."
"What?"
"You love me Zee more than Al. I know it." She winked again.
"Are you sure your thirteen?"
She just sticked out her tongue.
We laughed as I pushed her fast.
I didn't knew that mom captured the perfect moment of us until I saved it as my Laptop Wallpaper.
Yes, it was that picture which, once, Hoorain saw. There was a knock on my door. I opened the door to find my mom with a worried look on her face.
"What happened Mom?" I asked.
"Hoorain..." She sobbed.
"Hoorain? What happened to her?"
"We don't know where she is!!" She started crying.
"What???" I was confused.
"We looked everywhere but she's no where."
"Did you all looked properly?"
"Yes we did. Aariz, I'm scared...what if they catch her? What if they come to know that she's back over here? You shouldn't have brought her over here, Aariz. She's innocent." Mom was crying.
"Mom please, don't panic. I promise I'll be back with her. Nothing will happen to her." I left to search her.
Time passed so quickly and soon it'll be dark. I looked around for her everywhere but couldn't find her. She left her cell in the home, I couldn't even track her now. I know she's alright, nothing has happened to her because my heart is still beating!!
I drove passed a park and that's when I saw her sitting on one of the benches. I breathed a sigh of relief. Allahamdulilah. I quickly called Mom and told her that I've found her. I got out of the car, went to her, quietly sat beside her. I know she noticed me but didn't made any move.
Slowly I held her left hand.
"It's gonna be over soon" I said rubbing her palms. "Nobody is forcing you to accept this marriage, you're still a free bird. You wanna know everything, fine I'll tell you everything." I said.
She looked up. Her eyelashes wet with tears.
"Everything?" She whispered.
"Yes."
"Who is behind me?"
"Zayal..."
"What???"
"Yes...Al is behind you" I said.
"No...that's not possible!! He's not even here" she said.
"You believe it or not, but this is the truth. His father wants to take a revenge, so you can say that Al is helping his father very well." I said.
"Why would Uncle do that? He loved us very much, didn't they?"
"Everything changes with time Hoorain. You never know what is going on in someone's mind."
"Have you met Al?"
"Practically speaking not uptil now. I'm collecting all the proofs, I just need one more proof and that's it, they'll be behind the bars." I said.
"Why can't I remember anything?"
"That's because of them only!! They took you for three days and when we found you back, let's just say you were a new Hoorain to us. We took you to the Doctor and there we found out that a needls was injected inside you with some other drugs that made your mind stopped collecting any information. After a lot of medication and treatments you were fine but you only remembered the things that were happening around." I said as I remembered everything.
"That means I had a memory loss!!"
"You don't. If you want you can easily recall back those memories, but that'll take a huge effect on you, that's why we never pushed you to recall anything. It was Uncle's decision only. You saw me as a friend and use to always ask me that do I have any girlfriends? I was frustrated with everything and I tried to make you remember everything but then you went to coma for seven months. Everyone said that it'll be better if I stayed away from you till the time you are fully healed and that's how I went to U.K. for my higher studies." I said.
"Aariz?"
"Yes?"
"Do you really think that I'm gonna believe you?" She suddenly started shouting.
"Hoorain, why would I lie to you?"
"You know the best, you are trying to make Al the villain."
"I am not trying...he is!!"
"Oh Shut Up Aariz!! I know you're just jealous of us. You just can't see us together. You are jealous because he loves me more than you do. And moreover I love him." She said.
I grabbed her by her arms "Enough Hoorain, enough!! I am not jealous!! You want to be with him fine go and find him, stay with him. I don't give a shit!!" I said pushing her back.
"Yeah right!! Now you'll say this...because you yourself fell in the hole that you created. Before pointing finger at Al, point yourself first, Aariz. What have you done for me? You say you love me, Right? Then where were you when I was in trouble? Everything is a lie...any single thing that you've done and said is true? Answer me!!" She again shouted
"You want to know what have I done for you, then listen" I again pulled her towards me. "Just so you can sleep peacefully at night, I stayed awake for you. I use to stand every night outside of your house so that nothing can harm you. You know why I suddenly had to go on those small trips and you use to take my place, well that's because I use to get admitted in the hospital. It's not easy Hoorain, to stay awake whole night and work in the morning like you had the best sleep!!
Not every man can leave his entire firm just to stay close to his lover. I risked everything for you Hoorain so that you can live a better life. I fought day and night just to see you smile. It hurted me to the core when ever I saw you laughing with Zain or Imran. It made me feel pathetic that I can never be the reason behind your smile.
Do you have any idea what love is? No you don't. You know why? Because you don't know how it feels to see the girl you love standing in front of you yet so far from you. Day and Night I craved for you. There were nights where I just wanted to sit beside you and run my fingers through your hair. Girl!! You made me go mad. There was not a single time when you were not present in my mind.
The kiss, Hoorain, was real. It was real damn it!!! I Love You Hoorain, how do I make you believe...trust me my baby."
I was so frustrated with everything that I ended up kissing her again!!