Here you go!! Another chapter down. This is a pretty cool chapter actually so I hope you guys like it.
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Aaina.
Sleeping in a new bed all alone was not something that I liked so far.
For the first three nights after my marriage, I had slept with my husband by my side. I wasn't alone so it did not feel uncomfortable.
It was weird. The first night was pretty uncomfortable but at the same time it made me so comfortable that the next two nights, I had the best sleep.
But tonight, it was different.
Zaydaan had left in the middle of the night yesterday, without saying goodbye. Maybe he did not want to disturb me as I slept or maybe he didn't care enough.
I woke up to an empty bed the following morning and only then, I had realised that he was gone.
I had made sure to text him and he had replied in a very formal manner.
Too formal, infact. As if I wasn't his wife but some colleague.
Hey, you left without saying goodbye. I hope you had a safe flight and best of luck. Call me when you can :)
I had texted.
Yes, thanks.
He had replied.
Anyhow, the day had passed by in a blur, I went to meet my parents, had dinner with my mother in law and then I just came back to my bedroom.
Usually, I could sleep very easily but tonight was not one of those nights.
My thoughts got interrupted when I heard the television outside my room, clearly someone was watching it outside.
I got off the bed and switched on the lights, too curious to find out who it was.
I opened the bedroom door and walked right inside the lounge.
To my surprise, it was Ahad. I frowned. Was he not supposed to travel with his brother?
As I walked ahead and he looked away from the television, his eyes fell on me.
"I thought you were gone too?"
I questioned out of surprise. He laughed. A large pizza was placed in front of him as he munched on a slice himself.
The Dark Knight played on the television as I sat on the sofa opposite to him.
"I went with him actually." He started off, still laughing.
"And when we landed in Dubai since he had a meeting with the crown Prince, I ditched him and came back home."
He laughed as if it was the funniest thing ever, I couldn't help but laugh too.
"Won't he be mad at you?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"I know how to handle Bhai's anger."
I nodded.
"Want some tips?" He questioned me, eyes dancing playfully.
I pretended to ponder for a while. I hadn't really experienced his anger so far. I had a feeling that I would experience it though.
"You think I need them?" I shot back.
"Big time. Trust me."
Ahad's personality seemed so carefree and happy, his smile could lift anyone's mood and the constant playful eyes, they were something.
I didn't understand how two brothers born from the same womb turned out so differently.
As Ahad saw me sitting there, thinking to myself, He put a slice of Pizza in a plate and passed it onto me.
I gladly took it.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He asked me.
"I should be but I can't."
I answered him, taking a look the barbecue flavored Pizza that was still warm and fresh.
My stomach grumbled. It had really been a few hours since dinner and yet I felt like I hadn't eaten for days.
"That's what happens when you shift into a completely different world." He acknowledged.
I shrugged.
"Yeah, it's life changing really."
I responded, still thinking whether I should sit here and talk with him or whether I should simply go back to my room and eat the Pizza in silence.
"Well, would you like to watch the dark Knight with me?" He offered, I couldn't refuse.
I had been coped up in my room all day. If I had to get comfortable with this family, I had to know the members.
And what better way than a late night conversation over Pizza.
And Coke. I needed the beverage too.
"Only if you have some coke." I answered back and he lifted the bottle up from the ground.
He poured me the black sugary drink in a glass and passed it to me.
"Who even eats Pizza without coke?"
"True that."
As I settled on the sofa right beside him, we started to watch the movie.
Heath Ledger as the joker was absolutely amazing. I believed that nobody could ever portray that character the way he had potrayed it.
"I love this guy so much, it's truly a shame that he died."
Turns out, Ahad shared the same feelings as me.
"Yeah, most talented people die early, don't you think?" I questioned and he smirked at me.
"I'll have a long life then."
Even though he had said it as a joke, even knowing that someone so famous and powerful could call himself talentless, it was kind of sad.
"Don't say that, I'm sure you're good at things too."
I mumbled. He rolled his eyes.
"I am good at acting but I'm the son of a Prime Minister and I have duties so yeah."
And I understood. It never mattered how rich you got or how much power you had, your parents would always decide your future.
I knew there were parents who gave their children a chance to explore themselves, to know what they wanted to do in life on their own but my parents, his parents, they weren't like that.
"I wanted to be an anchor, but I can't be one now. So yeah."
He smiled, picking up his glass.
"Here's to broken dreams, then." He clicked it with mine.
"Cheers."
And we laughed over our joint dreams that got killed in a way.
"You had just started university, right?" Ahad further enquired. I had nothing to hide so I answered his questions.
"Yeah."
"So your father told me to marry and you agreed?"
"Well, I wasn't really given a choice." I shot back.
He nodded in understanding, as if he knew how that felt like.
"Bhai wasn't either. I think you both are making the best out of a situation."
Knowing that Zaydaan was also forced in a way, it made me feel similar to him but it made me a little cautious too.
Did he want to marry someone else then? Perhaps Minal? But he had said something else at the wedding.
"I guess so."
Ahad hummed, turning around towards me, his feet up on the sofa.
"So you didn't have any boyfriend then? No lover?"
He wiggled his eyes at me, as if we were best friends.
I cracked a smile, shaking my head.
"No. You? Any lover?" I questioned him in the same tone.
He pouted. He was so expressive with each and every word, unlike Zaydaan who usually had that one blank, intimidating look on his face.
Ahad pretended to count on his fingers and I frowned, confused at what he was doing.
"I do. Several ones actually." I burst out laughing.
The way he had pretended to count and then acted like it was the most tiring thing ever, it was hilarious to me.
"And here I thought you weren't a playboy." I commented.
I took another bite of my pizza, eating away all the heaviness in my heart and enjoying the light conversation with Ahad.
"Hey, don't judge. I'm just keen on spreading love."
As I ate, he kept talking. His demeanour light and relaxed, as if this was casual to him, he seemed so friendly, like the kind of guy any girl would go to for help.
"This one time, I asked a journalist out and she arrived at the date." I motioned him to go on and keep speaking.
"Right, so after a while the husband came too."
I looked at him with eyes narrowed.
"She was married?"
Ahad nodded, sighing.
"Oh yes, I had no idea though. Her fault for coming really."
"What did the husband do?"
"Oh nothing, I told him that she's like my sister, that we were here because she wanted to plan a surprise birthday party for him."
Ahad laughed, remembering that date and I did, too.
I was glad I decided to come out instead of sleeping.
"And this one time I went on a date with this girl and she told me she wanted the Prime minister to be her daddy."
I gazed at him in confusion. Who says that?
"Like a father?" I asked.
"No, like a daddy."
I gasped in shock. What were some girls even thinking these days? Ew.
"I choked on my food and honestly, I wanted to throw up." Ahad remarked.
I couldn't agree more.
As he told me more and more stories, I decided to ask a little about Zaydaan too.
I wanted to know a little about his personal life, about who he had in his life before me and whether or not he was as involved with women as his brother.
"What about your brother? Does he have such crazy stories too?" I questioned casually, as if it was the most random question ever.
Ahad smirked at me.
I guess he had realised what I was trying to do.
"Ohh, smarty pants. I'm not snitching on my brother. Trust me, he hates people who snitch on him."
My mind took me back to the time when he had told me the same. To the horrible night where I had cried.
Don't snitch on me again. I won't tolerate it.
He had said. I took a deep breath, removing the bad memory from my mind.
"Oh I know about that." I mumbled, changing the topic.
"So why do you go after girls then? If they're crazy."
His response was instant.
"I guess I just want to find the right one. Usually there's a word or a certain feature that attracts me and I wanna get to know them better, after that they end up being crazy."
I nodded. He continued talking.
"I mean, I just really want someone I can actually have a conversation with, you know? Without my father's mention or my brother's."
So he wanted someone to love him for who he was, not for what he was.
"You know you're lucky, right? My brother has alot of girls drooling over him."
He told me. Lucky? I didn't know that. It hadn't really felt like I was lucky so far.
"So I'm the lucky one?" I questioned. He smiled politely at me, all the teasing gone from his tone as he spoke next.
"I think he is lucky too. You're very beautiful."
He complimented.
Would Zaydaan ever call me beautiful?
I had only got a 'you look good' from him so far. If sucked.
"Thank you."
As I finished eating the last bite of my Pizza, Ahad opened up the box, putting another slice on my plate.
"Okay, so a real conversation haan? What would you want to talk about?"
I questioned him, changing the topic back to him and his journey of finding the one.
What would I like to talk about with Zaydaan? Would I like to ask him how his day went? Or would I want for him to ask me how mine was?
Did I want to know about his past relationships? Or did I want to know how he felt about me so far?
I heard Ahad cough a little, and then he spoke.
"Everything and nothing. I just want someone I can talk about everything with, without any judgement, any fear."
"Don't we all want that though..." I commented.
I, for sure wanted that with Zaydaan. I just wasn't sure if he wanted the same.
"I think that we want love and we want comfort too, but they don't mix together well."
I realised that while apparently my husband didn't believe in love, his brother just wanted to find the right kind of love.
"You know what love should be built on bhabhi? In my opinion?"
I groaned. That damn word.
"Please call me Aaina, I'm younger than you. By like five years."
I was barely twenty three, while Ahad was twenty eight. I didn't think it was suitable for him to address me so formally.
Bhabhi. It sounded so old and foreign to me.
"Okay, Aaina..do you know what love should be built on? In my opinion?"
"Yeah?"
"It should be built on long nights and lost sleep, and deep conversations and interest in one's personality, not money, not power, not politics."
It felt like a huge blow. My entire marriage was built on all these things. It felt more like a taunt.
"Jeez, thanks." My voice came out filled with sarcasm and Ahad realised what he had just said.
"No, I'm not taunting your relationship. I'm sure you and my brother will do the best you can with it."
I smiled at his explanation. He was sure. I wasn't.
"I hope so."
"I'm just saying that I want to keep trying to find the one, if people want to label me as a playboy, then so be it."
And then, the playfulness returned in his eyes.
"Besides, I do love girls."
So a flirt and a playboy with broken dreams and a little sadness wanted to find real love in his life.
That was Ahad.
Ahad looked at the screen and I realised that the movie had just ended.
"The movie really ended and we missed more than half of it." He stated.
I put the plate back on the table, finishing off the last bite.
"But we finished the Pizza." I retorted.
"We did,"
We sat there in silence as the clock struck four in the morning.
Time had really gone by that fast?
I stared at my iPhone, my eyes landing on the wallpaper of my phone.
It was a picture from my wedding day shoot. I knew it was lame to do so, but I genuinely liked the picture of Zaydaan and I.
And it made me think of him.
Where was he right now? What was he doing? Couldn't he text even once? He used to text me before the nikah. Why couldn't he do it again?
"You keep staring at your phone, my brother is free right now if you want to call him." His words snapped me out of my trance and I felt a little embarrassed that he had caught me.
"I don't, I'm not sure if I should."
"Why not?" He questioned.
"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"
Okay what the hell? Why did I even ask him that?
Ahad still stood up from his sofa, picking up his phone and his laptop too.
"But what if he's waiting for you to start talking to him? Just like you're waiting for him to talk to you?"
And it got me thinking.
I knew Ahad was just pushing me in Zaydaan's direction but at the same time, it got me thinking.
If I start making an effort, maybe he will do the same for me.
"You're right. I'll go call." I stood up too, my feet carrying me towards the bedroom.
I turned around again, just to thank him. I actually had a good time.
"Hey Ahad?"
"Yes, Aaina?" He said in the same tone.
"This was nice, thank you."
He nodded, gesturing towards the coke and Pizza.
"Want to do the same tomorrow night?"
I couldn't help but agree.
"Sure, but with burgers."
And chicken strips. And a molten lava cake.
I wanted to say but I didn't want to give him the impression that I ate alot.
"Done. Goodnight, Aaina."
"You too Ahad, sleep well."
And then I entered my bedroom.
I had to call him, I knew I did.
But the moment I laid on the bed, my eyes couldn't help but close.
Sleep engulfed me but this time, I slept with a lighter heart.
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