A link.
A missing link!
There had to be a missing link somewhere. There had to be at least something that when brought into the picture, would make everything else make sense. Something that would bring everything to light. Something that he, Khaleel Othman had missed.
But what?
Just what was it?
He passed his hand multiple times over his beard, a huge frown on his face as he deeply thought about all that had happened.
Nothing made sense to him.
Nothing at all!
Just how could a strong and beautiful family such as theirs break and that too within a span of a day? What had caused Hisham to make such a drastic decision? What had he been hiding? What had hurt his brother so so deeply that he had decided to just walk away?
What? What? What?
Just what?
Or should he say who?
"Cruella Deville aka Devil aka Zulekha Akram," he whispered to himself, his frown growing deeper and deeper by the second as he thought of the one woman he always had his doubts on.
"All that woman needs is a similar coat and she can actually fit Cruella's description and that too PERFECTLY.
"And its not like I'm hating on her as ALWAYS but like seriously, even their names match...Cruella-Zulekha, Cruella-Zulekha and I don't even want to get started about the makeup. Like at times I even wonder who got inspired from the other...," he once again muttered to himself, totally oblivious of the fact that he was talking to himself.
He then out of frustration, repeatedly raked his fingers through his hair as he tried to figure out as to how Zulekha fell in to all that had happened.
Like he knew it was her. It was always her. He could feel it. That woman was definitely guilty but how?
Just how could he prove it?
"Now if only I had joined the Mafia after finishing high school. Things would have been much much easier right now," he said to himself as thoughts of Zulekha bundled up in a tiny dark room in the middle of nowhere, flashed across his mind.
He smiled slightly as he imagined her tied up on a chair, a gun to her forehead at the same time imagining himself sitting across the very same room, a huge cigar in his mouth as he waited for her to speak up or rather blurt out all that she had done.
"But no, smoking is Haram and injurious to health. Guess I just wouldn't have fit the picture but unless there is something out there like a Halal Mafia which I know there isn't. Great. Just great," he said to himself, a genuinely very disappointed look on his face.
"And fine! Like it's quite understandable as to why I, Khaleel Othman could not join the Mafia but what I absolutely cannot understand is as to why I do not own any Mafia friends? Where are those 'important' people when you actually need them?" he said as he picked up his phone and literally began scrolling through his entire contact list.
He kept scrolling and immediately rolled his eyes when he stopped next the name Daniel - a close friend of his who was also an accountant.
"Hmm. Daniel the famous accountant. What are you even going to help me with my friend? Help me count my problems? No, thank you!" he said as he continued scrolling, an extremely pissed off look all over his face.
He then once again came to a stop next to another friend of his who went by the name Matt and to say that he mentally threw up a couple of times would be an understatement.
"Like seriously Matt, even your name suggests that you should have been part of the Mafia but no, you just had to go ahead and open up a restaurant but sorry, I am not currently hungry and I think its high time I seriously reviewed my friend list," he snapped, angrily shoving his phone in to his trouser's pocket.
"And like how could I even be hungry when there are literally a whole TEN EXTRA LARGE boxes of pizza stashed away in my fridge?"
"Pizza that I bought for OTHER PEOPLE to eat but no, they all apparently had better and more happening places to be at. One had to run away and as for the other...," he said with a sigh, a distant and very hurtful look on his face.
"The other one I guess never really considered me family or better still, she never really considered me her brother!"
Flashback to the previous night...
Khaleel slowly struggled to make his way to the front door of the Hosseini Mansion, TEN extra large boxes of pizza safely secured in his arms.
As much as he knew that everyone inside was upset and that before he had left, everyone had claimed not to have the appetite, he also very well knew that no one in the Hosseini family had the heart to say no to pizza.
Especially not Hisham!
Like Hisham's love for pizza was so great that the he had gone to the extent of hanging a high definition picture of pizza right across his old bedroom's wall, claiming that there wasn't anything as refreshing as opening his eyes to the sight of 'chicken pepperoni' every morning at Fajr time.
And of course, pizza was also a cause of Hisham's never ending useless debates one of them being as to whether pineapple went on pizza or not. He would go on and on about it for hours only for him to end up eating the very same pineapple topped pizza, his excuse for eating it being...
"That he needed to diversify and that pineapple was good for his heart and soul."
And not to forget how he would always, literally open up all the pizza boxes just to look for the biggest slice. He would then immediately serve it on a plate and instead of eating it himself, he would directly take it to Khaltu and insist on feeding her the very first bite!
'The FIRST and BIGGEST slice will always be Mama's. Touch it and you die," he would always say and Khaleel smiled to himself as he remembered how Khaltu would always laugh and tear up at the same time whenever Hisham said that.
They would all then get into a heated argument the minute 'Hitler' would term pizza as junk food and both Yasir and Hisham would take it upon themselves to uphold the dignity of pizza while he, Khaleel would randomly be told to google and read out the benefits of cheese, chicken or whatever that would get into the heads of the two Hosseini brothers.
Pizza was a literal 'healer' and Khaleel had no doubts that he had brought the right meal home and he also could not help but hope that it was what would help Hisham to open up and share his problems.
Share his problems with them.
His family!
He increased his pace wanting to get everyone together as soon as possible only for him to almost bump into Yumnah at front door.
"Seriously Yumnah? Who even stands at the door like that?" he asked as he tried to steady the pile of boxes in his arms.
"And I know that we are all kind of hungry but you seriously did not have to wait for me right outside the door and that too like a bat...," he rambled barely looking at her since all his attention was fixed on the pizza boxes though at the same time, mentally preparing himself for one of Yumnah's over the top sarcastic answers but the only response he got from poor Yumnah was...
Silence!
And that was enough for him to realize that something was terribly wrong. He quickly looked up at her and in an instant, all the blood drained away from his face, an ill feeling settling at the pit of his stomach because he very well knew the Yumnah that currently stood in front of him.
It was the same Yumnah he had found crying her heart out during Hisham's Walima. The pale face, eyes that held nothing but sadness, it was all too similar apart from one thing...
This time round there was hurt. Immense hurt and just one look at her was enough to break anyone's heart into a million pieces.
"Yumnah! What is wrong?" he asked, his voice laced with extreme concern while at the same time a million questions raced through his mind all of them beginning with one name and that was...Yasir!
Where was Yasir? What had happened? Did he know that Yumnah was crying? Why wasn't he outside with her?
"Where is Yasir, Yumnah?" he asked extremely confused only to get more confused upon seeing Bilal join his daughter near the door an extremely solemn look on his face and a small drag along suitcase in his hands.
"Uncle Bilal! Wait, what is happening? Where are you going Yumnah?" he asked as he quickly dashed into the house in a bid to look for his youngest cousin only to find him seated on a chair almost as if he was lifeless and the guilt in his eyes was something Khaleel had never ever seen before.
He quickly placed the pizzas on a nearby stool and turned around in order to carefully study everyone's face. Khaltu was crying, Khalo looked liked he was ready to kill and as for Yasir, it almost looked as if his whole life had been sucked out of him and that too within a day.
"Bro, what's wrong? What happened? Why are Yumnah and Khaltu crying? Why is Yumnah leaving? Why are you allowing her to go? Are you fine? Yasir? YASIR! YASIIIIR," he shouted but his cousin only but lowered his face as a form of response.
He then turned to look at everyone else in the room while shouting...
"Why isn't any of you saying anything? What is happening? Why is Yumnah leaving?"
"SHE IS LEAVING BECAUSE OF THIS STUPID BOY. HE ASKED HER TO LEAVE. WALLAH I AM GOING TO KILL HIM TODAY," shouted Hussein as he began to move towards Yasir only to be held back by Bilal.
"Hussein, calm down. Let him be," said Bilal as he his eyes slowly drifted to Yasir.
"How can you ask me to calm down Bilal? Yumnah is innocent and..."
"Yumnah will be fine with me, Hussein. Let's give Yasir some time. He obviously is the one most affected with Hisham leaving," whispered Bilal, his eyes fixed on Yasir.
"But...but...but...," began Hussein but Khaleel's really loud and sudden outburst did not let him finish.
"WHAT THE HELL, BRO? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHY ARE YOU SENDING HER AWAY? HOW DARE YOU EVEN?" shouted Khaleel as he got hold of Yasir and shook him vehemently.
"AND WHY ISN'T HISHAM SAYING ANYTHING? HE WILL NEVER ALLOW YUMNAH TO LEAVE, NOT EVEN IF ITS OVER HIS DEAD BODY. WHERE IS HE?" asked Khaleel as he looked around for the very first time realizing that since he had entered the house, Hisham had not been there.
"Where is Hisham?" he asked, his voice barely audible, all his strength slowly seeping away from his body.
"He left! He said he feels suffocated with us. He left. He just left!" exclaimed Yasir, speaking up for the first time.
"Left to go where?"
"I don't know!"
"And you guys just let him go? What is wrong with you people? How could you just allow him to go? He is not okay. He needs to be around us. How could you? Just how could you?" he screamed as the news of Hisham leaving fully sank into him.
He rested his head against a nearby a wall as he tried to calm down his racing heart. He could not believe this was happening. He just could not. This was wrong. Very very wrong. He then once again looked around trying to mentally take in the state everyone was in, only for his eyes to once again come to a rest on Yumnah. The only person along with Khaltu, who had not uttered even a single word this entire time.
"Yumnah," he whispered as he moved nearer to her and her father.
"Please don't leave Yumnah," he said not failing to notice how her eyes drifted to Yasir and then back to the ground.
"Listen Yumnah. I don't care if he has asked you to leave. I don't even want to know what happened between you two. All I know is that the minute you had married Yasir, you had become a part of this family. You are one of us now Yumnah. You are family and family sticks together. They just don't walk away..."
"And its fine, I will try understand that you two are having problems and that you don't want to be together but you don't have to leave because of that Yumnah. This is a big mansion with many rooms and you can always stay in your room while Yasir can go sleep under the staircase for all I care but please Yumnah, please do not leave. Yasir has always been a pea brain, please don't leave because of one of his most stupidest decisions. This is your house even more than it is his. Trust me Yumnah. Please," he pleaded with all of his heart.
"I will stay only if Yasir asks me to stay," she said her eyes once again drifting to her husband who had his head lowered the entire time.
Her heart broke seeing him like that because she knew of what he was going through. She knew that as much as she was suffering, he too was suffering twice as much.
"Yumnah, listen. I don't care as to how much you love Yasir. I don't even care if you two knew each other from childhood or whatever. All I know is that I am the one who found you many years later. I am the one who found you crying outside in the garden during Hisham's Walima and let me remind you that even on that particular day you were in a similar state just because you were allowing other people to make decisions for you and you are making the very same mistake today Yumnah. Don't let him decide for you Yumnah. Why cant you be the one to decide for him? Why Yumnah?" he asked, hoping to knock some sense into her just the same way he had done during the Walima but upon seeing her lower her head he could only but sigh and shake his head in disbelief.
"FINE. IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE THEN ITS FINE BUT...
"If you ever considered me like a brother Yumnah or even if, just for a tiny moment, you ever considered me a friend, then please...please do not step out of this house Yumnah," he said and he once again keenly followed as to how her eyes went to rest on Yasir and then, his heart completely shattered when...
She took the first step out!
***
An hour later...
"How I wish looks could kill right now," said Khaleel, his eyes sending daggers at his youngest cousin.
"Khaleel listen..."
"Trust me , I have already thought of over a million ways to do it in the past one minute but if only I could..."
"Khaleel."
"You wouldn't even feel it bro, trust me," said Khaleel completely ignoring all of Yasir's desperate attempts to talk to him.
"I know what I am doing. Its what is best for her...," began Yasir but only to be immediately cut short.
"You know nothing Yasir. You should have seen her face. She was heartbroken. She was waiting for you. Waiting for you to tell her to stay. Waiting for just one word from you but you, I just don't get you. In fact I don't get anyone in this house. Since when did everyone in this house get this PLAIN DUMB?"
"KHALEEEL," shouted Hussein.
"Sorry Khalo but its true and things cannot go on like this. I am going to go look for Hisham at his house and bring him back. I bought this pizza mainly for him and he better be there to eat it," he said as he stood up tears almost threatening to spill out of his eyes because at the back of his mind he knew and he had a gut feeling as well, that Hisham would not be there.
"Son, listen to me..."
"No Khalo. I am not just going to sit there and do nothing. You guys are all that I have. Years ago, I lost my parents in a car crash but then Allah was merciful enough to grant me another family which is you guys and therefore I am sorry but I am not just going to sit there and watch...
My only other family crumble into pieces!
****
He had gone to Hisham's house that night only to find it locked. He had then searched everywhere, the Masjid, his friends' houses, the park or wherever he thought Hisham might be but it had all been futile.
Hisham Hosseini was missing!
"I will find you Hisham and you will have to pay for the ten boxes of pizza I bought," he said as he once again reached out for his phone from his pocket and dialed the number of one of the best private detectives in the city but what Khaleel did not know is the fact that Yasir and his Khalo had already beaten him to it.
So there it was...
Three different family members hiring three different detectives to look for one person.
The big question was, who would find him first?
But then again, the even bigger question was, was this man they were looking for- Hisham Hosseini...
Willing to be found?
****
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