Here's the update. Lots of votes and comments okay.
--
Aaina x Zaydaan
With girls, it always came down to the chase. The rush of the chase, the exhilarating feeling of liking someone and getting them in your life.
Ahad was that kind of a man. He liked the chase, he liked the way it made him feel. So powerful and charming. A man who knew his way with the ladies. A man who knew what it would mean to get a different girl each month.
He didn't like being labelled as a playboy, but it did make him feel some sort of way.
It boosted his ego. But never in a million years had Zaydaan thought that Ahad would fall in love with the enemy.
The Prime Minster sat on his usual chair, eyes scanning his cabinet members. All of them were present there, all of them except his own brother.
"Where's Ahad?"
He questioned a minister who he knew Ahad was close with. He didn't have many friends in the cabinet but Burhan was the only one Zaydaan knew Ahad talked with.
"He isn't here yet." Burhan replied.
In which country does the Prime Minister wait for a minister?
He was already so angry at Ahad and his unprofessional attitude was making him feel much more pissed off.
"Call the railway minister, tell him that we're awaiting his gracious arrival." He stated with sarcasm, Burhan nodded, standing up and leaving the room.
The Prime Minister scanned the members of his cabinet, observing how confident they seemed, well all of them except Aneela and Murat, two ministers he knew he was going to fire the moment they hit the hundred days.
"Ten more days, right? How are your reports coming up?" He casually asked Aneela, she gulped smiling at him with courtesy.
"You won't be disappointed. Things are going well so far."
Lies. Your ministry just lost ten million dollars and not only that but you have also hired three people without merit.
He wanted to say but instead, he nodded.
"I'm glad." Mumbling that, he turned to the finance minister, his favourite one anyway.
"Sir, you said you'll choose the ministers for the g20. You still haven't." Zaydaan nodded.
He had made up his mind. He was going to take the foreign minister, the finance minister, the human rights minister and the information minister, other than that one of his advisors and his first lady was going to accompany them.
"I know."
He leaned against his seat, looking at the clock as silence engulfed the whole room.
"Shall we start?" They questioned him, Zaydaan shook his head.
"No, not untill Ahad arrives."
And then, he leaned against his chair once again. He was going to wait another hour and if Ahad Ziagil didn't arrive, Zaydaan was going to remove him. He had made up his mind.
Ahad arrived twenty minutes post their waiting session. In a casual track suit and a pretty big smile on his face, Zaydaan didn't have to guess much about where he had been.
He smiled at everyone, including his brother, Zaydaan simply sat there, if this was his home, he would have exploded right there and then but this was a cabinet meeting. He did not want to insult his brother or hurt his pride.
Had he not been taking his job seriously? He was not failing at it but he was also not excelling at it.
"Hey everyone, I'm sorry for being late, I was a little busy." Ahad greeted everyone, getting responses of salaams and how are you's.
He looked at his brother for reassurance, giving him a confident nod.
"What is more important than attending a cabinet session?" Zaydaan asked him back, leaning up against the chair.
"I was just caught up in something." He tried to excuse himself.
The Prime Minister waved him off.
"Sit."
Ahad sat.
"You should know that I'll be reviewing your hundred days report first. I hope you're prepared, Ahad."
He remarked casually, not trying to make it sound like he was being too strict with his brother but only Ahad knew that he was walking on egg shells.
"I am."
He replied confidently, even though he had just been informed that his latest plan for the railway House had been abolished due to lack of resources and money.
The Prime Minister reviewed a few files, overlooking at each and every single one.
He peeked across the few reports that his ministers had presented him with, he looked over the mini budget, feeling satisfied at how it was coming across so far.
He nodded in contentment, slight contentment and then looked up at the twenty five ministers.
"Good. I'll be attending the parliament session tomorrow, apparently the opposition has planned a walk out. I want to be there to see their drama."
He announced, clicking his pen and writing something down on his notepad.
"I have checked a few of your requests, I know you're waiting for me to approve of them but I can't until I'm sure they're good in the long run."
He said again, Zaydaan stood up from his seat, the others wanted to stand up too but he shook his head as he took a few steps, looking over each and everyone.
"As you know, my wife got attacked a few days ago and it can happen to anyone here, so make sure to keep your security with you at all times."
"I also want you all to visit your constituencies once a month atleast. Listen to the people that are the reason you're here today." He advised.
They nodded.
"Dont take your success for granted and don't take those people for granted either. If I hear a single case where you have treated the public with some superiority crap, you'll be the first to get fired."
He warned.
They knew the session was about to end, since it was always during the last part of the sessions that the Prime Minister would warn them about something with the underlying threat of them getting fired or suspended.
"That much is clear? Yes?" They all hummed their yes.
"I guess that's enough for today. I'll see you all tomorrow."
He ended the session, then called for his brother.
"Ahad,"
The look that Zaydaan gave him before leaving, Ahad Ziagil knew for a fact that he was in big trouble.
--
Ahad sighed upon entering the Prime Minister's office. He knew his brother was pissed and he didn't want to create a huge scene, he realised his mistake and knew that not apologising would only make it worse.
"Bhai, I'm sorry for being late, it won't happen again." He said lamely.
He was not even remotely sorry for being late, he had been in the arms of the woman he loved, who cared about a session?
"We both know you aren't sorry so save it." Zaydaan snapped, almost glaring at him.
"Sit down."
Ahad sat.
Zaydaan put away the file and glanced at Ahad.
"You're my brother before any of this and whatever I say, will stay between the two of us." He started off.
He had promised himself that he would solve this without losing his temper. He would talk to him, like a brother, explain him that this wasn't what he truly wanted.
But God damn, he was so fucking angry at Ahad for being this stupid. He was supposed to be smarter than this.
He was a Ziagil, he played games, he didn't get played. Yet here he was, falling in the trap of an enemy woman.
"Okay," Ahad murmured, leaning against the table.
"How good is she in bed that you're forgetting how venemous her entire family is?"
The Prime Minister hissed, Ahad couldn't believe what he was actually hearing.
Was his brother talking about what he thought he was talking about?
No. It couldn't be. There was no way in hell Zaydaan would find out about Saaniya. They were extremely secretive, it wasn't possible.
The only way Zaydaan would have got to know-Fuck.
Aaina.
Ahad closed his eyes for a bare second, knowing that he would have to face a storm now.
To get some time to atleast think, he still said.
"What?"
Zaydaan rolled his eyes, leave it to Ahad to make things dramatic.
"Saaniya chaudhry."
Her name rolled out of his lips with such coldness and anger that Ahad had to flinch. As sweet and kind Saaniya was as a person, he understood why Zaydaan would possibly hate her.
Because of her chutiya family.
Her harami brother.
"You know."
"I do."
"Who told you?" He still managed to ask. In his heart, he truly believed that his truest friend wouldn't betray his trust. That Aaina would not give away his secret, not even when Zaydaan was asking.
But another part of him also knew how cunning and manipulative Zaydaan truly was.
"Aaina doesn't keep things from me." His brother said.
He had a proud look on his face, as if Aaina was his wife and would always remain loyal to him first. Friendship be damned.
Ahad felt hurt. He thought he could trust her. But apparently not.
"Does she now?" He used sarcasm to hide his hurt, Zaydaan raised an eye at him.
"There are two ways this can go, one, you tell me exactly what's going on-" Before he could even finish his sentence, Ahad interrupted him.
"Or what? We met, we fell in love and we want to marry each other." He stated.
Zaydaan choked out a bitter laugh.
"Regardless of who her family is." He remarked. Ahad nodded with no sense of guilt or shame.
"Yes." He replied.
Zaydaan stood up in anger, His brother didn't even flinch. At the end of the day, their pride was the same. Their ego was the same. They had inherited it from their father.
Regardless of how different both of them were from each other, they were still similar when it came to their ego.
"Let's think about this, the chairman of that party, her fucking brother spread the rumour of you getting that afghan girl pregnant, he said it out countless times on the media," He started off, reminding his brother of who he wanted to marry.
"Not only that, but his party attacked mama and baba in the worst ways possible, and they are still talking shit that Aaina was sold to me."
"They talk shit about my wife, my mother, myself, they talk shit about you, about father and yet you have the audacity to tell me that you want to marry her."
Zaydaan was so angry that he could actually do something quite absurd, he literally wanted to smack some sense into him.
How could he be this fucking dumb? Ahad might have been a playboy but he was smart and intellectual too. How could he fall into this trap?
"Uska bhai chutiya hai toh us main Saaniya ka kya qusoor hai?"
Ahad cursed.
"And you think she's not involved in it? She's selling you out, she's the one who leaked the news and got Aaina attacked." He argued back.
"She has nothing to do with any political shit." Ahad denied.
Zaydaan shook his head in disbelief.
"If that's what you believe, you're a bigger idiot than I thought."
That look of disappointment, it bothered Ahad. Zaydaan was always angry but hardly disappointed, atleast with him.
"Bhai," He almost whispered.
Zaydaan gulped, looking at his brother who was falling into a deep pit without even realising it.
"I'm talking to you as an elder brother, not as the Prime Minister. Finish this before it finishes us all." He said. It wasn't an order, it wasn't a request but his words were firm.
"Are you seriously telling me that you want me to leave Saaniya for the sake of this? This power?!"
He gestured with his hand, Zaydaan nodded. What was better than this power? Nothing.
"I left Minal because of it, you can do it too."
That angered Ahad. He never truly loved Minal, he didn't. But Ahad loved Saaniya, with all of his heart. How could his brother ask him to do such a thing?
"I'm not a power hungry animal like you. I want love in my life, I don't want a wife who would die for my love just because I gave it all to someone else."
Regret was on his tongue and if he could take his words back, he would. He truly would.
Zaydaan realised two things after listening to Ahad's words. His wife had told Ahad all about their private conversations, and two, Ahad was madly in love with that Chaudhry bitch.
"There's a line, Ahad. And you're crossing it." Zaydaan warned. Ahad stood up.
"I don't care."
Before his brother could say anything else, the younger Zigail moved towards the door, planning to storm off but before he could leave, Zaydaan's voice reached his ears.
"Run off like a coward all you want but break it off before she breaks you."
---
Friendships are all about loyalty, they say. And it's true. Friendship is the purest relationship of them all, its not about give and take, its not about how much you do for them and how much they do for you, it's not about whether they're enough for you or not, it's all about constant loyalty and support.
Aaina felt like such a worse friend for betraying Ahad. She didn't know whether Zaydaan had confronted him or not but she hoped that he had kept his promise.
Her eyes widened at the thought of Ahad hating her, or Ahad not wanting to be friends with her, or Ahad telling her to go to hell.
All of the options in her head screamed misery.
He was her only friend, the only one who understood her and somehow she had betrayed his trust.
She thought about Zaydaan, about how kind he had been towards her lately, how warm his attitude had been. Any woman would have rambled out the truth. Especially in front of a man like Zaydaan.
She was just thinking about her husband while packing a few things that her stylist had picked out for her when the door to the bedroom opened.
With his tired eyes but his angry face, Aaina knew that Zaydaan was barely in a good mood. She just hoped he wouldn't take it out on her.
He was dressed different than usual. Mostly it was the suits or the shalwar kameez with a waistcoat, the Prime Minister vibe kind of clothes, but today he was in a casual grey pants with a black sweater.
"Hey, you're back early." She greeted in a hurry, getting up from the weird position that she was sat in.
"Does that bother you?" His eyes sharply looked at her and she winced at his harsh tone.
"What? No, I just-" She tried to say something but he shook his head, not even taking off his shoes and laying straight on the bed.
"Enough, Aaina. I'm tired." He mumbled, kicking his shoes away.
Aaina knew she couldn't ask him questions right now, Zaydaan being tired meant Zaydaan being angry, so being quiet was kind of better.
"Okay, okay." She murmured, going back to the packing.
She could feel his half closed eyes staring at her.
"Give me a panadol, will you?" He said after a while, she stood up.
"Yeah, sure." As she took out a panadol from the drawer, and then filled a glass of water, she heard him say something that almost made her drop the glass.
"I confronted Ahad." He stated.
She gulped, sitting on the edge of the bed and giving him his water and panadol.
"What did you say?" She whispered, scared to no ends.
One friend, I only have one friend here and he's gonna hate me.
God, I'm so stupid.
"Wait, you promised me that you wouldn't be mad at him, that you wouldn't take my name." She suddenly said, holding onto some sort of lie that she had made up in her mind.
Maybe Zaydaan didn't tell him that I had told him the truth.
"I never promised." Zaydaan responded.
Aaina sighed, closing her eyes as she felt her eyes burning up.
"God, he must hate me."
Zaydaan threw away his shoes, then pulled the duvets on his body.
"He'll be fine, sleep early tonight, we leave in the morning." He told her instead, saying it all so casually as if nothing had happened.
Aaina sat on the edge for a while, not knowing what to say, or ask even.
All she knew was the fact that she had to talk to Ahad. She had to apologise. She had to tell him that she didn't mean to tell Zaydaan everything and how guilty she was.
She had to talk to him.
"Do you want tea?" She suddenly asked a half asleep Zaydaan.
She knew he loved tea and would never say no.
"Yes, I do. But you're not leaving the room."
Unfortunately for her, Zaydaan understood her more than she could ever understand him.
"Why?" Aaina asked him.
"I know you're gonna say that you'll go bring tea when in reality you want to go and talk to Ahad." He replied with a long sigh.
Aaina bit her lip.
"He's my only friend and he's going to hate me." She still insisted.
Zaydaan opened his eyes only to snap at her.
"You are not his fucking friend. You are his bhabhi, act like it."
With that, he turned around again and slept.
Aaina? She couldn't sleep the entire night.
-
--
When the morning arrived and her husband left to attend one last meeting before leaving for the G20, she took advantage of the moment and rushed to Ahad's room in her night pajamas.
She didn't care about how she looked or how the house staff looked at her, all she cared about was her friendship with Ahad.
She knocked on the door twice but no one opened it, so she let herself in since it was unlocked.
Ahad was standing by the window, staring at the sun like it was the only thing that mattered right now.
"Ahad, please, can we talk?" Her meek voice was so soft that she thought maybe he hadn't even heard her.
But he had.
And her voice was the last voice he wanted to hear right now. At the time of him being so angry at her, Ahad still wanted to protect his friend.
His so called friend.
He was angry. Angry at her, angry at her brother, angry at himself for not defending Saaniya better. He didn't want to say something so hurtful that could cause Aaina pain. But oh well.
"No. Please leave the room." He said in a hurry, not even bothering to turn around.
Aaina realised that he hadn't slept the entire night too, since he was still in his wrinkled clothes from yesterday.
Aaina sensed his anger and his hurt, so she walked a few steps.
"Ahad, I'm sorry, okay? I'm really really sorry. I had no choice and-" She rambled and he interrupted before she could say anything more.
"Choice, yes. You had a choice and you betrayed me."
In that moment, when he turned around and looked at her with his cold eyes, she could see the resemblence between him and his brother.
The same, cold, brown honey colored eyes gazing at her. She shivered.
"Ahad," She whispered like a plea. He glared this time.
"All I wanted was for you to keep a secret, Aaina. Its not so hard, is it?"
Aaina gulped, breathing out twice so she wouldn't cry.
"Ahad, I truly am sorry. Zaydaan had me cornered and-"
"And what Aaina? You couldn't keep your mouth shut? I regret even telling you. Should I also go and tell around how Zaydaan treats you like crap?"
She felt hurt. She deserved it though. She thought she deserved feeling like shit because she had snitched on her friend. She had told her secret that wasn't hers.
"Why would you ruin if for me just because your life is shit?" He questioned again, yelling at her.
She didn't know what to say to that. She didn't know how to respond, so she apologised again.
"I'm sorry."
"And what did you gain from telling him? He's gonna use you and then do the same thing again, I know my brother."
Aaina didn't want to think that, she didn't want to even go there. Her and Zaydaan were finally better, well better than how they had earlier been. Was Ahad right?
"So you can't buy his love from selling me out. Also, you lost the only friend you had."
His words hurt.
Words cut like knives. She had those words engraved in her mind, all the hurtful words that people had said to her were all written in her heart. This just got added to the list.
"Ahad," She took his name again, pleading.
"Get out of my room, bhabhi."
And she knew he was really, really mad.
She didn't want to leave, she held his arm.
"Ahad, I'll fix it, I'll talk to Zaydaan, please." She said desperately.
He shook her off.
"You can't fix it,"
"Leave the room, Aaina." He said again.
"Ahad, I am really sorry, please."
Aaina was willing to do anything to win back her friend but she knew damn well that it wasn't going to happen. Ahad was stubborn. He was kind, he was compassionate but he had his father's ego and his brother's stubbornness.
Ahad stopped to look at her, in his heart, he felt sorry for her and he almost wanted to tell her it was okay. But it wasn't.
Was it?
"Tell you what? Convince your husband about Saaniya and I'll accept your apology." He said instead.
Aaina widened her eyes.
"What?"
"You heard me. Ask Zaydaan bhai to help me get married to Saaniya and I'll forgive you."
How was it fair to ask someone to jump in hellfire, only to get back a small inch of paradise?
She sighed.
"Ahad, you know it's gonna be-"
Ahad chuckled dryly, shaking his head at the rambling excusing Aaina.
"Exactly, so leave."
So with a heavy heart, she left the room.
Would life always remain so miserable?
___
Okay, I'm so sorry for late late update. I love you guys though and thank you for all your kind messages.
Next chapter is gonna be Aaina Zaydaan filled.
Bubyeee❤️