The rustling of leaves outside, whispers so much about the witnessed truth and the naked lies.
I barely could stand in front of the huge mahogany door, the knees below my belly felt tender than a jelly. I didn't wanted to give up nor did I wanted to go inside and give up my life to Ahad. Apparently I stood in front of my Dad's office room of Khan Industries. The board of gold that had Dad's name craved.
Chairman Ibrahim Ayaaz Khan.
My family had power around the city. We were taking our family business to the finest direction yet I, his daughter stood powerless to many boundaries. "Excuse me, Ma'am."
His employees passed before me as they communicated with each other. Half and hour passed by still I stood fidgeting through my thoughts. I was so engrossed that I hadn't heard Zohaib Bhai calling me untill he tapped my shoulder. "Zairaah? You came here?"
I passed him a gentle smile. He was back in the office just after few days after their wedding. He wanted to go on his honeymoon but Minal had a ongoing project which needed her dire attention and he gladly respected her space. "Minal told me that you departed for Khan Industries' Main Office from Shaikh Constructions. Why did you came here all of a sudden?"
After Jannat had woken up, I left her with Roshan and went to Shaikh Constructions where I worked but my entire mind and heart debated on my decision. The clock hit 7 in the evening. The two cups that he held tightly with his fingers as the smoke flew out ardently. The veins on the back of palms chiseled with the hold. He started walking towards me.
"I wanted to have a talk with Dad, Bhai. So thought to come over. It's been rather a long time that I visited The Khan Industries' Main Office.." I sat in the couch that felt too uncomfortable for the first time. "Done talking with him?"
"No. I was waiting for his Italian Delegates who are currently in his office."
"They left an hour ago, Zee."
"They did?" I asked, my statement rather came out like a shocked question. "Stop lying like you didn't know, Zairaah." I bit my lip in frustration. Apparently, being my elder brother, he knew every knuck of my actions. He was too smart to let go my failed attempts. "You were nervous, weren't you?"
I nodded. I barely could answer. He sighed leaving me in my baffles. Sitting parallel to my seat, he sipped on his evening tea after he had passed my coffee latté. I could just stare at the hot delight, numb.
"What have you decided?"
"What's your prospective about it?" He was gazing at me. His eyes were sharp, cold and radiant. Throwing blaze of unconditional support yet the aura of confidence. He unbuttoned the buttons of his suit, shaking his head. "My opinion on your life will never matter, Zairaah." He paused before continuing smiling, breaking the glacier of uncomfort.
"Your prospective matters."
"Don't overthink about the future, don't think about what other's expectations will give you, don't burden yourself with such thoughts." I chuckled, " I cannot. You know I could never."
"Grasp your mind, think practically and decide what pleases your heart."
"It seems like we are having an important conversation on the upcoming projects. It seems like I have become an important project that cannot be left rejected," I sipped my coffee. "You are smart enough to decide what you are. Don't think about, Dad. He truly does everything good for us. He wouldn't leave you in the broken sheild. Ahad is a nice person. Competent, authorised, and a splendid Millionaire." I gazed at him. His competency doesn't matter if he can't learn to respect me. Ahad's words rang in my ears, still clogged like a hard rope. "Money doesn't matter, Bhai."
"You are showered with it all your life. For sure, it won't matter to you, Zairaah. You have been searching for the undeniable love which stands in front of you, in the form of Ahad."
"He is a statue who will be binded to me just for his daughter's sake."
"His daughter is not only the reason." He stated standing up. His next words hit the truth, quenching it more harder and making me more restless than I was in this game of fate.
"If he, Ahad Shaheer Malik doesn't gets married within the next six months. He has to resign his position of Chief Executive Officer of Malik Industries."
"Oh come on, Bhai. This can't be the based reason. He is a millionaire. Rules aren't a matter to him and the reason you stated is absolutely baseless for a person like him. He would barely care about his position. He has better jobs that he can attain by resigning from his glorious position."
He smiled. He actually smiled.
"Magnificent appreciation, Zairaah Khan." He clapped his hands, walking towards me. His cup of tea kept aside. "I am glad you understood the criteria of this marriage but just to let you understand that your every decision matters, Zairaah."
"My life ain't another deal, Bhai."
"That's what I am trying to tell you. Your life isn't another deal. It's a phase and if you have a choice to choose then do it in your favour and if you let the choice flew, then you can't blame another after the hurdles." I stared down in to the cup. I could barely sip more of it as I had lost all the appetite. I could barely breath in.
"The journey will be yours. There is no time for blaming it to others. So..." His pause was horrifying, terrible and scary, "Why did you come here?"
"To let Dad know my decision."
"I appreciate that you didn't intruded inside." He smiled. "Why?"
"Shaheer uncle is inside."
I was relieved. Much more than I expected. I guess it was Allah(SWT) who stopped me from going on. It would so awkward for sure. "May be he would've come to know about your decision. Let Dad know what you have decided. But what have you actually decided."
I seemed to ponder upon my unhealthy decision that I knew was going to throw me in a pool of pain but some where I knew I needed that little amount of oxygen to survive and I knew Ahad could at least give me that.
"I am ready for this marriage, Bhai."
His eyebrows twitched but his smile was beautiful and warm. He engulfed me in a sweet hug and said out, "I am happy for whatever you have decided. Trust me, I am with you always, my sister." We separated, smiling.
"Zohaib? Zairaah?"
The thick pitched voice of my father was ironed with well aura of attitude. He strode towards me. Much to my disapproval, Shaheer Uncle stood beside him. May be he came to ask for the last decision.
"Salam Dad, Uncle!" I passed him a subtle smile which meant nothing. They reciprocated my greet, stroking slowly towards me. Zohaib Bhai stood up, so did I. A bunch of his employees who had already conversed with him were leaving the floor. Afterall it's just for Bhai, Dad and Arsalan Chachu, The President of Khan Industries.
"How did you decided spare some time to Khan Corporation leaving your workplace?"
I laughed though I didn't wanted to. "You knew I'd come, Dad."
"Off course, I did but I had least expected you to sit here for an hour."
He knew? He knew that I was sitting here nervously coating my truth with a lie of the Italian Delegates. I bit my lips. He continued, "I have my eyes everywhere, Zee. You should have come inside for the reason you were here."
I expected Dad to grow conscious on my decision. He knew my decision, he knew that I'll never let him and his guard down and the only thing that pleased me now is that he knew how Ahad was genuinely. That was the only thing that satisfied me.
"You might know my reason to come here to."
He nodded. Shaheer uncle intruded, "You father-daughter duo can continue in the office room. Zohaib and I have better things to catch up like a warm cup of black tea?"
Zohaib Bhai smiled leading him the way for his caffeine and letting us alone in the floor which shone under the lights, reflecting back to our eyes through the finest tiles that was blanketed beneath us.
He took my hand and dragged me to his posh room that was larger than any room in this huge building. I sighed sitting in the couch besides him. "Have some walnuts..."
He passed me the bowl. "It'll calm your irked nerves."
"I am not nervous, Dad."
"Ohh trust me, Zairaah. You are."
"Dad, you think I am lying?"
"Yupp! Any doubts?"
"I am not joking, Dad."
"You wouldn't sit for nearly an hour outside just for my employees to intrude."
I sighed giving up. He knew me, very well to be hidden or lied.
"Shoot up! What have you decided?"
And there I officially lost my mind again in that merry go round, turning, twisting in it's own parade. "Dad..."
He gazed at me, still chewing the nuts. Too confident in front of my nervous self. He was aware that I wouldn't decline. "I am ready for this marriage."
He proudly smiled.
He held my hand, after brushing off the little specks of the delight. Warm and welcoming, he was my father, my sheild, my protector, my back.
"You were five years old. Naive, innocent little girl running here and there. You would shut down any type of game if your Mom or I say to you once but Zahiraah was a stubborn nut to crack and I am glad Saad was meant for her. At the end of the day, your life always worried me."
I stared at him. He was scared yet he was leading me to a life that would give me nothing but pain. I began drifting myself in his words.
"When I look at your grown up self, you are confident, financially independent, you worked hard for where you are now but all I can see is that little girl who gets manipulates easily."
"You don't need to worry, Dad. I am not a kid anymore who will be manipulated."
"You are, Zairaah. If you weren't, you would never agree for this proposal."
I stared at him, confused. His words getting into me in the most hardest way it could ever but I had no idea why.
"I am aware that this marriage will be hard on me but I am certainly aware that you chose Ahad. I have my faith in you may be he would never treat me the way I need to be, the way I deserve but he will respect me. I trust him on that."
"Ahad Malik is perfect for you. Trust me on that. He is the humbled person we would ever find for you. Arsalan, Zohaib, Zaydaan, Saad and I know about him very much that's why we let you decide and gripped on your decision. So that, in the end you could have trust in your decision."
I gulped. My throat was so dry as I heard my father.
"Ahad might look like a cracked glass for you. Just to let you know, he is a raw material ready to be made. He is not as broken as he thinks. He loved Parishay in the tender younger days of his life, she is the memory of his days that's why he has lost some of the important parts of his heart but you are the only hope for his family to bring back the complete Ahad."
I was drowned, confused, trapped. I had the courage now. My life wouldn't be so bad. Allah(SWT) is with me.
"A woman can do anything if she wills for it, with full interest and you my daughter can pass any boundaries. I have faith in you."