The wind stilled as silence immerses them. The settling sun carrying away the hearty laughs along, the past pain comes to the surface as the truth is about to fill the surrounding.
He gulps. She smiles a sad smile.
He whispers, "Was it.. was it you?"
She nodded in assertive. He gulps. "How?"
And then she sighs, rubbing her hands off on her white dress. It is here now, she has to tell him now, everything. But she doesn't want to.
Concealing the pain is a far better option for her, but he deserves to know, she has to tell him.
"I want to know the truth Amaya," He said in a trembling voice.
"I know."
"Tell me then."
She nodded and takes a sit on the couch next to him, he remains there kneeling on the floor, holding the two possessions tight.
The handkerchief and the bracelet.
"That evening back in Lucknow eight year ago, it was me next to you inside the cubicle. The words were mine, the bracelet was mine, Ahmed uncle gifted me that.
I never wanted to give away that any day, but for some reason, I was angry that day so I give that to you. I never got to know that it was yours though until.."
"Until that night when you got the bracelet.." He completes her, she nodded.
"Why didn't you tell me this before then? Why did you leave me like that?" And then he asked it.
"It was .. not painful."
"Painful?"
"To visit the past. To relive the nightmares again. To mourn for my loses again." She said in a haze.
He gulps.
All the suffering of her past and he had been a part of that.
"It started that night when I went back to my apartment. And since then, it was all lost and pain I had, we had."
Pain stays everywhere.
"Past is hard to visit, mine was worse, I lost many things, worst was my ... my baby."
A tear left his eyes but she didn't spill a drop.
How much does she have endured? He knew about her loses, her baby. But it started that night.
He gulps.
"All this while, you were never in love with Hadiya, never," she said it then.
"All this while I was in love with ...you."
She nodded.
Her scent makes the picture clear now, the familiar essence in the air, her essence. It was always been her. And that's where the problem lies.
"I showed a glimpse of the bracelet to Ahad that day." He whispers lowly.
He told him about his undying love, that twenty-one-year immature boy caused pain to a nineteen summer pure soul, without a knowledge of it.
What did his unrequited love do to her?
It gave her a hell she never deserved.
She smiled again.
She knows that too.
Ahad knows that too.
And they suffered because of him.
He gulps.
The truth is too heavy for him to bear so he stands on his feet, and whispers,
"I'm sorry," then he walks away.
Ai mohabbat tire anjam pe rona aaya
Jaane kyun aaj tire naam pe rona aaya
(Love your sad conclusion makes me weep
Wonder why your mention makes me weep)
Yuun to har shaam umidon mein guzar jaati hai
Aaj Kuch baat hai jo shaam pe rona aaya
(Every evening was, by hope, sustained
This evening's desperation makes me weep)
Kabhi taqdir ka matam kabhi duniya ka gila
manzil-e-ishq mein har gaam pe rona aaya
(Lamenting fate, complaining of this life
In course of love each station makes me weep)
Mujh pe hi khatm hua silsila-e-nauhagarī
Iss qadar gardish-e-ayyām pe rona aaya
(The cycle of all mourning stops at me
Life's inconstant rotation makes me weep)
Jab huā zikr zamane mein mohabbat ka 'shakil'
Mujh ko apne dil-e-nākām pe rona aaya
(Whenever talk of happiness I hear
My failure and frustration makes me weep)
Shakeel Badyuni
The winds today are passing at a slow pace, hardly moving any leaf. Trees are still, waiting for the arrival of spring.
Season of love is yet to come, flowers yet to bloom.
The clouds filled the canvas, making it void of any light.
No scintillating stars, no midnight grandeur is there. He stands there on the balcony, clad in his rust-coloured sweater with denim, hairs messed up smoking the fourth cigarette in the row, burning his lungs along with his soul.
Amaya Kareem had been through hell and back, and somewhere he is the cause of it. Can destiny get any grimmer than this? Fate laughed at him.
She steps into the balcony, having two cups of masala chai. Still, with the bandages, she had taken the red pashmina around, hairs open.
"I hate it when you smoke," she said.
"I know."
"And you are still doing that."
"Amaya, please." He sighed.
She keeps his cup in front of him, patting his right shoulder twice. Slipping the masala chai, he smiles a sad smile.
"It tastes better with my chai." A chuckle left his lips.
Silence engulfs them, even the crickets are not chipping, waiting for fate to play its bait.
"You love him?" Zain whispers.
She smiled.
Silence is her answer, but silence can never be an answer.
"He loves you Amu, he loves you insanely, maybe more than I do."
He said, loud and clear, just like he always had done.
She nodded.
"If you want, you can go back..."
"Can you do that?" She cuts him in between.
"Do what?"
"Let me go. Can you?"
"For your happiness, yes, I can. It will be painful, it will cost me my every freaking thing, but I can for you. It will kill me but for you, it's all worth it Amu."
"And that's why I am here Zain." She looks at him, eyes clashed.
He for the first time in all these five years they had been together, he saw it, the truth, in those hazel brown orbs. All these years she had masked them with glee or kept them blank, now they show raw emotion, which made him gulp.
He takes a step towards her, in a haze.
"Ahad and Maya, had a tale of their own, a had a time of their own, and they lived their infinity in those. They always wanted to be together, but they can't be, they can't grow old together.
And without being together, love is nothing but heartbreak. Perhaps they were too broken for another heartbreak.
We had losses, and only losses, the only gain is the love we got, our love. That kind of love remains, somewhere buried inside the heart.
Faded in dusted memories of past."
"Amu.."
"And You are my home Zain. A home I was invariably seeking throughout my life, I can't lose it now, that also for a past which is long gone.
Maya is no more here, Amaya is, let her live now."
He smiled. And hugs her tight, drops fall from his amber orbs.
"One last time I am asking this Amaya Kareem, because, after this, there will be no way back, you don't wanna go back."
"I want to breathe now, Zain"
Years of pain and suffering, and now she wants to live, with him. How can he not say yes?
A promise he makes today, to live a life with her.
A promise he will always keep.
"You are my home baby, I love you, Amu. Always have." He said, finally, she is here.
"You are my home too Zain." He smiles, he is her abode, by now everyone knows that.
And then he heard it, and if not for his proximity he could have missed it, but he didn't, and that the most precious thing he has heard in a long time.
She whispers, "I love you too."
He gulps, she loves him, knows that, but this is too heavy for his heart to bear. Happiness knows no bound for him now.
The winds dances, trees sways along those, the dark clouds were long gone now, and the moon smiles at the union of two souls.
And they stand there for how long he doesn't know.
What he knows is that once a while ago, a girl gave her charm bracelet to him, and he fell for that girl's words.
What he knows is once he barged into those brown door next to his, and fell for her masala chai with petrichor.
Once a girl with brown hazel orbs invaded his heart and ruling since then.
Once he found a home in a person and that person loves him back.
The destiny smiles at the background, as two of its clones lives an infinity together, fate seal it with blessings.
Amaya Kareem is a gem, a priceless gem for a jeweller, Zain Amir.
_________
The end.
_______________________
So...... That's it. Do let me know.
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And next will be epilogue following an author's note.
But that will be after I complete,
A GLITCH IN THE CANVAS.
Add the book to your library, that book starts from the past and will continue to future. A journey of all of them together with two Characters you'll find hard not to love.
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