Chapter 77: Chapter 77
Three months later
Months.
It has been months.
Irtaza has been trying to locate his brother but he couldn't.
The family was too desperate.
Their final hope was Irtaza.
The tracker has been taken out of Shehryaar's body.
Even he was not able to find Sheharzaad.
Yet he was aware where she was.
But he didn't loose hope.
He was just waiting for the right moment.
Rather the right call.
And the call came, while he was sleeping with his little wife, Zahra snoring on his bare chest. As soon as the screen flashed with an unknown number, careful enough not to wake Zahra up, he got up and left the room. Getting to the balcony of his room, he lit up his cigarette first as the bell was still ringing.
He did not pick up the call.
Rather he cut it and dialed another number.
Giving instructions to the person, he placed his phone on the railing of the balcony, he fixed the stick between his lips, and waited for the caller to call again.
He smirked.
As his phone began to ring again.
"What took you so long, Mr. Irtaza Haider Syed?"
"Wali Umer Khan," Irtaza whispered, "whose dear uncle was so brutally killed by our family," Irtaza taunted, "I was just lighting up a cigarette and it took me so long," he responded nonchalantly.
"Oh so you came to know off who I actually am,"
"Apparently,"
"Let's see when you come to know where your brother is? Or is he alive or dead?"
"Let's see,"
"You sound so sure,"
"So you do. I commend you for entertaining such thoughts," Irtaza said, puffing out smoke from his lips.
"I can entertain such thoughts for I have your brother,"
"My brother. You're right. My brother," There was a threat hanging which Wali grasped.
"What made you call me?" Irtaza asked.
"Do you want to get your brother?"
Irtaza narrowed his eyes, while staring at the dark sky as he again fixed the cigar between his lips before puffing out a cloud of smoke, "yes," he told.
"Come to this location. Tomorrow at 1 a.m. Don't bring your men with you," Wali told and cut the call.
As soon as the call was cut, he turned around to find Zahra standing behind. The silk robe she wore, to cover her body was tied by a silk belt around her belly as her creamy legs were on display.
She approached him.
"Did you find Shehryaar?"
"Not yet," he replied, throwing the cigarette away.
A frown contorted her features.
She hoped, that Shehryaar could be found. Because she had never seen Irtaza so worried in his life as much as he has been since past few months.
Irtaza placed his thumbs on her brows and eased her frown.
"Don't worry, senorita. I will soon," The determination in his voice told him that he had something in his mind.
"You will, Irtaza," She said and tip toed on her toes and kissed him. Irtaza held her waist and settled her on the terrace rail and indulged in her lips, passionately. With one jerk the belt was untied and her silk robe was opened, revealing her body to him. As he led her inside and they had the repeat of their passionate night.
....
The next morning, Wali was in his cabin when his assistant entered the office with a janitor following behind.
"So you had a word with Irtaza?" His assistant asked.
Wali didn't reply and conveyed through his eyes about the janitor's presence.
"Oh don't mind him sir, poor guys has congenital deafness. He only understands sign language or written orders," His assistant replied.
Wali nodded in acknowledgement.
While the janitor was busy in his job, Wali spoke, "I invited him in the woods near Shehryaar 's cell. But I'm very much assured that he won't fall for it and will come but with his armed men," Wali said.
"Alright. What's the plan?"
"We will attack him," he said and put out a map on the table and pointed at certain places.
"I know this place. I need best of your gunmen to be at these locations. Even if he would come with his people, they all will die,"
"Alright. I will have all the men in the positions you want them. He won't get out of there alive at any cost,"
"How many total men do we have to station?"
"Round about 30. For sure, he will come with some. But I hope we outnumber them. And if we find things going against us and we're not able to get our hands on him, then we will run away,"
Since past few months, Wali had tried all his means to kidnap Irtaza but he couldn't. He was being vigilant, and slick with close escapes. His men couldn't catch him. And they were not as trained as the mafia men Irtaza had around him.
"Good thing then, it's time for the plan to set in action," Saying this both the men left Wali's cabin.
The both went to the location and begin the process of stationing the men at the locations where Wali had pointed. He told each men their job and warned them to be extremely careful. There were total
They were done and the evening sky has sprawled over them. After stationing the men, they left the forest as he went to do his preparations for welcome of Irtaza in the cell.
The time was now upon them. It was half an hour left from the allocated time as they both went to the forest again and began to wait for Irtaza.
The dark sky full of glimmering stars above his head.
And he saw a man coming towards them, wearing a black coat. Walking in his infamous style, Wali recognized it was Irtaza.
What surprised Wali according to what he now saw and what his men had been informing that Irtaza came with no force. He came alone. They could not see any armed men SUV following him behind.
He came alone.
Not even his friend Moosa accompanied him.
Taking a few more steps, Irtaza now stood ace to face with Wali. A distance of few feet between them.
"It suprises me, Irtaza Hiader that you came alone?"
"Did not you ask me to do so?" Irtaza said, stuffing his hand in his pockets.
"What is going on in your mind?" Wali questioned.
"Nothing. I just want to see my brother," He replied. Something about his demeanor worried Wali and he thought as if he took a wrong step by inviting Irtaza Haider syed, himself. Anybody in his shoes would either have come armed or not came at all.
"Let us unite with your brother," Wali said and made a sign so all the men came out of their hidings and pointed his gun towards Irtaza.
"It is over for you," Wali told him, "you will surely meet, Shehryaar,"
"Is that so?" Irtaza just said and then looked at a man who pointed his gun at Irtaza.
And that man took of his mask.
Wali's eyes widened.
It was the janitor.
He was made to look futher into the forest only to realize that all his men whom he had stationed were now dead. Irtaza's men had taken their place. And it was the janitor who spied on them.
They all got the signal which Irtaza conveyed through his eyes and suddenly, all the weapons were now pointed at Wali.
Irtaza walked and those men made their way for him as he approached Wali.
"Learn to know who are your people, Wali...Umer Khan," Irtaza said, "Now get me to my brother," he held Wali by back of his neck as they both walked.
....
Shehryaar has been dwindling in and out of life.
Electric shocks were making him breathing difficult for him.
It was hard.
It was so hard for him to just breathe.
those electric shocks will travel like someone suddenly ripping out life out of you. From the spine to the brain, it will travel all the way, making your body jolt.
His whole body has turned black and blue with new and old bruises.
His lips ripped, jaw dislocated, some bones broken while his body bloodied at points.
But still they were not stopping.
Everyday will bring a new torture.
They were careful rnough to give the beating to make him wish death but the death won't reach him. For three months, he had barely been given any food or water.
He was malnourished.
they won't let him sleep.
Chains had grasped his whole body that breathing became a hideous task.
No sunlight reached the cell.
But he endured it all.
Somewhere in his heart, these beatings, this torture brought him peace. he considered it as the fruit of what he did with Sheharzaad.
The more they would torture her.
The more he would recall her.
He was oblivious of his time spent in the cell.
He felt as if many years have passed.
Every second without her felt as if someone was poisoning him. As if a dagger has been stabbed in his heart.
Every time they would leave after torturing him to death, he would as usual call out Sheharzaad. Scream in the cell. Shout loudly his name. Asking for her forgiveness. Confessing his love for him.
But there would be no answer by her side.
He so wanted to hold her. Near her. That would only console him.
He knew that.
He heard footsteps approaching his cell.
Heavy footsteps.
He knew they were coming to torture him. But today the sound of these steps sounded different.
They came closer and closer.
And the metal door of the cell clanked open.
Dozens of men entered inside.
Separated in two lines.
As Shehryaar watched what has been happening.
As someone walked in. With a worried face.
His eyes held blood so he cleaned it and was now able to make the face of the person.
"Shehryaar," Irtaza said an ran to his brother.
He atlast found him.
....
Shehryaar was hospitalized. His condiion was critical. Doctors were giving him every treatment he needed. For now he slept while Irtaza sat there with him.
When Irtaza gave the news to his family, they all were overjoyed and now crowded in the hospital, praying for Shehryaar's recovery,
Irtaza had been trying to locate Wali for so long. Since he was in the federal investigation agency and that too the chief of it, it took him quite a time to locate him. And just a week ago he did. When he sent a spy as a janitor at his place. Since he was deaf and dumb, they knew he would hire him because he would be of no harm.
But in actual he wasn't.
He was aware that they could have that spy test from some hospital so he paid the lab assistant to manuever the reports. And it all went according to what he wanted.
And within a week, his brother was recovered.
Wali somehow managed to escape from the scene. He thought to go after Wali after some time as right now his first priority was to fire him as the FIA chief and his brother's health. He contacted the minister to come and meet him who controlled the federal investigation agency and gave the name of his chosen men to be as the nominees to be the new chief.
Cases were already being made against Wali under drug dealing and making fake cases against the prospects. He was a criminal now.
He was calmed that atlast things were under control.
....
After two days, Shehryaar gained consciousness. He looked around and found his family standing beside him.
But the first word that left his lips was, "Sheharzaad,"
Due to the escape of Wali, he could not know where Sheharzaad was so he was still clueless about his brother's dear wife.
The family and him had no response to him and all they told was that they couldn't find her.
He held his phone, called his second-in-command and immediately asked him to make an investigation team and find Sheharzaad.
....
Shehryaar was discharged from the hospital and went to the heaveli on his family's insistence.
The haveli members rejoiced upon Shehryaar's arrival. He looked malnourished and in bruised state but everyone thanked the almighty to see his face.
Although, Shehryaar had mixed emotions. His injuries started to heal but only on the outside. Nothing held his interest anymore.
After three months in that cell he felt remorse for his actions, for his barbaric attitude that he showered on her. His stay there felt like a path towards redemption. He arranged a special crew of spies to look for Shehrzaad as he hasn't given up on her. He genuinely wanted to make things right with her. He wanted to start fresh with her and he promised himself to apologise to her but for that he needed to see her.
He couldn't decipher how the feeling he didn't recognise until now ache so profoundly. It made him want to clutch his chest so that it doesn't burst open because of her absence.
Months passed.
But she was nowhere to be found.
The mighty workaholic CEO never thought his work would become his least favourite task. He relied on Irtaza to look after the mafia business and his company as he was not in his right mind. He never thought getting up everyday would feel like a punishment. Every time he laid on his bed he felt a burden on his chest.
He depended on meds to make him sleep. He didn't realise when those meds became an addiction. He remained under the influence of drugs to get his mind off her and her memories. But he knew that she was the most powerful drug in his case.
Chugging another bottle down his throat, he barely walked on his legs to his car and sat in the driving seat without knowing anything about his state and where he was headed. He took the last gulps from the bottle he managed to get his hand on and drove like a mad man trying to match the speed of the wind, the speed of his racing heart filled with pictures of her eyes, her damp lips. Her face whenever she pleaded to him came infront of his eyes and everything stopped for him.
His eyes barely open. His breaths turned shallow He entered the wrong lane and lost control of the steering wheel and he crashed into a truck with full momentum. Both the vehicles bursted in flames.
Shehryaar didn't remember much but just the face of his brother and sister looking down on him while he was being transferred on a stretcher. His eyes closing, not able to make what they were saying. His face and body covered in his blood. The next thing he knew waking up in the hospital room where a nurse was checking his vitals.
He tried sitting up but felt immense pain especially in his lower body . Even moving a muscle in his lower limbs felt impossible. The nurse supported him and just in time the doctor entered and informed him of his accident the previous night. Turns out the doctors were able to save his life but his lower body has been paralyzed due to the severe impact of crashing in high speed.
Shehryaar 's body was now restricted to a wheelchair. A male nurse was appointed to look after him. The treatment began by taking ample rest at home along with long list of medicines to get him back on his feet as soon as possible.
Shehryaar had to rely on the nurse to perform even basic tasks like getting up on the bed, using the washroom etc. He felt like a dead body who couldn't control his own movements. The depression of staying in bed all day long followed. Even though he had the company of his family but they couldn't fill the void she left in him. His crew of spies still could not get any update on her. As if she vanished from the face of earth. He would wake up in the morning and gaze from the window at the luscious garden that Shehrzaad adored.
He didn't sleep all night, again as he was busy recollecting their time in Dubai where he threw her from the top and she was in the same state he was now in. He didn't give her any ounce of freedom even then.
He gazed longlingly at the garden.
What he thought were mere branches months ago, now reflected her happiness. What he thought were leaves, were delusional buds of hope. What he mistook for lightness was the absence of roots. They were floating in thin air and so when the wind blew, it took all away.
What's left is just him, lost in the world that once was.
....
Three years later
Life was nothing but pitch darkness for him.
Three years has passed.
three long years.
That seemed like three decades, since he had recovered from the after effects of that life threatening accident.
Yet still, he couldn't revive back in life.
Nothing was in his hands.
As if, the sky had gulped her or the ground had buried her within its depts.
But still she couldn't find Sheharzaad.
Everyone told him that Sheharzaad might have died.
First, he didn't believe them
But slowly he was beginning to make peace with the fact.
The fire within his heart to hunt her down even if she was at the other corner of the world, subsided.
But then again, another fire erupted, making him want to find her grave atleast.
Where he could go.
And weep.
Gush some tears down his eyes.
Feel her through the wet soil.
Plant roses on her grave every day.
Atleast a mark of her?
But he failed, even finding that as well.
He couldn't locate her in all those years.
Once Irtaza had rescued him, Wali had run away. The cases were filed against him. And now he was not just running from Irtaza but also from the police and the intelligence agency itself.
Though, he managed to locate Wali.
Investigated him about Sheharzaad.
And he told that Sheharzaad had ran away from him, long ago. Even he didn't know where he was.
Shehryaar killed him then and there, not being able to hold up the rage within him. He was the reason he and his wife separated. That built up rage made Shehryaar kill Wali with his own hands.
But to this date, all he ever came to know was that she was last seen at a bus terminal.
Where that bus dropped her.
Nobody knew.
Obsession ran in his blood.
Prior, his obsession was with his work. Until she came in his life, and his whole life revolved around him. And when she was gone, it became his obsession to find her.
And he was still finding her.
He had zero interest in mafia, business and politics. He had handed it over to Irtaza and Moosa who looked after it.
He would remain at his room, residing within his memories.
Sometimes, he would go to the room where they both spend little moments of thier life. He would look at his pictures. Opening a drawer, he retrieved a book which she used to read and from the middle of the book he retrieved strands of hair.
Remembering the night, he once had paid visit to her home and her hair were struck in his button so he released her hair by cutting her few tresses. That day and till this date, he kept those hair. He would caress them to feel her presence.
Desperate.
He has become so desperate and helpless.
He won't find peace anywhere.
Because he knew his peace was her.
And to just gain some bits of that peace he would walk on his foot to the last place he ever wanted to go. But that was the only place where he could find some peace.
Jaha Ara's grave.
Like a child would cry in his mother's embrace, he would place her head on the soil of her grave and let his tears replenish the sand. His eyes would turn red, but won't blink as silently the tears would fall from his eyes.
When there would be water left to be shed from his eyes, he would caress the grave, stand up, uttering a promise that he will come back here tomorrow and go back to his home. Where he would be at those places where she was. Touch those things which she has touched.
He was breathing. Not living.
In a similar state, he had made Sheharzaad reach.
And it would make him more dead inside. Kill him.
His every breath difficult to suck in and release out.
Nothing held his interest in this life.
Only she was his antidote.
Scientifically, the body requires water the most but Shehryaar needed his little lady in his arms for his survival. Bottles of alcohol surrounded him in his room where once she would sleep next to him. Emotionally, he knew he was deteriorating. It was killing him softly.
His family was worried about his lifestyle but he had the stubbornness of same old Shehryaar in him. So nobody could convince him to move on and stopping playing with his health. Listening to his heart has always been his pitfall and the pain that followed was unbearable. He wondered if it's the unknown possibilities or the dubiety of taking the plunge. This obsession had him foraging small bits of feeble hope amidst dark globs of despair. But this time he would bide his heart and emotions and witness how he lay bare with love only for her.
It's this kind of love that makes you yearn for it, burn in passion for it and maybe one day die for it. In hindsight he wonders how beautiful it would have been if he would have taught himself to give her a piece of this love when she was his.
" Fall gracefully" they say but they never tell you how long you have to keep falling.
Another night without her.
"Sheharzaad...." he whispered.
......
Driving back from his mother's grave, as his eye that were now scarlet due to the tears he had again shed at her grave, he was going back home.
Surprisingly, in the whole world, nothing gave him peace as much as few moments at his mother's grave did.
He had never been to her grave but since Sheharzaad left, her words recalling in her mind, 'maybe she loved you...'
Those words forced him to get up and go to his mother's grave.
And for the first time, when she had gone there, he kept on staring at the soil for long long hours. Trying to make the face of her mother. Trying to recall her voice. Trying to remember the little moments he had with her.
Every single memory of his childhood come crushing down to his mind and the wight of those memories made his knees weak and he fell down on his knees.
Feeling lightheaded, he had fainted while his arms wrapped her grave tightly as if hugging her.
"I'm sorry ammi.... for hating you so much..." he whispered and his eyes were closed.
Afterwards, it became his routine to go there. Talk to her about Sheharzaad. Confess his crimes. Cry. Tell her about what Sheharzaad looked like. And speak to her about her small antics. He spoke as if his mother was there.
He wasn't close to any of his family member. Even his grandfather. He was clueless of what has been going on in the haveli. He did not want anyone to bother him so he strictly reprimanded them to call him or come to his home to ask about his well being.
He just wanted to be on his own.
Alone.
they wanted to heal him. Without Sheharzaad.
But he preferred to be wounded. And if he has to be healed then it has to be with Sheharzaad.
Suddenly, he applied brakes to the car as a lady, holding her child in her arms, came infront his car. She was looking left and right as if seeking help when suddenly her eyes noticed Shehryaar. She rushed towards him and tapped at his window.
"Please help me!" she asked, once the window was down, "my daughter.... she got hit... please help us reach hospital..."
'A mother can never hate her child....'
Sheharzaad's word rung in his ears on listening that mother's plea.
He nodded and asked her to get in.
She got in the backseat and kept on whispering prayers while looking for the hospital. Once they reached hospital, she got off of the car when Shehryaar asked her to stop.
And she stopped.
He alighted the vehicle, took out his wallet and handed some money to her.
Tears gushed through her eyes.
"Thank you," the lady whispered, "I did not have a penny on me. May Allah bless you," she prayed for him and ran into the hospital.
'May Allah bless you'
The words remained in his ears as he got back in his car and reached home.
The prayer never left his ears.
His heart had skipped a beat, after listening to that prayer.
Will the only prayer he had.... be listened?
He began to wait for the time.
Wait desperately when his prayer would be answered.
When the help would reach him.
He was working on his laptop in his study.
He had come to this room after so many weeks.
Irtaza had called him and told him to check a business proposal, he had mailed him.
He wasn't interested in checking but on his brother's insistence, he agreed. He was aware that Irtaza wanted him to get back to work but he was being resilient.
Only one question would arise in the minds of people around him.
For how long will he mourn for a woman who at first place, betrayed him, help him get kidnapped and left him?
Those things seemed little.
He felt as if he deserved more.
She treated him right.
He deserved that.
He was going to that mail and was typing his response to Irtaza about the unsuitability of the proposal when the door to his study was knocked.
He gave permission.
And a man coweringly entered.
They all had been aware that his boss had gone so livid over the past years on them for not being able to locate his wife.
Their terror for Shehryaar had increased by tenfolds now. That now they would give each other turns to inform him about any important issue.
"Sir," the man said, his voice slightly shivering.
"Say," Shehryaar didn't look up for once and kept on typing.
"We've found her,"
The prayer was answered.