Chapter 15: Chapter 15

On a cold December last week, nearly midnight, someone is lost sitting with another cup of masala chai.

Masala chai.

"Iss chai is ko toh latt lag jani na."

From where it started , a cup of simple tea, and now it's more than anything else in life.

They say people leave their essence in things, and here Zain Amir is trying to find the similar kind in his chai.

Two days three nights and he is already losing his sanity. Of course Delhi is good, family is here, Seher is here. But he is not at peace anyhow. And the worst thing is, he knows why, maybe she knows why.

He is near his family, near his loved ones, away from his home,

away from his heart which he left with a girl having hazel brown orbs.

As he sit on the balcony couch, he remembers the last time they talked, two days ago, when she landed, that's it. After that she just switched off her phone. He did talk to her mother but it is her voice that can keep him sane at the moment.

In these two years he had spent with her, it is the first time they are apart like this, and he is not liking it a bit. Amaya Kareem is his sanity.

Looking at the known figure at her balcony at this time of night, she knows he needs her now.

Her brother Zain needs his Seher Aapi again.

Clad in woolen long kurti and a shawl, she enters through the glass door, taking a seat on the couch beside him, she keeps her graze fix on the moon. Zain slides down the couch, and now sitting near her legs, keeping his back leaned to the couch.

A déjà vu feeling.

Similar thing had happened once, years ago.

Same people, similar situation yet different stories, different circumstances .

That feels like eons ago.

"Don't you think, you are making the same mistake?"

That make Zain rolled his eyes, good thing, Seher can't see him doing that, otherwise Allah save his poor soul.

"Aapi.."

"...Amaya Kareem is different. She is everything you want, she is the home you have always been looking for."

A truth he is well aware of, but she needs to tell him this, let him know that he can't miss it this time.

"She knows, I can feel she does."

Seher smiles, they are good together.

"..and that's why she left Aapi."

A pain is evident in his voice, a pain of being abandoned again.

"..She is scared Aapi. Scared of the whole thing. And I hate him for putting her in this situation."

She can see the unshed tear in his amber eyes.

The good thing is he is not here.

"..That's not our place to say anything Zain."

".. I know Aapi. And I won't say anything. But Aapi I was there with her for two years, it's been years to that incident, years that her relationship ended but still there is pain.

I have seen her in pain. Aapi her cries were even worst than yours in the beginning.

I saw her suffering even after years, she never showed me her scars but I saw them. They are so many, so many, that sometimes it haunts me at night Aapi."

Now Seher is in tears.

Amaya Kareem has always been a gem, her mother in law had always said that, since the moment they talked during facetime.

A gem he never afforded.

"You were there right? So you saved her too, like you saved me years ago."

"..That's why I don't like it here Aapi. People here are too selfish, they don't see the people they are hurting."

That's true, they never looked back to see the damage they had caused, the damage their anger had caused.

"Zain.."

"I can't tell her Aapi, I will lose her then. She will run away."

"What if she won't?"

"..Aapi."

"Sometimes people seek love in their home Zain. You gave your Amu a home, now she may be looking for a love at home too."

"What if.."

"Life is too short to be wasted in these what ifs Zain. Tell her before she stop looking for love. She will never leave Zain. She is a keeper.

She knows you are home and she can't loose it like you, so she maybe stop looking for love, she may be reject you or may stop you, or may go on a leave, But she always knows her way back to you Zain.

Always."

Zain looks at her with admiration, he had always known this, if anything Seher Mirza will always be there for him, and that's what exactly happened now.

"..Do you think I should go there?"

"I think you should do what your hearts want."

What his heart wants, well it's quite simple now, Amaya Kareem.

◆●◆●◆

Miles away, in Park Lane, London, someone is busy giving her beloved daughter a head massage. Clad in a peach color woolen kurti, a red pashmina shawl is wrapped around the shoulders.

A prominent smiles lingers on her face, she is happy, her daughter is here with her. No matter how strong Prof. Shaziya Kareem is, she is still a mother, who loves her daughter way too much.

Someone who knows her daughter have suffered, yet her daughter never told her the complete truth. All she knows was that, she eloped, got married and then got divorced.

She never tried to open that book again.

As she sits there leaned against the couch, she realizes, she missed it, she missed her Maa. Back in Dubai, Zain used to give her head massage.

Zain.

A smile appears on her lips, she missed him now, she missed being home.

"Zain called me today also. I told him, you are not here." Shaziya said.

"Thanks Maa." She whispers.

"May I know why are you ignoring that poor boy."

"..Maa, not now please."

"Amaya, is anything wrong my baby?"

"..Nothing is wrong Maa. It's just I don't know.. Nothing is right too."

"When I went to meet you two there, I really liked Zain. That guy got my heart you know, and.."

"..And he is Zain Amir, Maa. The Zain Amir."

"So?"

"Maa please..."

"What are you exactly running away from Amaya?"

She knows she can't hide anything from her Maa. She knows, she can see through her eyes, it's just sometime she didn't talk about those things.

But Zain Amir is a topic she can't just run away from.

"..Nothing Maa"

"Zain feels for you baby."

And Shaziya said it out loud.

Her fear is spoken out loud.

"..That's exactly why I am here Maa"

"You are a pure soul Amaya. People are bound to fall for you, you can't stop. And from where I am seeing, you have something for him too."

".. I have a lot of things for him, Maa. He is my home. I have everything for him but not what he wants."

"You can't say that."

"I have seen your husband insulting you Maa, beating you blue and black. I had been an eye witness of all the suffering you have been through Maa.

What more do you except from me? Isn't it already enough that the hell you wanted me to stay away from, I jumped into it myself?. You left your marriage because of me, so that I can be safe. What I did, maa? Betrayal is what I have given you."

"Don't. Don't say like this Amaya. You are the strongest person I know. You are way too stronger than me. It was not your fault, never was, nothing was. Stop blaming yourself for someone else's deeds."

She hugs her daughter tight, life had never been easy on her. She had been from hell twice and now when happiness is in her doorstep, she is not ready to accept it.

She can't.

"Amaya you are twenty five nearly, it's high time to settle down in life."

"I'm a pilot Maa. I have a well paid job, a home for myself. I'm pretty much settled in life Maa."

"What about marriage?"

Silence engulfs them, marriage is a taboo topic.

A topic she can't even think about without having a shiver run down her spine.

Memories, painful, horrible memories came back to surface every time she even heard that word.

Amaya closed her eyes tight, taking a deep breath she spoke,

"Already had a failed one, Maa."

"But life doesn't end there Amaya. Things changed, you changed, he changed."

He changed.

He.

Is he here?

"..How do you know that?"

"He came to meet me."

"And you didn't bother to tell me that Maa? He freaking came to meet you. What on the earth.."

"Calm down Amaya Kareem. He came to meet me because he was sorry and that was alright."

"No that's not Maa."

"Amaya.."

"I'll be back in few hours." With that she left.

He can't come to meet her mother, he had no right to do that.

But he did.

It's a ten minutes drive to Oxford street from Park Lane, but she chose a twenty minutes walk instead. She needs it now.

Entering a known cafe, she orders an iced mocha and sits there for some time, lost in her thoughts.

First the raw emotions in those amber orbs and now these newly gained information about him meeting Maa.

What if he by any chance told her everything? That would just cause her more trouble.

But why did he even come to meet her?

Why?

Entering the cafe, she was waiting for her friends to come. But that have still some time. Looking around her eyes fall on a known stranger.

Clad in blue sweater and ripped jeans, her trench coat is kept next to her, hairs made in messy bun with few locks covering her face.

Amaya Kareem is here.

For a moment, the sane part of mind ask her to leave the cafe, but when have Izza Qasim have done anything sane in her twenty seven years of existence, never.

And if it's Amaya Kareem, anything will be worth it.

Walking towards her she taps her shoulder. Amaya looks at the unknown figure without any sign of recognition.

"Amaya?"

"Yes?"

"Hey, I'm Izza Qasim"

"Sorry I didn't really.."

"..Know me? I know you don't. But I do."

"Okay."

"Can i have a talk with you?"

"Yeah sure."

"Well let me introduce myself properly. I'm your ex-boyfriend's present wife in papers."