~Third Person's POV

It had been five days since he was admitted in the hospital. Although the doctors knew that he would recover soon, but he simply didn't want to. He refused to show any willpower. He was loving this torturous state of agony. He was finding peace in knowing that every inch of his skin was burning and every bone of his almost lifeless body was screaming with pain. If he had shown any willpower, he might have recovered already, but he simply didn't want to!

Because, all he wanted was more pain!

He would have been much more happier if he had lost his life during the accident along which he would have been freed from the burden of his mistakes, but so unfortunate was he, that he still had to live with an unbearable guilt throughout his life.

How badly he wished, that he had died!

Because living with a storm of guilt was much more painful than death!

But perhaps, Allah had granted him a new life due to the reasons which were only known to HIM alone!
Perhaps, He had written a new phase in Shahveer's destiny. Perhaps He wanted to give him one last chance.

A CHANCE TO CHANGE, AND COME BACK TO THE PATH WHICH HE HAD LONG FORGOTTEN!

x-x-x-x-x

~Shahveer

"Although his body is functioning well, but it seems like he doesn't want to recover!"

One of the doctors murmured to my parents as they watched my disheveled state with their painful and teary eyes.

"But Doctor, there must be some way to bring him back! If he is doing well, then why isn't he responding?"

Mom cried mercilessly as she strongly disagreed with the fact that her son was unable to fight for his life, and that too, intentionally!

A son, who used to be so strong, both physically and mentally, was giving up so soon?

"Shahveer! My son!"

I could hear and feel my Dad coming near to me as he caressed my hair and kissed my forehead with immense affection. A warm lonely tear cascaded down his weak and gloomy eyes.

"Shahveer! You used to be my lion! Remember? Then what happened now?"

Dad looked straight into my eyes as he questioned me something which was enough to tear me apart.

I wish I could tell you Dad!

"My Shahveer used to care so much for his parents! Then why is he giving them so much pain?" He cried.

A shiver of pain and guilt ran down my spine.

"Would you ever love to see your parents in pain?" He asked again.

A waterfall of tears cascaded down my eyes as I watched him blankly.

"If not us, then at least think about your sister!"

My eyes widened with shock.

"Alizeh is crying madly since five days! She neither eats anything, nor she drinks anything! She is getting weaker, just because of you!" Mom cried.

My muscles started to become sore. My head started spinning wildly.

Alizeh was here? She came to meet me? Her brother? A brother who's face she had sworn to never see again?

My eyes started to twinkle with ecstasy as my fingers motioned a little.

"Yes my son! Alizeh came to London as soon as she heard about your accident!" Dad smiled upon noticing my desperation.

It felt as if a bolt of thunder passed across my whole body, slowly charging me to wake my dead soul up again.

I struggled really hard to get up upon hearing my sister's name.

My parents immediately called the Doctor as they watched my movements.

The doctor checked my pulses and helped me in getting up from the pillow. My bones ached with excruciating pain as I moaned with agony.

"A....A..LIZ....ALIZEH...!" I mumbled her name under my breath and it was perhaps the only word I had uttered in these five days.

"She's sitting outside, I'll call her!" Dad replied in a much enthusiastic way.

Perhaps she was the only ray of light!
My sister was the only ray of light who could help me in coloring up my black and white life once again!

As I struggled to stay in my consciousness, my dull and gloomy eyes immediately caught the glance of a horrified and tear stained face of my dearest sister. She walked slowly towards my bed, while her beautiful swollen eyes were glued upon my fractured arm. My lips eventually curved up into a wide grin when I watched her coming near to me. I could easily feel my eyes twinkle with happiness and gratitude.

"How I wish I could punch you right through this nasty face of yours!"

She glared at me with anger to which I giggled weakly.

"If your sister isn't talking to you since six months, it doesn't mean that you end up here in the hospital!" She cried innocently.

I wanted to hug her tightly and wipe all of her tears away. I had hurt her a lot! I had given pain to so many people!

Will Allah ever forgive me?

"I love you Bhayi! Please come back home! I had missed you so much that I can't even tell you. I know whatever you did was wrong! But stop punishing yourself like this! Mom and Dad needs you. I need you! Your beloved sister needs you!" She sobbed like a baby.

"Come here!" I barely whispered with my weak voice and finally took her in my embrace as she continued to cry mercilessly. I had missed my sister so much! I had missed her existence a lot! But now she was here by my side. I knew that she will forgive me. Because she loved me more than I loved her! I wiped her tears with my trembling hands and whispered something unintentionally.

"I'm sorry!"

Alizeh looked at me with confusion.

I joined my hands in front of her and begged for forgiveness as a stream of tears escaped through my eyes.

"Don't do this bhayi!" She held my hands and tried to stop me.

"I....I am...sorry Alizeh!" I continued to weep without showing any mercy to my already terrible state.

"Why are you saying this Bhayi?" She asked innocently.

"You were right Alizeh! You were right! The damage has been done! A damage done by me! A damage beyond repair!" I cried.

She stood there silently.

"I am sorry!" I continued to cry as she watched me with shock.

"I am glad that you have realized Bhayi! It's still not late! Realizing your mistake is the biggest bounty of Allah!" She smiled.

"I want to repair the damage which was done by me!" I looked at her blankly.

"I know you can! If you can break a heart, then Allah has also given you the ability to mend that same heart again!" She squeezed my hand with affection.

"Will she forgive me?" I asked innocently.

She paused for a minute.

"She was an angel in disguise. Allah's special angel! Her heart is more pure than crystals and more softer than a feather. And why wouldn't she forgive a man whom she had loved since 18 years?" She smiled.

An excruciating bone cracking pain ran across my body upon listening to her final sentence. Something which Hooriyah was confessing again and again, that night! She had loved me since 18 years! Yet I was still unable to know anything about this throughout these years? How could I be such a fool?

"But do you think she would still love me after all of this?" I tried to speak up about my biggest fear.

"Love doesn't simply end when you get hurt by your beloved. It gets even more stronger! And the love which was blooming in her heart since two decades, how could it simply end within few months? Even if she wants to forget you, she won't be able to! Even if she wants to stop loving you, she won't be able to! And do you know why?"

Her eyes twinkled with happiness.

"Why?" I asked weakly.

"Because now Allah has started listening to her prayers! The prayers which she used to make for you and your love!"

"How?"

"Because you are falling in love with her! Your heart is being filled with a longing for her existence. Allah is watching you and He knows what you are feeling. You just have to ask and pray!" She replied politely.

"But if her prayers were not fulfilled, then how can I expect mine to be fulfilled? I have spent a very sinful life! Why would HE listen to me?" I murmured weakly.

"Because it may be possible that your prayers could turn out to be more sincere, powerful and stronger than hers! It may be possible that there would be more purity and piousness in your prayers than hers!"

I smiled at her soothing words.

"Do whatever you can. Allah will do the rest!" She cupped my face between her delicate hands as she wiped my tears away.

She was right!

Prayers do change the destiny!

Even if you weren't destined to be mine, Hooriyah Jahangir Khan, I will make sure that my prayers make me capable enough to get you back because deep down in my heart, I always knew that I was...............
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
DESTINED TO BE WITH YOU!!!

x-x-x-x-x

It had been few days since I was discharged from the hospital and brought back to Manchester. My restlessness started to grow faster as I was strictly instructed to have a bed rest for one month. I admit that I was still weak and was not fully recovered, but laying down like this 24/7 was making me feel exhausted. I wanted to run away from here. I wanted to complete all of my pending tasks which I should have done long ago. The more it will get delayed, the more it will create problems for me. I had to go back to Pakistan at any cost. It had already been six months and the fear of loosing her was growing inside my heart day by day. I wanted to go back to her and solve all of my problems, but I was not in a state to travel through several continents. Doctors had strictly prohibited me from traveling. But I had to!
I didn't want to spend my life with guilt anymore. If God for bit it gets late, I would have to spend a life full of regrets! And I simply can't imagine a life like that!

As restlessness reached at its peak, I slowly dragged myself away from my bed and grabbed my crutch so that I could easily walk down the stairs. The lounge was empty and silent which meant that I was free to do whatever I wanted to. I slowly limped towards the store room as I blindly followed my heart's instructions. There was still something hidden from me, which needed to be discovered!
I don't know what I was looking for, but there was something which was making me desperate! I wanted to have a look at it as soon as possible or else I would die with curiosity!

"Bhayi?" A familiar voice intervened.

I turned to have a look at my sister who was worriedly watching her brother who was apparently trying to unlock the store room with a bunch of keys.

"What are you doing here? You must be ___"

"Alizeh please open this door for me!" I interrupted.

"But what do you want ? No one goes in there! Its so messy inside. You might catch up flu." She asked with curiosity.

"I want to__"

I paused for a minute, trying to think hard.

"I want to read those letters!" I finally blurted out.

"Letters?" Alizeh asked with astonishment.

"Yes! Hooriyah's letter!"
I completed my sentence.

She looked at me with sympathy and then smiled and took the keys from me and unlocked the door.

A fume of dust entered our nostrils as we coughed at the same time.

Different types of boxes, cartons and old paintings were scattered everywhere in this large spooky room. Alizeh helped me in searching the boxes which contained lots of things from our childhood.

We struggled for the next fifteen minutes, searching here and there until a small red colored carton caught my eye. I walked towards the box and wiped away a thick blanket of dust from its surface, which had been accumulated since years, and started to open it slowly.

As soon as I opened it, a bunch of envelopes fell down from the box and rested peacefully near my feet. I knelt down and picked up one of the envelopes which was entitles as,

'Dear Veer!'

And that was enough to skip my heartbeat and raise goosebumps all over my body!

I paused for a minute as I examined the envelope with my eyes in which tears had already started to dwell. I caressed the envelope with my trembling hands as one of my tears fell down on it's dusty texture, thus wetting the envelope. Without giving a second thought, I finally decided to open the letter which was resting inside it since a decade.

An old crumbled paper was beautifully scribbled with the loveliest calligraphic handwriting I had ever seen! I rubbed my eyes to clear my vision and slowly started to read the letters sent by someone who had become the most important fragment of my soul.

I continued reading all the letters one by one, while my heart started ripping off due to the guilt and pain of neglecting the one who was so close to my heart since childhood. Some of the letters included beautiful prayers for me, made by her. Some included the painful words which represented that how much she was missing me and how much she was feeling alone without me. She had written each and every detail about her life so that I could easily read her like an open book. She had shared every single thing about her studies, her new friends, the destructive earthquake in Pakistan, her gold medals and her achievements, her pain, her happiness, her sorrows, her father's first ever cardiac arrest, her graduation from an engineering college, her dream to travel the world, her immense love for mountains and her immense affection towards me!

That poor soul had written her heart out in every single piece of paper!

And so ruthless was I, that I failed to show any sort of admiration, any sort of interest and any sort of acceptance towards these heart wrenching efforts done by her to please me in any way possible!

I kept on weeping silently, until my eyes fell upon the last letter sent by her, seven years ago!

A letter in which she had indirectly confessed her feelings to me.

And then, she stopped writing letters after realizing that I wasn't reading any of them!

x-x-x-x-x

June 16th 2008,

Dear Veer,

"May Almighty Allah always bless you with happiness and protect you from every calamity. Ameen!"

I hope you are doing well and find this letter in a perfect condition! Your Hooriyah was missing you so much as it has been three months since you haven't replied to my previous letters yet! I was wondering if you were mad on me? Have I done something wrong? I am sorry If I had annoyed you in anyway! But please don't ignore me like this!

Anyways, I am writing this letter to tell you that I was finally able to buy a beautiful gift for your eighteenth birthday! I know I am late Shahveer, but I had been saving up money since many months, and only now I was capable of buying a branded gift for you. I have bought it with lots and lots of love and hopes for you. I know that you are going to love it!

Since now you are 19, and I am turning 16 in a day too, I wanted to tell you something which I had been waiting for sooooooooo long!

Shahveer, If you are reading this letter, please try to understand the meaning of my words with the depth of your heart!

Allah s.w.t has created a special place for you in my heart Shahveer, and I feel extremely blessed to accept the fact that I am catching feelings for you. You have always been my biggest dream and I have always loved you more than anything in this world. My feelings for you are getting stronger day by day and I am afraid that I might loose my sanity in search of your love. I have always been praying to Allah for you and your love. My heart is nothing but just a destroyed room of loneliness, wounds and love!

There is a tornado inside my heart which once used to be peaceful!

There is a wild storm inside my soul which will only stop destroying me once you come and take me along with you!

My heart only beats for you, and I know that Allah s.w.t has strongly connected the arteries of our hearts which only beat for one another! I have already drown myself in the ocean of your existence and now I am drenched with the fragrance of your love! So please remove these barriers, for these barriers are merely present to add fuel to the fire. The fire which is slowly burning all of my fragments which I had tried to gather throughout these years. The longing to meet you and see your heavenly face again is causing an excruciating pain to my heart which is getting unbearable day by day. You have been my first and the last hope. You are an effervescent and pleasant ray of happiness and the dark closet of my heart is awaiting anxiously to be brighten up once again with the magical and blissful aroma and illumination of your pious and lovely soul!

My heart aches for you, beats for you and cries for you day and night!

For the sake of my undying and enduring feelings, please come back so that it becomes easier for me to breath, to live and to feel the same warmth once again!

The warmth of your closeness!

The warmth of your love!

And the warmth of your enchanted and blissful embrace!

I know you might not like reading lengthy paragraphs so I will just conclude now!

Hence, allow me to seal up this letter with lots of painful emotions, affectionate feelings and heartiest prayers :)

P.S: Once you open the gift which I had sent you straight from the deepest and greenest valleys of my heart, don't forget to write back as I will be anxiously waiting for your precious reply!

With lots of love,

Your Marshmallow,

HOORIYAH JAHANGIR KHAN :)

x-x-x-x-x

A stinging warm stream of salty tears gushed down my chin as I caressed her name with my trembling fingers again and again. How can I ignore something which she had sent to me with so much love and efforts? She had been saving up since months only to buy a branded and expensive gift for me, which had ultimately ended up in this messy store room? How can I be so heartless that I didn't even pay attention to these letters which showed so much affection that it looked like as if she had written these soul-shaking words with her own blood!

I sobbed painfully and started scattering the carton once again, in search of that gift which she had bought for me. After searching madly for few more minutes, my gaze finally landed on a beautifully wrapped black colored box which was still sparkling despite of being seven years old.

I carefully tore the wrapping paper ,took the box out from it and anxiously started to open it. My eyes widened with ecstasy as soon as they fell upon a beautiful and enticing crystal ball making me engrossed to the full. A beautiful little deer, a little boy and a girl were sparkling inside the enchanting showpiece. As soon as I switched it on, a melodious tune entered my ears spreading a soothing layer of tranquility throughout my soul. It was the most beautiful piece of art I had ever seen in my life. If I had seen it six years ago, I would have madly fallen in love with the one who had sent this gift to me. But alas, I failed to notice each and every beautiful effort of hers which could have been successful in mesmerizing me if I would have paid attention.

The little couple continued to dance on the tune while the snow fell upon them and the beautiful dim light continued to scatter magic inside that precious and charming globe. My heart started feeling heavier as my gaze started getting intenser and more piercing as it examined the dancing couple with pain and hopelessness.

A strong disturbing feeling of lypophrenia started to dance throughout my mind and soul.

Her words!

Her tragic heartbreaking words started to appear in front of my eyes.

A deadly venom full of guilt, helplessness and agony started to spread throughout my veins instead of blood.

And then something happened!

Something I was trying to avoid doing in front of Alizeh.

I broke up into millions of irreparable pieces and burst into a wild storm of tears like a small child, while my merciless moans and painful cries started to echo throughout the attic as if a ghost was howling madly.

"Bhayi, Bhayi!!"

Alizeh, who was busy in cleaning some shelves of the store room a few seconds ago, came running towards me as she worriedly watched me me crying like a mad man.

My whole body trembled with fear while an excruciating pain ran across my veins as I struggled hard to breath between my merciless hiccups and painful sobs.

"Bhayi, please try to control yourself. You are still not in a state to overburden yourself with stress! You have to be strong!"

Alizeh wept as she looked at the letter in my hand and helplessly watched me crying innocently.

"I have lost her! I have lost her!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I cried harder this time. My vision started to get blur as I continued to read Hooriyah's last letter again and again.

"She was an angel! She was my Hoor!" I kissed the letter again and again while another waterfall of tears cascaded down my swollen eyes.

"Stop it Bhayi! Please stop it! Your health is deteriorating!"

Alizeh tried to calm me down as she cried while watching me in pain.

"Allah Himself had sent an angel! A HOOR from His OWN Paradise, in my life! And I threw her away from my life as if she was a piece of trash!"

I knelt down and fell on the floor and brought the letter closer to my chest while it started to get wet with the tears which were continuously falling from my red puffy eyes. I pressed it hard against my chest trying to feel the warmth of those magical words written by that beautiful soul.

"It's never to late Bhayi! You can still ask for forgiveness!" Alizeh consoled me.

I jolted upon hearing her encouraging words as I realized that asking for forgiveness was indeed the only way through which I could win her back!

"I need to go!" I immediately stood up from the floor and wiped my tears away.

"Where?" Alizeh was always quick to respond.

"Pakistan!" I replied spontaneously.

"Pakistan?" She asked with perplexity.

"YES!! EITHER NOW, OR NEVER!" I shouted.

"But you can't travel! The doctors have ___"

"To hell goes the Doctor!"

I interrupted her and started packing all of the letters in the carton again.

"But Bhayi, Mom and Dad won't let you!" Alizeh replied back.

"Ofcourse they will! The storm I had brought in her life needs to end now! I had caused her so much pain! She deserves to be happy. And now I am going to stir the same happiness in her life which she had always deserved !"

I smiled weakly.

"But___"

"I had always been searching the meaning of my life throughout these eighteen years! And now, when I have been shown the real meaning, its my responsibility to begin this journey, all by myself!" I interrupted her again.

She watched me blankly and chose to remain silent, because she knew that her brother was extremely stubborn! And whatever he wishes for, he struggles wholeheartedly for it, to make sure that his desires are fulfilled at any cost!

And now, Hooriyah was not just a desire! She was his struggle, his dream, his frenzy, his madness, his insanity and from now onwards, she was about to become his quest too!

"I was the one who killed that beautiful relation between us! And now I will be the one who will begin this quest! And even if this quest takes years and centuries, I will remain steadfast in my cause! Even if it costs my own damn life!

.

.

.

.

The quest, needs to begin!

The quest of love ! The quest of her love!"

Alizeh watched me with shock and horror as I picked up the box full of letters, and walked out of the room, with full determination, to get my lost love back at any cost!