How long will I hang from these parachutes of bliss?

Will you be the wind?

Can our love be the sea beneath us?
Carry me through this life my love

And no matter the lightning that dances with my feet,

I promise to love you with all that is inside me!!!♥️♥️♥️

~Third Person's POV

The calm and magical sky was nothing but just a mixture of pink and orange hues. The cold icy breeze had already created a chilled atmosphere. It was still snowing in the month of March which was totally unusual but perhaps the weather was determined to be a bit more romantic after what it had witnessed a day before. The beautiful snow capped peaks, silver plated river and the tall alpine trees were desperate to celebrate the reunion of the once separated, two long lost souls!

As her delicate feather-like fingers brushed through the intricate details of a pair of aesthetically pleasing jhumkas, her hazel brown eyes sparkled with joy and ecstasy, something which had become extremely rare throughout these years. The only thing which could bring such type of ecstasy in those calm and peaceful orbs, were these antique pieces of jewelry and her students.

Every other thing was meaningless for her !

"How much for these, brother?" She asked while hoping for a reasonable answer.

"990 rupees, madam!" The shopkeeper replied shamelessly.

"Ohho? Aren't 990 rupees too less for these earrings? Why don't you add 10 more and sell it for 1000?" 

Her once sparkling eyes narrowed with anger.

"You can give 1000 if you want to!" 

The shopkeeper giggled mischievously.

"I won't even give hundred for these!" 

She looked at the poor guy with immense anger and immediately left, while mumbling something under her breath, without looking back at those jhumkas .

"Here you go !" Someone waved a note of thousand rupees in front of the gloomy eyes of the shopkeeper.

"Pack these for me!" He smiled confidently while addressing to the same pair of earrings.

The shopkeeper smiled with joy and quickly packed those beautiful earrings for this unexpected customer.

"The girl for whom you have bought these would be very lucky!" The shopkeeper smiled while returning the remaining ten rupees.

"Keep the change!" Shahveer replied gently.

"But why?" Asked the shopkeeper.

He came closer and lowered his voice as if sharing a secret.

"Because the lucky girl who has just left your shop angrily, thought that rupees 990 were too less for these earrings. So you can take these extra ten rupees from me, which she had suggested!" 

Both of them burst into a laughter which seemed to be inevitable.

It had been two days since he was following Hooriyah secretly as he was not confident enough to face her. From the school where she had been teaching to the heavily crowded market where she came to buy some essentials for herself, Shahveer had followed her everywhere. And the more he was spending time while chasing her, the more he was learning about a drastic change in her behavior and personality. 

The Hooriyah who once used to stay silent and polite all the time, was now actually bargaining with and pouring her anger upon those silly shopkeepers.

The Hooriyah who once used to be a fresh blossoming bouquet of ecstasy and love, was now nothing but just a huge pile of anger, frustration and hatred.

She wasn't the same anymore.

But she wasn't weak either.

She had turned into a strong independent woman who had learned to face all of her problems alone and fight with them like a warrior. 

This woman had faced all of her nightmares at the same time, and still managed to live for the next five years without giving up for once, without trying to commit suicide and without blaming her destiny.

She was indeed an epitome of strength and courage. Being the weakest of all, she still managed to rise. Had it been anyone else at her place, he or she might have committed suicide due to the burden of countless pains.

But she remained steadfast!

And never lost hope!

She would spend most of her time in the school which she had named after her Baba, 'Jahangir Ahmad Khan Public School'. 

It was a school built for the children who were orphan, poor or needy in the valley of Kumrat. This was the dream of her father, which she had pledged to fulfill at his grave. She was running this school since three years and these little bundles of joy were the only family she had. She would teach the poor kids for free and being a designer by her qualification, she would design and sell clothes at night with the help of some other ladies, for her own earning and living out of which she used to send half of the income to her sister and mother, every month through a man who was assigned for this task and was instructed to not to tell about her whereabouts to her family at any cost.

Shahveer was inspired while looking at how strong his Hooriyah had became throughout these years. What he did not know was the amount of pain ,frenzy and agony still hidden and burning like a flame inside the same heart which used to be as pure as silk!

"What have I done with this pure soul?"

He would murmur to himself when he used to look at her pale and weak face when she would be busy in printing and embroidering the fabrics for the rest of the night. She would hardly sleep for three or four hours and then wake up and leave for the school the very next day.

She had exhausted herself to the full or perhaps, it was her own special way to distract herself from recalling her dreadful past.

"What a tiring and painful way this hazel brown eyed angel had opted, just to distract herself from those painful memories?"

Shahveer would always think that while looking at his beloved

x-x-x-x-x

~Shahveer

One fine morning, when the hardworking residents of the valley of Kumrat were busy in their chores like every other usual day, I decided to pay a visit to the school which had become an eternal abode for her. A beautiful small wooden cottage-like building stood amidst one of the dense forest of Kumrat which was surrounded by two to three picturesque waterfalls falling from the partially snow capped peaks.

"So my little monkeys, who will solve this question and tell me the answer of 20+20=?"

She rubbed her hands playfully as her eyes twinkled with hope that this time her students won't disappoint her, thus brutally melting my heart away as I peeped inside the window trying to see the struggle of teacher Hooriyah!

"It's equal to 447, miss Hooriyah!"

An adorable little girl jumped up from her seat and stood there confidently as if she had just conquered the world.

And that's when that heart melting twinkle in the eyes of my beloved started to disappear in thin air as she opened her mouth with horror.

"Raniya, my darling, my love, what made you think that 20+20 is equal to 447?"

I giggled satanically while looking at her eyes which were still widened with horror and shock. The whole class burst into laughter then.

"First ask these little monsters to stop laughing at me!"

The little girl crossed her arms with anger and looked at her teacher with a complaining gaze.

"Don't say that to your classfellows again Raniya. And students, please stop laughing! And now, your highness, would you like to tell me what made you think that 20+20 is equal to 447?"

I pursed my lips trying not tiy burst into another laughter while looking at this adorable pair of teacher and student.

"Because.... because my heart said that twenty plus twenty is equal to four forty seven!"

She announced her final statement like a politician.

"Oh really? Your tiny little heart said that, and you even listened to it, instead of listening to your teacher who has been teaching you addition and subtraction since four months?"

Hooriyah gently punched the girl's tiny stomach while making her giggle happily.

"But you should always listen to your heart miss. The heart is always right!"

She quoted the lines from her favourite movie, perhaps.

And that's when Hooriyah's eyes which were twinkling with joy a few seconds ago turned into red flames while her beautiful smile faded like it never existed before.

"Stop watching those stupid movies Raniya! You should never listen to your heart do you understand? If you want to live a happy and normal life, just listen to what your brain says. This silly human heart loves to make our lives miserable. First it encourages you to chose the path which is wrong, and then breaks afterwards as if it was all our fault. Never listen to your heart again! Do you understand? Focus on your Maths, its getting weaker day by day!"

My heart broke into pieces as I tried to absorb the intensity of her soul shaking words.

Her voice was full of anger and rage. Something which I had never witnessed before. Her eyes were boiling with lava as she tried her best to avoid breaking infront of her students. And as soon as she turned to leave the class with anger, the little girl held her hands and stopped her.

"I'm sorry miss, I will not disappoint you again!"

The poor girl sniffed as she sobbed and hugged Hooriyah from her back. And the storm of anger disappeared even more quickly than it had appeared. After all, she was an owner of a heart which was as pure as crystal and as soft as silk.

"Don't be sorry dear. It was my fault and I should say sorry."

She wiped the tears of that innocent soul, picked her up and wrapped her arms around her while kissing her rosy cheeks.

"No you are elder. You shouldn't!" She mumbled.

"Maafi mangney se koi bara ya chota nae hota. Or maaf kar deny wala, maafi mangney waly se b zyada bara hota hai! "

She smiled and looked at the rest of her students thus giving birth to a hope inside my heart which had died long ago.

A hope of being forgiven by her.

But after listening to what she said, the small broken pieces of my hopes started to gather up once again, thus rebuilding my confidence which I needed the most right now, so that I could face her.

"It was my fault and I admit that I overreacted. And to rectify my mistake, I'm gonna______"

And before she could complete her sentence, the whole class shouted with excitement!

"ICE-CREEEEEEAAAAAMMMM"

She burst into laughter while looking at her students who had guessed it right. The laughter which I was dying to see since five years. The laughter which used to ring in my head like a bell when I used to hallucinate. The laughter which used to stir magic in the air thus giving energy to my dead soul and dead heart again and again.
The laughter for which I had been living , breathing and the laughter for which I could die too.

I couldn't help myself but stare deeply at those twinkling eyes. As soon as she came out of the class, I unintentionally hid behind the door, to avoid confronting her for now.

The students left the classroom with etiquettes which had been taught with perfection by their teacher and followed her outside towards the waterfall where there was an ice-cream shop built for the tourists.

As usual, I followed them too and sat near the waterfall in such a way that I was not noticeable. She sat on the bench alone and looked at her students with affection as they continued to relish their favourite flavors. Perhaps they were the only reason she was living for. Her deep mysterious eyes were glistening with moisture as she enjoyed watching her ticky packs jumping, running and laughing while enjoying the best days of their lives.

As I silently stared at the woman, who although looked extremely peaceful, but was tired and exhausted internally since ages, I realised that she had indeed built her own separate world, which was hidden from the rest of the world. A world in which there were lots of poor orphans who were living their life to the full and were so happy even with these small blessings as if they were the owners of thousands of fortresses and castles.

And the person who had spread this blissful layer of magic, love and happiness among the less fortunate ones, was the same person who lacked her own.

The person who was responsible of spreading this joy and ecstasy among these little kids, was the one who's life was nothing but just a terrible nightmare. She had killed and wiped her horrible past in order to give these little children a future full of something which she never had. A future full of happiness, blessings and love.

Something which she had stopped believing in, long ago!

Out of all the children, her favourite one came to her and sat by her side in order to accompany her.

"Why aren't you enjoying with the rest Raniya?"

Asked Hooriyah, with curiosity.

"Because I don't like to leave you alone like this."

The little girl smiled like an angel, to which Hoor remained silent.

"Why don't you wear the other one?"

Raniya pointed her little fingers towards her teacher's feet.

"What?" She asked with amazement.

"The anklet?" Asked Raniya.

"Oh, I lost it a year ago. It was my favourite one! My....My Baba gave it to me when I scored the highest in my college!"

There was a lot of pain in those gloomy eyes. My hand unintentionally moved towards the pocket of my leather jacket where I had kept the anklet which I had found in the shrine, a year ago.

"It was really close to my heart. My Baba had bought it with lots of love for me. But ____"

She sighed with grief.

"I will pray to Allah that you get the similar one again!"

Raniya chuckled and kissed her teacher's cheeks and left to play with her fellows who had left the place and went a bit farther inside the forest, thus leaving Hooriyah and me alone with this beautiful and pleasant waterfall.

She bent down and caressed the other anklet while smiling and reminiscing the beautiful days which she had spent under the shelter of her father.

And that's when I decided to face my fear and do what I had been waiting for since five years. My heart started to beat faster as I got up from my place, ready to rectify the mistake which I had done long ago. My body started to get numb while my hands trembled with fear as I took the anklet out of my pocket. Time seemed to slow down while the sound of waterfall started to become more peaceful and quiet. Events from that dreadful night started to appear infront of my eyes as I continued to slowly walk towards the most bitter but still the most beautiful reality of my life.

I was going to face the one for whom I had cried day and night. The one who was the answer of my painful prayers
The one who had changed me. The one who made me meet the real me. The one who had been the reason I was living for since years. The one who was there by my side since we were little. The one who was like my shadow throughout these years. The one who protected me like an angel with her countless prayers . The one who deserved to be with me. The one who was destined to be with me.

The crispy leaves crumbled beneath my feet as I came forward while the cool breeze brushed through my hair, making them a mess. The heart failed to feel anything. The soul started to become overwhelmed with joy as soon as it started to get closer to her elegant existence. The eyes were full of tears of regrets, pain, agony and happiness simultaneously when they realised that they were just a few inches away from her sight.

Without giving another thought, I finally knelt down and placed the other anklet around her foot to which she jolted with fear and moved back while looking at me with an expression which was beyond explainable.

Her eyes widened with horror as she tried to hold herself together, still not able to believe what had just happened infront of her.

"Shahveer?"

A soft and weak whisper escaped her mouth as she looked at me with those magical eyes which were full of disbelief, amazement and unexplainable and startled emotions.

Both of us finally stood up from our places while our gazes never averted from each others face. She was extremely traumatized as if she had just seen a corpse which had been killed brutally. While my eyes were nothing but just a pool of salty tears which began to flow the moment she slowly raised her hand to touch my face so that she could believe that what she had just seen was a reality and not a dream. Tears trickled down her creamy cheeks as she stared at me with sorrow, happiness, love and hatred all at once. She couldn't interpret what was happening.

And that's when my patience faded away and without thinking for a single second, I came closer and immediately enveloped her heavenly fragrance with my warm embrace and hugged her as tightly as I could, wrapping my arms around her fragile body not wanting to leave her so soon, while a storm of tears continued to cascade down both of our eyes as we chose to remain silent and let the tears do the conversation for the next few minutes....💔💔💔