But the most beautiful thing in life are not just things.
They're people, and places, memories and pictures.
They're feelings and moments and smiles and laughter.

__________________________

"Baji aao na (come) let's go out. Koi nai hai ghar me (nobody is at home)" he told her sweetly. Almost pleadingly. She thought for a while and agreed to the cute puppy face her little cousin brother made.

But she was scared. What if her khala finds out. She would be dead. She couldn't afford another round of beating.

But then she looked at her cousin brother again. Maybe she could live freely for once after staying inside or rather being caged inside for the past 3 months.

She thought for a while. She couldn't go out of the house as someone might see her. So she told sajid that they could go to the terrace. He was sad for a bit but then nodded in affirmative.

The terrace had a door and it would always be locked. Her khala had locked it as she didn't want any burglars at home. They took the keys from the key stand and started climbing the stairs.

Sajid was chirpy as always. He would entertain her with his little stunts and talks. He would always talk and talk but he remained the quite opposite infront of his mother and siblings.

They opened the door. It was evening time around 5pm. The sun cast a rosy hue across the sky. The terrace shimmered with the heat of the sun. It felt serene to witness the sun and feel the heat of it after so long.

The buildings were very close to each other. One could jump from one terrace to another. They both were strolling on the terrace when they heard the next door being shut loudly. Someone came running on the terrace.

She saw a guy almost of her age coming to his side of terrace. He had tears flowing down his cheeks. She felt bad for him. She could imagine her own brother.

"Nadir bhai!! Kya hua? Aap Aise?" sajid rushed to the other side of the terrace leaving her alone.

That Nadir guy bent down on his knees and started crying hysterically. She felt bad for him. She didn't know what he was going through but she did feel bad for him. She was always around bubbly and chirpy people. But sadly her own life had turned upside down in the past 3 months.

She moved to the other side of the terrace and jumped on their side. It was almost on the same level, so it wasn't difficult to go to the other side. She knew she was intruding others privacy but she couldn't help it much. She went and sat infront of him just like sajid was sitting but maintaining a little bit of space between them.

She didn't know how to even console.

He looked up and she could see his blood shot eyes. She could feel tears starting to form in her own eyes. Maybe because she could understand his pain?

He saw a stranger and wiped his tears. He didn't like crying in front of people. Which is why he had left his house and had come to the terrace to get some privacy. But he found sajid with a girl almost of his age.

"Nadir bhai? Kya hua hai? Aap ro Kyun rahe ho" sajid asked sadly. He had seen his Nadir bhai cry for the first time.

Sajid had just been like Nadir. Always playing pranks on others. Irritating the neighbors. Standing on the terrace and throwing water balloons on the passerby. Playing cricket and yelling on the roads while playing.

"Kuch nai Sajid. I just got to know the biggest truth of my life. And it pains like hell" he told sajid and whispered the last part and stood up, but it was clearly heard by Faikha. Sajid couldn't understand what he was saying.

Nadir saw Faikha and he looked back at the little boy, as if asking who is she.

"Ye Meri cousin hai. Faikha baji. She has been staying with us for the past 3 months" sajid being himself blurted out. Nobody knew that someone extra was living in the house. Her khala wouldn't even let Faikha come out of her room when she would have guests at home.

"3 months? But I haven't seen her before. Not even yesterday when I came to take the ball" he asked sajid.

Sajid bit his tongue realising his mistake of blurting out. His mother had asked him to keep quiet and not let anyone know about Faikha. She thought that people would fall for her beauty and ignore her own daughter Shaziya.

"Uh yes. I'll just go get some water. Bye" saying this Sajid ran off. Leaving them all alone. Faikha felt a little awkward staying alone on the terrace with a stranger. But then she saw his face turning gloomy again. So she thought of asking him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she slowly asked him as soon as Sajid went down to get a glass of water for his favorite friend Nadir bhai.

He turned to her and she saw that he still had tears brimming his eyes.

"You can talk to me. Your secret will be safe with me" she said giving him a small smile.

Haram. The back of her mind whisper yelled at her. But she had learnt from her mother to always care about people and she couldn't just ignore him.

"Just think like you are talking to a friend Nadir" she told him. He looked at her when she told his name. Maybe she caught it when sajid was calling her.

He looked at her. She looked almost his age. Maybe they could be friends He didn't know if he could share it or not. But when he saw the pleading look in her eyes, without even thinking he blurted it out.

"I just got to know I'm adopted" and just like that, tears started to flow again. He was feeling helpless crying in front of a stranger.

She felt like a bomb was dropped on her shoulders. She felt pity for him as he got to know about it.

"How?" come on Faikha that's not important. He is crying here and you are asking how. Her subconscious scolded her.

" it's okay. I'm here. Please don't cry" she tried consoling him. But she knew she was really bad at it and was failing miserably.

"I was looking for some documents for making passport when I saw my birth certificate. It had names of different people along with my name. I went to my parents and they told me the story. Well adopted parents actually" he told her the incident which happened few minutes ago in his house. He had yelled at his parents and brother for hiding such a big thing from him.

"Look nadir I know how it feels to lose parents. I had been through it 3 months ago. I have lost both my parents" He immediately looked at her. He had a shocked look on his face. Lost both her parents? How?

The girl consoling him was in much greater pain than him right now. Though he hadn't seen his real parents but she had lived with them for about 17 years he guessed. He still did have his adopted parents to look after him. But he could make out she was all alone, he could make out the way she was staring in space with a longing look.

"At least you have someone who cares for you. Maybe they didn't want you to be hurt and suffer just like the way you are doing it right now. Maybe they care a little too much to hurt you with the truth" she said looking at him. It was like he had been thinking about what she had just said. Every part of it being true.

"Okay tell me one thing" he nodded his head asking her to continue.

" Did they ever treat you like an outsider? Don't they love you?" she asked him. He immediately shook his head in a no.

He thought about all the best moments he had in his life. They way they treated him with love and care. He was the little one of the house and never ever did his parents raise a hand at him or let alone raise his voice at him.

He was treated like the little gem of the family. His brother always took care of his needs and demands. Never letting him down.

Was it really worth it fighting for it? Was it really worth it arguing with them who had raised him well?

Maybe she was right.

He immediately regretted it. He shouldn't have locked the house from outside and ran to the terrace. He could have sat like an adult and spoken about it. But the kid inside of him was hurt. He was hurt because they hid it from him. But then he realised that he would have reacted the same way as he did right now.

She could see that he had realised that his parents loved him and cared about him.

"Not everyone have parents Nadir. Take care of what little is left with you. Or else the society will not treat you good enough. Love them and cherish them Nadir" she said almost wiping her tear stricken face.

He felt like she was hiding something. Their was more to her side of the story.

He asked her and she told him about her khala and the way she and her children (except for sajid) treated her. She also told him about her twin brother.

"Alhamdulillah for all that I have now and I trust my lord and know that everything will be fine one day Nadir" she gave him a smile as bright as the sun.

A pair of light blue orbs were observing the duo.

She could feel someone was burning holes at her back and she immediately turned wishing it not to be her khala. And while doing this her veil slipped off on her shoulder.

She heaved a sigh of relief realising it wasn't her khala but she found a young man maybe in his early twenties standing at the stairs and observing the duo. She immediately covered her head with the veil that had slipped off.

Nadir followed her direction of eyes and saw his elder brother standing on the stairs. Sahil.

He immediately stood up and ran to him, crushing him into a tight hug. Almost making him fall.

"Sahil bhai!  I'm sorry for the way I reacted but it was a little too much for me. I realise my mistake and I'm sorry bhai" be started sobbing again on his shoulder. Faikha smiled at the duo.

Sahil was shocked as he thought that Nadir would be angry at him and even yell at him but he was being the quite opposite of it. He patted his back and again looked back at the girl standing in front of him. He had never seen her.

Sajid came to the terrace with a bottle of water and ran to Nadir and gave him the bottle. Sahil was still looking at her and she also was looking into his light blue orbs. They were mesmerizing and she felt like they were trapping her soul in it.

They heard the sounds of a vehicle and sajid pulled Faikha along with him and ran downstairs. It was his mom and they could catch them red handed. So they immediately ran and Faikha broke the eye contact with the stranger.

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Assalamu alaikum lovely readers
Hey, how are y'all doing?

I'm okayish after getting vaccinated and instead of resting here I am updating for y'all who were waiting for the update.
So I'm expecting a lot of votes and comments on this chapter.

Don't kill me for this kefimysa and congrats on 500 Lee jaan LihaMirza💜❤💜❤💜

Next update on the weekend.

Anyways new entry. Let's see what happens next.

Till then. Stay safe and keep smiling.

~Zoe.