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Zahan's pov.

Last time I saw this building was when I came here with my friend who had some business this so called miss mahtab and i hadn't even bothered to go inside the meeting room with him since it was his work and i didnt want to intrude. Today it's me who brought a proposition for miss mahtab's business, i would say that i'm impressed at how big this company and its name is and to think that i'd be here asking her to buy shares in my company to take it to the top was something i had never thought.

That's the thing i never thought this day would come but here it is and i'm not sure as to what to think of this moment, my breathing is uneven. My hands are slowly turning numb and as her assistant guides to the vice president's office i could only wonder if this was a good decision, maybe i should avoid her, maybe i should just forget all that had found out and stay where i am not knowing that every movement off mine is being scrutinized and looked after.

The realization of all the things that had been going in my favor for this long makes my throat close, how close has she been to me all along and all I was naive enough to believe she had gone somewhere far. My eyes darted from one point to another in hopes of getting a glimpse of her but why? That's not why I'm here, I may want to keep her in my sight but the affection was something I couldn't recall any longer.

Was she just a memory I wanted to reminisce about or was I really craving the sight of her because I missed her?

You don't miss someone you hate zahan.

I blinked once before smiling at the man who had forwarded his hand towards me in greeting and I no longer kept checking on how the time passed and how I conversed, all I knew was that my thirty minutes were over and the man seemed pleased to hear all that I had to offer.

“Your proposition sounds promising and it has the stats to back it up, i'll discuss this with the ceo and talia will get in touch with you” ahmed said and i nodded my head, business meetings were exhausting even if they were as short as thirty minutes.

Talia the lady in a black skirt and white blouse smiled politely and I responded with something similar,  think. As I was walking out of the meeting room a wave of nostalgia hit me and I shuddered, not too long ago we were working under the same roof with Chacho as our boss and her as the assistant manager. I had to admit the situation was ironic as now I was the guest looking forward to cracking the deal with her to expand the business we had wished to succeed.

Ms.talia was saying something and I had zoned out half of the things she was saying probably because I had to pick Holly up from the vet and get her home soon, only god knew how much she must've suffered because of that skin condition. I am partially to be blamed but it's my first time owning a pet and being a parent is hard especially to a very shy adult cat.

“It was nice meeting you” I said , shaking hands with them and making my way to the door when a commotion was heard. My eyes were blinded by how bright the camera flashes were as a group of men in black escorted the woman inside the building.

Her face was covered with the same black mask she had always worn and her eyes were shielded by a pair of big sunglasses. What did she have that she tried to hide desperately?

A part of my heart burned at the sight of her but that could also have been the exhaustion of wanting to get out of this place to begin with, not to mention the stomach problem I was given as a family heritage. God the acidity.

In these seven years there were many things I had mastered, moving on from things I didn't like was one of them. I would be lying to myself if I said I had always moved on this quickly because I didn't, I just ignored the pain till it eventually stopped existing in my mind not knowing if it had actually been healed with time or I had just gotten used to it.

Footsteps followed behind me as I walked closer to the group of people walking inside, I could feel eyes on me as I walked to the other end of the lobby and when I finally looked up I found myself staring right back at the woman with the shades facing me.

I could tell she had her eyes on me the whole time I had walked out and I couldn't help but gulp as I reached my car. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply when someone shouted my name.

"Zahan bey" Talia, I guess , was running after me as fast as she could in her heels with something in her hand. It looked like—.

It looked like my new bookmark. I forgot I had it in my pocket.

This situation wasn't as embarrassing as I felt it to be and the way she was panting made it all worse. Poor girl had to run a marathon to get to the parking lot ten steps away.

"You… you dropped this…" she said, heaving up and down… desperate for some air in her lungs.

"Ah…" I let out a breath nodding as I took it from her with an awkward smile. To me it is as awkward but she was grinning as if we've known each other our whole lives.

"Thanks" I said , shoving the resin bookmark in my pocket once again.

"Ma'am saw it falling out of your pocket when you were putting your phone inside so she asked me to hand it over to you."

She did have her eyes on me.

"Give my thanks to her as well" I said with a nod and unlocked my car.

"You—" the sound of her hesitant voice made me stop in my tracks as I was about to get inside the car and made me look at her with a raised brow.

"Yes?" I asked after her long pause and the girl flushed red while scratching her nape.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go have a coffee with me?" She asked in a single breath and all I could do was stare at her in disbelief.

I came here for a business opportunity not a date, but she didn't exactly ask me for a date, it's just coffee.

Why would she ask me to have coffee with her? We've barely met twice.

"It's okay if you're busy I understand" she added, rather hurriedly than I expected but she's been doing unexpected things ever since I met her.

"I—" I was at a loss for words, it's harmless coffee but I've been having too many human interactions to deal with another one this soon.

While looking around to come up with a suitable excuse for her my eyes landed on the woman who was talking to the vice president who had just seen me off, her eyes lifted and moved to where I was and I looked back at Talia who has been staring at me for quite some time now.

"Sure." I said looking back at her, who had walked away without much thought. Dejections settle in my stomach as I turn my gaze back to the big eyes staring at me still with a spar in them.

“Amazing” she exclaimed, almost jumping at her spot and I nearly declined her offer at how excited she seemed. “Let's go” she said and I frowned.

“Right now?” I asked as I felt her pulling me with me. My face must really look funny as the passersby nearly snicker at me.

“Are you not free right now?” she stopped and i stared wide eyed. How do things like these go? What is happening?

“I thought you were asking for some other time” i said and her mouth fell open as she came to the realization, talia nodded before letting go of my sleeve.

“Sorry, I—” she paused and the color from her face drained slightly.

“Let's reschedule this for when the deal is sealed” i said in a lighter tone than usual to stop her from sulking.
“Good idea” she chirped, the embarrassment still visible on her face and in a matter of five minutes we had exchanged pleasantries and she was on her way to her office.

“God” I sighed , bending forward a little to heave a deep breath, the day had just begun and i'm already exhausted.

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Night had fallen upon us like a dark cloak, the calm had started to take over my senses as I walked by the shore. Hamza had done a great job at convincing me to buy this house the moment he realized I was about to buy a house of my own. He had flown from Pakistan to Turkey to help me choose a suitable place to live. Otherwise I may or may have not settled for an apartment in the city, not the one storey home at the outskirts.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I smiled seeing the contact number, Ammi.

“Hello, assalamualaikum” I spoke the moment the phone was answered and the warm voice of my mother filled my ears.

“Kaisa hai mera beta?” she asked and I smiled at her unchanging speech.
(hows my son)

“Bilkul theek hai aapka beta '' I replied, earning words of gratitude from her. My heart felt heavy as it yearned to spill the truth of these past seven years to her but it all had to wait, I can't put her in the spot like that.
(your son is all good)

“Aur woh kaisi hai?” she asked and my heart nearly stopped, who is she talking about?
(how is she?)

“kon?” I asked , feeling my blood rushing in my veins at a threatening speed.
(who?)

“Holly '' she said and I nearly laughed at her tone and also my stupidity of letting that woman roam my thoughts after all she did to me.

“She's fine, it's a viral infection, she'll be fine in a few days” I briefed her about my cat Holly that I had just adopted a few days back and she was already the highlight of my day.

“That's good” ammi said and i could see her nodding her head and that only made me want to go back home to her and lay my head in her lap to relax, away from all the revelation, pain and people who have been hiding the biggest truth of my life from me.

Sometimes I wonder if life had been playing tricks on me? Perhaps a prank that has been going on for so long it doesn't even seem fake anymore. Maybe it's all just a hallucination and I'm only zoned out, daydreaming for so long that it's been years and I've been living the same boring story line for ages.

The phone call was short, as always. Ammi never knew what to say to me after all that had happened and after I had woken up to an empty heart. My chest rose as I breathed in the cold ear that chilled my nose and made me cough, not the best way to describe this beautiful winter that i can't bare but it's beautiful.

With all that going on in my mind I think of Holly. The orange cat that's been living with me since a week or so and she has opened up to me batter than some people who hadn't in years. Her meows and unnecessary biting habits were keeping my mind occupied and it's been going good.

With every step i take towards my house I feel another set of feet filling me close, the man in a black hat and polished shoes, who's face I've failed to see everytime has been my shadow since I've grown aware of the spies that have been unleashed upon me.

Huh. She can hire a billion bodyguards but can't come and face me. Coward.

"Why don't you just—" I turned around hastily to confront the man behind me but…. There was no one, he knew that i knew that he's there but he's always hiding.

It was as if I hadn't heard the gravel crunch under his shoes. My eyebrows furrowed and I turned around while shaking my head, am I really hallucinating?

I scoffed and kicked a pebble out of my way that landed on the tinted window of a car parked across from me, I flinched. Naturally you can't just stand still if you hit a random and expensive looking car with a rock and it starts blaring the alarm.

"What happened?" A man stepped in his fifties? Early sixties? Came in my view from around the car and I had to gulp the nerves down.

His salt and pepper hair was pulled back sleekly, with dress shirt fit him perfectly and the Rolex on his wrist screamed perfection. I've never seen him around before, come to think of it I've never come to this part of the town before.

"I'm sorry sir. It was an accident" i said, joining my hands apologetically. And the man looked me up and down, his gray eyes held a sense of arrogance and years of experience in them.

"It's… it's okay. I don't see much damage" he said assessing the car and I smiled crookedly.

"Stop smiling like a creep" he commented and I cleared my throat slightly offended at being called a creep.

"Leave the boy be, Zalaan. Our flight is in about half an hour" a lady spoke from behind him and I leaned to have a look at her but what i saw made my heart stop for a moment.

There she was.

Zo—

The lights on the front porch turned off the moment my eyes laid on her and I jumped back coming across the man with gray eyes leaning his head in Front of me.

"Quit staring at my wife and daughter" he spoke and a shiver ran down my spine at the gravity of his tone.

His daughter?

I… I must've mistaken it then.

"Sorry sir" i said walking away from the man hastily, giving one last glance at the closed door and the lady walking down the steps. My head is playing games with me now, Zoya doesn't exist.

Mahtab does.

And dead or alive she means nothing to me.

"How can you foolishly bring him to my doorstep?!" The woman seethed at the man in black standing before her with his head hanging low.

"First his visit to my office and then this"

"Sor—"

"Sorry, my foot. I've given you one job to keep him safe and away from me. You couldn't bother giving me a call?" The bulky man nearly flinched at how deep and loud her voice sounded in the study room, the things on the table rattled as her palm made contact with the desk.

"Won't happen again—"

"You won't be needed for next time. You're fired."

"Ma'am —"

"Out" she yelled and the man left with a bow of his head.

Zoya dropped on the chair behind her and pinched the bridge of her nose, her headache had gotten worse.

First his surprise visit to her office and then Merzia and her husband showing up to her house to check up on her. By no means did she felt bothered by her mentors coming to meet her but these were way too many visitors in one day.

Merzia was the reason Zoya knew Zalaan and Zalaan shah was the reason Zoya knew how to keep her enemies in a chokehold.

Broken, lost and desperate. Zoya had shown up to Merzia's office one day and the couple had taken her home.

They kept her in their apartment somewhere in the city of Karachi and hid her so well that Arbaz's hunting dogs couldn't even trace her scent. It took her months to recover and years to learn how to tame the hounds who were hungry for her blood.

And now.

There was no one that could stop her, no one that could bring her down, except.

The one man she couldn't be brave enough to face.

Zahan Alam Khan. 

Assalamualaikum guys.

How are you all doing?

So here's an update, after ages. I know.. i know...

I hope you enjoy it and let's hope i update more frequently than this 😂.

Do comment and let me know what you think about this chapter.

Love,
Hafsa