Shuru hone se pehle,
Khatam ho kahani.
Ab chahe jo maanglo qurbaani.
Mai haazir hoon,
Maanlo sitaaron ki bhool hain.
Tum agar saath ho,
Mujhe har qayamat,
Qubool Hai.
•••

First day of your university.

You are feeling like a fish out of a pond.

Your campus is like a maze.

You are unable to find your class.

Your stupid sister and cousin left you alone.

And you are about to get a panic attack.

This is what Zahra was feeling.

Only five minutes and her first lecture will start, but she couldn't find the classroom.

She was descending the stairs hastily. Unaware that a student had spilled juice on few steps. As she stepped on that slippery stair, she got imbalanced. A shriek left her mouth. She was about to fall on the floor.

Can anything be more embarassing than falling on your face? What if her beautiful face got bruised? Or worse, what if she got hit on her head and lost her memory?

Okay, the last one was bit too much.

However, a pair of arms held her figure, saving her from falling. Like a knight in shining armour came to save his damsel in distress. Oh, how romantic!

Is it a scene from any Bollywood movie? If you think yes, then you are wrong. Because what happened next...

"Zahra..."

She heard him mumbling her name. He wasn't talking to her, but to himself. Like he just reminisced an old memory.

But before she could ask anything, two pairs of arms separated her from him and dragged her away. It was Qainaat and Zania. Both of them were looking for her when they saw her in the arms of a stranger. Thinking that the guy was trying to flirt with her, they took her away from there.

Zahra was still in a state of perplexity. While Qainaat and Zania were busy cursing that guy.

"Aapi, why are you so lost?" Zania asked.

"He knew my name."

"Zahra, he must have heard our conversation while stalking you," Qainaat reasoned.

"But he was wearing an office suit. He wasn't a student." Zahra stated.

"Whatever, just let it go. You are late for your lecture. Let me show you the way." Saying this Qainaat held her arm and showed her the path to the classroom.

But still, Zahra couldn't understand how he knew her name.

Does he know her?

But she saw him for the first time.

This unsettling thought was making her anxious. However, she let it go for some time and continued with her first day at a prestigious British university.

🤍🤍🤍

It was the same evening when Qainaat, Zahra's cousin, entered her elder brother's room with his favorite mango milkshake.

"Qaran Bhai, I have made your favorite milkshake." She put the giant cup in front of him, a nervous smile resting on her face.

Qaran looked at her, surprised. His lazy sister made a milkshake for him. He could not digest this piece of information.

"Don't tell me you have mixed poison in it." He was serious when he asked this question. Qainaat is unpredictable to be exact.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you are crazy." Qaran said like it's very basic fact.

"Bhai, I made a milkshake for you missing my favorite show and you are poking fun of me." She sighed dramatically, just add some dramatic background music and she will fail those soap heroines for sure. Because drama literally flows in her veins.

"Please don't start your drama now. I am drinking it."

Qaran took the names of all the Gods known to the mankind and gulped the drink.

"Wow!"

Qainaat smiled at his remark.

"How's it?" She asked with excitement.

"It is the most terrible milkshake I ever drunk. Next time directly give me poison than giving this torturous drink." He spoke with utter yet bitter honesty.

"I am not that bad at cooking." She defended herself.

"That's true, you are worst at cooking."

"Stop bad-mouthing about your own sister. I'll curse you to go to hell in afterlife," She raised her voice. Come on, her brother was literally mocking her non-existent cooking skills.

"Oh yeah, you are a saint whose curse will have power. Stop watching your shows and learn cooking. Or else your husband will commit suicide soon after marriage."

"Ughh! Don't drag my marriage in it. He knows cooking." She blurted out in irritation. Sometimes elder brothers too get on nerves. Because brothers will brothers, they enjoy troubling their sisters for no reason.

"Who knows cooking?" Qaran asked, quite baffled at what he just heard.

"Umm... I mean I'll marry the guy who knows cooking." Qainaat tried to cover up the mishap but failed miserably.

"No, you said he knows cooking. Means my dear sister has already chosen her groom. Am I right?" Qaran tried to take this revelation easily, because dating isn't a crime. He had himself dated a girl when he was of Qainaat's age.

"I made this milkshake to persuade you to meet him." She admitted sheepishly, because now there was no room of hiding anymore, which was actually good.

"Does anyone else in the family knows about him?"

"No." She shook her head.

"What if I rejected him?"

"It won't happen. Mark my words, once you meet him you won't stop praising him." Qainaat was confident on her words.

"So confident in your choice! Let's meet him then."

🤍🤍🤍

Zania was lying on her bed in a sad mood. Qainaat again mentioned the topic of Qaran and Zahra's marriage to her parents which Zania also heard.

Zania had a soft corner for Qaran since childhood. They had an age gap of eight years. She was only nineteen while he was twenty-seven. So she doubted if he thought of her as his sister. She was never as close to him as he was with Zahra.

However, when she thinks about her sister, Zahra being married to Qaran she doesn't feel emotions like jealousy or heartbreak. A mere crush could never take more importance than her sole sister.

"What are you thinking about, Nia?" Zahra asked while entering her room.

"Qainaat again mentioned the topic of your and Qaran's marriage. Just thinking about that."

"Thinking about Qaran?" Zahra asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Thinking about you and Qaran." Zania clarified her words.

"Oh, but he is like a brother to me, the sole brother I have. I can't think of him in any other way. And I think he likes someone else." It was hard for Zahra to control her grin, her sister was too naive to understand the hidden meaning behind her words.

"Whom? Who is she?"

"You know her very well and you'll get to know very soon."

"Don't create suspense, Aapi."

"She is behind you."

Without thinking Zania turned back but all she could see was her reflection in the mirror.

"Stop joking, Tell me naa!"

"I said the truth. She is present here."

"It's only you and me."

"But she is here. I am going to my room. You keep trying to find her." Saying this Zahra left, leaving Zania in confusion.

Zania got up from bed and bent down to look under the bed. She even checked her closet and bathroom.

What was she exactly trying to do? Her love was making her do stupid things. Will she find Qaran's expected spouse under her bed or inside her closet?

She sighed realizing how foolish she acted and stood in front of the mirror.

"Who is she?" She asked to her reflection, unknown to the fact that she is talking to the one who rules over Qaran's heart.

Is it this much difficult to understand? Or she believes that she doesn't deserve him?

🤍🤍🤍

He was standing under the dark sky. Leaning against his car, alone and baffled.

She was Zahra.

Zahra Ali Khan.

Daughter of Hanzal Ali Khan and Asifa Hanzal Ali Khan.

He could not mistake recognizing the locket she was wearing. He had himself put it around her neck.

She is oblivious to his existence but she was always a part of his life, his world. And now this profound desire has crept inside his heart. He wants to be a part of her life as well.

He lost her once, but not now.
He is a King and she is destined to be his Queen.

"Zahra... I love you."

••••••••••••••••••
Dedicated to seekratt

The credit of chapter-heading 'Heart me' goes to deep_Thinker_01

Hope readers liked it.