I woke up at a very unearthly hour. Unable to find sleep again I padded over to the bathroom and performed wudhu to pray thahajjud. After offering my prayers I asked dua to make me successful in what I was doing. I knew revenge is what I am after. And it disturbed me a lot that my conduct is against family. Against my own father. I asked Allah to guide me to do the right thing. Meaning if this wasn't the right thing to do, I prayed Him to sway me from it. I stayed awake and prayed Fajr after azaan.

Beep

I almost smiled. Though I didn't feel one bit like it. Sure enough, when I checked it was a message from Shohrd.

Ready? Be there in 10😘

I threw on a long tee that came upto my mid thigh. Pulled on a pair of tights and put on a pair of grey sneakers. I wrapped a scarf tightly around my head so that my hair stayed safely intact inside it and skipped down.

It's my habit to drink a huge glass of warm water every morning. Yeah that is right. If anything, I am very health-conscious. I was imagining Winnie snorting at that statement.

Accept it Zoya. You're just worried about your skin. If you look ugly Shohrd won't like you anymore.

I almost heard her voice saying it.

Well it is partly true though. The skin part. Not the Shohrd part.

I heard Shohrd's car honking and ran out. Winnie most obviously called it one of our love escapades. That woman will be the death of me. But it is just that I joined Shohrd in jogging each morning.

Correction: each weekday morning. Weekends are for beauty sleep.

Shohrd drove to the central park. He parked the car while I strteched. And then we made our laps.

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Shohrd dropped me off at home after an exhausting morning workout. How ever when I went inside, the reception awaited me was a most welcome surprise.

Mr.Affan was helping himself to a steaming mug of coffee, from the smell of it, which I assume Winnie made him, though she seemed to have vapourised at the moment.

Did I mentioned she knew where I hid the spare key?

"Affan uncle!!!!!!" I exclaimed at the sight of him. Before he got a word or even had time to exhale I breathed , "give me 10 minutes. I'll be presentable enough" and sprinted up the stairs.

I replayed the conversation with Mr.Affan on my mind repeatedly. I thought of it while I drove to college. I thought of it in between each class. I thought of it in the girls' restroom. I am thinking about it right now while the Professor Macduff drawled on and on about legal approaches to domestic violence.

Flashback:

Winifred leaves early as if to give me and Mr.Affan some privacy. He ponders deeply at I-don't-know-what and walks to the floor length window, with his coffee mug. His eyes were far far away. Almost as if he were seeing another life time.

"Do you know how much your mother meant to me"?

He sighed. I thought his sigh was plaintive.

"Beautiful. Full of life. Her aura alone would light a room."

He broke out of his trance. Like he suddenly remembered my company.

"And you look so much like her. You are the only living memory she left me with. I can't loose you too."

I felt like my voice ran away. "You won't", was all I could whisper.

He looked at me. A troubled, worrisome look. Full of concern.

"Listen Zoya. We both know what you want. But I don't want you to be hurt in anyway. And neither does your mother".

He looked out of the window again.  Breathing heavily.

"Do you really have to do this?" I heard his voice ask.

"I really have to do this". My voice was steady.

He gave me a long look of contemplation. Something on my face changed his expression.

"Very well. As you wish then. But you are not alone in this. You will remeber that won't you"?

"I will".

And he enclosed me in a hug. I don't know which of us comforted the other. But it was for the loss of the same person.

Same person. Two different kinds of love. Two completely different levels of relationship.

Love. It was strange. So was the extremeties it brought out in people.

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He guided me through the door to a room I've never seen before. It was huge, sophisticated and colourful. I felt like I was in Google headquarters

It was a whitewashed room with a white floor and white ceiling. Kept cosy with the air conditioner, it was vast.

Very vast.

There were blue vintage chairs here and there and a blue couch set which had red, yellow and green cushions. Like in the Google logo. Amidst it was a black coffee table. They all rested on a dull grey carpet thick enough to sleep. It was a very vibrant and homey sight to swallow.

Vibrant because of the colors and ventilation.

Homey because of the figure sitting at the coffee table, his head with a mop of thick black spiky hair bent over a sheaf of contrasting white papers.

A feeling of warmth welled inside me.

Shezaad looked up to see his intruders. When I made no move, he gestured me to a seat opposite him.

On the way here I ran into a surprise by the name Shaun. He was leaning against the stairway staring into blank space. So when he straightened at my sight, the only viable conclusion to conjure up was that he was waiting.

For me.

He stood when reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi", he seemed a little hesitant. Maybe even nervous. I smiled at him warmly. So as to ease the tension.

"Hey", I replied in a much more light hearted tone. He visibly relaxed. His shoulders loosing all the tension.

"I was um...sort of waiting for you".

I laughed.

He seemed a good guy. I didn't trust people at all. But my gut feeling about him made me feel at ease.

"I figured that already".

I took the stairs together with him.

"So what beans did you want to spill?"

"I wanted to say thanks and....sorry".

I looked at him confused. He seemed kind of embarrassed. With his hands shoved inside his jean pockets.

"We first piped in to sort of mock you.......that day. But.....you made it into an opportunity and gave us back just that....with dignity", he got that last bit out with difficulty I noticed.

Boys and them being unemotional. I kind of found it very sweet that he still took the time to tell me that.

I wanted to put him out of his misery.

"Oh that's okay. It's all in good humour", I smiled at him tentatively.

"And a little pre-warning. Don't take my brother seriously. He can be a...", his nose crinkled as he found it hard to come up with a word to describe his brother. I found his expression so comical that we both burst out laughing as we landed on the next floor.

Shaun moved to plop unceremoniously on the seat opposite to Shezaad. Like he owned the place.

With a jolt I realised maybe they actually did. The room dominanted blue. And it had the rich twist, with the huge flat screen on one wall along with the elegant PlayStation, that these prats surely had no problem affording.

I took a seat and pored over the various scattered papers.

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We were as busy as bees in college. We had exams and tons of very tiring, boring and tenacious reading to get through with. The other kids had their business matters to deal as most of them would be taking over at the end of this year or in the earliest next.

Shezaad was one of them. 

This particular male species was also a subject of conversation and my ears were tired of listening to it from various points of view. Like certain things he had to do before taking over Blue Isle. Handle an international project, visit the seven main countries where their business was spread the most, buy a new car, walk around in a skirt, spank a cat. Like what the fuck!

I was thinking all these in yet again another organizing committee meeting. Rona"s bluff was wearing me out so I decided to zone out a bit, but what I didn't realize was that I was looking at Shezaad while these thoughts swam around my head with my cheek on my plam.

So when Roger asked me something I didn't hear him. I saw Shezaad's navy blue eyes pierce my eyes. That's when I sat up straight. I looked around to see the Shaun's eyes wide, Tammy's eyes worried, Roger's held some really deep triumphant humour and finally Rona's looked like I'd end up a puddle on the road.

I raised my brows as bluch crept up my face and the tips of my ears felt warm.

AHEM.

Someone cleared their throat. I didn't have to look up to know who it was.