Stairway to Heaven

4. Harsh realities

Mateen stepped down the last of stairs and made way down the long hallway towards the main door, when a stern voice greeted him.

"Mateen—" His father's grave voice coming from the dinning room, caused him to immediately halt in his steps. He stood in his place silently; contemplating his next move, for the smallest fraction of a second. Even though he clearly knew, what his most obvious course of action was.

Exhaling a long sigh, he turned on his heel and began walking towards the dinning room, where his Dad was having his breakfast; with Azeem, his personal secretary telling him about his agendas for the following day.

"Good Morning, Dad." He greeted while standing in the doorway. Shahid Abbasi, didn't bother sparing his only son a glance and continued cutting into his toast.

"Good Morning. Come have breakfast." He suggested plainly, right before turning to Azeem about cancelling some meeting, he'd just informed him about.

"I am alright, Dad. I'll have something from cafe—" Mateen remarked blankly; trying to dodge any unwanted conversation which might arise from this sitting and looked for a way out, but just as he had begun to turn away, Shahid Abbasi sharply snapped his gaze to meet his son's.

Immediately, Mateen dropped all efforts to fight back and exhaled a short sigh, while pulling out his chair. He began pouring himself some juice, whilst his Dad conversed with his secretary.

"How's med school? Are you studying properly or just wasting your time in bunking and girls?" Shahid Abbasi asked indifferently without looking at him; his gaze fixated to the stock exchange News going on the TV. Mateen nodded his head, while gulping down his sip.

"It's alright. The studies aren't too hard and most teachers are okay." He answered in a bored tone, lacking any emotion; while following his Dad's gaze towards the TV.

"Do you know Hajra Sajjad?" The inquiry was done in an indifferent tone; yet, Mateen had choked on his drink. Shahid watched this unexpected reaction with growing interest, while Mateen quickly grabbed for some napkins to wipe his mouth.

"Who? The scholarship girl?" He asked finally in a horse voice, trying to regain his composure. For a moment, he wondered if his father had found out everything. He couldn't immediately wrap his head around this unexpected development.

Nobody but Ammar and Isra knew about it and he knew for sure, he could expect secrecy from them. So the only other plausible explanation could be some spy planted by his Dad, to monitor his activities. Mateen wouldn't have been surprised if that would've been the case.

Shahid eyed his son thoughtfully for a moment, while chewing on the last of his meal.

"Yes. I've been hearing good things about her—From a lot of people." Shahid finally broke the silence in a blank tone; while wiping the corners of his mouth. And he most definitely didn't fail to catch the barest hint of emotion crossing his son's face at mention of that peculiar girl's name.

"Not sure. Haven't talked to her myself—" Mateen returned disinterested, returning his gaze to the TV. Shahid regarded his mystery of a son with growing suspicion, but didn't say anything about it.

"I want to hear better things about my son, rather than some girl who's there on a grant. Do you understand, what I am saying?" The gravity of his tone, made Mateen turn to face his Dad, but failed to garner any coherent emotion from him.