Flashback in bold*
The Night has passed in his arms, secure arms with utmost care and love. Love that lingers even in the early dawn as the rays peek behind the clouds, the sun yet to make its presence when she snuggles close to his bare chest, and he wounds his arms in a firm hold around her naked waist.
A smile appears on his face as he slowly opens his eyes, and the first person in his vision is her.
His Love.
His Aarzu.
Usne har dafa sajde pe apni Aarzu kon manga hai
Har waqt usse milte waqt dobara milni ki Aarzu ki hai.
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"Qubool hai"
"Qubool hai"
"Qubool hai"
Words that have sealed their fate that glorious night signing their lives with love. Love that they have for each other for eons. For Zaman Shah had always loved Aarzu Mirza since the moment he got to know what love feels like, what living feels like.
He was trained to be a leader, a Nawab. And in all the chaos he lived in, all the wars he had been through, Aarzu Mirza has always been his home.
"Nikah Mubarak hon Jaanum" A smile and a blush. Happiness was theirs that night.
"Haaye Zaman humari Aarzu toh sharma gayi" Fatemah Shahmir teased her nephew, there's no chance she is leaving, for she had loved Aarzu like a daughter since the moment she was married off to this family.
It was her who get to know about this growing love first and next up to acted fast and in three months, Zaman got his love, Aarzu Zaman Shah. For Fatemah knows loving someone from afar gives one pain, and only that. Love that cursed their lives and there's a war coming their way, before that, these two deserves their share of happiness.
Their share of happiness was snatched right away that night itself.
He walked out of the haweli when Sahir Mirza had killed his brother along with his aunts.
A war had begun.
A heart had been broken next.
"Hume nahi jana hai yaha sey. Amma ap kuch kahe na please." Arzu's plea echoes through the hallway of the huge haweli but remained unheard.
Red eyes.
Red henna clawed hands.
The red lehenga she was wearing.
Uske haathon sey mehendi bhi nah utri thi jab usse uska haq cheena gya.
Uske mohabbat ko cheena gya
"Humara huqum hai key Arzu ap ab iss ghar mein nahi reh sakti" Nawab Zaman Shah had told his verdict. He had written their faith with pain.
"Hum nahi jana chahte. Hum biwi...."
"Filhal key lia ap yeh bhul jaye ap hamari kya hai. Filhal key lia ap yeh yaad rakhe apko London jana hai"
YOU ARE READING
Scrambled Tales
Short StoryMain ne har bar tujh se milte waqt tujh se milne ki aarzu ki hai tere jaane ke baad bhi main ne teri Khushbu se guftugu ki hai We all have a story we never told anyone. A collection of Short Stories.
