Fizah

درد|Dard

 اس ناچیز دنیا سی لڑکی کیا پانی کی امید کرون
مین اپنی خدا سی لڑکی آیا ہون تیری سلامتی کی خاطر

Fizah wouldn't lie, the ride to the bureau was excruciatingly painful after Zahid told the media off by saying he would release tapes of them abusing their power on him. Having no such tape was another catch as he never shifted his focus anywhere closer to the leeches that called themselves the servants of truth. They– he was still needed in the bureau to register whatever he had to say to them, for it was clear he got them out. He was charged with defamation for publicly releasing videos and other proof of his father's ugly truth. It did hurt the wrongdoers, no doubt why it would and he was ready to face it all because he knew this was coming. Was defamation a part of what he had been executing? Probably not. But he did know something would pop out of a barren land to wither him. He knew. He was way too sure of it.

"You've left your mouth behind." Fizah tried to engage him in a conversation– rather a rant to keep him from fuming. He looked away from the road and glanced at her for a brief second before he turned his attention back on the road.

"A candy, maybe?" She took out a mint candy from her bag and held it out to him.

Zahid growled, appalled, "Anything but this." He pushed it away from his face, earning a laugh from her. No doubt, she knew he had immediately taken a dislike after trying it with Hamza and having his throat burning from the strong taste.

"The resemblance is uncanny!" She fanned her face while sniffing. He narrowed his gaze at her and found her feigning tears.

"To what?"

"To the fish Ayda and I raised back in the day." The car took a screeching halt at what she said. Her words, shifting his entire attention on her.

"Raised?"

"Yes, for two weeks."

"No, I mean how exactly do you raise a fish?" Zahid had no clue where this talk was going and he didn't see the need to talk about a dead fish that she raised when they were in the orphanage.

"In a fishbowl, obviously but a sleepy Hamza broke it by pushing it down from the table."

Zahid stared at her in mortification, only seconds away from cracking up. The twinkle that his eyes obtained before a fit of laughter was coming back to claim their position on them. The look that she admired from a very long time– long before they even fell in love. A few months ago when she had newly joined the company, she would have refused to sit in the same car as him and make him laugh even if someone had offered a million but now, it was natural. It was way too natural as though it was where she belonged– right next to him and under his warmth.

Even though he laughed, this was the livid Zahid everyone feared. The one that took the world by storm after stepping into the industry and climbing his way up high, the one who had known and had access to every little secret of his rivals and enemies and used only when needed, the one that lived off others' misery and he was willing to pay a price for it. A price he would pay to keep his wife far away from the battlefield.

Fizah stared out, startled by the horrifying breaking and the shattering of the glass. The minuscule shatters fell right on her lap, piercing her skin here and there while Zahid remained unfazed– his face portraying no reactive approach. The mint candy dropped to her feet and a cover of shatters laid over it. The look he bore was empty. The look that he bore months ago when she had laid her eyes on him for the first time. Bile rose to her throat seeing the blood gush out in beads and reminding her of all that she had been through in the past.