Asya FF ~ Now That I've Found You

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Time-out

Zoya wandered into the kitchen only realising a minute later, that wasn't her room. She dragged her sluggish body back and hoped her brain to be numbed by some kind of anaesthetic. She was tired of her thoughts. They were darker than the deep night and settled sorely on every part of her being.

"Miss Faaroqui?"

She let out a small yelp and placed her hand over her heart.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" Asad muttered embarrassed.

"Well, you did six packs" she mumbled to herself. He heard.

"Why are you not in your room?" Asad pretended he hadn't heard the question.

"Would you like some coffee?" he said instead. Zoya raised an eyebrow but agreed.

She sat down at the same spot they had the chat at a night ago; this time facing the garden. She questioned again when he approached "You trying to win at the no sleep Olympics like me, Mr. Khan?"

Asad didn't smile. It was the eyes. Even though she attempted to joke, she carried with her those empty eyes. "No, I just woke up when I felt movement in the kitchen outside."

"Wow, that light a sleeper huh" she sipped on her milky coffee while Asad wondered when he had become such a suave liar.

He couldn't sleep. Not a wink. Not when he knew she couldn't. After coming back from her long walk, she had retired to her friend's room upstairs, but he somehow had the intuition she would be roaming about the garden in the middle of the night. Just like she always did whenever restless.

So, he sat out there, waiting, urging sincerely he was wrong.

"So, how was the walk?"

A small smile slipped her lips "I know what you all are trying to do. Trust me, If I could fall asleep that easy, I would. I am not necessarily enjoying being with my thoughts alone either."

"Then share them" Zoya decided to look him in the eye searching agendas and saw nothing but encouragement. Why was it so easy to tell him?

A few seconds passed by before she spoke "I feel like a kid in time-out whose punishment just wouldn't end. Every time in the past I came face to face with any kind of pain, I would let it give me perspective and then open the front door and invite it to leave." She rested her eyes upon the leaves, fluttering in the open space. "But this is different. It's raw and numbing. The sense of all surroundings keep getting closer and I can't seem to see anything but darkness."

Asad didn't trust his voice to come out even so he waited. He hadn't seen Zoya cry once after that terrible night.

Her family came, sobbed and wept on her shoulders but she didn't. Everyone had sensed her detachment and the only way through solace was to make her feel something again.

He had to break the walls before she built them strong.

"It is challenging in the darkness to shine a light of your own" he whispered; voice soft, eyes on the brilliant moon. "Yet in the short time I have known you, you have managed to do it every time. Not just for yourself but also for me and my family. I have always admired your strength Miss Faaroqui" he looked at her now, eye to eye, both faces shining in the splendid moonlight.

"And a strength like yours never crumbles nor finishes. It might get tired and want to rest occasionally but never cease" Asad noticed a lone tear make its appearance in her eye and continued; his face scooting a little closer "Everyone in this house today is worried for your well-being and happiness. Some went to sleep worried, some couldn't. Some travelled overseas and some sit with you at 3:30 in the morning." Her eyes widened a bit. Asad's fluttered tensely. He knew he'd said too much but he needed to kept going.