Tabaahi

15- Fate

5 years later.

Athena's POV.

I wake up for fajr thirty minutes early to read Quran before praying. As my head hits the prayer mat, instant relief leaves my body.

I know I can start the day with ease now. I make my bed, take a shower, clean up and put on my clothes for work before heading downstairs.

"Good morning Appi" one of the maids, Sabrina says to me just like every morning.

"Morning dear" I reply going to the dining room for breakfast.

"Good morning beta" my dad already here looks at me with a smile.

It's been five years of trying to accept him. The journey has not been easy. I haven't fully accepted him. I have my reasons. However, I respect him because he respects me.

"Morning" I replied taking my usual seat.

"Going to the office?" he asks me as I nodded.

"Is everything okay? Make sure to tell me if something is bothering you" he says this all the time.

He shows care in many ways. Some times it's hard to take. I'm still not used to it.

"I'm okay. I had something to talk to you about..." I said.

In the past five years, I haven't seen my friends at all. And just as I thought I'd be able to keep contact with them, I dropped my phone at the airport that day.

I came to Pakistan and was given a brand new phone. All my contacts stayed in my old broken phone that simply wouldn't work.

I thought it was good that way. I wasn't going to make things hard for any of them and let them be. But a week later, I was desperate to talk to them and I couldn't.

After all, they were all just like a family to me. My first family.

In the five years that I've been living without having them in my life, there isn't a single day I haven't thought about them. About him.

Nathan. I wonder if he's okay. I wonder if he still thinks of me. I wonder if he still loves...no.

I don't deserve to believe in love after what I did. He deserves someone better.

"Good morning dad! Morning little sis!" Fazal cheerfully joined us.

"I don't get how both of you guys are always up and ready for the day before me and Yusuf" he says.

"Good morning everyone" Yusuf arrived just as Fazal mentioned him.

"How are you Yasmina?" he asked me.

Everyone calls me Yasmina but my first name will always stay stuck with me even if it's technically not my first name. In the beginning, I hated it. I felt like they were trying to give me a new identity forgetting that my past is still with me. It won't leave me just because I change my name. But then I realized that it's just a name. It won't change who I am.

Also, they never forced me to do anything. They just wanted to call me by the name I was supposed to have.

"I'm okay bhai" I replied as he smiled at me.

It's still hard to believe I have two brothers. Both of them respect me and treat me as their little sister.

At first, I would ignore them and barely talk to them. But as my father decided that I would work with them in the same company, eventually I got close to them.

Let alone working, I never thought I'd ever work in such a big company. Fazal was right. Everything was going to change once I leave London.

I learned a bit of Urdu. I'm not the best but I manage to have small conversations. Good thing I work with people overseas who are better with English.