Incandescence

Chapter 9

Anis

I parked the car outside the DesignSoft Studios and looked at the building. It was almost four stories high, with winged windows that gave it an antiquated effect. The paint on the building seemed fresh, as if it had been repainted recently. The first and second stories were painted only while the top stories weren't. I could easily make out the blackened walls on the top floor. That must be Alisha's office, I thought. I turned around at the sound of the car door closing behind me.

Armaan was here.

We had decided to meet at Alisha's office with Shahmir so that we could all go together and meet her. It's been two years since I had seen her and I wanted to see how she had turned out. I had been looking forward to meeting her now but the news that I'd got was too much for me to digest. I wanted to go to the hospital and see her.

"Hey mate!" Armaan said, thumping me on the back. I faced him and greeted him the Islamic way.

"What have you been looking at?" he asked, looking at the top story of the building. He sighed at what he saw.

"The top stories have burnt really bad, by the looks of it." I commented.

"Yeah. Let's get going, Shahmir has been waiting for us." Armaan said as we walked towards the security and entered the lobby. We walked towards the private elevator and pressed the up button. As soon as the lift came, we were on our way to the topmost floor.

Fourth floor

The robotic voice in the elevator spoke and the doors opened. I got my first glimpse of the office that Alisha had created from her sweat and blood. The reception was carpeted in the colors of cream, giving a rather welcoming effect to the whole entrance. Unlike my office, the reception gave an aura of comfort and welcome. Armaan walked towards the receptionist and took him his name. The receptionist smiled pleasantly at him.

"Mr. Shahmir is already waiting for you." She said. "Please follow me." She guided us through a hallway and then stopped outside a door which had name plastered in golden letters on it.

"Please go on." She said and Armaan opened the door. I followed him inside the room and closed the door behind me. This room was decorated in maroon and brown, totally masculine colors. I guess Shahmir had chosen colors that suited him perfectly. There was a large mahogany desk in the center of the room, behind which Shahmir sat. Two screens stood to one side while the other side of the table was filled with two phones. There were three winged armchairs in front of the desk, for his visitors, no doubt. Towards the left corner of the room, there was a small coffee table surrounded by matching mahogany sofas for less formal meetings.

Shahmir stood up from his seat as we approached the tables, greeted us and shook hands with both of us.

"Good to see you, man!" Armaan said as he took a seat. I took the corner seat and sat down.

"Good to see you too. How's Sadaf bhabi?"  Bhabi was the urdu word for sister-in-law. It was customary for friends to call their friend's wife bhabi.

"She's really good. She spends most of her time at the hospital with Alisha, she needs her there."

"I can understand. How is Alisha?" Armaan asked.

"Well, she's on the road to recovery. The doctors are of the opinion that she can make it alright but she's bent on not having plastic surgery. There are many injuries that she got because it was almost thirty minutes into the fire when they found her and gave her medical help."

"She needs all the love and care that you guys can provide her. She will be up on her feet in no time at all." Armaan said.

"I hope so, Armaan. Sadaf is really worried about her. What if she loses her sanity when she sees herself in the mirror? We've been trying really hard to protect her from watching herself but she's now recovering and soon she would walk to a mirror and see herself. I hate to think how she would react."