شرر Sharar

Fifty-Eight

Before starting the chapter, I wanna say a huge thank you to fictophilicbrowngirl she is literally my saviour. I was sick from past few days and I had written this chapter but had no energy to edit this, and this beautiful hooman here edited this for me, thank you so much, Janan, I really appreciate it🥺❤️

•••

Shyra Zehra Kazim was the only daughter of her parents. While being the only child made her the apple of her parents' eyes but it made her an introvert. She grew up liking her own company. Her surroundings might also have contributed to her introversion.

Grouping among cousins on the basis of age is not something new and such grouping also existed within the haveli. Kaif, Ayla, and Rehnuma used to argue a lot but at the end of the day they made the perfect duo. Harmless fights did not really influence their closeness.

Similarly, Kabir and Hanan were age-fellows and used to goof around together, never including anyone in their games and always pulling pranking on others.

This left behind Ayat and Shyra. Although Ayat was the same age as her, yet Shyra never got together with her very well. maybe Ayat's whiny nature irritated Shyra which hindered their grouping. How can one be such a crybaby? Cry over petty stuff? And that's why Shyra used to keep her distance from Ayat.

Her mother's attitude also forced her to become reserved. Hamna, like any mother, wanted Shyra to be the centre of everyone's attention. Shyra started hating crowd and would likely stay in her room.

She did get close to Rehnuma and they became closer after Arsalan was born. Rehnuma needed someone to look after Arsalan whenever she used to visit and Shyra liked watching after kids.

Now something surprising had happened as she had started forming a bond with someone else — Kabir.

The calm but mischievous guy was making his way into her heart effortlessly. She didn't realise when or how this happened.

Did this happen when they were kids? Or this feeling was new? She couldn't figure it out. All she knew was now he holds her heart in his hands and she cannot complain.

•••

Shyra sat in the lounge, snacking on potato chips, her skin showing different colours as the scenes an old film reflected upon it, but her eyes were somewhere else.

Passing by Shyra, Hamna saw her looking into empty space and eating chips.

"Shyra, kaha gum ho?" She stopped by her.

(Shyra, where are you lost?)

Her voice startled Shyra as she looked up at her mother.

"Ku... kuch bhi nahi." Putting the packet away, Shyra cleaned her hand.

(No... nothing.)

Hamna passed her a weird look.

"Kuch hua hai?" Hamna sat down beside her and picked up the remote to change the channel.

(Did something happen?)

"Nahi toh."

(No.)

"Tum inn dino bohot ghumsum si lag rahi ho, apni maama se toh share karo." Hamna surfed through the channels.

(You seem lost these days, talk to your mum.)

In the end, Hamna turned off the television as she couldn't find anything good to watch and turned all attention towards her daughter.

Shyra on the other hand was silent. What was she supposed to tell her mother? That she liked Kabir? Hamma would surely throw a fit.