Ek Nayaa Aaghaaz - A sequel to Yakeen ka safar

Chapter 8

The next few weeks passed by in a blur. Both Zubia and Asfandyar were swamped with work at the hospital because they were going to be on leave for 10 days for the wedding. Even the weekends were busy with shopping for the wedding and the other preparations. Zubia and Asfandyar had hardly gotten any time to spend together in the last two weeks. The time that they spent together was mainly at the hospital, when they were working on a case together. However, talking on the phone every night had now become a ritual of sorts. The phone-calls were not very long, but both of them would manage to give each other a brief about their day. They would also take a walk to the hill-top together, whenever they had a chance.

The Nikaah and Rukhsati were going to take place in Karachi while the Walima was to be held in Islamabad.

It was Sunday morning and both Zubiya and Asfandyar had just finished their night shift and were heading out of the hospital. They were walking towards Zubia's mess. Today was Zubia's last day in Neelum Valley before the wedding. She was heading to Karachi tomorrow morning for all the wedding functions.

"Ghar chalo na.. Vahi nashta kar lo.. Ussi bahane sab se mil bhi logi..", Asfand suggested as they reached the gate of the mess

" Mai aa jaati, lekin bahut thak gayi hoon, sona chahti hoon thori der ke liye.. aur packing bhi karni hai.

Par mai aajaoongi shaam ko sab se milne.", Zubia said with a smile.

"Achcha, Sahi hai.. sleep well! Khudahaafiz!", he said and left.

Both of them went to their respective rooms and hit the bed like they hadn't slept in 5 days.

It was around 12 pm when Zubia woke up. While she was taking a shower, it hit her that she was going back to the hell-hole that she had escaped from many years ago. She wondered how she was going to face her bhabhi and all her relatives who believed that she was characterless. To top it off, she was marrying a man of her choice and the man was also her boss. This gave the relatives more stuff to gossip about. Streams of tears started to trickle down from her eyes as she thought about all of this. After standing under the shower and crying for around 20 mins, she managed to drag herself out of the shower and get dressed. She was still crying though. Her eyes had turned red. Just then, there was a knock on the door. She wiped her tears hurriedly and and went to open the door.

"Aap?!", She said, stunned to see Asfandyar standing at the door.

"Jee", he responded while he was looking at his phone and walking into the room. Zubia quickly turned her face and walked further into the room while wiping her remaining tears.

"Maine socha ki tumhaari packing mein help Karwa doon.. Itna sab akele kar ke thak jaogi", Asfand said. He was now looking at Zubia, but her back was facing him. He heard her breathing heavily.

"Zubia? Kya ho gaya hai?", he asked her, concerned. Her back was still facing him.

"K..Ku.. Kuch nahi..",she said while struggling to compose herself. Asfandyar walked towards her and turned her around so he could see her.

"Kyun ro rahi ho? Kya baat hai? Mujhe nahi bataaogi?" He asked softly while taking her face into his hands and looking intently at her.

"Bas.. Ammi aur Abbi ko miss kar rahi hoon..", she said reluctantly while trying to avoid looking into his eyes.

"Baat kuch aur bhi hai.. Tum bataaogi nahi toh hum masle ka hal kaise niklega?", he said while he continued to look into her eyes intently.

Before he could process what was happening, she had burried her face into his chest and was crying uncontrollably. He wrapped one of his hands around her back and stroked her hair lightly with his other hand, to comfort her. He didn't ask any more questions and just let her cry while he continued to stroke her hair with his hand.

After around 10 minutes of crying, he could feel her calm down. Eventually she looked up him and he made her sit on the chair next to her while wiping her tears with the pads of his thumb and offering her a glass of water. He sat on the ground right in front of the chair so he could see Zubia clearly.

"Tum mujhse share kar sakti ho, Zubiya..", Asfand said

"M-Mujhe Karachi nahi jaana. Mai bhabhi aur saare rishtedaron ko kaise face karoongi? Mai aapse, apne pasand ke inşaan se shaadi kar rahi hoon aur aap toh mere boss bhi hai. Sab ko lagega ki maine aapko apne pyaar ke jaal mein phaans liya hai. Saari puraani yaadein taaza ho rahi hai aur mujhe bhai par bhi bharosa nahi raha", she said all in one go. At the end of it, she was almost out of breath.

"Mujhe pata hai ke yeh sab tumhaare liye mushkil hai and that's natural. Par kya unke sochne se baatein sach hojaayengi? Hum unki sochon ko control nahi kar sakte hai par tumhen toh apni sachchai pata hai na? Tum kuch ghalat nahi kar rahi ho, Zubia. Mai tumse pyaar karta hoon kyunki tum ek khoobsurat insaan ho, ek strong aur resilient insaan ho.

Agar tumhe koi taunt karta bhi hai, toh unhe karne do. Tumhe kisi ko explanation dene ki zaroorat nahi hai. Aur wahaan Khala Ammi bhi toh hogi na tumhaare saath. Sirf chaar din ki baat hai. Uske baad tou tum yahi hogi na mere paas, humesha ke liye", he said with a reassuring smile.

"Thank you", she said while she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"THANK YOU! Mujhe bahut achha laga ki tumne mujhe trust kiya aur mujhse yeh baat share ki", he said while cupping her face with both his hands.

"Achcha haan, Gaiti bhabhi ne tumhaare liye cheese sandwiches bheje hai.. Yaqeenan tumne breakfast toh kiya nahi hoga.. toh pehle khaa lo, phir saath mil ke packing bhi nipta lenge", He said as while taking out a tiffin box from the plastic bag that he had kept on the study table.

He handed her the tiffin and she ate like a hungry kid. He admired her while she ate and he too ate a small piece.

Later, Asfandyar helped her pack all her stuff into two big suitcases. The mess room was now all vacated and AsfiYa headed to the Khan house for dinner.

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Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story so far! Please feel free to leave comments as feedback and also give suggestions and ideas for the Upcoming chapters!

Also, do check out my other book which is called OneShots on Asfiya!

Here is the link to it

https://www.wattpad.com/story/337222939-oneshots-on-asfiya