VEILS OF ROSE

CHAPTER 9️⃣7️⃣

*AUTHORS POV*

Arsalan and Ahaan entered when Armaan was about to enter the elevator. The trio made their way towards Ishaan's office, and Noorie saw them going on. She called them but they were in a hurry. She too followed them, looking at the scene they all were shocked looking at the scene. "Did a hurricane pass through here?" Said Armaan looking at it. "Ishaan!?" Said Arsalan looking for him and found the couple seated on the floor in each other's embrace. "Omg!! Ashu?" said Noorie, looking at them, gaining the attention of the other men too. The boys reached towards him, "Ishaan, what did you do to yourself? Noorie Bear, get a first aid box for me. Ahaan, get some water. Armaan, you hold him and make him seated on the couch." Said Arsalan making him comply. Ishaan held Asma tightly with her uninjured hand refusing to let her go. "She isn't going anywhere, Ishaan. You're bleeding, don't you know she's homophobic? Look at her. She's going pale." Said Arsalan, grabbing her attention towards Asma, who indeed looked pale. "I'm sorry, Maara. I forget about you're can't stand blood. Are you feeling dizzy?" Said Ishaan looking at her.

"I'm fine, Shaan. Arsal, please patch him up. He's bleeding profusely." Said Asma. "Thanks, Noorie bear. Take Ashima out, will you?" Said Arsalan looking at her, who dragged her out. "What happened, Ishaan? What's all this?" Said Arsalan while doing his first aid. "Ishaan, say something. Your silence isn't the answer." Said Armaan looking at him. "He's back. He had called me today." We're the only thing Ishaan uttered, making them alert. "What? But how did he get your number? He hadn't tried to reach you before. Why not after two decades?" Said the boys. "I'm sure. He'll try to reach me again. I want you to double the security around Asma if he wanted to reach me, then surely he knows about her too. He had so anything for his good. The man who killed his wife whom he claimed to love then we can't trust him, he can do anything." Said Ishaan. Asma and Noorie entered the cabin again, Asma's face had its colour back. She rushed towards him, "Ishaan, please tell me. What made you lose your calm like this?" Said Asma looking at him. Arsalan was about to tell her that he was fine, but Ishaan stopped him.

"Don't, Arsalan. It's time she knew about my past. Maara, what do you know about my family?" said Ishaan, asking her. "Aren't you an orphan?" Said Asma puzzled. "I like to say I'm an orphan because my mother was killed in front of my eyes with my so-called father." Said Ishaan making her and Noorie shocked. "I'm Ishaan Khattar, the only one of Manish Khattar and Priya Khattar. My father was the health minister of his time , and my mom was a social worker. We were a happy family, but I didn't know what went wrong and where it went wrong. Suddenly, my father changed drastically. He started abusing my mom. She always tried her best to protect me from him, but it's like there isn't anything left humane in him. The abuse grew worse. One night, he came home drunk. My mom wanted to leave him taking me. She talked to him about that, but he wasn't listening to anything. I was 8 at that time, small but enough to know what was happening. I saw him killing my mom brutally, I wasn't able to watch him murder my mum like that. I entered inside and attacked him on the head with a vase, making him unconscious. I went to my mom, and she was taking her last breath. She told me to run away, run away from that monster, and protect myself. She told me to take a bag which she had kept with her, she told me it would protect me. That was the last time I saw my mother. She took her last breath in my arms, telling me she loves me and that she's proud of me." Said Isshasn with eyes moist. Asma held his hand tightly, not able to believe that an 8-year-old had seen such brutality and cruelty.

"As she said, I took the small bag with me and ran away from there without looking back. Roaming around, I came across a park. I took shelter there. I lived one month at the park, shed and anywhere I found a place to live. I searched the bag, it had a lockte which I had kept safe with me as her last belonging. The rest of the bag was looted by some local goons. If the police hadn't reached on time, they would have killed me too. They handed me over the system where I had been living in the orphanage. Working hard, I got a scholarship and completed college with it by working odd jobs where I met with Jay, who too was a working student like me. And I met the boys during this, making them an important part of my life because of their ability to never give up on me when I refused to let them enter into my life and vowed to never trust anyone in my life. Then I got you and my sisters, who all became an important part of my life and a family of mine which I never had." Said Ishaan looking at them. The boys looked at him in assurance, reminding him that they had always been together and would be in the future, too. Asma and Noorie were shocked as Ishaan was a very private person. Even when they were introduced to him first, it took a while for him to get comfortable. He never discussed his family they just knew him as an orphan, nothing more than that.