Raaz e Hayat

32. Sleeping Beauty

Azlan laughed seeing her like this.

"Aap itni pyaari jo lag rahi ho." He complimented her. She washed her face and came out.

"Chalo come I will tuck you in." He said guiding her towards the bed.

"Story sunaein." She demanded cutely.

"Konsi?" He asked.

"Sleeping beauty?" She asked but Azlan looked at her. He never had any experience with stories let alone a princess one.

"Aaj aese hi soo jao na." He whined like a kid. Azaina turned around from him and covered herself with the duvet. Looking this Azlan sighed.

"Achha baba suna raha hun, naraz nahi ho." He said and she immediately showed him her face with toothy grin. Azlan shook his head at her antics. He grabbed the story book from her shelf and settled next to her.

"Bhaiya lete ke." She told him and he layed beside her while she hugged him tightly.

"Long ago and far away there lived a good king and queen. The people loved them and their lives would have been very happy if only they had a child.
Years went by and then one spring when they thought all hope was gone, the queen gave birth to beautiful baby girl. The whole kingdom rejoiced, the young princess was such a lovely baby they called her Aurora...." Azlan started the story and Azaina was listening very carefully.

"Suddenly a sharp pain shot through Aurora's arm as a spike on the spindle pricked her finger. It was the curse! Grizzelstinki's curse was upon her." He read.

"Bhaiya?" Azaina called sleepily.

"Hmm." Azlan hummed.

"Bhaiya was the old lady a bad woman?" Azaina asked looking up at him.

"Beta Maine nahi Padhi yeh book Abhi dekhte hai." He replied and read further.

"Suddenly the little old lady threw off her cloak and stood up straight, it was Grizzelstinki all along! She laughed a wicked laugh and ran away leaving the princess alone.
Because of Grizzelstinki's birthday curse. Princess Aurora fell into a deep, deep sleep and all around the palace, people started to fall asleep too......" Azlan read.
At the end he read the word kiss in the book he stopped himself from reading out to his sister. He didn't voiced the story further when he found his sister already in a deep sleep but was too curious himself so he read the complete book himself.

"Yeh kya behuda baat hui ki prince Had to kiss the princess to wake her up. Yeh sab bachon ke liye nahi hai." He muttered to himself shaking his head making a mental note to hide this book. He then kept the book aside and kissed Azaina on her forehead. He saw how his sister was cuddling with him and he got tempted to keep her in his arms so he layed down properly and slept hugging her close.

The next day came and Azlan woke up at his usual time which was 4am. He got up and kissed Azaina's forehead. He tried getting up but Azaina held his hand tightly. Azlan laid down for a few minutes next to her till she fell in her deep slumber. After few minutes he tried again and carefully took his hand out from her grasp and gave her the pillow. He made a mental note to get her a stuffy as she loves cuddling.
Azlan then went to wake Zaviyan up. He came in his room and saw his laptop opened on his bed next to him.

"Zavi get up bacha." He said closing the laptop but he didn't even responded.

"Zaviyan utho training ke liye jaana hai." Azlan said shaking him up.

"Bhaiya kalse krenge." Zaviyan murmured.

"No Zaviyan get up now." Azlan said a little firmly and closed the AC.