ishq lost & found

40; Conspire

"There is simply no way he did that whole heartedly, don't let it get to you. He did it because people were watching." Sana told Salman, having gotten a recap the moment he got to his hotel after Saad yelled at him, essentially banishing him.

"I don't know Sana, I've never seen him that mad." Salman seethed, still shocked after how Saad had acted. In all his life he had never seen him so angry, there was a look in his eyes Salman couldn't recognise- but it terrified him.

"Well why didn't you fight back a little more?" Sana asked, rolling her eyes and she took a seat before her TV. It had been some time since she had spoken to Salman, and although she knew he was coming back to Canada, she didn't think he'd actually appear before Saad.

"Don't ask me stupid questions." Salman shot back, letting out a tiring sigh. He was starting to get irritable, both because of what happened and because Sana could be quite the nuisance, "None of them wanted to see me, not my sister, not my parents, and obviously not Saad."

Choosing it ignore his tone, something she usually wouldn't have, Sana asked, "Did you see Ranya?" cringing as her name left her lips. No amount of running into that girl or talking about her could ever make Sana like her, not even in the slightest.

"Yeah I saw her... she looked..." Salman paused, trying to find the right word. He barely got a good look at her before Saad popped up and Ranya ran off, but even with the three second long glance, he felt like he still had a chance. "Defeated, maybe disappointed?

"Not that I want to defend her, but who wouldn't? Anyway, what's the plan moving forward cause somehow you've pissed off your entire bloodline." Sana asked, enjoying the gossip somewhat but wanting to get back to the task at hand. How they were going to go about Salman infiltrating his way back into his family.

Salman knew his father and Saad were genuinely upset this time, and his father most of all. When he had been vocal about wanting to leave Ranya, especially when she was still pursuing education, despite his best efforts to change her mind, his father had been the one to berate him mercilessly.

And Saad had always been a bit harsh with Salman, trying to push him to be better. He was the carefree younger brother who couldn't care less about life, his future, and certainly not his education, especially when they were little. But Saad pushed him to at least focus during high school so he could get a degree. It was thanks to Saad that Salman even had half the opportunities he did. Saads disappointment seemed real, and there was no doubt about it in Salman's mind.

It never really bothered him. Saad being better, especially academically. It wasn't a big deal to him that his parents kind of favoured him either since he was the youngest son, so at least his mom babied him somewhat. But, seeing the way Saad reacted to Ranya crying, the way he didn't care and quickly embarrassed Salman in front of guests had him spirally, his face burning every time he relived the memory.

The moment kept spiralling out of control in his head, trying his best to forget it and focus on something else, Salman even found himself babbling to himself. "Come on, move on." He yawned, trying to sleep. But trying to sleep when you recall something humiliating is easily one of the hardest tasks anybody could be faced with.

But the moment was running through his brain again, and again, and again turned out to be somewhat of a blessing. Waking up after tossing and turning all night, waking up every couple of hours because his hotel mattress was too hard, he realised he should've tried talking- no, pleading- to his mother.

He knew then and there exactly how he could win back his families affections, and if not all of theirs, at least his moms.

-