Of fates and hopes!

Chp 10

The clear view of the quite street made him look in it deeper, the sky was cloudy and the breezr was warm. It was june and the blossoming monsoon was yet to come. Zahen's thoughts were rounding the voice of saabir " keep zahen out of this " what was he talking about and whom was he talking to were the two questions that Didn't let him sleep.
After having lunch zahen,saabir and zaid had visited their mom, although they had a wonderful time talking about the coming engagement and its preparations, it didn't slip out of notice that something wwas terribly  wrong going on with saabir. Zahen was observing him. Saabir would often excuse himself to attend phone calls, hs was zoning out, would keep checking his mobile again and again and there was a fake behavior where he was pretending to be fine.

Zahen could not sleep and was also a bit hungry after Wreking his head so much thinking about saabir. He though of grabbing something from the kitchen, he stepped out of his room, the lights of the passage were off,only a small dim light was onn on the bottom of the wall at a corner, zahen went to the kitchen,he opened the refrigerator and found some Cadbury cookies , those cookies were bae, his baba always bring them these cookies which were soo tasty that within a day or two the whole four packets gets over, but his dad makes sure that his sons never run out of it. Zahen grabbed the packet and headed to his room in between checking the living room. The living room was empty and the lights were dimmed, zahen was about to enter his room when he thought of checking on zaid. Being the eldest brother he had made sure to pamper zaid and saabir , he checked on zaid who was sleeping peacefully 'his books still kept on the study table indicating that he was studying before he went to sleep.
Zaids room was very simple (sarcasm) There was a single bed on one side of the room with French window near it, on the left side of the bed was a study table with white board above it. On the top of the wall above the table was a book shelf. on the opposite side of the table I.e on the third wall of the room was a door to washroom, with a wardrobe and a mirror near it, on the wall opposite to bed was an led tv with chrome cast, Xbox, music player and so many other things attached to it, there were puffys and beanbags in his room and a small cupboard to store all his outdoor stuffs, at the corner of the room was a tiny refrigerator and his room had a theme of red and black with matcing lights. Even his AC had red skin.
Zahen smiled at his little brother and went to Saabir's room only to find the lights of Saabir's room onn. Zahen knew it at the back of his mind that saabir was still up and zahen knew something was up. Zahen was not from the ones who would give thíngs some time to settle, he was from those who would go out,  talk about it, sort things out and then he would sleep peacefully.
So there was no way he was letting saabir go this time.
Without knocking he entered the room to find saabir in sujood, there were tears in his eyes. Zahen went and sat on his bed patiently waiting for him to complete his dua.
Looking around Saabir's room was very simple compared to Zaids.. There was a king size bed in middle of the room,on the one side there was a short study table on the side wall there was door to washroom and near that was a walkin wardrobe. On the other side there was a dressing table and the rest of the part was French windows with black and white curtains, in front of the bed there was an LED TV and Below That was a small shelf.there were dumbles kept in the corner. And the floor had white carpet, his room was a theme of vanilla and black. His bed was black with small puffy bean bags around the room. The room was dark and there was only a dim light near the window which gave some sight where saabir was offering namaz.
After some ten minutes saabir finished with his salah. He got up folded his mat and was placing it back when he realized zahen was in the room.
The moment zahen saw him his heart sank.. Saabir's eyes were puffy red and were half open, his face was raw with a bit of wetness on his eye lashes.. Zahen could say saabir was crying.. And zahen was dying to know the reason as he had never seen saabir in this state before.
Zahen went ahead to hold him, instantly saabir pulled him hard from the shoulder and hugged him tight, tears running down his eyes, his hold on zahens T was soo tight as if his life relied on that hug.! There were tears in zahens eyes too for he was wondering for how long was Saabir going through this all alone.
After some time Saabir relaxed and both sat on the bed.
"saabir spill it out bhai, what is happening..?"
"zahen, I am sorry, I should have told you before...!"
"well, am here now ohk...! Whatever it is say it now..!" zahen gave a reassuring smile. And saabir lowered his head
"zahen i have messed up..!"
Zahen's mind freezed when saabir said that..MESSED.
Ya allah..!
"how? " was all zahen could ask.
" Two months back,  a man came to my office.. He said that his company was in debt and he wanted me to help him. I asked him about his company and other informations... After he left, I thought about it and as the man was aged and was really looking troubled I thought to help him out for its Allah (SWT) who helps them through us, I thought of talking to you about it but everytime I would think of asking you some or other thing would come up. So one day all of a sudden that man came to me asking what I had planned. It would be disrespecting if I would turn him down  the second time.. And I had a very important meeting So in a haste I gave him a cheque of rs. 5,00,000 which were actually not mine but one of my suppliers..the man said that he will return me the amount in a month so I was calm with the deal, but last week I got a call from income tax department saying that the man was a buggler and there was no such company. I was in shock zahen i could not process what was happening. I saw such a big amount slipping from my Hand. I don't have so much of money to pay back zahen..! And the next day I got call from The supplier asking for his money.. You know o tried delaying him but now its been two months and he threatens me.. He threatend me that he'll trouble you too.. I don't wanted that... How could that happen..! Zahen you had already done soo much for me and now I created a problem for you all..! I cant let baba down zahen he really expects alot from me.. I can't see my self fall in his eyes.. " and that was when he cracked again..zahen side hugged him processing about the whole situation. After a while zahen got up patting Saabir's shoulder.
"dont worry now.how can you say that we already did so much.. Aren't you a part of this family, you are my brother.. You are Baba's son.. And he always loved you saabir.. I am here and when I am here I will handle things from here. Go to sleep bro we'll talk About it tomorrow and about baba.. Well yeah he'll be disappointed but not because of this whole fiasco but because you kept us in the dark...! So for now go to sleep and one more thing " zahen gave saabir a smack on his head and saabir cringed " what was that for..?"
"that was to spoil my shopping day "
"am sorry bhai..!" a look of guilt on his face." scratching the back of his neck, zahen smiled "don't worry we are going tomorrow "
With that zahen gave saabir a hug and left.
Saabir smiled for he felt relief washing over him.. It was good talking to zahen. And now when zahen was with him he felt more strong. His heart felt light now. Saabir could not thank Allah enough for such an awesome, understanding and calm brother. Although zahen was going to give him a good lecture tomorrow but still for now he controlled his anger and supported saabir.! Saabir could not thank Allah enough for such an awesome,understanding and kind brother. So he prayed two rakats of shukar (thanking allah ) and then went to sleep with a peaceful smile.

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