A Piece Of Her I'll Never Have

Chapter 28

          Aamir's POV.

        It was snowing lightly as Sophia and I strolled down the deserted road but the wind raged furiously about us making Sophia look even paler than usual.
        The strange thing was we didn't hasten our steps.
         What was even stranger was, it was already snowing before we left the house to go on a  'little walk' as she had called it but which turned out to be the longest walk I had ever taken in my entire life and I knew the reason why.
            "Okay I think the weather is becoming very unfavorable",she said between sighs.
        "It has been unfavorable since we left the house,Sophia."
             She didn't want to stay home and live with Jamal's cold eyes. Ever since he found out about her medical condition and that I knew about it he'd been avoiding us both. She had cut all ties with her mother after that.
        "Yes,but we needed air."
        "You needed air, I needed sleep."
        I had thought it was just one of his usual moody moments and he was going to come around in no time but we were weeks later and still nothing,needless to say I wasn't the least bothered.
       "Alright fine let's go home,then."
         If only I could rid her of all the weight she had on her conscience. My brother was really an idiot.
       A very familiar mild scent of jasmines greeted me as we entered the living room.
       I tried not to focus on my emotions playing tricks on me and turned to look at Sophia who was shivering Like a wet hen.
        "Oh,my poor baby. Let me warm you up."
          She didn't resist as I enveloped her into a hug.
      "Let me sing, you'd focus more on the sound of my voice than the cold and it may help."
       "We all know you have a perfect voice, Aamir, no need to show it all the time,"a different but equally very familiar voice replied.
         "Noor!"
        "Aamir!"
       "What,how did you get here?"
           "I crossed two continents and an ocean in a huge thing called a plane, you've probably seen it in the sky."
          "Wait, no,the question is what are you doing here?"
         "Oh,shut up and hug me. Of course I came to see you."
       My senses had not been deceiving me,she was actually here. I smiled ecstatically as she hugged me.
           "Oh,pardon my manners, this guy always gets so emotional when he sees me. You must be my sister in law, Sophia. I've heard so much about you."
         "Sister in law? Sad to say I can't say the same thing,"Sophia threw me an accusing stare.
         "Seriously, brother. You didn't tell her anything about me?", Noor said in mock hurt. She couldn't possibly be mad, she knew all to well, my reasons were valid.
          "Anyways, I hope you heard only positive things about me."
         "Sure, snoring like a horse and farting every second in your sleep are perfectly positive things."
           "You're a dead man, Aamir," Sophia told me in that no nonsense tone of hers that could send shivers down anybody's spine.
             "I'll be the one to do the killing, dear. You haven't followed my instructions Aamir."
        "Which?"
       "We'll talk about that later. Let's go meet my in laws upstairs first." She pulled Sophia's and my hands in the direction of the stairs.
        My playful, always joyful younger sister was here.
          Jamal was talking to our guests by the time we arrived the smaller living room upstairs. As usual he didn't hide his displeasure when he saw Sophia and me.
             "Aamir, you remember Rahim right? Jamal told you guys had been friends back there in Sair.
         "Oh,yeah. Nice to see you again,Rahim. I can see you finally  left Sair as you had always wanted."
         "It's good to see you too,Aamir. I see you're a happily married man,as you always wanted."
           Sophia chuckled humorlessly.
          "No,she isn't my wife, she's Jamal's," I corrected.
          "Oh,why didn't you tell us you were married, Jamal?"
        "It skipped my mind." The hateful glare followed.
       A brief, awkward silence fell. It was finally broken by Noor.
        "And his wife, Marcy. She's Mexican like you,Sophia. These are Salim and Noor,their children."
        "You forced her to name her daughter after you?" I asked, not surprised actually.
        "Of course not. It's not my fault I have a happening name."
         "She did force me and we more frequently call Noor Selma,"the equally petite but taller and healthier-looking Mexican replied.
        "You didn't have to tell them that,Marcy. Azaad couldn't come. He had some issues to attend to. You know the sheikh is a very busy man."
         "But he wasn't to busy to make you heavily pregnant,"I coughed out, dodging as Noor reached out to hit me."
        "You're very welcome, Rahim and Marcy. I'll go check if dinner's ready. Do you mind coming with me,Aamir?"
         "I'll just stay here,Sophia. I have to..."
       She narrowed her gaze.
           "I just remembered I saw muffins in the kitchen earlier on. Let me go get you some,kids."
         "Why didn't you tell me you had s sister, Aamir,"she fired once we were out of earshot.
     "You know everything about me but I just realized I know nothing, you haven't told me anything about yourself. What kind of friends are we?"
         "It's not like that, Sophia. We were busy tackling your own issues and I didn't want to bother you with mine."
            "You're right. I'm so selfish. I thought I had the biggest problems and deserved all the attention not bothering to know about your own problems, worries and fears. I guess I had always thought your life was perfectly straight."
           "Nothing is straight in the Alcatraz family, Sophia, not anymore."
        "You promise you'll tell me all about it? I mean, it's my family too."
           "I promise."
         Hopefully that did it. My life was going to be spared.
      Or not.
     "We have a lot to talk about, Aamir," Noor whispered behind  me as Sophia talked to the cook. I didn't even see her follow us.

           "I'm proud of you,Rahim. I like men who are not afraid to do what they think is best for them, irrespective of what the world says,"my father started over dinner. "Your father would be proud too if he were alive to see how much of an accomplished man his son has become."
          "Thank you, Rasheed."
      "Father, why didn't you tell us Noor was coming,"Jamal asked.
         "Your sister wanted to give your brother here a pleasant surprise."
         "A pleasant surprise it is indeed,"I said.
         "So Rahim, you said you were into mining there in Canada," my father continued.
         "Let's leave these men to their boring talk and go have that conversation, Aamir."
       Sophia was having a little conversation with Marcy so I felt it was okay to leave her.
         "What's happening to you,Aamir, you haven't done a single thing I told you to do. Actually it appears you're doing the opposite."
         "I am doing what you told me to do,Noor. I'm trying to,anyways."
       "I told you to fix things with Jamal and not getting him to hate you more by being too close to his wife."
        "She is my best friend and the fact that their marriage was an arranged one doesn't give Jamal the right to act the way he does. I told you the whole story, right?"
           "I'm afraid there's more,more to the story and especially more to your relationship with Sophia."
         "What! Your pregnancy hormones are beginning to cloud your reasoning."
           "You had told me you had feelings for her"
          "That was in the beginning, before her marriage to Jamal ever came up."
            "Apparently those feelings aren't dead."
        "They are,Noor but she's the only one I found that could fill the void yours and mum's absence caused. She's the only one I've got.''
         "I understand but your getting attached to each other hurts Jamal and you know that. You're just using his behaviour to justify your selfishness."
        "That's not true, Noor."
           "It is,and the sooner you accept it,the better for you three."
         It was no use arguing further, I knew she was right.

        Hey,
       School should be eradicated, anyone with me?
      Rahim, Marcy and Noor actually have their own book which I have handwritten but I don't think I'd ever the time to post it on wattpad so I just thought I should bring them here.