Broken

Solace so unknown

~~~violent content/viewers discretion adviced~~~~~~

Zoya opened her eyes and looked at the man beside her. She could see that the tears rolling down his eyes. She closed her eyes again and made a silent prayer to his ultimate hope, "Allah, aaj ki humari dua Asif ke naam. Inki jo bhi dua ho usse qubool karna." Little did she know that his prayers of the day were for her. They both simultaneously looked at each other.
"Hume bachane ke liye aapka shukriya." Zoya said with a faint smile with flashes of last night incident still vivid in her mind.
Sahir was silent for a while but couldn't resist asking her about last night. "Kal kya hua tha?" He asked not looking at her.
Zoya's eyes welled up with tears and her voice choked. After a few minutes, she composed herself and answered,"Woh kuch nahi humne subah se kuch khaya nahi tha aur jab hum hospital se nikle toh ek chhota sa accident ho gaya." Zoya cursed herself for her pathetic lie. Nobody was going to buy that. It was such a stupid lie.
"Ya Allah! Aap bhi na Zoya, kar di na bewakufoon waali baat." Zoya mentally slapped herself. She then looked at Sahir who was still looking at the ground. She knew he was not convinced and glad that he didn't make any further queries. Sahir knew it was a lie but somehow no matter how much he wanted to, couldn't ask further. Afterall, who was she to him? Why should she answer him at all? So he kept quiet.
Zoya tried to get up and walk but could'nt. Sahir saw her struggling, he quickly got up and held her hand to save her from another fall. Sahir tried hard to avoid eye contact. He knew the girl was looking at him. Sahir noticed the cut on Zoya's foot which started bleeding because of the pressure.
"Ayesha!!" He said with a sense of worry.
"Hum theek hai." Zoya pressed her lips to subdue the pain. All these years she had been used to all this.
"Theek nahi ho! Baitho." Sahir said in a commanding tone looking straight into her eyes. Zoya instantly sat down. Sahir's intent look with that voice somehow scared Zoya. Sahir quickly took a cloth bandage and carefully wrapped it around her foot. It was so unlike of Sahir to do that. This was not the Sahir Chaudhary world knew about. Sahir was cold. Sahir was heartless. That was the image Sahir had managed to create in front of the world. However, that ice wall melt in front of this woman. Sahir was unaware of the reason himself.
Meanwhile, Zoya looked at Sahir who was so careful while tying bandage. Her eyes were full of tears.
Flashback
"Ahhh! Yash hume maaf kar dijeye. Humse dobara aisi galti kabhi nahi hogi." Zoya cried in pain. She was lying on floor with Yash standing on her foot wearing his studs.
"Nahi nahi Zoya, abhi kaise. Tumhari galti ki saza abhi poori nahi huyi. Mana kiya tha na tumse unke ghar jaane se. Inhi pairon se gayi thi. Ab mai tumhe iss layak hi nahi rehne doonga ki tum kahi jao." Yash said, eyes all red and fuming with anger. He pressed Zoya's foot even harder with the spikes piercing her flesh and making her bleed. She screamed and cried but all her pleas fell on deaf ears. After Yash was fully satisfied, he got off her foot. Zoya's foot was all bleeding and there was blood all over the floor. She somehow managed to get up and sit. However, her wounds had made her foot go all numb. She sat there itself crying.
"Aur suno, tumhare abbu ki tabiyat abhi bhi bohot serious hai toh apna rona dhona soch kar karna." Came Yash's voice from another room. Zoya place her hands on her mouth to keep quiet but it was hurting. Her body, her soul , everything was hurting. She sat there silently for hours looking at the deep wounds.
Flashback ends.
Sahir looked up at Zoya to ensure that she was no more in pain but was shocked to see her eyes all red and tears flowing through her eyes.
"Ayesha?! Zyada dard ho raha hai kya. Ruk jao mai kuch laata ho. Kal unn aunty ne dawai lagai thi. Yahi kahi rakhi hogi." Saying this he was about to get up when Zoya held his hand and made him stop. She looked at him and unable to hold her emotions anymore broke into tears and placed her head on Sahir's chest. It came as a surprise for both of them. Normally, Zoya would'nt do any thing of this sort. Afterall he was just a stranger. She rested her head for a while. The tears made Sahir's shirt all wet. Sahir had no idea how to react. However, there was certain kind of peace his heart experienced. He was about to place his hand on her shoulders when Zoya realised what she was doing. She quickly pulled herself back.
She wiped her tears and managed a sorry. Sahir nodded his head still unable to figure out incidents of last 5 minutes.
The awkwardness was reduced when the old woman returned.
"Aree tum log jag gaye. Yeh dekho mai tumhare liye kya laayi hun. Mujhe pata tha tum logo ko bhook lagi hogi toh mai subah hi nikal gayi thi khaane ka intezaam karne." She went to Zoya and placed hand on her head. "Ab kaisi tabiyat hai?" Zoya only smiled at her and nodded her head.
The old woman served them the food she had managed for them.
They both were hungry and could not resist themselves from eating.
After finishing, Sahir looked at the old lady and said," aapki madad ke liye Shukriya. Ab hume jaana hoga."
The old woman smiled and said "Theek hai. Jao. Ek baat yaad rakhna Andhere se bachane waali roshini ki kiran toh mil gayi hai lekin abhi toofan aur bhi aayenge. Uss roshini ki kiran ko apne se door mat hone dena tum log." Sahir and Zoya looked at each other with a confused look. Neither of them understood what the woman meant. However, they took her leave and went.
"Hum aa toh gaye hai lekin yaha se seher ka raasta kon sa hai? " Sahir said with an annoyed expression.
"Aap fikr na kare, hume pata hai. Yaha se thodhi door par hume gaadi bhi mil jaayegi." Zoya said in a calm tone and started walking. Sahir followed her silently. After walking some distance, they reached a small tea stall.
"Asif, aapko koi takleef toh nahi hogi agar hum yaha thodhi der ruk jaaye. Hum thak gaye hai." Zoya said pleading.
Sahir nodded and they both went and sat on the benches near by. Zoya saw a telephone in the stall. She remembered how she had escaped from her house on the engagement day. She wanted to call her Ammi. She went and asked if she could make a call. Sahir looked at her from a distance.
She dialed her landline no. hoping for her mother to recieve the call. She knew her Abbu would still be mad at her for what she did. After two long rings,a male voice answered. "Damn!" Zoya thought. She recognized the voice.
"Hello.. hello.. kon hai?" The voice on the other side said.
"Ab..Abbu..Hum Zoya." Zoya gathered the courage and said.
"Zoya bete.. kaha hai aap? Aap theek toh hai?" Zoya was shocked to hear Wasim say that. This was something she least expected.
"Zoya.. Zoya.. kuch boliye na." Zoya was brought back from thoughts. "Jee... Abbu hum theek hai. "
"Allah ka laakh laakh shukr hai.. aap theek hai Zoya. Hum sab kaafi pareshaan the.. uss raat jab woh ladka nahi aaya toh hume laga ki aap iss gam mein kahi chali gayi hai. Bohot dhundha aapko par aap nahi mili. Aapka phone bhi band tha. "
"Kya kaha Abbu? Woh nahi aaye?" Zoya was shocked.
"Haan Zoya woh nahi aaye tabhi toh aap chali gayi thi na?" A confused Wasim asked.
"Ha... Haan.. Abbu. Hum ab ghar hi aa rahe hai." Zoya said.
"Theek hai bete. Khuda hafiz."
"Allah hafiz Abbu."

Woh nahi aaye? It was strange co - incidence. The man she was supposed to be engaged to and from whom she ran away didnt turn up for the event himself. There were so many questions on her mind. She quickly came and sat beside Sahir. They were both quiet when a certain news was announced on the radio.
"Sahir Azeem Chaudhary, the owner of Saiyaara brand has been missing from 2 days. FIR has been lodged and police is searching for him." Sahir heard the news without a change in expression while Zoya stopped drinking her tea and repeated,"Sahir Azeem Chaudhary is missing?" Sahir looked at her and asked "you know him?" Zoya hesistated for a moment.
"Nahi .. mera matlab hai everybody in Lucknow knows about him and his brand .Kabhi dekha nahi. Infact hum kaafi saalon se Lucknow mein nahi reh rahe the toh unhe kabhi dekhne ka mauka nahi mila. Na hi newspaper se dosti thi na hi bahar ki duniya se." Zoya replied.
Sahir looked at her and was lost in his thoughts.
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Ok so thoughts about the chapter?
Any ideas how will story progress?
Hope its going good and not turning unrealistic or something. :)