Without You ✔️ (completed)

III. soul: روح

(As most of you know it's a spin off of Khan's story especially of the incident that happened in Khan's childhood some of it is going to be along the similar lines because the childhood is shared and so are the incidents)

The lines didn't draw across the crisp white paper like they were supposed. A slight change in angle put more fire to the simmering anger inside her. She tore the paper in half and balled in her hand before throwing it across her room. The world of sketching sky high buildings was her escape from the bone-chilling memories that reminded her the atrocities of the past. She heaved another sigh.

She slouched against the side of the bed and put her head back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. She didn't know which way the fate was steering her life this time, as she sailed, filling her heart with sorrow. Her dreams of branding the tall building with her own name were lying at the bottom of the dark abyss. Her hopes were scarred and torn apart like the jagged skin of her back. The future looked darker than the silent ocean of the stormy night.

Sighing again, she sat back and started sketching when the light of the phone woke up along with a song melody. She answered the call without looking at the name. The ringtone of her phone brought a smile on her face because her favorite person was calling her. The smile came along with the underlying sadness that there was only one person who would call her apart from Kabir Lala and her business calls. It was the person who had saved whatever was the leftover of who she was before the incident and the leftover of her dignity.

"Yes????" She flopped back as she smiled into the phone

"I have a million three things to sort out before all of them arrive. So get your bum off the damn floor and figure out the logistics of this all for me." She instructed her without giving her a chance to say no. "Please look presentable and by presentable I mean do not look like you are going to a business meeting."

"Yes, Ma'am." She rolled her eyes as if he could see. "I'll try my best for a clown look."

"SURE." And She was gone by then.

They were coming home. The butterflies swirled in her stomach. Her brother and her sister-in-law. She never thought she'd ever see this day in her life, but Rabail had made it possible for her. Kabir had been quiet, but she had told him. She'd seen the thread of hope in his eyes, before he scoffed and shooed her away from his office.

She was sure he conveyed the message to Father. There was no communication between Ayla and her father. The last time she talked to him was before her appearance in the court and that was about seven years ago.

They said blood was thicker than water, but in their world money bought blood and justice.

/////

She showered, changed into something dinner worthy and weaved her untarnished long dark brown hair into a braid. She ran her hand along the braid. God, she missed the awful bright colors she used to dye her hair with. The colors were symbolic with the better half of her past. Bright and Filled with Color.

She shook her head and grabbed the makeup brush before her mind made a U-Turn towards the more obscured part of her past. Right when she dropped the coral lipstick on the dressing table, the bell rang. She grabbed her black handbag. As usual, She was home alone. Both Kabir and Father were at work and there was a pin drop silence downstairs. The house was hollow and filled with daunting memories like her. She locked the door and left without turning back.

Hoping into his car,  She greeted her with a cheeky smile and the woman in late fifties just nodded. Her salt and peppery hair flowing over shoulder. The RayBan's set on the bridge of her knows. Even in casual navy blue shirt and jeans, Tabassum Wahab looked like a badass lawyer.

But today her lips had never ending smile set on them. The happiness of a mother sparkling through. She had been waiting for this day more than Ayla, and Ayla knew that very well.

Years ago when she was trying to save herself and Zach she forgot there were others around too. She forgot how much she hurt a mother with her one decision, but it had been the same Mrs. Wahab who held her hand through all this, and ordered her to be courageous and hold her head high with dignity.

And today her son was coming back from a decade long exile. Of course they were in contact through these ten years, but there was something else about coming back home to where it all started.

Another smile graced her lips as Ayla watched her. Her son was coming home after ten years. Ayla shook her head as the guilt rose like poison in her throat. She couldn't think about it now.

/////

It was halfway to the store when Mrs. Wahab picked on the topic that She was willing to run away from barefeet in snow. But she knew the older one was not going to let her get away with it until she got her answers. A Lawyer's nature.

Tabassum Wahab was a Federal Court lawyer like most people in her family. There was no way anything could skip her eyes. Not even the daunting realities hidden under Ayla's facade.

"I heard about last night from Kabir. Your father tried to set you up with another one of his businessmen's son." She stopped at a red light and turned towards her. She turned her head away from Mrs. Wahab and looked outside. Her eyes traced the little kids at the red light as the woman next to her kept on investigating her about the latest proposal.

"I met the proposed rishta. He turned out to be a coward. Before the second meeting he found out the reports somehow. When he found it, he called me to the restaurant and called me a murder on my face then he rejected me." She closed my eyes and put her head against the window.

How many times did they have this conversation. She lost the count.

"Ayla Alina." She knew that tone. She wanted to know. She wanted to ask questions.

"Yes, Momster." She leveled her tone with her deadly one.
Trying to cut down the leveling anger in the car by calling out her nickname, but her voice rather wavered. AND her words were filled with anger and anxiety. "Don't ask me questions that I will not be able to answer." She shook her head trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

"You can't just run from your past. I know that the whole thing was ruled as a self-defense, but there was a person dead and nobody knows why. I can't say anything because of my oath to privacy, but you need to let your Father know." She was fuming with anger.

"JUST STOP." She had to hold on to the seat as the horrific memories of that day started swirling in her mind. She started shaking her head frantically as if she could literally spill out the nightmares that infiltrated her slumber. "I don't want to live through those memories, Maa. Just stop please." She nodded.

"I am sorry, Aaloo." She apologized As she held her hand. She hummed in reply as she struggled to free herself from the panic that was taking place in her head. "But you have to tell him at least why you keep saying No to getting married." Mrs. Wahab murmered the last of the words. "If Zachary found out about these proposals he is going to lose his damn mind. I'm not too sure I want to see the result of that."

"Why else do you think I hid everything else from him? He is freaking crazy in head."

"I think you made a mistake, Ayla. You should have at least trusted him enough to make a choice for himself."

"You think he would have walked away unscathed. He would have gone on murder spree if he even so much as smelled the truth. Lala's file has assault charges. It doesn't say what happened to me that night and the every night after that." She hit the damn car window as her voice shook. She hated being weak. She hated her whole damn life. "Three years, Maa. Three years after that night. He would have never been able to handle it. He would have killed himself for not saving me."

She didn't know when they had pulled over and when had Mrs. Wahab wrapped her arms around Ayla as she screamed out her pain. This was years of pain and suffocation that was leaving her body in increments.

"He loved me so much. He called me his soul. His ruh. Can you ever survive when your Ruh is wounded for life. Tarnished and stained by someone else. Can you handle someone snatching the innocence of your Ruh. He would have never survived knowing his Ruh was tortured night after night in a most disgusting way ever."

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