A Match of Life

Chapter 1

"Who's he? Why is he following me all the way from the Mosque?"

Thoughts as such were running through Roshni Ahmed's mind. She had just finished giving her prayers to the Lord and was returning home when she noticed that a man, whom she remembered to be standing behind her in the queue to the Mosque, seemed to follow her down the narrow street which went the way back to her house.

"Allah knows best, who is this guy? I hope it is just a coincidence that this guy is coming the way I am going". Roshni thought to herself as she hurried down the street which had hardly anyone around, with teeming woods on both sides.

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Meanwhile, Aman Junaid Khan was wrapped up in his own little bubble not noticing the way he was going. He was about to go back home after paying homage to the Lord on that holy day. He was thinking about what he was going to do after he got home. It was Sara, his sister's birthday after all and he had to make sure it was the best day of her life! There was definitely a lot of work to do. The cake, decorations, food, guests..... And the gift! Surely the gift he was going to give Sara must be the highlight. If not he will make sure it is! After all it was Aman Junaid Khan, the richest nawab in the whole of Lucknow, who was throwing this birthday bash and it being noteworthy is a must!

The distant yet prominent call of an eagle burst Aman's tense little bubble. He came out of his reverie and looked around himself. "Where am I by the way?" he thought to himself as he realized that once again he had just waywardly walked somewhere without looking where he was going, thinking about something. He was going to get into trouble one of these days if he doesn't get his thoughts under control! Looking around himself he saw a girl with wavy black hair walking hastily ahead of him looking over her shoulder once in a while as though she was expecting someone to follow her. Aman knew she was his only shot if he had any hopes of finding out lord knew where he'd ended up with himself.

"Excuse me!" he called out to that girl as he jogged towards her. The girl looked behind her in alarm and came to a standstill for a second as though deciding what to do and then started running. Aman was puzzled as to her weird behavior and called out to her again, this time running towards her.

"Excuse me! Can you please tell me what place this is? I think I have lost my way!" but this made her only run a lot faster and he gave up running after her and decided that it was fruitless to try to get her help. He thought of other ways to get himself home while the girl hastily hurried away.

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Roshni was gasping for breath as she reached her home finally. " Allah knows best, when a cute and cool girl is followed by some weird guy early in the morning, then she feels very scared. Normally I am very brave though. I have honed muscles from lifting 3 kilos of nankhatai! But today was kinda different "

Roshni was brooding and decided the memory was not worth spoiling her whole day. She shook her head and went inside thinking of the humongous amount of nankhatai she'd to deliver that day.

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Aman looked at his surroundings for some sign of life as a bald eagle flew from atop the branches of a nearby tree and landed gracefully on Aman's left shoulder. " What do you think we should do Baazigar ?" Aman asked the bird perched quite comfortably on his shoulder. Baazigar cried an affirmative and Aman reached out his hand as though reaching for something in the air as Baazigar transformed into a wand as it flew into Aman's outstretched hand.

"Kiyamifaa " Aman said pointing to the empty road as suddenly a sleek black car appeared out of thin air in front of him. Aman, smiling to himself at the thought of seeing his sister happy, drove away to his house.

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Roshni was just about to call Farah, her BFF when she smelled something burning. She then remembered and rushed to the kitchen in the bakery she was working in, to see it engulfed in a black cloud of smoke and the ovens at the back spewing more out as though what was already there wasn't enough. She quickly ran inside the room opening the windows to let the smoke out and then opened the oven to take out the now burned batch of nankhatai. She was just placing them on the counter when the owner came in coughing at the smoke.

" Roshni! How many times should I tell you not to bake? You never finish baking without burning and it will only be a matter of days before your baking skills eat the building up in fire!"

" I'm sorry! I'm sorry!! I just thought that I'd try once -"

" Please! You just stick to the delivery and let the others do the baking ok?"

" Ji "

" Now there are 8 parcels to be given away before noon and you please get started on work right away "

Mumbling a very sad yes, Roshni left with her eyes on the ground and silently wishing that she could bake more.

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The magnificent yet humble Junaid Manzil was where Aman lived with his family. Anjum - his Dadi, Baby - Aman's phupi, Sara and Saima - Aman's sisters, Parveen - Aman's ammi and Mr. Chotu - He was adopted by the family but Aman can't think of anyone more adorable than Chotu. Aman couldn't think of anything more important to him than his family. He'd do anything for his family. He entered into the house to see it getting decorated in a gold and black combo. The family tend to dress with the theme of the party always and Aman was pretty sure he didn't have a suit that matched this theme. He decided that he'd have to buy himself a suit while going to shop a gift for Sara. His thoughts were interrupted with Dadi calling him from the kitchen.

" Ji Dadi ! Did you call me? " Aman asked.

"Where have you been my donkey from somewhere? I have been searching for you since morning! You do remember that today is Sara's birthday right? There is so much of work to do and you just left without telling anybody at home? "

" Dadi I thought of going to the Mosque today and I was going to come back in jiffy but I got held up"

"Accha that's fine. Now go get ready. The party is about to start in another 2 hours. "

"Dadi, you please go get ready. Even if the party is about to start in 5 minutes I can be prepared but you and others.......... I am not very sure. I suppose just Sara and Saima would take all day long to get ready."

Saying this Aman bids farewell to his Dadi saying that he had some important work to do and will be back before the party starts.

He then goes to get the gift for Sara and on the way, his suit too.

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A/N

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Dranic Cullendale 😎😎