CHAPTER 36-MEANT FOR EACH OTHER ~ FARHAN💀

F A R H A N : -

"Pleasure to meet you sir," I greeted my client Mr. Wazir as I shook his hand and motioned him to take a seat,

"Ah, the pleasure is all mine gentleman after all I finally got a meeting fixed with Mr. Farhan Siddque," he chuckled and sat down on the chair infront of me.

"Not at all sir, it's an honour for me and my company to have a contract with yours," I said as the waiter came served some refreshments on the table,

The old man infront of me laughed and said, "I see you got the ability of sweet talks from your dad, my old friend Junaid,"

I smile and added some sugar in my coffee, "You could say that sir,"

"Now no need to make me feel anymore old by calling me sir," He says adding a sachet of brown sugar in his coffee,

"As you say Mr. wazir," he laughed, sipping his coffee.

"I was actually hoping to have a meeting with you last week but you canceled it, had second thoughts on our contract?" He asks setting his cup down.

I shook my head, "Absolutely not, just...some family emergency," all related to my wife.

"Oh alright family comes first, always." he smiled warmly, "So is junaid still here or back at istanbul?"

"Baba went back to istanbul two weeks ago, I was supposed to leave last week after our meeting but had to cancel that plan and here we are,"

He leaned a little closer to the table and asked in a hushed voice,

"And how is the other business going?"

I raise my eyebrows in amusement, "Great, you don't have to be so discreet about saying it, people won't figure out what 'business' we are talking about"

"But it's good to be discreet, if I hadn't left this thing with your father and went back to London I would've been an Spy for all you know," the skin wrinkled near his eye as he laughed delightfully.

I let out a quiet laugh, "Sure you would be,"

"Now if I kept going with my talks we would not be able to complete our meeting to which we are here for the first place." He said and I agree, taking out a black file from from my bag and kept it on the table infront of him,

"Here you go Mr. Wazir, " I slid the file in front of him, "You can read it if you want," I add.

He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, bringing the file closer to him, "Of course, your father's number one rule which he thought me, read a contract twice before signing it."

"Been told the same," I smiled and he continued reading the contract,

While he was reading it a question popped in my mind which kept nagging for a while.

"Mr. wazir if you don't mind me asking, is there a specific reason you wanted this project to be named 'Sitara'?"

He paused reading the contract and stilled for a moment, making me think I shouldn't have asked it so openly.

"It's alright, sorry for asking if it's too personal," I add immediately before I could regret anything.

He shook his head and closed the file, taking out his glasses, he stared outside the glass windows from the tenth floor view of the hotel,

His salt and pepper hair glistened in the sunlight, he had a dazed look in his eyes, I was afraid if I hit an emotional nerve.

"Mr. wazir are you-" I stop talking when he replied,

"My daughter," he says still looking outside the window,

"Pardon?" I asked confused,

He finally turn away from the window and faces me again, "Sitara. My daughter,"

I stay silent, letting him talk,

"She really liked her name written everywhere. although this wasn't her real name, only I used to call her that, and she loved the name sitara just because of it." he laughed, a glazed look in his eyes, as if remembering an old pleasant memory.

"I am sure your daughter will love to see you have a project named after her," I say trying to sound affectionate.

He gave a small laugh..which sounded rather sad, "Only if she was here to see."

An unsettling feeling pits in my stomach, the way his tone settles, makes me nauseous remembering mine,

"Was?" I whispered, a suspension rising in me, is his daughter-

"She is no more," he said lowly as if it pained him to even say it,

I sat up right and scolded myself mentally for being so blatant, "I am so sorry, I didn't knew about it, I apologise for my words." I apologised sincerely,

He waved his hand saying, "Oh no you did nothing, it's just that remembering a person so close to your heart who is never going to return is painful,"

"Indeed it is" I agree in a low voice.

"I have been thinking about this project for a year now and thought that when my daughter would be here I would surprise her," he sighs tapping on the cover of the file,

"But as people say fate is a cruel thing, four months ago when she was coming here with my brother, their plane got into a crash, making my brother disabled and my daughter...dead," his voice faltered at the end, I looked at him and the sadness clouding his eyes, why could I understand his pain so easily? It was as if everything around me disappeared and all I could hear again was my brother's last words to trust him, and the police officials declaring him..dead.

Distant sounds of cutlery clattering on the plate and blood rushing in my ears was all I could hear,

"So to give her a sort of tribute and a way to remember her, I am doing this project." his tone laced with grief,

I composed myself and forced my brain back to present from the dark corners of my mind.

"I know, a child is very special and beloved to a parent and loosing them is the biggest nightmare for them," I tried to overcome the memory of my mother crying seeing my brother's dead body or my baba standing still next to her and not reacting anything,

"My sitara was separated from me for twelve years and when finally I thought things where getting better, she was taken away from me." His eyes glistened again I offered him some tissues which he took and clutched in his wrinkly hand.

I didn't dared ask him what he said now, I didn't want him to reminisce his wounds more, I know how painful it could be.

"Loosing someone is not easy, but trust me they are in a better place where the creator has called them, at peace and I am sure Sitara won't be happy to see her baba hurt. so for her, please don't cry Mr. wazir," I know how it feels when someone sympathies you, I tried my best to form words to comfort him.

He wiped his eyes and something in me felt clench painfully seeing him in this state,

"And if you want anything, I will be here for you, couldn't be a daughter but I could be your son," I chuckled and he let out a laugh,

"Thank you so much son, and I am sorry for ranting out my sad—" I cut him off,

"You call me son and make me a stranger the next moment, it's alright your son is always there for you." I grin,

For a second I felt something change in me, if this meeting would've been months ago I wouldn't listen to him and just walk out maybe, but something in me changed it was like, I am thinking more...humanly if that even makes sense.

He nodded and continued reading the contract and signed it making our contract valid.

After talking to him for a while about his old days with my baba and their group while having lunch, we both headed outside after paying the bill to the parking lot, his driver was waiting in his car and I walked him upto his car,

He caught me off guard when he suddenly pulled me in a hug, "I felt as if I was talking to my own son today, you made me remember your brother Fahad in many ways, May the almighty bless you always and keep you and your wife happy and together," I hugged him back and said nothing.

"Always remember Farhane, nothing is more satisfactory than taking blessings from people's hearts, and taking a blessing is more powerful than any materialistic things,"

Now I truly understand why Fahad bhai only wished blessings from others, a warmth spread in me, people always remarked me as a rebellious boy and today when I am being compared to my brother, it's an achievement for me which cannot be replaced for anything in this world.

"And remember one thing Farhan, loosing your loved one is painful but loosing yourself is like you choose your own death, everyone wants to live, so cherish what you have and bring back what's lost," his words stuck me deep yet confused me, I nodded my head in understanding.

He patted my shoulder and sat in his car and the driver drove off, I walked down to mine and unlocked it, removing my coat I threw it in the backseat and sighed leaning against the car door,

I always thought I was the one who suffered a lot in my life, but there are people who suffered far more worse than me but still are coping with it, living with it with a smile, anyone who met Mr. wazir couldn't tell that behind that jolly old man is a sad father coping with the loss of his daughter, dedicating a project to her to remember her and just been four months, so what stopped me?

Four years I blamed myself which I am to be blamed, but what I did?

Did I coped up with it?

No.

Did I learn from it?

No.

Did I try to move on from where I was four years ago?

No.

I never made an effort to move on, the circumstances the situations were thrown at me and I accepted it forgetting myself completely, and never made a move to go back to myself which was four years ago, because in some sort of way, I was punishing myself and the people around me, my parents and especially Ayesha. I've hurt her many times knowingly and unknowingly, just because I couldn't cope with myself, now that it's been four years of me punishing myself and what I got? Nothing, just more restlessness in me. I am sure if bhai would be here, he wouldn't want to see me like this, and the only thing which was stopping me from coming out of my remorse was me itself. Looking at mr. wazir today I learned that losing someone is not easy, but losing yourself is easy and you are the only person who can save yourself from everything.

Everything feels so overwhelmed today, I feel overwhelmed and remorseful, but nonetheless have a great feeling.

My eyes drifted to a small flower shop across the road, there were various colourful flowers arranged in a stand, the beauty and freshness of those flowers somehow reminded me of Ayesha,

A small smile formed on my face, as our conversation from the night before filtered,

"Farhan?" She calls out unsurely, I glance at her from the mirror, her hair brush paused mid way in her hair,

"Yes?" I answer setting my phone on the bedside table.

She turns around, leaning against the dressing table, "I-um, I have to say you something,"

I nod, urging her to continue, "Alright, come here." I pat at the space in front of me,

She bits her lip and walks over to me, taking a seat on the bed, her hair brush still in her hand,

"Um, how do I start?" She mumbled to herself, "Okay, so.."

"Can this conversation happen without your brush, or does it play a role here?" I ask, amusement lacing my tone.

"Huh?" She looks down at the brush in her hand and flings it across the bed, "No, sorry my mind.." she chuckles nervously.

"It's okay." I chuckle.

"Okay so.." she taps her hands on her knee and turns towards me, "I...I wanted to apologise."

I frown, sitting up straighter, "For what?"

She plays with the skin around her nails, looking down, "For...for slapping you that day."

My eyes widened remembering our fight that day, I had the worst of my moment. I got to know Emir's location and traced the unknown number, the information I got was enough to fuel my anger and ego.

"Look.." I began,

"No. Let me complete," she interrupts, "We had a fight, and I absolutely hate that we fought that day, and I slapped you too, which was bad..so bad. I regret it everyday, I am so sorry Farhan, I shouldn't have-"

"Ayesha," I grabbed her fumbling hands, "It's okay, you don't need to apologise. I kind of deserved it." I admit it slowly.

"No, no Farhan you did not deserve that slap, I did not deserve the hurt that day, we both got the best of our anger. I am guilty of what I did, and I want to apologise to will you accept my sorry?" Her eyes shone with guilt as her hold on my hands tightened,

"Okay," I nod,

"No, words." She argues,

"I um accept." I try again,

"Accept what? Farhan please.." she whines,

"Alright. I accept your apology." I finish and she nods with a smile,

"Now that we are apologising," I bring her close to me, "I am sorry."

I continue before she could stop me, "For everything. For saying harsh words to you. For mistreating you, accusing you." I gulp looking away from her,

"There is no excuse for my actions, I saw the first things and I reacted, not thinking what I am saying and to whom I am saying. It took me a while to realise my mistakes, I know no words would be enough to apologise to you."

Her eyes glisten with tears and she shook her head, "It was in the past."

"Doesn't mean it cannot be corrected." I reply, "I am sorry. I am so so so sorry, Ayesha. I would understand if you don't want to forgive me."

"It did hurt me, yes. I cried a lot about it, but," she pauses taking a breath, "But that doesn't mean we cannot learn from our mistakes, you are guilty because you knew you were wrong, and that's what I want. If we didn't learn from our mistakes, then what makes us humans, right?"

I momentarily got stunned by her words, "You..you are ready to forgive everything?"

"Yes, I am. And I am not going to break it in words like you. Yes, I forgive you." She smiles, wiping her tears.

"You do?" I ask, a light feeling settling in my chest, like a heavy weight has been lifted off and I can now breath.

"Yes." She nods, "Can I ask you one more thing?"

"What else did you do?" I ask, trying to lighten the atmosphere,

She laughs wiping the last of her tears, "Nothing now."

"I just wanted to ask, why weren't you talking to me there, and even when we were coming back?"

I sigh looking down, knowing she was referring to today's incident at her parents house,

"I was...guilty,"

"Of what?" Her voice full of confusion,

"Of myself, how I also accused you before and i.." I said looking at her, when her face remained confused, I continued,

"I heard everything what you said to danish," I say looking at her,

"What?" She gasped slowly,

The confusion gone, and now I could see the anger morphing in her,

"If you were there the whole time, then why didn't came earlier to save me?"

"Because you didn't needed it, you saved yourself, you were your own hero,"  I reply immediately.

She opened and closed her mouth, giving me a bewildered look,

"When I saw you going inside, danish secretly followed you and I knew his intentions were anything but good, when I followed, I had to control myself for not jumping directly and snapping his neck, but you stood for yourself and claimed you were very off limits to him, and I am very much proud of you," I say, making sure she realises how much I respected her at that moment.

"I am sorry for accusing you-" she placed her hand on my mouth, stopping me.

"Don't. as you said it was past let's not relish it, let's forget that and look forward to our future, we just had an agreement, didn't we?" She says cupping my jaw, I don't know weather it was the moment or her, which made me melt under her touch.

"Let's, let's just forget everything," she says, "Everything, and leave our pasts behind, and built a future together?" A hopeful glint in her eyes, which made a feeling in me arise, to protect her, from everything single thing.

I gave her nod, "Yes, let's make our future. Fuck every person who tried to separate us, and start all over again?"

"Language." She chuckles patting my cheek, and slips her hand away, making me miss her touch almost immediately.

She gets up from the bed, before she could walk away, I grab her wrist, stopping her,

"Wait."

She turn around, her eyes on my grip, "yes?"

I bring her closer, making her fall back on the bed, her eyes widen when I inch closer to her, I could hear her heartbeat when I brought my mouth closer to her ear,

"Your brush, don't forget it." I whisper dangerously closer to her ear, the scent of her shampoo invading my senses, making me dizzy,

I pull back to gauge her reaction, there was evident redness on her cheeks and her eyes had a dazed look.

"Yeah," she replies in a haze, she snaps out of it when she realises what I had said, "Huh?"

I move back to point at her brush, which was hanging half way at the end of the bed.

"My what.." she looks back at the brush and hastily leans and reaches for it before standing up and placing at the dressing table.

"You are funny." She replies dryly.

"I know." I grin.

She walks back to her side of the bed and lay down, unfolding her blanket.

"Combed enough?" I tease laying back.

"Farhan." She whines, covering her face with her blanket.

A car honk made me snap out of my day dream, realising I have been smiling, I composed my face before looking around and got in my car.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, I took out my phone and a smile grazed my lips reading the contact name,

Ayesha

I picked up the call and connected it to the car's Bluetooth,

"Hello?" I ask reversing my car out of the parking lot,

"Hello Farhan? Is your meeting over?" Her voice speaks through the speaker,

"Yes just got over with it," I reply taking a u-turn instead of going straight on the road,

"Then when will you come and pick me up? We have a flight to catch at nine," her hesitation gone and she snapped,

I chuckled slowing the car near the flower stand, "Relax it's just three in the afternoon meri jaan [my life]."

"That doesn't help my anxiety," she snapped again, I rolled down my window and gestured at the single red roses, the boy standing over there nodded and picked up the roses,

"When will you pick me up and when will you get ready when will we leave? It takes one hour of drive to reach airport, and it's three fifteen now!" Her voice resonated in the speaker as the boy handed me two roses.

"All will be managed, you just relax," I hand him a twenty liras note and thanked him before driving off,

"Well I cannot when I have a brother who irritates me by making me watch two women adding kerosene in their tea and fight over a man, and my husband who is already late," she ranted anxiously.

Ayesha wanted to meet her parents before we leave for istanbul so she packed all her luggage last night so that we could leave to airport from there directly,

"Well I didn't take murat as a keen watcher," I mumbled taking a turn which leads to Ayesha's parents neighbourhood,

"You don't even know the half of it," Her voice mumbled in the speaker,

"Aha? Do I?" I asked parking infront of their house, disconnecting from the Bluetooth, I turned off the car,

"You leave that and come fast to pick me up, I don't want to be late!" She cried out in frustration, with my phone on my ear, I got out of the car, and walked towards the porch,

"Look it might take me thirty minutes," I reply ringing the bell and turn around having my back facing the door,

"Thirty minutes! Farhan we are already late," I heard the distant sound of bell going off through the phone,

"Wait, there is someone on the door,

Murat Go open the door!" she moved from the speaker and screamed for Murat,

"I have the most useless brother in the world," she mumbled and I bit a laugh.

"Let me see who is there, you stay on the line don't hung up," she ordered, I heard footsteps approaching the door,

"Alright," I mumble.

"Yes, whose there-" The door opened and her voice faltered on the phone and also behind me as I turn around,

"It's me, your husband." I say hanging up the call and walking towards her who stood their gaping at me,

I placed a finger under her chin closed her mouth which was opened after seeing me,

"You liar," she gasped recovering from her shock state,

"It was worth for your reaction," I chuckle as she swatted my hand from her chin and moved aside to let me in,

"Not funny Farhan," she tried to be stern but there was a hint of chuckle in her voice, as she closed the door behind me,

"You said we were getting late, bring your bags let's leave then," I teased taking off my shoes,

She nodded her head at the sudden realisation and was about to make a dash to her room when I stopped her,

"Kidding, let me meet mamo and mumani first and have some nice tea, also a great lunch by mumani sounds great." I counted off walking with her towards the living room,

"You are kidding again, right?" She asks, I take a seat on a couch,

"Who knows?" I shrug, relaxing back on the couch,

"Farhan," she whines.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Only one suitcase that's it? You won't need anything else?" She asks sitting in the passenger seat after I loaded our luggage in the car trunk,

"Yes that's it besides I have most of my stuff there too," I say driving off from her house gate as she waved at her parents and brother who were standing near the gate.

While driving off, I caught gaze of mamu and he just...glared at me. Wait what wrong did I do for receiving a glare? Throughout the last few weeks he just gives me a stink eye. Don't know what's wrong,

"You could've told murat to drop us, where will you park your car at the airport?" She asks ruffling in her purse to check our tickets.

"No it's alright, Nain or bilal will pick it up from there," I reply taking a right turn,

While I was driving on the main road, I finally asked Ayesha the question which is buzzing in my mind,

"Have I done something to receive a cold shoulder from your father?"

"Huh? Why do you ask?" She asked turning towards me,

I shrugged, "I observed for a while, he just gives me a stink eye as if I've done something I shouldn't have, you have any idea why?" I ask her

"No..I guess you are just paranoid, baba's like that, he has a reserved nature." she answered quickly as if to prove her point.

"Maybe I am." I mutter  and continuing driving,

"Why did your meeting took so long? You said it would be over by two but you were an hour late," she asks, gazing out of the window,

I sighed remembering the meeting which thought me a great life lesson,

"He was an old friend of dad, so he had a quite a talk with me about their old days."

She chuckled softly, "That's great,"

"Do you think I could change Ayesha?" I blurted out,

I could feel her questioning gaze on me,

"Of course you can if you want, but why do you ask?"

I clutched the steering wheel and finally took out the words struck in my mind,

"How would you rate my behaviour after...... Fahad bhai's death?"

"Should I be honest?" She asked and I nodded looking at the road ahead,

"Rude," her blunt reply made me snap my neck at her,

"Also cold- hey I asked you if I could be honest!" She answers, summarising my shocked expression,

"Yeah of course it's just that um you know truth is sharp..so yeah," I muttered quickly, "Continue,"

"It is, so yes you became rude and cold and vent all your emotions in,"

Her words struck me deep, Damn was I that obvious?

"For a outsider you are a person with brooding personality but the people who know you, knows how you torture yourself by keeping everything inside you,"

"You know it's not that hard to share, I understand it's difficult for you but it's never impossible," she says carefully,

She was hesitant but continued,

"I know Farhan you miss your brother, but the way you deal your grief and pain is not nice."

I look at her again, she was about to continue but stopped, with her eyes widened she shook her head,

"No I am not judging you- sorry if I intruded way to much." she apologised and I grabbed her hand and mentally punching myself for putting out my image so wrong in front of her.

"No need to apologise, you are my wife you have right to say anything to me I don't mind." I reply squeezing her hand, "Really."

She relaxed visibly, patting our joined hands with her free one, she asks,

"Can I continue then?" I nod with a chuckle and she continues,

"I just wanted to say that, grief happens in life but the way we deal with it tells our story of how we all are much of a survivor here."

I said nothing continued driving, a weird calm emotion drawn in me, she is right and the only thing which stopped me was me itself.

We were Nearing the airport when I told her,

"Thank you being in my life, and tolerating my rude and cold self,"

She placed her hand on top of mine which was on the gear shift and said,

"Well meant for each other has a definition," I smiled and parked the car at the airport parking,

"Now come on let's go, adventures of Istanbul are calling us," she says getting out of the car,

I got out of the car and loaded our luggage at the airport trolley and looked at my wife, who was again taking a look at our tickets after counting our luggage.

Meant for each other definitely has a definition, she will always be with me,

May you and your wife always be together,

I mean where will she go, she won't, she will be always with me.

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A/N:-

Do I sniff....... Love?

Do listen to the song attached for da feelz

I swear turkish songs hit different.

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