"my heart was a beggar; with nothing but a few shards of love,
but you came and you changed me into a millionaire,
a millionaire with a heart full of love.
love is a powerful feeling that conquers true hearts and destroys false ones,
only true hearts, capable of handling it's power, love and are loved- faaris."
Faaris had joined his new office a few days back . And thankfully , all the formalities had been cleared off much more effortlessly than he had thought . As far as his boss Aasiq was concerned , he wasn't that bad of a guy . Just loved to have fun and enjoy every situation .
"Where's my girlfriend ?"
He exclaimed , sitting down on the couch and relaxing against it . The work load was insane , sometimes even continuing for days together , depending upon the type of protection or client being served. With him being a retired army official , it was not entirely bad . A little tiring perhaps .
"Don't talk to me liar ."
He smiled wide , as Mahreen's insult echoed in the empty house .
As she stomped her way into the living room , her open hair almost flying about due to the intensity of her steps , he got up from his seat and went on his knees in front of her .
"Oh my baby ! I missed you so much ."
Mahreen scoffed , crossing her arms over her chest and huffing loudly .
"Guess you missed her more ."
Faaris' mouth twitched with a larger smile .
"What do you mean ?"
He played innocent , battling his lashes .
With a huff , she pulled something out of her pocket and slapped it into his chest . Faaris' mouth hurt with the way he was holding back his laughter .
When he did take whatever it was that had caused his girlfriend's blood to boil , his eyes snapped open .
"She ? Where did you find this ?"
She gave him a side view and whispered a reply .
"On your desk . You forgot it this morning ."
Faaris had almost lost himself in the photo when the steps of her stomping away alerted him .
"Hey ! Hey , hey , hey , hey ."
He rushes forward to her on his knees and she turned her head away .
"Look , now you're not trusting your boyfriend here . That is wrong okay ?"
He pouted and she sort of gave him a look .
"Besides , I carry her photo just because she's....well , because her photo somehow ended up in my wallet ."
That seemed to convince the girl a little , as she turned to fully face him .
"Really ?"
Faaris nodded with determination .
"Of course ."
He moved closer to her and whispered into her ear .
"I don't want to hurt her you know ."
Mahreen nodded , a little understandingly .
"Also , I got my girlfriend a little gift !"
Her face enlightened instantly . He carried her in his arms , as she laughed gleefully at the weird noises he was making .
Once they'd reached the kitchenette , he dropped her on the island , ordered her to shut her eyes and asked her to count till then .
She opened her eyes to find him holding a cake box in his hands , stretching it out towards her .
"A cake ? Yay !"
She exclaimed happily , throwing her arms around his neck while he lifted her up and twirled her in the air .
After he had dropped her on the couch , he went back to the kitchen and cut a slice out of the strawberry cake . Arranging it carefully on a plate , he dashed out and propped beside her .
"Here's the cake for the most perfect girlfriend ."
She giggled as he put down the plate in front of her .
"Now where's my gift ?"
He asked and she turned to look at him .
She pulled him close and dropped a kiss on his cheek and he smiled back widely .
"Thank you Habibti ."
She grinned .
"You're the bestest boyfriend ."
And with that , she got engrossed into eating her cake and he relaxed against the couch . While she ate , he decided to lay down on her lap . She looked down at his face , stunned for a second before she nodded .
"Okay okay , lie down ."
Most of the times , he wished coming home from a hectic day at work and relaxing in his wife's arms . He could be considered a love sick puppy but he didn't mind that . Because as long as he felt relaxed in his lawfully wed wife , nothing would be wrong .
But only if Inaya gave him the privilege to .
"Okay , so kids , today we'll be having a very special person with us soon ."
Valerie announced , setting down her fork and chewing on the last bite of her raspberry tart .
"Oh yeah , we forgot to mention !"
Elsa exclaimed , sighing loudly .
"Who's it ?"
Samantha asked , leisurely chewing her fries . Sarah had been quietly watching as her sister stole a fry from her plate and devoured it shamelessly .
Victor looked at her with narrowed eyes and motioned for her to stop it .
"Well , it's our brother , Franklin who'll be coming soon ."
Elsa squeaked , both she and Valerie squealing with elation .
"Isn't he the one whose wife passed away a few years back or something ?"
Gabriel casually pointed out , holding up a spoon .
The table fell over with a devastated silence as everyone seemed to have a hard time swallowing the remaining food . When the news was first delivered , it had ended up being very traumatic and even stressful to Derek , Franklin's only son .
"Yeah , we had met him only once . A few years back at that ."
Victor slowly replied , while both the sisters had fallen gravely silent .
"What had happened ?"
Afra found herself being curious . She drank her glass of water and almost spit out the last swallow , as everyone's piercing gazes locked onto her .
Elsa sighed sadly .
"It was a very tragic case . He had fallen in love with a Jewish woman.....I don't recall her name but she was a beautiful person in and out . The kind of people one shouldn't let go if they ever cross our path ."
Valerie smiled sweetly , propping her chin on the heel of her palm .
"They truly were in love one could say . Our parents never entertained interreligious marriages and it was a matter of great trivial . In both of the families , horrible riots took place . For several months , our brother had been under strict surveillance whereas she was locked up in her room ."
Valerie sighed loudly as Victor took over the narration .
"From what I've been told , after that , several months passed by . And Franklin and her were sick to the point that both of their families were worried with their deteriorating health ."
Valerie weeped a little as Victor rubbed her back .
"Finally , seizing the Christmases opportunity , they ran away . Never to return . Years passed by and life went on . Mom often cried recalling him , but never wanted to talk to him or even find out if he was alive or not . A few years after Derek â their only son's birth â I had somehow been informed that his wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer ."
Afra gasped aloud , along with Sarah and Samantha .
"That is horrible ."
Inaya softly emphasised , earning a sad smile from Valerie .
"Very unfortunate indeed regarding how we didn't even have the privilege of meeting her ."
Elsa sighed , banging her fist down on the table and standing up abruptly .
"Which is why exactly I want my brother to have a very good time here with us ."
Everyone at the table slowly agreed â albeit a little taken aback with Elsa's outburst â because why not !
They had finished eating . Gabriel decided to just leave the ladies do their work and the men aside .
Gabriel was seated in the back garden , admiring the city's weirdly orderly scenario . He had walked in there right after their food and was glad he had taken that step .
The road was bustling with cars and large trucks and although it was the peak hour - with several schools being dispersed with majority of offices - the place felt like a place of order with strict standards and rules .
"Hey brother , wassup ?"
Sam hit him on the back of his head and he grimaced .
"Thinking of the devil and the devil appe....- " he paused , feeling a little uneasy when he spotted Hafsa make her way with Sarah .
Sam followed his gaze and let out a low whistle .
"She's gorgeous just so you know ."
She wiggled her brows at him and he felt his cheeks burn a slight bit . He knew that she was amazing . They hadn't talked much and nothing of specific significance , yet it came off to him like she was a part of him . A part of his that spoke to him .
"I know that ."
He softly whispered as Sam hopped her way to Hafsa and Sarah . They giggled and talked about something in hushed voices . Gabriel wondered what it was but chose to question his sisters when Hafsa wouldn't be around .
As he started to dwell upon the well maintained mini garden that had been grown , someone tapped his shoulder and he turned around to see it was .
"A penny ?"
He turned back around to find Inaya swinging on a branch . The branch belonged to one of the three trees that beautified the garden . It was a little unbelievable that Inaya could swing so well on a branch .
"For my thoughts ?"
She nodded , clasping her fingers tighter around the branch .
"Yup . You sort of look worried ."
Gabriel frowned a little . It was true that he was going through the events of the last day . The day they had hung out in a mall .
The malls here were large and spacious , similar to the ones in London . Now that wasn't what was perturbing him . As a matter of fact , a situation that had happened during that time had been pestering him for a while now .
"I......there was something that happened yesterday ."
Inaya steadily stopped her swinging , tilted her head to a side and looked at him blankly .
He watched - quite edgy in his seat with regard to the height - as she swung herself with one last energised blow , loosened her grip on the branch and landed on her knees at a distance .
Gabriel scrambled to his feet , his mouth partially open while Inaya dusted off her abaya and hands .
"How did you do that ?"
He asked , still momentarily fazed with what had occured .
Inaya shurugged , settling on the bench a little space away .
"Just like that I guess . It took me a lot of time to practise that ."
She paused and tapped the seat to ask him to sit down .
"I had - "
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT ?!"
Gabriel and Inaya turned around to find a very spellbounded man with a head of tousled dark hair and widened grey eyes standing at the door , pointing a finger at her and the tree alternatively .
As he took his time walking to the bench while keeping his gaze stuck between Inaya and the tree , Gabriel made out his dark eyebrows and thin lips .
When he came back to the bench â his puzzled look now replaced with an impressed smile â Gabriel figured it was his cousin who was expected to arrive earlier .
"Anyway , I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself ." He smiled sweetly and extended his arm forward .
"I'm Derek ."
Gabriel shook his hand .
"Name's Gabriel ."
Derek seemed impressed .
"That's a nice name . Gabriel ."
Gabriel frowned . His name was pretty common and known . He shrugged a little .
Derek extended his arm towards Inaya who politely shook her head .
"I'm sorry I don't do handshakes . But it's nice to meet you too Derek . I'm Inaya ."
He blinked a little at how she had refused to have a handshake with him but quickly gave her a soft smile .
"You're name is.....really pretty . It feels so luxurious to say ."
Inaya smiled gratefully and placed a hand on her hand to show her gratitude .
"That's very sweet of you . Thank you ."
An awkward silence fell over them and Gabriel wished he could just let out his worries to Inaya . Within his gang of crazy cousins , she seemed that most reasonable . What he had foreseen required a human of professional experience and he figured that as much as he wanted to discuss it with Hafsa â just for the sake of talking with her â Inaya was the perfect option . She was even the eldest after him in their cousin club and it was only sensible to let her know of the dwelling trouble upon Afra .
"I'll go and meet them ."
Derek waved and jogged over to the little girl gang . As soon as he had gone from their vicinity , he turned to Inaya .
"We have something to discuss ."
She propped her head against the bench while settling down on it .
"You've been worried sick about something and I can feel it . So spit !"
Gabriel sighed , running a hand through his hair .
"This is going to sound weird and very paranoid at that . Still you need to know it ."
Inaya's eyes narrowed slightly as he adjusted himself a little closer to her .
"In the mall , the other day , Afra had I presume finished her shopping and was searching for me so I could carry her bags . Somebody else had volunteered to help her out in the meanwhile ."
Inaya had already straightened her back , fully facing him at this point .
"I was actually following the same guy who had kind of developed an interest in Afra . He kept a close watch on her and made sure to click some pictures of hers too . It was alarming me greatly but there was no way I could hold him guilty of his crime because he was very smooth at what he was doing . I could have let him slip by had I not seen him stand a few aisles away from Afra while clicking a photo . It seemed suspicious and I had â to the best of my abilities â kept a pretty close watch on him ."
Inaya held her breath , feeling a sense of guilt alert her . All that time she was busy with Sarah and Sam while Afra could have been probably abducted or something had it not been for Gabriel's observations .
"Imagine my horror when I figured out he was offering to help her out . Thank god , I was right there . In that huge mall , she could have been easily carried away â or whatever it was he was planning on doing â and nobody would have even noticed ."
Inaya felt her knees went weak and her mouth dried up .
"How..... â no , you found him clicking her picture ."
She murmured , drumming her knuckles on the bench .
"Exactly ! I saw him clicking her photo only . I mean if he was some pervert , he could have targeted the other women who had not been as modestly covered as Afra . No offence to any woman , but I'm just trying to get the point to you ."
Inaya nodded pensively . The facts were indeed evident in pointing out that Afra was some man's target .
"I don't mean to startle you right now , but I had ever seen him around here while heading to the grocery store down the street ."