ASFIYA FF - ITTEFAQ : CHAPTERS 1 to 6 ; Page 1; UPLOADED - 08/05/18

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Alone?

"Tea or Coffee?" Asfi asked as he walked around his kitchen counter.

"Huh?" Zubiya looked at him quizzically as she came out of her trance.

"Haven't you become a bit slow after getting back to Pakistan? I asked whether you would like some tea or coffee?" Asfi asked, smirking at her knowingly.

"Tea is fine, thank you." Zubiya said quietly as she walked toward the counter.

"Well, you can consider this house as your own as well. You'll have to here after the marriage." Asfi said with his back turned to her as he poured in the tea and milk in the tea-pot. "Sugar?" He turned back and found her standing with her mouth hanging open.

"Listen. The thing is.. I called you at the restaurant only to break off this marriage arrangement between us.. get it?" Zubiya almost spat at him through her gritted teeth while glaring at him.

"And what if I tell you that I won't let you do that, then?" Asfi asked as he raised his eyebrows at her questioningly.

"What- What do you mean that you- " Zubiya exclaimed as she stomped around the counter and walked up to him.

"Do you really think that us meeting- what, twice- oh no, thrice! We first met on the train remember? Is it all just a coincidence? No. It is our fate. We met, not once, not twice but three times! There must be some meaning behind them, right? We were bound to meet again.." Asfi said as he shrugged while giving her an ample grin.

"What- What sort of nonsense are you blabbering about?! How can you believe that?" Zubiya asked.

"This 'nonsense' is what I've been seeing for years in ny family. How can I not believe it? My grandpa, uncle, dad, brother... every single one of them came to know who their to-be wives were going to be just after a single meeting. Now how is that possible.. I don't know. But this tradition has been passed through generations in my family. Now if you want to give it a title of 'Supernatural Intuition', then please go ahead." Asfi shrugged as he poured the tea into two cups and handed one to her after adding sugar.

Zubiya reluctantly took a sip.

Asfi grabbed her right hand and softly pressed it, startling her.

"Come with me." He softly said and led her out of the kitchen.

The most shocking thing she realized as she walked behind him was that she would always follow him back. There was a magnetic pull that she felt push her towards him which she couldn't just ignore.

And maybe she didn't even want to.

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"Sit. Please don't feel uncomfortable by me. I will never hurt you, trust me. We spent almost a month together. You can trust me this much, right?" Asfi asked her as he sat on a reclining chair in his lawn.

Zubiya lightly rolled her eyes as she took the seat across from him.

"It's not that I don't trust you. If I had trust issues with you then I wouldn't have toured entire Thailand with you." She said while taking a sip from her cup.

"Oh! So you do admit that you are Zee! The Zee with no aim?" Asfi exclaimed with a wicked grin on his face.

"And you are just Asfi, right?" Zubiya asked back sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at him.

Asfi threw his head back and laughed aloud.

Zubiya gulped as she felt her throat run dry while she watched him laugh and cleared it loudly. Which caught his attention.

Smirking knowingly, he replied, "Okay. You got me there now. So, why don't we clear this air of misunderstanding between us?"

"Okay. You already know my parents. So, I hope you must have figured out what sort of people they are. They are not that bad per se... or maybe they are. The thing is they like to take decisions on every aspect of my life just because I'm their only daughter. My parents have chosen my friends - with whom I should hang with.. they have chosen my college.. teachers.. university. Everything, you could say. But eventually.. I just had enough with it. Enough with his control over my life. There was one thing that I wasn't about to compromise over with them and that's.. Art. It is something that I am very passionate about. The moment I got to know that my father was going to decide what profession I should choose.. I left home and shifted to a nearby hostel. I had everything dealt with already.. I had already sent in my application for the best Art University.. booked in the hostel I would live in. Just before I got my acceptance letter, my father arrived at the university and begged me to come back. He said he was sorry for being very controlling and that he would support me in achieving my goals. That was about three years ago." Zubiya stopped for a while, lost in her thoughts.

"That's good, right?" Asfi asked slowly.

"Good?", Zubiya snorted and laughed mirthlessly. "Not at all. He is a business man. All through. It was actually an investment that he made. Now that I am done with art school, internship and have already gotten my dream job he wants me to marry the person of his choice. Without any objections. Now I really get it. I always wondered you know, how come he gave into my demands so easily. I never in my life thought that giving in to my wishes would be actually his form of future investment. I wonder sometimes if I die- if - would they even grieve my death.. like from their heart or would they just consider it as a business loss? My life is screwed up right? No! Actually, I am the screw up. They always wanted a son. But they got me instead. And they are trying to make the best use of me."

There was a long pause in which Asfi took in Zubiya's forlorn expression as she stared up at the sky.

Oh, how wrong was he. He thought he was the only one broken.

"And therefore you thought the solution to your problems would be to break off arrangement with your to-be-fianc. Which is me. Right?"

Part 3 - Scroll below!

"And therefore you thought the solution to your problems would be to break off arrangement with your to-be-fianc. Which is me. Right?"

"Yes. How could I not? I don't want to be an effing puppet anymore! I want to be independent." Zubiya stated passionately.

"But now knowing that it's me that you are supposed to marry.. do you still want to break off our marriage?" Asfi asked slowly.

Zubiya softly took in a breath and looked down. After a few seconds she finally looked up and directly into his eyes and replied softly, "Yes."

"Even after all those moments that we spent together.. would you still- " Asfi asked again as he bent in his seat towards her

"Yes! I will." Her voice shook as she replied while looking away from his pierceful eyes.

"Wow. What a heartless person you are then. I mean.. you only care about your ego.. your power.. your life.." Asfi said in a sniding tone as he sat back in his seat and stared at her mockingly.

Zubiya stood at once and shouted fiercefully at him. "Excuse me?! You have no idea what you're talking about, alright! You don't know what it feels like- ".

"Like to be ignored? To be unloved? To be spited? Oh, yes. I do know, darling. If you will come out of your little bubble that you have created around you, you will see that you're not the only person on this earth who has shitty parents. Oh. Do you know.. I don't even know who my mother, my real mother is? That I don't even know when my birthday is? I am the result of my father's past mistake. Now, that is what I call screwed up." Asfi ranted angrily as he got up and stood nose-to-nose with Zubiya who almost seemed to be stunned into silence with every passing second as he spoke.

Zubiya gulped as Asfi stared at her. She could feel the rage brewing inside him; the anger; the pain.

"I am sorry." Zubiya finally croaked out and looked away from his penetrating eyes.

"Zubiya.. it's not all about winning or losing. It's about being grateful for the blessings you get and what you have. The loss doesn't matter at all. Zubiya, you are my blessing. The moment I saw you on the train I had an inkling that you were somehow special but I blew it off later. And then a few days later when we met again at the beach and talked for the first time.. I knew you were special. Special for me. Because you are it for me. And then we spent some good time talking... visited places.. made plans.. Almost a month passed and our last day in Thailand came close. I was nervous. Because I didn't want to let go off you yet. On the last day we were lounging at the beach and you kept asking why I seemed so lost. But I had no answer because how could I tell you that I was about to propose you?" Asfi stopped speaking and looked at her stunned expression for a while and then continued again, "And then you had slept off on your chair and I had to postpone it for the next day. But you had already left. Leaving just a short note for me, saying I am sorry. Do you have any idea how painful it was for me reading your sorry excuse of an apology? No. Obviously not. How could you - because you only care about yourself. I got determined to search for you.. but I never in my imagination thought that I would find you here. So close to me. We are fated to be together." Asfi closed the distance between them and ran his fingers through her hair.

"S-Stop!" Zubiya tried to move away but was again grabbed by him.

"No. I have just had enough of you running away. Not again. If you still think you can break off this marriage, then try as much as you can. But trust me, you'll definitely fail because you have got all odds against you. And I am the strongest one."

PART 4 - Scroll Down

"Why don't you just clearly tell me this that you want to take me out from one jail and put me into another? Where it won't be my father but you who will rule over me! Just remember one thing, Asfandyar Ali Khan.. if I do get married to you.. then I can even choose death over you ruling over me. Get it?" Zubiya stared at Asfand with her bloodshot eyes.

Asfi smiled at her lovingly and said softly as he ran his thumb down her cheekbones, "That point will never come. Give me a chance.. I will never let the thought of going away from me come into your head."

"Too much confidence isn't healthy, Asfand. Who knows, you might find my dead body on your bed at our wedding night." Zubiya whispered back.

Asfi stared back as his heart clenched tight while a glimpse of Zubiya's limp figure lying on his bed flashed in front of him.

Removing his arms around her he took a step back as he looked away, blinking off the sudden tears that had erupted in his eyes.

"Go away, then." Asfi barely whispered as he turned his back on her.

All anger left her at once as she heard him whisper those words.

"What?" Zubiya hated herself as she felt her voice break. She didn't want to appear anything less than strong in front of him.

"I said.. leave then. I've already spent half of my life alone... the rest won't matter. The only feeling I have for you is love.. not hate. I don't want to force anything upon you because I'm not like your father. I'm not manipulative like him. You can go now. My driver will leave you at your address. Allah Hafiz." Asfi spoke and walked into the house without glancing towards her.

Zubiya shook on her feet as she realized what had actually happened and barely grabbed the arm chair as her legs gave out and she sat on it with a quiet thump.

Minutes passed as she sat numbly before a stout-figured servant cleared his throat in front of her, announcing his presence.

How come she didn't see this man come in front of her?

"Ma'am, if you are ready.. we can leave. Sir has instructed me to leave you at your address before 11pm." The man nervously said. She looked at him for a moment and could clearly see as he looked at her with pleading eyes as if he was begging her to leave the premise because he was apparently scared of his sir.

"Okay. I am ready now." Zubiya said as she stood from her seat and stiffly followed the driver.

Settled in the car, she almost didn't catch it but as she moved a couple of strands behind her left ear, her eyes fell on a tall silhouette standing against a veranda rail, gazing towards her direction. No. Gazing at her. She could feel them. Poring directly into her.

She looked away as they sped away.

PART 5 - Scroll Down

Zubiya sat on her bed and just laid down. Staring up at her ceiling top.

Go away, then.

His words rang in her head as an echo. So loud that she sat upright, gasping for air.

She remembered his almost broken expression when she told him how he might find her dead body on his bed.

The only feeling I have for you is love.. not hate.

Love!

She let out scoffs of disbelief as she replayed his words in her head.

He loves me.

What exactly did he know about love? Just because they had spent almost a month in each other's company, hanged out together... had formed some sort of acquaintance, it all didn't mean anything!

And what about the nonsense that he had blabbered about - the supernatural thing that he said ran in his family?

What- what absolute nonsensical crap was that?!

Zubiya felt an unknown rage boil inside her and to let out some steam she jumped off her bed and started pacing.

He's lying.

Then why did she want to get back to him after she broke off the engagement... and now that it's him that she was supposed to get engaged to...

What's stopping her from accepting him now? Shouldn't she be rejoicing the fact that she will be getting married to the person that she liked and maybe had fallen in love with?

Her ego, her mind whispered.

Just for the sake that it was her father who had also chosen him for her... it irked her to no end.. so much that she refused to get married to him? In that way won't she be the loser here? Because...

She slowly laid down on her bed and closed her eyes tiredly.

Finally. To sleep.

Only if she could, that is.

A certain pair of hurt eyes kept her up the entire night.

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Opening her eyes to the bright rays pouring through her curtains, she greeted no one with a bright smile.

Flipping around on the bed, she realized she was still wearing the previous day's clothes.

And then she remembered that she had broken off her engagement with him.

No. She did the right thing.

And this time for once she will be the winner against her father.

With a forced smile on her face she set about to start on her day and enjoy her achieved freedom.

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Sitting in the lawn, she sipped at her tea while reading one of her favorites, Sense and Sensibility. She kept on reading but stopped at a line -

" Sometimes one is guided by what they say of themselves, and very frequently by what other people say of them, without giving oneself time to deliberate and judge. "

Is that true? Will she be able to stand strong against her father this time?

As she thought over a question popped up in her head:

Will it be worth it? Am I making a mistake?

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize one of her servants standing beside her.

"Ma'am.." As the young maid called at her, she broke out of her reverie.

She looked up and found the maid standing a few feet away from her holding a medium-sized brown package.

"Ma'am... this letter has come for you." The maid said.

Zubiya frowned slightly at the package as she wondered..

Nodding slightly, she kept aside her book and cup of tea and said to the maid, "Bring it to me."

The maid gave her the package and walked back into the house, leaving her alone with the package.

Her hands shook as she read the name of the sender on the package:

Dr. Asfandyar Ali Khan.

PART 6 - Scroll Down!

Her hands trembled as she carefully tore open the package. Peering into it she found a small brown diary. No. Her diary. A folded piece of parchment and... a ticket?

Pulling them all out carefully, she set them up on the table beside her except for the letter.

Taking a deep breath, she unfolded the parchment -

Dear, Zubi.

Please consider this as a letter to you from a friend and not your ex-fianc.

Firstly I would like to apologize to you for treating you the way I did yesterday. But you know me.. that person wasn't who I am. Not really. The time we spent together back in Thailand... now that was the real me.

Remember the last day we spent together, which was at the beach and I found you writing in your diary.. I teased you about reading it all. After we spent some time, you got up saying you were going to head early to the bed. And I said I wanted to stay a bit longer. I hadn't realized till a few minutes later that you had mistakenly dropped your diary in the sand. I wasn't going to read it, I swear. But my curiousity got the best of me. Now, I apologize for that as well. But I can assure you that I only read the last entry as I was too shocked to find my name written in there when I didn't even mention it to you.

You wrote about getting engaged to me and then I put everything together. That you were Zubiya Khalil, the one my family was getting me engaged to. You won't believe how ecstatic I felt at first and thought maybe it was our fate bringing us together. I didn't want to believe at first.. I mean the world wouldn't be so kind to me after all that I had gone through. Right? Spending a few hours browsing through all of your social accounts I could tap onto, I was happy to find that for the first time I had been proved wrong.

I waited for you the next day, to return your diary to you.. but you didn't come. I waited outside your room for hours till a butler told me that you had already left early in the morning and gave me the letter you had so carelessly written, which contained only three words.

I mean, 'I am sorry'? Really? You had only these three words to say? Actually I would have preferred , 'See you soon'. Just kidding, by the way. You couldn't have known that it was me that you were about to be engaged to.

Anyhow. This will be the last conversation we have between us, at least from your side. I am not sure if you will even read this letter in the first place.

Maybe all of this was one-sided between us and I had expected more.

Now that you have your diary back I would like you to accept this ticket which is a form of apology ticket because it was for me that you had to cut short your vacation period as you had mentioned to me back then.

Zubi, I wish you a very happy life towards your freedom and whatever you want to achieve.

PS: Do not worry about saying anything to your parents. I'll say no to mine.

With love

Yours only,

Asfi.

XOXO

Asfi.

He sounded so much like the person she had met back in Thailand.

She missed him.

He had felt like a fresh breath of air to her because he was so much different from the men she usually associated with.

He was cheerful. Care-free. Passionate. Full of energy.

But so much different from the man she met the previous day.

Asfi and Dr. Asfandyar Ali Khan are so different that they are a huge contrast to each other.

She just didn't know what to make up of the letter.

The last conversation between them.

Weirdly she felt sad about it. That she wouldn't be in contact with this unusual person in any form again.

Am I making a mistake? She thought, as she grabbed at her hair and pulled them frustratedly.

Squeezing her eyes shut as she clenched her fists tightly around her hair, she could only see him.

In pain.

And that broke her apart.

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