At 13, Asfand was forlorn after the death of his parents. His uncle and aunt had taken him in with them. When they reached their house, Aamiya came rushing to him, her nanny running behind her.
Aamiya was surprised at seeing him with her parents. Nonetheless, she still launched herself at him.
"Asfi!" She squealed. Asfand crouched low and hugged her back, tightly. Nothing would make him feel better in those days, he barely ate to survive. But seeing how sweet the little doll was, lifted up his spirits a little.
"Aamiya baby, from now, he will be staying with us." Aamiya's mother explained. Aamiya had always liked Asfand, even though many thought she was a moody kid. She rarely spoke to people she didn't know. Aamiya was happy with having Asfand with her.
"Really?" She looked up at Asfand, blinking her eyes. Asfand couldn't help himself, he cracked a small smile and nodded. He'd lived in Lahore with his parents and Aamiya's residence was in Islamabad, and so they weren't able to meet as often as they'd like.
Her parents smiled, knowing that Aamiya's company would make him feel better.
Around dinner, Asfand wasn't quite hungry. He had taken rice on a plate and was barely eating those as well. Aamiya just looked at him and didn't eat her food either.
"Aamiya baby, please eat your food." Her nanny pleaded.
"No, I will eat only if Asfi feeds me." She said, shaking her head. Her curls bounced with the movement. Asfand smiled due to her actions.
"Come here." He called her. She climbed down and ran to his side, where he helped her up on the chair. But when Asfand tried to feed her from his plate, she shook her head and refused to eat.
"No, you eat first. Mama is wulling (worrying) about you." Aamiya spoke. Having no other option, Asfand started to eat along with feeding her.
Asfand began to call Aamiya's parents as Mama and Dad
Asfand at 15 and Aamiya at 7
Asfand was busy studying, when his room door opened. There stood Aamiya with her mother behind her.
"Aamiya, he can't play right now, he's studying." Her mother explained. But Aamiya refused to listen, she rushed towards Asfand and stuck her arms out, asking to be picked. Asfand shook his head and picked her up. She looked adorable in her purple floral dress; her curls left open as always.
"It's okay, mama. She can stay here. You won't disturb me, would you?" Asfand spoke, turning towards the little girl. Her mom sighed and left.
He gave her a puzzle to solve, knowing that it would keep her busy. When she was done, Asfand got up and placed a kiss on her forehead.
"Good girl. Let's go and have ice cream now."
Asfand at 18 and Aamiya at 10
It was time for Asfand to choose his college. Aamiya's father wanted him to get his further education from England, since Asfand was going to handle the business later on.
When Aamiya was informed, she began weeping. Her mother tried her best to make her understand.
“Aamiya, don’t you worry. He will visit us at least three times a year. And you can talk to him every day on Skype.” She said.
“Three times a year!” Aamiya wailed even more when she heard that. When she saw no other way, she stood up and ran to Asfi’s room.
When she entered his room, she saw him sleeping. She sobbed and sat next to him on his bed. She called his name in between her heavy sobs. Asfand cracked his eyes open, and sat up straight when he saw her bawling her eyes out.
“What happened, Doll?” He spoke, shocked to see her crying. He was used to having her come to him when she had been scolded or something.
“Y-you’re going?” Asfi sighed, understanding the situation. He, himself, wasn’t overly fond of leaving but seeing her cry like this, made him finalize his decision.
“If you don’t want me to go, then i will not. Don't cry, Doll.” He spoke softly, wiping her tears away. He pushed away her curls that framed her face, he loved her hair. It fascinated him.
“Don't go.” Aamiya said, rubbing her eyes.
“Ok. I won't.” He told her, smiling. She smiled widely and at him and ran out of the room, satisfied.
When Asfand informed dad of his decision, he sighed and asked, “Is it because of Aamiya? I know she was crying last night.”
“No..” He sighed, knowing that Dad would see right through his lie. “Dad, I wouldn’t be able to live without you all anyways. And there are many good universities in Islamabad as well.”
When it was clear that Asfand wouldn't budge from his decision, his parents had no other option than to agree as well.
Asfand aged 22 and Aamiya at 14Asfand had started going to the office with Dad, he was going to take over soon anyways, so they thought why not start from now.Aamiya was getting older and had, significantly, started tying her hair. Preventing him free access to her to her soft hair. Many things changed between them, along with their feelings. Asfand was clueless as to how he was supposed to handle his feelings.At presentAsfand aged 27 and Aamiya aged 18Asfand was sitting in front of the tv, watching a match when Aamiya entered his room. She never knocked his door when entering, she never gave it the time of her day. Asfand sat up straighter, as she came and sat beside him.“What’s up?” He casually asked her.“Nothing, I wanted to go out.” She told him, with a pout. He smiled in return and started to get up. Although he was tired and was planning on resting for a while, Aamiya wanted to go out and he couldn't turn her down.“Why ar
Aamiya went on and on about Asfand, making it clear that she missed him a lot. A friend of hers suddenly thought of something and asked, “ Why does Asfand Bhai care so much about you?”Aamiya was baffled. “What do you mean why? I’m his cousin, it’s obvious he will care about me.”“He is 8 years older to you, why don’t you call him Bhai?” Her friend asked further.Aamiya thought for a while and then spoke.“I have never called him Bhai and no one has even ever asked me to. Wouldn’t it be weird if I just suddenly started calling him Bhai?” Her friend shook her head.“Idiot, how will it be weird if it’s Asfand Bhai with you? Look at you, you can go up to two weeks without your parents and not even two days without Asfand Bhai.”Aamiya couldn’t say anything else, she was drowned in her thoughts.Asfand wrapped up his work early and got on the earliest flight back to Islamabad. He bought chocolates for Aamiya and made his way home.
Her friend went ahead and asked her cousin for help. Aamiya felt nervous when she saw him walking towards her, she was in the sight of Asfand.“Hey, I’m Ahmad.” The man chuckled softly, but Aamiya wasn't feeling any better. The man laughed a little and said, “Smile, at least. You won’t be convincing anyone like this.” Aamiya jolted and started talking to him. Sometime later, she saw Asfand looking at the both of them. Talking to Ahmad, she realized that he wasn’t a bad man at all, but she couldn't think of him as anything more than her friend.Asfand saw Aamiya talking to Ahmad, he knew the guy but still didn’t like it. Nonetheless, he kept himself from saying anything. The party went on. He gifted her a new mobile phone, since he knew that she wanted to change hers for a while now, but didn't have enough time to.Around 11.4pm, Asfand went to Aamiya’s room. She was already fast asleep, as Asfand sat beside her and pulled her hair away from her face. He gently kiss
Asfand's rational thoughts gave up on him when he took Aamiya's hand and pulled her close to him."Aamiya, I love you." He declared.Aamiya was shocked to the core when she pushed him away. She didn't like the confusion she felt hearing his words."You have lost it, Asfi. Are you aware of what you're saying? I don't want to talk to you anymore." She cried out and left for her room., hurt by his words for some reason.Aamiya wasn't feeling alright after she had yelled at Asfand. They had never before fought, this was a first. "I don't know what has gotten into him. Why is he suddenly saying all of that?" She thought and cried herself to sleep that night.Asfand was restless as well, he hadn't anticipated such a reaction.The next morning, Aamiya left her room all dressed up."I want to go home; I don't want to spend another minute with you here." She spoke, not looking at him.Asfand sighed and leaned back in his chair. " Aamiya, stop b
“Aamiya, calm down. What he’s saying is true.” Her father spoke, hesitantly.Aamiya couldn’t control herself anymore and stood up, “This isn’t funny, Dad.”“You are in his Nikkah. Your Nikkah was done when you were 3 years old.” Her mother declared softly. Asfand sat there, quietly listening and staring at her. He had always known about the Nikkah. This was decided by his parents, as if they knew they wouldn’t live much longer.His parents had always been open with him, he had even seen pictures of their Nikah.It was his decision to refrain from telling Aamiya about their Nikah, he wanted her to lead a normal life, without the pressure of their Nikah.Aamiya didn’t understand what was happening around her, “I don’t believe there was a Nikah. I’m not married to anyone.” She shouted and ran away to her room.She refused to talk to anyone, locking herself in her room all day. When she didn’t come to dinner the following night, Dad started to get worrie
Aamiya's mother returned to her room and sat on the bed, beside her husband, "Have you seen Asfand? Your daughter is hurting herself and my son by doing all this." She said, exasperated.Aamiya's father sighed, "I don't think Aamiya is going to see reason like this. We are going to have to intertwine.""If the marriage is held now, with all customs. Maybe she wouldn't put up a fight anymore. She may accept him in the nearer future." Her mother took a deep breath. "I can't see them like this anymore, hurting so much. Make Aamiya agree somehow, even if you have to be strict for now." Dad nodded.The next evening, Aamiya was reading a book when her father knocked on her door and walked in. She sat up, let her legs hang off the bed. Her father came and sat near her."Aamiya, why are you doing all this?" Dad asked her gently.Tears filled her eyes, "What am I doing, Dad? I can't accept what all of you are saying."Her father sighed, "He is your h
“Maybe, just maybe we’re being unfair to Aamiya forcing her into this. What if she doesn’t want Asfand as her husband?” Her father spoke to her mom.“You haven't seen the way she is these days. She can’t stand a day without him and you are going on about her not accepting him. She just needs to accept the truth and start thinking of him as her husband. She’ll be fine.”Asfand spoke to Dad, he said that the wedding was a must if he wanted Aamiya to accept him anytime soon.The wedding took place 15 days later. Aamiya looked gorgeous and didn’t put up much of a fight after she had seen their childhood Nikah pictures. She didn’t know what she wanted, the right of choosing her spouse was taken from her. She stopped thinking and let things go with their flow.On their wedding night, Aamiya and Asfand entered the room and quietly got ready to sleep. Aamiya hadn’t spoken much to him. She looked so forlorn sitting on the bed, that Asfand couldn’t handle it. He
They reached Murree around midnight. Asfand took the keys from Noor Ali and asked him to leave. Aamiya was really tired, she changed into her night suit and went to bed. When Asfand entered the room after checking around the house, he saw Aamiya stretched out on the bed, wiggling her slightly red toes.He sat on the bed and asked her, “What’s wrong?” He was dead tired himself.“My feet hurt, I am never going to wear heels again.” She muttered softly, pouting.Asfand let out a low chuckle, he was aware that Aamiya didn’t like wearing heels, she couldn't stand the pain afterwards. Afand took her feet, placed them in his lap and started rubbing them gently.Aamiya tried to pull her feet away, “Asfi, please don’t.”Asfand looked at her sharply, “Why? I don’t think comforting you is going to make me any less of a man.” He spoke and Aamiya went silent.Aamiya enjoyed the massage for a while and then said, “I feel better now. Asfi, please stop.”