NikhatI freeze in the same position as a statue as Kaif's eyes straight come to me. He gets on his feet, peering deep into my eyes. I don't know how to react. My voice sticks inside my throat, my legs freeze there. I can't move, I can't speak. "Long time", before I can figure out anything, he pulls on a big smile and surprisingly it makes me smile wider.The smile isn't forced, it's hell genuine and so is his one."Yeah", my voice is low and I can't even utter something because of smiling. "Long— long time"My chest swells with an unusual joy which I never thought I would feel. From the last night, I had been hiding from him and I thought I would have nothing to react to. But I can't believe how genuinely happy I am to see him. We don't speak anything.Only smile at each other.Stare at each other from a distance.Why does it feel so good? "Nick!" Mia bangs inside the room, dragging me out of my thoughts as our eye contact breaks. "Hey, didn't you guys start it yet?" She panics an

KaifShe holds my arm softly when the flashes of Irtaza holding her crash into my sanity. I feel an unusual burn and gulp down. However, I realise she had hurt her hand. "How's your arm?" She freezes for a second and mumbles."It's fine. How do you know?""The accident yesterday. I was in the cab. I saw you holding your arm that moment. And today you hissed so loudly", I tell her.She looks utterly shocked as if it's because of our repeated encounter unknowingly. "Oh! I'm fine", her lips twitch into a smile. "Now get up and call Zoya. Ask her where she's having her lunch. Join her"I don't know why I can't argue with her. She's so damn irresistible. Shaking my head, I take out my phone and dial Zoya's number. It rings.At the same moment, Nikhat's phone rings and she picks up."Yes, Mr Kaiser"My heart chills again as I keep gawking at her."Yeah. I'm coming. Stay in the coffee shop"Coffee!They may be close enough to hang out. Otherwise, Nikhat isn't fond of hanging out with anyon

Kaif"You literally went for a coffee last night? Without me?" Zoya frowns as we munch the breakfast, sitting in the restaurant under the resort."I thought you must be sleepy", I mumble. There was no plan to go outside last night. But I couldn't help it. I believed Nikhat would be on the balcony again like that night. I wanted to watch her. The voids of seven months weren't easy to fill. My eyes craved to watch her. And I knew I would find her. I did. She was again on the balcony and time she didn't hide. In fact, she looked back at me and smiled. I don't know why it felt like she was actually happy to see me. Even though her connection with Irtaza freaked me out, I realised how wrong I'm going with this. Just because she is finally comfortable with people around her, doesn't mean there is something. I should be happy that she's not the same timid and silent Nikhat anymore. "You met her?" Zoya's question brings me back to the moment as I cleared my throat. I don't think there's

Kaif"I'll never understand the logic behind brown parents forcing their children into marriage", I crack up, trying to lighten the situation."Are you still fighting with your ammi?" She laughs back."Still", I let out a deep sigh and this time, my phone rings. I take my phone out of my pocket and look at the screen with a chuckle."It's ammi""I'll excuse you", she giggles and looks over at the woods again as I pick up the call."Assalamualaikum, ammi", I beam."Walekum Assalam. How's it going over there? How are you?""I'm fine, ammi. How're you?""How would I be in this empty house without you? Only if you got me a daughter-in-law, I wouldn't need to be alone right now", she says.My mother!She has some superpowers to link everything with my marriage."Ammi!" I gasp, stretching the sound. "Okay. Okay. I'm not talking about this anymore. How's your seminar going?""It's going good", I tell her. "Zoya was telling me that she has to force you to have meals?" Ammi groans.This Zoy

KaifOur eyes meet. I pause. And her smile vanishes.Shit! Shit!Shit!Don't walk away, please.Not again. What misery! I can't even express my feelings because of this fear. It's so hard to keep things inside. As my heart is almost sinking, I find her slightly smiling.But she says nothing. "You know I love the cool side of yours. Be like that", she says with that smile. At least, she loves something about me. Not me, of course. I smile lightly. "And please don't worry. A restriction order is issued against him. He's not gonna bother me anymore", she says. "At least, you did it. You should have done that a long time ago", I tell her."No. I didn't do that. Mr Kaiser did it for me", she says.I pause for a whole second and realise what she just said. "You mean Irtaza?" I mutter with a slight twist in my chest. "Yes. Him. I can't afford to hire a lawyer and get this all done. Well, I can afford it if I save a lot, but I didn't have the courage to do that all. Thankfully, he did