𝜗𝜚-°AUTHOR'S POV

The sun was shining outside, painting the room in gold. The curtains fluttered against the window, lost in their own rhythm.

The room was filled with a peaceful silence only sometimes interrupted by the muffled noise of the busy world, outside.

After a moment of stillness- the door of the room swung open. The footsteps approached- moving through the room like an owned territory.

Lysa stood in front of the dresser wrapped in her bathrobe. She started getting ready with slow steps.

Her Ivory white sharara rested peacefully on the bed- waiting to be picked up with the other accessories scattered through the bed.

"Augh," Lysa groaned in frustration, trying to perfect her eyeliner's wing.

After applying kohl- adding beauty to her brown hazel eyes, Lysa ran towards the bed, picking up her sharara and rushed inside the washroom.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, but after a second of not getting any reply- the door opened with a screech, "Lysa, come down beta, fast."

"Yes mom, give me three minutes and you will find me downstairs." Her voice rang from inside the washroom, laced with hurry.

Shaking her head, her mother left the room- closing the door behind herself.

Sometime passed in a blur, when Lysa stepped out from the washroom dressed in the same sharara. She kept struggling to keep her organza dupatta in place.

Sparing herself a glance in the mirror, she rushed out of the room. She took hurried steps down the stairs- almost skipping some steps and tripping on her sharara.

As she reached the dining room, Lysa composed herself and entered inside. The dining room was filled with servants preparing the breakfast table. Her mother's voice came out from the kitchen every now and then- instructing all the servants who passed by.

The mouth-watering aroma of the sevaiyan and the ghee-fried paratha filled the air.

Soft golden lights hung around the area with little lilies, illuminating the whole house with glow.

Lysa slowly moved to the kitchen to find her mother. On spotting her, Lysa's lips curled in a smile. Confidence and warmth etched in her existence.

"Eid mubarak, mom." She said out, softly.

"Khair Mubarak, my baby."

Before any of them could say anything more, Lysa reached and took the bowl in her mother's hand.

"I'll carry it to the dining room." She said, as her mother looked at her confusingly.

Her mother blinked at her assuring as Lysa left the kitchen, leaving her smiling mother behind.

—🤍—

The sound of the prayer rang through the loudspeakers across the whole ground under the open sky.

The sky was filled with the smell of scent and Eid.

Arhaz Shaikh walked out of the crowd after the namaz, in a sleek and crisp white kurta.

Taking unhurried steps as he reached to the car.

Settling inside, he began driving- detaching himself from the world, tearing through the wind.

The car halted in front of the big wooden door of the Farooq mansion.

Arhaz stepped out of the car and went inside the house as the guards opened the doors for him.

The sound of the shoes clicking against the white tiles echoed through the hallways as he made his way inside.

His presence radiated with a sense of surety and confidence.

As soon as he entered he noticed Saher standing near the staircase with a box of sweets in her hands and was talking to their house keeper's daughter Mehak.

"Assalamualaikum aunty!" Arhaz greeted her as he cut short the distance between them.

"Walekum assalam Arhaz, aren't you early today?" She asked while greeting back.

"Eid Mubarak aunty and I'm early here cause I directly came from the mosque that's why."

"Khair Mubarak beta, you go inside I'll be there in a second." She spoke while gesturing him to go towards the dining room.

Arhaz moved inside only to find Lysa near the table- busy in keeping some plates in the right place.

He looked at her petite figure from behind as his lips curled in a slow smile.

He took some quiet steps towards her and gently covered her eyes from behind.

Lysa froze in her movements- startled for a second and then she took her hands to the hands that had her eyes covered.

Drawing little, lazy circles she spoke, "Arhaz!"

He retrieved his hands from her eyes and she instantly turned around to face him.

"How did you know it was me?" He asked as he stood in disbelief- his mouth half hanging all set to touch the floor soon.

She just stood there- looking at him.

Getting no responses from her he decided to make himself comfortable and sit in his place.

But, as soon as he turned, Lysa caught him by his Kurta's collar,

"Mr. Arhaz, when did you return from turkey? Why don't I know about your arrival?" She asked in a breath.

He turned around, still in her grip "Eid Mubarak to you too Madam." He said with an indescribable calmness.

Just then, before Lysa could retort back, all the elders entered the room in a snap.

"Are you both again at this already?" Arhaz's father- Mr. Usmaan asked, raising his eyebrow.

Lysa immediately left his collar, half embarrassed and Arhaz took his seat while fixing his crooked collar.

Everyone in the room chuckled at their antics and greeted each other as they settled down on the table.

The overall atmosphere of the room was silent- only the sound of the spoons clinking with the plates broke through the thin silence and the little murmurs of the two dad's who busied themselves in business talk with their food.

𝜗𝜚-LYSA'S POV

The elder's were eating with all the peace they could make out of their chaotic lives and at some point I was no different than them.

I kept all my focus on the food in front of me and on the kheer that melted in my mouth as soon as I took a bite.

Well, when it comes to sweets, I'm very picky and I don't eat any sweet other than kheer, that also only the one my mom makes- I don't know what hidden recipe she uses, but the one she makes is different- different than all the kheer around the world. So, she makes it for me especially cause she's not much into cooking.

But, when it comes to make their only daughter happy, she treat it like a race she has to win.

[A/N: kheer is a sweet dish of the eastern culture.]

I was lost in my thoughts while taking small bites at times when I suddenly felt a feet kicking my feet under the table and I didn't need to look down to find the culprit.

I already knew who it was.

I looked up at Arhaz who was calmly eating from his plate while sitting directly opposite to me.

He ignored the whole world around him in such a way as if he wasn't the one to kick my feet out of the blue a moment ago.

Typical Arhaz.

I was shooting daggers from my eyes when he looked up at me with an innocent smile- mirroring the opposite of his actions.

He knows I don't like disturbance while eating and that's what he was actually doing.

And just like a little reward, he kicked again while looking straight into my eyes with a very I did it smile.

I decided not to fall in his trap and so I continued eating as if nothing was happening. He kicked a few more times, but not getting any response from me he knew his trick wasn't working and so he must've decided to ditch it.

My attention soon diverted to the two ladies who were again at the talks of dresses already and I more than gladly joined their conversation.

I didn't realise when some hours passed as well engrossed in topics no one could ever think about.

Then, Mom and Aunty got up from their places and vanished in the lawn probably to get some fresh air, I would usually join them too but I didn't want my Ivory Sharara to get mud on it, so I stayed back.

Dad and Uncle also moved to his study with their business talks leaving me alone with Arhaz.

He was busy on his phone for some time while I just stayed there looking here and there, tapping my fingers on the table out of boredom.

I looked at him as he hung up, while he just raised his eyebrows at me.

"What?" I snapped.

"Nothing." He just shrugged and looked away and so did I.

We both engrossed in our phones while a calm silence wrapped around us and which is very casual between us, this happens very often.

"So, are you going to attend Ilyaz's party in the evening?" He asked with curiosity.

"I don't know, if Humaid will be free I'll be meeting him." I replied, clicking my tongue.

"Yeah, you should be going there." He said, understanding me.

"What about you?"

"Yeah, I have to go anyway." He replied, pressing his temples.

"Attending his Eid party won't make him seal the deal."

"I know for sure that much Lysa, but I'll only be going there cause maybe while I'm at it I can pull him for some serious talk." He said, explaining his only motive to become a part of the event.

"I doubt, he'll have that much time." I replied as I took a sip of water from my glass.

"Well, we'll see that and either way I don't have any other plans so attending it won't be a loss."

"Yeah, but I can't say the same!"

"Mhmm, you should go and meet your Humaid." He teased me, rolling his eyes.

—🤍—

It was late afternoon and the sun had begun to dip.

Letting out a sigh full of exhaustion, I fell on my bed- after changing into my loose kurti and pants.

Today was full of laughter and peace but somehow I knew two days later I would be back in the office, buried within the old stacks of files and pressed down by the responsibilities and the thought was enough for me to curl more against my pillow.

I lazily reached my side table picking up my phone to dial Humaid.

Where is he even?

The phone beeped without any response from the other side, so I tried again.

"Hello?" His voice came as soon as he picked up my call.

"Hey! Where are you?" I asked, I wanted to know where he was, that he didn't even reach out to me for the whole day especially when it was Eid.

"At home, why?"

"Nothing, you just didn't reach out nor picked up my call so that's why..." I exerted, trying my best to explain what I was feeling.

The unsettling feeling that had burdened my chest ever since I noticed that he hasn't even checked my texts which I had sent in the morning.

"Ohh, I was busy with Farhad and others so didn't see it ringing."

He said it so casually. Maybe I'm the overthinker here. Fine, Lysa calm down.

"So is your cousin there?"

"Yeap, why you interrogating me like that Lysa?" His voice mas mixed with the usual teasing he always does.

"Nothing, are you free in evening? We will meet if you can."

"Yeah, of course. Tell me where you wanna meet?" He asked, and I finally breathed out a breath which I don't know for how long had been holding on.

"I'm out of ideas for that, so I'll leave it to you. Come and pick me up around 7pm okay?" I said, finalizing our plan.

"Okay, that's on me. Love you and bye!" He hung up, without even waiting for me to say it back.

A soft sigh escaped my lips as I looked back at the dull screen infront of me.

"Love you." He said, so easily that it felt too devoid of any real feelings.

I laid back on my bed- my thumb hovered over the screen as I slowly unlocked our chats-

SEEN 5:42 PM

He saw the texts, still he didn't reply, he didn't even say that he'd already checked my messages.

He lied, but why?

A part of me was feeling restless- too restless to stay quiet. But, again I can't help but remember his words "You're just overthinking."

Maybe, he's right.

Maybe everything is alright, just like he said.

Maybe I'm overthinking again.

Soon my eyelids grew heavy and I slipped into slumber.

But the thoughts, the voices, the echoes—

They followed me even in my dreams.

· · ─ · 𝜗𝜚 · ─ · ·

Chapter Aesthetics

──﹕ 𝜗𝜚 ﹕──

So, what are your thoughts on the chapter sunbeams?!

Good enough? Honestly, I kind of like the vibes that I ended up shaping in this chapter, ehehe!

Let's see y'all soon in the next chapter.

Till then,

Votie and commentie.

✨🌻

Until next time,

Yours Kitty🐾.