EDITED

" They confuse us all. They all look alike. "

* Ben Johnson *

Azfar:

Zahra was staring at her father as if trying to collect the shattered pieces of his soul, whom she didn't even identify. She was an innocent soul, who intrigued me just by her natural charms.

' Baba? '

She called softly to him, bending down on her knees and tried to calm him down by ruffling her hand through his hair. I wish she did this to me as well...

Hearing her sweet voice, her father raised his head up from his bowed position and looked straight in her eyes as if searching for something lost.

' You're my father? How come I don't know you? What happened with me Farhan? '

She then came towards me, sitting on the sofa beside which I was seated and asked me holding on to my hands firmly. Her gentle and caressing touch was enough to fuel and ignite my emotions but I had to control, atleast now until she accepts genuinely to be mine.

" Yes Zahra, he is your baba. And I can't tell anything more than this. You need rest dear. Come, let's go back home. "

When I got up to leave from her home Uncle stopped me from doing so.

" Wait. Who did she just mention you to be? Farhaan? "

I arched my eyebrows in confusion, but I myself wanted to clear all this, at this instant only. I couldn't survive bearing the fact that my loved one was in love with someone else, was married to someone else.

" Aah... You need to stay here to get to know the truth beta. Will you stay here until she gets fine? Pls? It's like a request to you I'm begging for, pls? "

Listening to his thoughts, I couldn't control this emotional drama and I soon agreed upon whatever he said. I just couldn't stay at the sight of her being hurt. And for this I myself needed to know the reasons.

" Yes uncle but we'd stay here for two days only, then I've to go back to attend some conferences "

He gave me a slight nod and then after few minutes the dinner was served. Everyone ate in silence, except Zahra. She was continuously looking here & there, trying to decipher the encoded aura around her which was so unfamiliar .

" You are just playing with your food, Bellarina. Pls eat, or allow me to feed you. May I ? "

I took a spoon of rice adding some gravy to it and asked her to open her mouth, at which she responded obediently.

' Bellarina? '

' You just called me Bellarina right? '

' Why does it seem so that some man other than you has given me this name, it sounds so indifferent from you... You never called me by this name? Then how come today? '

I choked on the food that had entered my windpipe, and few tears escaped in the process. She quickly stood up from her seat and came behind me caressing my back with her hands in up & down motions. She asked me to look upwards and then after few seconds, I was okay.

' Ahh, I have told you so many times not to talk while eating! You're such a bad child. '

Drama Queen

I gave her a disappointed kind of smirk, because she was the one who made me justify calling her bella... Ahh, why did I even had to ruin this? I guess it's not good forcing her neurons to work forward in time lapse instead of going backwards.

I didn't manage to finish the food on my plate and I excused myself from there by saying that I wad not feeling well and would just like to rest.

She being my dearest wife , obviously had to follow me so she also joined behind me to the stairs. Her room was on the corner of the corridor and her home didn't seemed so spacious but interestingly the interior of the home was designed so carefully and exquisitely that anyone could doubt this place to be a grand one. Pastel yellow walls with white striped borders, and the window outlet was so marvellous that it was like a mini balcony! *sarcasm*  But honestly, I was intrigued.

' What are you oggling at? '

She appeared of nowhere when she caught me staring at her home designs, and I was intrigued by her too.

She was wearing a wine red sleeping dress reaching just beyond her knees, which had lace of the same color, trying to hide the upper part of her body. I couldn't take my eyes off her.

She followed my eyes and a playful smile was set up on her delicious lips.
F*ck! I'm so dead!

' Hmm, I think someone is planning to have the missed up dinner up here tonight. '

She took hold of my wrists and almost had grabbed me inside when a cold and harsh female voice interrupted us.

Thanks Goodness! Or I'd have sinned tonight.

" Zahra, come downstairs I need to talk to you "

She scratched her chin thinking whether to follow the Lady or not, but she had to as she did not have any other choice while staying at her home. Wow, she seems so innocent and pure!

" Should I repeat it once more than I've already said? Come downstairs quickly! Go and wear a veil over yourself, what kind of a shameless woman are you?? "

The lady huffed with anger and this time her tone was piercing.

Something was so wrong here. I need to find out.

She blinked away some tears forming at the end of her eyelids, and wiped some with the back of her hands and getting inside her room she fetched a big white chadar (a sheet of cloth used as veil) and wrapped around herself and followed the lady.

Is she her mom? But how can a mother be so cruel?

I cursed under my breath upon this awkward situation I was caught in. But this was a golden chance for me to find out about her. Her room was available without her presence and I made my steps quite and slow inside, yeah I was sneaking like a burglar but I had to find out the truth!

Her room was more intricately designed than the corridor outside. It had rainbow colors on one wall and the one opposite to it had been painted black totally. What was that?

The wall having vibrant colors, shone up lively and sober. It had some hangings fixed securely with a nail and it seemed that this wall was something dearer to her. I paced forward to look at the stuff hanging, and I saw different pictures, writings, and certificates declaring her to be a Masters in Interior designing. Beauty with brains!!

What caught my attention was a picture that had my image on it along with her, and we were married? What the hell is happening? Is this why no one reacted strange around me?

There was a scar mark just below my knuckles in the picture and I unintentionally glanced upon my hand and found no such indication there.

So this was not me, It was him, her Farhaan.

My lookalike. New mazes started forming in my mind, my thoughts were too mingled to handle them all at once!

" Whereby Allah guideth him who seeketh His good pleasure unto paths of peace. He bringeth them out of darkness unto light by His decree, and guideth them unto a straight path "

( AL-QURAN 5:16 )