Ek Dar tha tanhai ka
Ek Dar tha judai ka
Jo musalsal mere sath rahta that
Kal ka din jo guzar gaya
Bahut bhaari lagta tha
Lagta tha kisi aise din ka bojh uTha na paungi
Aadhe-adhure raste mein hi mar jaungi 
-Rubina Faisal

His eyes opened to a constant ringing in his ears and a thick greyish smoke surrounding his eyes. utterly disoriented Zoraiz for a few seconds just wondered what the hell happened. He sat up and looked around his family was also ducking. 

As the fog around his mind cleared he remembered it, the blast. 

Arisha. 

His eyes searched around the room and found the box that had exploded but could not find Arisha. 

There was fire, not a large one, but still a fire. The security was already making their way inside the house. He could hear his personal bodyguard Zulfi make calls for the ambulance but he could not comprehend it all. 

His ears kept ringing, he felt detached from his self, like he was watching a movie. Zulfi came in front of his sight, stopping him in his search for his fiancé. Zulfi checked his pulse and his reflexes. 

As the fog in his mind lifted more and more with each passing second his mind became more alert. More alert of his surrounding. A quick look around told him everyone else from the family was alright, the girls were shaken, the adults were shocked but everyone was alright. No one seemed to be injured. 

It was then after he was assured of everyones' safety that he got up even as his head and body protested against his intention. 

Even with his head spinning he grabbed onto Zulfi and steadied himself as the spinning world came to a halt he let go of his human support and started looking around the fire which was now being handled by the many worker's and security team members. 

His eyes swept around the area of the blast and saw some minor damage clearly the blast was meant to scare and not harm but he filed the observation for later. There were other more important things taking precedence right now. 

As his eyes glided across the heaps of now damaged furniture his eyes found her. A few feet away, probably blown away with the force of the blast. She looked like a broken doll.

His Arisha, laying on the hard cold ground with broken wood splayed around her. She was just settled there on the floor as if she were sleeping, but the small trickle of blood coming from her head meant she was unconscious and injured. 

He all but ran to her even as his limbs screamed in agony, and bend down next to her to get a good look at her and see if she was indeed unconscious. 

As Zoraiz took Arisha's almost lifeless body in his arms, Zoraiz felt a fear he had never felt before. The fear of this lifelessness becoming the truth of his life. He had never been to be sentiment over anyone. Not even her. But hear taking Arisha's form in his form he felt utterly helpless, the kind of helplessness he had felt when his mother had died. 

He sat down on the cold floor with Arisha's form in his arms, he checked her pulse quickly to know that she was fine. He could not think straight, it felt as if even the air he was inhaling was foreign. 

"Arisha... " he said her name in a horse and dry voice the smoke of the blast making his throat dry and his mouth taste like ash.

Even with him tapping Arisha's cheeks lightly and shaking her a bit she was not responding to him, or his calls. He did not want to shake her too much Allah knows what damaged she had sustained and he might damage her more, even more, than he already had. 

"Arisha wake up, come on... " He continued nonetheless knowing well how imperative it was to wake her up in a situation like this, " Get up, Arisha, I am not joking around, wake up. Now."

With every word coming out of his mouth and his finacé's lack of response, Zoraiz grew more and more desperate. He shook her and tried everything he could think of in the five agonising minutes till the ambulance arrived and the paramedic came in. 

Even when the paramedics did arrive Zoraiz did not let her go. They talked about the fact she had hit her head harder than expected and that she will remain unconscious. They talked in medical terms that Zoariaz could not understand, and they found they Arisha needed to be shifted to the hospital as soon as possible. 

They asked him to let her go and yet even as the medics loaded her sleeping self onto a stretcher Zoraiz did not let go of her hand and followed the medics out to the ambulance where they made him let go of her hand. 

He stood watching as they took Arisha away from him in that ambulance. For a few seconds he just stood and watched, it was all he was capable of till he turned back hearing a car honking behind him. 

His brother and Zulfi were already loaded in a car and Zoariz Razdaan went towards the car and sat in the front seat, Zulfi drove at full speed allowed in the area till he caught up with the ambulance that was taking his family to the hospital. 

The ride to the hospital did not take much time, they were there in barely thirty minutes, but what did take time was clearly a passage for the ambulance after it reached the hospital. 

The media had already been informed, and there was a swarm of media personals outside the hospital. Zoraiz had a half mind to go out there and shout at them till his throat became raw but he kept his cool. Getting in the hospital they were taken VIP wing where the others were going to receive a routine check-up. 

As they all got to check up on, Arisha's stretcher was brought in and taken into an emergency wing, where none of them were allowed to enter while the doctors went over her initial report, she was taken for a CT some 10 minutes later, and an hour later brought back to the room. 

All this time the Razdan family and Sheikh family waited in the waiting area even if it way past visiting hours. Sometimes life was unfair and today while it was unfair to many Zoraiz could not care for not taking up the undeserving privilege afforded to him.

Soon, the rest of the sheikh family, as in Farhan Sheikh's brother also joined them. They had been in their side of the Haweli so they had been alright but this was shocking as the brothers had not been on speaking terms for very long. 

Faraz Sheikh came and hugged his elder brother and inquired after Arisha. 

After a gruesome two-hour-long wait the doctors finally came back with the reports. 

"She is fine, just hit her head and had a concussion. Hence why she fainted. The scans don't show any kind of brain damage, there were some minor bruising and scrapes due to the being blown away but other than that, she is alright! We will keep her for the next 24 hours for observations. You can take her back after that," The doctor's assurance was enough and everyone around Zoraiz took a breath of relief. 

" She did wake up when we were taking up reports, but right now we have let her sleep. hopefully, she will be awake by tomorrow. Family can go in to meet her but please don't wake her up," With the kind doctor left and the Sheikh sister ran to the room Arisha had been kept in. 

Farhan also went in to see his daughter there something strange in the way he walked or maybe it was his whole demeanour that had changed. As if he was living in the past, some trauma had clearly been brought to the surface.

Everyone else went in one and they all come out soon enough as disturbing her was off-limits. but Zoraiz could not bring himself to go in and meet her. He kept repeating the whole conversation he had with Arisha just a few moments before the blast. 

He had promised to try and protect her for life. 

And yet right in front of his eyes, she had been blown away, she had been injured and he could do nothing to save her, nothing to stop the fire from caressing her skin, nothing to stop the blow she must have felt when her head hit the floor. 

She was his responsibility and yet he could not stop this. 

Why? 

Zoraiz was lost in his thoughts when a hand on his shoulder almost startled him. Almost. It was Farhan Sahab, he looked calm which was something that Zoraiz could not understand. It was a looked that screamed I knew this was a possibility and if he did know then how come he didn't know of it. Or rather how come it happened. 

Zoraiz could see the exact moment Farahn Shiekh realised that He caught onto something. 

"The girls will be staying here for some time. For now me your, father, you and your brother, we all need to go to the party office. We have some information we think it is time to share," 

These lines almost made Zoraiz lose his cool right there and then. His suspicion was correct there was already some information or possibility of an attack, and yet he was not made aware of any such developments. 

"I know, we should have told you earlier but we wanted to tell after the engagement, just come for some time and then you can come back and be with her, for as long as you like," Farhan Sahab told him before he could actually even protest. 

He took a deep breath and agreed to go with them to the office. 

But even in his silence, his anger was evident. Everything around him was falling apart and if there is one thing that Zoraiz Razdan did not like one bit, it was losing control. 

So, as he left with Zayaan on one side, and Zulfi on another, he was back to being the cunning politician. He had to be, after all, it was his family he was fighting for. 

The Press outside had followed them to the party and getting on his nerves. They had forgotten that even the media had some ethical code of conduct which they should follow. But then again Zoraiz had seen of this industry to know the truths hiding behind the lights and teleprompters. 

The party office was empty save a few, those few being themselves, his father and assistant, and Farhan Sahab and his assistant. They were the only ones who needed to know apparently. 

"First thing to do right now is for both of you to go out and give a statement saying that it was a combination of bad wiring and a minor gas leak due to the extra catering. Here, Suhan has prepared the speech," His father spoke clearly he was the one with charge. 

Why though? 

"This needs to come from either Farhan Sahab or more preferably you Zoraiz, " Mir said, " I know you would two would not want this, but this is necessary, not for political but because they need to see, " 

Zoraiz knew his father would not use this occasion solely for political gain, but that did not mean he did not take into account just how much public sympathy this could garner. His father might not seem like it but he was a snake. 

One that bit only when you were sure there was no danger, and his venom was enough to turn you into a snake as well. Zoraiz would know after all he had been one of his many victims. 

Zoraiz did see how Sheikh Sahab went a little still at the mention of them.

"Sure I will do it," Zoraiz replied as he took the statement from Suhan uncle's hands. 

Going out he had a mask of indifference on his face, as he almost always did in dire situations. As soon as he stepped out he was bombarded by the flashes of the cameras, and the questions of the media personals carrying those cameras. 

Zulfi did a good job of calming them down and Zayaan came to stand next to him. He was clearly affected by the blast as well. Zoraiz will have to have a talk with his brother later. 

The statement was a well prepared one, stating that it was an unfortunate accident and then everyone was alright, Arisha had suffered some minor injuries but was recovering well, and they asked for privacy for the time being. 

The media bought the lie well enough, cause it was him saying it. He always hated lying to citizens like this but sometimes keeping them in the blind was better than creating unnecessary panic amongst them. 

With the statement and a few question done with Zoraiz and Zayaan went back in, "Now can someone tell me who the hell they are and why in the name of Allah was my fiance blown like that," 

Before Mir could spew some nonsense, Zoraiz gave clear look saying not to lie to him, " I want the truth Abba, or I have my ways to find the truth." 

Mir's intake of a deep breath and Farhan's Sahab's closing eyes told him that he will be getting the truth after all. 

Hello Lovelies, so I am back fully and back to writing this story with all my energy focused here. The story has been planned out completely and hopefully, I will be able to finish it in a month or two since I already have the next four chapters written. I will probably upload on Saturday's now on, and lets who knows maybe if the buffer chapters exceed then I will make double updates in the week. 

So, the blast from Zoraiz's point of view. The next chapter is going to be his point of view as well. Do tell me how you like Zoraiz and his point of view. 

Let me know your thoughts about the chapter in the comments.  

Afaf xoxo