We look at each other
and we smile
that smile
like a secret we share
we both know
we've found
what the whole world
is searching for.
   -JmStorm
____________________________________

'Get back home before seven.' I watch Ira as she deftly tucks stray strands of Eliza's hair in place. After a few more twists and pins, Ira takes a step back.

'You are brilliant!' Eliza squeals admiring her intricately braided hair.

'I said you should be home by seven.' I raise my voice.

Eliza rolls her eyes, 'If I ignored you once it means I do not want to hear it.'

'And when I repeat it twice it means you should abide by it.' I say.

'You are not mama. Stop acting like her.' She snorts.

'You are my little sister, and I am responsible for you when mama isn't here.'

'You just don't get it? Do you?' Eliza shouts. 'I am not little. I am eighteen, stop bossing me around like I'm eight.'

'Whether you are eighteen or eighty, you will still remain my little sister.' I say calmly.

The insistent blaring of a car horn drowns out Eliza's words of protest. She glares at me, fire dancing in her eyes. With an angry huff, she storms out of the room, her heels clicking across the tiled corridor.

From the windows of our drawing-room, I watch Arhaan open the car door for her. They back out of the driveway and disappear.

'Zara?' Ira's hesitant voice pulls me away from the window.

'Yes?'

'Do not hold on too tight, lest you suffocate her.' Ira sits down on the sofa.

'I'm only watching out for her. I don't want her to make mistakes.'

'Give her a freehold. You can guide her, advice her but leave her to make the decision. Let her make her own mistakes and then learn from them.' She says.

'Is that how you dealt with Maaz?' I ask cautiously.

'Yeah and I think he turned out fine.' She smiles.

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee assaults my nostrils and awakens my brain. Oriental music envelops us. My fingers dance across the wooden table in rhythm. Distractedly, I scour the surrounding tables with unseeing eyes. Early afternoon customers line up at the counter to grab their coffee before rushing back to work.

Warmth encloses my dancing hand, stopping it mid-step. Maaz's thoughtful gaze arrests mine. I raise my eyes in silent question. He smiles at me softly, gazing deep into my eyes. My heart skips a beat.

'What?' I find my voice.

'You are beautiful.' He says simply.

I look away from him as heat crawls up my cheeks. The ease with which he makes my heart flutter can never get old. I had thought I have lost all feeling. Desolation had become my constant friend until he came.

'Red velvet and coffee.' Our hostess flicks me out of my reverie. Maaz gives me his unwavering attention, his eyes fixated on me. I inconspicuously create a sliver of space from Maaz.

'Thank you.' He flashes her a quick look and scoots closer to me.

'Ow! You are squishing me.' I laugh.

'That is your punishment for trying to move away from me.'

I roll my eyes at him and dig into my cake. The cream cheese buttercream frosting tantalizes my taste buds, and I groan in delight. I catch Maaz looking at me in amusement, but I ignore him and focus on the velvety softness melting in my mouth.

'Where do we go next?'

'We have to visit Henley's this weekend or the next to trace Anna.' He sets his mug on the table.

'You mentioned data on a memory card. Where is it?' I ask after some thought.

'Damn, that slipped my mind!'

I wipe my plate clean and make sure I haven't left any crumbs or frosting.

'That is supposed to be with you though, that is what Nu... he had said.' He hesitates to say Numair.

'You know that we weren't on talking terms. He really did convince me that it was over.' I shudder inside the warm cafe.

'It must be with you. Did he mention anything in his letter?'

'No.' I swallow. The letter - his last words to me, which spoke of his love for me that my heart never ceased to believe in.

No matter how much time has passed his name stirs me from within. He is entwined with my being for until the end of infinity.

Over the past months, Maaz has weaseled his way into me in spite of it.

Maaz gently taps my hand, sensing my emotions. I shake my head.

'I will reread it. Maybe I missed something.' My voice wavers.

Just when I had accepted that the night of my life would forever be dark, Maaz came crashing into it like a brilliant flash of a meteorite which chased away the darkness. The moon and the stars paled in comparison. His spark lightened me.

'Ice cream?' Maaz gets up, pulling me along with him.

For a moment I imagine saying no, 'Sure.'

***

The papers in my hand are withered from being held for so long. His elegant script has now been embossed in my mind. I have read Numair's letter numerous times. I have memorized his last words to me.

'Found anything?' Maaz enters the living room. His ruffled hair falls across his face and cast shadows over his eyes. He tugs at his plain white shirt. It shrunk in the wash but I kind of like how it snugly fits him.

'No, he underlined a line here... but I don't know if that means anything.'

'I've been thinking... he had said it would be his last gift to you.' He combs his hair with his hand.

'He never gave me a gift before leaving.'

I struggle to pull up the memories that have been barricaded all this time. What was my last day with Numair like? Except for the numb emptiness, the hollow in my aching chest, the hopeless desperation that threatened to consume me; I don't remember anything else.

'He did leave you a gift.' Maaz pulls me to the present.

'Huh?' I lost track of the conversation.

The sofa dips as he sits beside me, 'The snow globe, it is his last gift to you.'

'Oh, of course!' I try to smile.

'May I?' He extends his hand toward the papers in my hand.

I hesitate, my fingers curl around the papers wrinkling them.

'Never mind.' He sits back on the couch, moving away.

'Here.' I thrust the papers towards him before I change my mind again. He scans me, his eyes stopping at my twitching fingers.

'I don't mind.' I say with conviction.

My mind screams at me that those papers are personal. But my heart reassures me that I can trust Maaz. And without his help, I wouldn't be able to find more. Time was running as quick as grains of sand from the palm. Any delay could cost us.

'I will get the snow globe.' I leave him to read.

Maaz's face is impassive, revealing no hints of his thoughts as he reads. Only his eyes skip across the paper. I shake the snow globe in my hand and watch the couple inside bathe in snowy whiteness. A flake lands on Numair's hair and I shake it again to remove it.

'Come here.' Maaz pats the space beside him without looking up.

He takes the snow globe from my hand and twists the transparent top. The couple inside begins to dance, snowflakes falling merrily over them. He twists it further to no avail.

'I don't think it's inside the top.' I murmur.

Maaz turns his gaze to me.

'The letter says... 'You are the key to everything. I'd lay the world under your feet if you asked me to.' Perhaps it means literally under my feet?' I say vaguely.

'So you mean it might be inside the bottom part?' Maaz begins to toggle with the base.

'Get me a screwdriver.' He says.

I hesitate to get up.

'I will put it back exactly the way it is.' He assures me, reading my hesitation.

Unthinkingly, I wrap my arms around his shoulder, pulling him to me, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'

His hands come up a minute later. He chuckles softly, 'Anytime for you.'

I blush in his hold, embarrassed at my behavior. Yet my body snuggles into his warmth, reveling his assuring smell evocative of my distant childhood.

I untangle myself awkwardly and hurry away to get the toolbox while Maaz's laughter echoes behind me.

The room feels hot when I return. He deftly begins to unscrew the snow globe while I sneak glances at him. He doesn't look at me a single time as he focuses on not breaking apart the snow globe. I fidget with my fingers interlocking and unlocking them. He is unperturbed while I am flustered.

'Here.' He slides out a small rectangle from inside with a sigh.

I take the chip in my hand, wondering what it would reveal to us. A tiny piece of metal responsible for a cascade of events.

Maaz gets back to fixing the snow globe. I call Eliza to find out if she is back home but she doesn't receive my call. I dial Arhaan's number he picks up on the third ring.

'Yes, I have dropped her home in one piece. I am thrilled that you trust me.'

'You should be thanking me for not third wheeling on your date.' I quip.

He snorts in response.

I follow Maaz out of the living room. The chip in my hand makes me feel antsy as if I have my hands on a wrong object. The door of the study clicks shut behind me. A sense of security washes over me.

Maaz settles onto his swivel chair behind the massive mahogany desk. The grand setting fits him. An aura of importance and dominance enfolds him.

The constant running of his fingers through his hair has left them messy. His eyebrows furrow as he opens his laptop and inserts the chip. His thin, long fingers fly across the keyboard.

'Why are you standing?' He stops abruptly to catch me staring.

'Uh... I will get another chair.' I turn away quickly.

His arm is quicker, he grabs hold of me and pulls me behind the desk. His fingers burn me through my long-sleeved sweater, perhaps leaving their imprint on my arm for eternity. I make the mistake of looking up into his eyes.

Eyes the color of the night sky swirling with the waves of the ocean, stare at me. Blue crashing upon blue. I forget to breathe. He raises his hand and gently caresses my cheek, his rough fingers soft on me. Red blooms across my pale cheeks and I lower my head thankful as my hair form a jet black curtain from him.

Maaz is relentless, his hands tug my hair and push them behind my ear, exposing me. I shiver in his hold. He lowers his head to mine, and I freeze. My eyes flutter closed. His soft lips land on my forehead, and my heart explodes. His strong hold is the only thing that prevents me from falling onto my knees.

He sits on the chair and pulls me onto his lap. He flips my hair to the opposite shoulder and leans over the other. His arms form a cage around me as he pulls the chair close to the laptop.

'Look.' My ear tingles, as his breath washes over it.

His fingers resume flying over the keyboard. He runs a few commands, and I watch stupefied.

'I have cracked the password of the chip. See, it has plenty of files. But each of them has been encrypted.'

His warmth envelops me, making it hard for me to think.

'Why are you so stiff?' He touches my arm.

He shifts me again, making me nestle into him, 'Relax! It is just me.' He murmurs.

'Yes, it is you.' I whisper but I find myself relaxing as he runs his palm across the length of my arm and back again.

'How do we unencrypt them?' I ask distractedly.

'Decrypt.' He chuckles, 'We need to figure out the password for each file first.'

I watch him make a few failed attempts. He groans as the red text flashes again saying incorrect password.

'I think you should do it.' He looks down at me.

I raise my eyes, 'And here I thought you were some sort of expert in this.'

'Numair designed this. He wanted us to be able to access it. It makes sense the passwords would be relevant to you or him or both of you.'

I twist on his lap so that my back leans on the armrest and throw my legs over the opposite armrest. Now I can actually see his face.

'You are serious?' I ask.

'Birthdays, anniversaries, things which only you and he know.' He adds.

'Okay... so the first day we met... at university, it was the tenth of October.' I begin.

'Name of the university?' He asks.

Yellow dwindling sunlight streams in from the windows lined at the top of the high roof. There are no windows along the walls, making it hard to perceive passing time.

It goes on that way for what seemed like hours. Maaz continues to work firing questions at me every few minutes.

Where did we first meet? The date, the name of the cafe. The colors he liked. The movies we watched and loved. Activities we both enjoyed together. The street we lived on.

In the safety of his arms, with his heartbeat resounding in my ear and his voice sending shivers onto me I feel contentment wash over me.

***

A/N : Welcoming you back with a sprinkle of confetti and a dash of sparkles.
I'm so glad that you waited all this time for me to update.

I do know it has been some time now. I have been guilty about it everyday. But life... it always hits you in all the wrong places at all the wrong times.

I'm truly sorry. Once again I reassure you that I will under no circumstances abandon my lovely readers. I am going to continue this journey until the end :)

Love you all so much.
Thank you for loving me <3