Twelve Hundred & Fifty Miles. ✓ [Completed]

Chapter 20

One last time

Something didn't feel right. Shayan was in constant agony letting her go like that. He wanted to see her off. He wanted to see her stepping back in her homeland with his own eyes. He didn't trust anyone in the world when it came to her. He had requested the same officer to look into this just once, for the very last time. The officer had agreed but only on one condition that he would not step out of the car because it wasn't allowed and he was just taking him along by himself without any permissions. Shayan readily agreed. It was okay as long as he got to see her, even if it was from afar.

It was finally time to go. Shayan settled at the back of his car. The windows were tinted so no one could see inside. The car finally came to a halt and he saw her standing there, her eyes searching and waiting there for a  certain someone. He had promised to be with her till she took the last step last time so she was hoping that he would come here as well. Disappointed on not being able to find him, he finally saw her walking slowly towards the gate. She was looking back, searching for him again and again in a hope to find him but ended up disappointed every single time.

He was not here. How would he be here?

But her heart wished that he was there. Her steps felt heavy. It was almost as if her body wasn't cooperating with her feet. Shayan watched all her struggles and mind battles from afar. His heart was on fire. It felt like it was constricting his chest. It felt like he would die the moment she would take that final step. He was in such a dilemma. All he wanted in that moment was to run to her and cage her in his arms but he had also promised the officer not to step out.

After a constant, agonizing battle, his heart finally claimed victory over his mind. He opened the door with cuffed hands. He shouted her name and ran to her. It was such a spontaneous decision that in that specific moment, nobody was able to process what just happened. Aafiah froze at her place. She turned around and the search of her eyes finally came to an end. He was here all the while. Her heart was right, it could never be wrong when it came to him. Her tears of happiness made their way out on seeing him again and the streams were unleashed as she stood glued to her place, waiting to be swept off her feet.

It felt unreal and too good to be true. But then, everything about them was so unreal. It was beautiful. Not because it was heart breaking, but because everytime something came in their way, they conquered it together and their hearts always won at the end. This moment, right here, was the one where her life had peaked.

Her beautiful trance was broken down when she saw the guards running behind to catch him.

No. No. Don't stop him. Let him come.
She prayed and ran towards him.

But the cruel world always won. Didn't it? The entire universe baring their hearts was against them being together and they both knew it very well. They would have to swim across oceans of fire to turn this into a reality. The guards had caught him again. But the only difference was that, this time around, he wasn't going to let them win. He struggled in their hold, looking at her, trying his level best to break free from the chains holding him back and run to her. To hold her in his arms once again. To go and kiss away all her wounds. To go and tell her that if there were oceans in his way to get to her, he was willing to cross them without a single complain.

The walkie talkie buzzed and suddenly the guards had let him go. He ran insanely towards her.

Towards his ultimate goal. His final destination. Towards the love of his life.

The moment, he threw his arms around her waist and pulled her to his chest was the moment, his life felt complete.

It felt like it was this moment that he had been waiting for, all his life. For all his sorrows were long forgotten and the only thing that mattered was the beautiful and charming troublemaker girl in his arms. How he wished that the time stilled right then and there and she would stay there like that, fitting perfectly like the last piece of a puzzle, till the end of time. He hugged the life out of her, mentally saying goodbye to her. He had cried for the first time in his life but he wasn't ashamed for it. Infact, he was liberated. He felt free. He felt like the happiest man on earth when he cried with her in his arms.

He pulled back a little and cupped her face. He wiped away her tears, indicating her not to cry anymore because he was going to make sure of that. He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead, closing his eyes, finally at peace. His wild heart was finally tamed.

"I love you." He whispered, placing his forehead against hers, only for her to hear. She looked at him, her eyes holding a million unanswered questions in between the seas of tears. This, yet again, felt like an unreal but a beautiful dream. She wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly and so he repeated, with a soft chuckle.

"I love you, Aafiah." He reaffirmed, making her believe every single word.

And in that very instant, he was snatched away from her. She stood there, clueless and stunned, looking at the guards taking him away. He just smiled at her. His eyes making a promise to her and then he disappeared. Just like that. Like he was never there. Like all this never happened. Like she was just woken up from a beautiful dream. She turned around and with the burden of the world on her shoulders, she finally stepped back.

on her soil.

her home

where there was no Shayan Zahir to hold her when she would crumble!

•••••••••

She finally returned. And Shayan boi, your timing couldn't be worse for the confession.