The Moon and Her Stars

Ch. 32: Puzzle Pieces

🎶 "Milna zaroor, tu kar intezaar mera. Kallan kallan zakham main bharun tera. Marne ni dena tainu main eddan, meri jaan."

"Do meet me, do wait for me. I'll fill your lonely wounds. I won't let you die like this, my love." 🎶

- Dholna | Jaani | B Praak

Ayaara's P.O.V.

His eyes then softened as they grew wet again, searching mine intently, "There's nothing else that I've kept hidden from you. And I know I took away every reason for you to do so, but do you believe me? Do you trust me?"

I stared at him while my eyes rained.

Do I?

He hid all of this from me. Having known what I went through by being hurt because of lies and what Faris concealed from me, he still chose to keep something so drastically different and big a secret. It was painful.

But he'd gone through worse on a different scale that didn't allow for comparison.

I couldn't process all of that which he told me. However, I could see it in his eyes, he was telling me the truth. This is what he kept locked within himself which torments him. This is the reality that caused his broken spirit, which I'd seen for the first time that evening when he taught me how to play pool.

He had his reasons, he did it for Aunty, he was tricked into everything, he has a good heart, but it doesn't justify him keeping it a secret from me nor does it justify all that he's involved in.

I need time to take in everything.

However, as I sat there on my knees looking at him, all I knew was that he was the man I fell in love with. He was my Yasir. These were the honey brown eyes that I saw the world in. I close my eyes and I can still see them looking at me with nothing but love. Everything associated with him, surrounding him, I-I can't swallow it, I don't know. Keeping it all aside, focusing only on him—I've always only known him, I've always only wanted him, I've always only loved him. I love who he is inside. I love his soul. I love him.
To my own surprise, my words still rang true today, "Main aap se mohabbat karti hoon, Yasir (I love you, Yasir). And that will never change."

My shaky hand gradually reached forward while my lips trembled. Yasir closed his eyes, tears falling down his cheeks, as my hand felt his face. He further turned his cheek in the direction of my palm so his face would reach all the crevices of my hand. It was as though he was gratefully savoring my touch, as if he had been afraid I would've never touched him again.

Looking into his wet eyes, I nodded slowly.

He stared at me for a few seconds, unable to believe it, before slithering his arms around my waist and bringing me close carefully. I could feel his hesitation because of the remaining fear that I would reject and push him away. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and he buried his face in my chest. I could feel his tear drops soaking into my shirt.

"I love you." I heard him say in a shaky voice.

Everything that he told me—I didn't want to believe it. I wanted Yasir to wake me up in the loving way that he does in the mornings and tell me I was having a nightmare. This peace that I get from being in his arms, I could never find it elsewhere. I don't and didn't want anything but him.

Taking in his familiar smell, his warm embrace, my brain refused to associate him to being the one who I had earlier seen shoot somebody. It didn't want to believe they were the same person. But regardless, I could never condone his sinful acts. He has to get out of it all. He said he's been trying. May the Almighty help him in his efforts and protect him. What he's involved in, from what he's told me, people don't bat an eye before summoning death. I never want to lose him. I can't. Just the thought of anything happening to him makes me lose feeling in my limbs and makes it difficult to breathe. He's my home. My world would become pitch black without Yasir.