Divulging Remorse ✔

Chapter 6

An aeroplane flew overhead, its engine cutting out every other sound. Riya and Arshiya walked outside the airport gate, while Hufaiz was gone using the restroom. The late Peshawar afternoon was surprisingly chilly, rather they felt like it even if it wasn't because they came from a land where the sun always stood atop their heads.

"Hey, is that Gul Khan Lala?" Arshiya asked gesturing towards an aged man wearing Shalwar Kameez, a waistcoat, and a Pathan folded cap.

Riya squinted her sleepy eyes to get a better look, "Nah... oh wait, yes! It's him."

They spotted their family chauffeur in the sea of people who were waiting to receive passengers. Some were irritated drivers who had to wait long enough, some were overexcited ones who seemed to be ready to pounce on their "foreign" relatives and some were simply, waiting. Like Gul Khan, who patiently made his way through the crowd to get to the both of them.

"Salaam." Gul Khan greeted Riya and glanced at Arshiya who stood behind with her face covered.

"Wa'alikum Assalam, how are you doing G.K?" Riya asked with a broad smile on her face.

He replied gratefully and asked, "All thanks to the Merciful, I'm good. Where's Hufaiz Sahab?"

"Here I am!"

Gul Khan was astonished to see a six feet tall Hufaiz looking down at him. The last time they had met, Hufaiz was only thirteen or so. His hair was coiffured and gelled up a little at the front, a cased guitar hung loosely across his back. For an eighteen-year-old, his face was strong and well defined, one that girls died for.

Gul Khan hugged him in a daze, his sentiments making way up to his eyes, slightly glistening them. Delighted, he patted Hufaiz on the back several times as if making sure it was really him. It always took him by surprise how children grew up so quickly, especially the ones who had grown up before his eyes. He was their favourite because he poured love as he would do to his own children and family.

"It's so good to see you, Lala," Hufaiz told him, and he smiled back. That smile was the same, genuine and warm, but his face was now crumpled, his back slightly bent, his hair turned into patches of grey, and his thick moustache a pure white. Gul Khan was old now, spending his entire life serving the Jahangiris.

Although Riya, Hufaiz and Arshiya visited once in four years or so, yet they were equally attached to Gul Khan like their cousins were. Riya even nicknamed him as "GK", to which he thought was something very funny and always laughed, not aware that they were his initials. When all of them were little, Gul Khan was a major part of their lives, he would take them horseriding, long drives across hilly roads, boating in the Swat River, and would tell them stories when they had asked him to do so.

Not anymore. They had all grown up and had lives of their own, had so much else to do, but never lost the respect they had for this now elderly man. He truly missed those days when these kids would come up to him and confide in him with all their silly little secrets.

Gul Khan sighed as they all walked towards the parking lot. Loading in the luggage, he asked Hufaiz, "What about Ammar Sahab and his family? When are they coming to the wedding?"

Hufaiz looked over at Riya who was just about to get inside the back seat of the Land Cruiser. She rolled her eyes and hopped in.

"Uhh, I'm not quite sure when..." That was all Hufaiz had managed to say and took his seat.

Gul Khan nodded and shut the trunk with a thud, taking the driver's seat, he drove off into the busy Peshawar city.

Being the most trusted, and longest working servant in the Jahangiri mansion; Gul Khan knew its people too well, and their life happenings even more. He was well aware even of the ones who lived far away...