So Many Secrets

_What is love?_ She started thinking to herself and then felt disappointed. "I don't have the answer to this question." She felt a bit confused by this question. "I knew you wouldn't know about this." "You’re talking like you did a PhD on love." She rolled her eyes and said. She laughed in reply. "Let me do my work." She fixed her gaze on the canvas in front of her. "Go ahead and do your work. I'm leaving." She watched her as she left. She now got busy filling colors into the canvas. Suddenly something wet the canvas. They were her tears. Her face was drenched too. "Love?" it came to her mind. "Love is everything." She said while wiping her tears. __ "When will you come?" "Sorry, I can't come early today. I have an important meeting." "Don't you remember what today is?" "How could I forget that today is my darling's birthday." "Then why still won't you come early?" "Darling, I'm telling you I have an important meeting, otherwise I would definitely come." "Fine, don't come." She hung up the call and threw the mobile on the other seat of the car. Taking a deep breath, she started the car and headed home. Seeing her car, the guard opened the gate. After parking the car, she started heading straight to her room. Suddenly she remembered she had forgotten her mobile in the car. After picking up the mobile, she came straight to her room. After placing the mobile on the side table, she went to the washroom to freshen up. She had just come out of the washroom when a call caught her attention. As soon as she picked up the mobile and held it to her face, a smile spread across her face. "Hello dear Hania." As soon as she accepted the call, a voice came from the mobile. She smiled in reply. "Happy Birthday." "Thanks for remembering my birthday, Zamal." "How could I not remember, darling. It's your birthday. You're my friend. So, do you have any plans with Aryan today?" "No yaar." She said while thinking. "Good, then we’ll go for dinner together today." "Okay." After talking for a while, she hung up and placed the mobile back on the table. * * __ Darkness had fallen over the sky. The moonlight had added to the beauty of the sky... In this beautiful darkness, he started looking at the moon. People fear the darkness, but he was in love with it. On the day of the new moon, he would wait all day for night to fall, and then when night came, he would keep looking at the moon until his heart was full. Now the clouds had covered the moon. His face fell. He came down from the roof into his room. He picked up a bottle of sleeping pills from the side table and took one pill with water. He often took sleeping pills when stressed. * * __ She had been angry for the past several days. She didn't like Aryan being so busy like this. And especially today she was angrier than ever. It was such a special day for her, but Aryan was still busy with work.... She got ready and looked at herself in the mirror. Wearing a blue dress, she looked very beautiful. Light makeup and silver-colored light jewelry matched perfectly with the style of the dress. She was still looking at herself in the mirror when a call on her mobile caught her attention. "Hello." As soon as she answered, a voice came from the mobile. "Zamal, I'm ready. I'm coming." "Actually, I called to tell you that I won't be able to come." "But why? What happened?" "I have a really bad headache. I went to the doctor. He told me to rest, so I'm not coming. Sorry, please don't be mad." "It's okay." After hanging up, her face fell again. "What's the point of me getting ready. Aryan will come late at night anyway." She said while looking at herself in the mirror. She was putting a clip in her hair when a sound of something falling and breaking caught her attention. She turned around quickly. Her eyes went to the library door in the room. "The sound came from here. But I locked the library's courtyard door from inside. No one went out from the room either. So what was that sound?" she muttered to herself. She slowly took steps toward the library door. She had just raised her hand to open the door when the light started flickering. She looked at the bulb in surprise. Then the light was fine. She raised her hand to open the door again. This time the light went out. She turned on the flashlight of the mobile in her hand. Since there was no window in the room, the room was completely dark. She opened the library door with full force. Because of her loud scream, the mobile fell from her hand. * * __ _Both of them were swinging on the same swing... their friend was pushing the swing... At a little distance, there was a bench where their mother was sitting with her friend, her eyes were on both of them..._ _"Now stop it Amal, you must be tired. Now it's your turn." One of the girls said, looking at her._ _"No, I'm not tired yet." She said laughing._ _"Stop it kids, let's go home. You have papers, you need to prepare too." Now one of them got up from the bench and came near them. "And son, your mom is also calling you."_ _"Yes, aunty." She said this and left._ _After coming home, Mom went to the kitchen to prepare dinner and both of them started studying._ _"Come kids, dinner is ready, come eat." Mom said while bringing food out from the kitchen._ _Hearing her voice, they kept their bags down and went to the bathroom to freshen up. After saying Bismillah, they started eating._ _Mom smiled watching them eat. "Once both of them are done with their papers, I’ll take them out of this school and put them in a better school." She thought to herself._ * * __ _After waking up from sleep, he freshened up and came to the breakfast table..._ _The servants could tell his mood as soon as they saw him. One by one the servant started placing things._ _He didn't eat much for breakfast. He ate fresh juice and bread with jam. He looked at the glass which had fresh juice. Its appearance looked a bit strange. After taking a sip, he realized that this juice was not fresh._ _For a while he looked at the glass and then he slammed that same glass hard on the table. The sound of the glass breaking took the servants' breath away._ _"Who made the juice?" he asked while looking at the jug of juice._ _"Y-yes... sir. I did..." the servant standing next to him said nervously._ _"Was the juice fresh....?" He took his eyes off the jug and put them on him...._ _"W-well... sir. There were no fruits at home so I made it from yesterday's fruits...."_ _"So now you people have the audacity to go against my decisions and do things....?" He pushed the chair back and stood up...._ _"N-no... no sir." Seeing sir coming close to him, he lowered his gaze...._ _He picked up the juice glass from the table and slowly walked toward the servant. Then after looking at him, he poured the juice from the jug over him...."_ _"What's going on? A voice caught his attention...."_ Nothing _"He said while cleaning his hands with a tissue...."_ _"Go and tell Akhtar to clean this juice...._ _He turned and looked at him.... "How many times have I told you not to take out your anger on the servants...." He said while sitting on the chair next to him...._ _"Forget this... tell me, what brings you here so early....?"_ _He changed the topic...._ _"Yes, the girls were insisting that we have to come back early from the office today because they feel like going out today...."_ _"Okay then you'll be back by 2...."_ * * __ _"This painting is very beautiful." She said while picking up the canvas. "In fact, all the paintings hung in this room are very beautiful."_ _"If you like it, you can take it."_ _"Oh no... no. Last week you gave me all the paintings you made."_ _"It's okay. I'll make more."_ _"Okay then fine, I'll take this one."_ _She smiled in reply._ _"Do you have a blue dress?"_ _"Blue...? Maybe I do." She said after thinking for a bit._ _"Good. Everyone will wear blue."_ _"Ya, I already told you I don't feel like going...."_ _"Ya don't be difficult. It's not like we go out every day. This is only the second time we're all going together." She said pouting._ _"Don't you remember? Last time I got so sick because of traveling to Lahore?...."_ _"Nothing will happen. If you don't go, Majid won't go either, so what's the point of us going???_ _"Okay don't bother me... I'm coming." She said, tired of her insistence._ _"Good. Okay, I need to pack my stuff too." Picking up the painting, she left the room. As soon as she left, she also got up to pack her stuff._ * * __ _Because the mobile fell, darkness covered the store again..... She quickly picked up the mobile from the floor and again pointed the light where she had seen something a while ago. Now when she pointed the light, she couldn't see anything there.... She slowly stepped into the store. Her whole body was trembling with fear. She tried unsuccessfully to control herself.... Suddenly she felt something heavy on her shoulder.... With a loud scream she turned, and at the same time the lights came on._ _"Happy Birthday Hania.... Happy Birthday to you..."_ _She looked at everyone there in surprise.... Her body was still trembling._ _"What happened? Why are you looking like that?"_ _"Seriously Zamal... you guys scared the life out of me." She said while composing herself._ _Everyone there started laughing at what she said. Seeing them laugh, she laughed too._ _"But didn't you say you had a headache, ma'am?"_ _"Ya, it was all a plan." She said laughing._ _"But how did you all get inside?"_ _"We told Noor, and got the extra key to open the door."_ _"Aren't we cutting the cake?" He said, getting her attention._ _She ignored him and started meeting all the guests._ _"Looks like ma'am is very angry today." He thought to himself._