deep darkness and dawn

An Inferiority Complex

Looking at him, Khizar couldn't help but smile faintly.

He had no idea what it was about this child...

But from the very first meeting, he had felt an indescribable bond with him.

---

"Mom..."

The frightened cry shattered the silence of the night.

"Mom...!"

Khizar, who had been sleeping on the other side of the bed, jolted awake.

Azal had sat upright, trembling from a nightmare.

His tiny body shook as tears streamed down his face.

"What happened, kid?"

Khizar immediately pulled him into his arms.

Azal clung to him, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Don't be afraid," Khizar whispered, gently rubbing his back.

"I'm right here."

"They'll kill me too..."

Azal's frightened voice broke between hiccups.

Khizar tightened his embrace.

"No one is going to hurt you."

"I won't let anyone harm you."

It took a long time before Azal finally calmed down.

His eyes slowly drifted shut once again.

Only then did Khizar try to go back to sleep.

The following morning, Khizar called Fayaz.

His father was at his office when the phone rang.

"Dad... I need to talk to you about something important."

"What is it?" Fayaz replied impatiently. "Make it quick. I don't have time—I have a meeting."

Khizar took a deep breath.

"Dad... I've taken a child into my care."

The words escaped before he had time to rethink them.

"What?"

The shock in Fayaz's voice was unmistakable.

"Dad, someone murdered his mother... and his sister. He's just a child. He has nowhere else to go."

Khizar hurried to explain.

"Have you lost your mind, Khizar?" Fayaz exploded. "Are you insane?"

"Do you even realize what you've done? The police will investigate this case. And when they find out you've been keeping that child with you without any legal authority, your entire career will be ruined."

"Then let it be ruined."

Khizar's voice turned cold.

"My career has never meant anything to you anyway."

"You've never cared about me."

"Go to prison if you want," Fayaz snapped. "But don't drag my name down with you."

"Take that child back immediately."

"I won't disgrace you," Khizar replied angrily.

"So don't worry."

"Whatever happens, I'll deal with it myself."

"I don't need your advice."

Without waiting for another word...

He ended the call.

Almost immediately, his phone rang again.

It was Fayaz.

Khizar answered.

"I'll be home the evening after tomorrow," Fayaz said sharply.

"We'll talk then."

"You're a foolish boy, Khizar."

"All you've ever brought into my life is trouble."

The line went dead.

Khizar slowly lowered the phone.

His lips pressed into a thin line.

---

"So what's wrong with you?"

Aryan looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"Ever since that rabbit came here, you've completely lost your mind."

He was sitting comfortably in the lounge, watching a movie.

Khizar walked in with Azal, switched the television to a cartoon channel, and sat down beside him.

For some reason...

Aryan wasn't pleased.

Ever since lunch, his attitude toward Azal had become unusually cold.

He kept making sarcastic remarks over the smallest things.

And Azal...

He didn't like it at all.

"Aryan, please..."

Khizar rubbed his aching forehead.

"I already have enough to worry about."

The past two days had left him exhausted.

"So now you're planning to dump your worries on me too?" Aryan replied dryly.

Khizar didn't answer.

He simply stood up and quietly walked away.

Aryan's eyes followed Azal instead.

"Hey, Rabbit."

He called out lazily.

"Come here for a second."

Azal looked up nervously.

"Y... yes?"

Aryan stared at him for a moment.

Then a grin spread across his face.

"N-nothing."

He deliberately copied the boy's frightened stammer before walking away with a smirk.

Azal lowered his eyes again.

He still didn't know whether Aryan disliked him...

Or was simply impossible to understand.

A few minutes later, Aryan stepped out into the courtyard.

The evening was beautiful.

The lush green lawn glowed beneath the fading sunlight as the sun slowly disappeared beyond the horizon. This was the central courtyard of Aeran Home.

Khizar was sitting alone on a wooden bench.

Aryan walked over and dropped down beside him with an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright, tell me," he said. "What's bothering you now?"

Khizar leaned his head back against the bench.

"Dad won't agree..."

"And Uncle Ahmad refuses to help me get Azal's legal guardianship."

"I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Aryan answered as calmly as if he were suggesting something completely ordinary.

"It's easy."

"Stop eating."

Khizar turned to look at him.

"What?"

"I mean it," Aryan continued. "Talk to your father again. If he still refuses, leave the house. Stop answering his calls. Make yourself suffer a little."

"He's your father."

"He'll give in eventually."

Khizar stared at him in disbelief.

"You really think if I make myself suffer..."

"...he'll agree?"

There was pain hidden beneath his angry voice.

"You really have that much faith in him?"

Aryan merely shrugged.

"Try it."

"You never know."

"Maybe he'll agree."

Khizar let out a bitter laugh.

"He doesn't care about me."

"Even if I died..."

"He'd probably spend all his time worrying about whether his other son had eaten properly at my funeral."

The sarcasm in his voice was impossible to miss.

Aryan couldn't help laughing.

Khizar looked at him, shook his head, and looked away.

"Hey..."

Aryan finally stopped laughing.

"Tell me something."

Khizar turned toward him.

"What?"

"Why do you want to keep this kid so badly?"

"Why not send him to an orphanage?"

Khizar fell silent for a moment.

"I don't know, Aryan..."

He looked toward the garden thoughtfully.

"For some reason..."

"I've started feeling connected to him."

"I don't know why..."

"But Azal feels like someone who's always belonged in my life."

Aryan nodded dramatically.

"Oh..."

"So that rabbit must secretly be your long-lost brother..."

"...or maybe your cousin."

Khizar rolled his eyes.

"Sure."

"And Aunt Hareem probably borrowed you from someone."

"That's why you don't feel any connection with Azal."

Aryan glared at him.

"Oh, really?"

"Why me?"

"Why not you?"

"I'm sure Auntie found you in a garbage bin."

"And whoever threw you away was probably one of that rabbit's close relatives."

He smirked mischievously.

"Besides..."

"Uncle never loved you anyway."

Khizar's mouth fell open.

Before he could even think of a reply...

Aryan was already walking away.

"Where are you going?"

Khizar called after him.

"I'm going out."

Aryan answered without turning around.

"You shameless people don't even ask me if I've eaten."

"I live in my own house, and you two sit here stuffing your faces without me."

Khizar immediately shouted back,

"The only thing you deserve three times a day is a good beating."

"Food is far too respectable for that mouth of yours."

Aryan laughed loudly as he walked toward the gate.

"Keep talking."

"Empty vessels make the most noise!"

Without waiting to hear another word...

He stepped out of the house, leaving Khizar glaring after him.

"You're impossible..."

Khizar muttered bitterly as he watched Aryan leave.

Not long afterward...

Fayaz returned home.

Khizar did exactly what Aryan had suggested.

He tried everything he could to make his father change his mind.

He stopped eating.

Then...

He left his own home and moved into Aryan's house.

Not even once did he take Azal to the Q Mansion.

Aryan didn't object.

In fact...

He hardly paid any attention to the situation at all.

By then, he had become completely absorbed in gaming.

He spent hours at gaming cafés, often staying there until the middle of the night.

It had become his newest obsession.

Before that, he had been fascinated by art.

Within only a few months, he had mastered it.

At the age of eighteen, he could sketch faces with remarkable accuracy.

That was the kind of person Aryan was.

Whenever he achieved what he wanted...

He quickly grew bored and searched for something new.

Now...

His next goal was to become a gaming champion.

As for Khizar...

When he finally began hurting himself the way Aryan had suggested...

Fayaz had no choice but to give in.

After all...

He was Khizar's father.

Khizar had always believed that Fayaz didn't love him.

But...

That wasn't the truth.

"I won't give you a single penny to spend on that boy," Fayaz declared angrily.

Khizar met his father's gaze without backing down.

"You don't have to worry about that."

"I'll earn the money myself."

"I don't need anything from you.”

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An Inferiority Complex

«"No comforting hand ever reached me within these prison walls.

So I embraced myself... and somehow learned to stand again."»

"Khizar..." Fayaz said quietly, his heart aching at the pain in his son's eyes. "You're suffering from nothing more than an inferiority complex. It isn't that I don't love you. He didn't have a father... I simply gave him one."

"Then let me live with this illness," Khizar shot back through clenched teeth. "Why are you trying to cure me now, when I've finally learned to live with it?"

A bitter smile crossed his face.

"I don't need you anymore."

"I'm happy now."

"And listen carefully..."

"I will never regret a single decision I've ever made."

"I'm genuinely happy that I chose to follow my heart."

"And I'll continue following my heart for the rest of my life."

"Remember that."

He refused to let himself look broken.

No human being could truly live without longing for a father's love.

Khizar Qureshi was no exception.

At that moment...

He was only twenty-one years old.

A young man whose heart still surrendered to his emotions far too easily.

---