CHAPTER 5
AHAD POV:
"Bhai, bhai, we have reached home, bhai," I heard a voice, and opened my eyes to see Arham near me, his hand on my shoulder.
"Hmm, thank you for taking me home, Arham," I said, unbuckling the seat belt to get out of the car.
"Reach home safely, Arham,"
I called my mother's phone and knocked on the door. Soon, the door opened, and I hugged the first person who had opened the gates.
It was Baba (dad), "kiya hua, beta?" Baba asked. (Translation: What happened, son?)
"I went to the race, and the ending point was Shahrah-e-Faisal baba." I went silent after saying a simple yet so traumatic sentence.
"Come, let's go to your room, okay," Baba said, patting my back, while moving inside.
"Begum, Ahad aiya hai, uper room ma a jayein," Baba said, still not leaving my side... (Translation: Begum, Ahad is home, come upstairs.)
Soon, Ammi came to my room, seeing my face, she just went and sat on my bed while motioning me to lie my head on her lap. I followed her instructions silently and lay there with Baba sitting on my side.
"Ahad, everything's alright, look, your parents are right here with you, Ashar is also with you, right? Just sleep, my baby," Ammi said, caressing my hair, and soon I slept in her embrace.
HAYAT POV:
I came to Do Darya again to meet Ashar. I was desperate, and I didn't know why I was feeling that way. I parked my car at the side of the road when I saw the same young boy again.
"Oh, hey, did Ashar come back or not?" I asked, to which he replied, "Appi(sister), he is with bikers right now at the backside. Do you want me to call him here for you?" The boy asked, to which I replied, "If it's possible, please call him for me."
I waited for him in my car and watched the cars drifting in front of my eyes. Seeing the way people were cheering for them made me think if I could do the same or not.
Soon, there was a knock on my window. Pulling my glass window down, I saw him standing there with a smile on his face.
After exchanging greetings with him, he commented that I finally came to which I simply replied, "yes I did come here but not knowing why," I was curious about my presence here myself, my curiosity to see what they do, my curiosity to know more about my car, my curiosity to know if I can engage with some new people around here.
Nodding to my statement, he thought for some time and said "Look I will tell you something, I'm Ashar, and I do arrange race here for fun, but mostly people come here to see new bikes and cars which they couldn't have, they love to watch cars drifting and bikes wheeling and we love showing them, it's all fun here, the fun includes arranging everything, if anyhow any accidents happens here-" he paused before pointing his index finger towards the van at the corner.
"We have stand by ambulance and all here, I look after my people here, I know every person, and me inviting someone is like giving a special opportunity to them, I invited you here but on serious note I thought a boy had driven this car to Seaview and was least excited but when I saw you moving inside the car I knew you could join us," he gave a toothy smile.
"If you want you can race here, drift your car, make friends but in limits, the limit is girls are not allowed here after 10 pm, which means you won't be allowed here too, this is also the reason that there's not a single girl in the crowd here right now, if you want to join us you can text me so I can arrange the car rides first and then bike race. You would be the first sports car girl here, and I would love to see you grow and have fun here," he finally ended his speech, which somehow made sense to me.
He doesn't want to make any girl uncomfortable; that is why there is a time limit for them to be here, but why are girls even allowed when he knows this place is dangerous for them? I thought to myself...
"Ladies love racing too, and we boys are no one to discourage them. What they love should not be restricted by anyone. That is why they are allowed here, but only till 10 pm."
I looked at him, shocked, as if I had said my thoughts aloud, "No, you didn't say it loud, but it's general to think that way," he sheepishly smiled. Suddenly, someone called him from behind. Not wanting to waste his time anymore. I told him my name, "I'm Hayat." He gave a curt nod before leaving.
Starting my car engine, I took my leave...
Parking my car at the garage, I got inside to see my only family waiting for me.
"Beta, you're finally home," Chachu said and came to hug me.
"Chachu, I will be back. I have no place to go, except coming back here," I hugged him back.
"You got your family here in Karachi, don't you know?"
"Why are you both not sleeping yet?" I asked, taking a seat next to Chachi on the sofa.
"We just wanted to wait for you." I looked at them suspiciously while lying my head on my chachi's lap.
I took some deep breaths and said, "Dad called you guys and asked about my existence, right?" I mouth out the sentence that I know they were trying to hide, closing my eyes.
"Ahm Hayat beta- yes, he called and said he- he wants to meet you." Opening my eyes, I sat straight, "And I do not want to meet your brother uncle, I'll run away from here too if he does force me this time."
Standing up from my place, I went to my room and directly went to lie down on my bed, not caring about changing clothes. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.