CHAPTER 7
AHAD POV:
Sunday has always been my favorite day. She was born on this day, and every Sunday feels like the luckiest day, too. I always make sure to be productive on my weekends, not wanting to sleep but working on my habits, flaws, and personality.
I woke up early today, after performing Salah, I did not sleep but made a list of things I wanted to do, I went shopping for groceries for my penthouse and some bike kits for me, and on my way back home, I got some freshly baked cookies, mother love cookies, and I surely do not forget to get those for her...
Thinking of having a brotherly time with Ashar. I called him, "Come, let's go to Seaview, then I'll accompany you to your today's race" hanging up the call, I waited for him to be at the seaside, watching the waves playing with each other while coming closer every time a new wave hit, the shores hit the sandy beach, second by second new waves trying to come closer to the land side, observing my surrounding, taking some deep breath I looked forward.
"Bhai, it's AFTERNOON, how can you come here right now? You called me here to do what? Belly dance? I am getting bored already," Ashar complained like always.
He has always been a sunny person, not replying to his nonsense. I kept my gaze focused on the waves. Some minutes later, I did not find him near me. Looking around, I found him standing with a girl at a great distance. He went to the roadside really fast.
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It's night already, sitting on my bike, I looked forward, listening to Arham's last night incident. Arham is a doctor and a racer, too. I have known him for years, and he has never let go of his passion. He did what he wanted with his heart. I had always admired Ashar's company.
My parents raised us with love and taught us about the bond we should share. While I was a little cold, yet a people pleaser, my two siblings were the opposite of me; they had a sunny personality with a forward mouth.
I was talking with Arham while I sat on my bike, leaning forward a little to hear what he was whispering to me about Ashar's wrongdoings.
Suddenly I felt someone's continues gaze at me, I felt stiffness at the back of my neck, and the tingling feeling I felt was unusual, wanting to see who is it, I looked in that direction but found no one but a car, to be specific Mercedes AMG GT, black, the model should be 2019, the car is super expensive and good but I never saw this car here before, might be a newcomer, shrugging the thought I turned back and focused on our talk.
Today's race was not a race but a showcase about your bike and cars like drifting, wheeling, and much more, I didn't want to join this, but as always, I can never say NO to my baby brother, I have office tomorrow and today was hectic, I couldn't figure out if I'm tired, drained emotionally or physically, but whatever it was it didn't feel good.
It was already midnight when I came home. To my mother, I looked for her and found her sitting with Phupho (paternal aunt) at this time of the night. I didn't know Auntie came from Lahore already and that she would talk to my mother... that's strange, my mother and my aunt don't share a very nice bond since my aunt hates my mother's guts.
They sat at the lounge, taking slow and steady steps towards them, I thought to greet my aunt and ask her about her health when I overheard her saying, "Marry your Ahad with my daughter, she can take care of him, he's already a depressed brat, always sad, you guys have spoiled him, don't you know a boy should not show his emotions like a girl! He didn't save her, did he? He let her die there, so why cry now? Always crying in your lap like a small kid, a 29-year-old man cries like a kid, oh, that's so embarrassing, Sofia, listen to me, and marry him to my Seema, he will be a man again."
Listening to what my aunt said about me, I was broken. Can I defend her? Yes… But do I have power right now… No.
I wanted to step towards her and tell her how her words could affect another person, but my feet were frozen there; I couldn't take a step towards them. My emotions were getting the best of me, I couldn't control myself anymore, and I walked out of the place.
AUTHOR POV:
Riding his bike at a full speed of 320 km/h, feeling his eyes getting blurred, he didn't care and drove as fast as he could, words, words that could make any relation shatter, words that can change a beautiful relation to bitter ones... words that affected him to his core... words of his own family that hurt him more… he drove, breaking the signals, speeding the bike, not caring about anything...
He saw the signal turn green and sped up his bike, crossing the flyover, speeding his bike more as the roads were almost empty, with just some vehicles. He may have broken some signals, but his mind wasn't working. Looking at the next stop signal, he sped up his bike more when he saw a car coming from the wrong way. He couldn't stop his bike there.
Right at that moment, he couldn't think straight, and suddenly everything turned upside down; his bike collided with a sports car. He crashed into the car with his head covered in a helmet, but not his body covered in a bike kit; he was thrown off his bike, crashing into the road, thrown to the side, and the bike and the car were fully damaged.
The empty road did no justice to them. He looked at his bike through his helmet and saw it lying on the road, broken like his own soul, the car damaged, and he could faintly see someone in the car. He glanced back at his bike again, his blurry eyes focused on it, and memories started floating around him.
He saw the scene from 4 years ago vividly in front of his eyes, still focused on his bike, and then he started crying, crying harder than he ever had.
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"We should get this bike pair, I love this color and everything, monkey, what do you think?"
"Will you tell me how you handled the weight?"
"Should we go to another race?"
"Are we going to Italy next week?"
"You love me or your bike?"
"Should I ask Hazel to be my backpack next Sunday?"
"Bh-"
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He could hear things from the past, past? Yeah, a beautiful, haunting past.
He took some deep breaths and tried, tried to stand up, failed.... tried again.... failed… taking a deep breath again, he tried one more time… and limped towards his bike.
In a flash, he couldn't feel his legs working, falling on his knees as his lower body went numb. He looked towards the car and fell unconscious in the middle of the road.