Chapter 10: New phase

A man plans a lot, but sometimes nature plans differently for him. That's what life is. We have to compromise on the situation for a more promising future.

The same happened with Moneeza.

The last time she laughed harder was on her birthday. And now, she got trapped in the turmoil of life. Continuously surviving bad news with patience with the hope of everything getting better soon. Her brother was her most significant motivation, and she wondered how she would survive all this. Her little family was her only strength; each of them was facing chaos.

It was the start of spring; the flowers were blooming, and sweet fragrances filled the air. Greenery spread everywhere and colorful flowers were enchanting the sight. The cold breeze of the morning was swaying on her way, colliding with everything that comes her way.

In between the greenery and colorful flowers was a house, a beautiful single-story house. The gate was small, and the dog was playing inside. On entering the house was a garage with two cars parked. On walking inside was a Tv launch, the news was streaming on the TV.

"three-men are caught in accusation of bank robbing. .. . a house caught fire due to gas cylinder explosion.… a child got kidnapped from railway station and police is still unable to find the kidnapper."

"Oh God, what's going on here? People have no shame. How ridiculous is this? How pathetic." The old grandpa listened to the news the entire day and expressed his anger. He has no other activities except watching the news, playing with jazzy, taking care of his plants, and writing his diary.

Jazzy was their dog. In this house, there used to live two people and one dog, but they called him their family member. So, there were three members actually.

On the left side of the launch was a kitchen, large but old-fashioned. In the middle of the kitchen was a small dining table with four chairs. Grandma was sitting on one chair applying butter on slices of bread.

"When you were gone, I hired a maid. She was very kind and helped me a lot. But her life was very complicated. She took leave most often. So I ask her to resign and take care of her family. I still give her money to support her family." Grandma was talking continuously. She lived alone for ten years, and now after so long she got a partner to talk to.

"I wonder how someone can be so cruel that he wanted to kill his children and wife." Miss Layla was pouring tea from the kettle into the cups.

"There are a lot of werewolves roaming around. This world is full of cruelty. A few here knew the actual value of human life."

"you are right. People have lost senses. . . ."

On stepping outside the kitchen, on the left side were the stairs. On the right side was a dining room, and along it was a drawing room. In front of them, on the second side of the launch, were two bedrooms, one's door was opened.

"Where is my tie?" Mr. Asmar was in the habit of talking to himself and he always talked to himself about everything. Especially for asking things himself and finding out.

"Oh, here it is" He grabbed the tie from the drawer.

He was tieing the tie. When he looked at the wall.

"oh gosh! I am getting late."

He ran to the drawer for the file and picked up his bag.

"Layla! Breakfast"

He shouted.

"It's ready."

Layla shouted back.

Mr. Asmar ran to the dining table and started eating steadily.

"Slowly." grandma instructed.

"ma! I have a very important meeting by 9 a.m, and I have to meet Aaron's doctor."

"drop me in the hospital," Layla said, looking at him.

"then, get ready". He said, taking a bite of the bread.

She ran to her room.

"fast," he said again.

Miss Layla appeared in five minutes with a lunch box. Mr. Asmar, on catching the sight of her, got up, kissed his father and mother, asked for prayers, then strode to the garage. Miss Layla followed him.

At the dining table, grandpa was still looking behind them, until they both disappeared.

"I can't believe they are back". Grandma said frantically.

"yeah! back with pain. I always pray for them to come back, but never wished to come back this way." Grandpa said in a deep voice.

Grandma placed the fork on the plate, her eyes became wet, and she took a sip from the cup, controlling her tears.

Grandpa placed his hand over her. "I know you are hiding your tears from me for ten years, but now I don't want you to hide them anymore. You can open your heart in front of me. I am sorry for all the times; I never let you speak for Asmar and his family."

Her tears rushed out. "I know how many times you used to cry when they left. I remember all those times when you go in into Asmar's room and used to cry there. But I never let you realize all that just because I never wanted you to feel embarrassed in front of me for crying like a toddler. I know you were never so cruel, but still, you are as important to me as you were when we met fifty years ago. I don't want to hurt you further. That's why I never cry in front of you."

Grandpa looked into her eyes and said in a very gentle voice. "I was angry, but I never wished them to experience any kind of pain."

Grandma said in a low-pitched voice with a horrified look, "what if they go back?"

Grandpa heaved a deep sigh. "We know how to live without them. We can survive again."

"but I don't think I can survive again. We waited for them for ten years."

"I don't want to remember all that. . . ."

Both were talking about the most formidable period of their lives. Yes! It's true that no one can live a happy life if they made their parents enraged or shattered their hearts. Aaron's illness can be a penalty by God for Moneeza's parents. They left their parents when they needed them the most.

On moving upstairs was a launch. It was the second portion of the house, but it had only three rooms and a rooftop. On the left side of the launch, a door was locked and inside it, the bed was lodged with peacock feathers. On its right side was a dressing table, and along it was a door. That door opened up to the vanity room and inside the vanity was a washroom; on the left side of the bed was a large bookshelf with books of almost every genre and along it was a study table. The entire room was furnished with black, white, and purple colors.

The alarm rang. Moneeza took her hands out of the blanket and grabbed the alarm clock. Pressed its knob, placed it again on the table, and tightened her blanket for a short nap.

She closed her eyes,

"damn, not again, Moneeza. You were playing so poorly. We lost again. Where were your senses? Why don't you focus on the ball? We lost it again."..… "Moneeza, you didn't play well. I have bet my friends about the win….. I am so disappointed.…. You are playing for 10 years and still you missed that last hit. . ."

Moneeza opened her eyes again. Wide opened. She removed her blanket and sat down. "get-up-and-go Moneeza. It was just your dream. "A sticky note on the wall reminded her that today was her first day in her new sports club. She ran instantly to the vanity to get ready for her day.