PREVAILS
"Life was never meant to be a fairytale, but still we chose to believe that ours would have a happy ending." Honest, straightforward, pretty and a hell of a temper, that was Gauhar Siddique. Passionate about serving the right cause and ensuring that nobody could defile the pure tenets of justice. She was a warrior of the law, and you were in deep trouble if you ever found yourself on the wrong side of her fist. Little does she know that trouble was brewing within the paradise her father has worked hard to build. "A little bit of deceit in the grand scheme of things never hurt anyone, especially if it were to uphold the shaky pillars of Justice." Charming, kind, friendly and handsome a deadly combination that would lure even the best in. Altamash Ahmed Quadri was a spider who's expert manipulation wove you right into his web. And once you were in, you could never escape. That was how Youngest Director of the Fairfax and Co Solicitors worked. How would these two opposites clash when Altamash forces Gauhar to marry him? There would be sparks and fireworks for sure. But why did Altamash force her to marry him? And most importantly, could these opposites ever fall in love? ••••••••••• "It's not him, it cannot be him!" I could feel the tears stinging my eyes, but his face stayed resolute. As he slowly walked towards me, I stepped away. I couldn't let him smash everything I'd known to the ground, to wreck havoc to every notion I had held as true. As the back of my head hit the wall behind me, I sucked in a breath. The sight of the animalistic smirk on his face scared me, he looked like he had won. Like I was exactly where he wanted me to be. Pushing his hands in his pockets he approached me, and stopped only when there was a hairsbreadth between us. I could feel the warmth of his breath fan my forehead. And I couldn't breathe. Leaning in his lips ghosted against the sensitive skin of my earlobe, "Deception my love." His voice was a smooth whisper against me, as warm as the blazing fire in his eyes and as smooth as the honey that reminded me of the colour of them. My pulse hammered erratically on my throat and he noticed, because he chuckled softly, "it's not easy to act in a way that is against what you actually feel Gauhar. He had you fooled, just like i have your body fooled into thinking that I am going to ravish you." "That's false." I bit out through grit teeth, my voice a vehement hiss. He placed an arm beside my head, caging me in and looking straight into my eyes, his own were dark the amber of orbs almost eclipsed. "It's not false and you know it, let's not deceive ourselves darling." Leaning in he inhaled a deep breath, "our bodies currently believe that we like eachother, when that's as far away from reality as could be." He abruptly stepped away, "it was all an illusion the same way Gauhar, he had spun a lie around you. Just like I had spun one around us." ••••••••• PS: The beginning of this book is super slow, because you guys gotta get acquainted with the characters, but I promise it'll get Interesting as the story moves on. And be warned this is a slow burn novel so if your expecting instant fireworks and sparks...this is not the book for you. But if you like to feel pain and emotions (masochistic?) and bit of solving cases of law, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. P.PS: The book is written in the POV of the four protagonists Anyways, you should go read the book cuz that's obviously what your here for. Happy Reading!
Immoral Deals
"Any place is good for eavesdropping, if you know how to eavesdrop."
- Tom Waits
(If you're not an expert in this art....you are advised to refrain from trying to be brave and attempt anything of the sort)
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Gauhar's POV
A loud knock at the door shook me out of my musings and broke contented bubble that had formed around us.
I felt my anger resurfacing, but I didn't want to allow anything to ruin this moment.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. And when I opened my eyes, I had acquired the ability to selectively ignore noises that interfered with my alone time with father.
I know it is an amazing ability, but it can only be honed under extreme disturbance and stress. I had acquired it by living for twenty-two years of my life with Muqeet.
The incessant knocking threatened to break the door down, and although I had honed my ability of blocking useless noise. Father clearly wasn't on par with my level. The uneasy glances he kept throwing at the door, ruined all chances of me enjoying the quiet time I had hoped of spending with him.
I sighed in defeat, and lifted myself from the sofa. Hating every step as I dragged myself towards the door. "Go check who it is at the door. It seems as if they're in greater need of your attention than I am at the moment."
I forced a smile at his words, which I was quite sure came out as a painful grimace. If fathers returning uneasy smile was any indication.
Darn it! Why was it so hard to hide the murderous intent I have for people from my face? Why didn't I have a face that didn't give away anything? This was precisely the reason why I thought that people with a poker face were serial killers…they could hide anything behind that impassive face and we would be none the wiser.
Just when I thought that the knocking couldn't get any more frantic, it reached new levels of desperation. The way they were going, I suspected that there must be something really important this person had to tell us. Maybe it was someone's death? Or perhaps a fire?
I hoped that it was something extremely serious for their sake, or I might just make sure they regret disturbing me.
I sighed deeply to myself as I ran downstairs to answer it. Just as I reached the end of the stairs, the knocking stopped. I ran a hand through my hair in irritation, why act so damn impatient if you had to stop your attempt at knocking the door down as soon as I had come close enough to answer it.
I pinched the bridge of my nose as I prayed to God for patience. I walked towards the door, making sure I didn't stomp angrily, because it was sure to make mum angry.
"Look who we have here." I heard brother say in an amused, almost complacent voice. He seemed almost…pleased to see this person at the door.
Who on earth was it?
"If I had known I will have to encounter your annoying presence, I would have refrained from bothering to come at all." The haughty tones of Daniya's voice drifted towards me.
Ah, so it was her. I felt a smile form on my face, all murderous thoughts flying out of my mind.
"Aw c'mon I was just being polite, why so unhappy to see me? Do I perhaps have horns on my head, or do I look so unpleasant that you would rather not see me?" Muqeet lazily leaned against the doorjamb, crossing his arms across his chest. Though I couldn't make out the expression on his face from my vantage point, I knew he had one eyebrow lifted in question.
"Nah you don't have horns on your head, but still I would rather meet the devil than talk to you." I was pretty sure Daniya was glaring at him, though my view was obstructed by his massive back.
Damn I was getting very good at guessing peoples' expressions without seeing them, could I perhaps add this to my list of superpowers?
Muqeet's chuckle stirred me out of my thoughts, "Ouch that one hurt!" he dramatically exclaimed, placing a hand on his chest and closing his eyes in apparent pain.
I rolled my eyes to myself at his behavior. Clearly, acting was a much better suited vocation for him than computer science. He'd have made an excellent Calpurnia for Julius Caesar.
"Anyways be careful what you wish for pinky, don't ask for things you can't handle."
I nearly choked in my attempt to curb my laughter at the nickname he kept for her.
"Thanks for the unwanted advice. Now I would be very obliged, if you would kindly deign to move yourself from the doorway so that I can come in." the way her voice barely hid her suppressed anger, caused a smile to form on my lips. Muqeet did have a knack of bringing the worst out of people.
"Well, I was actually going to invite you in. But seeing how my attempts at being a good host were disregarded, I decided that I would rather be myself. I actually think it's better that way ya know." He ran a hand through his hair and looked at his nails, apparently quite comfortable leaning against the doorjamb.
I counted till ten in my head, as soon as I began eleven I heard Daniya sigh in defeat "Alright, tell me. What do you want?" The resignation in her voice nearly made me laugh out loud.
Damn, I had to admit that he was really good at this. I should probably make the bugger teach me this technique of forcing people into defeat.
Muqeet pushed himself off the doorjamb and draped a hand over the door "I won't ask for much, smooth the frown off your face pinky. Just promise to give me half of that baklava ya got there."
The smile slipped off my face as his words registered in my mind. Did he just say Baklava? I ran towards the door as fast my feet could carry me and roughly pushed Muqeet aside.
Sure enough, standing outside was Daniya, a large box held between her hands. The box that ensured my happiness for tonight. "Hey, where did you come from brat? Were you listening in on our conversation, you rude little-"
"No need to say anything more, we all know you have a filthy tongue. And tonight we would rather not get a sample of it" I turned towards him "And yes I was eavesdropping on your very interesting conversation." I raised my eyebrow at him giving him a what-are-you-going-to-bout-it look.
Muqeet opened his mouth, most probably to admonish me for my bad behavior and try to attempt acting like the responsible big brother he wasn't. I raised a finger to silence him, which surprisingly worked.
Quickly shaking away my surprise that I had actually managed to silence him, I cleared my throat "Okay, so I will share with you half of the baklava Daniya has brought."
A blindingly bright smile lit up on his face "Don't look too happy, I'm not magically going to become generous to you. It will come with a price of course."
"A price?" Muqeet looked at me puzzled, behind me I could hear Daniya's shocked gasp. But I ignored it as I smiled at Muqeet and nodded "Yes a price, teach me how you made Daniya agree to you so easily. And I will agree to share the goodness in that box with you." I offered him my hand "So deal?"
"What the- Hey Gauhar, you traitor! You were supposed to be my friend." Daniya growled at me. I turned around to smirk at her "That's precisely why I want to learn to get you to agree with me." Daniya very wisely remained silent, but I could sense the waves of wrath rolling off her, which made me shudder slightly.
Maybe this wasn't as brilliant an idea as it felt when I initially thought about it. But I had gone too far to go back now.
"Deal" Muqeet shook my hand firmly, a smirk forming on his lips. He seemed incredibly pleased with himself, an expression I am sure was reciprocated on my face.
Since Daniya wasn't making any attempt of coming into the house, I took matters in my own hands and dragged her inside.
As I started pulling her up the stairs, Muqeet called out "Don't forget the deal!"
" 'Course I won't!" I screamed back, causing Daniya to huff in annoyance.
I knew I'll have to bear her angry rants the remainder of the night, but hey everything in life came with a price.
"Your brother is creepy as hell." she informed me, as I dragged her towards my room.
"Quite an astute observation. What's up Dani, You eaten some brain booster or something? How're you making these astounding discoveries all of a sudden?"
"Oh shut up, don't pull that sarcasm on me. After your stunt today, I'm contemplating on even sharing any of the food I brought today."
"Ha, It's too late for that my love. Your already in my lair, it would be a mark of incredibly poor decision making on your part if you don't give me what I desire." I chuckled to myself.
"Goddamn, don't let the maniac out this late the night will you? Sheesh, I'll give you what you want woman."
"Whoa whoa, what's gotten into you girl? How are you agreeing this readily with me? I haven't even unleashed the death threats yet. Damn…if I knew you had lost your edge, I'd have never made that deal with Muqeet."
"Stop spouting non-sense and get into your room already." she opened the door and roughly pushed me inside.
Hmm....I'd say Gauhar's behaviour was quite justified. Sometimes you gotta know your friend's weaknesses. Just in case they decide to scream out your crush's name in the hallways, you'd at least have ammunition against them.
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