Possession by Laila Ali (young adult books to read .txt) 📗

She felt her heart lightened after crying her heart out in front of Daniyal. Someone knocked on the door and she composed herself immediately before saying a 'come in'.

A very handsome man of about his age or older than her entered the room. Zahra's nerves were now on high alert. She always got tense and apprehensive when any man was around her. She didn't trust men except Daniyal. This mistrust grew more after meeting Irtaza. She was now afraid of mankind.

"Hi" he cleared his throat, "Assalam Alaikum, (Greetings) I'm haseeb," he said and sat on the sofa.

"Wa salam, (To you too)" she shortly replied.

"I saw you crying when you came out of Irtaza bhai's (Bhai means brother and is used to address for an elder person) room. So I came here to check out whether you are fine."

"Yes I'm fine." she shortly answered.

"I know he is a bit harsh and cold. His nature is like that because you know he deals with all the mafia business and if you've emotions in this business you cannot survive in the mafia world. But let me tell you here he is good at heart and so good with his family. I know he might have scared the shit out of you but you will soon be habitual to it. We all are also too afraid of him and no one dares to question his direct order but he is also kind to us. He is like an elder brother to all of us. So you need not worry you will soon be acquainted with his scary nature." he rambled on. He was trying to comfort her scared heart but actually, he scared her more.

Zahra found him a lively person but when he said that 'he is a bit harsh' she resisted the urge to scoff and spill out all the heinous deeds Irtaza did to her. What shocked her the most was that he deals with all the mafia business and this point was scaring her more about him. She knew how the mafia peoples deal with their enemies. They don't wait for a moment and the person is dead the next second. She already knew that his father's family was in Mafia but she had no idea who was dealing with all the mafia business. He seemed dangerous to her but now he was seeming much more livid and menacing to her. She now would have to practice how to act in front of him. She didn't want to die so soon.

"As one day what happened to my sister Haya, a boy was bothering her, he kept messaging her and calling her late night. He was in her university. My elder brother Saif had the responsibility of looking after her. Being in a mafia, family is your weakest point and Irtaza Bhai did not want anyone to trigger his family at any cost so he ordered Shehryaar his younger brother to look after Dua, their only sister, and my elder brother Saif to look after Haya my younger sister. Look after, as in a way to monitor their activities if someone is bothering them, etc etc. Haya was being quiet and odd in those days and then she told everything from start to my cousin, Dua that how that boy is bothering her. And dua told Irtaza Bhai and then he called saif in the garden and beat the hell out of him. His face was literally bleeding with big blue marks and his shirt was torn out at different places. After seeing his condition I thanked God for thousand and thousand times that I do not have the responsibility to look after Haya,"

"What?" Zahra whispered in disbelief.

"Yes, then he locked saif in his room for two days and didn't allow anyone not even any doctor to see him. He was restrained in his room for two days without any food. Mama requested him a lot to at least let her give some food to saif but he didn't allow it"

"Who is he not to allow anyone?" she almost mocked.

"He is the head of this haveli and without his consent, nothing can happen in this haveli. And you can't go against his direct order unless you don't love your bones anymore. Ok, listen then after two days he allowed the doctor to see him and let mama give him some food."

"What happened to that boy?" Zahra asked.

"Yaar listen na. Irtaza bhai didn't deal with that boy personally he ordered Saif to deal with the boy himself. And Saif directed his men to kill that boy. He scolded Saif for not breaking that boy's few bones before killing him."

She gasped with horror. Her breath got stuck in her throat.

"Don't you think that taking one's life for such a small reason is a bit too much? I know what he did was not right but killing him..."

"Irtaza bhai then would have killed saif if he hadn't killed that boy. This is Mafia, Zahra. There is no remorse in it. But the whole point of this story is that he might seem very much cold, cruel and ruthless to you but he is actually good at heart. I hope my lecture comforted you." he asked after finishing his scary story.

To say the least, it didn't comfort her at all.

"Can I ask who you are to me? I mean how you are related to me?"

"I'm, Haseeb. Your father is my uncle so you are my cousin."

She gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded. Before that boy, Haseeb could say anything, a girl entered in the room.

"Oh my God, I know he almost has eaten half of your head like an apple with his stupid stories. I'm so sorry for that" she dramatically said.

"Dua go away shoo. She was enjoying my company. Right, Zahra?" Haseeb looked expectantly towards Zahra and she slightly nodded.

"Boy as you have eaten half of her head she is not in her right mental state to give a logical answer so you go away from here shoo," she said sitting on the bed beside Zahra.

"Dua what happened to your nose?" Haseeb asked whilst pointing towards her nose.

"What? why? What happened?" the girl, Dua, tapped at her nose.

"Your nose is getting bigger day by day. I wonder by next year there will be only nose left on your face" he grinned.

"Achh.. what about your girlfriend's nose? Should I tell Chacha Jaan (Uncle) about how big her nose is?" His smile swept away in a millisecond from his face and both Zahra and Dua laughed heartily.