Ahan's PoV:

Sitting on her prayer mat, Ashiya had her hands raised up in supplication. The room was dark and the only source of light was the moonlight coming from the window, illuminating her features. Her big eyes were closed making her lashes rest on her cheeks, her nose small but sharp, her lips moved softly like she was saying something, as if talking to Allah. Her golden brown skintone looked heavenly. She's so perfect! I thought. Astagfirullah! Get a grip. She brought her hands to her face and her eyes slowly opened landing on mine. She seemed surprised and I looked away. She then folded her prayer mat and kept it on the bed and turned to me.

"I..." I suddenly felt at loss of words. Her eyes were fixed on me and I found it hard to say what I had come here for.

I took a deep breath and looked at her. Her face held no expression. "I'm sorry.." I whispered and doubted whether she heard it or not. She kept staring at me for few seconds before she looked away.

"It's fine," she said and I thought I heard her wrong.

"What?" I asked like the fool I am. She turned back to me and repeated her words, but this time a little annoyed. Weird, I thought. How can she forgive me so easily, especially after the things I said to her? Anyone in her place would have definitely not accepted my apology so quickly. Then why did she?

"Are you okay?" She asked and I realised I was staring at her like a pervert so I lowered my gaze.

"Yeah, I..sorry," I mumbled.

"Why did you yell at me?" She asked and I found myself speechless again. What do I say? Should I tell her? What if she doesn't understand me?

"It was a misunderstanding," I said and she frowned. Not wanting to piss her anymore I spoke, "Today was my father's death anniversary..." She seemed taken aback at first but then I saw her eyes soften.

"I'm sorry..." She said. Why is she apologizing? As if sensing my question she answered, "I didn't know about it." I nodded at her and at that moment, I don't know what happened but I wanted to talk further.

"Seventeen years ago, my father died when I was only 11. The date still haunts my entire family. It was me who had forced him to go out and bring a toy car for me from a shop. He loved me a lot and therefore didn't deny my demand. He went out and it was raining heavily. The taxi he took met with an accident, killing both, the driver and Dad. We got to know about it the next day after we had filed a police complaint. Mom didn't cry for an entire week. She was in shock. Slowly, she recovered because she had her children to take care of. My grandparents were no more in this world, leaving us all alone by ourselves." I was now standing near the window looking up the sky. It was a full moon night and the stars were twinkling. Ashiya was still standing where she was earlier.

"Nobody blamed me for it, our lives returned to normal after a while. Mom started working and we got busy with ourselves. But there's still that regret that kills me everyday. I keep asking myself that what if I had not been such a brat that day? What if he had not gone out in that rain? What if none of it had happened? What if..." My throat felt heavy by now and my eyes were wet. I had never talked to anybody on this matter, not even with my brothers or my mom. I felt like I had exposed my most vulnerable side to a stranger who surprisingly didn't seem like a stranger. What's happening to me? I had no idea.