Flashback in bold.

..Till glitch in the matrix..

Coming back to Abbotobad years later is not something Dr Parizad Amir had ever wanted for herself but deep down somewhere she had always known that one day she had to come back here.

The place where her abode lies, the place she lost her heart so many times, perhaps the place she had run away from.

So the moment she steps into the city, her heart seems to sync in different beats other than usual. Memories of childhood flooded in front of her eyes, and she knows she had to travel through all those one more time, but she will never complain.

Parizad Amir never for once a complaint about anything in her life, never regretted anything she did. She had lived twenty-seven springs of her life with this, anything that happens happens for only good if not for now maybe for later. And that keeps her going.

She left this place five years ago, and settled up in Rawalpindi away from this city, away from his memories. For quite a few springs she waited for someone, for her share of happiness, for her love, but that never came. So when she had enough, she left.

Now after years one can say she left for good, looking at her now no one will say she is the same girl who had left the city. Today she knows how to hold her head high, she had always been the definition of beauty with brains but now she has that elegance in her too.

She changed in many ways and for good but still now her hazel brown orbs speaks a bitter truth, a truth that can never be changed now. Those orbs seek home, a home that had been lost a decade ago.

◆●◆●◆

Stepping inside the Haweli, her heart beats an extra today. Coming here back means coming back to all those things she had left years ago, but she knows better, she had to face it one way or the other.

Looking at her with longing eyes there sits Palwasha Begum on her wheelchair. Tears find their way out of her eyes this time, kneeling in front of her, Parizad hugs her grandmother, her very reason for coming here now.

"How are you now Daddo?"

"Much better, now that you are here I'm far better than before," Palwasha replied as she cried more.

"Aree Daddo humare ana ka itna bhi dukh key itna anson baha rahi hon. Ana pasand nahi aya toh bol dein hum abhi wapas chale jate hai, par ap roye na please." Parizad joked.

"Chal badmash aise baat karte hai kya! Saalon baad beti ghar ayi hai aur ate hi wapas jane ki baatein nahi karte bacchey."

"Toh ap bhi roye nahi na, hum aye hai na bs." Palwasha only smiled and hugged her tight, close to her heart, trying her best to give her a home-like feeling, but even she knows the truth.

Her Pari had long lost her home. Some wounds are deeper than it seems and sometimes rejection is one of that kind.

◆●◆●◆

Parizad Amir was born to Fariah and Hassan Amir but lost her parents way too soon when she was nearly one. Mirza Amir never married someone after the sudden death of his elder brother and sister in law, he never found someone suitable enough, who would accept a little Parizad as her own.

Years later when Parizad was nearly eight summers long, he adopted Zaid Amir as his own. So for the longest of time, it's only been Zaid and her now. When she left the city she knew Zaid would be lost without her but the good thing was he already started with his hostel life, so she had one less thing to be worried about.

◆●◆●◆

As she enters her room, everything is at its place where she had left years ago, the only thing that seems to lose its place is her heart, which is there but still not there. Looking at the window, for once she wants to open them, but knows better not to do so, no need for hurting herself knowingly.

This time there will be no one standing for her on the other side of the window, and that's a bitter truth she had accepted way back, no need to revisit the past now.

Changing into something warm, she sits on her bed, roaming her eyes around the room carefully. No matter how much she tries, this place doesn't feel at home today, and this is what she hated the most.

Before her mind can be messed up again in something stupid, Zaid comes to her, hugging her as tightly as he could.

"I missed you so much Appi."

"Yeah I get that big boy, I missed a bit more though"

"You have no idea how happy I'm that you are here. Abba missed to a lot and Daddo, well let's not talk about it."

"I know even though I am here only for the weekend, I am happy that I came."

"Come let's go and grab our favourite hot chocolate and muffins, just like old days."

Just like the old days, yet nothing is here like the old days.

"Yeah sure let's go." But she has to face it, no way back now.

◆●◆●◆

The cafe is the same just a bit modernized now, the good thing is something is still there which haven't changed much, at last. Taking her usual seat near the corner, her mind goes back to a certain voice.

●●●●

"What's up with your hatred with coffee Pari? It's not even that bad"

"Oh please, it's the worst thing for me. The worst. And I mean it. Like look at you, you are becoming just like your coffee, too bitter for my liking."

"Perhaps you are too sweet for my health too"

"Well I know that but there's nothing much you can do about it now, can you?"

"No I guess, you see love makes us do stupid things, and you, my love is just like my coffee, my addiction without which I can't live."

"Yuck... That's the worst thing someone can ever say to me."

"Parizad Amir I love you even more than my coffee."

●●●●

Her array of thoughts breaks apart as Zaid comes and sits next to her. They started catching up where they had left. It's been only a month since Zaid visited her in Pindi, and he has so many things to share with her already. Even though he is nearly eighteen now, his Appi remains his confidant.

As some moments pass she started to loosen up a bit, but a sudden familiar voice, a certain familiar name makes her heart lose a few beats in a row, Ruhaan Rizwan.

'He can't be here today, no not now.' As she asked her heart not to believe anything. But her heart knows that it's a lie. He is here, this is why this place seems the same.

She watches him taking a sit not much far from them with his back towards them. He looks around lost in his thoughts, with his bitter black coffee still there, yet another thing that hasn't changed.

His eyes find their way to her. His black one against her hazel brown, and in that moment Parizad knows the past is making its way to the present.

It seems like he is reading through her soul, he is looking deep in her hazel brown orbs losing himself in them. And the next moment he stands in front of her, with Zaid in his side asking him to take a seat right in front of himself. At that moment all she feels is a glitch in the matrix.

Seeing Parizad Amir in the same place as years ago is not something he wished for. The last time he checked upon her, she was in Pindi, doing her MD.

Even if things didn't happen as they should have, he never really stopped looking for her, how would have he. He maybe never got to talk to her directly, but now thanks to Instagram it's quite easy to stalk someone.

"How have you been Pari?" He finally asked her ending the torturous glaring session.

"It's Parizad to you Ruhaan. And yeah I have good, as good as I can be." She snapped at him, and for the first time in years, he feels good.

She changed a lot, but even now he is the only one she would come to complain about something.

"Well I see, it's good to hear that Parizad" Though he wanted to scream at her he knows this is not the place for that.

The next half an hour passed with Zaid and Ruhaan catching up among themselves. Ruhaan is quite amused to see Zaid grown up so much, it proves how time flies. The last time they met, he was hardly eight and now he is an adult.

Few more minutes and they call it a night. He exchanged his number with Zaid.

Getting into the passenger seat he watches his Pari driving the car perfectly, how much she had learnt over the years.

●●●●

"Why don't to learn how to ride a car? I have to pick you up always."

"Oh please, I know how to drive a car. I do have my learners too. Just that I don't want to you know.."

"Yeah, I know you love these drives with me. Pagal ladki."

●●●●

Once this girl used to rely on him even for her smallest need, and today she is independent much, Parizad Amir had lived a life without having Ruhaan Rizwan in the picture.

Stopping the car in front of his turn, she blows the horn. He is watching her like a creep, and all she wanted is to slap him harder this time.

"It's good meeting you Zaid."

"Please visit us once Bhai. Daddo will be very much happy to see you"

"I will maybe if someone doesn't have an issue with it." He replied with his eyes fixed on Pari.

"It's getting late Zaid and I am really tired today. So if you could continue this talk some other time.." She asked Zaid to hurry up now.

"Take care Zaid. And maybe I will visit you guys pretty soon." With that Ruhaan left, but not towards the turn he should have taken.

And Parizad exactly knows what's happening here. Nothing changed over the decade, Ruhaan Rizwan really lost his home way back, and this guilt will eat her up.