THE WINDS WERE BLASTING.

The breezes were dancing around, crazily, wildly. And there's no sign of them stopping anytime soon. They won't be. For the war had just begun. Or perhaps someone is just lost in it. Some fragile soul that just lost a life.

A life that never came easy to her.

THE CAR CAME TO A HALT. She closes her eyes and gulps.

So this is it.

This is her new address. And she wanted it none.

Never did.

But now it's here, she is back in the city she left once.

The city where she was born. The city that witnessed her growing up. The city she spent twenty-one summers in. The city where she fall in love and then she left.

Just left.

With regrets and pain.

With blood and tears.

With a broken heart and shattered soul.

But that was years ago, now is quite a different case. At least she hopes that. At least this time.

And that's been there for her always.

Hope.

"Ayesha?" A call brings her back from her wonderland, and she smiles at her.

"Yes, Aunty?" She asks the Fariha, and even if she tries, she couldn't and she didn't miss the mist gathered near the corner for her old eyes.

"We have reached our destiny." She sigh, heavily, and nodded.

"We have." She said, looking around the lanes, the known lanes of Syed Ahmed Ali street.

She had been here before, she had been here all her life. And just as she came out of the car, Fariha holds her hand. Her hands still hold the warmth, even after everything. Fariha Aslam hasn't lost herself in the war. She had lost much more than that.

"Which one--" Ayesha started holding her hands, in hope that she wouldn't point towards the main road.

Towards the house was painted in reddish orange with half-open iron gates. She almost prayed for that. But that's just what Fariha did. She pointed toward that house, and Ayesha didn't miss the blurry eyes or the shivering fingers when she follows her suit.

They pointed there.

The house is just next to it.

The creamed coloured walls with green borders, the black huge gates, closed.

"Aunty?" She calls softly, which made Fariha walk towards the gates, slowly, steadily. She opened the gate and stepped inside.

Ayesha stayed behind, closing her eyes for a second, then turned around asking the shifters to follow her.

She gulps when she crossed the threshold, the breezes this time welcomes her, and the fallen pink petals of bougainvillaea smiled when she stepped upon them. She had seen the house before from afar, but that was eons ago. Now she is here, this is her house.

A house she never wanted.

She gulps the thought with a smile. "Aunty you should take some rest, I will look after the shifters." She said as soon as she handed Fariha a glass of water.

Fariha smiled, "You will be taking the room on the first floor, the one with the open balcony?"

"It doesn't matter Aunty." She said and started walking towards Fariha's room to keep her belongings there.

But she heard it, and her steps halted, she gulps, "He wanted you to stay there if you ever come to this house."

She closes her eyes, sighed and nodded. Fariha keeps on looking at her retreating figure with a small smile and blurry eyes.

Life has not been easy on them, especially on that girl. But maybe this new start will do good to them, to her. She wished that for her.

She deserves that now.

She deserves every bit of it and even more.

°°°

THE SUN HAD BIDDEN ITS FAREWELL FOR THE DAY. The strong wind passes as the open window crashes with one another, making an annoying sound.

"It's going to rain today. Allah where is the girl now."

Fariha is tensed, Ayesha is nowhere to be seen, her daughter is missing from her sight and she can't handle it. She moves towards the backyard and the door keeps on flapping when she sees it.

A scene so known, a soul so pure.

The showers pour, and she stands on the grass barefooted in her white churidar, her dupatta lying in the mud as she twirls around, dancing in the rain.

For once Fariha was shocked and ready to drag her inside, but then she saw her, the smile and then the mists. Her steps halted there, and she turns back.

The petrichor has touched the land, the sky is mourning.

So was her.

And she let her.

°°°

The soft breeze passed as he steps near the balcony terrace door, and a whisper of love travelled to his ears. He closes his eyes, losing him a memory, her memory, a sweet smile.

The familiar pair of honey-brown orbs come to life as they glisten with happiness and mists, the past tonnes of laughter echoing through the hallway filling his soul with peace. Little drizzles and zephyrs surround them as she stands there, letting the tempest engulf her.

Clad in her white dress, barefoot on the ground. And she dances amongst them, winds sway themselves along as the two lovers come to a union.

A love worth fighting for.

A love of eternity, yet a lifetime apart.

He opens his eyes and steps down on the wet floor of the terrace.

Showers are strong now, as he drenches in the rain.

A smile.

Long lost those days she used to be here, she is not here today, her memories are, always will be.

And then he blinks, waiting for the figure to fade away just like any other time, but it didn't. So turned around and started moving back towards the door, only to look back for once. And it was gone.

Faded.

Just like it always had been.

But was it?