Special Chapter II (Ashar's POV)

Who loves cheesy romance or is it just me? Sometimes I think, its just me.

(This chapter was written on request. You can skip this one if you want to) Don't forget to tell me how you feel about Ashar after reading the following chapter. :)

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Happy Reading!

I was a cooperative, easy and polite boss and looked after my employees' needs, still some of them planned to betray me. It staggered me that those perpetrators were not happy with me and selling my company's secrets to the Braydens Enterprise. They were our rivalry and competitor.

They had bugged us for years through their foolish ways and this time, they crossed the line. They bought my employees and asked them to disclose Hobsons private information to them. Thankfully, my staff caught all of the culprits who were working for Braydens. But, still some bits of our information were now in their hands and that was bothersome.

I stayed in New York for almost nine days because my company needed them so I couldn't keep my words to Sanaya that I would be back by the end of the week. I hardly got time to eat or sleep. I slept only four hours a day and at times I felt like I had no energy left in my body due to continuously handling matters at the office.

Because of my tight schedule, I got no time to call Sanaya and she didn't bother to call me either. Anyways, I didn't expect her to do so. I knew she won't.

I was planning to stay there for few more days and sort out everything because I couldn't pay attention to the company properly from another state. But then, Sanaya called. At first, when I saw her name appeared on my phone's screen, I thought I was daydreaming or something or maybe, I misread the name, but when I accepted her call and heard her voice I felt myself on cloud nine.

Thoughts like she missed me, wanted to talk to me flooded my head, but this was not the case. When I heard about Zoya's health, my heart began thumping in my chest with fear. The disastrous news frightened me. I left everything behind and told my Dad that I had to go back. I took the flight and returned to Sanaya and my little daughter.

It was Zoya's illness that forced me run to her otherwise I wouldn't be able to come back for few more days. It was not easy to give my time and attention to Sanaya and my business at the same time. I had told her that I won't leave her side, but only I knew how difficult that decision was for me when I had a burden of my business on me.

But still, I was trying to give most of my time to her in order to make her believe that I was here only for her. Once she would start showing some faith on me, maybe I would tell her that I couldn't stay here for like forever and had to go back to New York because almost all of the company's responsibility was on me and it was not possible to run a business from another state.

I didn't want to give her any stress right now and show myself carefree around her to lighten up her mood and make her smile and relax. There was a chance that I had to go back to New York anytime in upcoming weeks.

I was sitting on the floor, against the tan sofa while my one arm wrapped around Sanaya who was sleeping peacefully. Her head was resting against my chest and her hand was on my torso. Her loose hair were falling on her face so I just pulled them back and tucked them behind her ear. I remained unmoved and stayed in the same position because I feared that I might disturb her sleep.

I was little bit surprised to see her change behavior that she didn't mind our physical contact right now. At last, she loosened up her stiffness and accepted that she also needed to be coddled sometimes. I was happy to see this change, giving me a hint that I had made some progress.

I brushed the tips of my fingers softly in her hair. "I missed you." I purred. She moaned in sleep and nestled closer to me. She moved up her hand from my torso to my chest and fisted my shirt. She was nuzzling her nose on my shirt while taking light snores.

The way she was cozying up against me compelling me to respond to that. I felt the urge to push her down on the floor and press my body on hers and just suck out her soul through my lingering kisses.

But, I had to stay in control if I wanted to win back her trust. So yeah, I exhaled out a smothering breath and admonished myself to relish the cuddling for now and wait for the right time. To divert my mind, I started looking around and thinking about other stuff while keep my arm around her waist, pulling her close to my chest.

I knew Sanaya still had a soft corner for me. She was just being too stubborn to accept it. She was scared to give me another chance, to trust me. After understanding her hesitations, I thought to give her some space and not to pressurize for anything she was not yet ready. For this reason, after professing my love to her, I stopped pestering her and behaved normally around her.

She had a right to take her time to make up her mind for what she wanted. I was here to seek her forgiveness so I had to respect her decisions and wishes. Besides, I didn't want to force myself or my decisions on her.

All I wanted that after punishing me or taking her revenge, she would let go of all the hatred that had been hurting her for years and accept me. I wanted her to know that I would stay by her side, would wait for her, remind her that she was not alone. She had me. She had Zoya.

Sanaya moved and touched her back in a way that I thought her back was hurting her. I understood that she could not sleep like this whole night. She would have sore neck and back in the morning, so I just moved my another arm at the back of her knees and carried her in a bridal style.

Her eyes opened for a moment and then closed again. She placed her head on my chest for the support. I walked to her bedroom and put her down on the bed beside Zoya.

She instantly stretched her arms and legs as if she felt comfortable. Some of the strands of her hair fell on her face as she turned over to her left side, opposite to Zoya. I smiled to myself because she looked so cute and calm in sleep. I covered her with the other half of Zoya's quilt and sat on the floor, beside her bed.

Even though, I could not sleep beside her, but I could at least sit beside her and keep looking at her sleeping figure. It had been so many years when I last got a chance to just look at my young wife. Although nowadays, I stayed near her, but most of the time she remained angry on me and at that time I only thought how to lighten up her mood so I couldn't get a chance to just properly gaze at the woman who always managed to race my heart. Whenever she was around, my heart never listened to me.

Sanaya had no idea how impatiently I had waited to see her, talk to her and clear off her mind from the misunderstandings she had about me.

I brushed my fingers on her forehead lightly and moved the tendrils of her hair behind her ear. There were dried tears around her eyes. I just wiped it off with my index finger while smiling because I recalled how she was crying like a baby.

I was scared to leave Zoya and Sanaya on their own because I knew Sanaya couldn't look after Zoya right now all by herself. She was young and inexperienced.

At first, I decided to take Zoya with me, but I stopped when a thought crossed my mind that Sanaya would be all alone without her and she would stress herself with overthinking that I was taking her daughter away from her once again. So, I cancelled my plan and decided to leave Zoya with her mother in order to strengthen her trust on me. But things went wrong. When I came back I was not only scared for Zoya, but for Sanaya as well because of her pessimism.

I held her hand and intertwined my fingers with hers. I got astonished when she squeezed my hand. I guess she was still freaked out about the whole situation.

"I'm sorry for making you wait for three, long years." I whispered, looking at the floor, "How many times you break down like today? There would be probably no one to comfort you."

I kissed her fingertips. She remained unmoved, sleeping calmly. "I'm not ready to forgive myself how could I expect you to forgive me?" I murmured, pushing her hand back on the bed. I untangled my fingers with hers and moved back my hand.

"I want to tell you that you're not alone anymore. You've your own family." My eyes glistened as I recalled the painful and regretful memories of the past.

I searched for her all over New York, put in action all of my power and resources to find her location, but I failed. Five months had passed and still I had no clue about her whereabouts. Scary thoughts stuffed my mind everyday like what if she killed herself or what if she got into some accident?

I felt so frustrated and helpless. Every day, I blamed myself for the outcome. Sanaya would be in miserable circumstances because of me. These thoughts were piercing through me like a sharp knife. But finally one day, one of my men called and told me that someone asked for Sanaya's transfer papers from the college where she was studying before. A gleam of hope engulfed me.

I further dug in to the information and found that person was requesting Sanaya's transfer to some college situated in California. That's how I got to know that she was living somewhere in California and the guy who asked for her transfer was her friend, Ryan.

I felt relaxed as if I could finally breathe again after knowing that she was okay and she was thinking to complete her college degree. After that, it was not difficult to find her location. Soon, I got all information related to her.

I thought I would now go and see her, but then suddenly Dad became seriously sick. He passed out few times, puked after every meal and got weak to the extent that he could no longer handle his business affairs.

When we took him to the hospital, he was diagnosed with a second stage cancer and his doctor suggested admitting him immediately to the hospital and starting the treatment. Mom went through mental breakdowns after hearing Dad's condition. She was distraught and heart broken. It was not easy to keep her hopeful.

I was scared too as if everything was falling apart. Dad became so frail once his treatment started. He asked me to be the in-charge of the business at his place and he himself took a break from work completely. Now the entire workload fell onto my shoulders. Dad even increased the percentage of my shares in the company to give me some more powers.

I got very busy. My big brother, Austin had his own business, so he couldn't give me much help, but he was there sometimes to assist me. As a single parent, I had to take care of my daughter as well because she was too young and she needed my attention, so I kept her by my side all the time. My mom helped me in raising her and taught me some lessons related to children. I wanted to go to Sanaya and bring her back, but I was not getting a proper chance for that.

After a year, Dad got much better. He involved himself business affairs a little and even took updates from me regularly. For Sanaya, I asked my guards to stay near her and keep giving me information about her. I didn't want to lose her location once again that's why I had to keep my men near her. I knew she would get angry if she got to know that I was spying on her, but I had no other option.

Those guards sent me her pictures and updated me about her whereabouts. Another obstacle came in my way when our Australian investors contacted Dad and invited us to come to their country and work for them. Since, Dad could not go, he asked me to go there on his behalf.

I couldn't deny it because the opportunity was important and if we would've rejected it, we would have lost our alliance with them, so I went abroad and took Zoya with me. I stayed there for two long years and worked and worked overwhelmingly. I didn't know looking after the business all alone could be that hectic and difficult. I wondered how Dad had managed to do that all his life.

I cursed myself all those years for being so helpless, for being trapped that I could not go to her. I couldn't let Zoya see her Mom. I couldn't say to Sanaya how I felt for her. She was unaware about my heart.

There were times when I started losing hope because so much time was passed that fearful thoughts flooded my head;  What if she forgotten about me? what if Sanaya had decided to move on completely, not that she could because she was still my wife, but she could've thought to move on with some other man.

During that time, I realized her importance in my life. I didn't move on, I didn't plan to give up on her, I didn't forget about her even for a day. I wanted to apologize for my mistakes. If Dad wouldn't have gone ill, if I was not burdened with a responsibility to look after the company all alone, I would have come to her much earlier.

When I came back from Australia, I found out that Dad was doing a lot better than before. He now worked from home and sometimes participated into office meetings, still I had a lot of responsibilities, but now I was habitual of this kind of life-style and was handling matters intelligently.

Then finally, I got time to come to California and see her. Three long years were passed and finally I was free enough to see her. When I saw her, I just wanted to sit on my knees and begged for her forgiveness for coming so late, for not being there for her.

I wanted to tell her that how happy I was to finally see her, that I was so tired of working. I wanted her to know that I listened to her that I raised our daughter like a good parent. I wished she could see how eagerly I tried to come to her then she would have believed in the sincerity of my words.

I sat on the floor for two hours beside Sanaya. Although, I was tired of working since past few days, but still I didn't feel like sleeping. Thinking about the past, took my sleep away completely. Now I was feeling distressed, anxious and regretful.

I rose on my feet and moved towards the other side of bed where Zoya was sleeping. She was sleeping on her quilt. I pulled the quilt slowly from underneath her and covered her body, leaving her face out of it.

Zoya was a good kid. At times, she becomes difficult, but it was not something I couldn't handle.

"Don't you dare cry anymore. I'll make sure you won't go to that smelly hospital ever again." I stroked her head and sat on my knees.

In previous years, Zoya was as important to me as fuel was to a vehicle. Without her, I couldn't even breathe in a normal way. I was thankful to my fate and Sanaya for blessing me with such a loving and cute daughter. I tried to fulfill her every desire, brought everything she needed.

When she was growing up, she had no idea that there should be a Mom, beside her Dad. She was completely unaware about the term Mom. I never told her and she never asked. But then, when she started playing with the neighbors' kids, she got to know that they had two parents and she didn't.

She got sad and ran to me. She asked very innocently for the first time about her Mom. I was hesitant at first, but then I thought that she deserved to know about her own mother and I was also planning to take her to Sanaya, so I told her about her Mom and even showed her Sanaya's picture.

She became so happy after knowing that she had a Mom too like her little friends that she started jumping and clapping around the house and asked me the same question almost daily that when we were going to see her Mom. She looked at her picture regularly.

I bought a photo frame and fixed Sanaya's photograph in it because she frequently asked for my phone just to have a look at her pictures. Zoya kept that photo frame at her bed side and daily looked at it. She sometimes slept with that photo frame.

Sanaya thought she was never there in Zoya's life. I wished I could tell her that from far away she played Mom. Her name, her photograph put her daughter to sleep peacefully almost every night. Zoya loved her Mom, even though, she had never seen her in person.

I moved my eyes to the wall clock. It was four in the morning. I remained awake the whole night and still I felt fresh because I stayed near to two most important persons of my life.

I sighed lazily and stood up, thinking to prepare breakfast for my family. A fresh breakfast would freshen up their minds.