Khwahish- Pt 1

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"Abey saley, aise khelte hai?"

"Tu bada champ ban raha hai. Bhul mat last goal maine kiya tha."

"Meri help se! Ehsaan faramosh kahi ka!"

Masar glared at Ahzan who too didn't back off. The two stood in the middle of the lawn with the basketball in Ahzan's hand. The rest of the cousins watched the commotion with bored looks as if such fights were a common occurrence.

"Dekh Ahzan, ball wapas karde, tere liye yahi acha hai."

"Aur na karu toh?"

Masar gave him one last glare before delivering a punch at Ahzan's guts. The latter fell on the ground with a pained groan and let go of the basketball that rolled on the ground and reached the feets of a now annoyed looking Faeezah.

She had come out to call the boys inside for lunch but seeing her brother, Ahzan and her cousin, Masar, fighting like rivals just made her shake her head.

It was the fifth time this week, after all.

"Bas karo tum dono. Jab dekho tab dushmano ki tarah ladte rehte ho."

Her voice fell on deaf ears as Ahzan strangled Masar on the ground and punched him. It wasn't a soft blow but neither a strong one.

Sighing heavily at the two, she walked up to the raging bulls and tried to pull Ahzan away from Masar but the guy wasn't budging.

"Ahzan, tere paas do minute hai. Masar ko chod warna abhi abbu ko bulaungi."

Say less.

Ahzan was up in an instance. Stumbling on his feet a little due to the sudden action, he gave one last glare to Masar before giving a sheepish look to his elder sister and raced inside the house for a bath.

Faeezah smacked her brother a million times in her head before turning her attention back to the guy that lay at her feet with bruised lips and a pained expression.

She raised an eyebrow at him as he tried his best to chuckle sheepishly but ended up wincing due to the action. Sighing in dismay, he gave a puppy look to Faeezah, who of course melted in an instance and forwarded her hand for him to take.

His eyes twinkled like a kid as he accepted her peaceful action and stood up, groaning in pain every now and then.

"Jab pata hai ki chot hi lagni hai toh phir kyu WWE khelte rehte ho har din."

"Apne bhai ko bol. Apne aap ko tees maar khan samajhta hai wo."

"Acha? Aur tum bhi toh hulk ki tarah tut padte ho us pe. He just wants to irk you."

Huffing like an annoyed kid who was just scolded, he ignored her and walked inside the house. Faeezah looked at his retreating back and chuckled to herself before following him inside.

"Appi, wait!"

Giving Mayza a look over her shoulder, she waved her hand for her to follow. The 22-year old smiled in glee and got in step with her eldest cousin and before Faeezah could ask what the matter was, she had started her complaints.

"Appi, aapko pata hai aaj college mein woh Mehek hai na, usne meri teacher se complain ki. Maana I wasn't paying attention to the boring physics lecture lekin aise kaise-"

And she kept going on and on.

Faeezah acted like she listened to every detail but when it came to Mayza, there were just too many details to focus on. Shaking her head at her younger cousin, she stealthily walked away from her with cautious steps, trying not to make any sounds.

Faeezah heaved a breath of relief when she had left Mayza behind. It was Saturday and the whole family had gathered in the house.

Her phupho, Sahar too was here along with her family and Masar never left a chance to come to his nani's house. Fazeezah looked at the bustling living room and smiling at the elders, she walked towards Masar's room that was situated on the opposite end of hers.

Knocking on the closed door a few times, she finally heard a grumpy response. Turning the door knob, she peeked inside and bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing when she saw how concentrated Masar looked as he tried to apply the ointment on his wounds.

"Madad chahiye?"

She asked with a subtle tone, trying to hide the amusement as much as possible but the man had already heard it and was not very happy about it.

"Nahi. Ja yaha se."

"Arey, ab itna kya ruthna. Chal de, main kar deti hu."

She walked inside and sat on the foot of the bed but before she could get comfortable, Masar protested loudly.

"Ayee, zameen pe kyu baith rahi hai. Upar aa."

Smiling cheekily at her cousin, she sat beside him as he begrudgingly handed the ointment to her. Faeezah took hold of it and squeezed it a little on her finger. Looking at the wound on Masar's forehead, she frowned at how swollen it appeared.

Blowing on it a few times, she gently applied the medicine, making sure not to apply too much pressure but the winces he let out every now and then were troubling her more than necessary.

Masar tried his best to not curse out loud as Faeezah kept treating his minor wounds. He looked at his cousin who had a cute frown resting on her face. The scrunch of her nose was so adorable that for once, he almost forgot about the pain.

She looked just like a dainty kid with that expression and Masar sighed softly when she blew gently on his wound.

"Ho gaya!"

Faeezah squealed in happiness while Masar shook himself from his hazy daze. What in the seven heavens-?

He looked away and muttered things under his breath while Faeezah gave him a disappointed look.

"Oye, thank you bol!"

He raised an eyebrow at her words and cocked his head to the side, acting as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Kis baat ke liye thank you bolu?"

"Yeh jo teri marham patti ki hai uske liye!"

The guy was hell bent on getting on her nerves due to his ungrateful attitude while Masar was loving the way her face turned red and the irked expression on her cute little chehra.

"Lekin maine help mangi thi kya?"

"Astagfirulla! Kitna na shukr type insaan hai tu. Ja rahi hu main. Aainda chot lage toh khud hi laga lena ointment."

She huffed loudly and was about to walk away when he called out to her.

"Acha sun!"

"Kya hai?"

She didn't bother looking at him and just tapped her feet on the ground while Masar bit his slightly bruised lips to stop the amused smile from surfacing. Clearing his throat, he folded his hands behind his head and rested his back on the headboard.

"Thank you."

Faeezah stilled for a while before giving him a full blown smile that almost made Masar feel jittery and walked out of the room.

Jittery?

What even-?

Masar looked at the place that was once occupied by Faeezah and smacked himself lightly.

"Kya bakwas soch raha hai tu?"

Scolding himself lightly, he shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to forget the pain by taking a small nap but even he knew that it wasn't the pain that he wanted to forget now but something else.

*****

It was eight at night. The whole Abidi and Bukhari clan was seated outside in the lawn, enjoying the soft and slightly chilly breeze along with hot cups of tea and coffee.

Masar sat beside Ahzan, the two were now sitting in silence and watching the latest business news and stock reports as if they weren't clawing each other's throat this very afternoon.

A bro-frenemy relationship is what they had- brother, friend and enemy.

"Appi, zara coffee pass karna."

Faeezah gave a bored look to Ahzan and kept sipping her tea, acting as if she hadn't heard his words. Ahzan groaned and looked up from the phone screen and gave a displeased look to his elder sister before adding to his words,

"Please...."

Faeezah nodded her head and passed the two cups of coffee that were left untouched. One for Ahzan and the other for Masar. The latter nodded his head in thanks and took hold of his cup, not removing his gaze from the endless lines and graphs that were on his phone.

"Phone ko aur apni aankho ko thoda aaram do."

Saying that, Faeezah snatched the phone from his hands before he could react.

"Ezah, phone wapas kar."

"Nahi, sip your coffee and enjoy the breeze. Stocks baad mein check kar lena."

"Ezah-"

"Masar, badi hai woh tumse. Ezah, Ezah kya laga rakha hai? Appi bulao use."

Sahar, his mother reprimanded him softly. Masar cringed internally and shook his head, no way was he going to call her appi.

"Ammi, kuch nahi hota. And she has no problem with me calling her Ezah."

Faeezah nodded her head, assuring her phupho who just shook hers while a small smile rested on her face. Meanwhile Abeer, Faeezah's father, just gave a skeptic look to the youth but anyhow shrugged and continued having small talks with his brothers and brother-in-law.

Masar had caught onto the habit of calling Faeezah as Ezah from a very young age since he thought her name was too big to be pronounced.

A funny reason but that's how the childish mind works.

The rest of the night was filled with nothing but comfortable silence and joy and a little bit of unwanted banter between Masar and Ahzan, something that was so natural that even their parents had ignored their useless fights and walked inside the house, for the elders liked their peace more than the annoying screams of the two men that were still kids.

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The first chapter of the many stories that I wrote and found satisfying. Kuch kuch toh ho raha hai lekin sirk ek insaan ko.

Hmm, what do you think about the chapter? I hardly have a friend (in real life) so of course, I don't have a sis-frenemy relationship with someone but do you guys have someone like that?

Shower the chapter with your lovely votes and comments please!! Love you all!!

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