"Is Dada sleeping?" Was the first thing Aaryan asked his sister as he hopped into the house, in the middle of the night. "You are in danger, My brother," His sister said with no concern. She had brown hair and little black eyes with chubby cheeks. As she smiled at her anxious brother, the eyes disappeared beneath her cheeks. "Don't freak me out, Amy," He said, concerned for his life. "You are dead." Amara winked an eye, and just when Aaryan was about to say something else, he saw someone and the words stopped coming on their own. Aaryan expected his father to look angry and shout at him as soon as he would see his face but to his surprise, he looked calm as he walked forward. "May I ask who you are, Sir?" His father asked, crossing his arms over the chest. And just then, Aaryan knew what kind of danger he was about to encounter. He stayed silent, staring at his mother,who was standing behind his father with the same face. It was a double danger because his Mom wouldn't be helping him in dealing with his father tonight. "I asked you something, Sir," His father repeated. Aaryan swallowed the air hard, he had confidence in himself so he stated his first lie. "Dada, I was with my friends," Aaryan looked exactly over-confident.
"Do you know what time it is, Sir?" His father stared directly at him, and Aaryan took a step back. "I–" The frighteningly calm voice interrupted again. "Do you not think of informing your slaves at home before going outside?" He was afraid to death now, and the words were all broken now "Da- Dada, My phone died and didn't- didn't Raheel message you saying Adrian will be late today?"
"I am sorry, Sir but I don't know anyone named Adrian related to me" Running away from this ready-to-burst volcano
would have been his priority but that would definitely cause a halt to his life "Dada—" The calmness shredded in the air as his father yelled "Who are you calling Dada, Aaryan? Your grandfather is dead and I am not your dada!" The shout hit him straight on the brain, making him pinch the eyes close "Dad– Baba, I was-" Aaryan was helpless once again because it wasn't him talking today, his father was
"Where were you?" He yelled again "I was with my friend–"
"Stop lying, Aaryan!" It was his mother who shouted at him this time. Amina doesn't normally yell at him but maybe something else happened today or it could be that she was overreacting, either way It was clear that she wasn't on his team today "Mama, I am not lying" Aaryan's voice started to get tougher but Instead of replying, her mother moved her face to a different direction, leaving him annoyed "You can call Raheel and ask him where Adrian was" He was actually getting angry now and then the shout came again to him again
"I didn't give you this beautiful name just to change it per your desire, Aaryan!" Said his father and he appeared to be hardly controlling his anger. Aaryan knew he never had the freedom to do whatever he wanted and he could not even change his name into something cool "Everyone knows me as Adrian Joseph, Dada" he purposely chose that answer because it always boosted the level of anger in his father and Aaryan knew it was a safe point
His father would never curse or beat him and whenever he got this angry he would just say "I would go inside" with a furious stare at him and leave like any other time.
It was a little odd for him today as his mother left with his father. It never happened as his mother would stay there and make sure to nag him about his entirety, and the nagging won't stop till the next morning. "What's wrong with her?" Aaryan asked Amara as he saw his parents leaving "Baba had an issue with the blood pressure today and we needed you to go to the drug store to buy the medicine, Ryan" She said in a rigid tone yet Aaryan didn't feel so much of guilt because his father looked perfectly okay by the way he just shouted at him "Well he is fine now, it's all okay" He said pulling his little sister's cheeks and oddly she wasn't yelling or running after him like always "Ryan, Baba was sick, he couldn't sleep because of you and you don't even think what you did was wrong" She asked, staring at him with rage "How is it my fault, Amy? It's not like it's the first time I was late. You guys should make it a habit now" he said with no worry and took steps towards the main gate. Ignoring his words, Amara asked, "Where are you going now?" He stopped, turned around, winked at his sister, and said, "I will be back soon, Amma" He used that nickname on purpose to make her piss by calling her mother, "Ryan! Seriously?" And he was gone through the door this time
Originally Aaryan didn't have any plans of sneaking out again but when he went to his house earlier, he saw a family moving next door and he was curious
Aaryan walked to his beloved garden. There was a small yard in front of the two houses. It belonged to his family. No one used to come there and Aaryan had made it his base. The bushes bordering his yard were filled with twinkling lights going all the way to the trees. He had planted flowers and some herbs in there and no one was allowed to pluck them, not even he, himself.
Aaryan was wearing a plain white shirt with black skinny pants, he had dark brown hair matching the color of his almond eyes.
As he entered the garden, he dropped on his legs, and just then, a dog ran to him. "Jeremy," he called, hugging the dog. Jeremy wasn't a secret, his father knew about it, and as always, Aaryan was ready to fight him for the things he cherished. He loved the dog too much to lose it on his father's want
After a while of hugging him, Aaryan stood up and held the chain bound to its neck. He walked to the dog house as the owner followed him. "You must be hungry," He said, putting the dog food in a pot. Looking at the food, the dog ran to it and began to eat. Aaryan ruffled its hair and smiled brightly. "Good boy." He was lost in the moment with his best friend when suddenly, he remembered the reason for putting his life in danger
Aaryan chained the door to the house, stepped towards the front, and sat down, hiding in the bushes.
He heard his father talking about how the family would be shifting into the house. By the family, his father meant his friend. Aaryan didn't think his father looked happy while talking about a friend he hadn't seen in twelve years. It was a mystery and Aaryan had no interest in solving it so he was doing a thing of his own interest
He saw two trucks filled with boxes and some furniture. Aaryan spotted a man who appeared in his late twenties, he looked too perfect in his appearance and behavior, and to Aaryan, it was odd. The way he was talking to the truck drivers was respectful, unlike most of the people. His every move seemed to be measured with precision.
Ignoring the guy, his eyes looked at the lady standing by him, and she was even strange, she looked older, in her fifties. The lady was dating her eyes everywhere as if someone was haunting her. She seemed to be shivering and unaware of her surroundings. The guy put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him in fear, and her body stopped shaking. "Let's go home, Mother," the guy said in a deadly deep voice, and the lady nodded as they went inside. Aaryan didn't support his father's friend. He remembered seeing his pictures in his house for years. Aaryan's father has been a police officer for decades and years ago he had a case involving a friend, even after twelve years he hasn't forgotten about it because it left his father stressed
Aaryan found it all weird, he was busy thinking about it when he heard a voice, "What are you doing?" This voice was melodic and sweet, and without thinking for a second, Aaryan said, "Looking if there is a girl shifted in the house." Instant regret hit him as his mind jerked. No one was supposed to be in the garden, and this no one had the voice of a girl. Aaryan cleared his throat loudly just to tell her that he didn't think before speaking. "I mean, I was just checking the new neighbors- like if they need any help or something." His statement didn't make sense to even himself because the help was supposed to be done by going to them, not by spying from bushes.
But nothing mattered when he looked at the girl. He was left stunned by how impossibly pretty she was. Her eyes had the most beautiful color he had ever seen, they were aqua blue with a dark circle around the pupil and long lashes guarding their beauty. Her hair was black, and there were fading gray dyed linings in them. Her appearance was shining and almost too beautiful to be real, but she was covering the bottom half of her face with a mask. "Are you a pervert?" Asked the girl, and he glitched back from the beauty to her beasty words. The girl was sitting on her legs just behind him "What the hell are you saying?" His voice raised unneedingly
"Why are you peeking in other people's houses?" Aaryan was ready to argue, even though she looked extremely beautiful and familiar but he was about to yell when something else entered his head "Who are you?" that was a good question in his defense and it was needed so he wouldn't be charged with abuse or something "You don't need to know" Said the girl with crocky attitude and just then she appeared a little; equivalent to half of a pinch, less beautiful to him "Well, Blue moon, this is my territory and of course, I need to know" He said confidently "I am sorry but what the heck did you just call me?" She sounded irritated when Aaryan was doing his best to give a good first expression "It's rare to see someone with extremely gorgeous aqua eyes so I guess people would say it once in a Blue moon" Honestly, he sounded like a idiot to himself as well "You are extremely weird" Her every word felt genuine because Aaryan was behaving like an idiot– Skipping the things to get himself in trouble Aaryan spoke again, "Have we ever met, Diamond?" One more rare thing was what his brain came up with "No, Weirdo." He spotted a lie in her voice as she rolled her eyes at him "Are you sure?"
"Yep, no, we haven't ever met," She assured, blinking her eyes. Aaryan was unable to think of anything else, so he considered trusting her words, but there was still a problem "Why are you wearing a mask? I thought COVID was over two-three years ago." The girl didn't reply right away and appeared nervous? Aaryan looked at her for a reply and for an odd reason he just wanted to keep listening to her voice "You don't need to know" The attitude was driving him crazy and for the sake of stopping himself from ruining the first impression, Aaryan moved his eyes away from hers and then he saw a flower. His own very precious flower took the whole two months to finally bloom, in her hands. "Where the hell did you get it from?" He asked, horrified by the anticipated reply. The girl stared at him, then at the flower, and with no regret, she replied, "There." She pointed at the point where he begged his beloved flower to grow and shine in the world for the entire two months. Aaryan fell back "You broke my flower?" He yelled in fear. The girls didn't even seem to care "Don't act like a child. They will grow on their own" Okay, Aaryan needed to either throw this girl out of his garden or burn the one dozen books on gardening from his collection. He was too startled to speak. The girl looked at the fallen Aaryan and stood up. "By the way, Thank you, Weirdo," She said, spinning his flower in between her fingers, and his precious flower cried the petals out. He saw them falling to the ground. He was shocked and just wanted to scream at this extremely beautiful– thief, but then another shocking thing happened. The girl walked into the house, the same house Aaryan was peeking into.
She was the girl shifted in the house and Aaryan stayed attached to the ground while his mouth stayed fallen