Return of Beauty
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The Return of Beauty
Characters: Sahar Zaeem | Rayaan Tashfeen
Setting: Islamabad | Tashfeen Foundation New Year Gala E-7 | Elegant, Formal
“Some wounds never heal they just grow prettier masks.”
The Grand Hall – Evening
The chandeliers of the Tashfeen Foundation Gala shimmered like frozen stars. Perfume and privilege thickened the air. The hall buzzed with laughter, designer gowns, and tuxedos stitched to perfection.
Rayaan Tashfeen entered like a king reclaiming his court tall, confident, and draped in effortless charm. A crisp black shirt hugged his frame beneath a shimmery white coat, paired with dark jeans. His face wore a composed smile, calm but alert.
Cameras clicked. People greeted. Heads turned.
Gliding through the crowd, he offered polite smiles, casually shaking hands with family, friends and business tycoons. His parents watched proudly this was their empire, and he was their heir. He met his cousin who was his best friend, the comrade and a secret keeper.
As he moved through the crowd, his gaze swept over the gathering laughter at the corners, clinks of glasses near the pool, girls posing for selfies in their shimmering gowns. He greeted a few familiar faces with practiced charm, nodding at old colleagues and exchanging brief smiles with business acquaintances. The night sparkled around him, but nothing truly held his attention.
As he moved a bunch of girls wearing backless dresses some shiny and some others came towards him and asked ..hey gentleman, “Care to join us, handsome?” He smiled and replied,” Dear girls, I think it’s a family party, ” He leaned slightly forward with a teasing smirk. “It’s a family event, ladies,” he said, his tone playful but firm. “We’ll catch up after maybe.”:” you should go and enjoy we will meet after the party, at the hotel,“, everyone laughed. He excused himself and went to his cousin Mikael.
He added, “don’t you think that the party is a bit boring, even though loud music was being played at the background.”
Mikael responded” dear, it’s about your empty life, if u want you can be with anyone here, “There’s no shortage of beautiful company tonight.” “, he gazed at the girls over the party near the pool. Rayaan replied:” don’t know, nothing seems good to me.” Let’s go to the club and leave this party”, I want to enjoy myself...
Mikael asked:” u want to drink? at this time? are u sure?”
Rayaan responded: ” then what can we do”, i want to explore the world,” saying this he moved out and was about to leave the hall when his gaze stuck on a girl. His heart stopped beat for a moment.
He stood in the middle of the pathway, Mikael came with keys in his hand, he said: why u stood we are going move on please otherwise there will be nothing opened at this time, you know Islamabad close early in the night.
There were many things and many girls at the party, yet nothing stirred him.
Until her.
Across the room, standing beside the grand piano, was a woman in an emerald, green dress silk, floor-length, sleeved modest yet magnetic. A matching dupatta flowed over her shoulder. Her eyes, lined in kohl, were steady… and piercingly familiar.
Rayaan’s brows knit.
“Who is that?” he asked his cousin Mikael.
Mikael followed his gaze. “No clue. She’s with the Zaeem family. New in Islamabad. Sahar Zaeem, I think.”
Sahar Zaeem.
“You know her?” he added
Mikael replied: “no but we have the meeting with the manager with whom she is standing, the manager of Zaeem textiles”
Oh……. Interesting.
The name meant nothing to him.
But her gaze? That struck him like fate remembering something he couldn’t.
This was the first time when he met with someone who shared a strong connection with him, he felt something for the first time. He was still gazing her. Then he said to Mikael, ” let’s have a chat with this new bird, she looks different from others, and u know i like the change, the variety, “ She’s got that old-school grace. Didn’t think girls these days still wore that kind of elegance, a kind of the modesty....” he whispered to Mikael as he walked towards her...
Sahar’s POV: Same Gala
Sahar clutched her clutch tighter as he walked toward her.
“Rayaan Tashfeen.” She muttered under her breath, her jaw tense and voice low..
He hadn’t changed much. Still arrogant in his walk. Still dangerously charming. Aura never leaved him, he was as prettier than her recent crush AVM Aurangzeb who had been a recent crush for many of Pakistani girls. Still unaware of what he had done all those years ago.
She smiled not out of affection, but calculation.
Seventeen years she had waited. Waited for him to see her, not as the broken little girl he once humiliated… but as the woman he would never forget.
“Hi,” Rayaan said casually.
“Assalamu Alaikum,” Sahar replied, her tone controlled, and smile measured. “You must be Rayaan Tashfeen.” She said in a questioning tone just she don’t know her before..
He lightly touched the back of his head in a thinking pose.
Instead of replying in Islamic way he responded
“Pardon,” he said with a soft laugh. “Have we met?”
Internally: “You made me cry in front of a whole school,” she almost said aloud. “You called me ugly before I even understood what beauty meant.”
Instead, she calmly said:
“No. But I’ve heard of you.”
“Good things, I hope?” he asked, tilting his head with that signature charm.
“Mixed,” she replied, cool as ice. “But I prefer forming my own opinions.”
She didn’t behave like the others. That alone unsettled him.
“You don’t seem very impressed.”
“Is that a requirement?” she shot back.
He blinked.
“You’re not like the others.”i see..
“Alhamdulillah for that,” she said softly.
That response stayed with him longer than it should have.
“The Zaeem estate still has stakes in your company,” she added. “And I thought I should meet you personally. I’m his only daughter after him, the business is mine to manage.”
Rayaan glanced at her head to toe. Internally: “A stunning piece...”
Mikael added, “I had a meeting with your manager about the recent project, i hope that u will collaborate, i think its a wonderful project to be completed”.
She replied:” i think its not a business meeting, its a new year gala and lets have the things discussed in the office, i always enjoy the company where i am present,” she added while looking at Rayyan, who was looking at her shiny golden heels for long.
She addresses Rayaan, who came out of her minarets of the thoughts, he responded:” sure, why not, we will have a meeting soon, sorry let me introduce my cousin, Mikael, my manager.”
She greeted with Mikael, and added “there was nothing to introduce, i know him. As he said previously, he had a meeting with my manager and my manager never hides anything from me.”
Saying this she excused herself, saying her father was calling. Rayaan watched her walk away still stunned.
“Is that a requirement?”
The words echoed in his head.
Mikael grinned, nudging him.
“Brother… that girl’s different. Her eyes? Killing.”
Rayaan didn’t reply. His gaze followed her until she approached two men one was his uncle, the other must’ve been hers. They were deep in discussion.
Before turning away, Sahar glanced back.
That one glance... pierced him.
“Forget her, man,” Mikael laughed. “There are other hot girls here. We’ll meet them.”
Rayaan didn’t respond.
Because for the first time…
he was the one left speechless.
Later That Night – Rayaan’s Balcony
Later that night, long after the music had faded, Rayaan stood on his balcony jacket off, shirt unbuttoned at the top. The sky stretched dark and quiet above him. He stood still, haunted by a single question:
“Is that a requirement?”
“Sahar Zaeem,” he whispered. “The new bird…”
She was beautiful, yes. But that wasn’t what bothered him. It was the silence in her. The calm storm. The way she looked at him like she knew something he didn’t.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said while looking at the stars. “Nothing stays hidden from me, Sahar. I’ll find you. And I’ll break that stubbornness.”
A smirk touched his lips. He added why i feel like after a long time I got something to do amazing, its better than being at the bar and night clubs, better than what i did at Margalla hills when he had a bonfire with his friends, much better than driving in the rain at 140 km/h. I don’t know what it real is but i am enjoying a lot..
His phone rang...
Abdullah on the screen...
He picked up the phone..
“Hello”
the voice from other side, “Rayaan where u have been, we are waiting for you at the bar, we have made open after giving many dollars to the management but you are not here nor Mikael, where you both are, Michael from New York is here too..”
Rayaan replied: ” i will not come you guys enjoy the new year party or wait i will be there soon?” , is bar going to open till morning? he added,
Abdullah: “Yes, boss”
okay let me ask Mikael, we both will come soon.
He hung phone..
He once again remembered: “is that a requirement?”
I don’t know why these words are pinching me like the knives.
“You don’t know who you’ve messed with… Sahar Zaeem.”
“you will come to know soon,“, he nodded his head, a waiter came up to the terrace with the coffee, he turned back, “thank you Mr. Chand, i needed it a lot at this time, my head was burning.. can you please bring me something to eat?”
Chand nodded his head and left for kitchen, he sat on the sofa at balcony. Poured coffee in the mug and as the steam was coming he said, the thoughts are like the steam.. comes and fades....
but what you know Sahar Zaeem ,Rayaan Tashfeen is not to be fade and he will never be, you will come at your feet to me, you will present yourself to me with your hands.... he chuckled....
Sahar’s Apartment – Same Night
In a small, tastefully decorated flat, Sahar removed her earrings quietly in front of her mirror.
She didn’t live with her mother and stepfather she had moved out the day she turned 22. Her stepfather was never truly a father, and her mother had remarried only months after her real father’s death. The house she left behind still belonged, in her heart, to her “Baba”
Her phone buzzed. A message from her cousin Alina:
“So? How was Mr. Tashfeen?”
She typed back:
“Exactly as expected. He remembers nothing. But he will.”
She set the phone down.
Looked back at her reflection.
The ache in her chest wasn’t anger.
Not anymore.
It was fear.
“What if… in the process of making him fall… I fall too?”
She laughed and said but before i fell, i should have made him fall and look at the picture of his father at the table and said, the fall will rise the ashes of fire, some words never play like a bit in the town. Words never have mercy and they never unplay, they play, they cut, they harm, they heal...
“But where will my words lead you, Mr. Rayaan Tashfeen?”
End of chapter one..
