Chapter One – The Strange Beauty

Zayaan’s deep sleep was interrupted by the sound of the morning alarm. He opened his eyes lazily as he reached out to the clock on the side table while lying on his back. After a couple of attempts, he succeeded in snoozing off the destroyer of his sleep. He’d expected to get at least about 5 more minutes of sleep until he began to hear his iPhone’s ringtone on full volume. Though he didn’t open his eyes, a sudden surge of thoughts reminding him of the deadlines he had at work came rushing to his mind with the sound of his best friend Laaiq calling out his name in desperation. With that, Zayaan got up with a start and grabbed his phone which was right next to his alarm clock. As he guessed, it was Laaiq.

“Dude! Where are you?! Don’t tell me that you are still snoring your face off!” Laaiq blurted out.

“Who snores with his face? And I don’t snore anyway and you know that!”

“Not the concern right now. Get your butt off the bed and be in the office in the next 20 minutes.”

“20…what are you talking about? It’s still 6:45 in the morning!” Zayaan checked the time from his phone and said in utter confusion. He usually sets the alarm at this time so he could easily get ready to sign in for work at 8. His friend sighed in disbelief.

“Look who’s forgetting that our first documentary task’s deadline was preponed to this Tuesday. If we don’t finish the articles early today and don’t head out to the waterfall, I might as well plan for my retirement and you, my friend, can give up your dream of becoming a professional photographer.”

Zayaan’s eye grew wider as he heard his friend’s reminder. He mumbled that he was coming as he rushed out of his bed. His heart filled with excitement and fear as he got himself into the bathroom. He was anxiously brushing his teeth remembering his boss’ glare he would get if he doesn’t get the articles done on time. But found himself smiling at the same time, for the first opportunity that he was given to capture video clips and photographs for a documentary. His boss was impressed with the photographs that he took for minor news articles and he was the amateur photographer chosen to be in charge of the first documentary of the new TV channel he was part of. He had joined the company as a news photographer but not long after he did, he found himself writing articles as well since his boss found out he has an above-average English and the young company had a shortage of staff.

After a quick shower, Zayaan changed into a dark blue shirt and black jeans, grabbed his side bag and went out of the bedroom right into the dining room that was adjacent to his bedroom door. He said ‘good morning’ to both his parents absent-mindedly as put his bag over his head and grabbed a sandwich from the bowl sitting in the middle of the medium-sized dining table that could seat 8 people. His father who was aged 55 was also ready to leave for work in black suit and trousers as he munched away on the toast while reading the online newspaper on his iPad. His father, Farooq works as a manager of a major department in a corporate office. Farooq had moved to New Zealand all the way from Pakistan along with his wife in the 1990s. He had got the opportunity to work there while working in an embassy in Pakistan. When it was time for him to leave New Zealand, he planned not to, as his wife got pregnant with their first child at the time. Farooq thought it was of best interest for his family’s future if he stayed abroad. Hence he rented an apartment in the beginning of his life abroad. Later on as he got promoted and eventually got citizenship, he bought the house they are living in right now. His one and only son, Zayaan grew up to be an educated and ambitious 26 year-old speaking the New Zealand accent of English.

Zayaan’s parents were proud of all of his traits except for two. 1. He didn’t take his religious obligations seriously. 2. He wouldn’t agree to marry any Pakistani girl they introduced him to. To Zayaan, both of those things were of an utter nuisance. He has been shown so many girls for marriage to this date that he doubts if there was any community left in Pakistan that hasn’t received his photograph. Perhaps that’s the reason why his mom is looking for the possibility of any girls in their neighborhood in New Zealand who may belong to the Indo-Pak continent.

As for the religious obligations, Zayaan has somewhat of a sense the 5 prayers in Islam are important. But he paid as much attention to it as his parents did. Though they continuously advised him to pray, he saw both his parents being careless about the prayer too. They wouldn’t pray on time unless it was Ramadaan. He was told quite a bit about the religion by his mom (that too, mostly during Ramadaan) but he likes to believe all of that is hocus pocus as most of his friends in college and his current co-workers say. He believes in a world of freedom rather than a life restricted with religion with no basis. Little had he known.

Thus did he not pay much attention when his mother asked if he prayed Fajr and casually said he would pray once he gets back home from work as he gobbled up another sandwich gulped down his coffee while standing before heading out the dining room door and eventually out of the house.

Within the next few minutes he was lifting up the door of the small garage right next to his house. When he lifted the door, a white BMW and a black Tesla were looking right into his eyes. The BMW belonged to his father. The black Tesla was his….not fully, though he likes to believe that. He’d rented that car from the neighborhood a few months ago when he began to go for work. It was busted, with scratches and a faulty transmission when he got it for a cheaper rent. But he used his savings to fix it and the owner told him he could own it if he wanted. Yet he swore to himself that he would get himself a first-hand BMW like his father one day and do away with the Tesla. He hadn’t known that something was going to happen that day, that would make the Tesla special. So special that he would never want to let go of it.

It took a few attempts for Zayaan to start his car as usual. Once it did, he wore his sunglasses and changed gears to hit the road.

After a 20 minute ride, he reached the 15 storey building of the company he works for. He parked his car in the underground parking lot and headed to the office. When he walked through the main door, he happened to come across Mark, who was a much younger employee than him both literally and figuratively. Mark also happened to be an early bird that day like Laaiq. He greeted Zayaan as soon as he saw him.

“Morning buddy! Why are you so early here today?” Zayaan talked to him like his younger brother. He asked the question, though he knew the answer.

“Well….I just wanted to read my articles one more time before I sent it to Jessica Ma’am.” said the young journalist as he pushed his spectacles up with a geeky smile.

“I see….do your best! Like always.” Zayaan said words of encouragement as he patted Mark’s shoulder. It was that moment when Linda, the receptionist greeted Zayaan shyly. Zayaan responded to the greeting casually as he headed to the elevator along with Mark.

“I think she likes you, sir.” Mark said, as they both got in the elevator and the door closed.

“You think so?” Zayaan said, with a friendly smile tilting slightly towards Mark. Mark nodded. To that, Zayaan gave a light laugh. He knew that Linda liked him. Not just Linda. He knew what his presence did to his female co-workers and it wasn’t a secret to his male co-workers either. He had the looks and charisma any young man of his age would wish for. His straight black hair, square-shaped face, smooth lips, green eyes were to die for, in the sight of most young women he came across. He has naturally had a muscular body which maintained thanks to his motivation to do regular push-ups every day no matter what. He had dated quite a bit in high school just for the sake of it. But he did much less of since college to this day as life got busy. And it is also one of the reasons why he wouldn’t pay attention to girls like Linda. There was much more he wanted to accomplish in his career before he began to date.

“So what happened with the girl you met for marriage last week? Did it work out?” Mark asked. Zayaan sighed when he remembered that meeting with a girl named Naina. Naina looked as though she was in the first night of marriage with him. She was too shy to look at him, much less answer any question he asked her. Shy girls weren’t his type. He didn’t like girls who weren’t able to stand up for themselves. Neither the girls who pretended to be all vulnerable in front of him. Neither did he like the bold ones he dated in high school who pretended like they owned the world. What kind of girls did he like? The answer to that question remains unclear even to him despite how his best friend Laaiq asks that question in frustration almost every other week. Yes it’s easy for him to find any girl beautiful and take her on a date for fun. But when it comes to settling down, he would only do it if he found a girl with all of those characteristics though he thinks that it’s highly unlikely for him to find a girl like that.

“It’s the same usual story, Mark. I’m thinking to myself that I might as well spend my whole life as a bachelor. Sounds much fun doesn’t it?” Zayaan said as he realized yet again that his standards for a future wife were close to impossible. And he was okay with it too. He doesn’t want to get into the ‘mess’ of a marriage. That was perhaps the reason why his mind set such impossible standards for a spouse.

**

Zayaan left the office along with Laaiq at around 7:45 AM to begin 30-minute journey to the waterfall area they were supposed to go to. Laaiq told Zayaan on the way that they needed to take pictures of the area just for the day. He also said that they needed to interview some university students having a camp in the forest that held the waterfall in order to study biodiversity. So it was decided on their trip that Laaiq will be going to the camp area while Zayaan would do random clicks around the forest and the waterfall.

Hence they went their separate ways as soon as they got off Zayaan’s Tesla. Zayaan chose to have a comfortable ride in his car rather than the stuffy employees’ van they were supposed to go in. He’d usually do this for journeys that took more than an hour. But for some reason, he just felt like taking his car that day. As though it was a place he wanted to go to, regardless of his work. Perhaps because of his excitement to photograph a giant waterfall. And perhaps because of something that destiny held in store.

Zayaan spent around 15 minutes in the forest taking pictures of small plants, insects, random herbivores and just the scenery he stood in with tall plants all around him. Then came his favorite part, where he headed towards the waterfall with the help of his GPS on his phone. His heart filled with awe when he heard the sound of the waterfall even before he saw it. It was not long after that when he saw the water gushing into the light blue river that kept flowing. He could see the sun’s rays beaming on the top of the waterfall while the most part of it was covered by the shade of the huge trees near the river bank.

Zayaan walked towards the river with his attention focused on the river. But his sight was forced to move a little lower, as he heard the laughter of some girls by the river bank. There were 3 girls roughly of the same length. 2 of those girls looked like Asians in casual wear while the girl in the middle, who seemed to be the tallest, appeared to Zayaan as though she was from the Middle East. Mostly because of the attire she wore which was a long black Abaya with a grey scarf. But he was shocked to notice that she was black, as he walked further and saw a part of her face. Regardless, Zayaan minded his own business, went towards the river bank and stood a few feet away from where the girls stood. Seeing the magnificent waterfall in front of him, Zayaan lifted the camera that was hanging from his neck and began to take his pictures. It was at that moment, that he heard one of the girls’ sentences ever so clearly.

“I never get tired of rivers. I wonder about the promise of Allah whenever I see them. How beautiful will Jannah be?”

Zayaan felt a soothing calmness in his chest as he heard the question being asked in a low, yet cheerful voice. He could not help but look in that direction, to be sure who of the girls asked the question. When he noticed the girl in the middle looking intently into the river, he felt as though he already knew she was the one who captured his attention. At that moment, he saw the light smile on her lips as she took the white flower tucked in between the folds of her scarf and bent down to leave it in the river.

“Instead of thinking about what’s way too far away, why not think about right now?! The flower that you just sent, imagine it been taken by a handsome guy out there. And getting a secret lover. Just like in the movies! Why don’t you send one with a message? That’d be so romantic!” one of her friends said. Zayaan agreed with her in his head. The girl should not be dreaming of some place that is uncertain. A beautiful and charming girl like her should be seeking a lover, thought Zayaan as he saw dimples appear on her cheeks when she laughed lightly at what her friend said.

“If only love was that simple. I don’t think anyone would see me fit to be their lover. I don’t see that happening. So I’d rather have my heart filled with the love of Allah.”

Her friends scoffed at that answer and so did Zayaan. How could she think like that? How could she think no one would want to be her lover? How could a girl like her be hopeless about finding a partner? What kind of racists must have put her down to that point? Zayaan asked himself with the same frustration her friends showed. His frustration was perhaps more intense than her friends.

Her friends eventually said that they were heading back to the camp and the girl said she would be back in a little while. Within a few minutes, her friends walked barefoot until they reached their shoes a bit far away from the riverbank. Zayaan looked intently at the girl, who was still on her knees with her eyes fixed on the flowing river. He felt like the moment was on pause and wished for the beautiful scene he saw in front of him to stay for a long time. Perhaps that is the reason why he found himself lifting his camera once again. He found himself focusing the lens on the girl. His lips curved into a smile as he saw the capture he was going to get. In the next second, he clicked. With the flash and sound that came with the click, the girl in front of him got startled. Her light brown eyes were open wide as she looked at him. When Zayaan realized what just happened, his smile faded as he lowered his camera. The girl stayed in that position for a few seconds that stood up to her feet with a start and lowered her gaze nervously. Zayaan didn’t know why but his hands were getting cold for some reason. He felt too uneasy to say anything yet he felt obligated to do so.

“I…I’m sorry…” he said.

“It’s okay…” she said as she looked at Zayaan for a split second before she turned around. She began to walk back into the forest in a hurried manner. But before she could reach her shoes, Zayaan’s heart skipped a beat when he heard her voice in pain.

“Ouch!” she said as she stopped in her tracks. When Zayaan looked down, he saw that she had stepped on a small twig with thorns.