There he stood, looking outside the glass window to the city. His hand loosely tucked into his charcoal coloured slacks, while the other one held his phone which was long forgotten.
A knock brought him out of his reverie, as he settled behind his large mahogany desk.
"Come in," he said, his voice authoritative and deep,
His PA stuck her head into the office, as he waited for her to say what she needed to.
"Sir its Mr. Tariq, he wanted you to have a meeting with him tomorrow, about the new launch of the electronics you invested in," she said in one breath, and she lowered her gaze slightly, imitated by the dark handsome man sitting behind the desk.
"I see," he said and motioned for her to sit down.
She peeked at him under her lashes, and her heart beat picked up. Never had she seen a man so handsome so ... beautiful. His metallic grey orbs never let any emotion pass through them, his high cheekbones and straight nose were carved out of granite, while his jaw was square and chiseled to perfection. His mostly clean shaven tanned face now had a five o'clock shadow, making him look more primitive and more manly if possible. His manly lips looked smooth upon the judgement of ones eye. His brows were thick and dark, in likeness to his hair, a beautiful dark shade of mahogany.
The white coloured dress shirt he wore had a button or two popped open at the front, flashing a tanned throat and an equally tanned chest. The broad expanse of his chest and shoulders made girls do a double take, his tall masculine frame of 6'2 made him look divine. His thick muscles arms and long muscled legs made men envy him.
She handed him a few files, watching his fingers hold onto the pen as he started writing with ease, his fingers looked rough, calloused and thick. She sighed inwardly, and thought about the lucky lady who was to marry him someday.
He looked up and raised a dark brow," is there something else you wanted me to sign Miss Noor?"
She flushed and shook her head and walked out the door.
Zaeem Khan, a man everyone knew, most feared but looked up to. One of the richest men in Pakistan. His company was something he inherited at the age of 20, he'd been running it for 7 years now, and it was doing better than it ever was when it was in the hands of his father Muhammad Akbar Khan. Zaeem came from a Pathan family, his circle was big and many wanted him for many reasons. Girls for his looks and fame and money, while men envied him for the same reasons. Zaeem became a ruthless businessman a year after he started his business, when he learned that the world was not what it seemed to be.
When he had just taken over his fathers business, he was in a relationship at the time with a girl, Sarah Shah. They dated for 3 years and he had already fallen for her, just when he entered the business world, Sarah was bribed and was told to steal some very important documents from the company, and she did.
Zaeem lost millions in the time course of 10 months, he was humiliated, furious and heartbroken. Hence when he turned 21 he entirely changed his lifestyle, most said it was like seeing a Griffen being reborn from its ashes, and now he was cold, ruthless and dangerous.
He took his revenge and worked very hard to get where he was now, and he wasn't going to let any thing or anyone take that away from him.
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She quietly hummed to herself, as she let the paintbrush skim against the white canvas, bringing colours in its wake. Her honey brown hair caught up into a messy bun, the sunlight glinted in her chocolate brown eyes. Her long rust eyes lashes fluttering soft with every hum. Her gently arched brows in likeness to the color of her hair.
The sun rays shone upon her 5'5 petite frame, as she tried rubbing off the dry paint off her small nose, her skin alabaster, cheeks tinged pink from the warmth of the sun, a few freckles ran across her upper cheeks. As she caught her plum, pink lower lip between her white teeth.
The door to her room was suddenly thrown open.
"Zaria Alam, you better have a good excuse for not visiting me, it's been three weeks, all I get is a call or text here and there, am I that forgettable?" Maryam asked, huffing, her glare on her friend unwavering.
Zaria put her paintbrush aside and looked at her with a guilty look in her eyes, as her lips trembled slightly to keep her laughter in. Maryam stood there in all her glory, her eyes accusing.
"I-uh I had exams, you know how stressful university can be right, and I have so many assignments and uh-," Zaria tried to come up with some other excuse but just like everyone had told her she sucked at lying, the evidence was when she would start chewing on her bottom lip.
The truth was, Lahore was too far away, she didn't want to sit in a car for more than an hour and Lahore was 4 hours away from Islamabad.
"Tsk Tsk Zaria, cut the crap, you're chewing on your lip again, I know you couldn't get your lazy ass up to meet me," Maryam accused, as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Zaria shrugged, and went back to her painting, trying to start a conversation with her angry cousin.
"Fine I'll make it up to you, now tell me how have you been," Zaria finally asked, not liking the silent treatment.
"I've been well, but you tell me have you been exercising or something you look very toned," she asked as she eyed Zaria up and down.
Despite her small frame Zaria worked hard to get where she was now, she did lost the baby fat off her body that was way too prominent, toned herself up. Her frame was naturally curvy with gently rounded hips, a small waist, shapely legs, and breasts that were perfect in proportion to the rest of her, not too big or small. Struggling with body confidence previously she was much happier now, she still had baby fat on her tummy but she didn't mind it, she liked herself this way now.
Till Zaria was 16 years she always struggled with eating the right food, she was overweight, and it called unwanted attention. When she turned 17 she realised that she had to loose weight, now after trying and hard work, at 20 years she was perfectly happy with her body. She did have stretch marks here and there, but every time she would look at them it would make her proud of herself, it was a reminder of who she was and who she is now.
Zaria was a single child, and she was Pathan and belonged to a middle class family. Her father Abdullah Alam had a business of his own, he earned enough to make his family live in comfort and happiness.
By nature she was a gentle person, warm and inviting which is why she got along with everyone. She wasn't shy, it just wasn't in her, she didn't have any problem speaking her mind and it often got her in trouble.
She also knew that protecting her heart was one of the most important things. She had been hurt once, and she was damned if she would let it happen again.
She loved Maryams brother, she was in love with him ever since she could remember, he was a player and he had his ways. She still loved him despite seeing him with different women. Adam. He was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, he was older by four years, with a lean body, messy brown hair, tan complexion and a stunning pair of vibrant green eyes.
Now, she wasn't naive anymore, he hurt her, left her broken, it happened when she was 17, when for no reason he lashed out on her, called her a dumb stupid slut when he saw her talking on the phone with one of her university classmates, all she talked about was a project that they had to submit.
He left that night and then didn't see her for a year, during that time Zaria learnt to get over him for his treachery. Then when she saw him last year, she greeted him, like she always did, and left before he could even reply.
She was careful now, and she wasn't going to surrender her heart to any man, she was waiting for a man with feelings, one that had a heart, because it was because of Adams heartlessness, she was left broken, and mending herself has been one of the most hardest task she had done, it took forever but she did it, she did it.
