Sadqay Humare.

three.

AainaZaydaan.com

First lady Islamic Republic of Pakistan. CEO Aaina Zaydaan Foundation, Pakistan's representative at the UN women, wife to a hardworking husband and a mother to a beautiful baby girl. Striving towards a better Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Zaydaan Ziagil.

While you're on my page, make sure to donate to the Aaina Zaydaan foundation here.

Donate to the Aaina Zaydaan Foundation food drive here.

Help fund a child's education here.

Help build Aaina Zaydaan Foundation Hospital for Burn Victims here.

(Aaina Zaydaan foundation gets its 50% funds from the government's zakat fund and 50% from charity. You can donate from anywhere in the world)

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Aaina Zaydaan :

As you grow up and make your own family, you start to spend less time with your initial family. However, that doesn't mean you don't love them or miss them. I learned quite alot from my father, I'm sure he's in a better place now. I am thankful to every single one of you, thank you for your prayers and your endless support. These past days have been difficult but your words and thoughts have helped me through it all. ♥

Aaina.

The Prime Minister House had several halls that had been used for various ceremonies. Meetings, conferences, summits, events, celebrations and much more but never had it happened that a funeral took place in the hall.

The funeral was held in the early hours of the morning, she had seen her brother sob so hard that it almost broke her.

Her brother was the closest to their father. Even though he was only seventeen years old, he still resembled his father alot. Affan was the only one that he genuinely loved anyway.

Affan was his boy, the one who would take over the family business and the boy who would turn into a man, carry his legacy.

That plan clearly was not going to work any more, since Imran was no longer alive and Affan was more interested in developing softwares than taking over a business that had no reputation.

Affan had changed, he was her brother but he was still so distant. They used to talk once a week and they hadn't met in a year or more, but still..seeing his brother in the flesh, seeing him..all tall and tan, it made her feel so overwhelmed.

She had hugged him and told him how much she missed him, how sorry she was that he lost father too and how she was there for him. Affan had hugged her back, mumbled how he was sorry too and it was still good to see her.

Aapi. It was a small word, a small endearment of respect but it meant so much when Affan said it.

Aaina knew why it meant so much to her, because her brother was too little when she had got married and after that, he was always under her father's influence. So for him, to even acknowledge her and take her name with such love and tenderness, it meant the world to her.

Her eyes glanced at her mother and sister, who were stood at a few inches away from her.

She gave a polite smile to the next woman who came and hugged her, air kissing both of her cheeks.

She was the minister of education, a woman who had given a huge fund to the Aaina Zaydaan foundation's education department about a month ago, a woman who Aaina respected deeply.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your father, I didn't know him but he must be a great man since he raised a daughter like you." She consoled the first lady, Aaina nodded.

Great man? I don't know. Great father? Not really.

"Thank you. And thank you for coming." She replied, smiling once again for the woman before moving onto the next one.

The German ambassador.

"Hello, how are you?" Aaina greeted him.

"I'm good as you can see, how are you doing? Such a loss, we're all here for you." He said his words of comfort.

"Thank you. Your words are very comforting." The ambassador moved forward as Aaina took a few steps ahead and reached her mother, sister and brother.

"This is my sister Saira and my mother, this is Hebrew Akil, he's the German ambassador in Pakistan." She introduced him to her family.

The woman by his side, his wife..she embraced the first lady, saying her words of condolence.

"And that's Sheena Akil, his wife." Aaina introduced her next.

The first lady got busy yet again, meeting with Yusuf, the minister of finance and a good friend of Zaydaan's.

"We're all by your side in this tough time, first lady. Your father must be in a better place now." He condoled.

"Thank you, Yusuf. Your words are very kind. And it's Aaina, you know that." She mumbled, standing in front of him as she paid her full attention.

"How is your wife? And the baby?" She questioned next, Aaina was supposed to visit his wife and new born baby tomorrow but due to her father's death and the tragedy that had landed on her family, she couldn't do so.

"The baby is, she's beautiful. Dahlia is recovering well too." Yusuf replied, smiling as he remembered how incredible it had felt to carry the tiny human being in his arms.

"I'll make sure to visit them soon."

"Thank you."

Raima, suddenly arrived by Aaina's side, whispering in her ear.

"Aaina, the President's wife is here." She whispered. Aaina nodded, moving away from the small crowd that had gathered around her.

"And the president?" She enquired, Raima looked at the other end of the hall, pointing at the President who was stood by the Prime Minister's side.

"He is with the Prime Minister." She replied.

Aaina didn't have time to respond as the President's wife arrived in front of her, pulling her into a hug.

She clicked her tongue, sighing and murmuring her words of comfort. She was an old woman but a beautiful graceful one at that.

"Aaina, my darling. I can not believe you're experiencing such a tragic loss. How are you?" She questioned with another deep sigh.

Aaina pressed her hand on hers.

"I'm okay, Mrs Khan. Glad that you're here. How are you?"

"I've been so disturbed ever since I heard the news. Your father, he must be in the heaven now."

Heaven? She didn't think so. Still, she wanted him to be at peace.

"Please come." Aaina put her hand on the small of her back, guiding her towards the other side.

She stopped near Saira and her mother, her brother stood at a fair distance. She introduced them to each other.

"This is my mother and sister, and my little brother." She said, the President's wife moved ahead and embraced her mother, telling her how sorry she was for her loss.

Aaina's mother, a woman quite reversed in dealing with high standard women, returned her embrace in a warm and polite manner, thanking the President's wife for her kind words.

Aaina smiled upon seeing the interaction, leaning into Raima's ear.

"Raima, make sure to note all the people who called so I can call them back later on." She reminded the woman, knowing that she might forget about it later on.

Raima nodded.

"I'm on it, don't worry."

She responded, Aaina let out a sigh, knowing that there were still several people she had to meet, several dignitaries that she had to welcome and thank for coming, several wives of important men she had to greet and way too many important women that were only here for her.

It got tiring at times, she loved working for her foundation, she loved being the first lady but sometimes, it could get too much.

Aaina was just about to sit by her sister's side as Saira stirred up a conversation, asking her sister about the one thing that she was still pretty confused about.

"Aapi, since the funeral happened, what's the plan for us to -" She was stopped mid sentence as Raima arrived in a hurry, pointing at the phone and looking at Aaina.

The first lady looked at her assistant with a raised eye.

"I think you'll want to take this call, it's Queen Rania." Raima quickly told the first lady, Aaina stood up patting her sister's shoulder.

"I'll be back, okay." She mumbled to her, then left the hall, entering a small office.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Zaydaan Ziagil was in talks with the President, conversation about the latest gulf visit and the preparations for it was going on, they were in the middle of their plans for the visit of the King of Bahrain when he saw Aaina leaving the tiny office beside the hall.

He excused himself, walking in his wife's direction who was just leaving the room.

"Hey." She greeted him as he put his hand behind her back.

"Hey. Where were you?" Zaydaan questioned, eyes staring at the dark circles that were quite visible in her eyes. Even with the soft amount of makeup on, his first lady looked tired and torn.

"I was on call with Queen Rania. Where's Zayla?"

His daughter who hadn't left him since the morning, sitting on his lap as he reviewed his minister's reports, grabbing his beard every time he looked away, typing gibberish on his laptop and giggling when he would shut it down and put it away. The whole day, Zayla had stuck by her father's side, not letting him out of her sight.

Finally, when her eyes were droopy and it was time for Zaydaan to go home, he had put his daughter in his lap. Once he had arrived home, Zayla was still dozing away so he had sent her to the bedroom with one of his workers, Dilawar.

Turns out, it was much more hard to handle a toddler than it was to handle a country.

"She's asleep. I have Dilawar watching over her." Aaina nodded, leaning just slightly against him. 

"You look so tired."

It wasn't a statement, it was just an observation. Zaydaan almost had a little bit of worry showing on his face, something that didn't go unnoticed by his wife.

"The house is filled with so many people and I have to meet every single one of them. My head already hurts." She complained.

He let out a sound from the back of his throat, taking a look at his wife and motioning her to move forward.

"Come on, the Prime Minister's here now. No more spotlight on you."

She almost wanted to roll her eyes but stopped herself. No one could roll eyes at Zaydaan Ziagil and get away with it.

No one but Zayla, ofcourse.

"Ugh, how will I ever cope?"

She fake sighed, Zaydaan only smirked as both of them started to walk in the middle, getting engulfed by all the people present there.

They were in the middle of a few people when the Malaysian ambassador arrived in front of them. He greeted the first couple.

"Hello, Mr Prime Minister, hello Madam. On behalf of Malaysia, please accept my sincerest condolences, the loss of your father is absolutely heartbreaking and the Malaysian intelligence is going to find the culprit soon."

He stated, Aaina nodded, accepting his comforting words and thanking him generously.

"Thank you very much." She replied, standing with her husband who was now the light of the entire hall.

"Having said that, the President wanted me to convey the message that--"

Before he could even complete his sentence or tell them what he was even talking about, Saira appeared out of nowhere, holding her sister's arm and pulling her towards her.

"Aapi, baat suno." She called her name, Aaina looked at her with eyes narrowed.

She couldn't believe Saira would interrupt so casually, without a care in the world. She felt Zaydaan's frown and the way he tried to control his sudden sour mood.

She passed her another look, and Saira backed away..knowing that she had interrupted a little.

"Please, carry on." Aaina mumbled to the ambassador, slightly embarrassed as she stared at her husband.

The ambassador shook his head, smiling politely.

"It's alright, your sister must need you in this time. Once again, our sincerest condolences."

Aaina walked away after that, not even looking at Zaydaan as she knew it would only make her feel more embarrassed.

She held her sister's arm, pulling her towards the corner.

"Saira, you can not interrupt me like that, he was an important government official. Things like these piss Zaydaan off." She whispered in her sister's ear.

Saira just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, because your sister is no one. Right? All you care about is being the stupid first lady." She grumbled, almost looking like her sixteen year old immature sister that Aaina thought had completely changed with time.

She clicked her tongue, shaking her head at her sister.

"Are you mad? Acha tell me, what's up?" Saira pondered for a moment before letting out another sigh.

"I was wondering when can I go back to London?" She questioned, Aaina frowned at her.

"Saira, we just had the funeral." She replied.

"My studies are getting affected." She mumbled blankly.

"I'll write a letter to your university. I can't just let you go back so soon, besides..we don't know who shot father..what if you're at risk too?" She didn't want to even wonder about it, about her sister being hurt because of her father's so called enemies.

Saira, however just wanted to get back to her routine.

"So what am I supposed to do? Sit here and greet people?" She said back, being rude to her sister.

Aaina didn't want to be snapped at, not when she was surrounded by so many people, not when her sister didn't know what was good for her. Saira needed to stay here, she needed to be looked after, until they found out who murdered their father.

"You think that was me greeting people? Those are the people that I have to deal with almost every day because of who Zaydaan is, they're the people I get favours from, for the foundation. What did you want me to do? Sit at a corner and cry?" She snapped back, regretting the words that came out of her mouth, instantly.

Saira was her little sister, she didn't understand Aaina's job because she was not Aaina. The same way, Aaina wouldn't understand her life, her studies, her work.

"My old Aapi would have done that." Saira replied, almost missing the Aaina that she used to be. At the same time, she felt proud that her sister wasn't taking her s**t, she was standing up for her self.

Aaina held her sister's palm.

"Saira, I've seen pain, felt it. I'm a mother, I'm a stronger version of myself and it took me a long time to reach where I am today. Don't start petty arguments." She started off, understanding what her sister was doing.

"It's what you do, you convert your pain into anger. Don't." She advised her younger sister.

Saira looked away as big fat tears rolled out of her eyes.

"Saira, look at me." She held her sister's chin, making her look at Aaina.

"Abbu died, it's sad. But you have an entire life ahead of you and putting anger in your heart isn't gonna change anything."

She said next, seeing her sister's chin shake under her grip and the way she so badly wanted to cry but at the same time, she didn't.

"He almost hated me, he hated my husband. He sold me off without my consent and when he returned, he was ready to sell me off to an even higher bidder. Yet, my heart still hurts thinking about how he died." Aaina admitted the bitter truth.

"If I start hating him, if I let myself be controlled by anger, I'll never be okay. You can't do that, I know he did horrible things to you too. You were sixteen and he was ready to marry you off. But a part of you loved him."

Saira engulfed her into a hug, not knowing how to feel. She didn't want to feel so terrible but she did. She hated feeling so horrible for a man like that. A man who was her father.

"Aapi, he did terrible things. To everyone." She mumbled against her sister's shoulder.

Aaina sighed, rubbing her back.

"Yeah, but you reminded me that he used to get us icecream after school. We can always mourn the loss of that father."

In that moment, Saira knew that she would eventually be okay. Because she had a sister who cared about her more than anyone in this world.

"I'm so glad I'm here with you." Saira admitted, Aaina only smiled and hugged her tighter.

"I know. Me too."

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Saira almost looked horrified, still intimidated by her brother in law who also happened to be a freaking Prime Minister.

She looked at Zaydaan, greeting him.

"Salam bhai." She murmured, Zaydaan returned the greeting.

"Salam, how are you feeling?" He questioned, looking at his wife who was noticing their interaction.

He knew it made Aaina happy when he cared about her family, pretended to care atleast.

"I'm good, I'm okay." Saira admitted, Zaydaan nodded.

"If you need anything, people around you will be happy to help." He said next, Saira let out a nervous chuckle.

"Thank you. I'm already taken care of way too much. I'm not so used to the Prime Minister House sort of protocol." She rambled.

Zaydaan smirked, seeing her a little nervous reminded her of Aaina a few years back, she was exactly like her. Except that Saira was foul mouthed and didn't take anyone's crap.

"Your sister wasn't either and now she's everyone's boss." He told her, looking at his wife.

He gestured for his wife to come with him.

"Aaina, come." She happily obliged, as they walked towards a safe distance.

"Jee?" She looked at him, waiting for him to say something.

"I have a few things at the office so I'm leaving now."

Zaydaan knew that telling Aaina about this, right now..it was not right. She was already shaken up by the death of her father and worrying her with another bad news, it wouldn't do her any good.

He, himself felt slightly nervous..knowing that he couldn't take this lightly. It was a pre planned strategy, one that was going to hit him the hardest if he didn't take it seriously, one that was going to affect his wife and his child as well.

Aaina noticed the frown between his forehead.

"You seem.." She trailed off, putting her hand on his arm and gripping it just lightly.

"What happened?" She questioned, worry laced in her voice.

He shook his head at her.

"Nothing, I'll be back late so don't wait up." He replied.

"Zaydaan." She took his name like it would impact him enough to tell her what was going on.

He shook his head yet again.

"I said nothing, Aaina. Dilawar has Zayla in the guest room, check up on her." He tried to divert her attention.

She let out a sigh.

"Zaydaan. Tell Me."

"I would if there was something worth telling." He answered casually, even though there was nothing casual about what was going on.

She left his arm, nodding.

"Fine, go. I'll find out anyway." She said, arms crossed and eyes narrowed like the stubborn first lady that she could be.

He couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'll tell you once I come back home. Now stop being stubborn.." He finally said, face as blank as it had been at the start.

Aaina, satisfied at his response..nodded.

"Okay, take care." She whispered, bidding him goodbye.

"You too."

So the Prime Minister left as she dealt with the guests in her home, worry at the back of her head as she thought about all the things that could go wrong.

What could be the reason behind Zaydaan's worry? And was it the worry of the Prime Minister or of Zaydaan Ziagil? She just didn't know.

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