"Irtaza and Moosa bhai have been abducted, by the terrorist group, yesterday" He announced, addressing every member of the haveli. The second his words came to halt the whole place was a hue and cry.
"Wait, what .. how?"
"How is it possible?"
Everyone was stunned and couldn't come to terms with the fact that Irtaza might be in danger.
"They got to know about his location because his sim was acitivated and he was on call with someone for more than 2-3 minutes which gave them enough time to access him and the direction they headed to. They could'nt defeat him on land so tracked his fucking cell phone and now I have no fucking clue where they could be at this moment." Shehryaar said, rage clearly evident in his tone, fist clenched. He was trying hard to maintain his composure. It was only the rarest moments when he lost his usual self.
While everyone 's voice muddled in commotion, Zahra stood there silent as if ground slipped under her feet. She closed her eyes, her mind cluttered, regret enveloping her and reality hitting her.
When she opened her eyes, she could see everyone face but could feel his face, Irtaza's face, flashing infront of her yet miles away from her,metaphorically.
"Sssh, everything will be alright, have faith" said Zahra's grandmother wiping the tears that cascaded down Dua's face. Haya hugged her from side.
"Do something bhai!" Dua begged.
"I'll. Don't worry, your brother is here. Dada, I want to talk to you"
Shehryaar and his grandfather went outside discussing something and slowly everyone retired to their rooms. Zahra followed Dua and Haya to Dua's room but before she could enter , Dua shut the door on her face saying "Leave us alone" Zahra swallowing the lump in her throat went to her room.
Nobody could see or understand the chink in her armour but this doesn't mean that she didn't have any .
She sat on the bed and that's when she broke and slowly drifted from the bed onto the floor as she couldn't compose herself. She kept overthinking, over-processing what she heard minutes ago till the words seemed meaningless as any others, for her mind to stop thrashing against her skull and for heart to cease commanding tsunamis of blood against her numb veins. She couldn't accept it .
Tears filled all possible crevices on her face and finally dripped down the edge of her dimple. Her nose reds, cheeks flushed, her breaths abrupt.
All her life she drank away the pain as it came to her but her pitcher overflowed this time.
That night she held herself tighter than ever, her toes curled in, palms clutched. A ticking falls out of a dripping faucet in the lamplight of 2am was all she could hear, pillows wet and lonely. It's a forgotten familiarity that lurks in absoluteness and as pain kicked in, she clutched it with all her might. It was her shield, her armour. But soon enough the shield enfeebles, soaked in grief. She gathered it all, gulped it in and with quivering breaths her cries stopped, no tears left.
Lost in her thoughts she was, when the door of her room opened and her mother entered, sitting beside her.
"Are you fine?"
"Yes" she answered in a quiet voice. Her eyes, voice both null and void symbolising numbness.
"Pray to god, everything will be fine"
She nodded quietly when suddenly her nausea clicked in again and she rushed towrds washroom, vomiting again.Her mother followed behind her.
"Zahra, are you sure, you are not pregnant?" she asked, placing her hand on her shoulder as she washed her face.
"Yes mama"
"Ok. But you'll be going to hospital for a check up"
"No, I don't want to"
"I know you're disturbed yet but within a week, do visit the hospital. I'll tell, Haseeb to take you there on your return from university, someday"
"Okay we'll see" she replied, turning down the tp and cleaning her face with towel.
"Come I'll sleep with you today"
"Okay" she said and they both went inside the room, laying on the bed.
The morning was up but she never slept. Groggily she stood up, went towards the window, the sunlight burnt a little but doesn't every wound before it heals? She thought
On reaching the hall she saw Dua with Shehryaar .
"Is there any update from Irtaza Bhai's side, are we able to contact him? " asked Dua, panic-stricken clearly.
"Soon enough, Dua. We will."
"Bhai, doesn't Irtaza bhai have any tracker, like all of us?"
"No, he doesn't. Go to your room and take rest. I'm working on it" he replied and entered his office.
"Dua, don't worry, Allah will keep him safe" said Zahra trying to persuade Dua as she approached her.
"How can I be at rest when I know my brother has been kidnapped only and only because of you
"Dua please don't say this"spoke Zahra
"Stop it. Don't play victim, you are the reason of my brother's weakness. He was so heartbroken over your betrayal that he couldn't focus on his work hence why he is not with me today" she sobbed. Her eyes teary.
"Dua you know nothing so don't accuse of something you have no knowledge about."
"Then tell me, I have a right to know everything if it concerns my brother's life."
"Come. We'll talk about it somewhere else" Zahra said.
Dua nodded and held her hand, talking her to her room.
As soon as they entered, Dua closed the door and they both sat down.
"Now tell." she said, clearing her tears. "I really want to know the reason for which you betrayed my brother"
"I..I never betrayed him, I never wanted to. I was compelled, I was pathetically blind in love. It was all Daniyal's plan. He made me do all those things, act like a perfect wife and then runaway with him. I always told him that I don't want to but then I was emotionally blackmailed. I am not throwing him under the bus, I should have used my brain but love, you know, it is a weird thing. It makes you do things which you can never imagine. And I received my karma too" Zahra told. Her eyes had a distant look in them. They became glassy with her tears as she recalled everything. It was all so hurtful.
"What do you mean?" Asked Dua, guilt already settling in her.
"Daniyal was backstabber. He and his family are murderers of my Baba. His obsession was under the garb of love which I never saw. He told his brother to harass me so that I would gorunning intto his arms for protection and he made sure that I never uttered anything to anyone. I .. I was harassed by his brother Shoaib for five years, he made me believe I deserved it." Zahra was in tears by now, recalling those horrendous moments when he would touch me appropriately.
"What?!! Harassed?!" Dua shrieked and within seconds, she was by her side.
"I'm so sorry, Zahra"
"You know.... whenever I used to get alone, he would come to me, touch me inappropriately and all those situations were created by Daniyal. You know Dua, I loved that man so blindly that I played with someone's feeling. I know that was a hit below a belt on my part. I am ashamed of what I did to Irtaza but it was never intentional. I never wanted to hurt him, to break his trust but I was merely puppet. I let Daniyal exploit and manipulate him. I got my punishment and he got what he deserved that is death" she told her everything. Her tears were flowing down like a river.
She didn't care if anyone could hear them, she was finally letting it all out. She felt a bit liberated.
"One more thing, Dua that you should know before telling me that i was the one at fault. Do you even know how was I married to Irtaza? Do you?" she asked, looking towards her as she sniffled her tears.
She should know the whole truth.
"No" she shook her head. She never knew the whole story.
"Then listen, you remember that night" her voice was heavy now as she stopped and clear her throat before continuing slowly, "when I rejected Irtaza infront everyone. He came to my room that night, held a gun at my temple, then forced me in this marriage. It all started from that night. That was actually how I got married to him" she evaluated and cleared her tears from her cheeks.
"I hope, you no more think of me as a culprit now" Zahra told and stood up, leaving the room.
She had had enough of everything.
Dua was speechless. She couldn't believe her ears, how can someone endure all this pain. She was stunned at the fact how strong Zahra was.
Zahra wasn't the culprit. Her brother was.