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b e t r a y a l
"Get out!" He whispers angrily, his back towards her.
"But Zain-" She tries to reason with him but isn't the one to listen.
"I said get out!" he roars.
She winces; a lone tear makes its way out of her eye and down her cheek. She looks around the living room; everyone seems to hate her. Her eyes land on Barkat who is hugging Surraiya, crying because Aaliya has just spilled the beans. She knows of her true face. But no one believes her... not even Zain. She takes a deep breath and walks into her bedroom, furiously dumping her clothes into her trunk. She is out of the house in the next fifteen minutes and no one stops her... not even Zain.
oOo
"Aaliya!" Shabana takes her daughter into a warm hug as she descends from the train. She doesn't respond. Her face is blank. She breaks free from the hug and walks towards the exit.
She simply sits in her room and sips at her coffee. Ghulam watches as his daughter scans through the many webpages. He knows she wouldn't back down that easily. She wouldn't let it go. He sits down next to her and caresses her hair. "Aaliya beta let it be. They will not listen to you."
"No, I will make them listen to me. I won't let her bring them down. They are my family abbu. How can I?" she replies furiously.
"But they said they don't need you. Why are you hurting yourself for them?" He cannot believe his own brother-in-law would kick Aaliya out so mercilessly. His daughter isn't the one to put such hideous allegations on anyone.
"Because I love them abbu. How can I watch them getting hurt? How can I watch that imposter bring down my family? How?" she asks, her throat now constricted with tears as they choke her. She weeps again. Her father gently strokes her back, trying to calm her down. "I miss him abbu. Why didn't he believe me?" She breaks into violent sobs as her mother rushes over to her and takes her into a hug. She is hurting.
oOo
He sits in the living room of his phuph's house. Why they are still so nice to him, he doesn't know. He hurt their daughter; he hurt his wife. It has been four months since the day she left, the day he didn't stop her. He hadn't known then that she was right. But she was. They had caught the imposter red-handed. How, you ask? Aaliya had spent all of her savings on hiring a private investigator that had followed every move of Barkat. She had saved them.
Today, he is sitting here, waiting for her to come out of her room so that he can apologise. He has been waiting for the past hour or so, but she hasn't emerged. He is getting anxious, and so he decides to go to her room. He doesn't need anyone's permission. She is his wife.
oOo
She is sleeping, her blanket covering her face. He walks over to her with slow steps; the wait to see her has been killing him. He lifts the covers off and she looks tired. The dark circles under her eyes don't go unnoticed by him. He gently caresses her face and she stirs in her sleep, her eyes opening a few seconds later.
Her eyes focus and adjust to the sunlight that is spilling through the window. Her wall-clock reads 2:33PM. She doesn't sleep much at night; thoughts of him keep her awake. Fatigue usually takes over her body in the afternoon after she has finished the day's work and she sleeps then, with soft music playing in the background. She still dreams of him. Except she is sure she isn't dreaming at this very instance. "He is here!" she thinks to herself.
He realises that she is confused. "Hi!" he mumbles softly, his hands playing with her soft curls.
She sits up with a jolt and pushes herself away from him. "Hi!" Her reply is curt, and she honestly does not care. He has hurt her enough; she will not let him hurt her again.
"Aaliya, look, I know you are angry. And you should be! Be angry with me! You have all the rights to be pissed off. But hear me out once, please?" he pleads.
"What is it Zain?" she asks, her eyes focused on the glass of water as she fills it up for herself.
"I am sorry. I am really sorry. I made a huge mistake by not believing you. Please come back home Aaliya."
"I am at home Zain. This is my home." She looks like him dead in the eye and continues. "No one will throw me out of here."
He feels like someone has just kicked him the guts, sucking the air out of him. A bout of guilt hits him, and then another. He turns away, not able to meet her eyes, too much of a man to show her the tears that now spill uncontrollably out of his eyes. He composes himself and looks at her again. She has to come back home. "We all miss you Aaliya. Barkat Villa isn't the same without you. Please come back."
"No thank you. What should I return for? Please remind me of it Zain!" She spits out before walking out of the room and into the living room, turning on the TV to watch her daily afternoon news.
"For your family! For the people who you have done so much for! Please give us a chance to thank you, to repay this favour. Because this lifetime will not be enough to do so; please come back." He continues to plead, but she doesn't pay much heed to him.
"Repay me?" she asks. "You want to repay me? Then transfer the money I spent on your family into my account. It will be settled then."
He staggers back; what has he done to her. Never would Aaliya speak like this, ever! "W-what?" he asks.
"Yeah, exactly that. Didn't your mother think of me as just a gold digger, along with my parents, who are merely after your money? Oh forget your mother, you once thought of me in such a manner Zain. So here, I speak your language now." Her eyes are spitting fire at him.
"Aaliya! Beta, don't say that. Your husband has come to take you back home. You should thank Allah and return back to your family." Shabana softly reprimands her daughter for being outright rude to her husband
And this is the last straw for her. "No Ammi!" she half yells, "I will not thank Allah for sending my good for nothing husband here to take me home. You are asking me to go back to that house where I was kicked out without any regard? You want me to go back there? Why must I go? Because this man, who calls himself my husband but cannot even listen to my side of the story once, has come back to get me? Why? So that I can go back, look after them, maybe help them out of a situation again, only for them to kick me out? Why must I go back? Why must a woman always suffer Ammi? Why?" she asks, her anger knowing no bound. "Why is the house of my in-laws considered my home? Why isn't this my home? Answer me!" Angry tears roll down her cheeks, but she doesn't wipe them.
"Aaliya please-" Zain begins but she holds up her hand, silencing him.
"No Zain! I am not coming back. And that's it!" she begins to walk away, but turns to look at his now ashen and defeated face. "So much for being sorry, I see no regret on your face, just the want to take me back home. Another challenge is it Mr Zain Abdullah?" she spits, before walking into her room and slamming her door shut.
Aaliya slumps against the doorframe, sobbing silently into her knees as she hugs herself. She wants to go back home, of course she does. But not so easily! She wouldn't forgive him, not this time. He has always had it easy with her, but not anymore. She would make him work for it, work for her acceptance of his apology. She feels something poking her back and she gets up, noticing a piece of paper sitting there. She picks it up, and there, in a messy handwriting is a note written with shaking hands.
"I also came here to tell you that I love you. I miss you. And that I am sorry, I really am."
oOo
I started writing this OS the moment Barkat was revealed to be dodgy and I finally finished it yesterday. Let me know your views on it. I hope you all like it š³
LINK TO OTHER WORK
Peaceful - ZaYa TS
Broken Promises - ZaYa OS
Stupidity - ZaYa OS
Unsaid - ZaYa Drabble
Realisations - ZaYa SS
LINK TO OTHER WORK
Peaceful - ZaYa TS
Broken Promises - ZaYa OS
Stupidity - ZaYa OS
Unsaid - ZaYa Drabble
Realisations - ZaYa SS
Anupamaa
Naagin 7
