Chapter 8
Humaira stood knocking on her sister's door. "bhaji...jab tak aap darwaza nahi kholengi, main nahi jaungi!" she adamantly said. "humi please, mujhe thodi dher akele rehna hai, please!" zoya said. "theek hai, aap andar rahi hai aur main yaha rehti hoon," humaira said as both the sisters sat on the floor as either side of the door. It like they shared the pain though the door was a boundary. Humaira loved zoya! She might not be related to by blood but that didn't matter. She was her sister and her sister needed her, she wouldn't leave her sister in the time of need. After some time, zoya composed herself. She had to ignore razia like she always had. She had better things to worry about like that guy who was coming to see her. Why? Didn't he have anyone else better for him? Why her? She was in no way a perfect girl, then why would any guy want to choose her. She sighed as she gathered herself from the floor. As she opened the door, she saw humaira at the door. "humi, tum khabhi meri baat sunti kyun nahi ho?" zoya asked. "aap jitna bhi bolo, main aapko akela nahi chod sakthi thi. I am sorry bhaji, ammi hamesha aap ko," humaira said. "come on humi, tum kyun sorry bol rahi ho. Tumari galati nahi hai," zoya said. "phir bhi bhaji, ammi," humaira tried to explained when zoya intervened, "humi chodo woh sabh. Aabh toh usse bhi badkar problem hai. Yeh ladka? Iss ka kya karo?" zoya asked. "kya bhaji, milna hi toh hai milo," humaira said as she stepped into the room. Zoya glared at her. "yeh tum kehrahi ho? Mujhe shaadi nahi karni humi jab tak nahi jab tak main," zoya suddenly stopped herself. She didn't want to tell humaira. But the truth was that she didn't want to marry till she found out about her parents. She wanted to know who she was before she could commit a lifetime away with someone. "kya karna chathi hai aap bhaji?" humaira asked confused. "nahi kuch nahi. Lekin main kaise kissi se bhi nikaah karlo? Ya Allah miyan," zoya said. "shayad aapke allah miyan ne hi aap kehliye unne banaya hai. Woh kehte haina keh rab ne kahi na kahi aapke kehliye kissi ko banaya hai," humaira said dreamily. "kash yeh saach hota humi lekin mujhe kohi pasand kaise karsaktha hai. Tumne nahi suna keh tumari ammi ne kya kaha? Mujhe jaisi ladki se kohi nikaah bhi kyun karna chahega?" zoya said sadly. "oh please bhaji, aap ammi ki baatein ko dihaan kyun dehrahi hai. Mujhse poochiye na. Meri bhaji duniya ki best sister aur daughter hai aur usse bhi badkar, sabh se acchi insaan hai. Any guy who will marry you will be very lucky!" humaira said as she pulled her sister in a hug. Zoya half heartedly smiled still not sure about the whole situation.
Nikhat gave the good news to the family members and they were estactic. They couldn't believe that asad has said yes to the rishta. As he walked down the stairs, dilshad walked up to him. "asad, mujhe bahut khushi huwi yeh sun kar keh tumne ha kehdiya hai," she said caressing his cheek. "ammi, please mere paas kohi choice nahi tha," asad whined as everyone chuckled. "accha chalo, hume waha waqt pe pauch na chahiye," dilshad said and asad just followed his mother. The khan family settled into two cars and headed towars their destination. On the other hand, humaira was helping zoya get ready. She was going through her whole wadrobe trying to find a dress for her. "hmmm green...nahi yello, nahi blue," humaira said going through the dresses. "kya farak padtha hai humi...kohi bhi dress deh de," zoya said as she sat on the bed. All this didn't matter anyway. The guy was going to reject her once he found the truth about her. But, she was also nervous. She was supposed to meet a stranger and decide her whole life in a matter of minutes. This was supposed to be easy, apparently! "aise kaise...acchi se dress peheni chahiye," humaira said disrupting her thoughts. "issi liye tum pichle ek ghante se tum mera time waste karahi ho," zoya said annoyed. She got up and pulled a random dress out of the closet. "main yeh pehen longi," she said. Humaira liked the choice.
She quickly changed and added matching purple earrings and placed the dupatta around her neck. "wow bhaji, you look beautiful. Aaj joh bhi aap koh dekhega, pagal hojayega," humaira said. "shut up humi!" zoya said. Soon, they heard cars enter their parking lot. Humaira got up and ran to the window. "wow bhaji, kitne log, lagtha hai baadi family hai! Aur three handsome boys aaye hai, iss mein aapka Mr. Right kyon hai paata nahi," humaira said. Zoya just sat on the bed not really caring about anything. She still couldn't believe that this was happening.
Downstairs, the family introduced themselves to each other. Razia wasn't too happy that such a good family had asked for zoya's hand but she was happy that at least zoya will be gone from her house. In front of the guests, she was acting all nice and praising zoya just so the people would like her and say yes. As the family settled, razia offered them tea and snacks. She then told usman (their house helper) to tell zoya and humaira to come downstairs. The family was conversing with one another and asad tried to look around to find out if he could get a glimpse of the girl. "Should have seen the picture asad?" he told himself. Just then, "lo aagaye," gaffur said as everyone turned towards the stairs. But razia was blocking the way as she was standing right in front of zoya, "dupatte se apna sher toh dakhle thi," she said as she pulled the dupatta over her head. Asad was looking towards the stairs waiting to see who the girl was which his whole family has chosen for him. As razia moved exposing zoya, he was surprised. At first, he couldn't believe his eyes, it was her! Then a slight happiness came on to his lips. Was Allah playing a game with him? At first, he saved her and now his mom had chosen her for him. Was this all part of destiny? Destiny? He mocked himself. Since when did he believe in all that! Dilshad noticed that asad's face and was trying to figure out his emotions. Zoya's eyes were plastered to the floor. She felt her heart race and her palms sweat. Nervous, now that was something new for zoya Siddiqui. Allah miyan, please sabh theek kardijiye, aap hi sabh sahi karsakthe hai, she silently prayed standing at the end of the stairs.
Seeing zoya, imran ran up to her, "zoya di!" he said as he hugged her legs. Zoya smiled and bent down to his height, "imran...aap? Yaha?" she asked and that is when she looked at the family that was seated and looking at her. "ha ammi abu aur sabh aaye hai," imran replied. Zoya immediately recognized nikhat and smiled at her. Zoya walked forward and greeted everyone. Nikhat walked up to her, "mujhe toh tum jaanti ho, main tume baaki sabh se mila thi hoon," she said as she introduced everyone and finally reached asad, "aur yeh asad hai, the man of the hour," nikhat ended with a chuckle. Zoya and asad just looked at each other. Asad liked the familarlty he had with her. His lips curved into a smile looking at her. Zoya too smiled out of courtesy. He looked nice, she thought. But outer beauty had nothing to do with inner beauty, did it. Humaira and haider recognized each other from college. Humaira and haider both were doing their MBA and have seen each other in passing at the college. They have never really gotten a chance to interact. "aao beta, mere paas baito," dilshad said and zoya nodded and took a seat next to her and Rashid. "apne baare mein kuch batao, tume kya accha lagtha? Kya pasand hai?" dilshad asked. Zoya nodded, "maine masters in education kiya hai, mujhe baccho koh padana accha lagtha hai. I read a lot of books aur khabhi khabhi Ghana gun guna le thi hoon," zoya honestly replied. "bhaji bahut accha ghati hai aunty, she is being too modest!" humaira said as everyone smiled. "maine kitni baar kaha hai keh yeh sabh na kare lekin yeh ladki kaha sunti hai," razia complained. Zoya's smiled vanished listening to razia and this didn't go unnoticed by asad. "iss mein bura kya hai razia bi, agar zoya accha ghale thi hai toh accha hi haina," dilshad said. Zoya was surprised. She loved to sing but her parents were always against it. They always yelled at her. The only person that encouraged her was humaira, the two sisters would sing together when they were alone. "aur zoya, tum wahi karna joh tumara maan kare beta, hume isse kohi aitraaz nahi hoga," Rashid said caressing her head. Zoya smiled at both of them. She felt touched with their love and concern.
Asad was noticing the emotions that were playing through zoya's face. He remembered how the day she was hurt, she kept crying for her mother but her mother didn't seem very nice, he thought. But then again who was he to judge? He just saw them from the past fifteen minutes. His thoughts were interrupted when Rashid asked gaffur if zoya and asad could spend some time alone and get to know one another. "humare gharoin mein yeh sabh nahi hota hai Rashid saab," razia informed them. "agar dono bacche ek baar baat karle toh accha rahega, unne faisla lena mein," Rashid said. "agar aap yehi chathe hai toh theek hai, zoya beta asad koh peeche garden mein le jaana," gaffur said and both razia and zoya were shocked. Humaira was happy that zoya can get to know the guy and talk to him in private. Zoya just nodded and looked at asad. He stood up and joined her. They both walked to the garden and seeing some chairs, he motioned her to sit first and then took his seat. Zoya who usually could talk for hours felt short of words. She didn't know what to say and waited for him to speak. Asad was in the same situation. He didn't know what he should talk about or ask her. what could they talk about that could help in determing their life, he thought. "aapka haath theek hogaya?" he asked breaking the silence. "ha woh cast kal hi nikal gaya tha aur doctor ne," she stopped realizing what he had just asked. How did he know? She thought. Seeing the confusion on her face, "hello, main Mr. khan!" he said extending his hand forward. Realization dawned on zoya, it was him! The guy who had saved her life twice. "woh aap the," she said. "abhi bhi hoon," asad said and zoya giggled. "I mean mere matlab tha, thank you for saving my life. Main zoya hoon," she said as she placed her hand in his. "thanks for the card, it was very nice," asad said. "I cant believe keh aap ne mujhe bachaya aur aabh aap ka hi rishta mere liye," zoya wondered out loud. "kya aap yeh nikaah kehliye, I mean kya aap nikaah kehliye tayaar hai?" asad asked. She was surprised at how straight forward he had asked the question. Asad too cursed himself was being blunt. Seeing her reaction, "aap mujhse kuch bhi kehna hai woh bol sakthi hai," asad assured her. "saach kaho toh Mr. khan main nahi jaanti. Mujhe toh kal hi bataya gaya keh aaj aap sabh aarahe hai. Main jaanti hoon keh aap ek bahut acche insaan. aapne mujh jaisi anjaan ladki ki madad ki hai lekin mr. khan main aap ke baare kuch aur nahi jaanti hoon," zoya said. He liked that she was honest and straightforward. "mere baare mein bahut zyada interesting kuch nahi hai. I mean I am pretty boring," he said and zoya chuckled. Her smile seemed to echo through the air. He liked how she laughed open heartedly like there was no tomorrow. "main abu aur bhaijaan keh saath humare company mein kaam karta hoon aur jab bhi waqt milta hai toh dargah jaake unn baccho keh saath waqt beeta tha hoon," asad replied. "that's really nice," zoya said. "aur kuch pooch na chathi hai toh aap mujhe pooch sakthi hai," asad said. Zoya smiled and nodded her head. She didn't know what else to ask. He seemed like a nice guy, she thought. And she liked the way he was concerned about her wishes. "toh andar chale?" he asked. Zoya nodded in agreement.
As they were both walking back, "toh kya main jaan saktha hoon keh aap ka jawaab kya hoga?" he asked. "mujhe sooch ne kehliye thoda waqt chahiye," zoya told him sincerely. Asad liked that she was being frank and wasn't hiding her feelings. There wasn't many people who he knew that did that, he thought. "its totally fine, I do too. Main toh bas aise hi pooch raha tha," asad replied. He let her enter first and followed her. As they walked into the living room, dilshad walked up to zoya, "aaj main bahut khush hoon, main apne bahu ka mo khud meeta karongi," she said as she offered zoya a piece of badam katli. Asad and zoya were both equally shocked. Zoya looked at asad then at dilshad. She couldn't say anything in front of everyone so she took a small bite. Dilshad then fed asad too. Everyone was extremely happy. "sabh ne rishta bhi tyaar kardiya, Mr. Khan ne ha kehdiya tha? Lekin woh toh mujhse kehrahe the keh unne time chahiye phir unki ammi," she thought as she looked asad. "bhabhi, aayiye na," najma said bringing zoya out of her thoughts. Asad grabbed a glass of water and started gulping it down to calm himself. Najma took zoya and make her sit on the couch. "toh gaffur saab, agle hafte sagai aur doh hafte baad shaadi, pakki samajye?" Rashid asked. Asad started to choke on his water and farhan patted his back. Zoya felt her face go pale hearing the words. What was happening? It seemed like life has changed in a matter of minutes. Wasn't anyone going to ask her what she wanted? What about her wishes? "ha ha Rashid saab, bilkul. Mubarak ho!" gaffur said as the men hugged. The family chatted for a few more minutes while asad kept looking at zoya but she was mad. How could asad do this to her? How could he have agreed to the marriage? And if he didn't, how come his mother has already decided her as her daughter in law. Asad could tell that she was upset. Her face was like an open book, he thought. He had to talk to his parents. And he had to explain to zoya what had happened. Soon, asad's family left. As soon as they left, zoya ran up to her room and closed the door. She sat on the floor with tears in her eyes. "Allah miyan! Mere saath hi aisa kyun hota hai. Aise kaise main ek anjaan insaan se nikaah karsakthi hoon. Aur woh? Woh bhi toh mujhe jaante nahi. Jab mujhe itne saal jankar bhi humaira ki ammi mujhe pyaar na karsaki toh kya ek anjaan insaan mujhe pyaar karega? Nikaah toh tha umar nibane ki ek kasam hai Allah, kya mujhse woh kasam puri ho payengi," she said to herself as she prayed to the one above.
Asad sped through the roads as he wanted to reach home. He wanted to talk to his parents about what had just happened. How the hell could they just accept to the nikaah without evening asking him? And zoya? What about her? He had noticed her expressions when dilshad had fed her the sweet. She seemed shocked and devastated. He didn't want her to be forced into this. Well, wasn't he kind of forced into it too. But it was two different things. He had accepted the fact that he had to move on for the well being of his loved ones and zoya seemed to be a good girl. From the three meeting he had with her till now, he knew that she was brave enough to fight a stranger in a dark street for something that was important to her. She was innocent and funny loving to play and dance with little kids. She also had the courage to put her life at risk to save a little girl's life. And from what he had heard, she liked to read books and listen to music. And her smile seemed to be contagious! Is that enough to accept her into his life, he didn't know. Whatever his decision had to be, it wasn't fair that zoya was forced into it. If she didn't want to marry him, she should be able to say it. It was her life after all. Reaching home, he slammed on the breaks and stopped the car. Before anyone could even step out, he walked into the house and straight to his room.
Note: Just to clarify asad's house in the show is zoya's house in this story and the house where Rashid and family stays in the show is where asad and his family are living in this story
So they met! Let me know what you guys think 😳 I am really happy that some of the silents readers are starting to comment, thank you, it really means a lot. And thanks to all my readers for reading and the support 🤗 🤗 🤗
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