HKKMJNM: Part 24a, Pg 145 - Page 69

Belated Eid Mubarak to all of you. Here's an Eid gift from my side to you guys. I am really busy nowadays so the story is on hold. Once my exams are over, I will try to update at least twice a week. I don't have time to proofread yet (pardon any mistakes). I want lots and lots of long comments. 🤗

Part 22

Haseena opened the front door of the Faruqi's residence in a huff and spoke loudly.

"Sarah, where are you?"

Sarah came out of her room when she heard Haseena's voice.

"Oh Bhabi come, sit."

H: "I just couldn't stop myself when I heard about Hammad's accident. Where is he? Is he okay?"

S: "Bhabi that was a week ago."

H: "I know. Actually I was busy. You know there is a 50 percent sale at that big cloth house near our house. I bought so many dresses and I... Oh I was asking about Hammad. I can't see him around."

S: "He has gone to Delhi for his internship."

H: "Oh. That means he is fine. Nobody told me. You people don't consider us important enough to tell us about anything. And here I am, always praying for a better future for your children."

Sarah was aghast as Haseena continued her melodrama. She abruptly stopped when she saw Najma going upstairs.

H: "Sarah, why is this girl still here?"

S: "She lives with us."

H: "I know but why does she live here when her father is living in Mumbai nowadays too. I think there is something fishy about them. She should go live with her father. Look at her father. Such a shameless man. What kind of respectable man lets his daughter live in a house where there is a grown up boy his daughter's age. What if something happens, what if..."

S: "Bhabi I will get you something to eat."

As soon as Sarah left, Haseena got up and followed Najma.

H: "Oye you, yes you. Come here. Listen to me."

N: "Yes?"

H: "Why are you still living here?"

N: "Excuse me?"

H: "I mean, doesn't your father care? Why haven't you left? Whenever I come I see you fooling around with Hammad. I thought you are Zoya's friend but no. Girls like you look for rich boys to trap them. It's only good for him that he is no longer here."

N: "Aunty what are you talking about. Please stop."

H: "I know your father is a rich man but he clearly doesn't care about you and your brother. He even has kids from his second marriage. Doesn't he? So you thought, since you won't get anything from him, why not fix yourself up with Hammad. He fits your criteria, right?"

Haseena continued taunting Najma despite the tears welling up in her eyes. All she cared about was to keep this girl away from Zubair's son. Although she had made her plans of getting Zoya and Akram married quite clear to Zubair, she secretly wished to get one of her daughters to get married to Hammad too. She couldn't say it out loud due to Hammad's fiery nature but she had to keep the lines clear for her daughter. If this Najma came in between, her plans would be destroyed.

"So, turn right from the fountain and here I am. Oh my God Rashid Uncle has such a big mansion."

Hammad looked at the big mansion in front of him. The gatekeeper came running to him and asked.

"Yes sir?"

H: "Salaam. I am Zubair Faruqi's son. I..."

G: "Oh yes yes sir. Welcome sir."

He went and opened the gates. Hammad started the car and parked it in the driveway. As soon as he got out of the car he saw a little kid a few feet away from him trying to climb a tree.

He walked to him and bending down on his knees asked him.

"Hey dude. What are you up to?"

The little boy looked very scared as he moved back.

"Wo nothing. I am going sir."

H: "Hey come here. Do you want those berries? I can pick them for you."

The little boy's face lit up as he heard this.

H: "What is your name?"

"Jamal sir. I am the driver's son. Are you a guest here? Ayyan sir would have beaten me if he saw me here."

H: "Really? Why would he beat such a cute kid like you? If he beats you again, tell me. I will beat him. Okay friend?"

J: "Hehehe. Okay sir."

H: "Friend."

J: "Friend."

H: "Hmmm so let's get you those berries."

Nikhat stood in the window of her room thinking about the handsome stranger she met.

"I should have at least taken his number. Who knows whether I would meet him or not? He seemed like a nice guy."

Suddenly she noticed something strange. Some guy was trying to climb a tree near the front wall. She decided to go there to check out.

As she walked towards the tree and the guy's face came into view she was surprised at first but then anger took over her. Jamal saw her approaching and ran away.

Once she was under the tree she called out to him.

"Oye, come down here this instant."

Hammad looked down and was pleasantly surprised.

"Hey. So you live here."

When he came down he offered her the berries he had picked.

N: "Behave yourself. Don't you know there are certain etiquettes to follow when you go to somebody's house?"

H: "I am sorry. There was a little kid here..."

Hammad looked around but there was no sign of the little boy.

N: "I thought you are a decent guy but how wrong I was. You followed me here."

H: "Oh no no no! I didn't follow you. I am Hammad. I have come from..."

N: "I don't care where you came from. Let me just call the security to throw you out."

H: "Look I am not..."

N: "Not a word."

H: "Let me explain."

N: "Guys like you need to be taught a lesson. Thank God I didn't sit in your car. You stalker."

H: "Enough. I am not who you think I am."

N: "Neither am I who you think I am. You just wait. I will, I will..."

"Nikhat."

She was interrupted by a guy behind her.

She turned around to see her brother standing there. She pointed towards Hammad and spoke.

"This guy here..."

The guy looked at Hammad and smiled.

"There you are. I was looking for you. Didn't see you around your car. Hey! I am Ayaan. I hope you didn't have any problem locating the house."

Nikhat stood there, her face clearly depicting her shock and embarrassment.

Hammad sighed and said to himself.

"Thank God there is a sane person in this house."

He held Ayaan's extended hand and said.

"Hammad."

"Welcome to our place. I hope your stay here will be a memorable one. Nikhat he is the guy Dad told us about. He has come from Mumbai. I will call someone to take your luggage inside."

After Ayaan left Nikhat turned to him and said.

N: "Look I am sorry."

H: "Don't you know there are certain etiquettes to follow when somebody comes to your house?"

N: "I didn't know..."

H: "I thought you are a decent girl but how wrong I was. Just look at you."

N: "Listen I..."

H: "Thank God you didn't sit in my car. Or else my poor car!"

N: "Let me explain. I..."

H: "Did you?"

N: "I am really sorry. I didn't know you are..."

She looked genuinely sorry so Hammad decided to spare her finally.

H: "Hey it's okay. I was just joking. It was my fault. I should have just climbed that tree like that."

N: "I am sorry. I should have given you a chance to explain yourself. Let's go inside. Mumma's waiting for you."

Najma entered her room thinking about Haseena's taunts. She had never thought about any such thing. How could somebody blame her like that? She replayed the conversation she had with her father that morning, their first ever normal conversation.

Flashback:

As soon as Najma and Zoya exited the gates of their college a black limousine stopped right in front of them. The door in front of Najma opened and Rashid stepped out.

Looking straight towards her, he said.

"Beta please, just give me one chance to explain myself."

Najma looked around. Many students had gathered there. Not wanting to create a scene she nodded towards Rashid and followed him to his car. She held Zoya's hand to make her accompany her. Understanding that Rashid wanted some time alone with his daughter, Zoya told her that she will go home in her own car.

An air of awkwardness filled the car, as Najma and Rashid sat near each other. Neither tried to say anything to the other. Najma looked out through the tinted glass refusing to spare Rashid even a glance. Rashid observed her for some time. In many ways she was like her mother. He thought about how his life would have been if he hadn't married Shirin. He would have had all these riches then. He had committed mistakes in his past but he wanted to rectify them. He knew that as compared to Asad, Najma was softer at heart. It would be easier to break the ice with her first. As the car stopped Rashid asked her to come out. Najma followed him. He had brought her to the beach away from the city. A few feet ahead of them was a small hut. Rashid pointed towards the hut and told her.

"We, I and your mother built that ourselves. We often used to come here. She loved flowers. She used to collect many different kinds of flowers. We celebrated our first anniversary over here too. She decorated this hut with roses."

Rashid continued speaking although Najma's face couldn't look more disinterested. To his surprise, suddenly she spoke in a low tone.

"How was she like? My mother."

R: "Beautiful, both inside and outside. I haven't met a better person than her ever in my life."

N: "And still you cheated her. You hurt her."

R: "Beta I am not a good person but that doesn't change the fact that I am your father. I did commit lots of mistakes in my life but now I have realized that whatever is left of it I must try to rectify them. We have wasted so many years of our lives away from each other. I want to have a relationship with my daughter. I want to give you what I promised Dilshad that I would."

He took out a parched paper from his pocket and showed it to Najma.

R: "This is the last letter she wrote to me."

As she read her mother's letter, she was surprised at lots of things. Her hand writing was almost exactly like her mother's, her father had kept that old letter safe with him for so long and most of all how could her forgive the man who cheated her so badly. All she had asked him to do was to make it up to her through her kids. As Najma finished reading the letter, Rashid spoke up again.

"And I failed her there too. I have realized too late what I have lost. Just sending money to you people was never enough. Asad always returned it anyways. I don't ask else anything from you beta. Just let me give you whatever is your right as my daughter. Just let me have a peaceful death."

N: "Stop it, will you please. Why do you have to talk about death? I don't know what to say. All I can say is, I will think about it."

As Rashid extended his hand to take the letter from Najma, she moved her hand closer to her lap and said.

"Please let me keep this."

Rashid smiled, placed his hand on her head and replied.

"This is the first thing my daughter has ever asked me for. How can I reject?"

Flashback end

Najma laid on her bed feeling really low. The sound of laughter made her get up from her bed and move towards the window. Once beside the window, she could see Zoya sitting with her father both of them laughing heartily clearly having a very good time. How she wished for the same. She had always missed a father figure in her life, always yearned for a family of her own.

She moved away from the window and stumbled against her bookshelf. A book fell on the floor. She picked it up and went to sit on the bed. Asad had gifted it to her on her birthday. On the front page, he had written. "It's hard to wait around for something you know might never happen; but it's harder to give up when you know it's everything you want."

In that moment she made a decision. Whatever had passed had passed. She would let bygones be bygones and do what her heart wanted. She wanted her father to be a part of her life and now that God had sent him to her, she would not reject him. How could she not forgive him when even her mother had done so? The rest, she would leave to Allah.

Zoya switched on her laptop the fifth time that day, just in case Asad was online. Nowadays he had gotten so busy that he didn't have any spare time. What she couldn't understand, was that why did her moods depend on him these days so much. If she talked to him for a long time, she felt happy for no reason at all. If she didn't talk to him, she felt low and agitated the whole day. Her face lit up when she saw that he was finally online.

Z: "Where have you been?"

A: "Just came back from the hospital."

Z: "You just don't care about me."

A: "What happened?"

Z: "It's the fifth time I logged in to check whether you are available or not. You won't fix a specific time to talk. It has been so long since we last talked."

Just the thought that she had been waiting to talk to him filled him with inexplicable happiness.

A: "Zoya yaar, we talked only yesterday."

Z: "Day before yesterday."

A: "So how are you?"

Z: "I am good. How are you?"

A: "I am very good."

Z: "Huh."

A: "Seriously. I am happy too."

Z: "Why?"

A: "We have a week long break, starting tomorrow."

Z: "Good for you."

A: "And..."

Z: "What?"

A: "I talked to our agent here and he said I could get my yearly visit home preponed. So instead of the end of this year, I will be home this Eid hopefully."

Z: "REALLY? Wow, so when are you coming?"

A: "Nothing is final yet but yes he said it could happen."

Z: "So finally, you are coming. It's been so long since we last met. How much have you changed? Have you become fat? Even if you haven't, you will once you come back. Ammi won't let you sit in peace. She will make you eat loads and loads of her special Eid delicacies."

Just when she sent the message she realized that she had been blabbering nonsense in her happiness. She had just seen his latest pictures and he looked more handsome than ever. What was the point of asking how he looked? Thankfully he spared her and just concentrated on her last sentence.

A: "Well I am looking forward to Ammi's home-cooked food. It's been so long. I miss all of you."

Zoya started to type a reply. First she wrote.

"I am so happy, you are coming home." Then she erased it and wrote.

"I would love to have you back."

She thought it sounded too desperate so she replaced the "I" with "we".

Z: "We would love to have you back."

A: "And I love you for this."

"Oh my God! Did he just say that he loves me. Naah! Why would he say that. He probably has as few girlfriends over there. Every other day he has a picture with a new girl. What he probably means is he loves us all like, like a family. Why on Earth am I thinking about this? Don't friends express love for each other just by the way."

A: "Zoya? You there?"

Z: "Oh yah! Ammi's calling for dinner. Gotta go."

A: "Hey."

Z: "Yes?"

A: "Don't mention anything about me coming for Eid to anyone. First of all, I have told you only. Secondly, nothing is final yet and thirdly, if I come I want to surprise everyone."

Z: "Okay, take care, bye, love you."

Even after when she had gone offline he kept staring at the screen for a long time. I was the first time she had said "those words" to him. Although she had said that just by the way it managed to accelerate his heartbeat up a notch. He hit the back of his head to bring himself out of his reverie and get to work.

Later that night Najma and Zoya were sitting in the lawn. Najma told her about whatever Rahsid had said to her that morning and the decision she had taken. Zoya couldn't decide what to say to her. On one hand she was happy that her friend was happy. On the other she was worried about Asad.

Z: "Have you mentioned any of this to Asad?"

N: "No, not yet. Zoya don't say anything to him please. I will tell him myself when I feel it's the right time."

Z: "He should know Tamater."

N: "I know but let me do this myself, my way."

Z: "Your choice. Let's go Eid shopping tomorrow."

N: "But you said, you won't be buying anything this Eid."

Z: "I changed my mind. I want to look my best this time around."

N: "Ahem ahem. What's so special? Why the sudden enthusiasm?"

Z: "Aenweyi! Afterall it's Eid, wo bhi bari wali."

N: "I don't believe that but still, if you say so."

Z: "Let's go inside. I am feeling sleepy."

N: "Let's go."

very nice update!!!

Bus? Itna hi? Please update soon, I really liked it.

an update worth the wait...alll the best for ur exams dear,,,,

Belated Eid Mubarak to you too dear.

Awesome update!
Loved it loads!!
Haseena is a stupid person.
Hate her to the core!
Poor najma I feel sorry for her.
She wants to be with her dad I wonder how asad will react to this.
Hammad and nikhats part was nice.
Are u planning to bring a twist bwt najma nikhat and hammad?
I hope hammad and najma r together
I find them as a cute couple.
Asad is coming back happy bwt that.
Asad said" I love u 4 that" I was shocked bt really happy.
Love zoya she is too cute.
The whole update was awesome!
It was beautifully written.
Do continue asap!
Plzzz tell me when u r gonna update next

Very nice thank for the PM and update soon😃

Woohoo Asad is finally coming back, I hope Asad and Zoya get together now, looking forward to lots of AsYa romance