Chapter 12 -
Any thing for you
Zoya could not believe her eyes; the woman standing in front of her was breathtakingly beautiful but was totally different from her apart from her hair. They both had straight hair of the same texture, dark chocolate except hers was longer. Her eye were a livid grey which appeared almost colourless.
Her mind was going over and over with only one sentence. Humaira!!! Her sister.
But Zoya felt she was facing a complete stranger and at that moment she could not help resenting her father for yet another lost relationship of her life.
"Aslam Wa lekum, how are you feeling now?" the woman asked her gently and Zoya could see she was hesitating too.
Asad cleared his throat uncomfortably and excused himself.
Suddenly, Zoya realized that Asad had met with Humaira first and he could have told her anything. She had been in the hospital for a week now. It was Friday. Allah Miyah whats wrong with me!! How she could have been so foolish as to cross the road without looking? She could have died. And now she was lying in bed while Asad had outran her by meeting Humaira as he had initially planned. Even after what had transpired between them, he had not lost focus on his goals. Unlike her.
She had managed to fall in love with Asad all over again. Like a totally complete stupid fool. Completely forgetting all her resolves, she had followed him that night like a leaf being carried away on a river and Asad had been in control all this time. How cunning. Yet again.
It was then that Zoya understood that Asad would never let go of the past and would not rest until he got his properties back. Not that Zoya had doubted it. But she had somehow till been hoping in her foolish heart that maybe Asad would not marry someone else. Someone apart from her for that damned mansion.
How wrong she had been. Love was blind, wasn't that what they said? Well, not only blind. Make that stupid and foolish as well. Hell, they could even have gotten married by now. Have they?
"I am feeling better," she answered back her heart beating frantically at the last thought that had crossed her mind. "So.. how have you met Asad?"
"Oh, you mean Mr. Khan?" Humaira asked surprised at the question.
No wonder. Zoya felt a sigh of relief leave her body when Humaira was still in formal terms with Asad. So it meant she wasn't Mrs. Asad Ahmed Khan yet.
"Well, he came over Sikanderabad a few days ago and was asking for me around the neighborhood.
At first we were suspicious but then someone recognized him as a business magnate and I decided to meet him after all."
Zoya nodded. She didn't know what else to say and was apprehensively waiting for the rest of the story.
Humaira - "Well, Asad just told me that I have another sister and that my ab.. Gaffur Siddiqui mentioned me in his will."
"And..?" Zoya prompted feeling uneasy.
"And nothing," Humaira replied shaking her head and Zoya sagged down on the bed. So that was it. Asad had kept his word after all. Zoya had asked him she wanted to talk to Humaira first and so he had found the sister and left them to talk.
At that instant, Zoya decided that come what may, she would make sure that Asad got everything that had been stolen from him back. Even if she had to sell her own soul, she would give him what he had been looking after for so many years. Even if it meant that they wouldn't be seeing each other anymore. There was no need for them to meet again then.
With a heavy heart, Zoya tried to push away the unwanted thoughts and tried to make up most of the lost time with her sister. Humaira narrated to her part of her life after Mr. Gaffur Siddiqui had walked out of their lives when her ammi had been pregnant.
Humaira's ammi Sheerin Qureshi was still alive and had moved to Hydrabad after her father had married someone else after of course looting Sheerin's every possession. Heartbroken, Sheerin had remarried another man, Mr. Hamid Qureshi right after and had followed him to Hydrabad but had never been happy. She had never gotten over the deception her first love had played on her.
"I was raised thinking that my abbu, Mr. Hamid Qureshi had given birth to me. I never knew I was the bas***d child of another man until last year when abbu died."
Zoya felt sad for the woman who had been her sister. At least Humaira had someone to look after her. At least nobody had the same fate as hers.
Zoya - "I'm so sorry for your loss."
"It's okay," Humaira whispered. "Before dying, he told me the truth but that he still loved me as if I were his own child." A tear escaped her eyes and Zoya put a hand over hers in a comforting gesture.
She could see that the woman in front of her was having a hard time talking about a man who had been a father figure to her. And she could understand her plight.
"When I asked my mother, she told me the whole story. What kind of man had been my father. Our father. He had been married to mother's best friend Aabida Shah when they had met and the affair had started.
Ammi said that Allah has still not forgiven her and she was still paying for her sins. "
She took a deep breath before going on. "When fath.. Mr. Siddiqui gave Talaaq to Aabida after three months of marriage, Ammi was so sure he was going to marry her. And when he didn't ammi was hysterical. Aabida had warned her of my abbu - our abbu. Sorry I'm having difficulty in..."
"I understand," Zoya put in quickly. "You can call him just Mr. Siddiqui if you want."
Humaira nodded and told her how much her mother had repented not listening to her friend. The man had ruined her mother's life who had been a heiress to millions and had lost everything including her heart to the man.
"What about you? Are you his legitimate daughter?" Humaira asked her finally.
Zoya narrated her part of the story without giving much details about how she had been treated with Razia and Tanveer. It was too pathetic a story and Zoya did not want to go through all that again. With Razia and Mr. Siddiqui dead, it was all good to put it behind her. And she told Humaira so.
Zoya - "Why don't we put all this behind us? I want to know you for who you are now if that's ok with you."
Humaira - "I couldn't agree with you more. So, I have been told that you are a famous model?"
Zoya laughed. "Not so famous," she said modestly.
Humaira cocked her eyebrows at her, a gesture so familiar that reminded Zoya of her father but she did not share the thought. Humaira wanted less to do with their father and she couldn't blame her.
"Ahh modest on top of that? Mr. Khan told me this morning in the taxi how your last search resulted in a fan accident."
Zoya had to laugh again and at the same time Asad entered the room watching her with his hawk eyes. Zoya sobered instantaneously tension gripping her body as she watched him too. Time seemed to stop and they stared at each other conveying hundreds of messages that could not be spoken.
Finally, Humaira asked Asad if he wanted anything and he told them that the visiting hours were over and he had to accompany Humaira back to Sikanderabad.
"Oh my gosh! I haven't realized that it was so late." Humaira giggled endearingly at Asad which made Zoya's mood worsen.
Asad looked at Zoya and asked her if everything was okay. She nodded her response resenting his familiarity with her sister but not speaking her mind. She was jealous of her own sister! "Allah Miyaa!!! What wrong with me??? What kind of Monster am I??"
Asad had departed, Humaira got up and winked at Zoya.
Humaira - "Oh my gosh! I could feel the heat between the two of you."
Zoya was surprised at the astuteness.
Zoya - "Has he..?"
Humaira - "Oh no. He barely talks. But I've seen the look he has given you. Trust me it has to mean something."
Zoya's foolish heart did a somersault. Hope flourished in her every vein and she had to tamper down the restlessness that was flowing in her whole body. If Humaira could pick something up in such a short time, surely it meant that Asad cared for her too? But Zoya knew the answer before she could voice it out. Asad was not in love with her; he was only playing a role that had been forcefully assigned on him. Was only feeling guilty about her accident.
Zoya - "No, you must be under some misconceptions..."
Humaira - "Oh no! Trust me on that. I am married I should know."
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