Finally, Qubool Hai
Part 1
Zoya stared at the reflection in her mirror, dressed in red bridal attire with simple make-up. She thought of all the other bridal outfits she had worn, and all the other times she had dressed as a bride. If one thought about, her journey towards this day had in fact begun in bridal attire, the day she had run from her very first nikah with the help of her Jeeju.
Today things were very different. Aapi and Jeeju were here of course, along with her cousin brother Haider. In fact Aapi was in the room, running around, helping her get ready along with Najma, Nikhat and Humeira. Yes, Humeira, the long lost half-sister Zoya had never known of. If she thought of it now, she felt a strange amusement towards the circumstances. There was one important thing she had walked away with though, the thought that you family wasn't always about the people you were related to by blood. In Dilshad, she had found a mother figure and in Najma she had found a sister. She finally felt like she had somewhere and someone to belong to, and that had nothing to do with her abbu, Mr. Ghaffur Ahmed Siddiqui.
Yes, now, Zoya knew the truth about him, and that night her ammi had died. The truth had been one of the hardest things for her to take in, the fact that her father had played a role in the death of her beloved ammi. In that one moment of truth, she had also learned that she wasn't alone. Asad, phoopi and Najma had all stood by her, they had become the supporting pillars on which Zoya had leaned during the hardest moments of her life. They were the ones who made Zoya realize she wasn't alone in the world. Aapi and Jeeju, Haider and Humeira as well as Nikhat and Nuzhat had all stood with her too.
She remembered it clearly, the day she had found out about Razia being the killer of Zainab. It had been the same day she had found out that Ghaffur Ahmed Siddiqui was her father. Zoya might have gone crazy with rage, on the day Haider revealed all to Zoya, unaware she was Zainab's daughter. She might have resorted to something much worse, if she hadn't at that moment thought of Humeira. Humeira who was the sister Zoya had so desperately longed for all her life, even if she had no idea of it. Humeira had been the reason Zoya had walked away from Ghaffur Ahmed Siddiqui's house that day, unable to properly punish the killers of her mother. The one thing Zoya knew was that she couldn't take away what Humeira had, two parents who loved her very much, for a mother she could never have back.
Previous to meeting Mr. Khan and his family, and seeing with her own eyes the bond Asad had shared with his siblings, her decision might have been different. Maybe back then, she would have been destroyed by the truth. She now acknowledged that before Asad Ahmed khan came into her life, she had seen the world as a lot more black and white. He made her see the grey areas, just like she made him see them. Phoopi, Najma and Mr. Khan had helped Zoya leave the past behind and look towards the future.
Haider's final revenge however had been letting Humeira know everything. In the end, it hadn't really remained as revenge though, because he truly did like Humeira. His plan from the beginning had been to expose and punish Razia for taking away his beloved phoopi. Any other feeling didn't come close to the feeling he got remembering the woman who had helped raise him after his mother passed away, had died at the hands of her mother. His first mother he had lost to Allah, but his second mother's death had been at the hands of Razia. For this, he would never forgive her as long as he lived. He didn't hate Humeira however, he couldn't hate her. In fact in the end, he hadn't been able to tell the world about Razia, he had let Humeira decide. She had shown the world that she stood for the right and the just. She had been the one who had turned her mother in. In all of that, she had stood alone, faced the world and told them her mother was a killer. That was no easy feat for anyone. Only someone as strong as Humeira could have done it.
Eight months, not enough time to truly heal, but Humeira Siddiqui was resilient if anything. It had taken her a whole month to face the fact that her mother had killed someone, but once she had accepted the truth, she had done the right thing. Her heart had broken, and as she had stood alone, she had realized her own true strength. It had been scary to think that her mother had killed someone, for a moment she had wondered if she too was capable of it.
Asad was buttoning up his sherwani when his ammi came in to check on him. The look of elation on her face was evident. Tonight her dream of seeing her only son's nikah would come true and their Zoya would officially become theirs. Thinking about everything her children had gone through still brought tears to her eyes. Asad smiled at his mother, and walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. Dilshad didn't say anything for a moment as flashback scenes of all the past hapennings passed through her mind. Asad and Zoya's investigation into the gudiya factory had revealed some shocking truths.
---Flashback---
Rashid had been working for Ghaffur in order to support his family. He was driving home one day when his car broke down in the middle of the road. Ghaffur had come upon Rashid in the middle of the road and offered him a ride home. Shireen, Ghaffur's mu bole behen, who lived with him and his wife Razia, had taken one look at him and fallen in love, unaware that he was already married. She had then told Razia of all this, and begged her to help. That night, Razia had mixed something in his drink and told Shireen what would have to be done so Rashid was trapped into being hers forever.
The next morning Rashid Ahmed Khan had awoken to the biggest nightmare of his life. Unable to face his wife and children, after his heinous act of infidelity, he had agreed to move to another branch of Siddiqui Constructions and marry Shireen. Ghaffur, afraid for his sister's reputation had threatened Rashid into not letting Shireen or anyone else for that matter, know that he was already married to Dilshad. Unable to face everything, afraid to see the look on Dilshad's ace Rashid had decided that leaving was the best course of action. When Ayaan was a year old, and they were visiting Ghaffur and Razia in Bhopal, the truth had come out in front of Shireen. Unable to deal with it, she had run away to her only other living relative, without telling anyone.
Rashid had taken Ayaan with him, and decided that it was time to face Dilshad, the real love of his life and this was a sign that the two of them were meant to be. He felt bad for Shireen but he was tired of living a lie and wanted to come clean. Dilshad had been angry, but slowly, she had learnt to ignore Ayaan's existence and became pregnant with Najma. Almost everything had returned to normal, except the look in five year old Asad's face whenever his father was around.
Everything was normal, at least until the day of Najma's first birthday. Rashid had left his job at Siddiqui constructions, and started working freelance, as a consultant on various projects in and around Bhopal. One of his projects had been with a company who also worked with Siddiqui Constructions. That day, he had come face to face with Ghaffur once again, after nearly two years. Ghaffur had been angry and had asked his partner company to get rid of Rashid from the project. Rashid, who had wanted to start his own firm, but was currently barely making ends meet really needed the job. Ghaffur had gone home that night and told his wife Razia about meeting the man who had destroyed his sister's life.
Razia Siddiqui had at that moment found the perfect scapegoat for her plan. Rashid Ahmed Khan would take the fall and even Ghaffur could be persuaded to let Rashid take the fall for their crimes. The perfect solution to both her and Shireen's problems had arrived. She had quickly called Rashid, and told him to meet them at the gudiya factory, and if he didn't follow her instructions, she would destroy his family. One little job and she would pay him heavily for it. At first Rashid was reluctant, but the call threatening his family made him go. Once there, he went to meet Razia, who told him to set fire to the factory. She had also seen Najma in the car when he had arrived and threatened to do something to his car unless he followed the instructions.
Rashid had no time to think, he knew that if anything happened to Najma, life would be over for him. Under immense pressure he agreed to burn the factory down. Once inside, he went about the job, trying to do it as fast as possible. The place was creepy and glass eyes of finished and unfinished dolls followed him everywhere. It was only as the fire was burning high did he notice the hand, the human hand that lay fallen across the floor. Oh Allah! It was a woman, with flames surrounding her. Rashid was terrified, but knew he couldn't help her. Unaware that Razia had used the security cameras to take photos he ran outside, deciding to call for help. Once outside, he ran into Ghaffur, to whom he quickly explained about the woman. If Rashid had expected help, he got the opposite. For a moment Ghaffur had looked sad, before asking him to go back home in an angry tone.
That night Rashid tossed and turned in his bed, wondering what happened to the women. He wondered what she was doing there in a doll factory at night. He also wondered why Razia and Ghaffur had made him burn down the factory. All night, he wondered if he had killed someone, if he was responsible for the death of someone's mother, someone's wife. What Rashid Ahmed Khan didn't know, was that the women was indeed both a mother and a wife. She had a little 3 year old daughter, named Zoya and was the first wife of Mr. Ghaffur Ahmed Siddiqui.
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Cricket
Kumkum Bhagya
Tum Se Tum Tak
Sampoorna
Jhanak
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