"Jammy, main aapse kuch zaroori baat karna chahti hoon. Woh, mujhe Zoya ke baare mein ek khambakt sach pata hain."
Asad looked at her with an expression of incredulity. "What?"
"Haan Jammy, hum jiss ladki ko itna izzat dete hain, woh uss izzat ke layak hi nahi hain."
She better have good explanation for this, Asad thought.
"Tum kehna kya chaahti ho?"
"Khala, Jammy, yeh dekhiye."
Tanveer plessed 'play' and the laptop screen lit up with a poorly recorded video. Asad and Dilshaad stared at the screen in shock, to find Raziya Siddique confessing to killing Zoya's mother, to revealing Mr. Siddique as Zoya's father, and Zoya being a love child.
There was a few minutes of silent shock before Tanveer's voice cut through.
"Dekha aapne, yeh ladki humein kaise bewakoof banayi hain. Hum yeh sochte teh ke Zoya ek shareef khandan ki beti hain, par baat toh kuch aur hi nikli. Humein toh hamesha shaq thi. . Jammy, aapne toh Zoya ki kitni madat ki. Aur khala, aapne Zoya ko kitna pyaar aur izzat di. Aur woh? Woh toh sirf aapki faida le rahi thi. Jammy, main to kehti hun ki uss najayaz-
Tanveer was cut short my a hard slap across her face. Dilshaad's eyes flashed with anger as she yelled,
"Bas karo! Agar tum meri Zoya ke kilaf ek aur shabd bhi bola toh mujhse bardaash nahi hoga. Main apne sapne mein bhi nahi soch sakti ki tumahri itni neechi aur ghatiya soch hain. Tum Zoya ke baare mein aise soch bhi kaise sakte ho? Uss bechari koh pata bhi nahi hain, ke usski abbu kaun hain. Khuda ka shukar hain, ki woh yahaan par nahi hain, varna woh tumhari baatein sunkar toot jaathi. Tumhein kya lagta hain, Zoya hamari faida leh rahi thi? Uski wajah se mein aaj zinda hun. Kya kuch nahi kiya hain woh humare liye. You formed all these opinions about her, just because she's a love child? Tum itne judgemental kab se ho gayi ho? Uski abbu joh bhi ho, uska yeh matlab nahi hain ki woh bhi aise hi ho. And just because she was conceived out of wedlock, it does not make her any less respectable than anyone else."
"Par Khala, woh kya-"
"That's enough Tanveer."
Asad's sharp voice cut her off. He was staring at her with the fiercest glare in history. He had heard enough. Of all people, he definitely hadn't expected this from Tanveer. How dare she say such things about Zoya? There had never been anyone more sincere than Zoya. How dare she call Zoya illegitimate? His heart went out to Zoya, the truth about her ammi's death and her abbu would shatter her. Siddique saheb, aapne Zoya ko chodhkar theek nahi kiya.
He was just about to lash out on her, when he heard a sob. He looked up to find Zoya's retreating figure, turn around and make a dash out of the door. Oh shit.
"DAMN YOU TANVEER!"
He pushed her out of the way and ran outside after Zoya.
46