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Part 9
He didn't know how and when he slept but he did and although the circumstances they were in were not as per his convenience it was still one of the best nights of his life till now all thanks to the woman in his arms, snoring softly in a barely audible voice. The previous day had completely tired both of them and maybe that was the reason why they were still sleeping and maybe that was the reason why they didn't hear the ruffling of the leaves, the crunch of the gravel as the village head and his men marched their way towards the worn-out hut, anger oozing out of their eyes and their stance.
Asad was abruptly woken from his slumber as he was aggressively hauled up by his collar, while the other goon grabbed Zoya by her arm. Both were disoriented at first and tried to figure out what was going on but as the events of the previous day sank in their consciousness they realized the gravity of the situation. Asad tried protesting and when he saw the men behaving with Zoya in an insanely rude manner he saw red! He tried fighting them off but stopped when they pointed the gun at Zoya.
Zoya felt the cold barrel of the gun on her head and she gulped in fear. From the corner of her eyes she saw the man's finger curve around the trigger, his face showed an evil smirk, he was obviously enjoying it all. She dare not move or else the man won't take a minute to pull the trigger. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her head and her breathing became ragged as fear and panic gripped her.
"Don't touch her!" Asad said in a dangerously cold voice that had the man cringing for a second but he recovered soon when he realized it was just an empty threat.
"And if I don't listen to you what will you do?" he challenged and just to enrage him further he deliberately touched her arm and let his hand linger there. Zoya cringed under his touch and moved back as a gasp escaped her lips. Asad would've torn him limb by limb if he was not held back by three men. He looked at his so-called mamujaan with disgust and contempt and he simply averted his gaze from Asad and ducked his head.
"You disgust me and I'm ashamed to call you my mamujaan." He spat at him.
"Enough, take these two to the usual spot, we have to get rid of them as soon as possible, we cannot risk anymore delay." The village head said, his voice had an air of finality that had all the goons nodding their heads in agreement. They pushed and pulled them by their arms and led them further inside the forest. After walking for a while they came to a halt right in the middle of the forest. The village head motioned something to the men and then turned to look at Asad.
"Are you ready to tell us where have you sent Mariam or do you wanna meet the same fate that everyone meets when they try to go against us, go against the rules and norms set by us?" The village head said in a menacing voice. Asad wasn't sure what he meant by that and stayed mum. Even if he knew where Mariam was he would not tell them her whereabouts not after knowing what exactly his little sister had been through in this hell that she called a home. He wasn't very close to her but the few times he had spent with her in the childhood when mamu would come to visit them he had always cared for her. She was after all his sister and he would always protect her. He was enraged at seeing the men man-handling Zoya.
"Honour killing is illegal, I'll go to the police." Zoya shouted from behind them. Asad closed his eyes in frustration; can't she keep her mouth shut for a minute? Didn't she understand when to speak and when to shut the hell up? Did she want to die here by infuriating them further? He motioned her with his eyes to keep quiet but did that girl ever listen? NO!
"I'll write it in my blog you morons!" she yelled paying absolutely no heed to Asad's warning of staying quiet. These people had been testing her patience since yesterday! Did such heartless creatures even exist? She always wondered this and today she got her answer.
The village men simply laughed at her outburst and empty threats. Women, according to them were docile creatures who would never go to such extreme levels. The village head however was not at all pleased, if they were not going to tell them Mariam's whereabouts then he was going to give them the lesson of their life that would stop them from meddling into other people's business once and for all.
"Start digging!" was all he said and turned to leave but Asad's mamujaan stopped him.
"Let Asad go! Do whatever you want with the girl but let Asad go!" he pleaded. Asad was shocked at what he heard. He never knew his sweet and caring mamujaan who took such great care of them when Mr Rashid Ahmed Khan had left them stranded- alone, dejected, heartbroken and penniless; could be so heartless and cold.
"I'm not going anywhere without Zoya." Asad said sternly. The village head simply shrugged his shoulders and said,
"Fine then you will have to die too."
"I.Don't.Care." he replied punctuating and clarifying each word.
"No Mr Khan you have to go."
"Zoya not now!"
"Mr Khan phupi and Najma need you, you have to go." She cried. She wanted to make him understand that he shouldn't risk his life for her out of all the people. She was nothing to him while he was everything that Phupi and Najma had and even more. She could see that Asad was lost deep in thought at her statement. She was correct, they had no one other than him.
"Zoya we'll find a way out of this but I'm staying here. I can't leave you alone."
"Well even I would love to see how you love birds try to find a way out once you both are six feet under." Said the supposed groom or rather ex-groom of Mariam.
"Mr khan please do you have any idea what will be phupi's condition when she finds out that her only son and support system is no more. You are their only family Mr Khan and I wouldn't want to see phupi so broken." Zoya whimpered.
Asad was in a dilemma, he couldn't leave Zoya alone to die but Zoya was also right in her place. Dilawar mamu took advantage of Asad's disoriented form and led him away. Once he was away someone wrapped a cloth over Zoya's mouth, she protested at first but soon darkness engulfed as she felt herself drown into the abyss and she slumped down, unconscious.
Dilawar mamu kept his hand on Asad's shoulder but he shrugged it off. He somehow made him sit in the car and advised him to forget about Zoya and be thankful that he was still alive and that he did that only because he cared for him and Dilshad who was like a sister to him.
"Care? The man who can't care for his own daughter, his own flesh and blood can never care for anyone else." Asad scoffed.
Dilawar ordered the driver to drop him off at the highway and he warned Asad not to come back here.
Throughout the way Asad could think of only one person - Zoya! He remembered the first day he saw in her mazhar covered in a black shawl. For the first time the tears of a stranger had moved him, had touched his heart. Even while crying she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and even though the next meeting wasn't so pleasant he still knew she had formed a special place in his heart. He reminisced their endless fights and the way they always made up at the end of the day with a single cup of coffee and an unsaid sorry. He closed his eyes and he could see the endless trip and fall and eyelocks, the times when they were in such close proximity to each other that they could feel their heartbeat thrumming erratically and their ragged breathing. He snapped his eyes open. No, he wouldn't, he couldn't leave her alone to die. He looked back and saw that they were not very far away. It wasn't too late, he could save her. He asked the driver to stop the car, thankfully the driver was not one of their men and he took pity at Asad's crestfallen face. Asad opened the door with so much force that he could as easily have taken it off along with it's hinges. He sprinted off inside the deep woods not caring about anything or anybody, yelling at the top of his voice only one name - Zoya! He kept shouting that one name as if it was some sort of mantra as if he would get some kind of response if he called out to her. He ran directly to the place he would never forget even if he got amnesia, tripping and tumbling as stones and broken branches came in his way. He didn't care about the various cuts he was getting due to the thorns and leaves.
His throat was parched, his lungs were burning and his legs were on the verge of giving away but he didn't stop, he had to reach Zoya before anything happened to her because if anything did happen to her he would never be able to live peacefully. The thoughts of Zoya would plague him night and day suffocating him. He needed Zoya, safe and sound and right next to him, he needed her just as much as he needed air. After running for a while he finally came to the god-forsaken place but he couldn't find Zoya anywhere. He wondered if he was too late but he shook his head to let the morbid thoughts go away. He went down on his fours dusting off the mud and sand in order to find anything that felt hollow. His tears fell off his face and rolled in the sand forming small balls of wet mud. His OCD was long gone, he couldn't care less about his brand new kurta being spoiled in the dust. He turned to check the next patch and he felt something shine on his face, he looked to his right and saw a flash of green, the sunlight hit on the sequins and reflected back on his face. He could never forget that dupatta; without losing any more time he went nearer and tugged at the dupatta, surely it was the same. He pushed his hand in the sand and frantically moved his finger as he dug inside. The mud filled in his fingernails and the small pebbles formed scratches on his hands but he kept digging in order to reach Zoya as soon as possible. After digging for only god knows how long when he finally spotted her left arm he heaved a sigh of relief and tugged her hand removing the dust off it. He soon pulled her body out of the sand and hugged it with all his might, he hugged her afraid she might disappear or slip out of arms if he left her. His relief however was short-lived when he couldn't feel her breath on his neck as he hugged her, he came out of the embrace and looked at Zoya's lifeless and pale face. He patted her head and checked her breathing there was none, he then grabbed her wrist and felt her pulse, it was very slow but there was pulse which meant she was alive, wasn't she? She couldn't be dead! A shiver ran down his spine at the word "dead" no she couldn't be dead!
He laid her flat on the ground and placed his hands on her chest giving her a CPR, pumping her heart back to normal all the while calling out to her, pleading her to breathe and open her eyes. He looked at the skies and closed his eyes in a silent prayer to get Zoya back. He rubbed her palms and patted her cheeks trying to bring her back but when she didn't respond he let out a loud cry.
"Zoya! Zoya please open your eyes!" he cried.
He was suffocating, he felt claustrophobic even in a forest. When she didn't respond to his fervent calls he lost all hope and hugged her lifeless body. He rubbed her back and showered small feather light kisses on her forehead and that's when he felt it, he felt her hand move. He laid her back on the ground to check if he was hallucinating but he wasn't. She was gasping for air like a fish out of water. He continued rubbing her palms to get some warmth in them as she slowly opened her eyes. She tried to sit up and Asad helped her. She saw Asad's teary eyes and she placed her palm on his face cupping it and slowing wiping off the lone tear that had somehow managed to escape.
"I-I'm f-fine!" she managed to whisper in a groggy, hoarse voice just to assure him. Asad cradled her head in the crook of neck and kissed her hair. Zoya felt something press on her hair and wondered if he kissed her there but she didn't look up to confirm it, she simply lay there with her head on his shoulder. Asad knew that like always Zoya was suppressing her real feelings, she wasn't really well and she needed the attention of a doctor as soon as possible. With these thoughts in mind he deftly picked her up in his arms and made his way out of the forest.
XXX
(PLEASE DO READ THIS 😆)
A/N - Yes! Yes! Yes! I freaking updated! Woohoo and I updated the grave scene! Ankie jaani aaj khush toh bohot hongi tum haai? 😆
I tried, I really tried to write it in a way Mangalpur should be written please do tell me how was it and usually when I say this I'm fishing for compliments but today I wanna know everyone's genuine thoughts on this part! There's one more last part to it because apparently ankie mommy also wanted a hospital scene! So yeah I gave away the precap it's gonna be some hospital romance!
Now I have some news to share, I had told a handful of mantaals that my aunt's best friend is a script writer and my aunt talked to her about me and if she needs an intern, she ofcourse didn't need an intern but since my aunt is her best friend she agreed to read my stuff. Now after around 2 weeks she replied that my writing is more applicable for a novel than a serial! Now should I take it as a compliment or a subtle way of telling me that I didn't get the job? Anyways I'm not at all upset by this (Maybe I am just a little) but I don't really care much! I'm happy to have at least applied!
Ankie mommy this part is for you, le ab khush ho ja and stop emotionally blackmailing me! (this warning is for Anks too 😆)
Now, leave me some love you know the drill, you just gotta hit the like button and give me lornng long comments since I love them plus this was The grave scene so hell yeah I deserve long comments and also because this part is 2500 words long (longer then my usual updates) so be happy!
And oh i made the banner for the SS! 😃
Live long and prosper *Sheldon style*
Love,
Sadie!
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