Index:
Thread 1 Part 26
Part 17 Part 27
Part 18 Part 28
Part 19 Part 29
Part 20 Thread 3
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Once again, extremely sorry for the delay! But thank you all for the well wishes as well (: Here's the next part!
Through The Monsoon: Part 17
Zoya bumped into Asad clumsily as they both tried to exit Asad's room at the same time, the narrow door frame unable to accommodate both of them at the same time. Not surprisingly, she felt Asad's arm wrap around her waist immediately, leaving no room for her to fall, and no room between their bodies either. She gulped nervously as Asad stared her down, completely unable to figure out what he was thinking.
"Miss Farooqui, hum ammi se kya kahenge? I mean, hum dono ko khud hi kuch yaad nahi hai, kisi aur ko kya convince karenge?" Asad whispered, finally voicing both his and her thoughts. Zoya's lower lip began to quiver as she tried to control her tears. She clutched Asad's shoulder and shook her head slowly, unable to find her voice. Asad involuntarily tightened his hold around Zoya, in a bid to comfort her. He was in dire need of comforting too though. How was he to face his mom?
The sound of someone clearing her throat made Asad and Zoya finally tear their eyes away from each other. Najma stood there staring at her bhaijaan and Zoya unabashedly revelling in each other's arms at the foot of Asad's bedroom door, despite being caught in bed by ammi mere minutes ago. Ammi had sent her to find out what was taking them so long to come out, and she had not expected to see this. She looked away while Zoya tried to pull away from her bhaijaan's arms. This was all a little too much for a younger sister to take.
Asad and Zoya shared a guilty look as Najma walked away from them, obviously put off but what she had just witnessed, before following after her to reach the living room, where Dilshaad sat on the messed up sofa from last night, her eyes closed and her hand clutching her head. She opened her eyes once she'd sensed their arrival, and immediately shot them a death glare when she noticed that Asad was about to open his mouth and explain himself.
"Mujhe kuch nahi sunna. I didn't call both of you out here to have a discussion, because there's nothing left to discuss. Actions obviously speak louder than words, and I have seen enough 'action' from both of you to plan my next step of action. Maine decide karliya hai ke Zoya ab yahan nahi reh sakti. I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour under my roof, so I'm going to call up Zeenat, explain to her what happened to the best of my abilities, and then tell her to come fetch you from here," Dilshaad announced her decision, before crossing her arms and looking away from Asad and Zoya, gasping softly as she swallowed a sob.
Zoya stared at Dilshaad in horror, and stumbled a few steps backwards as she tried to digest what just happened. Aapi would kill her if she found out about this! And definitely drag her back to the US. But she couldn't leave yet! She still hadn't found her abbu! Zoya fell onto her knees and finally broke into tears, unable to control herself anymore.
"Phuphi please, aisa mat kijiye. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry," Zoya begged in between her sobs, her voice becoming muffled as she buried her face in her hands. Asad watched helplessly as Zoya crumbled, and then shifted his attention back to his disappointed and highly furious mother. He took a bold step towards her and settled down on his knees next to her.
"Ammi please, take back your decision. I'm sorry too! Please ammi, Miss Farooqui jis maksad se aayi hai, woh abhi poora nahi hua. Don't send her back! Give us both a chance to rectify this. We'll do anything you say ammi, koi bhi sazaa do, humein manzoor hai. In fact, I promise I won't go anywhere near Miss Farooqui from now onwards," Asad pleaded, his sentences choppy as he tried to control his voice from cracking. Zoya looked up when Asad began pleading on her behalf. Had he just called staying away from her a punishment for him?
"Miss Farooqui? Sab kuch hone ke baad you're still stuck on calling her Miss Farooqui? Asad... look I'm not blind, I could see that both of you were attracted to each other from a long time ago. And I was secretly happy, because I would love to have Zoya as my bahu. So I was just waiting for the day both of you realize it yourself and tell me, and I would've happily given my consent and arranged for your Nikaah. But this I did not expect, from either of you," Dilshaad continued, ending most of her sentences with defeated sighs. Asad and Zoya exchanged a few awkward glances as Dilshaad went on about their unspoken attraction towards each other. They didn't know it had become that obvious, even to others. The sound of Dilshaad standing up from the sofa gave them something to direct their attention to again.
"Zoya, I will call your aapi tonight itself," Dilshaad informed Zoya, and began walking towards the staircase, Najma following close behind. Asad couldn't get himself to look at Zoya anymore, it hurt to see her so broken. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, as the sound of Zoya's sobs began to get louder. But what could he possibly do to fix it?
Tanveer covered her mouth with her hand, feigning shock. But truly, her hand was there simply to hide the snigger that lay behind it. Zoya was going to be sent away! And she didn't even have to do anything to make this happen. She suppressed a giggle and moved quickly to catch up with Najma and Dilshaad, who were halfway up the stairs by now. Things were going even better than she had planned.
XXXHahaha don't kill me :p Next update after Eid!! I have lots to prepare and stuff (: So Eid Mubarak in advance to everyone celebrating it (: