It's been 8 years since Zoya joined the hostel and since then she has never gone back to her so called "home" nor did her biological mother bothered to call her back or know if she was okay.
Let alone meeting each other, Zoya and Razia didn't even talk in the past 8 years. Zoya was happy about it and she was sure that woman must have been "enjoying" her life to the fullest.
Even in her vacations when all her room mates and friends go back to their homes to spend time with their families, she used to stay at her hostel only as no one ever came to take her home. 'Does anyone even remember her?' Her loneliness used to make her wonder. Only she knew how she used to spend her vacations in the hostel.
She always ignored when her friends asked her questions about her family. She didn't want to recall her past and ruin her present.
Only Najma knew about Zoya's good for nothing parents. The rest of her friends knew Annanya as her mother.
Hostel life was boring but she knew it was way better than living with that woman.
In these years, her hatred for her parents increased only.
After the long period of 8 years, the day had come when Zoya has no other choice than going back to that house. It was the end of her hostel life and like all the other girls she was also supposed to return back home. She was quite sure that like all the previous years, this time also no one will come to pick her but to her surprise that woman did send a car for her to come back.
No matter how much she did not wanted to go, she had to. She had no other choice.
It was time to bid her last goodbye to her friends. She hugged each of them with a sad smile on her face. She already knew she'll miss them a lot. After meeting everyone for the last time she went over to Najma who was standing at a distance with her back towards Zoya.
Zoya placed her hand on Najma's shoulder. Najma slowly turned around and soon as she saw Zoya her moist eyes started leaking tears causing Zoya's eyes to get moist as well.
Najma had become Zoya's best friend in the past years. Zoya used to share her true feelings only with Najma as she trusted her the most. Najma was gem of a person, she was the friend everyone would want in their life and Zoya loved her to bits.
Najma embraced Zoya in a tight hug as she sobbed. "I'll miss you Zoe." She cried causing a tear to slip down Zoya's cheek. "Me too." Zoya managed to whisper back and closed her eyes to let the tears fall.She was parting from her best friend cum sister and it was really hurting.
After a good 4-5 minutes Zoya broke the hug and cleared tears from Najma's chubby cheeks. "Stop crying stupid." She said to light up her mood causing Najma to chuckle in response. Both of them stared at each others face trying to satisfy their inner selves and then finally let go of each other. Before going towards the car Zoya exchanged phone numbers with Najma and kissed her cheek lovingly.
This was it. She was sitting in the car to go back to the hell. Today she remembered her journey from home to the hostel. At that time she didn't expected anything good from this hostel but hoped for the best and today when she looks back, she realise that Allah really helped her a lot through her hostel life and He was always there for her. He did give her a way better life than she had expected. So much have changed since then.
She stared out the window blankly. She really didn't want to go back to that house but she was helpless.
After about 1 hour she asked the driver to stop the car near some shop to buy a water bottle as she felt thirsty.
Zoya watched the driver going into the shop and then turned her head to the front. Seeing the car empty an idea suddenly struck her head and she quickly opened the car door and got out. She started running as fast as she could not caring about her belongings which were placed in the trunk of the car, not thinking about where she would go. All she knew was she don't want to go to that house at any cost.
------
She didn't know who she was, where she was, why was she there. The only thing she knew was that she was surrounded by absolute silence and darkness. She tried to open her eyes but she felt like some heavy load has been put upon her eyelids, like her eyes are not at their spot. She couldn't feel her body. She felt as if someone has separated her head from her body. One by one she tried to move her arms, hands, legs but she didn't feel any of them moving. She couldn't see anything, she couldn't move, she couldn't hear anything. She tried to part her lips to speak something but her lips didn't move nor did her tongue. She felt like her tongue has been cut off from her mouth.
She had become numb, she had become blind, she wasn't able to speak, she had become deaf but still she didn't give up. She sniffed a few times to smell the air around her but her nostrils weren't working. Next, she concentrated on the sounds, if there was any, and tried to hear something but her ears received dead silence.
She felt like she was laying in her grave where she had no idea even about her own self. Who was she? She did not remember. Where was she and how she reached here? She had no idea!.
She was supposed to try and recognise herself in that sheer darkness but her mind had no clue about her identity from which she could remember herself.
"I love you Zeen. I can't afford to lose you."
She heard a voice. Someone was there. Someone was speaking. She concentrated but she heard nothing. Then she realised that the voice wasn't coming from near her but has echoed in her head.'
Someone wasn't speaking this at that moment but someone had said this to her years before. Who said this? She tried to remember.
A scenario was forming in her head. A teenage girl sitting on the ground, resting her head on a guy's shoulder. The girl was crying, she was sobbing.
She couldn't recognize any of the two. Who were they?
She wouldn't have recognized them if the blue kurta which that guy was wearing didn't have caught her attention. Yes, it was the kurta she had gifted Anwar on his birthday. Anwar' her love.
But still, what was her identity? She tried harder to go down the memory lane and one more scenario started forming in her head. A cute little boy running around in a small house holding some book in his hands and she was chasing him. The laughter of the boy echoed in her head, she heard a woman's voice, a very soothing voice "Asad! Beta aapi ko tang mat karo. Give her books back. Or aisay bhaago mat, chott lag jaye gi meri jaan." The woman was saying to the little boy named ... Asad?
Asad! Who was Asad? Her cousin? ... No!
She suddenly remembered. Asad was her younger brother, her only sibling. And that woman ..? Ahhh she was .. her mother. Her Ammi. Finally she felt a little at peace as she remembered' she was Zeenat .. Zeenat Ahmed Khan. Daughter of Rashid and Dilshad Ahmed Khan.
Then one by one each and every event of her life, until she left her family and ran with Anwar, registered back in her mind.
But what happened after that? Did she marry Anwar? Did Ammi and Asad forgave her? Did they try to locate her or did she ever went back to meet them? She was becoming anxious with every question rising in her mind. She wanted answers. Where is Anwar? Where is she? How she came in this state? What has happened to her?
There were so many unanswered questions.
Time kept passing but she laid there still. She still couldn't see, speak or move but slowly slowly her ears were starting to work, here nostrils were starting to work and after some more time she was able to hear and smell. Just hear and smell.
There were times when she wanted to cry but her tear glands were dry, not secreting any tears. She did not know how to get rid of her frustration. She feared that she might get mad if she did not get her answers. She had never felt so much helpless in her life.
she heard the click of the door and then some foot steps nearing her. She wondered who was there?
Anwar stared at her closed eyes, how he wished she would instantly open them and smile at him. He sighed deeply as he sat beside her.
She heard someone sighing deeply. Whoever it was, seemed tired or maybe sad. Only her mind was working, her body was dead.
Anwar held her hand in his which she could not feel. "Zeen" She heard him. It was Anwar. It was her Anwar. A layer of happiness ran across her insides. She felt like she was hearing him after years. His voice was soothing to her ears but she was unable to express her happiness.
"It's been 6 years since am waiting for you." He said.
6 years? Waiting for her? She was confused. What was he talking about?
"All these years I had my hopes high that one day you'll return to me, that I'll again be able to hear your voice, see you smile but ..." He paused. "But now all my hopes have died down. I can't wait for you anymore. I can't live alone anymore." His voice was deep but low.
She was not understanding what he was saying but she had an urge to get up and hug him. Touch him. Feel him. Love him.
"I love you jaan but I am sorry. I don't have the courage to spend the rest of my life how I spent the last 6 years. I have decided to move on."
Did he mean he was leaving her? What was happening? Something was sinking inside her with his each word. Was her Anwar tired of her?
Doesn't matter how much she wanted to cry, no tears escaped her eyes, her eyes remained dry. Her helplessness was killing her, bit by bit.
"Main shadi ker raha hoon." And that was it. Her mind went blank. She felt like she was trying to hold sand in her hand and no matter how tight her grip was, the sand was slipping away from her hold.
"I am marrying-" He was about to utter the girl's name when "Anwar?" his sentence was cut off by a girl's voice.
Anwar turned his head around "Hmmm?" He muttered in response to that girl who was standing at the door.
"Uhhh Ammi Abbu aa gaye hain." That voice hit her like a jolting shock. She knew whom that voice belong to. She was Nikhat. Her friend. But what was she doing here? As far as she remembered, she never told Nikhat anything about Anwar then ..? Why did she say that her parents have arrived? What does Anwar has to do with her parents?
What has she missed? What has happened which changed everything?
Anwar nodded and left the room with Nikhat. Zeenat was left behind wondering about the girl Anwar was going to marry, about Nikhat, about her relation with Anwar.
She again tried to remember what happened after she left her home. She knew all her answers are hidden somewhere in her memory.
This time, moderately, all things came back to her. Finally her memory was complete. She remembered everything. Every bloody thing.
------
Around 9 pm
Asad was driving the car and Tanveer was sitting on the seat beside him. They were returning from a business party where Tanveer accompanied Asad."Thankyou for taking me to this party Asad. I tell you I would've died due to boredom at my apartment if you haven't." Tanveer said while looking at Asad. "No problem. After all what are friends for Tanveer."
Tanveer smiled at his reply when Asad abruptly stopped the car causing Tanveer to jolt forward. "What happened?" She asked. Asad ignored her question and stepped out of the car.
He focused on the group of guys at a distance who seemed to be bothering a girl and his guess was correct. The girl did look afraid and annoyed.
He was about to head in their direction when Tanveer got out of the car and asked again "What happened Asad?"
He walked over to her side and made her sit back in the car. "Tum yahi baitho or car lock ker lo. I'll be right back." He said. "Array per hua kya? Where are you going?" She asked but he was already gone so she locked the car as she huffed in annoyance.
There were total 4 goons surrounding the girl. None of them had their face towards Asad. Only the girl could see him coming. Two of the goons were holding her arms, not letting her move and she was
struggling to get herself out of their hold.
One of them was staring at her body with lustful eyes while the fourth one was saying something to her with an evil grin plastered on his face.
Asad signaled the girl to stay quiet and soon as he reached near them he grabbed the two, who weren't holding the girl, by their neck and banged their head into each others. Both of them held their heads as they hissed in pain. The other two, who were holding the girl, left her and came forward to fight. Asad kicked both of them hard on their main points causing them to fall on the ground and scream in pain.
The girl just stood at a side watching the fight. One of the goons moved towards her while one tried to stab Asad with a knife but before he could, Asad slapped him hard on his face and he spun around due
to the force with which Asad had hit him.
The goon cut down the girl's wrist with the knife and the girl screamed in pain which caught Asad's attention. He ran over to her, snatched the knife from the goon and punched his nose as he threw the knife far away on the road.
The next thing he saw was all the goons running away from him as fast as they could and that girl falling in his arms.
He stared at her closed eyes. She was unconscious, blood was oozing out from her wrist. Her beautiful face made him forget all about her bleeding wrist and he just kept running his gaze at her face mesmerised by her beauty. She was very pretty. Her cute tiny nose, pink plump lips, jet black long straight hair and the glow of her skin didn't let him avert his gaze. He was unable to take his eyes off her face.
"Zoya?" Tanveer's voice brought him back to the current situation. He looked over at Tanveer who was staring at the girl in his arms with some mixed expressions. She seemed surprised, confused, happy and frightened at the same time.
He moved his gaze back to the girl's face and mumbled 'Zoya' in a husky voice.
******
Cricket
Udne Ki Aasha
Veer Hanuman
Anupamaa
124