Khudgarzi

13

Taskeen e dil ki khatir tum,
Bicchadte waqt muskaratay raho,
O jaane walay, door jatay huay ,
Palat palat kay nazar milatay raho.

Ayla POV

I am beyond enraged right now. I decided to walk back to baba's room leaving him behind in the cafeteria. My mom always told me that I shouldn't go about by anger because it was fuelled by shaytaan. So I just, decided to recite a few verses to calm myself down. What does he think of himself? He goes MIA the minute I'm in a new country, completely away from the I love and leaves me to be by himself, under all this abuse caused by his mother and he thinks that he can compensate it financially. Hell no. 

I could hear him calling out to me, but I didn't look back, I just briskly walked towards baba's door and right when I was to open it, I felt someone get hold of wrist.

"You weren't listening to me, I want to talk to you please", he literally pleaded

Taking a deep breath in, I closed my eyes and then nodded

"Talk here, baba will be waking up soon, so I need to be by his side when he does"

"Acha woh uh, uhm" he began stuttering

I rolled my eyes and was going to open the door of baba's room, pissed off, knowing he had nothing to say,

"Ayla I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for leaving you back at home, I had some work overseas and all around Canada so I wasn't able to come back home", he said. 

I knew he was lying about working overseas, because baba had told me that White Rose hotels in the UK were managed by Sania baaji's husband and he was only directly answerable to baba and the hotels in the US were managed via uncle and shehryar, via video conferencing and they only had to visit there twice a year. So all this time, he was lying being overseas, when he was just in Canada. Taking a deep breath in, I decided to respond to him back, praying to God that I don't shed any tears,

"You know, you could've taken me along with you, at least I wouldn't have been subjected to abuse by your mother", I said

"Wait what? Did mom physically abuse you?" he said in disbelief 

"No she didn't", I quickly looked down, trying to avoid eye contact

Truth be told, I didn't want him to know, because all that was going to bring was pity towards me. And I am one person, who hates any sort of pity. Before, he could ask me any further questions, he got a phone call from someone and he excused himself and left. I waited for him outside the room for five minutes but he had left the hospital. Sighing and thinking of when I would be actually seeing my husband next, I turned the door knob and walked in to find baba awake. 

I muttered an Alhamdullilah and ran towards him and he asked me for some water. I helped him drink it and then went outside to the nurse's station and asked them to come and check up on him. I was told to leave the room and they performed a few tests on baba, eventually declaring him fit to be discharged from the hospital tonight. I went and sat into his room with him.

"Assalam Alaykum baba! You gave us quite the scare? How are you feeling right now?" I said.

"Oh meray betay, don't be scared, mujhe kya hona hai, abhi tou main jawaan houn" he said and I laughed out loud.
(Oh my child, don't be scared, what's going to happen to me, I'm too young right now)

Leave it to baba to make you laugh in the serious of most situations.

"But baba, you really scared me, aaj say bus I'll take care of you and see that you take your medicines on time", I said trying to scold him

He went deep into thought and nodded and then said,

"Did your aunty come to see me?", he looked at me dead in the eye

I couldn't say any word back and I shook my head negatively. I could instantly see the hurt in his eyes. He then said

"Did you try to contact her?" 

"I called her but it went straight to voicemail, so I left her a voicemail", I said.

I could see how he gulped down his tears but the hurt was evident on his face. He then said,

"Beta why don't you go fill out the discharge forms, I need to be alone for a while." he said monotonously.

I nodded my head and walked out, I understood that he needed some time alone. But I could see how hurt he was that aunty hadn't come, so I decided to try my luck once again and call her. To my surprise she picked up on the fifth ring.

"Kyun meri neend barbaad kar rahi hou ladki, pehlay meri zindagi kharab kar kay tumhain sukoon nahin mila" she said.
(Why are you disturbing my sleep? You've already destroyed my life, is that not enough for you?)

I wanted to scoff at her statement, but I decided to keep it together for the sake of baba and I curtly continued the call,

"Assalam Alaykum aunty, aunty I don't know if you got my voice mail, but uncle had a heart attack, he's going to be discharged tonight, so I wanted to ask you to come back home please" I said.

"I'm not coming back and what Abbas sahab had was nothing but karma, he raised his hand on me and now he's being punished. He deserves it." saying this she hung up.

I felt so bad for baba, all he ever wanted was a caring family but life isn't always how you expect. I mean, I thought that my saviour, my own abbu, just left me like this in a foreign land and he refuses to talk to me. Baba doesn't deserve this, he's the only reason why I'm sane at this point, because I know with aunty's continuous torture, be it mental, physical or emotional, I wouldn't have been able to survive. Walking to the nurse's reception, a lady guided me and I filled out the paperwork.

After submitting the paperwork, I called for a cab. In all of this fiasco, I had forgotten to bring a car here and I didn't even have a license. I went to baba's room and with the help of the nurse, shifted baba to the wheelchair and dragged him out of the hospital. Getting home, I texted Henna about how baba had a heart attack and the next thing, I knew Henna was ringing the doorbell with containers full of food.

I, welcomed her in and sighed in relief because I was truly lucky to have these two people by my side over here.

A/N: Heyy guys!! I'm back! Do let me know how you like the chapter and don't forget to comment, vote and follow! Ily!