Shadow of Doubt

Chapter 17

"Wait, they are calling me. can you-" I didn't wait for him to finish his sentence before I hung up and made my way towards Daddy's wing.

Maybe I was being shown a sign. A sign of how he didn't give a damn about me, I wore my feelings for him upon my sleeve and he saw it, now he was using it against me. Fantastic.

"Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullah." I said as I entered daddy's parlour and he was looking at the newspaper. He answered my salam and lifted his head to look at me with a smile on his face. I noticed his wife sitting on the couch at the far end of the living room. This should be good.

"Iram din daddy." He was in a joking mood. "I always love to tell you how you got your name." I smiled because I knew he was going to tell the story again. Aunty looked like she'd rather be anywhere but here. "So the doctor that handled your birth so selflessly, he was a Persian and the only doctor in the maternity ward that night; we had just named you Hafsah when he received a page from the paediatric unit of the hospital that his daughter Iram; who was just 5 years at the time, had passed away. Her mother passed away a few months before her too, I was in his office when he received the call but he was so strong. He only said Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un and stayed quiet for a moment." Daddy had a bittersweet smile on his face, probably getting nostalgic about the story. "I stepped out to give him his privacy but he found me a few minutes later and explained to me the birth complications your mother faced, you wouldn't believe he was the one that lost a child that night."

He continued "two days later, I met him again in the hospital and passed on my condolences. He showed me a photo of his daughter, she was very fair and had dark hair full of her head; just the way you were born. I asked him what her name was. He told me "Iram", I went ahead to ask him what the meaning was, he told me it meant Paradise and I immediately asked him if I could give it to my daughter as her second name?" His face broke into a smile. "The joy on his face was indescribable but here I was two decades later experiencing paradise on earth because Allah has given me a really pious daughter."

I was blushing and hoping I wouldn't break down into tears because different types of emotions were surging in and out of my body and mind.

"JazakAllah Khairan daddy." I said to him.

After that, he went straight to the point. "What was it I was hearing about Maiha's son and you?"

I turned sharply to look at aunty and she was looking at me with distaste. I decided to not answer because I didn't know what lies he was fed.

"Yana da wani laifi ne?" Daddy asked and I kept quiet. "Ko dai you don't like him ne kawai?" I nodded and he chuckled. "I obviously wont force you to marry someone you don't like, Iram. Ki tashi kije, Allah Ya tabbatar miki da mafi alkhairi."

"Aamiin daddy, Nagode."

"You should've asked her if she has someone ai." Aunty piped in before I was able to get up. I immediately knew she knew something. Probably Amra the lesser evil is not as lesser evil as I thought she was, I was stupid to think she'd keep it to herself.

Daddy laughed and shook his head, he was used to her habits at this point. "Iram, do you have someone you love?" It was either I speak up or she does and I'd rather he heard this from me or Sa'ad than from her, so I nodded my head. "Who is it?"

"Sa'ad ne." He was silent for a beat. Then two.

"Sa'ad dai? Sa'ad nawa? My security detail?" Daddy's confusion almost made me laugh but I didn't know if it was a good confusion or a bad one. So I just answered him with a yes. "Toh ke Iram yana son ki ne?"

"Is that what you're going to ask her? She's in love with her driver, how can somebody from this family marry a driver? That'll just give any riffraff the audacity to come and ask for my daughters' hands."