Alok was sitting beside the sleeping figure of noor who was sleeping peacefully not knowing what kind of storm she has created in Alok's heart. Alok wanted to be angry at her, he wanted to yell at her more specifically, he had only one question why has she never told him the truth before when she has been living with him for a handful of time?
But he could not be angry at her as he understood what she meant by calling him, clueless and stupid, he never tried to find his mother that desperately where he could actually some clues about her. He never trusted his father or grandfather with his sister or with his grandmother then why he always trusted their words about his mother? How come he found their answers very relatable to his situation that he never thought about the reality which was happening in front of his eyes?
He wanted noor to wake up so he could ask her more questions about his mother, he wanted to know what she used to look like, how she used to smile or talk. Was her voice sweet like honey like tv people used to say?
Noor moved her head from left to right as her right hand came towards her head massaging it slowly trying to get rid of the strong headache she was having. She opened it only to find a confused sitting figure of alok, he was sitting beside the bed on the chair and with his expression, she could understand that he was thinking about something very deeply. She looked at his fingers which were caressing the photo frame while his eyes were fixed somewhere else.
"Where did you get that?" asked noor, breaking the silence which was carried by alok for an hour.
Alok was shocked to see noor who was sleepless by now and was asking him questions but he also noticed how she was massaging her head slowly. He shook his head for a second and kept the photo frame near noor and bent down towards the night table, he took a glass of lemonade and forwarded it towards noor. She thanked him before receiving the glass from him, she also noticed how thoughtful he was towards her, after knowing the truth from her like this, she thought maybe he would hold a grudge against her for some time.
"Tell me, where did you get this photo frame?" asked noor as she remember clearly, it was a hidden photo frame, when Alok's father killed his mother he tried to destroy all of the pieces of evidence which were related to his mother and that time for the fear of getting noticed by his father, her mother hid the photo frame in the garage which had hidden compartment.
"When you were on the edge of passing out after drinking the whole bottle, I asked you if you had something related to my mother and you told me about the hidden compartment of your garage and then you passed out like a feather." said alok, who had a small smile after knowing how noor was whispering the words to him when she was mentioning the photo frame's existence to him.
"Well, I am sorry. I never wanted to tell you the truth this way. I wanted to have you calm and seated comfortably before telling you everything but seems like faith had different plans for all of us." noor said while sipping the lemonade.
"I am happy with the thinking that you told me the truth. I do not care in what situation you have told me and what you were thinking while telling me. I just care that I know the truth now." said alok.
"Hmm.." whispered noor.
"I really thought that the small child who was snatched from his mother's love at the early stage of his life would be responsible for what happened to his mother. It was just like she would always mention you and your beautiful eyes that I started to blame you somehow." said noor, she chuckled after remembering how she used to tell her aunt that one day she would punish alok for leaving her alone and used to plan stupid things to punish him.
Alok looked here and there as he was reassuring himself of the decision he has taken for both of them, noor could see that he was fighting with his thoughts before telling her what he wants to do.
"Well, I want you to pack your bags. We are leaving this place." said alok while getting up from his place.
"Why?" asked noor as she held back his left hand and pulled him towards her motioning him to sit down beside her.
"I just... I do... I do not want to live where my mother was raped and held captive." said alok, he was whispering the words to himself like he was assuring himself with his words.
"Yeah, but no. This mansion has nothing to do with your mother. I told you she was our neighbour and she used to live in the mansion behind our bungalow but when she died your father burnt the whole mansion to the ashes thinking he is just erasing everything which was related to your mother." said noor, a deep breath was released by alok who was alok blaming himself for not thinking about her words properly.
"Thanks for taking care of my mother when no one was with her." said alok.
"You do not have to mention that to me. She was the best aunt, she would make yummy food for us and would tell us stories, she used to tell us how she grew up by playing with mud and soil." said noor, she knew her aunt had a tough childhood and would not have normal toys to play.
She smiled to herself after remembering the time when she and her sister used to go along with their aunt whenever she would mention she has to buy groceries, vegetables and other things. They both would bargain with the shopkeepers to get some discount or to get stuff at low prices.
Sometimes, they would insult people who would make comments about their aunt and other times they both would use bad words too .
"Your mom was beautiful right?" asked noor, she took the photo frame from his hands and looked at the four figures of two ladies and two small girls who were around 5-6 years old.
"Yeah, she was." whispered alok.
YOU ARE READING
The Last Bullet
Mystery / ThrillerA figure was lying on the cold floor begging god to bless her with death, She knew what had happened to her and what will happen in the future as well. Her hands were tied with the chains to the hook of the wall. She wanted to cry but no tears were...
