BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

CHAPTER 4: MOTHER AND MAA

Positive.

He knew the results would come out as positive. All the evidence pointed out to that conclusion. It was the logical outcome.

Then why did it hurt him so much?

Saad looked over at his parents. He was desperate. He just wanted them to say something. Anything.

If they say this report was fake and he was their son, he would erase all of this from his memory. If they say the report was true but he was still their son, then he would ignore everything too.

He just wished for them to look at him. Explain everything to him. Call him their Saad. Their little Saadi.

His mother's eyes looked back at him in desperation. She opened her mouth a few times to say something but nothing came out.

And his father? He just stared at the ground. Saad wanted to scream at him for some reason.

"Saad is my child. Please do not take him away from me!" his mother finally broke her silence, her hands folded pleadingly towards Murtasim.

Take him away? What?

"He is also my mother's child. Yet you took him away from her," Murtasim retorted in that annoying sarcastic tone of his.

"I didn't know!" His mother was crying now clutching Saad tightly by his hand. As if someone would snatch him away. Like she used to when he was a child.

"Yes, you did. You might lie, Ma'am but the guilt in your eyes does not," Murtasim was strong in his argument even while his mother sobbed. He continued to lay the facts mercilessly as Saad held onto his mother, "My father had looked for him until his last breath and my mother continues to do so till this day."

Saad wanted to say in his mother's defance when Murtasim's words registered in his mind.

Father? Last breath?

Something inside Saad lurched in pain at the mention of that unknown who was supposedly looking for him until he died.

"Please don't take away a child from his mother. How would I bear the pain?" Saad noticed how his mother avoided the accusation. He didn't know how to feel about that.

"The same way my Maa did when she was searching for her lost newborn in every orphanage, every house in Karachi." Murtasim was still unfazed in the face of the sobbing mother.

Maa.

For some reason, Saad wished to see this faceless woman once. He felt like he had wronged her for years.

No, he hadn't wronged her. He doesn't need to feel guilty.

"But your parents did," the voice inside him reminded him.

It took all of Saad's courage to utter the words he wished to say. But he needed to say them. He needed people to listen to him or his life would crumble before his eyes.

"Do I get a say in any of this matter concerning, you know, me?" Saad tried not to let the rage he felt at the situation.

He was mad at his parents for doing this to him. He was absolutely furious at Murtasim and his mother for talking as if he wasn't right there. It was his life, for God's sake!! Why were they not asking him?

Murtasim looked taken back at his outburst. His brows furrowed in concentration.

"Of course, you will be coming with me!" Murtasim said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

At that, Neelu came running and latched onto his other arm. Maheer also came forward and looked at him with anxiety on her face.

Now Saad felt furious.

"Why should I?" Saad asked again, this time annoyance evident in his voice.

Murtasim looked surprised. Clearly Khan Murtasim Khan was not used to people going against him. He probably never explained himself to anyone. Well, nobody probably dared to ask him for an explanation actually.

"Why should you?" His shock was quickly replaced with anger.

"You should because our mother had been praying to Allah every single day to give her back her lost child for the past twenty-seven years. You should because our father was buried without your hands touching the soil of his grave. You should because our sister grew up unaware of your existence. You should because the last promise our uncle made to our father was to keep looking for you."

'You should because there are people who never gave up looking for you," Murtasim was now heaving in anger as he continued, " You should, Saad Hussain because you are one of the heirs of Khan Shahnawaz Khan."

Saad didn't know what to make of all this. People had looked for him. A mother, a father, a sister, and an uncle?

And apparently, he was an heir? To a whole family?

He already had a family. His family, his uncle, Neelu, Maheer- they were his family. He loved them. They were his whole world.

Yes, that was it. He would just go back to Karachi with his family and never look back.

But what about that poor woman who was waiting for him? His birth mother? She had looked for him. Prayed for him. Loved him.

Yet he was so heartless that he didn't even wish to see her once. Saad closed his eyes in guilt. A woman's face flashed across him. A weeping woman, a new mother desperately looking for her baby.

Before he could stop himself., the words escaped his mouth, "Let me meet...your maa once." Saad wasn't ready to accept her as his mother yet.

Murtasim nodded in approval. He gave a once over toward his family and tilted his head questioningly.

This guy was really not used to requesting or asking for anything, was he?

Saad sighed. " They will come with me. I am not going anywhere without them," Saad made sure to sound firm.

Murtasim, for his part, looked annoyed at this, nonetheless huffed out a yes. He took out his phone and started to give fast orders to someone called Bhaktu.

As they waited for Murtasim to finish, Saad took his crying mother to sit with his family. His father was still not looking at him and his aunt was probably still in shock.

"Bhai, are you really leaving us?" came out Neelu's meek inquiry as soon as they sat down.

"No, he is not!" Maheer answered for him while her eyes searched for a nod of agreement from him.

Saad sighed again. "I don't know what I am supposed to do, I am confused," Saad answered honestly as he felt his mother's hold on him get tighter. 

He couldn't bear to see his mother cry. It hurt him a lot.

Did it hurt Murtasim too when his Maa cried for Saad? 

Maa. 

Not his Maa, nonetheless, a Maa. 

"What is there to be confused about? You are my Saadi. He can't take you away!" Maheer exclaimed in anger.

My Saadi?

Saad could feel happiness sore inside his chest. But he pushed it back down with a good reality check.

She probably meant he was her best friend, Saadi. He wasn't going to get his hopes up.

"No one is taking me away, Maahi. I will just go and meet Murtasim's mother, that's it."

Yes, that was it. He wouldn't do anything else. He would just meet the poor woman who gave birth to him and then go back to Karachi peacefully.

Yes, that was the plan. 

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