Tethered For Eternity

The luminous chandelier shone brightly in the opulent yet compact living room. A tall, heavy-bearded, bulky man sat with his chest high on an armchair displayed as a throne. With a Blackberry in his right hand and a cigarette in his left, he let out a cloud of smoke, concealing his face for a good amount of time. The house, which was enveloped with his voice solely, seemed to have changed its rusty facade when bright anklets interrupted the man's conversation.

Adorned in a cotton yellow churidar with hair let down and crowded with bobby pins, Y/n casually walked down the grand staircase only to face her father sitting like a lion guarding his den. Chaudhary Aslam continued speaking, not caring what his daughter was up to.

Y/n should have been accustomed to this; she has lived with him her whole life after all. It wasn't in S.P. Chaudhary Aslam's soul to have fatherly instincts. The man was a passive presence in y/n's life, only actively showing his 'father-like' agency when her actions supposedly harmed his possessions or his reputation.

"Lyari Task Force should be recruited soon, Jamali saab. I won't encounter that bastard Rehman Dakait alone, I hope you remember this." Aslam's gravelly voice echoed in the room, prompting y/n to stop walking and turn around.

"Abbu, who were you talking to?" Y/n asked, before she could stop herself. Aslam threw his phone on the couch and took another drag. His eyes narrowed before he scoffed.

"It doesn't concern you. Go away." Y/n's nose flared at the response as she walked closer to where her father sat. Aslam had just returned after a long suspension; her mother had gone to her maiden home, also tired of Aslam's rocky police career, which stressed everyone in her family.

Y/n had had enough. She walked up to Aslam and forcefully snatched the cigarette from his hands and threw it away. "You just came back. Ammi is also not around. The only thing I want from you is to stop all this. Why go after this Rehman Dakait again? Just leave him alone-"

Slap. Y/n closed her eyes as water brimmed in them, dangerously close to falling. There was a pause, followed by another slap. Aslam shoved her away and snarled down at her.

"Be grateful I haven't married you off till now. You have a bloody house and a large town you live in with such haughtiness and pride; all that is because of me. Don't boss me around. Rehman Dakait is a heinous man; he deserves to be assassinated, and that too by my hands."

Y/n opened her eyes and brushed off her tears, her chest contracting in a vacuum. She looked at her father. "He can't be any worse than you!" Y/n yelled and stormed off outside.

She needed some air, a lot of it.

The lanes were less crowded than usual, which would have seemed strange to her except that Y/n Aslam was too engrossed in her mind to acknowledge the world around her. A flock of pigeons flew overhead, and y/n looked at them with a deep, overwhelmed sadness in her eyes. She went to the place she always went to let loose and give off steam.