In Your Love... {Eternal Ishq #1}

Ch-4 The story of a selfish love

But something seemed to have happened in the coming years, Maryam closed her eyes and rubbed her temples trying to recall what it was. For no matter how much she tried, she always failed to remember what had happened between her and Sufyaan. Because suddenly he became distant from her. No more hugs and laughs. A smile occasionally and that too slowly disappeared over the years.

Then there had been her mother, her daily arguments with Sufyaan that Maryam knew in her heart were false accusations against him. And now that she recalled those arguments and accusations, Maryam remembered how he never shouted back at her mother like he had did with her today. And with her too, this was the first time he had spoken so…She pushed the thought back and remembered those days when she would be feeling terribly lonely after school, her mom as usual would have gone to visit her friends and Sufyaan would be sitting alone in the hall watching T.V. and expecting she knew not what she used to slowly come and sit beside him. But the moment he noticed her, Sufyaan would get up and leave, going inside his room and locking the door.

Ah the hurt and pain of rejection by someone whom you trusted, whom you loved and who was once your hero, your everything! The citadel that she had built around his image in her heart had slowly come crumbling down until there came a time as today when for him there was nothing in her heart but wreck and ruins.

Then during her high school, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fourth stage. Days and nights at the hospital, chemo, pain, and medications all flitted and passed in her memory as a blur. Finally there came the end when she was no more, though they had tried so hard.

At least while her mother was alive, there had been some sort of a link between her and Sufyaan. But after she had passed away, it was like she was completely alone. She had looked at her father, standing tall, his head bowed in grief. She knew and felt that he had loved her mother in his own silent way, she wanted to go and tell him that she understood, she wanted to oh so much hug him at least once…yet was afraid that he would repel her like he had done all these years.

Maryam did not know what would have become of her these two years if not for her friends at high school. Perhaps it was her sense of style and dressing, because even though she had kept to herself she gradually became a part of one the popular groups. She remained in the background yet did not avoid the attention she received, sometimes welcoming it hungrily. She had always been diligent in her studies but her passion was designing clothes. Her goal had been to become a recognised fashion designer, but somehow she had been lured into the world of modeling.

Down in his room, Sufyaan sat bowed in his chair. His huge posture was of complete defeat and loss. His eyes looked unblinking at a framed photo hanging on his wall. It showed a woman’s pretty smiling face, her red hair blowing wildly in the wind.

 Sufyaan stared at Sally, his dead wife’s happy face. Years ago, he had taken it during the time they had been engaged. Just a year before, he had come from India accepting an invitation from his uncle who ran a busy garage shop known as the ‘Khan Garage Works’. Though his uncle’s business in this foreign country had been successful, his health had not. That was why he had invited his favourite nephew and took him in partnership. And the next year he had died leaving all his property to Sufyaan which amounted to very little except the shop. Then he met Sally and they had quickly married for he had become crazily infatuated with her. Though neither he nor his family was practicing Muslims, Sufyaan like every other non-practicing Muslim knew what the major sins were. Thus it was an honest heart, which had proposed marriage to Sally rather than inviting her towards the other way. And the surprising thing was she had readily accepted him too.

Like every marriage of reality, the enchantment had soon worn off. But he had remained devoted to her though his family upon hearing about his marriage had stopped all communications with him. Moreover, as years went by, Sufyaan discovered that no matter what he did to please her, Sally still remained dissatisfied. But amidst this, Maryam was born. And it was with great joy he had telephoned to his family hoping for a reconciliation, but he heard his father’s gruff voice saying, “Sufyaan? No, you are mistaken, we have no son by that name. Our son died years back.”