You Will Be My Ruin

Chapter 18

Mira

'Kya? Are you out of your mind?' Daadi gasped in shock.

I nodded nervously, turning my face away from her. I didn't have the nerve to tell her what had happened in the hospital.

'Mira, listen betey...' She took my hand in hers. 'Look at me.' She turned my face towards her with her other hand. 'Tell me, what's wrong? Kya huwa?' There was nothing but deep concern in her eyes.

As I stared longingly into her eyes, tears started forming around mine and I broke out into a sob.

'Ya Allah! Khair! Btao na larki... What happened? Why are you crying?' She took me in her arms and caressed my hair until I regained myself.

'Daadi... Dr. Asher...' I managed to speak between sobs.

'Yes, what happened to him?'

'He's...'

'Is he okay?' she urged.

'Daadi, he's... he's Ahad's elder brother,' I said it slowly, wiping off the tear from my cheek.

'Ahad?' Daadi crossed her brows in utter confusion. I felt a bit agitated at Daadi for not remembering who Ahad was. Despite me narrating her the story a thousand times, she always chose to forget it.

'Kaun Ahad?' she continued asking.

'Daadi... you know him... The guy I met in London... who... who...' I stuttered, shivering at the memory of that horrible incident.

'Oh... acha... Haan... I remember him now...' Daadi gradually gathered the bits of her memory and seemed to remember everything I had told her about Ahad.

I wondered how she chose to forget the story that had altered my life forever.

Almost a decade ago, when Ahad dropped me back at my place in London, he turned his back on me without saying anything. Though I constantly insisted him to not bring me back to the place where I had run from, he chose not to listen to me, even for once.

With a heavy heart, I stepped inside my house (it was a house for me and not a home because home was where my real parents were) only to watch my foster parents – Chacha and Chachi – in a miserable condition. I can still never forget the guilt-stricken look on their faces. Before I turned up, they had been blaming themselves for not able to look after me properly after my parent's death. Chaacha had filed a complaint at the local police station that I was missing and asked them to find about my whereabouts as soon as possible. However, I did not let that situation arrive. Before police could locate me, Ahad had dropped me back.

When I finally showed up, a relief washed over my foster parents' faces. Chaachi took me in her arms, crying uncontrollably. Once she was done showing her concern for me, Chaacha came up to me and asked me to speak the truth. He wanted me to tell him where I was for the whole night. I knew I would land into a major trouble if I told them the truth. They already knew about my affair with Alex so it was possible for them to believe I had run away with him. Not wanting to upset them or make my life further miserable, I deliberately chose to lie to them. I told them I had not run away from the house. I had merely gone over my friend, Moni's place for a sleepover as I was feeling isolated at my place. It was difficult for them to believe me, especially for Chaacha, but ultimately, he bought my truth.

I was relieved to make them buy my fake story. But I didn't know my relief would only be short-lived. I had still not recuperated from the shock Alex had given me. For my parent's sake, I resumed going to school as I did not want them to have a doubt about my mental stability. I could not risk telling them how despondent and miserable I had been feeling.