Wabasta | Complete ✔

Chapter 10

"Iss sawaal ka jawaab dena mere liye asaan nahi hai beta. Tumhare jaane ke baad sab kuch badal gaya." Zaitoon looked up at him again. "Jiss din tum gaye the, usi din ek accident mein Dawood sahb ka inteqaal hogaya. Firdaus bhi usi accident mein bohat zakhmi hogayi thi. Woh log tumse milne airport jaa rahe the."

Aman could feel the world around him falling apart. This new piece of information that Zaitoon gave him was something he could have never thought of. When he reached London, he kept trying to contact Firdaus but to no avail. It was only a few months later his parents had told him that Dawood Jahan had passed away in an accident. They did not give him the details, but after getting to know about it he became desperate to talk to Firdaus. But it was too late by then. He had gotten to know from his friends that she and her family left Islamabaad for good. To where, nobody knew.

He had no idea at all, that this accident that he got to know of so late, actually occurred on the same day he left, and he also did not know that Firdaus was injured in it. Everything would have been different if he did.

Aman remained mum. He had no clue what to say. Zaitoon was going to say something further but she was cut short by Shagufta, who stood a few feet away and looked at them with a sharp, cutting gaze.

"Zaitoon bi, aap ko kisi se baat karne ki koi zaroorat nahi hai. Firdaus ab behtar hai. Doctor ne kaha hai ke hum use thodi der mein ghar le jaa sakte hai."

"Shagufta aunty..." Aman took a few steps towards her but before he could say anything she turned away and went inside the room. He looked at Zaitoon who pitifully looked back at him.

"Beta, tum ghar chale jao. Yahan ab hum dono hai, Firdaus ko sambhal lenge."

"Par khala, aapne abhi tak mujhe mere sawaal ka jawaab nahi diya. Firdaus ke saath kya hua tha, woh kyun aisi halat mein hai? Yahan par koi mere sawaalon ka jawaab nahi de raha khala, ab aap bhi mujhse nazre chura rahi hai." his voice croaked.

There was desperation in his voice which Zaitoon could sense. But it was not upto her, even if she wanted to, to put him out of his misery.

"Kuch sawaal jawab lekar nahi aate Aman. Aur agar ate hai toh unke jawaab aise hote hai ke woh sunne se na sunna hi behtar hai, kyunki woh dard ke ilawa aur kuch nahi de sakte."

Her words left him even more perplexed than he was before. What was she hinting at? Before Aman could ask her something more she quickly left his side and went inside the room. The door opened wide enough for him to glance inside and see a glimpse of Firdaus. She was awake, and coincidentally she looked out the door at the same time as well.

The brief moment for which their eyes collided had brought upon a plethora of emotions on Aman. There was pain, there was guilt and there was yearning, a lot of it. 6 years, 6 long years he had waited to see her again, and now that he finally did he did not know what to do.

*****

He waited there for another few hours before Shagufta finally came out. She did not say anything to him, and asked the nurse to guide her to the reception to take the discharge papers. Aman followed her silently, trying his best not to be noticed.

After Shagufta left the reception desk, there was a copy of the papers left on it unattended. He quickly took out his phone and clicked a picture of the contact details and address on the form, then left as silently as he came.

When he got back to the corridor, he saw Shagufta and Zaitoon preparing to leave, finally mustering up the courage to approach them.

"Aunty, kya main ussey mil sakta hoon?"

"Nahi. Behtar hoga ke tum yahan se chale jao. Hum kuch der mein usey lekar ghar jaa rahe hai." She put her words across words strongly and started walking away but he was resilient.

"Please ek baar mujhe ussey baat karne dein. Main ussey saare gile-shikwe door karna chahta hoon. Ussey maafi mangna chahta hoon. Usko batana chahta hoon ke –"

"Aman zidd mat karo."

"Aunty main...main ussey mohabbat karta hoon!"

He didn't know what took over him that he confessed his feelings out loud. In the whole while he and Firdaus were together he never said it out loud.

"Please," he whimpered, tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes.

"Nahi, jiss larki sey tum mohabbat karte the woh 6 saal pehle apne baap ke sath usi accident mein marr gayi thi. Andar jo larki zinda hokar bhi nahi hai, jo sirf naam ke khaatir jee rahe hai, woh meri beti hai. Sirf meri beti. Aur main ussey aur takleef nahi de sakti."

"Main usey takleef dene nahi aya hoon. Main usey kabhi takleef nahi pahuncha sakta." He pursed his lips and pleaded.

Shagufta sucked in a deep breath. She did not want to argue with him in that situation.

"Mere saamne girgirane ka koi faida nahi hai. Woh tumse milna nahi chahti."

Aman couldn't fathom the reasons behind the harshness of her words. His heart didn't believe it. He wanted to say something but the lump that formed in his throat didn't let the words come out. He kept standing there, motionless, while they walked away.

*****

Adil was at the door in just one bell, clearly he was not sleeping.

"Bhai? What happened? Aap kahan they itne der? Do you realise how worried you got me? Maine aap doston ko bhi phone kiya, un sab ne kaha ke aap bohat pehle hi nikal chuke hai. Where in the world were you?!"

Aman came in silently. He sat down on the couch and looked down.

"I met her today. Firdaus."

Even in the dim lighting Aman could see the expression on his face changing.

"Woh yahan Lahore mein kya kar rahi hai? Aur aap unse kahan mile?"

"Pata nahi. Baaki main tumhe sab subha bataunga. Abhi bohat raat ho rahi hai. I'm sleepy." He lied. "Tum bhi jaake so jao. Subha baat karte hai. And can you do me a favour? Ammi aur baba ko mat batana iss baare mein."

"Okay, but-"

"Goodnight Adil."

He got up and walked straight to his room without giving Adil a chance to reply. He was not sleepy. He couldn't have slept even if he wanted to. He had questions, lots of them, that he needed the answers to. And there was only one person who could give it to him.