Wabasta | Complete ✔

Chapter 11

The next morning Aman woke up to find Adil in the kitchen making breakfast. It was a Sunday and he'd usually be sleeping. This was out of the ordinary.

"Good morning." Adil greeted him as he came in.

"Good morning. Tum aaj itni subah uth gaye? Aur breakfast bhi bana raha ho?"

"Haan aaj socha ek saath breakfast karlete hai. Dusre din toh main university chala jaata hoon. It'll be nice to sit together and have breakfast for a change."

Aman gave him a weak smile. He knew why he was putting in the effort. Somehow, somewhere Adil had seen through his facade of normalcy. He knew something wasn't right and he probably also knew the reason.

"I know you want to talk about last night. And I want to as well, but ussey pehle mujhe kahin jana hai."

"Abhi?"

"Nahi. Breakfast first." He smiled at him. No matter what the urgency, it would kill him to see his brother's efforts go waste. The two of them sat down and enjoyed their food, mostly in silence, but it was a good silence.

"Where do you want to go? Main drop kardoon aapko?"

"Nahi uski zaroorat nahi hai. I'll take a cab."

"Okay but jana kahan hai aapko?"

Aman remained silent momentarily before answering.

"Firdaus ke ghar."

*****

It was a gloomy morning. After the previous night's debacle neither Shagufta nor Zaitoon Bano could get proper sleep. Firdaus was sleping though, with the help of string sedatives the doctor had prescribed.

They were in the kitchen table having tea when the bell rang.

"Main jaake dekhti hoon," Zaitoon said getting up.

Upon opening the door, she was dumbfounded to see Aman standing there.

"Aman? Beta tum yahan kya kar rahe ho? Aur tumhe ghar ka pata kahan se mila?"

"Jahan chah hoti hai wahan rah hoti hai khala. Main bas ek baar, sirf ek baar Firdaus se baat karna chahta hoon. Jaanna chahta hoon ke akhir uski iss halat ki wajah kya hai. Itne saalon ke dosti ke baad, kya mera itna sab hi haq nahi hai?"

Zaitoon fumbled, she didn't what she could say to him that would make him change his mind.

"Tumne kal suna na beta, Shagufta baaji ne kya kahan? Woh tumhe ussey milne ki ijazat kabhi nahi dengi." She took a pause, "aur mere khyal se Firdaus bhi milna nahi chahegi. Woh ab woh Firdaus nahi rahi jisey tum chhor kar gaye the. Woh badal chuki hai, bohat badal chuki hai."

"Insaan badal jate hai khala, jazbaat bhi badal jate hai. Lekin kuch rishte aise hote hai joh humare lakh chahne par bhi nahi badalte."

"Beta tum –" before she could complete her sentence Shagufta's voice came from behind her. She had heard everything.

"Usey kehde woh jahan se aya hai wohi wapis chala jaye. Yahan uske liya kuch nahi rakha hai."

Zaitoon moved aside and opened the door wider letting Aman see Shagufta standing inside.

"I'm sorry aunty lekin main iss baat se agree nahi karta."

"Tum agree nahi karte yeh tumhari problem hai. Hum logon ko tumse koi lena dena nahi hai. Zaitoon bi, darwaza band kardein."

Zaitoon looked at Aman, she was feeling sorry at his state.

"Aunty plea –" He huffed. "Khala aap toh kuch kahe?"