Sukoon

8.Fire

As she ran to down the stairs , she came across the same woman, the one she saw on her wedding night . The same woman now stood in front of her with a child in her arms . But that was not shocking ,but her bruised face and her trembling figure was .The way her skin was purple and yellow she knew the woman has lived through domestic violence and god knows what .The sight could have melt down the rock, but the man, who was standing in front of them was expressionless .

Fariq Sultan was livid ,that was a first time a woman has escaped from his clutch and it has hurt his ego really bad .He was going to make her regret doing that . If only she had surrendered to his  , he thought . With that thought in mind he moved down to show the women her place .

The man standing in front of him was the same man she had see all those days ago with Rabiya Begum ,the woman was a tawaif and also the woman who warmed Fariq's bed every night .If she had not seen it with her own eyes she might have not believed the words zaida uttered a day before ,about that woman ,that the man could go this low to fulfil his desires .But she knew now and that was the reason why she had ran down , she was not the woman who would fall victim to his hunger ,she was a fire and she would burn him down without much of a thought .

The same man was looking at her , with lust in his eyes and a cigar in his hand and as he took a step forward , a hand came out of nowhere and fisted her dupatta clad hair and dragged her towards the stairs . "chodho mujhe ", she said fiercely ,but fariq paid no heed to her words and thrown her in the room and took out his belt . In the rest moment came pain and soul tearing hits . The man was hitting the poor soul mercilessly .

But Afreen was still the woman, who had her believe in her creator and she prayed to her Allah to grant her strength to fight this man and after a few moments the hits stopped and the girl's conciousness faded .

Firaq Sultan thought how weak she was ,couldn't even face the few hits .Oh how wrong he was .  

...........

Down the stairs the man standing near the main door was looking at the rifle in his hand ,cursing it , asking himself what was the use of this rifle when he was not able to able to save the only woman he loved ,his Zaida . Zaida was the only person who was keeping him sane .He was not loyal to Fariq Sultan , the man who was not even loyal to himself ,one who never feared power of the almighty . He was not a man, he was demon , who had greed and lust running in his veins . 

The gaurd never took part in any of the dealings Fariq did ,even he tried to sway away the women from coming in the dealer's clutches but could only do much .

Zaida was crying for all the miserable women who were living in Sultan havelli and crushing under the weight of sultan's power . She was not able to save herself and and the other women fom the man but she thought Afreen was someone different . When she came down that day she saw a woman who was not ready to become like the girls she had seen in this havelli , she was a spitfire. But the way Fariq dragged her away ,she feared she will lose the girl . She just prayed that the day never come .She could not see one more lady to be treated like how the other woman were treated .

And Afreen on the other hand was gaining her consiousness and with a determined thought she planned to take down Fariq Sultan .

main sheesha nahi jise tum todh do,(I'm not the mirror you break)main ek aisi aag hun,(I am such a fire)jo tumhe jala kar khakh kar de,(That burns you down)

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Tawaif- A tawaif was a highly sophisticated courtesan who catered to the nobility of the , particularly during the era.

courtesan- A prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele

*Here I'm not speaking ill about it but Organised prostitution (brothels, prostitution rings, pimping, etc.) is illegal.*

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Manya