Arham had been given another shot of sedative on suggestion of the psychologist. Yusuf and Meher has sat on the couch the entire night not exchanging any words.
The morning Adhan (prayer call) made the two finally move from their spots.
Yusuf left the room to pray in the prayer room in the hospital whereas Meher did her wudu (ablution) and used the floor carpet as a prayer mat. She used her dupatta to cover her head and body and got down on her knees to pray.
She silently prayed to her god, for he was the only one she had right now, it was true, nobody loves you more than he does. So she would move on in life with her Allah in her heart and her faith in him and him only.
She raised her hand in dua.
'Give me peace mere rabb, and the strength to look at all of them without feeling any ill feeling towards them, for even if they brought me in their lives for their own selfish reasons they have given me love I've never received before. Give me patience and tolerance so I can move past this phase of my life as well, I know with you by my side I will, be with me always mere maula.'
She opened her eyes still in Sajda, the heaviness and darkness surrounding her heart since yesterday had left her, she felt lighter, like there was still hope in the world, like things could still be okay.
"Kya maanga khuda se?" Hooriya asked looking at Meher who still sat on her prayer mat. (What did you ask from him ?)
"Nawazaazish, sabr , sukoon aur maazarat."
(Kindness, patience, peace and forgiveness)
"Voh toh sab tumhe hai he Meher." Hooriya said. (You poses all of that already Meher.)
"Not anymore." Meher replied getting up.
"Nafrat ho gayi hogi na mujhse ?" (Dont you must hate me now.)
"Kaash ho paati toh ye takleef thodi cum toh hoti." (I wish I could, at least I wouldn't hurt so much then.)
"Apno ke diye zakhm kaatilana hote hai Hooriya baaji, aur agar jaan na jaye toh rooh ko toh maar he dete hai." (The wounds given to you by your family are the worst, they kill you and even if they don't kill you they crush your soul)
"Muaf kar do Meher, I've spoilt your life." (Forgive me.)
"I forgive you Hooriya Baaji, when Allah can forgive us all, who am I to not forgive you." Meher said, she walked towards Hooriya's bed and sat down on the stool. She took Hooriya's hand in hers and kissed the back of her palm.
"You gave me love which my own mother had kept me devoid of, you gave me a family, a name, hope, love so I'll remember you for all these things rather than for the pain and betrayal, it will take time for me to get over this but never will I hate you, I will always love you, you are like an older sister to me, you have mothered me, I will always love you." She said as a stray tear left her eyes.
"But hooriya baaji if you ask me to take your place, be your husband's wife, I can't." Meher whispered.
Meher looked at Hooriya who was silently sobbing, she had killed the innocent girl Meher had once been, she had taken away the most precious thing away from her and here Meher was forgiving her for robbing everything away from her.
"I hope Allah forgives me too Meher." She said her voice cracking. "I don't know how I'll face him."
"You'll face him bravely, you are a beautiful soul hooriya baaji, don't forget you are only human and we are allowed to make mistakes, don't worry, you are okay, we are okay." She said holding Hooriya's hand in hers.
The loud sqeeking of the door made the two woman turn around to face Safa and Yusuf.
Safa walked in with a small smile on her face.
"Assalam Walekum."
"Walekum Assalam." Meher replied back.
"You.. you look better than you did yesterday." Safa said carefully.
"I feel much better." Meher replied giving Safa a small smile.
"You should go home and rest beta, come after you've taken a nap, Yusuf said you haven't slept all night."
"Aunty I'm okay I don't -."
"Go Meher, I'll be here when you come back, we have enough time to catch up again." Hooriya said with an enthusiastic smile.
Meher looked at her and nodded. She got up from the stool and walked towards the door.
"Meher." Safa called out. Safa walked towards her and wrapped her arms around Meher pulling her into a hug.
"Thank you mere bacche, and I'm so sorry." She whispered.
Meher too raised her hand and wrapped then around Safa comforting her.
Pulling out of the hug, Meher looked at Yusuf who was looking at her intensly.
"Shall we ?" He asked to which Meher just nodded.
The entire drive towards the Butt's house in Islamabad was a silent one.
Yusuf stopped in the driveway of the large white mansion, smaller than the one in Lahore but yet quite big.
He got out of the car and walked to the other end to open Meher's door. Meher who was lost in her thoughts hadn't realised they had stopped.
"Come." Yusuf said as Meher stepped out. They walked inside the house.
"Salam bhaijaan." Greeted a voice at the door .
"Arey Waris ! How are you, look at you, you have grown a beard huh ?" Yusuf chuckled patting the young boy of around 17 on his back.
"How are you bhaijaan."
"Handsome as ever ?" He said with a smirk cocking his eyebrow.
"Am I not Nadia ?" He said looking to his right.
Meher followed his gaze to see a young girl around 16-17 quickly duck behind the wall.
"You embarrassed her." Warish said letting out a laughter. "She still has her crush on you."
"I'm flattered." Yusuf said with a smile. "Waris this is Meher, she's Arha... she's family, please ask Nadia to show her one of the guest bedroom and bring her a set of clothes to change into."
Yusuf turned to face Meher and said, "Get some rest, call me if you need anything at all."
Meher looked at him and then averted her gaze not giving him an answer. Yusuf sighed and walked up the stairs, he couldn't take this anymore, he couldn't look at her with her cold, soulless eyes staring back at him, looking at him like they were looking at a stranger.
Meher watched him climb up the stairs with slouched shoulders, if she could, she would put into words how much Yusuf had hurt her, she had thought about it a lot, she kept on thinking about why everyone had done what they did and she could justify all their reasons to have lied except Yusuf, why had he lied to her ?
"Baaji.. baaji !" Her chair of thoughts were broken as the young boy Yusuf had referred earlier to as Waris stepped closer to her with a girl who looked very similar to him standing behind her.
She was a couple of inches shorter than him, but the two had similar features, the young girl looked at her with twinkling moss green eyes.
"I'm waris and this is my twin sister Nadia, we are the kids of the caretaker of this house Mohammad Abdullah." Waris introduced himself and his sister.
"I'm Meher." She said giving the two a small smile.
"You are beautiful." Said Nadia immediately covering her mouth at the sudden word vomit.
"And so are you." Meher replied giving her a smile.
"Come baaji let me show you your room otherwise you'll be stuck here all day listening to her blabber." Waris said rolling his eyes at his sister who playfully stuck her tongue out at him.
Meher followed Waris to the first floor, he pushed the first door open on the right and entered followed by Meher into a spacious and well lit bedroom.
"This is your room, right opposite is Yusuf bhaijaan's room and at the end is Arham bhai and Hooriya Bhabhi's room, on the second floor is Butt Sahab's room and office." He said explaining the geography of the house.
"I'll ask Nadia to send some clothes for you and Yusuf bhai asked me to send tea as well so I'll do that." Waris said and turned around and left.
Meher saw the white painted walls, and the large four poster bed, this house was more vintage and minimalistic than the one back in Lahore.
Meher walked towards the window and pushed the curtain aside letting the sunlight in, she sat on the bed, the soft texture calling her to sleep.
Meher pushed herself out of bed and headed to the con joint bathroom to freshen up.
After doing her business she steeped out to see Nadia standing near the bed with a set of clothes in her hands.
"Assalam Walekum." Nadia said bashfully.
"Walekum salam Nadia." Meher greeted her making her blush.
Nadia extended her hand holding the deep magenta organza salwar kurta. "I got you clothes." She said. "I hope you don't mind, these are Hooriya Bhabhi's clothes, these were all that were available." Nadia said her eyes trained on the floor.
"I don't mind." Meher said with a smile. "Hooriya baaji ki utran he mera maazi tha aur shayad mera mustaqbil bhi." (Her hand me downs have been my past and maybe will my future too.)
"Ji ?" (I'm sorry )
"Kuch Nahi, shukriya." Meher said before closing the door behind Nadia's retreating frame.
•••
AN: I have never been a religious person, but writing this chapter today made me realise that it's true, when we have no one we always call out for that someone we have never seen but have our faiths invested in.
Whatever religion you follow, whichever gods you pray too, when you need someone by your side, when everyone leave you, his presence is always there.
Forgiving someone is the most difficult thing one could do, it takes a lot of courage and strength to forgive, not everyone can let go things so easily and continue life without holding a grudge but if we try, life would be so much more peaceful.
Many of you are angry at Hooriya and justifiably so, but everything she did was out of love, I will personally never understand her or her actions, maybe unless I fall so deeply in love with someone. But I like Hooriya as a person in general she's been nothing but kind to Meher since the beginning.
Let me know what you think about the chapter. I think the last 2-3 chapters are left plus the epilogues (there will be 2 epilogues for sure)
A lot of you wanted a sequel to the book, but I'm sorry this story will end with this book, however there will a lot of other characters I'll be giving life to in other stories so you can always check those books out.
350 again for the next
The rest of all your doubts will be answered to in the next chapter.
Till then stay safe
lots of love
xoxo