ASSALAMUALAIKUM!!!!!
I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A MOMENT TO THANK EACH ONE OF YOU READING THIS BOOK. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT!!!!
*Unedited*
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Laiba was having a bad feeling about this 'talk' Aariz wanted to have.
She remembered the conversation she had with Burhaan at Rehaan's earlier that night.
Zeeshan went MIA at the party and according to him, he was in trouble and Aariz texted her saying that he had to take care of something.
And now he tells her they need to talk????
What were the odds that it was about Zeeshan???
And what good had ever occurred to her when it was about Zeeshan?
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Laiba didn't had the time to reach out and grab her hijab from the hanger because Aariz was already inside, shutting the door behind him.
He dropped his shoes by the door and shrugged his jacket off. He moved to the coffee table and emptied his pockets, leaving his keys, his wallet and his cellphone on the table before plopping himself down on the couch.
Laiba stood in her flip flops, clad in her favourite We Bare Bear pyjamas, her hair freely falling on her shoulders, watching Aariz rest his head on the headrest and stare at the ceiling.
Her eyes traveled down his body, her cheeks heating as she recalled their last interaction.
Aariz must have felt her eyes on him because he lowered his chin to look at her.
And when he saw her, he said the first thing that came to his mind.
"You are not wearing your hijab."
Now that he mentioned it, she felt exposed.
Laiba was more than aware that she was not covering and yes, she was feeling extremely shy right then but he was her husband and she wanted to normalise it with him.
She tugged a lock of hair behind her ears, "I know." She looked away, escaping his gaze.
His eyes lingered on her for a moment and then he waved a hand towards the empty single sofa adjacent to the couch, "Come, sit." He offered, "You and I, need to talk." He said as if it was something they did everyday.
Laiba slowly nodded her head, went over there and lowered herself on the sofa.
Seconds ticked by and he didn't say a word.
And when the silence felt too much, she decided to initiate the 'talk' herself.
"What is it?" She urged, anxiously.
Aariz inhaled a sharp breathe, "I need to know something from you." He dropped an open statement.
No hesitation.
Laiba felt her heart racing with anticipation, "Is this-" She braved herself to ask him the question which was nagging in her mind, "Is this about Zeeshan?" She managed to let it out.
He scratched his left brow with a finger, "Maybe."
She pressed her lips together, her chest tightening.
"I need to know what happened when Zeeshan visited your town two years ago." He added after a while.
Laiba stiffened.
Aariz clarified further, "I know I said once I don't wanna get involved in whatever problems you and Zeeshan had or still have with each other but-," He paused, "I just realised I might had missed something I shouldn't had."
Her eyes followed his moments as he ran a hand through his hair and then down his face before dropping it between his legs.
"I could easily make Zeeshan talk but-" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and joining his hands in front of him, "I think there are somethings that he has kept from me. Things he didn't want me to know and things I should know." He tapped a finger on the table between them, "So how about you tell me your side of the story first and let me figure out the rest?"
All she could do right then was stare at him.
It was apparent how unprepared she was for this moment.
She never in a million years thought Aariz would want to know about her past.
After what felt like an hour, when Laiba finally found her voice, she asked him only one question.
"Wh-why?" Her voice came out all broken, "Why now?" That was all she could think of and that was all she could ask him at the moment.
"I told you I'm trying to figure out something." Was his answer.
She took an another minute to contemplate.
Laiba didn't know what his intentions were or why he wanted to know anything about her past but opening up to someone was not something that came easy to her.
Especially, when she barely has any connection with that person.
She thought something and asked him right away, "If I tell you, what are you gonna do about it?"
"About what?"
"About the truth?"
"Guess, we'll find out then."
She sank deeper into the sofa.
She could feel it. She was already given in.
Was she really going to tell him? She couldn't believe it.
Of course, she could always refuse but would that stop Aariz from finding out the truth?
Something told her he will find out one way or the other if he wanted to.
So she thought it was better to tell him her story herself then to have somebody else tell him that.
After much contemplation, Laiba sighed in defeat, deciding on telling him whatever he wanted to know.
"What do you want me to tell you?" It required her to conjure a lot of courage from within herself to make up her mind.
"Everything." He shrugged.
She nodded her head but she wasn't sure from where or how to begin telling him her story.
Aariz saw her hesitation and tried to kick start it for her, "How about you tell me about your family?" He leaned back to his original position.
"My family?" She repeated, sadness shadowing her face.
She had none but she didn't tell him that.
He tilted his head, "I heard you lived with your step mother and step sister."
She bobbed her head, "That's true."
Silence followed.
Maybe it was her cue to continue.
She inhaled and exhaled, bracing herself.
"My mom was an orphan," She told him.
She couldn't remember the last time she spoke about her mother.
"She grew up in an orphanage run by a group of Muslim community."
It felt weird to be talking about her, much less to Aariz.
"My father was a member and he volunteered to marry my mother."
It was like she was testing waters, making sure if she could dive into the story.
"She was 18 when she got married and was a second wife to my father. While she was aware of it, his first wife wasn't. He kept it from his family until my mother passed away due to multiple organ failure and he had to take his six-year-old-daughter, that's me," She pointed to herself, "-to live with his other family."
Aariz looked like he already knew all of it.
She didn't say anything for a while and then she began again, "I don't remember much about my life with my mother. Just a few blurry memories." A small smile tugged at her lips before disappearing into thin air, "What I remember more clearly is the day my dad took me to his house and I met my step mother and step sister for the first time." She chuckled but it was nothing of mirth.
He dropped his gaze to her fumbling fingers and back to her face.
"I mean," She was getting on it, "Imagine one day, your husband brings a little girl out of no where to your home and tells you she's his daughter from his other wife who just passed away." She let out a humourless laugh, "As a woman, I know it's unacceptable. My stepmother might have felt like killing me with her bare hands." She shook her head, "So yeah! I was an abomination, a living, breathing reminder of my father's disloyalty."
He could see how she was slowly opening up to him.
"I don't wanna get into details but yeah, it was the usual, typical, stepmother-stepsister hating on the step-daughter/sister drama everyday for the rest of the life I spent with them." She was trying to make it sound like it was nothing of a big deal.
She didn't want him to pity her.
And he could see that too.
How she was covering up her words with laugher, chuckles and smiles that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"My father..." She gulped, her throat narrowing at the thought of him.
She was afraid of him. It was too obvious to miss.
She hung her head low, so her hair could cover the sides of her face, so he couldn't see her as she told him about her father.
"He was a man with a complex personality," Her voice became small and low, "I like to believe that he was overprotective of me and my sister but sometimes," She licked her lips which had suddenly went dry. "-he could do such things so extreme that I would be forced to believe what other people perceived of him."
She was telling him all of it because she wanted him to understand where she was coming from and why, what Zeeshan did, was such a big deal.
"I come from a society where people strictly follow Islamic Shariyah." She appraised him, tugging her hair behind her ears but not looking up at him, "Where men and women don't mix freely. Where we do not mindlessly interact with opposite gender nor do we befriend them. It's considered a taboo and our elders care too much about their reputation. So much that if one of their children does anything that goes against the moral rules and conduct of the society and which would possibly threaten their reputation in the society, they wouldn't hesitate to cut them out from their lives." She concluded, fisting her hand to prevent it from trembling.
Aariz was so quiet, it was like he wasn't there at all.
And it was, kind of, helping her.
It made it easier for her to tell him things she wouldn't had in normal circumstances.
"I'll tell you an incident." She thought to give him some insights about her family in case he hadn't grasped their mind set.
"First year in university," She squirmed in her seat uncomfortably, "-a guy from the senior year proposed me." She dared a glance at him as she said it.
He arched a brow, otherwise his expression was neutral.
She dropped her gaze back to her lap, "I told him to talk to my father because I was certain he wasn't serious enough to actually take his proposal to him. But to my utter surprise, he did. His parents visited us and asked for my hand for their son." A chill ran down her spain at the memory of what had happened to her at that time, "My stepmother convinced my father that I had an affair going on with that guy and it was all my plan. She made up stories and Handal? She always had her back. She made Handal play witness against me, claiming that she saw me once or twice talking to that guy in the university. And my father, being an overtly paranoid himself, believed them and punished me. I was locked up and wasn't allow to go to the university from that day on."
She sucked in a breathe, "Few months after the incident, I literally begged him to at least allow me to give my exams. And Alhmduillah, he let me. But he didn't trust me anymore. He began questioning my character after than incident and my stepmother began egging on his suspicions."
Laiba fell quiet again, staring at her fingers on her lap.
Aariz bit the insides of his cheek, uncomfortably.
"At this point," She shook her head in disappointment and what looked like distress, "I stopped justifying my innocence to any of them because-" Her shoulders slumped, "-people are gonna believe what they want to believe." She said, "And I was too tired to even speak a word to them." It was getting harder and harder to talk.
He drifted his eyes away from her, giving her space.
"I slept, I ate and just kept to myself." She continued, "And after a while, I kind of became invisible to them. They stopped paying me any heed. It was like...I was a ghost living with them. And that I secretly liked being left alone. Unbothered." She jerked her shoulders.
She looked at him, "So yeah!" She sighed, "My life was back to normal and I was just...existing when-"
She stopped herself mid sentence, her eyes dimming, her face turning serious.
She lifted her gaze and met his.
For seconds they just stared at each other.
And then, she whispered to him.
"When he decided to show up and ruin my life."
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It was just an another ordinary day for Laiba as she ate her dinner in her room while her family was dining out with some distinct relatives she didn't know.
Thunders grumbled outside, winds swinging the windows and curtains to their rhythm while the trees and leaves danced.
Laiba finished her dinner and took the plate downstairs. She put the plate on the kitchen sink and washed her hands, checking her face out in the mirror as she grabbed a hand towel from the stand and wiped her hands dry.
She came out of the kitchen and went towards the dinning table where she filled some water in her glass and dragged a chair out. She sat down and sipped water from her glass.
She checked the clock hung on the wall.
09:43
Her father and his family would be soon back home. She thought, empting the glass and standing up. She pushed the chair back to its place and began walking towards the staircase when she heard the bell.
They were back.
She turned on her feet and made her way to the door instead.
Without checking who it was, she swung open the door, certain that it would her father and his family.
But it wasn't them.
There, a young man stood in front of her whom she didn't recognise.
She blinked, "Sorry," She was quick to lower her gaze, "Father's not home. Can I get a name? I'll inform him you stopped by."
The man kept looking at her.
And then the corners of his lips turned up in amusement.
"Very funny!" He chuckled, "As much as I would love to play this game with you, I'm afraid we don't have time for that right now." He told her, making an apologetic face at her
Laiba was so appalled by what he said that she, instantly, took a step back in the house.
Warning bells were blaring in her head.
It was night time.
She was home alone.
And that stranger was clearly flirting with her.
"You should go!" She dismissed him, strictly.
With that said, she took hold of the door and was in the process of shutting it when he jabbed his one foot forward.
Blocking her from closing the door.
Laiba gasped, stunted by that move from his side.
And in that moment of shock, he pushed the door enough to step inside the house.
He was inside the house and closing the door behind him.
The reality of the situation hit her so hard that she fully screamed with everything she got.
But He was quick.
He clasped his hand over her mouth, muffling her screams.
"Laiba!"
"Laiba!"
"Shhhh..."
"Laiba!"
"Calm down!"
"What are you doing?"
He was trying to shush her whereas Laiba was struggling to get his hands off her mouth.
"Laiba!"
"Just calm down!"
"Listen to me!"
"Laiba!"
Now she was on the verge of crying and he could see that too.
"Hey! I'm not going to hurt you...I'm only here to talk."
"Just hear me once out and I'll be gone."
She closed her eyes, a drop of tear rolling down her cheeks.
But she stopped fighting and so he dropped his hands too.
Laiba stumbled away from him, pressing herself against the wall, "Please..." She joined her hands, "My father will be home any time now. Please go...." She begged, more tears falling from her eyes.
"I knowww...." He said pleadingly, "I know I shouldn't have come but I need to talk to you. I'm going back tomorrow. I want a closure before I go home." He hurriedly explained why he was there.
She shook her head, wiping her cheeks, "What are you saying? I don't even know you..." Her voice cracked, "Just go please. I beg you...." She cried, "Please...."
The guy just stood there and stared at her, confused.
Right then, the door to the house opened.
Laiba and the guy snapped their heads in that direction just as Laiba's father entered.
Followed by Handal and her mother.
On seeing the scene in front of them, they halted at the threshold.
Wide-eyed, shocked.
There was complete silence for a jiffy.
And then, Laiba broke into sobs and made a run towards her father.
The guy was stoned on his place, his lips sealed.
"Abi!"
"Abi!"
"Abi!"
She quickly took hold of her father's arm and pointed an accusing finger at the guy, "I-I...do-don't...kno-know...he-him...he...forcefully...ca-ca-me inside..."
She was telling him between her cries when her stepmother came forward and grabbed her, by her hair, "Shameless bit*h!!!!" She pulled her back.
Laiba cried in pain, trying to release her hair from her grip.
"You think you can fool us now that you've been caught red handed???"
She felt like someone punched her in the gut.
"Nooooohh!" She shook her head, vigourously, "I swear on Allah I don't know him. Please...believe me. Pleaseee...." She joined her hands, crying.
Hayat Hussain tore his eyes away from his daughter and then looked pointed at the stranger inside his house.
He glared at him, "WHO ARE YOU?" He demanded from him in a strong, loud and angry voice, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING INSIDE MY HOUSE.?????" His nostrils were flaring and his face was turning red from rage.
The stranger didn't give him an answer.
Instead, he only kept his eyes trained on Laiba.
His silence made Hayat Hussain so furious than he stomped straight away towards the stranger and grabbed his collar.
"I ASKED, WHO ARE YOU?????" He brawled.
Isha Hayat Hussain, Laiba's stepmother pushed Laiba to the ground, "Maybe you should ask her, Hussain, "It's not the first time she had lovers." She was seething.
Laiba shut her eyes firmly, sobbing and shaking her head.
Hayat Hussain ignored his wife and faced the stranger, "WILL YOU GIVE ME AN ANSWER OR SHOULD I CALL THE POLICE??????" He threatened him.
The guy, who was in a state of shock until now, wavered at that threat.
He quivered, "I-m...I'm," He gulped, "I'm sorry, Sir." He apologised in a low, scared voice, "I shouldn't have come. I didn't-" He sighed, "This is not how I wished for thing to go." He hung his head low in shame.
Laiba's stepmother snorted, "Your lover speaks." She threw a sly glance towards Laiba.
Hayat Hussain clenched his jaw, "Who are you???? Why are you here??" He interrogated, harshly.
"I'm...." He hesitated.
Hayat Hussain pushed his against the wall, "What were you doing inside my house????" He gritted his teeth.
"I-" He stole a glance at Laiba.
"Do you know her??" Isha Hayat Hussain questioned him, "Did she invite you? Did she let you in???"
He looked at Laiba and she was only crying and shaking her head but he did what she was the most afraid of.
He nodded his head, "Yes but-"
That was it.
Whatever he was about to say went unheard because her stepmother began striking at her.
"I knew it!"
"I knew it!"
"Whores only breeds whores!"
"What else can one expect from a whores daughter!"
Laiba didn't had the chance to defend herself because her stepmother began beating her merciless.
She didn't hear her pleas, her cries nothing. She didn't let her talk at all.
Meanwhile, her father was pulling the stranger out of the house with him and was threatening him saying that if he was ever to be seen in the town, he was going to kill him.
Handal was just standing there, her hands clasped on her mouth but not daring to help her.
And when her father came back in the house, he had this murderous look on his face.
He looked so angry, so angry that Laiba was sure he was going to kill her that night.
"Like mother, like daughter!"
"Whores!!"
"How dare you slut? How dare you let that haraami in my house????"
"Look what day your slut's daughter brought on us, Hussain!!"
"I told you, didn't I? I warned you this girl will be the end of us, didn't I???"
Her stepmother just couldn't stop talking.
Hayat Hussain was already so furious and she was only fuelling his anger, more and more.
Laiba was all alone, miserable and helpless.
She was screaming and shouting and crying and begging them to listen to her.
Literally begging them to trust her.
To hear her out.
To believe her.
But no! They believed what they wanted to believe.
She was slapped.
She was beaten.
But it wasn't the physical pain for her that broke her.
It was the things her stepmother said about her.
"Not only did she had an affair going on behind our backs but she had the guts to let that haraami in my house????"
"I don't know how many boys she had done the haram deed with but I'm sure that haraami wasn't the first one."
"She's a dirt, Hussain!!! And she has been spreading her dirt behind our backs for as long as you can even think of."
She was saying things about her no woman deserves.
The bad names and labels she used on her and her mother killed her.
She completely defeated her with her hateful words that night.
She crushed her dignity, wrecked her self-respect, her integrity.
Humiliated her and accused her of adultery without any hesitation or doubt.
"I will not tolerate her in my house even for a second now!!"
"Either she will be here or me!!!"
And just like that, she made sure it was Laiba's last day in that house.
"What are you waiting for, Hussain????"
"Throw this dirt out of my house!!!!"
The next thing she knew, she was being dragged out of the house by her father.
Her father, who was her only family left in the world, didn't even once listen to her.
Didn't give her a chance to explain herself.
He blinded believed in the stranger and his wife.
He chose to believe in his wife.
He chose her.
And he threw her out of his house.
"Shame on you!" He spat at her with so much hatred that it felt like the venom from his voice was already choking on her.
"I did a huge mistake by marrying your mother and breeding a whore like you!"
"I did a huge mistake by bring you to my house!"
"I wish you would had died in her uterus and were never born at all."
"There's no place for a shameless daughter like you in my life or in my house!"
"Be gone! I don't want to see your face ever again."
"You are dead to me!"
"I'll pretend I nerve had you for the rest of my life."
"Be grateful I'm letting you leave my house, alive."
"But if you show me your face ever again, I'll kill you myself."
With all that said, he shut the door on her.
Forever.
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When she finished, the room was as quiet as a graveyard.
The lights were dimmed out and the windows rattled against the wind, curtains swaying back and forth.
Back and forth.
The weight of everything Laiba told Aariz, hung heavily in the air between them.
Aariz averted his gaze just as a tear slipped from her eyes.
Laiba pressed a hand on her chest and felt a cyclone building right in the centre.
"I'm sorry." She apologised just as tears welled up her eyes, blurring her vision, her voice wrenching.
Whatever control she had on herself, she lost all of it right then.
Tears were uncontrollably falling from her eyes.
Aariz took a deep breathe, uneasiness building up inside him.
She shut her eyes, "I'm sorry." She repeated, biting her bottom lip, chaining her sobs from breaking out of her lips.
But a sob escaped, nonetheless.
"I'm sorry." She covered her face with both her hands and shook her head, not able to stop herself.
Heat poured in his chest and he gulped.
"I'm-I'm sorry." She was apologising again and again, out of embarrassment.
The more she was trying to not cry, the more she was crying.
Tears were freely falling from her eyes and there seemed to be no way to stop it.
She was wiping her tears and rubbing her face so much that it had turned bright pink.
And every time she thought she was done, she was sniffing, sobbing and crying all over again.
Aariz realised in that moment that Laiba was not just crying, she was falling apart...
He turned his face to the other side and didn't look at her afterwards.
Several long moment stretched out between them.
While Laiba was still struggling to compose herself, Aariz leaned forward and transferred some water from the jug to the glass that was kept on the coffee table.
He pushed the glass towards her, "Drink!" He ordered, tapping the sides of the glass.
Laiba pushed the strands of her hair from her face and slowly glanced up at him.
Aariz let his gaze roam over her face.
Her eyes were red, her lips were swollen and she very much looked broken right then.
"I'm sorry." She apologised in a shaky voice, her bottom lips quivering, her fingers trembling.
He sighed, "It's okay, Laiba." He closed his eyes and opened them in assurance, "Here," He gestured towards the glass, "Drink some water."
She kept looking at him for a minute and then she bobbed her head before extending her hand and taking the glass.
Aariz propped his elbows on his knees and joined his hands in front of him. He rested his chin on top of his hands and watched her as she drank the water.
"Thanks." She placed the glass back on the table but didn't look up at him.
His eyes followed her moments as she retrieved her hand and placed it back on her lap.
He opened his mouth to say something but thought against it.
"You should sleep." He told her, instead.
Laiba looked up at him from under her eyelashes.
"Is it-" Her voice came out hoarse from all the crying, "Is that all you have to say."
Aariz exhaled, his eyelids closing and opening.
"Laiba," He murmured her name, her shoulders slumping, "I think it's enough for now." He said, something deep in his voice, "We will talk about this later."
He wanted her to rest and he wanted time to think over whatever he had learnt from her today.
She thought about it and nodded her head.
"Alright." He stood up, carrying an emotional baggage on his shoulders.
Laiba sat where she was, watching him pick his things and leave.
Aariz was almost out of the door when he turned back and spoke to her, "Thanks for....trusting me." He said, his eyes sincere.
He thought, he owed her that much.
Laiba gave him a tired, half smile, her eyelids heavy because of crying.
And then, he was gone.
Leaving her to herself and to all those bad memories that she dug up for him.
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Sorry guys! I'd have updated sooner but I fell sick for a couple days in between.
Hope you liked the chapter.
Comment down your views.
See you soon.
Quash.