She woke up early today and enthusiastically performed her fajr prayer. She asked for Allah's forgiveness for disappointing her mother and promised HIM that she would never do the opposite of what she had told her.
Going to the kitchen, she decided to make breakfast for Tabinda. As she was placing the fried egg alongside toast and mug of tea in the tray, Rutba Begum entered.
"Dadi Jaan, I set breakfast for you on the table. Where did you come by yourself?" She looks at her quizzically.
"Where are you taking this to?" She pointed towards the tray in her hand.
"For Ammi. In her room," she replied.
"No, give me instead. You can't go to her before I have a word with her. She will get furious again."
"But Dadi--"
"Nisha beta. Try to understand. First, let me talk to her." She pulled out her hands towards her. "Give me this."
She grimaced before giving the tray to her. "Dadi Jaan, what about Aqia Khala and...Haider? Did they leave already?"
Rutba Begum sighed. "Haider has refused to marry you."
"What?" She almost screamed.
"You go and have breakfast. I go to your mother in the meanwhile." She squeezed her shoulders in reassurance.
When Rutba Begum reached Tabinda's room, she stopped in her track to find her already coming out.
"Amma Jaan, you?" She mumbled. "I was already coming to talk to you."
"I also had to discuss Nisha's matter with you. Come inside," Rutba Begum said.
They both went inside and sat on two sofas.
"Till how long are you going to do this? She hasn't committed any sin, Tabinda. She is a child. She just made a mistake. Forgive her. What happened the last day was a coincidence. Haider didn't come to pick her up. She was afraid of the rain. Ruhaan came by chance and she just accepted his offer. And those calls, they were just a few. They were just friends. If you want, I can talk to Haider."
Tabinda scoffed in defeat. "Because of the father, I lost my husband and because of the son, I not only lost my daughter but my sister as well."
"Ruhaan doesn't know anything," Rutba Begum argued.
"But your granddaughter knew everything!" Tabinda yelled. "Yet she maintained contact with him. I will never forgive her."
"Why are you digging into the past, Tabinda? Just let it go. The children can become a way to lessen the sourness of the brothers' relationship. Just stop this. Sikandar has long gone. Sufiyan even didn't have an easy death. He even asked for forgiveness from you multiple times," Rutba Begum reasoned.
"I am sorry I can't forget anything, Amma Jaan. This conversation isn't leading us anywhere. Let's come to the point." She straightened herself and looked directly into her eyes. "I love my husband and I vowed to myself that I will never have any contact with his murderer's family and I am still on that vow. But the thing is now this involves my daughter whom I love as much as my husband. It's a test for two sets of love. One for husband and one for daughter and I can't let any of that love overpower the other one."
"Amma Jaan," she started. "You arrange a ceremony of Nisha's nikkah with your grandson."
"What?" Rutba Begum was confused and surprised.
"You heard me," she mumbled. "In the next week whatever day suits you but I want her out of my house as soon as possible."
"What are you saying, Tabinda?"
"I have decided; I want her out of my sight due to my promise to my dead husband that I will never hold any connection with the family of his murderer and I want her to marry the one she likes for my love for her. And that's my final word, after her marriage, I will be dead for her and she will be dead for me."
"You have contact with me as well, Tabinda. I am also the murderer's mother then why are you doing this to your daughter?" She attempted her last resort to make up her mind.
In one nook of her heart, she was happy about the marriage of her grandchildren but the other one didn't want it to happen like this. She wanted a happy marriage for them.
"You are different. You are our mother. Moreover, I don't want to talk about this. Arrange the ceremony, Amma Jaan. Don't worry, I will participate in it," she finished whatever she had to say and got up.
"How do you know Nisha likes Ruhaan?" Rutba Begum asked.
One side of Tabinda's lip shot up. "She is my daughter, I know her well. I always got the vibes of her not being happy with Haider's proposal for her. Now I got the reason for it. Tell her about my decision."
"And how are you so assured my grandson will agree to marry your daughter?" Rutba Begum too stood up and confronted her.
"No one meets and calls secretly without any feelings. I am not a child to not know this," Tabinda replied.
Rutba Begum too somehow related to her point. Ruhaan wasn't like this to keep friendships with girls. She knew this fact. She never heard for once about any girl from him when he was abroad as well. And now if he did this, there might be some feelings attached which as per Nisha's words he might have backed off when he heard she was already committed.
"Are you sure?" Rutba Begum said.
Tabinda nodded. "Yes, I am. Tell her this on my behalf and also that I will not be keeping any contact with her after that. For me, she is dead but I always wish her the best."
"Ammi---" They both turned their heads towards the door when a loud sound of falling glass reverberated. Nisha had tears in her eyes as she scrambled in her mother's direction.
"Ammi, what are you saying?" She whimpered out loud.
"I said what you heard. And go away before I lose my control," Tabinda uttered disgustingly.
"How can you do this to me? Please forgive me. I promise I won't do this again. I...I am ashamed of what I did. I know I shouldn't have done this but---"
"If you are ashamed then why did you do this in the first place?" Tabinda suddenly shouted and raised her hand towards her face but quickly controlled it midway. Nisha flinched at this sudden attack.
Tabinda turned towards her mother-in-law. "Amma Jaan, ask her to go away. Or else I will have no choice but to disown her right at this moment."
Disown! She felt the ground had been pulled away from her feet. Her legs started quivering in fear. She always knew her mother was upright, an ambassador of truthfulness, and taut in her beliefs. She did what she said. She never saw her giving any relaxation to her Sufiyan uncle or anyone related to him. Even sometimes she hushed off her grandmother too when she tried to indulge in their personal affair. And the worst was she despite being aware of everything chose that destroying path. And she knew deserved it too. But still, one part of her heart wanted a bit of soft corner from her mother as her only child.
"Beta, go to your room." Rutba Begum panicked upon hearing those words from Tabinda. She knew she was capable of doing what she declared a while ago.
Nisha looked at her grandmother with tear-filled wishful eyes. Rutba Begum raised her hand and gestured for her to leave. She glanced one last time at her mother before rushing out.
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It was the afternoon when Rutba Begum reached home. She left Tabinda's place after failing to appease her about Nisha's matter. How much she knew her daughter-in-law's nature, she very much knew Nisha had dug her own grave by harboring feelings for Ruhaan. She was very rigid in her love for her husband but still, on the other hand, something could be tried to get her to understand since it concerned none other than her beloved daughter.
How ironic it was that she wanted her grandchildren to get married and now it was going to happen. But that wasn't the way she liked it to occur. But everything happens for a reason she believed. If it weren't for this situation, Tabinda would have never agreed to this wedding and perhaps this would create the ground for melting the ice between the two families.
There was no one at Sufiyan Mansion when she reached. Ruhaan must have been in the office and Rahmeen in her college. She asked for a cup of tea from the servant and went straight into her room to have some rest. She couldn't sleep properly last night due to this stress. And now she had to talk to Ruhaan as well about that. Ask him about his side of the story and also whether he wanted to marry Nisha or not. But she knew he won't say no to her wish and also Tabinda was somehow right too about no one would come closer to anyone without having some feelings.
At dinner, she found both her grandchildren at the table when she entered the hall. They greeted her with warm smiles to which she replied with equal affection.
"You stayed last night in their place. Was everything alright?" Ruhaan asked her as soon as she occupied her seat.
Rutba Begum nodded and regarded him quizzically. He must be knowing what was the reason behind her stay but there was nothing on his expression to get suspicious about. He was cool and calm like he always used to be. "Yes, it was alright. Just thought to spend some with them. It's been a while."
"Dadi, why do you go to their house? Despite knowing what that woman and her husband did with Daddy?" Rahmeen said in hatred.
"Rami, behave yourself," Ruhaan quickly repirmidended her.
"Why? You know what he did, right? Took away everything from Daddy. It was just that Daddy was hard-working otherwise we would have been sitting on roads right now," Rahmeen rolled her eyes.
Rutba Begum gulped down the water in her throat to calm herself down.
"So what? They are as dear to our grandmother as we are. He was also her don. Stay out of elder's matters Rami and focus on your studies," Ruhaan glared at her at which she pouted before shoving a spoonful of pasta in her mouth.
Rutba Begum's lips spread in a smile at Ruhaan's words. She suddenly felt proud of him. And she knew right away he wouldn't say no to her.
When Rahmeen was gone, Rutba Begum wiped her lips with a napkin and turned towards Ruhaan. "Come to my room beta. We will have coffee together. It's been a while since we talked."
Ruhaan smiled. "Sure, Dadi."
When Ruhaan entered her room, Rutba Begum turned towards the maid who just brought coffee and was placing it on the small table. "You may go."
The maid left quickly.
"Come, Ruhaan." Rubta Begum motioned him with her eyes. Ruhaan walked and sat on the sofa opposite her. "Have coffee. You look tired."
Ruhaan shook his head and grabbed his cup carefully. "Not really. How are you feeling?"
"I am fine. It was raining the whole day yesterday and now I think the cold has increased," Rutba Begum said truthfully.
"True. Oh yes," Ruhaan sounded as if he remembered something important. "Talking about the rain, yesterday I met Sikandar's Uncle's daughter Nisha; she was clueless in rain. No one was there to pick her up from her college so I helped her. Was everything alright for her and her mother? She was getting so worried."
Rutba Begum observed his every expression in detail. He didn't hesitate to tell her about Nisha. This guy sure doesn't know the severity of these actions.
"You did it? Do you guys know each other? I mean of course other than that hospital day?" She asked.
Ruhaan took a sip and shrugged his shoulder. "Not that much. Few coincident meetings but yes we talked over the phone a few times. She was a good listener and of course a talker. I would say, we became friends."
"Phone calls? When did this all start?" Rutba Begum asked.
Ruhaan scratched his nose. "Don't get it wrong. We seldom talked to each other. Most of it I would say was the fruit of confusion and coincidences. But these all coincidences lend both of us a good friend."
"Ruhaan, that's not how Pakistan works. I hope you know this," Rutba Begum said, a matter of factly.
Ruhaan scoffed. "I know. That's the reason I backed off the moment I got to know she was taken despite having feelings for her."
"Feelings? You...you like her?" Rutba Begum raised a brow.
"Why? She is a nice girl and I enjoyed spending time with her so it's natural. You know," he shrugged his shoulders.
Rutba Begum couldn't say anything for a while. She already suspected there was a reason behind all this but now hearing it from the mouths of both her grandchildren brought a different taste of emotions in her heart even though she wanted it to happen. Nisha loved him despite knowing everything that his father did but as far as Ruhaan was concerned, it was a bit odd. He didn't know what Sufiyan had done. But his reaction was different than Rahmeen who practically hated Sikandar's family. Ruhaan was more practical and calm so she knew even after knowing everything he wouldn't make any fuss as well. After all, it was their father who did it.
If it was an arranged marriage as she first decided, things would have been different. She would have easily told Ruhaan everything but now seeing Tabinda's mood and hatred for her daughter, Rutba Begum decided to delay it for some time. First, let Nisha come here as Ruhaan's bride and then she would take care of everything. Ruhaan listened to her and she could bet on it he would never do anything against her will.
"So Ruhaan," she brushed her thumb on the circle of the cup. "If you like her, then why don't you get married to her? I want this to happen as well since the start."
"Marriage?" He choked on his coffee.
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