Upon hearing the noise, she hurried downstairs. Her heart came into her throat seeing Aqia and Tashfeen fighting. She never saw him so angry ever in her life. He never raised his voice but here he was yelling.
"He is my son. You can't take away that right from me," Aqia replied to him, tears brimming her vision.
"Then who am I? I, as your husband asked you not to meet that guy. My words don't have any importance for you then, Aqia," he snarled.
She sighed. "Why are you bringing me into this fight? I didn't ask you to fetch him back home. I am just meeting my son--"
"At your niece 's house." Tashfeen interrupted her. "Your son is living at your niece's place to piss me off. I can't believe my own son can stand against me like this. Do you have any idea how many people look at me with mockery in their looks? It's been a year but I am so afraid to leave my house because people and my own relatives will ask me thousands of questions as to what profession my son has opted for. Your son must have started living at your relative's place to bring more humiliation to me."
Unaiza put a hand over her mouth. Recently Aqia had been meeting Huzaifa discreetly. No wonder she got caught by Tashfeen today.
"I asked Nisha for this. I trust my son with her. It has nothing to do with Huzaifa wanting to embarrass you, Tashfeen. Why don't you take everything with a calm mind? He is our son. We can't leave him like this. Forgive him. I can't live like this. Please," she pleaded him.
"Did he think about my prestige and word so that I should think with a calm mind? If he was this obedient, he should have stopped when I asked him to. Children do so much for parents. They consider their parents' words a final verdict. But here my son is proudly and shamelessly humiliating my name. Do you think I should think about him when he didn't think about me?" He inquired, angrily.
Aqia started crying as she held his arm, needing any way to change his mind. "You are elder. He is young and immature. Forgive him for my sake. I will die like this. I miss him, Tashfeen. What he is doing is bad from our side, I agree but after all, he is our blood. Don't hate him like that. My heart will shatter hearing statements like this."
Tashfeen exhaled and pushed away her hand from his arm. "Fine then. Bring him back home and welcome him with flowers."
Aqia's eyes widened in surprise while Unaiza too couldn't believe it. Did Tashfeen just say that Huzaifa can be back? Did he really forgive him? The strength and attraction of blood were really very powerful and it can move hearts.
"What?" Aqia whispered.
Tashfeen scowled at her. "You all will lose me, then. I will leave this house and then you can do as you please. Watch him on TV, dance over his success, and throw parties. But all this will come at the cost of your husband. I will never come back then."
"Tashfeen, what are you--" Aqia cried out but it was late as he was already gone.
Aqia suddenly lost her balance and fainted. She would have collapsed but Unaiza was quick to react. She approached her and prevented her from falling.
"Aqia Mama..." She panicked and stroked her cheek but Aqia had already passed out.
What would happen now?
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"Why are you all punishing me? What did I do? Everyone is thinking about himself but not caring for me. What havoc all of this is bringing to my heart? I die every day and live every day. None understand me, Haider. None of them cared for me. If I talk to Huzaifa to listen to his father, he says that he never misbehaved and wished for something bad. He is working hard on his own to achieve his goal. And when I talked to Tashfeen, he...he announced that I don't respect him as my husband and he will never accept Huzaifa because as a son, he should have stopped himself when his father wanted him to. Tell me, what should I do? Where should I go and how should I calm my heart? I think it's better maybe if I would have died," Aqia was whimpering while clutching Haider's hand tightly as she again woke up.
When she lost consciousness, Ishmal's instinct worked and she called the doctor to the house. Later on, Haider too reached. It was obvious that the real thing was revealed to everyone. Tashfeen was still out. He didn't know what effect his words had on Aqia.
"Don't worry, Mom. Everything will be fine," Haider said, squeezing her hand.
Aqia shook her head. "How will? Your Dad has left us. Don't know where he has gone. Did you call him? Ask him to come home."
Haider patted her forehead. "Don't stress out, Mom. You need rest. You should just focus on your health. We will sort everything later on."
After a while, Ishmal entered the room with soup. Aqia didn't want to eat or drink anything but on Haider's insistence, she consumed a few spoonfuls of soup and medicine. She slept peacefully later on due to the effect of sleeping pills.
_________________
When Haider came back to his bedroom, he found Ishmal putting Jannat to sleep. Hearing the sound of the door, she diverted her attention from the baby to her husband who seemed tensed and thoughtful. Everything which was happening wasn't anything nice and Haider had to take care of everything on his own. Ishmal placed a pillow near Jannat's arm before making her way toward him.
"How is Ammi now?" She questioned.
Haider nodded. "She is fine now, thankfully. In fact, sleeping right now as I gave her sleeping pills. She was so anxious that I couldn't help."
"You did the right thing. She needs rest and relief. Did you talk to Abbu? Where he is?" Ishmal implored again.
Haider twisted his mouth. "He isn't picking up. I can't believe things will get this much worse. I don't know what to do seriously. No one wants to understand the other and that's the worst thing."
"I hope everything will be fine," Ishmal murmured.
Haider stretched his neck in dismay. "I fear that."
"Should I go and check Ammi? She might need anything," Ishmal offered.
"No, Unaiza is sitting with Mom," he clarified but then suddenly became still.
Ishmal raised a brow in confusion seeing him lost in thoughts. "What's wrong?"
"Something hit my mind," he mumbled.
Ishmal bobbed her head so that he could continue.
Haider met her eager gaze. "There is a chance for things to become smooth again. If I tell Huzaifa about Mom's health, he will come to meet her surely. But then Dad's problem will resurface. He says that if we maintain a contact with Huzaifa, he will leave us. But there is a way, none of this will happen."
"What is that?" Ishmal let out.
"We can put the condition of marrying Huzaifa to Unaiza at the cost of him coming back to this house and Dad accepting him for Unaiza," he explained.
Ishmal's jaw dropped. "What are you saying, Haider? How come Unaiza come into this?"
"That's the only plausible way I can think of, Ishmal," he said.
"But will Huzaifa agree? And what about Unaiza?" She asserted in disbelief.
Haider shrugged his shoulders. "He has to agree, Ishmal. For Mom's sake. Besides, we all are very worried for Unaiza for marrying her out of the family once again after what that fraudster did. At least in this way, she can continue living with us. Huzaifa can be anything but he is a nice guy irrespective of being my brother. Dad will agree because he is also wary of the same thing for Unaiza. If I bring this suggestion in front of him, he will consider it. That's for sure because this isn't bad. But of course, I won't be doing that without considering Unaiza. I will talk to her and only push the talk ahead if she agrees."
"That's a nice idea. I agree but do you think that Huzaifa will not take out his frustration on Unaiza? After all, it will be a forced marriage for him. Unaiza shouldn't become a victim, Haider," Ishmal uttered, in anxiety.
Haider kept on looking at her silently because she did have a point. However then he joined some dots and it assured him that even if this was unwanted, Huzaifa wouldn't hurt Unaiza. He hoped for it.
"They grew up together. He has known her since he was a child and he cares for her too. I don't think so Huzaifa will hurt her. He isn't like that. And besides, we will be here for Unaiza. That will be a blessing that she will be living among us. I am in no way in a favor of forcing anyone for marriage but what can I do? The situation demands it and that's the only thing no one will freak out hearing this," Haider asserted, truthfully.
"You are right perhaps," she whispered.
Haider rubbed his forehead. "Can I get a strong cup of tea? My head is hurting."
Ishmal blinked. "Of course, I'll bring it right away. You look over Jannat in the meanwhile."
Haider caressed her cheek and smiled. "I will."
Running his hand through his beard, all he thought was now to make that plan work smoothly. His next strategy was definitely to talk to Unaiza about this proposal.
________________
AssalamoAlaikum/ Hello everyone!
How are you?
Finally, the marriage talks have begun. Are you liking it?
Do you think Unaiza and Huzaifa will agree?
And what about Tashfeen?
How will Huzaifa behave to Unaiza if he agrees to marry her?
Interesting things are about to start. So look forward to it. ❤❤
Plz, vote and comment. ❤❤