The idea of Ahad marrying Minal was actually suggested by Bushra Siddiqui, one of the readers!! So thanks for putting that in my head. Alot of my ideas do come from random comments that you guys leave haha.
Also someone wrote a comment about Zaydaan being so sweet and asking you to kill yourself idek, something like that and I put that in the chapter too so yes.
Okay, this chapter is somewhat religious, it's what I grew up learning and listening. So I decided to share a little bit of it with you guys, if you don't want to read about it, you can skip ahead. But as a Muslim woman, I felt kinda proud for writing something like this.
P.s I haven't rechecked and if I made any mistake, in facts and figures or even in like words then bare with me ok lol. Here you go.
Your support has been so amazing though. So thank you so much!
You guys are just amazing 💖
Aaina x Zaydaan.
Why do we take so much time in accepting the reality? Why do we keep on playing different scenarios in our heads, just so we could actually feel at peace. Why does reality not bring us content and happiness?
Why is reality so different from our dreams? Why can't things go the way we want them to go?
So many questions, unanswered.
So many hopes, shattered.
So many reasons to leave, yet so many reasons to stay.
Aaina wished that she could run away to a far, far land. But she wasn't vain. She understood that she would never be free.
She couldn't work like normal women, she couldn't bash the Prime Minister or create an issue in front of the entire country, who would care that the Prime Minister was marrying again when their were problems like poverty?
She only had her own self.
And Ahad. She had Ahad too.
She didn't have Saira, her sister. She couldn't just burden her with all the problems in her life. Her mother, well, that was a completely different story.
She had once read in a book that 'A man's heart is a wretched, wretched thing. It isn't like a mother's womb. It won't bleed. It won't stretch to make room for you.'
Was Zaydaan's heart wretched? Was there really no space in it for her? Even the thought of it made it difficult for her to even breathe.
Thankfully, he had left her alone, he had given her space and she had just wept and slept the entire night.
Now, with the morning, came back her pain but also the courage to fight back. Or atleast try to do so.
She was still in her bed, snuggled under the covers when the door opened and her husband entered the bedroom.
He was dressed just like every day, but his eyes showed that he hadn't slept the entire night.
Maybe, he had drowned himself into work and she had drowned herself in tears.
Without peeking a glance at her, he sat on his side of the bed.
"Tum se kuch baat karni hai."
She let out a sigh and turned around, to look away from him.
"Mujhe aap se koi baat nahi karni."
She denied, she didn't want to talk to him. If he wanted to talk, that was his problem. Not hers.
And if Aaina really started to talk about how heavy her heart was right now, how she truly felt, if she didn't hold back, she knew it would make him angry.
She didn't care about his anger but she was too drained to deal with it.
"Baat to karni paregi."
Zaydaan insisted.
To talk or not to talk.
To use your words or let silence be your voice.
I have stayed silent for a very long time and it has brought me nothing but misery. Would it be so wrong to use my words?
She thought in her head, knowing that using her words wouldn't be so bad.
She pushed the covers away and pulled her legs up.
"I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to know why you said what you said. I don't want to know why you think that you can marry her and why you think it's okay to crush my entire existence."
She started off.
I'm a twenty three year old girl, yes. I'm young and yes I'm not experienced like you. Yes, I'm not manipulative and cold. Yes, I don't base my decisions on how much power I can attain. Yes, you're a better player than me, at this stupid game of politics. But there is one thing in common, respect.
I have been disrespected by you alot of times and I have compromised, I have remained silent but not anymore. I am your wife, I'm not a door matt. You have to give me the honor and respect of a wife.
So many thoughts, so many words. Unsaid.
"I'm not doing that to you." Zaydaan denied, telling her that he wasn't crushing her entire existence.
As if it was that easy.
Aaina shook her head.
"No. You are doing it, you're doing it and you don't care. You use your soft words and your tenderness when you need me to accept things from you."
She told him, she knew how smart he was.
She had read somewhere that the Prime Minister was so sweet with his words that he would tell someone to kill themself and they would gladly do it.
"Kal mujhe kuch samajh nai arahi thi, ye nahin pata tha ke ho kya raha hai. Today, I know where I stand."
She murmured, she told him that she had no idea about anything yesterday, her senses were numb, her heart was overwhelmed and the impact of all of it had made no sense yesterday, but today, she knew better.
She chose to look at him then, he looked at her too. Her red eyes and her swollen lips, her puffy cheeks and her red nose.
She bit her lip for a moment.
She had to tell him, she had to tell him that she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone but her love was not something meaningless. She would never co exist with another woman, she would never accept that there was another woman in his life.
"Zaydaan, aap se pyaar karti hoon, bauhat pyaar karti hoon. Lekin koi dusri aurat yahan aye aur main Co exist karun, esa sochiye ga bhi mat."
She said, words coming out of her mouth so smoothly, without any hesitation.
"Aaina."
He whispered, trying to make her understand. She gave another shake of her head.
"Aaina.."
He said again, a tear fell out of her eye.
"Don't call my name like it's yours to take. It's mine."
Zaydaan fell quite for a minute after that, not speaking as he registered her words.
Aaina was changing. She truly was changing.
Zaydaan didn't know how to start this conversation, he was a freaking Prime Minister.
Why was his heart even fearing to start this talk?
He looked at his wife, who was looking straight ahead, still in bed, still sniffing every once in a while.
His father had informed him of Ahad's decision and he felt so pissed at his own brother, his brother who had not even taken him in confidence, who had just made a decision, knowing damn well about him and Mina.
"Agar main tum se kahoon, ke tum humaisha meri biwi rahogi, tumhain kabhi bhi nahi chorunga, to tum kya kahogi?"
He questioned, how do you say something like this? How do tell your wife that you'll always be with her, you won't ever leave her but at the same time, you know where you are heading with this conversation?
"You say it like I'm a burden." Aaina replied flatly, not even looking in his direction.
Zaydaan still continued.
"Aur agar main kahoon, ke mujhe Allah ne ijazat di hai ke main ek se zyada shadiyan kar sakun, I can take two wives."
"It's Sunnah. It's nothing to be worried about."
A lot of men use religion as a tool for their personal motives. For them, religion serves as a spiritual justification for controlling and silencing women, for using their wives for them own personal reasons.
If there was one thing that truly irked Aaina, it was the wrong use of religion.
"Haan, Allah ne ijazat di hai aap ko."
She agreed with him, yes it was in their religion for men to take more than one wife but not this way, not for this certain reason.
"Jo Mard namaz main do sunnat bhi nahin parhta, usko doosri shaadi ke waqt sunnat yaad a jati hai."
She said bitterly, Zaydaan didn't say anything. He wanted to hear what she had to say.
"And yes, it is sunnat to have more than one wife, But why do men always use Islam for their personal purposes?"
She questioned next.
Zaydaan didn't answer so she continued.
"The Prophet married his wife, Khadija R.A when he was twenty three, and she was forty. And a two times widow. And he loved her, he loved her so much."
She had read the Quran, she had read the hadith, she had read so many stories, she wasn't a blind follower of the religion, she had read about it and loved it.
And she had absolutely loved the stories about The Prophet, peace be upon him and his wives.
Their romance, their lessons and their constant love for each other, it was so admirable.
"He remained loyal to her, he cherished her, he adored her, he had children with her, he cared for her."
"He didn't even look at other women when she was alive, he was at the Prime of his youth and she was an old woman but he loved her regardless."
She explained.
Was it not beautiful?
The Princess of Quraish, the richest female of Makkah at the time, who married a man who wasn't rich, who wasn't wealthy, just honest and kind. And a man, who was not the Prophet at that time, just an orphan who worked for Khadija R.A and got married to a widow, without any other thought.
Love was such a beautiful feeling and reading about them was just heartwarming.
"And then, years later after her death, he married other women, yes. But he never forgot her. And when he married Ayesha, R.A, he loved her too."
"They both loved each other, so much. They would drink from the same cup, eat from the same plate, he would kiss her forehead everytime he would leave home."
She explained. She was quite shocked that Zaydaan wasn't even responding to her but she hoped that her words would atleast impact him, maybe he would regret everything.
"He described his love for her as a strong binding knot, the more you tug, the stronger it gets. And he wasn't shy about his love for his wife, he would publicly declare that she was the most beloved to him."
Aaina breathed through her nose, breathing in and out, just so she wouldn't cry.
She turned around to look at Zaydaan completely, he wasn't looking at her but she still stared at him.
"You remember that it's Sunnah but you don't remember that it's love that binds us all. He loved Ayesha R.A so much that he died in her lap and he loved Khadija R.A so much, that years later when he found her necklace, he began to weep in front of everyone."
She remembered that story. He had cried in front of his companions, just because he had seen his wife's necklace.
Men, who were so religious, how did they not follow this part of the religion? Why did they only follow the part where women were supposed to bow down to their will and wishes? Why not the part where women had the right to do the same?
"While you all consider women as a weakness, you think your wives are a burden, that you're better than us."
Zaydaan Ziagil had never seen his wife so firm.
"Agli baar sunnah ka naam le kar, ya religion ka istemaal kar kay, apne dil ki khwahish zahir mat karna, Zaydaan."
She almost warned him not to use religion for the sake of his own personal wishes.
"Kyun ke main to maaf kar dungi lekin shayd Allah maaf nahi karega."
|Because I might forgive you but God never will|
Zaydaan stood up from the bed, glaring at the woman who had lectured him for so long.
His heart was at conflict, his mind was at conflict. He did not need this right now.
"I'm not asking you for permission or forgiveness. I'm telling you." He said, looking straight ahead.
"You don't lecture me about religion, you don't tell me what to do. I don't need your permission to make my decisions. Samajh ayi?"
Her heart sank at his words.
She stood up from her seat as well.
"Apna ghar chor diya, sadkey tumhare. Apni chahaton ko maar diya, sadkey tumhare, jis tarah treat kiya, qubool kiya, sadkey tumhare. Tum se kabhi nahi kaha ke mujhe pyaar karo, kabhi aisa kuch nahi maanga Jo tum na de sako, kabhi tumse koi sawaal nahi kiya, humaisha tumse pyaar se, izzat se baat ki. Aur aaj tum keh rahe ho ke tumhain ijazat bhi nahi chahiye, us se shadi karne ki?"
|" I left my home, for your sake. I killed my hopes and dreams, for your sake. I accepted the way you treated me, for your sake. I never asked you to love me, I never asked you for something that you couldn't give to me, I never asked you any questions, I always loved you, always respected you. And today, you're telling me that you don't even need my permission to marry her?" |
She questioned.
Zaydaan felt so uneasy, so hurt, so angry. But for what reason?
He cared about Aaina, he did. But, why?
"Itne pathar dil kyun ho aap Zaydaan? Kyun aap ka dil sab ki parwah karta hai, magar meri nahi. Kyun aap mujhe har qadam par is tarah treat karte ho?"
|"Why are you so heartless, Zaydaan? Why does your heart care for everyone but me? Why do you treat me like this every step of the way?" |
She enquired, not even caring that the tears were streaming down her face.
"Aaj main aap se kehti hoon, aap mujhe talaq de do, mujhe chor do, aur phir Jo karna hai karo."
|"Today, I'm asking you. Divorce me. Leave me. And then do whatever you want to do." |
These damn words.
She didn't know where the courage had come from, how and why she had said it. But she did.
And she didn't regret saying it.
At the mention of divorce, Zaydaan finally had enough.
"I believe this is the most I've let you talk in all these months and it is going to be the last." He warned coming towards her.
Aaina gulped, moving back.
"If you ever talk about divorce with me, you have no idea what I'll do to you." He threatened, her head touched the wall behind.
Zaydaan didn't leave a space of even an inch.
"If you so much, as dare, to get out of this room, you'll see a side of me that you've never seen before."
She heard him say.
What more can you do to me? What more can you do to me? You have done enough. And if you do anything else, I'll probably not even feel it.
"I'm not scared of you anymore." She whispered, holding his gaze.
She wanted to look down, to look away but she held his gaze.
"I'm not scared of your power, or your gaze or your anger. I'm not scared of you, Zaydaan Ziagil." She announced.
"I'm going to her, know that."
He replied, then left the room, shutting the door. Aaina fell to the floor after that, knowing that she was never going to be happy in her life.
Never.
----
Whether it was the middle of the night, or early hours of the morning, Minal Ashfaq was always dressed to the best.
It didn't matter if she had to go some where or remain at home, she was always ready.
So when she entered the living room of her huge mansion, Ahad wasn't really surprised as he laid his eyes on her.
As usual, she was dressed up.
He still let out a chuckle.
"Ghar Beth Beth kar aur moti ho gayi ho."
He said as a greeting. She smirked at him.
"Job par ja kar billions ka nuksaan to nahi kar rahi na."
She shot back, reminding Ahad that she knew about his losses in the ministry.
"Minal Ashfaq."
"Ahad Ziagil, I didn't expect you to show up here." She remarked, Ahad barely shrugged.
"I didn't have a choice."
Minal nodded, sitting on the sofa and making him sit as well.
"We're all pawns in our parents' games. We live in a fucked up world."
She told him. Ahad let out a bitter laugh at that.
"Yes. Zaydaan bhai and I are pawns, maybe. But you? I don't think so."
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, you knew damn well that the moment my brother gets to know about all this crap, he would come rushing to you."
Minal listened to his words, Ahad was smart, ofcourse he was. He was a Ziagil but Minal truly had no idea that this was even going to happen.
"That is his nature. Controlling. He wants it all." Ahad continued and only stopped when he heard Minal clicking her tongue in disagreement.
"You're taking this wrong." She told him.
"Am I though? You've always wanted to be his, and now you have a golden chance."
"No. Hell no." She straight up denied.
"Awan Chaudhry came with the proposal and I told him to fuck off."
"My father told me that it was either Awan or one of the Ziagil boys." She said next.
Ahad, who was still bitter and upset about whatever had been happening lately, did not trust Minal one bit.
"And you said, why not get Zaydaan back." He remarked, telling her that he knew her intentions really well.
"No. I didn't. I told him to talk to Uncle Idrees and base their alliances on their friendships, not our relationships."
He wanted to disagree with her, call her out but there was so much honesty in her eyes that he knew something else was going on.
"Then why would father -"
He didn't even complete his sentence as realisation dawned on him.
Idrees Ziagil and his games. Ofcourse.
"Ofcourse, he knew." Ahad mumbled, Minal nodded, pouring him a glass of water and sitting back down.
"No one knows Zaydaan better than your father. He knows how his mind works, he knew that-"
Ahad interrupted her, finishing her sentence on his own.
"Zaydaan bhai would never let you go if things are going in this direction."
"Yes." She mumbled.
"The only way to stop Zaydaan is for you to marry me."
Even though she was expecting this, she still let out a look of disgust.
"You? I am not a toy and you're the boy that would always come and annoy Zaydaan and I when we were together. Why would I even think of marrying you?" She questioned him.
Ahad didn't like the insult. So he chose to insult her back.
"You're not the most easy person to be with, you're a sly good for nothing desperate bitch." He cursed.
Minal could take his cursing pretty well, she was a calm woman, a calculative one. But she was a woman and her only weakness was love for a man that was not hers.
A man that she so desperately wanted to have.
"And you're a little boy who got trapped in Saaniya's plan. I'm a sly bitch but you're a stupid idiot." She shot back.
"How did you even?" He asked next.
She just shrugged.
Minal Ashfaq knew it all. Anything and everything. How did he doubt that she wouldn't know about this?
"Forget it, I'm just telling you that if my brother comes here, you have to tell him that you're marrying someone else. You don't want to marry him."
He told her, all the playfulness washed away as he seriously talked to her.
Minal pushed away a strand of her hair and stared at Ahad.
"Zaydaan is a mature adult, he knows what to do. If he comes to me, I'll know what to say."
"So that means, if he tells you he loves you, you will be ready to marry him."
He was just trying to find out what was going on, in her head. He knew the extent of her love for Zaydaan.
Among many women, she was the only one who could actually say no to him, who could actually stand up in front of him without any fear, any care.
She could talk to him but she could also choose to take this opportunity and be with him.
He didn't want Aaina to hurt because of all this. He owed her so much. She had protected him. It was his turn to do so.
He looked at Minal in expectation. She let out a deep breath.
"Ahad.."
He looked at her in disgust.
So she was pondering over it, she wasn't just going to tell Zaydaan to leave. She would accept it all.
"I wonder how God put someone like Aaina in between you both. She's too good for your games." He commented.
Minal rolled her eyes.
"Zaydaan and I aren't a game. I have loved him for fifteen years and he has too."
She uttered as an explanation.
"Does he love you now though? Do you think he does?" Ahad shot back at her.
She hesitated.
Love was so complicated though. It was a feeling that made you both secure and insecure at the same time.
"I-"
"Minal, don't think that you can claim him back." Ahad strictly told her.
"I can, if I want to."
"So then don't do it, marry me instead. I'm a Ziagil too, I'm younger than you but who even cares?"
Besides, after Saaniya's betrayal, Ahad didn't think he could love another woman anyway.
"Ahad, tum mere chote bhai ki tarah ho. Khouf e khuda karo."
Minal groaned.
"Oh shut it, tum kisi ko bhai nai banaati. Tumhain power chahiye na? Ziagil family wali power, to ajao phir."
Minal Ashfaq was not the woman that Ahad thought she was.
"I'm the daughter of an army General. I have enough power. I never wanted anything to do with Ziagil family, it was always Zaydaan."
She responded, frowning at the way Ahad was addressing her.
"Zaydaan bhai is Aaina's and hers only." He claimed.
That hurt her.
How many nights had she cried because Zaydaan was not hers anymore? Now, maybe, just maybe he was finding his way back to her.
Did that make her a home wrecker? She had not done anything, she had just prayed for Zaydaan, for her heart to heal.
"Ahad, chale jao yahan se. Allah ka waasta hai jao."
She pleaded, instead. She couldn't do this right now.
"I'm not-" Before Ahad could say anything, their housekeeper interrupted, entering the living room unannounced, panicked.
"Minal bibi, Prime Minister Sahab is here to meet you." He announced.
Ahad stood up.
He knew Zaydaan wound find out where he was, he would come to meet Minal.
But how could he do this so quickly?
A part of him wanted to argue with his brother and tell him how dumb he really was being, another part wanted Minal to tell him the same.
"Shit, Minal suno." He grabbed her arm in a tight hold, she winced.
"Get away from me, Ahad." She hissed, ready to run away and meet Zaydaan.
"I have to go, he's here." She whispered, more to herself than to him.
He was water and she was thirsty, he was everything and she had to see him, he was the first Ray of the sunlight and only he could brighten her completely.
She loved him so much, she cried for him, she whined for him and he was here. For her.
Ahad still didn't let her go.
"Minal, he's not in his right mind. He's only here because he thinks that he'll lose you forever. If he truly loved you, he wouldn't have chose power over you."
He tried the best he could, he had to explain her, he had to encourage her to take the right step, to not provoke Zaydaan.
"Minal, Aaina is good. She's pure. Don't be a home wrecker." He almost pleaded.
"Ahad.. "
He could see tears in her eyes but her tears didn't mean much to him, he understood her pain though, they were all in pain for the love that they had lost, for the love they so badly wanted to attain..but Aaina, she deserved love most of all.
She deserved it from her husband.
"Zaydaan bhai is here to ask you to marry him so you won't agree to marry Awan chaudhry. But you have to say no. Right?"
"You can say that you will marry me instead, if you want. But don't agree to what he says."
Minal snatched her arm away from his hold. She looked at him with another roll of her eyes.
"Dafa ho jao yahan se." She told him to get lost, Ahad sighed.
"Tum se shadi karne se pehle main zehar kha loon."
She admitted. And it was true.
Minal Ashfaq would rather die than marry a man she considered her little brother, Zaydaan cared for Ahad so much that a part of Minal did care for him too, underneath all the insults, there was a part of her that cherished Ahad as a person.
Ahad nodded, ready to leave. But before he could leave, he looked at her with a hopeful stare.
"I know what it's like to lose someone you love, I know you love him but you have to let him go." He advised, staring at her intensely.
"You're a cunning bitch but I know you're not a home wrecker. Don't prove me wrong."
He said one last time and then left.
He had promised Aaina that he would try his hardest and he would help her, he could only hope that Minal would look beyond her love for Zaydaan.
Because if Minal did accept Zaydaan, Aaina would never be the same.
--
I only updated cause ya'll commented so much and I felt so encouraged hahah😭♥️♥️♥️
Thank youuu!!