"It was fun. We should do it more often."
The family returned in the evening after having a day out. They all slumped on the couches in the living room.
"Affi, beta, bring me a glass of water." Their father, Ali Razzaq, asked Afeefah who got up to bring water for everyone. She came with a tray and gave the water to everyone.
"I am going to my room to rest." Rahima got up and went towards the staircase.
"Ask Farri to come down." Salma told Rahima as Fariah and Rahima shared a room.
"She isn't in her room Ammi." Afeefah said, still sipping on the water.
"I went to use the bathroom. She wasn't there." She clarified.
"She must be in the kitchen then." Salma said getting up. She was a bit paranoid on leaving Haider and Fariah alone in the house but she thought that her son doesn't pay her attention as it is, they won't do anything. Now, she was getting suspicious.
"I just came from the kitchen. She isn't there as well." Afeefah stated unaware of the glares she was receiving from her siblings.
"She must be-uh...in Dadi's room. I'll go call her." Rahima tried to cover the situation. They all were aware of the changed feelings of their brother and it didn't take rocket science to guess they both must be together. And they were also aware of the fact that if their mother saw them together, hell will break loose.
"I'll go myself." Salma got up and moved towards her mother-in-law's room.
"Mom, I'm going na." Rahima tried to stop her mother but she didn't listen.
"Ammi, Fariah yahan hai?" (Mother, is Fariah here?) Salma entered the room and asked Nafeesa Begum, who was doing tasbeeh.
"Uski tabiyat nahi theek thi. Apne kamray mai araam kr rahi hai wo."(She wasn't feeling well. She's resting in her room.) Nafeesa replied, confused at the flustered state of Salma.
"Kamray mai nahi hai wo." (She's not in her room.) Salma blubbered and left in a hurry. Nafeesa Begum still confused at what happened followed her out of the room.
Salma rushed towards Haider's room in fury and banged the door. Everyone had followed her there.
"Haider, open the door!"
"Kya ho gaya hai Salma?" (What happened Salma?) Ali Razzaq asked his wife completely oblivious to what happened all of a sudden.
"Ammi, Bhai change kr rahe honge. Ap chhor dain na please." Ayyan tried to take his mother away but she just glared at him and knocked at the door again.
"Haider!"
Haider was peacefully sleeping with his wife when the commotion outside woke him up. He heard his mother's yelling and got up to open the door while trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"Mom, you-" He confusedly looked at his whole family standing outside his room with different expressions. His siblings looked worried, his grand-mother and father looked as confused as him and his mother looked furious.
"Get aside!" Her mother pushed through the door and went inside his room.
"You witch!" She yelled at Fariah who had just waken up by the voices and was getting up from the bed. She stood still beside the bed when she heard her Mumani yell at her.
"Mumani, ap-" She said in trembling voice but she was cut off by the sound of a slap ringing in the room.
"You characterless woman! How dare you manipulate my son like this!"
A few tears escaped Fariah's eyes as she held her stinging cheek and looked down.
Haider was stunned for a moment. He had never seen his mother like this. He couldn't believe his mother slapped his wife but he recovered quickly from the shock and went towards Fariah and pulled her to him saving her from another slap.
"Ammi!" Haider's anger knew no bounds. He was ashamed at himself when he heard her whimpers. He couldn't even protect her from his own mother, how was he supposed to protect her from the world.
"Itni behayai! Sharam nahi ayi tumhe kisi ghair mard ke bistar ko sajatay hue." (So shameless! Didn't you feel any shame warming up an unknown man's bed?)
Sobs racked Fariah's body as Haider tried to stop his mother from touching her and Rahima engulfed Fariah's trembling body in a hug. She took Fariah away from her mother outside the room but Salma followed her outside.
"Yahin ruk jao tum. Yateem samjh kar apne ghar mai kya rakh liya tumhe, tumne mere bete par doray daalne hi shuru kr diya." (Stop right here. I kept you in my house pitying you orphan girl but you started to seduce my son.) She tried to grab her arm but Rahima turned her back towards her mother with a sobbing Fariah still in her embrace and Haider grabbed his mother's hand.
"Stop Ammi. How can you say all those things to her? She's my wife!" Red lines appeared in Haider's eyes and he clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white.
"Haider, you don't know these character-less girls-" Salma started again but Haider cut her off.
"You're calling her character-less because she slept in my-her husband's-bed. Don't all the woman share their husband's bed? Don't you share a bed with Abbu. It means you're also-...." Haider didn't want to complete his sentence and his father thankfully stopped him.
"Haider! She's your mother!" Ali Razzaq was still trying to grasp the situation but he didn't want his son to disrespect his mother as he knew they both shared a very close bond and Haider was in a fit of rage.
"Fariah is also my wife, Abbu." He turned to look at his father.
"Dekhain ab apka beta is kaali churail ki baton mai aa kr-" (Look, now your son is under this black witch's influence saying all thi-)
"Chup kar jao Salma. Maine bohot mushkil se khud ko roka hua hai. Yeh na ho mai kuch esa kar jaun jisse hum dono ko pachtana parray." (Shut up, Salma. I have controlled myself with great difficulty. Don't make me do something that we both might regret.) He glared at his wife and she looked at him dumbfounded.
"Lakin yeh larki humaray bete ke kamray mai...."(But this girl was in our son's room....) She started again but her husband's glare shut her up.
"I called Fariah into my room as I needed to talk to her. And she wasn't feeling well so I told her to rest in my room." Haider explained even though he didn't feel the need to as Fariah was his wife but he wanted to clear Fariah's name as he was the one who asked her to come to his room.
"There's no need of an explaination. You both are married and deserve privacy in your personal matters." Ali Razzaq Khan assured his son and then turned to his wife who was still angry and confused on why her husband wasn't supporting her.
"Humara beta or bahu apni private life jese marzi guzaray us se humain ya apko koi gharz nahi hona chaiye." (Whatever our son and daughter-in-law do in their private life should not concern you and I.)
"The way you barged into your married son's room was utterly disrespectful and rude. Mai tumse itni ghatiya harkat ki umeed nahi kar sakta tha." His voice boomed throughout the silent the corridor and everyone was stunned. All their life, they had never witnessed Ali Razzaq talking to his wife in even a stern tone so him scolding her like this was a huge shock.
"Fariah beta, mai bohot sharminda hun." He gave his wife one last glare and went towards his niece.
"I didn't know Salma thought so low about you and would try something like this. If I had known, I would have sent you and my son to your own separate house right after your nikkah." Fariah was still lightly weeping as she tried but couldn't stop the tears from escaping her eyes.
"I am going to redeem my mistake. You and Haider are going to move to a separate house as soon as possible. And Salma Begum is not allowed to even see your faces anymore." Fariah looked up at his Mamu to object but Salma beat her to that.
"You cannot do this to me!" She was still seething in anger. This witch had captured her whole family, she thought angrily.
"I can do this and much more so you better stay quiet." He didn't even turn to look at his wife. He didn't want to see her face.
"Mamu, I-....it's okay. There's no need of that." Fariah said in a trembling voice still hiccuping from all the crying.
"I shouldn't have been in his room before rukhsati. Mumani is right-" She was trying to defend Salma because she didn't want to wreck their happy family.
"Rukhsati or no rukhsati, you are still my wife. You have all the rights to be in my room and in my life." Haider cut her off. He was both angry and surprised at his wife. How could she defend a woman who wrongly accused her of being characterless?
"And if still anyone has a problem with it-" He gave his mother a look and then turned to his father. "-Abbu,I want rukhsati."
"How can you even say that? Do you have no respect for your mother?" Salma cried loudly trying to emotionally trap his son.
"Apne kamray mai jao." Nafeesa Begum, who was quietly standing there throughout the whole drama, asked Salma to go to her room as she could see his son was struggling to keep his anger inside and Salma was just fanning it.
"Han, han. Ap to apni behaya nawasi ki tarafdaari hi krain gi."(Ofcourse, you will support your shameless grand-daughter.) Salma taunted with fake sobbing.
"Abbu!" Haider stopped his father who took a step towards his wife completely furious and his son held him back by his shoulder.
"Never in my life I regretted having you as my wife, but today-" He was seething in anger.
"Ali!" Salma who was crying fake tears to gain sympathy got shocked on her husband's words. Her husband had never declined any of her demands till date much less raise his voice at her but today he said all this just because of that girl. She thought bitterly.
"Parsu shaam Fariah ki rukhsati hogi or aglay din waleema."(The day after tomorrow is Fariah's rukhsati and reception will be held the next day.) Nafeesa Begum announced as she didn't want the matter to get out of hands.
"Mera dill to aj hi rukhsati krwanay ka tha magar humain zamanay ke sath chalna hai. Chaar log ikathe karne mai or tayari ke liye waqt chahiye ho ga." (I wanted to have the rukhsati as if today but time is needed to get the preparation done.)
"No one gets to hear about this whole drama. Ali start the arrangements. Salma invite all our relatives through phone calls and apologise for such a short notice. Go now." Salma quietly went away as she didn't want to risk her relation with her husband anymore. Ayyan gave his father a glass of water to cool him down.
"Invite your friends if you children want to and start making shopping lists. I'll go call the jeweller now and you girls can go buy everything tomorrow." They nodded at their Dadi's orders. Haider and Ayyan went with their father to do all the arrangements and bookings and Afeefah went to check up on her mother.
"Farri, beta mere sath ao. Or Rahima iske liye kuch khanay ko le kr ana."
Rahima left after saying 'jee' and Fariah followed her Nani to her room.
It was a few hours after the whole fiasco. Fariah was sitting with Afeefah, Rahima and her sister, who came rushing with her husband after their grand-mother called her and informed about the rukhsati date, in her Nani's room as they all were looking at the jewellery Nafeesa Begum was showing them.
The jeweller, she called, had brought some new gold jewellery sets along with Fariah's mother's jewellery which Fariah inherited after her mother's demise. She had given the jewellery to her Nani to keep it safe and her Nani sent it to get polished after the nikkah. Fariah got emotional after seeing her mother's jewellery and decided to wear her mother's bridal set on her rukhsati. Amara, Fariah's sister, was not told about the whole drama that had taken place as per Fariah's wishes because she didn't want to worry her sister. Salma had excused herself to her room after inviting all the guests over phone and no one objected.
Fariah was smiling at Afeefah's acting as she had adorned all the jewellery she could put on and started acting like Anarkali making everyone laugh. They knew she was trying to lighten up Fariah's mood and played along. They all planned the endless list of things they had to buy tomorrow and Fariah shuddered on the name of salon. She didn't want to bear that torture all over again.
Author's Note
Kaafi zyada drama ho gaya ,nai? 😂
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~Author. ❤