'Beyond the Horizon': There's more to it...

Chapter - 17

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"Amma vo..." Shahnawaz tried to say something, but he couldn't just finish it. He didn't know how to.

The ambience at home as if playing some tricks one after the other. A pattern of good followed by bad news. What was happening here? Shehnaaz was expecting something good at least after a tiresome day but it seemed the days weren't in their favor.

"Nawaz...ki hoya putt...hun menu darr lag reha hai...bol bhi de..." Her mother voiced, frightened to look at the faces in front.

Their father looked completely dishevelled as if he didn't care for anything in the world. The man who used to be so specific about how he carried himself, whether it was to keep a small pocket comb always with him to make sure that his hair is set perfectly all the time or without fail had his shirt tucked-in minus a single crease, who would make sure that his clothes are tidy and ironed a day before the workday, paid no heed to his wrecked and crushed shirt untucked and skewed or to his disarranged hair. Nawaz too wasn't far from looking a complete mess. Even the expressions on his face reflected the same chaos that his mind must've been going through.

The two sisters could only gasp in confusion looking at their brother and father's state that they were witnessing for a second time now. The start was when they had faced a loss and were looking for ways to borrow some amount to be able to bounce back in the business.

"Amma unhone puri dukaan hi leli..." Nawaz spoke finally breaking the silence around.

"Kya matlab? Dukan hi le li? Kisne?" their mother was clearly panic stricken. Shifa came forward to hold her by her shoulders as Shehnaaz moved to get some water for all of them.

"Ha...haan ji...unhone kahi hai ke do din me saara loan ka paisa nahi diya to hu...humari dukaan unki hogi...dhokha kiya amma unhone...papaji ke sign forge krwa liye hain aur kab sara kuch likha hua badal dala...pata hi nahi lagga humko..." He stuttered. It wasn't only a shop; it was their livelihood, a part of their home that they have been grown watching and being dependent on for the smallest of their needs. It was a significant fragment of their daily lives. For their father it was everything other than his family. He had watered it with his hard work alone, holding out all his might and yielding the business that it is today.

"Kya bol raha hai...Nawaz... sach... sachi dass reha hai?" his mother asked turning towards their father to affirm that what she just heard was a lie, that probably it was just a kind of prank the father-son duo was playing on them.

But the dejected look on his face said it all, the pain was real. An undefinable agony that rose as his eyes stung to drop the tears threatening to fall out. It was his lifetime's earning which was at stake and with that the burden that now every family member would have to bear. He had this guilt written on his tired aging face, as if he could've handled it properly provided, they were prepared for it. Only if they would have not chosen this shark of a cash agent. The culpability that this was all because of him and that their family would now pay for his fault, was eating him up. It was not the entire truth; time has its own role to play. All the losses are not necessarily what it looks like. In a wider picture, it allows you to start a fresh.

"Aap...Aap...pareshan na hoyi...kuch na kuch intejaam ho jayega...tension na leyi...Nawaz! Bache dekh baat kar kisi se...Taya ji se puch le ik vaari..." She added worried as soon as she realized the depth of the situation.

"Papaji ne Taya ji se baat ki thi abhi...unka kehna hai...ki ab jarurat nahi hai yaha pe paise lagane ki..kal ko vo ye dobara kar skte hain, kyunki humare saare kaagzaat unke paas hain...unpar Papaji ke sign hain aur...aur..." Nawaz explained disheartened. Their father's elder brother was someone they would always reach out to for any of their moral needs. The brothers were closely knit, though staying border apart, they had kept the connection strong.