Pyaar ki kahaniyaa

Chapter 1 💖

(Noor's pov)

I woke up in the middle of the night to voices. The voices weren't very loud but one thing that was both advantageous and disadvantageous about this house was that sound travelled quite easily through its walls. I shot up from the cold, tiled floor I was sleeping on, rushed to the door and took my dupatta that was hanging on it. I draped the dupatta carefully around my upper body and turned the knob of the door as quietly as I could. The talking could be heard much louder now. I walked out of the room, watching my steps, and creeped over to the pillar near the staircase. I hid myself behind the pillar and peeked out from behind it. I saw two people in the living room downstairs, standing a few meters away from each other, both in a predatory stance. My aunt and uncle.

"Tumhe pata hai na ki uske yahan hone ki wajah se hume benefit hota hai. Mujhe pata hai ki tumhare liya bohot mushkil hai usse bardasht karna, lekin us se hume fayda hota hai. Can't you just tolerate her for a little more time?" My uncle said. By the tone of voice and the words he used, I could tell that he was talking about me.

(You know that her being here is beneficial to us. I know that it is really hard for you to bear her but we are benefited by her. Can't you just tolerate her for a little more time?)

"No, I can't. Woh mere ghar mein nahi reh sakti and that is final. I will manage but I can't keep her anymore. And the money she earns from that stupid school of her isn't much. I don't need it. Whenever I see her face, it reminds me of her bitch of a mother." My aunt retorted and my whole body tensed up in rage. How dare she say such stuff about my mother? I don't care what she says or does to me but I can't bear it when someone talks bad about my parents. I wanted to go downstairs and shout at my aunt but I knew that it would not result in anything but a harsh response from her and her husband. So, I stood behind the tower and listened on, trying to control my anger.

(No, I can't. She can't live in my house and that is final.)

"Fine. Tomorrow, I will kick her out of this house, don't worry. Let's go back to bed for now." With that my uncle and aunt disappeared into the hallway that led to their room. I also went back to mine and laid down on the floor, like always. I was never provided with a proper bed to sleep on, just a blanket and since it was summer, I didn't need it. Come to think of it, I was never really provided with anything, at all. No bed, no fan or A.C in the room, two meals a day and only two pieces of new clothing a year. And the clothes that I was given were not new at all but passed down from my aunt herself. About the only thing I was allowed to use freely was air and water.

Life can be so unfair, sometimes. Too unfair. But I always made sure that I was not ungrateful to Allah because indeed He does everything for a reason.

I can still clearly remember the night it happened. The night I lost my everything. The night I lost my parents.

I belonged to quite a rich family. My parents and I, we used to live in a huge Haveli in one of the most prestigious areas of Karachi. We didn't always used to live alone but my father's other two brothers and their families moved abroad, leaving the Haveli in our custody. My baba ran a huge business and we were happily living our lives. My aunt was my mother's younger sister and her and uncle had always hated us because of our wealth. We had always tried to be friendly with them but they never came around so we had given up.

I had recently graduated from high school with flying colours and was applying to various medical universities to pursue my dream of becoming a cardiologist. Everything was fine until one day; my father came home with a lost look on his face. He had faced a huge downfall in his business and his business had gone from being one of the best, to being nothing. He was trying to do everything in his power to get the business to flourish but it was proving to be impossible. So, my father had decided to spend the money that he had been saving for years into helping the business. This was my idea. My baba was a bit hesitant as that money was saved for my higher education but I encouraged him to go ahead with it. And since it was a huge amount, he had to cash out all the money and bring it home to figure it out with his business partners. Little did we know that that night was going to be the worst night of out lives.

(Flashback)

Standing on the balcony of my room, I was thinking about our future. Baba had lost everything but he would be able to make his business boost once more with the savings.

I was so lost in my thoughts when I heard a scream coming from downstairs. I ran out of the balcony and pushed the door of my bedroom open before running downstairs.

I saw that my mama and baba were standing near the kitchen. The kitchen was lit up with a blazing fire and my parents were trying to diminish it. But the flames only rose. My head was clouded with the smoke from the fire but I could still hear the one word that was continuously being shouted.

"Run!"

"Run!"

"Run!"

The same word was being repeated over and over, growing quieter each time until it was a faint whisper that was barely heard over the loud throbbing in my head.

"Noor!" Was the last thing I heard before I was swallowed by unnerving and all-consuming darkness.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

I woke up to the sound of whispering voices. I squinted as the light hurt my eyes. I blinked them a few times to get used to the brightness of the room. What came in my vision were a man and woman standing beside my bed. I tried to get up to get a better look but winced and fell back down due to the severe pain I felt in my body. The guy looked over to me and rushed to my side.

"Don't try to get up. You need to rest." He said in a gentle and soothing voice.

"W-Who are you?" I managed to speak in a hoarse voice.

"I am Doctor Adil. How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I think. What happened?"

"You don't remember?" I stared at the doctor and tried to put pressure on my mind. My head hurt for a moment but then it all struck.

"There was a fire. Where are my parents? Are they here? Are they okay?"

"Umm..." The doctor looked at me with hesitation.

"What is it? Where are my parents?" My voice grew louder as I said the last part. My head started throbbing but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry. Your parents are no more!" I sagged down onto the bed. "They were burnt down in the fire. They were..." The doctor kept on talking but I was deafened to what he was saying. My mind didn't process anything else. I was left there lying on the bed and staring into space. Tears were now clouding my vision and swiftly sliding down my face. Soon, sobs were wracking through my body, violently and I was screaming. Screaming for my parents. Screaming for them to come back. Screaming until I could no longer scream and was once again consumed by darkness.

(Flashback ended)

After that I was moved to the care of my aunt and uncle as they were my closest relatives. Although, I was old enough at that time to live on my own, I was financially unstable since the Haveli and all the money was gone. So I had to live with the cruelty of my aunt-uncle and bear everything I had to, to survive.

I had thought many times to leave but even with my job at the local school, I would never be able to afford to live on my own. But tomorrow, they would ask me to leave. I had no idea what I would do, where I would go. I let the troubles cloud my mind and let them occupy every cell of my being. I spent most of the night tossing and turning but finally fell into a troubling sleep.

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