Meraki

4◎

It is been three months or more, she doesn't remember, and neither she wants to. Her life has become so unrestricted since he departs.  Her life is the same as a caged bird, who had been imprisoned all of his life, and of sudden, the door of the cage opened and he flew out into the sky, taking a fresh deep breath, without any hesitation. Captivated by the beauty of nature, enjoying his life to the fullest.

No University and no him. Besides that nobody is discussing her rukhsati, the cherry on the cake. Neither did he call or text her nor did he send some orders for her. She got to know from her cousin, he didn't meet anyone before leaving, strange. Anyway, he can go anywhere, she doesn't care.

She was only fifteen years old and he was twenty-seven when they got married. It was their grandfather's last wish to see his two favorite grandchildren married. One is the eldest while the other is the youngest. She still thinks back to the time, often. Wearing a white Gharara, she sat in front of him. All afraid and anxious. Nobody asked her about it. Her parents were on cloud nine. Time flew and she grew up into a beautiful woman, five feet two inches tall, with olive skin, a round face with perfect pear-shaped figure. He was always dominant and daring, but after their marriage, he became more possessive of her. She became his obsession.

"Tumhare samose baney nhi abhi tak." Her mother came towards her, she was sitting at a dining table, folding a samosa patti after putting filling.

"Bus hou gaya ammi." She replied filling out the second last samosa.

"Theek hai, mei badi bhabhi se milne jaari hun, wahi letey aana." After completing the process of filling and folding the Patti of samosa, she deep-fried them.

Setting everything in a tray, She proceed to her Taya abbu house lost in her happy thoughts.

Her badi tayi ammi is crying, while her mother and choti tayi ammi console her. The atmosphere is tense. Even men looked disturbed and concerned. She kept the tray on the side and stand beside uroosa. Raising her left eyebrow she asked Uroosa.

"Shahzaib Bhai pey attack hua hai and he's badly injured," Uroosa informed her.

It doesn't affect her, seeing her calm and composed, uroosa asked "tum itni calm kaise hou, shohar hai woh tumharey."

Aakifah rolled her eyes dramatically and whispered "kaun si nayi baat hai. waise bhi karma never forgets an address."

Uroosa drags her out of everyone's sight "yeh kaisa behaviour hai Aakifah aur kya aul faul bolri hou, kuch nhi tou Tayi ammi aur taya abbu ka tou lihaz karo". Uroosa is so pissed on her that I don't give a fuck attitude that she wanted to hit her head on a wall, that might help in gaining her senses back.

"..aur yeh karma never forgets an address, matlab kya hai tumhara ." Uroosa almost screamed.

"He's ruthless, he killed people, he's a mob, he's a Mafia and What does he do? Illegal things, threatening innocent people, and dealing with drugs. Overseeing illicit agreements." She shot back keeping her hands on her waist.

"Ajeeb bewaqoof insaan hou, kisney ki yeh bakwas tumse." she's in disbelief listening to her implausible claims.

"Aakifah, it's not like in what way you've taken. You properly described the meaning and action of Mafia, but not everybody is the same. Drugs dealing, human trafficking, Organs trafficking, child labor aur pata nhi kya kya hota hai. He maybe ruthless and killed people but he also helped the survivors and save the victims. He has his own way of dealing things, abb waha pey pyaar mohabbat se kaam tou nhi chalney wala. Aur agr Bhai kuch galat karte tou kya taya abbu karne detey, yeh tou sochti tum. Aakhir yeh sab shuru karne wale wahi hai." She spoke slowly and politely to make her understand. 

She felt heavy, guilt float inside her because of cognizance that uroosa did to her, that made her realise of her erranous behaviour. She clearly remember how badly she alleged him, even though it was inadvertently but her words were painfully unfiltered, that directly slit his heart.

"Mujhey kyun itna bura lagra hai, he also molested me. Shall I say this to her, what her dear brother did with me." She huffed haugtily walking inside. Her countenance changed from worried to unconcerned. She trying hard not to get effect by this but she knows, no matter how hard she tried, she had always got affected gradually and eventually when it comes to her unwanted husband.

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