Kismat aur Hum

28.

- Haniya -
"Laiba, this is the tenth shop we have left. Can we please eat now?" I whined, I was so tired with all the walking around. " I haven't been back here for years. There's so much I have to buy." She answered, looking ready to enter another shop. I was tired and began to protest, "No, I'm not wlaking anywhere unless it has something to do with food." I said, now standing in one place.

"Fine. Let's go to the food court." She answered. I got happy, linking arms we walked to the restaurant. Entering the restaurant, we found a nice table near the window. "Finally!" I sighed, putting my bags down. "You should try the biryani. It's so good." I nodded to her suggestion and decided to have that. She was right. It was one of the yummiest biryani I had.

For dessert, I decided to have cheesecake, and Laiba had ice cream. We were talking about our funny movements when something caught my eye from another table. It was Dua. She was sitting with two people dressed in black suits. One was a woman and another man, both giving a scary aura. Dua herself looked so confident and different like she normally did. 'Who are they? And more importantly, why is she sitting with them? She said she had college documents to fill out.'

"Is everything okay, Hani?" Laiba asked when I was replying. "Mmm, nothing. I thought I saw someone." The rest of our time, I tried concentrating on talking with Laiba, but I felt too distracted, I kept looking at her table.

After lunch, I told Laiba I felt tired and just wanted to go home. She felt the same, so we decided to meet up another day. When I arrived home, Malik was home early. "Aslamoalkuim, you're home early?" I asked as I put my things away. "Yea, I just prayed, I'll be working in my office." He simply said as he headed out of the bedroom. I nodded and decided not to mind his behavior, even though I felt really hurt with it.

I decided to make Malik something nice to eat for dinner. I headed down to the kitchen, and Bijan was busy cooking. "Oh, what are you making for dinner?" I asked her, "I'm making chicken tikka with rice." She answered. I nodded and sat beside her. "Beta. Would you be a dear and get my glasses from my room. They're on the table."

I nodded and went towards her room to get it. As I entered the room, I looked towards the table, where I found her glasses beside her phone. I walked over and picked them up. Just then, her phone lit up. There was a text from an unknown number. 'Miss Haniya is suspicious now, be careful' that all I could read.

Does she know that I told Malik about all that. I decided to act normal for now and show no signs of me being suspicious. I walked out of her room and into the kitchen, giving her her glasses.

"Here you go, Bijan." "Thank you, beta. Beta, Malik said he doesn't want his dinner yet." She said, looking at me. "Oh, I'll ask. Maybe I'll be able to convince him." I said walked to his office. Walking into his office, he concentrated on his laptop. "Malik, let's have dinner." I said, standing in front of him.

He looked up at me, his eyes changing, "You didn't knock." He stated. "Oh, I thought -" "You thought you could walk in anywhere?" My smile dropped listening to his harsh tone."Sorry." I said, not wanting to listen to his harsh tone. His face hardened, looking back on his laptop. "I'm busy Haniya, go eat. I'll eat later."

I didn't want to argue with him anymore. I nodded and left. 'What the hell is wrong with him? Why is he so rude?' I kept thinking and thinking. 'Maybe he's stressed and worried because of work and his company,' I thought. I'll give it to you a few days.

- a few weeks later -
It wasn't a few days. His behavior had changed. He would often wake up before me and wouldn't be home at night. I tried staying up late, but he wouldn't come home some nights. It was getting harder and harder as the days went by.

"Haniya, your friend keeps cheating." Zain whined to me. "Her friend has a name genius," Laiba answered, rolling the dice. "Six, two. HA! I win another piece, " She shouted. Zain would often come to visit Malik but would either leave or stay to play games. I had felt extremely upset today and decided to invite Laiba over.

And to say these two have been arguing about everything. I would enjoy it, but I was sitting her worried about my bipolar husband, who hadn't talked to me for weeks now.

We had taken a break to watch a movie when Mehr called. "Aslamoalkuim api, how are you?" "Walikumslam Mehr. I'm good, how are you?" "I'm doing well. Actually, I needed to talk to you about something.." "Okay? Everything okay?" I asked her, concerned. "Bhai and Umar had a fight." She said. "What?! Why?" I asked, shocked.

"I don't know, Api, Umar came home. His mouth was bleeding. He hasn't told me anything else." "I'll come over to your place, okay?" "Okay api." She said, and we ended the call.

I turned around to Laiba and Zain bhai, who were already looking at me, worried. I told them the situation. "To be honest, I've been avoiding Malik these days, too. He's so bitter and cold for some reason." Zain bhai said. "Let's go to Mehr's house first." I said, picking up my phone and keys.

Zain bhai drove his car while I drove with Laiba. I dropped her at a place where she was waiting for her driver. We arrived at Mehr and Umar's place.

We entered the house, seeing a worried Mehr. I went up and hugged her. "Mehr, are you okay?" "I think I am, but I'm worried." She whispered as we walked into the living room where Umar was sitting. I saw Umar's face. There was a cut on his lip and bruise under his eye.

As we sat down, Umar looked quiet, and Mehr looked like she would cry any moment. I decided I'd try to talk to Mehr alone first. "Mehr, I need a glass of water," I asked her. She nodded and walked towards the kitchen, where I followed her.

"Did Umar tell you anything?" I asked, "no, the only thing he managed to tell me was that they had an argument about something." She said, "That doesn't help a lot. I don't know why he's acting like this." I said, sighing. "Api, did something happen to bhai?" "What do you mean Mehr?" I asked, confused. "I don't mean to disturb you, but this was bhai's behavior after our parents died, and now he's acting like this again." She said.

"I don't know Mehr, but he isn't talking to me either. He isn't even home nowadays." I told her. "I had to go through that until you came. If you want, you could just stay over at our place." She suggested. "Oh no, Mehr, it's fine." I told her.

We were having lunch when I picked up my phone. The notifications caught my eye.
* 26 missed calls*
* 30 messages*
I clicked on them, and Malik had continuously called me. A part of me debated if I should call him now or not. A part of me was scared if he would give out to me like Mama would be when I wouldn't pick up.

Dumb idea, I decided not to call back or text. Instead, I said goodbye to Mehr and headed home. Parking my car, I saw his car parked here. 'Ya Allah, please save me from him.' I walked hlin, hoping he wouldn't be too mad.

I was walking past the living room when I saw a mess everywhere. The paintings on the walls were ripped, and everything was thrown around. I walked into the kitchen to see a bigger mess there. There was blood on the gerund and on the sink. I walked around shocked. What had happened here.

I heard sobbing inside the living room. Following the sound, I saw Dua crying on the ground. She had multiple cuts, and her clothes ripped. I ran up to her. "Dua, are you alright? What happened?" "Api. These men came in, the trashed the place and - and they came into my room, takjing things." She cried hysterically again. I hadn't noticed Malik standing at the corner, staring back at me.

Gulping, I slowly looked back to Dua, giving only her my attention. "What about Bijan? Where is she?" I asked softly. "Api, you won't - won't believe what I'm going to say." She said, "No, Dua, I'll believe you. Tell me what happened?" "She was with them. She was looking for something. When she saw me, she threw a vase as me. That's why my hands are bleeding. I ran to my room and locked it. Until Malik bhai came home. Bijan betrayed us. She was with them, but why?" She continued crying again.

"It's okay, Dua, I'll take you to your room, let's go." I said, as I helped her up and was passing him and walking to her room. "Haniya, come see me after." He said in his cold tone and walked towards the stairs. I ignored him and walked with Dua to her room.

After helping Dua change, I treated her wounds and got her to sleep to rest her mind. I was leaving the room and made my mind to go clean the mess around the house.