Naseem-e-Subh

Chapter 10: a curse so harsh

Israh had just finished submitting one of her final assignments for the semester, when she picked up her phone and turned off airplane mode.

It'd been a long day, and she was dreading the moment she had to submit the essay because she was sure she wasn't able to do it properly, but when she put some Qur'an recitation in the background, her anxieties lessened and she just focused on the work. Regardless of whatever the result was, she'd tried her best and everything else was up to Allah and His plans.

Israh never really got many notifications. Mostly, because she didn't really have too many friends, and she wasn't very close with cousins or other relatives either. So, she didn't really expect anyone to have texted or called her all day except from maybe a good luck from Tamannah, Noor and Aliya in the group chat.

But she frowned at the number displayed on her screen. One missed call from an unsaved number, and it was from Pakistan. Who from there could have her contact details and why would they call instead of texting?

She thought about it for a moment, before realising that this might be one of those instances when she'd somehow gotten all her mom's contacts on her own phone because of the Apple ID or something like that. She still wasn't sure what had happened back then, but she'd quickly deleted everything from her phone before transferring it all back to her mom's phone.

Some phupho or khaala might have called her thinking it was her mom. She ignored the missed call for now, and stood up for some stretching. Her back was so sore, her neck strained and she was starving.

She closed the laptop screen, grabbed her dupatta and headed downstairs with her heart drumming heavily against her chest. Her limbs always trembled and her heart always drummed heavily inside her once she'd finished or done something important. It was mostly the anxiety and the tension in her muscles that was slowly released, as she went down and announced to her mother in the kitchen that she'd finally done her assignment and the semester was over.

She could have a few days off, at last.

As she sat down, ready to relax, eat and watch something on the TV, her phone rang. It was the same number that she'd gotten a missed call from earlier. She attended this time, expecting it to be some aunt or uncle wanting to talk to her parents.

"Assalamualeikum."

She recognised that voice. Her shoulders tensed, she pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call in panic, but it rang again and again until her mom came out to ask her what was happening.

There was white noise ringing in her ears, and she struggled to breathe as she made up an excuse about scam calls, before running upstairs and locking her bedroom door. As soon as the device in her hand rang again, she picked it up.

"Israh."

"Mohsin?!"

She had no idea why he was calling her. She'd blocked his number three times already and now he'd gone and gotten a new one. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? She'd already begged for forgiveness and he'd already told her he wasn't mad. What else did he want from her?

"Kaisi ho?" (How are you?)

"Hm. Alhamdulillah, I'm fine. You?"

"I'm alright too."

"Is there...is there a reason why you've called me?! You know it's not appropriate for us to talk like this."

It took him a moment to speak, but when he did, it was after a bittersweet chuckle, almost a scoff. "I don't think you should be talking about what's appropriate and what's not, Israh."