A House Beyond Horizon

Chapter 18

~Aafton ke daur mein,
Chen ki ghadi hai tu~

“So he went away, just like that?”

Raaya smiled, nodded and turned away to pour the tea in her cup. Hamida had just now woken up and didn't know how her sister's ego died down to ask about Zahir's whereabouts.

“Yeah. He should have stayed?”

Hamida shrugged, “Well if the person is announcing his affection for me so openly, what can I expect?”

She looked at her sister for a while, handing her the cup. Surely, time had tested them in worst possible manners and they both had taken their own set of lessons from them. But there were some bad effects from those experiences.

While Raaya had lost her whole confidence, Hamida became defensive, protective of her own heart because in her opinion everyone just lied, just like their father.

“I'm glad that he went away. No need for him to show any affection to an ungrateful girl like you.”

She didn't want to sound this cold but couldn't help it. Raaya for the first time, took the role of an elder sister. Hamida's voice had an edge of mockery, and she seriously felt bad for Zahir and his love towards her sister.

“Excuse me?”

“Where am I wrong, Hamida? You seriously have no value for the people and their feelings towards you.”

She could see Hamida's eyes getting filled with tears, “You know that's not right?” She put the cup with a thud on the bedside table.

“I'm not here to explain anything to you. You are fully mature to understand everything.”

Raaya patted her shoulder and left her room to calm down her nerves. Idris looked up from his laptop, their eyes met as his lips tilted up in a faint smile and she didn't know how to mask her emotions. He came closer, his hand finding hers.

“Everything okay?”

“I don't know…” She looked away, her eyes tracing the empty corridor, her tears making it somewhat blurry to see, “Hamida for the first time saw my elder sister version.”

“Aren't you happy about it?”

Idris took her in his embrace, making her sit on his seat at the waiting chair.

“I was pretty cold to her. Like I never had…” Raaya looked down, the guilt eating her insides, “She's hurt. I hurt her, Idris, with the truths.”

Her husband gave a warm smile, sitting in front of her on his knees and took her hands in his, not before placing a kiss on her knuckles.

“I don't know what you talked about but I'm sure my Raaya can never hurt anyone intentionally. Whatever you said to her, I'm hundred percent sure is for her betterment.”

My Raaya…

Raaya pouted, her heart dancing between the mixed feelings of contentment and worry. Contentment of finding such an amazing husband and worry of hurting and giving pain to her beloved sister, Hamida.

“By the way…” Idris pulled her a little so that they were face to face, his lips an inch away from hers, “You look kind of hot when you're angry.”

Raaya slapped her forehead, a giggle bubbling out of her on his straight remark as Idris smiled at her with a shine in his eyes.

***

Zahir closed the laptop lid and got up from his seat, picking up the water bottle and smiling to himself as the speaker of his phone gifted him with Hamida's voice. He was just making notes online while he stayed at Lucknow for her.