Aangan - Hari Hari (Discontinued)

Qayamat- Part 5

It was chaos everywhere with Ameena Ami running around trying to make everything perfect for her son who was coming home that day. Aba's behaviour was still the same towards me , we barely had any conversation but that day he was happy as his son was coming , so I was happy for him. Somewhat I was nervous about meeting Irfan bhai for the first time , maybe he would be the one who I could have a laugh with or the one who dejects me as well.

There was a knock at the door and Ameena Ami almost ran towards the door. There he was in a black shalwar kameez with a longer beard then Aba and chacha. After he had hugged and greeted everyone he finally looked at me and asked how I was with a smile . And at that point I was elated and thought acknowledging someones presence was always a good start. There was awkwardness and shyness first with Ameena Ami always asking me to not fool her son and same would be said to Irfan bhai about getting fooled by my "innocence". But slowly there was a routine of me and him both working at Aba's shop as he was too ill with TB . There we would talk about poetry , the chaos of families and ignore anything related to politics . Every week he would give me some money to save up after learning about my desire to study and when I refused he said this money was what I had earned . I sent some of that money to Bua to buy herself new clothes and told her that I earned it from hard work which she would probably not be able to believe.

Irfan bhai talked to Aba and Ami about me getting education and they agreed as long as I worked in the shop plus cooked after,which I immediately accepted. I was elated on my first day of school . Ameena Ami was still not really happy with my and Irfan bhai's relationship . I once heard her asking him that why was he being so meherbaan on me and that charity work is so unlike him , he just laughed and said to Ami that she knew him too much . I did not pay much attention to that conversation thinking that he was just being sarcastic.

But then something strange started happening . All the time his friend Sikandar would accompany us when Irfan bhai would come to pick me up which I though was strange. Sikandar bhai also started to come to the shop regularly and would pass these comments about my hair or eyes that would just make me very uncomfortable. I had complained to Irfan bhai and he said that it was all in my head and not to worry about it .

Until one day he called me after the shop was closed to meet him at the back to check some stock and I went right away. I'm not exactly sure when Irfan bhai went out and Sikandar came in . When I saw him , I tried to leave and he pulled me towards him and started stroking my face and hair . I was so scared , I could hear my heart thumping in my ears and I told him with all the courage I had that I would call Irfan bhai . And suddenly he burst out laughing in this evil manner that sent chills through my body , saying that he has been paying Irfan bhai money for a long time to buy me off him . Phrases like roof collapsed on my head or my whole world flipped upside down would be too small to describe my feelings at that time and I only knew one thing at that point that I had to save myself . From the corner of my eyes I saw the knife I was using to cut the sacks open and I pushed him and ran towards it. He didn't realise I was running towards the knife but just that I was trying to escape so he slapped me hard and I fell near the knife with face planted on the floor. I then pretended to be unconscious to see if he would start panicking and he did exactly that . He called Irfan bhai in telling him that he needs to take me away , the minute the door opened I ran with the knife towards them and threatened them that I would scream if they didn't follow me to the house . I was going to expose them to Aba right then. The minute we entered , Irfan bhai surprisingly called Aba loudly which took me by surprise and he manage to grab the knife from me . I remember I ran towards Aba and started telling him everything. Then Aba moved me out of his arms and asked Irfan bhai if this was true. He completely changed his story and told Aba that he found me with Sikandar at the back of the store doing God knows what. I just remember screaming that he was lying that he is the one who had called me to the shop , but he said that he was inside with Ami and he only went to the shop five minutes ago to get almonds for her. He then asked me that why didn't I tell Ami that I was going to the shop and I told Aba that he's lying , that he told me that he informed Ami already.

Then came the ugly lie that Sikandar told Aba that I loved him and had called him to the shop with the excuse of Irfan Bhai needing help with the shop . I went straight to Aba as I knew even if he wasn't speaking to me he still trusted me ,I looked him in the eye and asked him that he knows how I am and that I love him too much to break his trust . And then I was slapped hard on the same cheek by Aba . He told me that I was his life's biggest regret and that he was ashamed to have me as his daughter.I had begged him and cried hysterically telling him to believe me , but it all fell to deaf ears.

From that day onward I was to stay in one room and only come out to get food , there was no going out , no talking to Aba and no school. I was this old rusty furniture that was left in a store room which no one wanted in their house . I remember one day hearing someone sitting outside my door crying and I knew it was Aba.I heard him praying to Allah to forgive my his daughter's sins and to do something to end both our suffering. Later that day Ami came to my room and told me Aba was calling me , I was so happy to finally see him , but the sight shocked me - he looked too ill and had lost so much weight. He told me not to get too excited , he only called me to tell me that he was getting too ill and he wanted to let me know that the minute he finds someone willing to marry me he's going to get me married . He wanted to fulfil his farz before he died and that was his last wish for her. To his surprise I said yes , I'll get married to whoever he wants as long as he is happy. At that point I was ready to give up my self-respect so he would be able to die peacefully and in my heart I still trusted him to get me married to someone who would love me or take care of me .

The next month Aba's health kept on deteriorating and I kept on being rejected . Until finally one day a proposal came ......

A/N : Hey thank you for reading hope you like where the story is heading . Let me know in the comments if you want any character explored more or any relatioship you would like to see in the next chapters. Would appreciate if anyone would vote just to see if people actually like the story . Thank you - Aima :)