REDEMPTIVE | ✔️

40. Flashback

/TWO DAYS LATER\

Her dress was sprawled on his bed as she sat——quiet, shy, stressed and sweating. From the top view she looked like a bud. She wore a long red gown that, she was told, belonged to her Mother. She was so emotional to wear it that she broke down right the second when she stood in front of mirror after coming out of bathroom.

She could travel back exactly to the 2 decades in past as she saw her mother standing in the reflection of the mirror and checking her red bridal gown.

Her mother must have had a shine in her eyes that Zalay lacked. Shine of happiness!

It belongs to my mother!, she thought as tears wetted her eyes. Her heart sinking into the depth of sea of emotions from where it felt was no coming back.

It felt as if history was playing back this day but then in a rush, it seemed, history forgot to bring happiness along.

Bangles of gold that jingled in her wrists were given to her when she was 16. It was when her Daadi was on bed breathing her last. It was a silent evening of August when she sat with her grandmother and cried silently for hours. It wasn't just Zalay who was with her but it was rest of the members of the family too who were sitting around her.

Grandmother wasn't feeling good.

Feeling good is a small word to say. She was feeling beyond worst. Rukaiya flinched up and turned to the other side of bed as a brownish liquid discharged from her mouth.

She was vomiting. She was vomiting again for the 7th time since the past two hours. Rukaiya's hand clutched her stomach tight as Noman was holding his mother's shoulders tightly. When Noman laid her back. All the energy was drained out of her body. She was quivering, her muscles twitching through the clothes.

Zalay was sitting in a corner of the bed near Rukaiya's legs. She was constantly gazing the brownish thin blood and saliva on floor and Samina rushing for cleaning it up.

It was this moment when their grandmother with her quivering voice and shaking body due to weakness spoke, "Noman! Give the jewellery of Anam to Zalay after me"

Noman nodded abruptly to his mother's ease.

In the middle of night when Zalay went to her room to take some rest even tho she knew as if she would never be able to listen to her Daadi, anymore, scold her or tell her stories. When she knew that all, she still left her weak Daado and went to take some sleep as she was told by her Taya Abbu. It was Fajar time when someone pulled the blanket off of her and grasped her shoulders giving her a sudden jolt.

She jerked up in her bed——waking up in a fright. It was Yashfa who stood in front of her, sniffing.

"Don't tell me please. D-don't tell me" Zalay stammered when tears welled her eyes and heart overflowed with guilt.

Yashfa nodded to her fear. They fell into each other's embrace as Zalay sobbed against her shoulder, "w-when?"

Wish she could bring that innocent 17 years old Yashfa back.

Zalay broke the hug and saw Azeen. AZEEN?

Soon the really hit her as she Azeen sitting close to her on bed setting her dress around her. Azeen was hugging her a while ago wishing her goodbye and Zalay didn't even know.