Eshgh-e-Mani عشق منی

two

" Qubool Hai" a soft voice resounded in his phone. Bakhtiyaar smiled at his shy and innocent wife. Wife! His baby girl Qiraat is finally his wife. Alhamdulillah!

It was a week later since that unfortunate day. All the elders had made a visit to Rumaisa Khala's house and officially asked for Qiraat's hand for their second eldest son.

They had decided to have the Nikaah now and the wedding rituals and rukhsathi after a year when Qiraat turns 18. He was so going to enjoy wooing his lady love!

Hania had switched over to Qiraat's side and now she was acting as her sister and asking for money in return for letting him meet his future wife. Dhokebaaz Bhabhi!

The boys barring Behroz had also changed loyalties and were now on their sister's side! He loved the fact that they accepted her as their bhabhi but he couldn't help but feel betrayed. He was all alone!

Thankfully his Eshal Appi was still acting as the groom's sister but he knew it was not long before she was pulled to the dulhan khema!

He had cribbed to his Aamaal Chachi and she had just pulled his cheeks in affection saying that he had them and also in a few days, his wife too! He could only blush at that.

He had bribed Hania and managed to steal an hour of his wife's time two days before the Nikaah. He needed to be sure this is what she wants. He needed to assure her of his affections and pure intentions.

He was waiting for her at the pond in their backyard. It was a safe place; free from the teasing eyes of his family. His breath hitched when he saw her coming.

She was dressed in a simple white dress and  had a pashmina of the richest and deepest navy blue colour with small pink flowers, wrapped around her head.

It wasn't so much as her attire as her face which enthralled him. There was an ethereal Noor on her face. The stray wisps of hair only adding beauty to her already gorgeous self.

Her golden eyes shining bright in the moonlight. It was like she was sent from heaven to tempt him. He couldn't resist her. Not now, not ever! He fell in love with her all over again.

She stood a good three feet away from him. Despite having been in his arms already she was a shy little thing who doesn't like male attention. Bakhtiyaar was no different. She still hasn't seen him in that light yet.

" Assalamualaikum" she meekly greeted him. She was sent here by Hania who told her to have a talk with Bakhtiyaar. Having never been alone with a man, she was a bit sceptical about all this.

"Walaikum As Salam, kaisi ho Qiraat. Bukhaar kam hua tumhara?" She was burning in fever for three days after that incident. Her mother said she would wake up shouting, drenched in sweat in the middle of the night.

Bakhtiyaar had felt a tremendous amount of rage at listening to that. Oh had he avenged her good! He had called up the school authorities and set up a meeting with the boys and their parents.

The boys all belonged to influential families and were cockily sure that they could get out of this scandal unscathed. But they forgot that there were dealing with the Hamdaanis here.

Musa and Bakhtiyaar had informed the Dean about the vile act that they had tried to pull. The Dean was sweating bullets seeing the two oldest sons of the Hamdaani Haweli.

The matter was of grave importance as a girl's honor was involved but even more so because the girl was Bakhtiyaar Azaan Hamdaani's fiance. His wife!

The boys were rusticated from the school and Musa had made sure that they were sent abroad for further studies, extracting a promise from their suddenly grateful parents,  of them never returning to their Homeland or ever crossing paths with Qiraat or any other Hamdaani.