The Fallen Widow

12. Mischief Maker

Waltzing way into the haveli gates with his head held high, crowned with a white turban, Azaad glared at the stone cold guards outside the gates. Today his father had summoned him to the haveli and no one could stop him. He smirked swinging the black back with two pistachio kulfis.

"You can't stop me today, can you?" He provoked them for a reaction but the guard were under strict instruction. Azaad rarely visited the haveli, since the age of eleven, when he was sent away with his cold hearted step-mother, the haveli gates were closed for him. The deputy guard, Nadeem, made his way towards the gate and ushered the mischief maker into the haveli. 

"Look what I got my beloved nephew and niece." He took out the long pointy kulfi. "Their favourite."
"I'll give it to them." Nadeem attempted to take the bag off him, but Azaad drew his hand back. "They'll be delighted to see their estranged mava." He grinned reminding Nadeem that he was their uncle.
"Choudhary saab, You can't enter Choudhrani Malaikah's haveli. You father-"
"My father-" he cut in. "-yearns me to decorate my hands with mehndi, oil my hair and cut my toenails." He teased. "But my beloved father must wait. First I must see the joy of my eyes."

The haveli held painful memories, there were good times, but little. Standing beside the fountain, he recalled seven-year-old Azaad splashing in the fountain cooling his hot body from the afternoon glaring sun. From the age of three, the haveli was his home. His mother left him at the door of his wealthy father and never returned. He stood by watching his father wield his power over the little people-the villagers- and soon his father was his hero. A man he admired and would grow to become. His dreams were soon shattered when his father chose a second wife and Azaad had to leave with his callous step-mother. The eleven-year-old boy was left confused,
'Why did my father send me away? Why can't I sit beside him during panchayat? Why is he ashamed of me?"
Today, standing before the haveli as a forty-seven-year-old man, he knew the answer. He was borne from the womb of a prostitute, an illegitimate child. A mistake. A mark of disgrace. He would never take the throne of Jahanpur, not Azaad, the bastard child.

Making his way through Malaikah's haveli, he skipped his way greeting the maids who hid away from his creepy eye. He stood in the in the hallway admiring the portrait of his grandfather a man who changed the scope of Jahanpur. Harris raced out of the room and shot through the hallway carrying his gun.
"My beloved nephew." Azaad sang out opening his arm. Harris shot passed him.
"Nephew!" He called out unable to remember his name. "Look what your favourite mava has bought for you." He swung the black bag. Harris stopped. He turned and looked back at his step-uncle.
"Kulfi!" Azaad waved the ice lolly enticing the child towards him. Harris pounced at the kulfi allowing his step-uncle to hold him for a few seconds.
"Harris! Come back here!" Meh'r-Bano called out rushing along the hallway. Azaad glanced with delight on hearing sweet dulcet tones .
"Oh meri kulfi." He licked his lips glaring at Meh'r-Bano as her long parandha swung behind her, her bangles jingled to the tune of her steps. Kinza shadowed her teacher carrying her colouring book against her chest with a stern look ready to tell her brother off for distracting the class.
"There she is, my saffron kulfi!" Declared Azaad. 
Meh'r-Bano froze when she noticed the sinister taring in the hallway. She drew her dupatta over her head and stepped back. Kinza was drawn to her brother's kulfi as he struggled with the wrapper.
"Where's mine?" She held her palm out to him.
"I have been waiting for my kulfi at the quarry but you didn't come." He neared her. Meh'r-Bano cautiously stepped aside. "I've missed you." he smirked.
"What are you doing here? You know that you're not allowed in Choudhrani Malaikah's haveli." She warned looking around for back up.
"Where's my kulfi?" Kinza complained tugging her step-uncles waist jacket.
 Azaad plied her with the delicious ice cold, sweet kulfi and set them on their way not to distract their uncle.
"How clever, out of the quarry and straight into the lion's den. What are you planning?"
With her head lowered, Meh'r-Bano searched for a quick escape. "Look, stay away from me." She warned.
"I've missed you. I wait for at the river, but it's not enough. I need a piece of you." he reached out to touch her, but she stepped back.
"I want to reach out to you-smell you." He took a deep breath.
"I'm warning you. This is central haveli. You can't cross the boundaries." She raised her hand at him.
"I know very well, my saffron kufli." He teased like he was talking to Kinza. "I was raised here and wear the scars of trespassing the etiquettes of Sang e Mar Mar Haveli. My father flogged me for spoiling the curtains, for speaking out of turn. But I am wise, I know my place."
Azaad breathed in her rose scent, his eyes fixated on her slender wrists adorned with red and white patterned glass bangles. Her printed cotton kameez was a perfect fit.
"What fine suit you wear? They've upgraded you." He reached out to touch her kameez, but she flinched.
"Don't you dare come close!" She warned.
"Like a doll, they've dressed you fit into the household. I can only imagine you dressed in finery as a Choudhrani-"
"Stay away."
"With gold earrings, gold necklace, and dresses that are worthy of your beauty, my Choudhrani." He grinned twisting the twang of his moustache, his eyes dilated with ecstasy.
"Oh my saffron kulfi. How I would keep you and adorn you?"
Swiftly, Meh'r-Bano turned to escape, she leaped forward but  Azaad grabbed her ankle. She shook her leg.
"Let me go." She struggled and her slipper fell off. She kicked him and broke free. Limping in one black sandal, her bare foot slapped the cool marble floor and dashed free towards the end of the hallway.
"Now I have a piece of you." Azaad wore the black, battered sandal on his hand and waved it with a victorious grin smeared on his face.
"Give it back to me." She protested keeping a safe distance.
"Now, I won't miss you." He kissed the back of her sandal and tucked it inside his kameez winking at her.
"See you around my saffron kulfi!"
As he walked away, Meh'r-Bano's stomach twisted with repulsion. The idea Azaad snatching a part of her, owning it, manifested nauseating thoughts that made her want to retch. She believed the haveli was safe from the likes of Azaad, but she was wrong. Horribly wrong. His sticky hands and creepy eyes were everywhere, not even the haveli gates could keep him out. Where could she find spare sandals? Would she have to walk barefoot home?
Walking with a limp, Meh'r-Bano attempted to hide her sandal-less foot. Outside the floor was burning hot, the marble was fire, so she quickly hot footed her way through the courtyard and towards the gate. She had to go home. There was no other choice. Nadeem, the deputy guard, accosted her in the courtyard and stopped her. Her shift hadn't ended, so where was she going?
"I had a call-" She muttered. "I need to go." She lowered her head with humiliation hoping he would not notice her barefoot. How could she explain it? She hid her right bare foot behind her left ankle.
"What happened?" He asked.
Unable to look at Nadeem, she twisted the end of her dupatta.
"Your foot." He pointed. "Where is your slipper?"
"It b-broke." She stuttered. I need to go home and get a new pair."
"Give me the slipper. I will get it repaired."
Her cheeks burned red with embarrassment. Even uttering Azaad's name made her feel sick.
"I don't have it. Please-let me go."
"Why? Where is it?"
The caw of the magpie filled the awkward silence. Nadeem found his answer and sighed running his hand over his beard.
"Come with me."
He walked away. Nervously, she followed him touching the hot floor with her toes. Nadeem spend his years covering up the Choudhary's clans misdemeanours. It was the unwritten role description that didn't need an explanation. The moment  Azaad entered central haveli, the teacher strangely loses her sandal. He didn't want to embarrass the teacher.
Making their way inside the service quarters, he threw a pair of rugged large brown shoes at her feet and pulled out a fifty rupee note.
"Wear these. Go to the grand bazaar and buy yourself a pair of sandals. Don't attract attention and walk around like this."
Without questioning him, she slipped her small feet into the large pair of uncomfortable shoes.
"And hurry back. I will make an excuse for the children."
Unable to look at him, Meh'r-Bano wanted the ground to swallow her. "I have money."
Nadeem knew, that's why he was astute in covering up the situation.
Hoping to run out of the courtyard, Meh'r-Bano had to learn to walk in the large uncomfortable shoes and stamped her feet walking outside in the courtyard afraid the shoe would slip off.

Veiling her face with her large black shawl, Meh'r-Bano revealed only her glimmering eyes and took the first step out of the haveli in large uncomfortable shoes riddled with small stones. She trod the road to the grand bazaar where she would finally encounter Shah-Nawaz Qureshi bringing an end to her inquisitive mind and beginning a perilous journey in a bid to open a school for the quarry children.