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*****
[Flashback]
"She's so scared Amma, she's not getting out of her room. My heart aches looking at her Amma. What did me and my daughter even do to deserve this? I wish her father could've lived longer. Things could have been so different if he was here today..."
"Mera bacha, Allah sabar deney wala hai himmat karo khud ke liye nahi toh apni aulaad ke liye."
"I can't face her Amma. I just can't. Usko dekhti hoon toh aisa lagta hai mera dil phatt jayega. She's only ten Amma. It's all too much for her at this age. It's effecting her mental health and i can't do anything about it. Did we raise our daughter to suffer the cruelties of life someday alone in a locked room, hun? She barely eats. She doesn't let anyone come close to her, not even her own mother, neither do i have the heart to face her, talk to her, embrace her. First the fate snatched her father away from her and now I'm failing her as a mother-"
"She's not eating this." Zayan came in with the meal that Zimal denied to have.
"Should i make something else for her? Ruko, main bana deti hoon."
"She won't eat anything Aunty. She's crying.."
"Amma please jayein usko dekhein, please jayein. Please."
"I'm going mera bacha, I'm going. Relax."
"Zayan?"
"Jee aunty."
"Did she tell you anything?"
"No, she just cries."
"You know Azhar trusted you with her right?" He nodded his head as Malina made him sit on the edge of bed with her, still crying. "You're the only friend she has Zayan. She trusts you. Never break her trust okay?" She grazed her hands in his brownish hair in a very motherly manner. He had always been very dear to her and her husband. "I know you're just fifteen but you're very mature for your age. And, I shouldn't be asking you this but I can't help it.."
"Aunty, I'll do anything for you. Just stop crying please." He held Malina's hand consoling her like her own son.
"Never leave Zimal's side okay? Just be there for her because you're the only one she would ever allow to be there. You know she's stubborn, but you know how to calm her down, make her eat and distract her mind from the uncanny stuff she keeps thinking about. You're the only one that can make her come back to life."
"I can't." He snatched his hand back from her motherly grip. He couldn't lend her a false hope, he couldn't promise her anything. "Because i can't see her crying like that. I can never.."
"Zayan beta, your father is here." Nano barged in and informed them about his father.
