Resounding Rhythm Of Rutted Love

Chapter-31 Assumptions Of Heart Or Signs Of Reality?

19 January 2022

"Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is Acquainted with what they do."(24:30)

Afreen was wide-awake from the past events of the night. The words of Ibra refused to evaporate away and kept on gripping her soul. Every now and then, she dismissed the thoughts as something worthless to consider, but her heart betrayed her at the oddest of instants. The humiliation was braided around her betraying heart. Afreen tucked the sheets she was half-covering her folded legs a little closer towards her. Her eyes were affixed to the glowing moon through the glass window, and her mind was relentlessly prompting the superior expressions Ibra had worn.

Afreen threw the sheets from above and stood up as she went to open the window, causing the frost breeze to douse her lunatic distress. She retreated towards her bed and sat there in silence, feeling the invisible breaths of the clouds come in and out of her soul as the wind went back and forth from outside the window. Rida stirred in her sleep before she slowly sat up, her teeth clattering with the cold. "You sure muse of lunacy, don't you? To open the window in this cold?" She gritted through her clattering teeth and jumped off the bed to shut the window. "It's not that cold, Rida." Afreen justified her acts, watching her cousin, who rushed back to her bed and slid beneath the warm sheets. "It is-" She stopped before turning her face towards Afreen. "Do I need to remind you that I am not the one who once lived in Delhi, but you?"

"Point." Afreen muttered, slouching against the headboard. "Sleep now, Afreen." Rida advised, and she turned her back against Afreen and closed her eyes. Afreen wasn't able to bring herself to sleep, so instead of replying with a full fledged statement, she just hummed her response. Rida turned back to face Afreen again when she received no proper response for some time. She watched Afreen for an elongated period of time before her hands braided with Afreen's fingers as she gently squeezed them. "Afreen? You never told me if you took off your abaya in the ladies room or not?" Rida proposed her query, knowing the route she was treading. Afreen looked at her in eerie silence, as if she was risking everything and taking a plunge right into the treacherous waters. Return to your slumbering Rida." Afreen advised, but Rida, in defiance, shook her head. "The freezing breeze took my slumber away. Now answer what I asked you."

"I didn't take off my abaya there. I just thought that they were big people and my pink dress wouldn't please them. I mean, they had a really big house and their clothes were all lavish, you know. No matter how much precision I poured into my dressing and stuff, it would not make me one of them. Sorry that you had to go through so much trouble to choose my outfit." Afreen retorted, a bit strange. "Why? Were they wearing dresses made of gold and platinum? Tell me the truth, Afreen, you have been upset ever since you came from there, and I wonder if they made you insecure about your dress on purpose. You don't need to hide it from me." Rida growled, sitting upright in anger. "You are concluding matters based on your emotions, Rida.

They were good people. In fact, why would they use their wealth or reputation to degrade my worth or make me insecure?" Afreen tried to be judgemental because risking a chance of being caught by Rida was probably not a good idea. "You spent two hours deciding the clothing, and you were so happy to meet Ayesha there too. The Afreen I know never had her strength and determination waver a bit. She remained unfaltering in her opinions and never warped her rules for others. You are not the Afreen I knew anymore." Rida's voice echoed achingly as her eyes brimmed with tears. Afreen knew Rida was hurt and it was valid for her to react the way she was reacting. Afreen would never trade Rida for her desperate worldly dreams. She was one cousin that Afreen had come to cherish abundantly. Rida was always standing by her side in her rights and advising her in her wrongs, and it was selfish of Afreen to see her sister crushed beneath her own sorrows.