Empowered

Chapter Twelve: Someone Who Cares

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Nayab

I couldn't get the image of Maria standing on the landing out of my head.

If a good person witnesses someone tripping up on the steps, they rush to help them, almost on instinct. But her failure to act made me wonder what her intentions were.

Suddenly, Ammi rushed into the room, panting and with a tear-streaked face. "Nayab! I just saw the news!" 

I sighed, glancing at my sister, who had followed her inside. Nafeesa shrugged, as if saying 'I couldn't have stopped her today'. "Ammi... I just fell down the stairs."

"And Javaid Khan got arrested for it?" Ammi questioned me.

"He got released because he was cleared..."

"No, Nayu, he got arrested again." Nafeesa explained. "Apparently, Seerat Gillani and her family went into hiding, and yet the police somehow found them and arrested him again." 

Ammi looked annoyed. "You never should have been involved in this mess. I never should have allowed you to get married into that family. I willingly pushed you into this dangerous life." 

"Hamdan is not at fault here, Ammi." I insisted.

"No, but he is a part of the family. The only son. Which means that Samreen Gillani would be even more possessive regarding him." Ammi started crying. "Our whole world has fallen apart. We were attacked in our own home! We had to leave our home! Your life is constantly at risk, Nayab! Your character was assassinated in the worst way possible!" She shook her head. "No, I won't leave you in this anymore. We'll go far away, live a quiet life. I don't want you in the middle of their war." 

"Ammi, I can't leave! I'm married to Hamdan! And beside, this isn't the Gillanis' fault. This is all on Javaid Khan, and he is arrested."

Ammi looked at me in a way that sent a chill down my spine, especially as she said those words, "You don't know that. You think all this happened under Samreen Gillani's nose, in her home, and she wasn't aware of this? Wrong! She knows everything. She's behind everything." 

"Ammi, you watch too many dramas. She might be a wicked person, but we can't accuse anyone without evidence." Nafeesa told her.

"Drama? I wish it was a drama, Nafeesa. Politics is a disease, whether it's actual politics, work politics or family politics. It spreads and it destroys, and it's highly contagious. People take extra precautions to protect themselves from disease, and my daughter willing injected herself with it."

"My relationship with Hamdan is pure, and nothing to do with the dirty world of politics."

"Your relationship with Hamdan Gillani is destroying you!" Ammi snapped. "Today, you fell down the stairs. Tomorrow, it will be some other 'accident', God forbid. Samreen Gillani doesn't like you, Nayab, and she's doing everything she can to get you out of Hamdan's life."

I opened my mouth to argue, but behind Ammi's back, Nafeesa held up a hand and nodded at me reassuringly.

"Ammi, she literally just banged her head." My sister lightened her tone. "Can we not put more pressure on her already small brain?" 

"Excuse me?" I gasped out at her and she laughed.

"Zidd chodh do, Nayab. Hamare saath chalo." Ammi whispered to me almost pleadingly.

*"Don't be adamant, Nayab. Come with us." 

"Hamdan wanted you both to come and live with us in our downstairs portion, for your safety. He insisted it, even without me asking. And you want me to break his heart and leave him? He's doing so much for me, and you want me to send him Khula papers?" I kept my tone low and respectful, but I felt offended on my husband's behalf.