Mehr-o-Mah (مہر و ماہ) -
The sun and the moon
A collection of short stories filled with love, spice, drama and a roller coaster of emotions and of course, a huge part of my imagination.
(The second generation of Ahd-e-Vafa)...
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*****
The night sky was- and is beautiful.
It was like a universal truth for Humaid. Something that no matter what someone else said would always be true for him- just the dark sky above his head, mostly bare of any stars and light breeze around.
With a coffee mug in his hands, Humaid leaned a little on the railing of his balcony. Even though it was past 10, the streets were still bustling with life. The chatter around was like a nightingale's secret tales being told in the dark night.
The incident he had witnessed with Mayza struck a sensitive nerve. The memories that had been buried for more than 2 years found a way to surface and he couldn't bring himself to even close his eyes- because everytime he did, the fading screams and dried tears imprinted themselves in front of his vision.
A little over 2 years ago, he had sent a proposal for Mayza's eldest cousin, Faeezah Bukhari.
But who would've thought that destiny would play such a cruel game?
Just a few hours before they were set to get married, Humaid's taya abbu was seen harassing Faeezah. The incident wreaked havoc like it should have and the Mirza family was sent into an uproar.
He wasn't asked to take a side, maybe because his family thought that it would be them whom he'd favour but when he spoke, he spoke on behalf of Faeezah, he spoke on behalf of a woman who had been wronged in spite of his family being in the opposing court and as anyone would have it, that was the last day Humaid spoke to any of his family members.
".....You are worth more than being part of my toxic family and hence, I can't let you enter this environment, not that you'd want to be in the first place."
His words from that day rang in his ears every now and then, trying to prove something or maybe, they were just trying to torture him more than he already was.
Who said standing up for the right always gave way to something good?
Humaid might have secured his beliefs, he had been successful in safeguarding his morals but in the process, he had lost the only thing that he had called dear to himself since childhood.
His family.
His parents.
It wasn't ego that had stopped him from contacting them in all these months- no, in fact, he had tried to mend the broken relations but the other side was always closed- always ready to ignore his presence even when he was physically present in front of them.
His taya abbu was sentenced to three years of imprisonment and was set to release the following year. Humaid had not bothered about him though. It was better if he stayed feet away from such personalities.
But it didn't mean that he didn't miss the way things were before all this.
He was confused- confused regarding thoughts leading him back to his family and the slightest guilt of leaving them alone but the sane part in him knew that it was needed.
