ASYA FF - "Kaise Katan Birha Ki Ratiyaan"

Chapter 1

"Kaise Katan Birha Ki Ratiyaan"

"कैसे कटन बिरहा की रतियाँ"

1

"Dafan Khud Kare, Phir Sog Bhi Manaye"

Her tears floated like the white curtains of her window.

Forward. Backward. The broken light dangling from its pole on the street kept swinging. She had heard the knock but refused to acknowledge it. She'd seen the silhouette and faced the other way. The broad shoulders outlining the door knocked the third time.

Before she could sigh again, the door swung open, half from the tormenting wind, half the sway of his hand.

"Can I come in, Miss Faaroqui?"

She chose not to speak. Her throat still heavy. She focused on the swinging light. Ten seconds of silence before he started "I...what I mean is I should have listened, when you came to tell me that you were suspicious."

His voice broke in places coated with sadness more than anger.

"If I knew she was..." Asad was unable to continue; Tanveer's betrayal bubbling. When Zoya had smartly recorded her threatening and claiming the man in question as hers, the discovered video later on the dinner table had moved the whole house.

Tanveer openly talking about her tricks, pinning Zoya against the wall, trying to attack her, feigning innocence when Asad came into the room - her malice had set the trusting hearts on fire.

The worst of it all?

Zoya had called upon him earlier explaining it all at multiple different times. But his disbelief had caused her scrambling for proofs. Taking extreme steps just to voice the truth. Again.

"I shouldn't have believed her words." The light rocked again with the forceful wind. Forward. Backward. Zoya's body a stone in the room watched it stoic. "I should have trusted your opinion. You shouldn't have to go to such extremes..."

"No, I shouldn't" her calm yet firm voice cut through his words and the tension. There was a storm brewing. Asad braced himself.

She turned around finally focusing on his face looking straight into his sorry eyes. "I shouldn't have to explain it to my fiancée" He took a sharp breath. It was the first time she had openly acknowledged what they now both knew. This marriage was real. The ring on her finger was real.

Tears made an appearance, freezing his heart colder than the dark weather of the night. He'd made her cry. Again.

"I can take your anger Mr. Khan but your distrust I cannot." Her eyes told him she had made a decision. Heart crumbled at his feet and nerves froze. She didn't hear it when he whispered, "Please"

"How many more times do I have to prove myself worthy of you? Worthy of your trust. You...you are supposed to be my best friend" She couldn't keep it in anymore, tears stained her cheeks, hiccupping she continued desperate for the words to get out. The urgency was too much. They needed an outlet. She needed an outlet before she went completely crazy.

"How do we make this work if I can't trust you to listen?"

This time she heard when he said "Please, just let me explain"

"I am afraid you can't." She saw the hurt in his eyes but somehow forgiveness didn't make an appearance today. Her heart had been trampled on too many times. It didn't need yelling to shatter this time.

His silent ears did the job.

And somehow she wanted to claw the wound deeper. Hurt him with words like he did her. "I wanted to feel relieved after I gave my proofs of honesty to the entire house, but instead I felt insulted" Asad winced.

"When she yelled in my family's face that you chose to trust her judgements like always. When my Aapi kept asking me if it was true that I had told you everything. When Jeeju looked Tanveer in the eye and said she must be lying because Asad would surely trust Zoya." Tears flowed from their eyes, she kept going - digging deeper "Nothing was more painful admitting to their faces that you didn't. I don't know what you came in here expecting to hear." And with that she shut the door in his regretful face.

Zoya dropped to the floor immediately hugging her knees close wondering if she'd destroyed her only chance at happiness. She sat for hours watching the light move from the space in her window. Her soul fluctuating forward, backward.

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"I am, and there is nothing you can say to stop it" Zeenat thundered down the stairs with her suitcase.

"Don't be childish"

"You call this childish, Anwar? She was trying to hurt our Zoya. Frame her, Insult her or worse..." Zeenat couldn't complete it "And you say it's childish?" Dilshad entered the lobby with Asad and Najma in tow from the kitchen when Zoya opened the door to her room hearing the commotion.

Zeenat looked at Dilshad betrayed and spoke "What did anyone do when the truth was brought to life about her factory, about her fake wounds" It was Asad's turn to burn under her angry gaze "Zoya was made to apologize to that woman, insulted and not trusted." Aapi counted off the penalties on her fingertips "Nobody understood? Nobody believed? And you call her your daughter?"

"Aapi please" Asad interrupted "Leave Ammi out of this, she had no idea"

"You know what, you are right Asad Miyan. She isn't to blame like you are. So, tell me, how many times Zoya came pleading to you her truth and you refused to believe. Because of your stupidity and rigidness, Zoya was in constant danger."

Pin drop silence surrounded the room.

"I love you Khaala, I really do" Zeenat turned to Dilshad "But I can't have my child in a place where she has to perform sting operations to prove herself. Her word should be enough" She looked at Asad and enunciated louder "Her word should be enough!"

Zoya didn't object when her Aapi held her hand and led her out of the house. From the hallway where Asad stood, he heard a suitcase loading in the trunk, a door closing and a car starting.

A few minutes passed before Anwar spoke, "She is angry and she's not wrong" He glanced at Asad's bent head briefly and spoke "Khaala"

"I know" Dilshad replied in an understanding tone "I would do the same for my child. But Anwar..."

"I know" He held her hand gently "We all want the same thing. How we get there now is a little unclear. Time, I suppose, heals all anger. But..." Najma held her Ammi's arm anxious. Zoya's Jeeju was the only mediator. Please let him not hate us.

"But, at the end of the day it's Zoya's decision. Not mine. Not Zeenat's. We won't be repeating the same mistake of making choices for her." He looked at Asad again, this time eyes firm, definitive "I can see you are sorry. But being sorry and receiving forgiveness are two different things. It's up to you now to make her believe"

Asad couldn't decide if Jeeju talked about Zoya or Aapi.

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{Song in title: Mere Humsafar (Female Version) by Yashal Shahid

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