Besabriyan

10|TEN

Her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as she watched the man fight her cousin- punching him and wrenching his guts. Her stomach churned as it reminded her of her old days when she saw her father fight a stranger on the streets, when she was just six and when her father was nothing but a heroic man to her. She saw her father fight and the way he broke the other man's ribs. That was the day when she returned home to find her mother gone and that was the day she began to embrace emptiness. Her father was there but absent. Her father was always there but never really there for her.

And now seeing Zaviyar fight Rayyan, all that she saw was Kamran. A man fighting another. Her father fought a man because he found him eyeing his daughter wrongly. Zaviyar fought a man because he heard Rayyan spewing nonsense about her. Circumstances and men were different but the cause was the same- Maheen.

Her eyes, to her dislike, refused to move away from him. He stood up from Rayyan on his sister's insistence and looked down at him as though he would swallow him whole- like he was disgusted by Rayyan's very existence. It was nothing even closer to what she saw on his face when he asked about Rayyan, except the look on his face which now was much intensified and filled with hatred and rage. He raged red and hot and his eyes burned holes in Rayyan's forehead. Her fists curled on her sides- clutching the hem of her dupatta and hiding behind Ahlah like a coward but it wasn't in her to stop him when he resembled her father. Men, in these situations, scared her and that was exactly why Daniyal stayed away from his friends whenever she was around.

But then his blazing gaze settled on her timid form- standing behind his sister to hold back from trembling. Maheen wasn't weak but she was soft and not immune to things like those. And his eyes softened and his muscles loosened up. Her eyes then faltered to his white shirt which was now stained by patterned droplets of blood- his cheek bruising red. She heard the cracking of her heart and it was the first time in many years that she allowed her heart to break for someone else other than her family. Many pieces of her broken heart laid at his feet as he watched her with tender, glazed eyes. Then the realization dawned upon her like the streaks of sun claimed the sea after the darkness– it was late, she took time and then she realized.

He fought with her cousin for her. The untimely realization quickened her heartbeat that she feared Ahlah would hear it. And even though she didn't know the reason, it warmed her heart at least a little bit to know that he didn't just claim to like her. It was so selfish of her but only people like her who didn't allow love from outside and lived in a closed shell would know. And in the next few seconds, he walked away. Her eyes followed him until he was out of her sight. Her eyes followed him until she heard his footsteps fall far away from her. It was only after she realized she was in deep shit. Rayyan's mother was emanating fire through eyes and she knew why. Or so she thought. Or simply not.

"I need to woo Hala, she has never seen this side of Zaviyar," Ahlah turned towards her, passing a polite, embarrassed smile to her. Little Hala had always been picky when it came to allowing people into her life and it was only her Zavi mamu who didn't have to work his way into her life, he was naturally and organically chosen by her niece and now seeing him rage like that, Ahlah doubted it would last long, "And I apologize for my brother's insolent behavior, he's almost never like this."

Almost. What a word. Maheen though wanted to laugh at it, she knew the heaviness that the word carried. Almost- like it was there and existed. Almost- like it was never there and never existed. The two flips of it had her run for life and once Ahlah walked out of the main gate with her shell shocked daughter, leaving her khala and her son to tend to themselves. Her mami, following behind her, muttering about the things she would and would not mention when her mamu returned from the mithai shop. And to her relief, Rafia was going to completely deny the accusations Rayyan's mother would lay in front of her brother to save her niece in law's head. She was going to leave out the part where Zaviyar was concerned.