شرر Sharar

Sixty-Six

Jab khone ki naubat ajaye
Toh pane ki keemat samajh ati hai

•••

"Ayat! Kya kehna tha tumhe?"

(Ayat! What do you want to say?)

The living room somber silent, every eyes were on Ayat, waiting for her to say what she wanted to.

"Chachu, hum..." Gulping, Ayat mustered the courage the speak. "Hume Hanan se maafi mangni thi."

(Chachu, I...)

(I want to apologise to Hanan.)

Hanan, who was looking down since he has come, raised his head to look at her with shock.

"Api ki mehendi wali raat Hanan ne humare sath misbehave nahi kiya tha. Hum... hum bas kisi baat se upset the, hume misunderstanding ho gayi thi. Hume bilkul ehsas nahi hua ki hum kya keh rahe hain. Hum jo keh rahe hain ussey sab galat matlab le lenge. Hanan ne koi badtameezi nahi ki thi." Her each word was not above a whisper, every word was spoken with difficultly.

(On api's mehendi night, Hanan didn't misbehave with me. I... I was upset over something, I had a misunderstanding. I didn't realise what I was saying. That everyone will take wrong meaning of my words. Hanan didn't misbehave.)

No one dared to interrupt her. Everyone there were unaware what actually happened between them.

"Hum... hum chatt pe Hanan se maafi mangne hi gaye the lekin humara paov fisal agaya aur... aur hume nahi pata itne saal mein kya hua, lekin yeh maloom hai humari wajah se sab kuch kharab ho gaya. Hanan pe ilzam bhi lage, Hum bohot sharminda hain humne jo bhi kiya..." Ayat's words were interrupted by her sobs, she couldn't complete her sentence. Wiping her tears, she ran upstairs, not able to sit there with everyone's eyes on her. Ayla followed after her.

(I... I went to the terrace to apologise to him, but my feet slipped and... and I didn't know how these much years have passed, but I know that I ruined everything. Everyone accused Hanan, I am ashamed of what I did...)

Everyone in the living room were too shock to say anything. Their eyes went on Hanan, who was staring at the stairs from where Ayat just left.

"Han.. Hanan." Khushnuma called him, softly. She knew Hanan could never do anything like this, he could never do something which can bring shame to his father, he could never hurt Ayat.

Without meeting with anyone's eyes, Hanan left. His face too stiff for anyone to figure out what was in his heart.

Everyone looked ashamed, all of them at some point thought of Hanan was guilty. They all believed Hanan harassed Ayat, otherwise why would she demand divorce.

No one thought it could be a misunderstanding. No one thought Ayat would be this much naive to create such a scene.

"Shahzain, Khushnuma!" Azlan's voice brought everyone's attention on him.

No one there knew what to say or think of what they just heard.

"Ayat ki taraf se main bhi maafi mangta hoon. Usne ji kiya, uski wajah se sirf Hanan ko hi nahi, tum dono ko bhi bohot sharminda hona parha pure khandan ke samne..."

(I also apologise on the behalf of Ayat. Because of her, not only Hanan, but you two were humiliated in front of everyone...)

"Bhai, aap kaisi baat kar rahe hain. Please, hume sharminda na kare." Shahzain stopped him from saying anything further. "Ayat ne jo kiya nadani mein kiya. Uska nikkah bohot kam age mein hua tha, itni samajh nahi thi usme. Isme Ayat ki bhi koi galti nahi, bas ek misunderstanding ho gayi sabko."