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Chapter 38 - Fiza Ammai

"Hello!" Fiza greeted, her voice filled with a mix of emotions.

"Fiza, are you okay?" her mother asked, sensing the weight of the situation. Farzana had evidently informed her parents about the revelation.

"This is not how we wanted you to find out," her mother admitted, her voice filled with regret.

"Why didn't you tell me? Would you ever have told me?" Fiza's voice trembled with a mix of hurt and realization. The woman she had called "mamma" for her entire life was, genetically speaking, a stranger.

Her mother's voice softened as she no I'm responded, "It doesn't make a difference. I was your mother from the time you were born. I breastfed you, I brought you up the same as Farzana. The two of you are the same for me. I love you, you will always be my baby." Emotion seeped into her mother's words, and Fiza wiped away a tear.

Then her father took the phone. "Pappa, is it true?" Fiza asked him, her voice quivering. "Fiza ammai is my biological mother?"

Her father took a moment to gather his thoughts before responding, his voice devoid of emotion. "Yes," he confirmed. "You and Farzana are two months apart in reality. We adjusted your birth certificate so that we are listed as both your parents."

Feeling the weight of the truth, Fiza's mind shifted to the reason behind the push for her to marry Fahad."Tell me the truth about why you want me to marry Fahad," she pleaded.

Her father took a deep breath, his voice laden with sadness. "Fiza, your aunt... your mother... fell in love with your... father," he began, his voice cracking with emotion. "She broke her engagement with Fahad's father, and the whole family was angry with her. I supported her, believing her to be in love, thinking that that was more important than anything else." He spoke slowly, his words filled with remorse.

Fiza listened intently, her heart heavy with the weight of her family's secrets. Her father continued, recounting the painful details. "You know the rest. He beat her when he got drunk. It became worse after she became pregnant with you. He was always remorseful afterward, compensating by being extra loving and gentle... until the next fight."

He paused, his voice trembling with sorrow. "She hid it well from us, knowing we wouldn't let her stay with him if we knew. She would come home bruised or needing stitches but had elaborate and funny stories around this. She had always been a bit clumsy and we didn't make much of it."

Taking a moment to collect himself, her father continued with a heavy heart. "And then one day, he called us. That monster. He was frantic. He told us that Fiza ammai fell down the stairs. We rushed there, and there was blood everywhere. She had a significant bleed in her brain."

Tears welled up in his eyes as he recalled the harrowing memory. "They took her into surgery immediately and also took you out of her womb. Fiza ammai held you in her arms when she woke up from surgery."

Here, his voice broke, and he wept openly. "She had said, 'Don't let her make the same mistake I made. Kunjali... Kunjali's son...'" He paused, struggling to compose himself. He remembered that day like it was yesterday.

He had taken his sister's hand and had assured her, "Shhh... You are going to be okay. You are going to take care of her. Not me."

Her aunt shook her head, her voice filled with regret. "Tell Kunjali I'm sorry." Those had been her final words.

He recounted this and then said, "When everything seemed to be getting better, she bled into her brain once again and passed away in her sleep. She wanted you to marry Fahad. At least that's what it sounded like. I'm not even sure anymore. Her dying wish," her father revealed, his voice filled with sorrow as he composed himself.