Ishq-e-Ashiyana [Collection Of Love Stories]

||The Present That Unbound Them||

•||The Present That Unbound Them||•

Almost five decades.

That was how long it took for Zunaira to finally make a decision.

20 years of proving her innocence.

And 28 years to accept reality realistically, without the world's interference, without thinking of others.

"Khula?" Yaqub barely mumbled in disbelief and looked at his first wife in shock.

His love.

That was what he used to say.

"Yes. Khula," Zunaira nodded calmly and unwaveringly then added slowly, "For peace."

For her peace before dying.

The living room seemed to grow quieter as their words hung in the air.

Before coming here, everything was normal like it used to be for Yaqub. His first wife, staying with his son Arash and him, visiting them every now and then.

But today unexpectedly he received a call from his son to come home and when he visited his son's house, he was greeted with his first wife.

"Arash? Where's he? Did he know?" He asked her.

"Don't worry about him. And he knows," She replied to him calmly, sitting on the couch in the living room.

Yaqub could barely register these words as he ran his eyes on the papers again.

"What about me? What will I do without you, Zunaira?" He whispered in a quiet sorrowful whisper.

"You have Naila. Your second wife. She's also your wife and you both have rights on each other. Can you deny this?"

He was stunned and stared at her calm and resolute demeanor as he felt her so close to him yet so far away from his reach.

And this question of hers was enough to shut him. He lowered his eyes in guilt as it had been eating him alive. The guilt of wronging her and their son Arash. He had been trying to make amends to her by giving space hoping she'd return to him soon after seeing his efforts. But now it seemed too late for this to happen.

"No. I will not accept it. You will remain my wife," He threw these papers away in anger and told her firmly.

"That's her right, dad. At least fulfill one right for her," Arash entered the living room with Mirha following behind as he told his father, taking a stand beside his Ammi.

"Please don't, dad. She never let me hate you after what you did to us. 20 years, dad. For 20 years because of one misunderstanding, I hated her. A misunderstanding you could solve but you never did. You stole everything from her in those 20 years, she kept silent and forgave you so easily. And now she's asking for her right and you are trying to steal it again...," Arash told his father, picking the papers from the floor.