Make Me Your Villain

Chapter Twenty Eight

Hayat Azhar

Sleeping on the roof with no blanket whatsoever to keep me warm was the dumbest thing I'd done in a while.

When I woke up around 5 in the morning, my body had turned sore and my joints ached from the cold.

I had to skip university and couldn't go to the haveli either. My mind was more focused on the fact that Zohaib didn't respond to any of my texts or calls.

And that only made my fever and headache worse. On top of that, we didn't have any medicine at home. Unlike some people, we didn't have the privilege to buy more than what was needed at the time of buying something.

So mom had gone out to the medical store but since she had to visit the WAPDA office too, she wouldn't be back early. Apparently, something was up with our bills and she needed to get it checked.

She'd seemed really worried and I didn't want to put more burden on her. So I had to force myself up when Sania returned from school to make something for her.

However the fridge was empty; we hadn't bought this month's groceries yet due to shortage of money. There was nothing to eat or cook.

As I browsed through the shelves in hopes of finding anything edible, I found the omelette sandwich ammi had packed for Sania and frowned.

Putting it on a plate, I went out where she was studying. "You didn't eat your lunch at school."

She didn't look up. "I wasn't hungry."

Knowing there wasn't anything else to give her, I extended the plate to her. "Well then eat it now."

"I'm still not hungry."

"You haven't eaten anything."

She sighed and lowered her book. "And neither has anyone else in this house. What's your point?"

I knew I didn't eat. But mom hadn't eaten either?

I chose to ignore her words and crossed my arms. "Do you see how sick you've started to look because you don't eat well? Don't argue with me and just eat."

"You don't look all that pretty either!" she spat back. "Don't lecture me about health when you look sicker than I do."

My jaw dropped and I shut my eyes, the stinging pain in my head intensifying. "That's because I am sick—"

"Exactly!" she interrupted me. "You're sick because you don't eat either. And neither does mom. So why should I? You think I don't notice how stressed you and mom are because of our finances? I'm not selfish, I don't want to pretend as if everything is okay and live without a care!"

"Sania." I stared at her in surprise. "I'm working and earning more than before. Stop worrying about these stuff, things will get better soon."

"I've been hearing this ever since dad passed away but things only seem to worsen!" A sob slipped past her lips and she glared up at me. "Your hard work isn't making any difference because every rupee you earn goes to the house bills and school fees and the loans we took from people. We still don't have enough money to spend on ourselves. Ammi hasn't been using sugar in anything for two weeks now because we haven't paid the shopkeeper his dues and we can't borrow anything from him."