Irreversible

⚜♚40. Bonds of Kinship ♚⚜

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*

Yamna

*

My cheeks were burning as I got attacked by accusations, left and right.

One student had directly asked me if I was having an affair with Arsalan Tariq to gain an advantage to progress in my writing career.

A part of me wanted to run away and hide at home, curling up in bed and crying my eyes out.

No, Yamna. They are way out of line. Don't let them get away with accusing you. Rohaan's voice rang in my head, almost as if he was here himself. My brain was questioning what he would do in this situation, and I suppose this was the reply.

"You people are repulsive." I spoke, even as my voice trembled. "Arsalan Tariq is my brother-in-law. Keep your nasty thinking to yourselves."

A girl scoffed. "Either way, you have an unfair advantage."

"For a girl to make such accusations is even more disgusting." I said. "You're playing the game of misogyny, by making accusations against any girl who achieves something." I shook my head. "I owe none of you an explanation, but there's no point in a university education if you still have filth in your minds."

I then ran away, bursting into tears once I was out of their sight.

*

I couldn't stop crying.

This kind of an accusation had come off as a major shock to me. I'd never expected to ever be in a situation like that, ever.

"Yamna, are you having an affair with Arsalan Tariq to get an unfair advantage?!"

Astaghfirullah! I have been accused of having an affair with my dewar!

Now, standing in the back garden of the Tariq family home, I typed a message quickly, even as tears still ran down my face.

<Yamna: I need to talk to you.>

The reply was quick.

<Arsal Bhai: Me?>

<Yamna: I'm in the back garden of Dado's house. I know you're here.>

<Arsal Bhai: I'm coming.>

I saw him walk towards me a few minutes later.

"Everything okay, Yamna?" He looked concerned...but also slightly sheepish.

"Were you not at the workshop today?" I asked.

"No, he colleague I had been stepping in for was back." He shrugged.

I held up my phone, the screen showing the e-zine of his publication house. "I'm curious. How did my genre conversion story about robots end up on the e-zine of your publication house?"

He sighed in defeat, as if he had been expecting this conversation. "Yum-Yum..."

"How could you publish this without asking me?!" I spoke accusingly to him.

"Yum-Yum, I wanted to surprise you with this. You have talent, and I wanted to do this for you. I showed this short story to my boss, and only with his authorisation this was published. This isn't just biased publication."