My husband hates me

Chapter 24 (Unedited)

The sun rises in the city of Azamgarh, and Saad Nawab Khan finally wakes up from his coma. He finds himself in the ward, iv attached to his nerves, his grey eyes go to the heartbeat machine, and a sense of dejavu hit him. He blinks now and finds himself standing in front of himself.

"Miscarriage"

The doctor said. Saad sighed it didn't affect him in the least. Why would it? He never wanted a kid from her, so it didn't matter it died. Three months, not even a fully formed baby, anyway Seher hated him so she wouldn't care. It was her fault, she shouldn't have fought back, she shouldn't have rebelled against him.

Yes it was her fault. That the baby died.

They didn't need a baby, Jahangir Shaikh's lineage can't be his heir. Politically it would make Saad weaker. So Saad was content as he caressed her forehead, he didn't want a son, he wanted a daughter... just like her.

Strong minded, rebellious. It was a pity that Seher was Jahangir Shaikh's daughter, because a son from her would have made a powerful leader. Hell if Seher would have been a girl, she would have given him a hell of a competition.

He was thankful, that she was a woman and his. His wife.  Maybe that's how he wanted it all along... he loved the way she challenged him, he loved to break her fight, to break her spirit. He loved to remind her, that... he was a man.

Saad blinked as the thoughts that were his echoed in his mind, and he saw Ayesha standing infront of him, heard him speak up and heard the word he spoke, the name he called.

"Seher"

Ayesha, with her heart twisted in knots of anger and hate, watched over Saad. When he called out for Seher, Ayesha's composure shattered. "I am your wife too!" she cried out, her voice breaking. "Why is it always her? Why am I invisible to you?"

"Why can't you see me, Saad? Why do Musa and I fade away in her shadow?"

But the dazed man was lost in his own thoughts and the past to consider her feelings.

It took him three days to recover from the poison, to regain conciousness. More than the poison, there was something else twisting his guts, haunting him. His own words, he couldn't understand why was all of this coming back to him.

"Do you still hate me?"

Seher's eyes, once filled with the fire of loathing, now softened. "I hated you more than anything," she admitted. "But now, I pity you. And in that pity, I find a strange kind of peace."

His eyes softened a little, he was relieved. She didn't hate him anymore, did poisoning him remove the anger?

She couldn't stop herself, the guilt, the self hatred was crushing her.

"I feel... nothing," Seher whispered, her voice trembling. "I thought that seeing you suffer would bring me peace, but it hasn't. It has only made me realize how much I've lost of myself in this pursuit of revenge."

Saad's eyes, once filled with cruelty, now looked at her with a glimmer of understanding, or perhaps it was just a reflection of his own pain. "I never meant for things to go this far, I wanted to break you.." he said weakly. "I thought I was untouchable."

Seher's mind drifted back to the countless nights she had spent in fear, the memories of her child's lifeless body, the betrayal of Saad's second marriage. The agony she had endured was unimaginable. Yet, standing here now, she couldn't find the strength to hate him anymore. The fire that had fueled her rage had burnt out, leaving only ashes of regret and sorrow.

"I'm not like you," she said finally. "I never wanted to be like you or my father".

Saad closed his eyes, a tear escaping down his cheek. "I'm sorry, Seher. Not for my actions, but for hurting you in the process. I never realized how much I loved you until now. And maybe now you will realize that everything I did was for you. You can fall in love with me now. I am a changed man."