No Conditions, Whatsoever

Unfazed

Reminder: Pray your salah before reading this.

Feiha's PoV:

"Feiha?"

Baba's voice reached my ears and I could figure out the frown on his face, his thick, grey eyebrows drawn together. I kept looking at Ayan who first turned his head in the direction of the door and then stood up immediately.

Baba trusts me.

The voice inside my head told me to keep calm as I knew that I hadn't done anything wrong. It was just the heat of the moment that had made me...vulnerable.

I forced myself to stand on my feet and slowly lifted up my gaze to meet Baba's. His stare was blank and fixed on Ayan, his posture somewhat weak. Beside him stood Mama who looked equally surprised and confused as everyone else in the room.

And then my gaze landed on someone else.

Sarim.

I felt the blood from my face draining as I locked eyes with him and even from a distance of at least ten feet, I could feel the judgement radiating from him.

He scanned me from top to bottom, making it clear that he was looking down at me. Why are you here? I wanted to ask but I held my tongue for my family's sake.

"Baba," I walked forward, "let me explain."

"I'm sure you will," Sarim spoke and I fought the urge to slam his head into the wall.

"Baba...this is...Ayan. I'm sure you know him. He is Aunt Mariam's son."

Baba's eyes that were fixed on Ayan slowly shifted to my face. "Why is he here, flower?" The tone of the question threatened to pierce my heart.

"I...I can't tell you now. Not in the presence of the outsiders, at least," I answered, not intending to take a jibe at anybody but still succeeding in doing so.

"Outsiders?" Sarim's annoying voice rang again. "And what about him? Who is he?"

"I don't think I'm obliged to answer you, Sarim Bhai," I let out with gritted teeth. "This is my personal matter and I'm going to talk about it with my family."

Sarim scoffed. His facial expression had turned vile and I could see the villainy in his eyes.

Everybody, including Sarim's mother, claimed that he was in love with me. I too had believed that until I found out one day that he saw me as nothing but a weak target that he intended to achieve by hook or by crook.

In high school, his friends and mine used to tease us and call us sweethearts only because we used to talk to each other quite often. What they didn't know was that most of our conversations used to be just me asking Sarim to help me with my studies since he was one year older than me.

I had guessed about Sarim's infatuation with me and so I started maintaining distance from him. But he was stubborn and refused to let go of the idea of us being together.

When I found out about my Anaemia, Sarim was the only person, apart from my family, whom I told the secret in hopes of making him leave me. But surprisingly he didn't budge even then.

At that point, I had let myself wonder if it was really love that he felt for me. We began to talk again and he told me that he wanted to take our friendship to the next level.

One day, I went to his house to return his notebook when I heard him arguing with his mother.

"But she's barren!" Aunt Bashira's aggressive voice echoed as I stood unnoticed at their doorstep. "You can't possibly want to marry her!"