Shiddat

sixty three

Rubab's pov

It's been two days since Taniya Aapi came to Izmir.

She is pretending to be strong and happy, but the sparkles in her eyes are not present now.

Allah, Allah, why hasn’t she divorced Shoaib Bhai?

We are all sitting in the living room.

Yes, all of us. Dilan and Abira are also here to spend some time with Taniya Aapi.

"Rubs, don't you think we should change his name?" Dilan said, pulling Bulut's cheeks, who is sitting on Taniya Aapi's lap.

"Why would I change his name, Dilan?" I asked, confused.

"I don't like his name. We'll give him a good desi name," Abira said, resting her head on Taniya Aapi's shoulder.

"A desi name?" Taniya Aapi asked, trying to involve herself in the conversation but failing miserably.

Allah, what happened to her? Did Bhai cross a limit? Did he cheat on her? Abuse her? And why isn't she telling anything to me and Taha?

"Yup, we'll name him in the Indian and Afghani pattern," Dilan replied.

All the while, Bulut was smiling, showing his toothless mouth and pressing himself to Taniya Aapi to deny Dilan’s continued pulling on his cheeks.

"Stop it, Dilan. Do you intend to make my child's cheeks red?" I shouted in concern.

She rolled her eyes and ran from there, but not before biting his cheeks, making him wail loudly.

...

Authors pov

It's 11 at night. Everyone has retired to their rooms, but Rubab is sitting in the living room with Bulut crawling to her and playing with her chain.

With everyone's presence, she forgot about her pain, but when alone, she dwells in a pit of pain.

Only she knows how she endures the pain of being touched by another person who is not him.

She thought Taha would be repulsed by her, but he cared for her like a baby, even more.

Somehow, her heart is screaming that it’s her kaffarah. She is paying for Shoaib's actions because he is hurting Taniya unnecessarily, but still, she doesn’t have the heart to tell everything to Taha, not until Taniya herself tells him everything.

What if Taha starts hating her? What if he divorces her because her brother is inflicting pain upon his sister?

And the mere thought of being hated by Taha makes her blood pale.

But she can't be this selfish. She has to tell him everything.

And seeing Taniya's condition, she swears Taha can clearly see her pain.

"Biwi, why are you still awake?" Taha’s voice brought her back to reality.

"I was waiting for you," she replied, caressing Bulut's back.

He sat beside her and gave a kiss on Bulut's head. Bulut showed his happiness with his hands in the air.

He kissed his tiny fist.

"Baba ki Jaan, I know you are happy sensing my presence," he said, kissing his cheeks.

But Bulut immediately rubbed his cheeks against Rubab’s chest to wipe the kiss, making both of them laugh.

"Taha..." he was about to get up when Rubab spoke.

"Ji, meri jaan?" he asked, kissing her forehead.

"Aap Taniya Aapi se puchhe ki wo khush hai ya nahi?" she said, looking into his eyes.