After the truth

~28~

Zayad let out a loud sigh.

His hands trembled as he sat on the edge of the chair, his voice barely a whisper. His eyes were fixed on the floor, unable to meet Zayn's gaze. The room was silent except for the distant hum of the clock ticking, each second dragging on like a heavy weight.

How was he supposed to narrate what occurred the night his sister got ruined without breaking down? He dragged his palm down his face and slightly tugged on his hair.

"Marwa had gone to the library and it was getting late. Mother asked me to go find her. She joked about Marwa loosing herself to the books she was reading." Zayad began. His forehead was creased tightly and his eyes were moist.

"Zulfa had insisted on following me, even though I had yelled that she should return home. She wanted to find her twin. She kept saying 'something was wrong and she could feel it'. To me, at that moment, Marwa was a burden to me because I didn't want to leave the house." His voice cracked, then he cleared his throat, trying to steady himself.

"I remember thinking 'what was wrong with Marwa!?! Didn't she realise she was out so late?' I didn't know what I would find, so it was easy to think that." His lips pressed together in a tight line, as if he could reign back the flood of memories. Memories he didn't want to revisit but haunted him every night, crippling him till he was nothing.

"We found her. She was passed out in the garden behind the library with tears coating her face. The skirt she had on was torn and blood stained her legs. Her fingers were clutching her shirt like she had struggled with her rapist to prevent them from ripping it." Zayad's breath hitched in his chest, and his eyes finally lifted to Zayn in the sitting room, whose blurry face reflected nothing but pain and disbelief. He did not realise that he had been crying.

"I was lost in a trance and it wasn't until Zulfa pulled her up and began shaking her to wake up, did I realise that she was bleeding at the back of her head." His voice broke, and he swallowed hard, the memory so vivid, so visceral, it felt like he was back in that moment, reliving every second.

"She was on the floor... In a way that..." His voice faltered. "She was... She was broken... And despite being unconscious, tears kept pouring down her face. I couldn't...couldn't understand what was before me. I--I thought I was dreaming. I thought that maybe, just maybe..." His hands went to his face, wiping away the wetness.

“I called her name. I screamed. And despite Zulfa shaking her repeatedly, she didn’t move. She was so still. Too still. I thought she was... God, I thought she was dead. Subhanallah. I thought she was dead Zayn. I felt horrible. I thought she was dead”

"I wanted to hurt whoever did that to her. I wanted to kill them, to make them feel everything she felt. But all I could do was hold her. I just kept telling her I loved her, I kept holding her, even though I felt like... I felt like I was breaking too."

His voice softened. "Zulfa was a mess. We were just young. We had no idea what to do. Zulfa wanted us to tell our father but I knew what he was, and humane wasn't one of it. I seeked our cousin's help. Imran's big brother. He took her to his doctor friend who treated her and even ran some test. She was alright after a few days. At least we thought she was." Zayad's voice broke.

"I forgot you had to look deeper to see how ghastly Marwa's wounds could be. I forgot she was the type who silently licked her wounds in hopes of not bothering anyone. I had no idea she was suffering and just thought she had bounced quick on her feet cos it was Marwa. So it was quite shocking that two months later, she was found pregnant. Father disowned her. And the only thing mother could do was send Zulfa to look after her twin. I was too blind to realise that mother too was also suffering." Zayad sighed heavily. He could feel his heart sinking to the pits of despair. He never healed. He had ruined his sister's life. If he had just been honest and told their parents when it happened.

"I know what you're thinking." Zayn's voice was shaky. "It's not your fault. What did you know? You did your best to protect your sister. And I'll tell you this, I do not lie to make you feel better but I only say the truth- the best that you could do saved Marwa."

Zayad stared at his brother. He didn't believe him.

"Your father would have sent your sister to a place where she would have never survived. It would happen again to her. That would have been wor..." Zayn choked, his hands flying to his mouth to stop the sound that was about to escape.

"How did you guys get away with our parents not knowing what was happening?" He asked a few minutes after he had gathered himself.

"Negligence. Ignorance. We lied about her staying at a friend to prepare for a competition." Zayad looked away.

"Marwa had no friend, except her twin and our cousin's." Zayn said, frowning.

"Negligence. Ignorance." Zayad whispered. "And mum was trying to save her marriage."

"We need to find out who the culprit is, to teach him one or two lessons. We need to set this family straight! A lot of wrongs to right."

"I got a name." Zayad muttered, digging his hands through his hair. "And I sucked up to dad in hopes of getting this person."

" Who is it?"

Zayad sighed out loud again. He knew his brother would turn mad with rage but mostly disbelief.

"Aaron Siddique."

Zayn's eyes widened in shock. He jumped from the couch and shouted "What?" It was impossible. How come?

"How did you get to that conclusion. That measly man?" Zayad would have laughed at his comic reaction if he wasn't feeling like a total shit hole.

"Imran told me." Zayad sighed for the umpteenth time. "He wanted to marry Marwa in hopes to cover the pregnancy but Baba found out before we could carry out the plan."

"What?" Zayn was beyond shocked. This felt like a storyline for a Kdrama. What in the world was going on?

"I get he was trying to keep her dignity, so why didn't he carry on with marrying her even after Baba found out? That would have saved her a lot of the trauma and stress."

"That's where I think, that Aaron could not have done it alone. The way it all happened, I am mistrustful of Imran."

Zayn's eyes widened. That must have been the reason Zayad was quite cold towards the guy when he had come to pick Aaron. But Mukhlisa looks a lot like Aaron. He frowned. How come he was thinking of this? He never thought of this before. He suddenly remembered when Mukhlisa's principal had mentioned that her father had come to threaten them.

Zayn picked up his phone and began dialling a number. Zayad frowned, wondering who he was calling now.

"Hello Zach! Take the next flight to Missouri. We have a lot of work ahead of us."