Tamanna E Khaam ✨

12🐚

Aliya informed her mother about Talha's arrival, Shagufta took Asna from her arms and nodded at her daughter to tend to her fiance. Aliya stalled and deliberately walked slowly towards the living room. Talha was already waiting for her and he stood up as soon as she appeared in the doorway.

"Talha." She nodded curtly before adding, "Kaise aana hua apka?" Her formal behavior irked him to no end. He grimaced before retorting.

"Kaise aana hua?" He repeated looking at her incredulously. "You haven't been answering my calls. You haven't been any attention to me and when I come here to check in on you, you have the nerve to ask me kaise aana hua?" He raised his voice she didn't react instead she rolled her eyes.

"I've been busy!" She responded.

"Yeah, I saw THAT!" Talha snarled and that got her attention.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean Talha?"

"You know damn well, Aliya. Don't play coy." Talha ran a hand through his hair. "You've been ignoring my texts and calls, masquerading around with that Shams and you're telling me you're busy?"

"Don't you dare! That's not how it is. We just- no wait I'm not going to explain myself to you. If you don't trust me enough it's not my problem." She snapped back. "Aur rahi bat apke texts ki, kya jawab doon main unka? Huh? Do you realize how insensitive you've been the past weeks, my brother is half dead, my sister-in-law died and my niece is orphaned, and apko humari shaadi ke functions discuss karna hain?" Before he could speak again she continued "Ap yahan mujhe py check in krne nahi aye hain but apna haq jatane aaye hain."

"Look I understand the situation but kab tak tum is sab ko apne upar sawaar karogi huh? Tum sari zindagi toh Asna ko nahi paal sakti!!"

"What do you mean?" She asked staring up at him.

"well I hope tum ye expect nahi krrhi ki thi ke tum shadi ke bad bhi use apne sath rkhogi?" The look on her face told him what he had been thinking was right. "Well Aliya main kisi aur ki aulad nahi paal sakta aur uske upar se main apni hone wali biwi ke aashiq ko bhi apne ghar aane doon."

"Aashiq?"

"Wohi Shams!!" Talha taunted. "Jab dekho yahin tumhare ird gird mandalta rehta hai."

"Ab aap hadd par kar rahe hain. Wo Asna ka mamu hai aur sirf is hi haisiyat se yahan aata hai." Aliya defended Shams, in the back of her head a thought lingered that never in her entire life she thought she would ever defend Shams, against anyone, let alone her fiancee.

"Han aur wo isi haisiyat se mere bhi ghar me ghusa chala ayega, and please, don't you think I've seen the way he looks at you? You might be oblivious but I'm not."

Aliya was left in a state of shock as soon as his words registered. If she hadn't changed so much in the past few weeks she would've laughed in his face, or worse, broken his nose for suggesting anything remotely similar about Shams looking at her a certain way.

"Mere khayal me apko jaana chaiye." Was all she said before making her way back to her room but his voice stopped her.

"Ja toh raha hoon, but I can't do this anymore. It's over." She didn't try to change his mind, she nodded subtly and walked to her mother's room without sparing him another glance.

The news of her broken engagement spread like fire and her relatives didn't let go of the fine opportunity to scrutinize her character despite knowing the reasoning behind the situation. Had it been any other time she would've given everyone a piece of her mind. But after all this time, everything she went through she's become patient.

Saleha, Shams' mother felt terrible about the news of Aliya's engagement being broken off and she felt like her and her family was partly responsible for the mishap. She felt the need to fix this somehow and given the circumstances she did what she felt was best. She called Shagufta to discuss the thought that had been lingering in her head for a few days. She felt this could be the best solution for the given situation. She hadn't even asked Shams but she knew even if both of them denied this could be the only way Asna could get a proper shot at being a normal child, regardless of being an orphan.

Shagufta entered her daughter's dimly lit room and found her daughter in deep thought, staring into nothingness.

"Aliya?" Her mother called out to her.

"Ji ammi?"

"Tum Shams se shadi karogi?" She asked carefully.

The girl looked at her mother, her face flashed a couple of expressions before she made a face of disgust.

"Mere liye wohi reh gaya hai saare zamaane ka badtameez aur ek number ka ghamdi?" She asked furiously.

"You have to understand to severity of the situation." Her mother tried to argue with her daughter but she beat her to it.

"Bhad me jae situation ammi. Main usse shadi nahi karungi."

On the other hand, Saleha approached her son with high hopes and expressed her desire to him. She hoped that he would take her wish into consideration and agree to marry Aliya.
There was an eerie silence in the room after his mother asked for his answer.

"Main Aliya se shadi nahi karunga." Shams declared his final answer.