STAR CROSSED

10.

I woke up to the sound of yelling. I was quite surprised that I even managed to fell asleep in the first place. I looked around and saw no sign of Maaz anywhere, but seconds later I heard his loud voice coming from outside the room. He was yelling at someone; the sound was muffled so I couldn't make out the reason for his disapproval so I went to see myself. I fixed the loosen strands of my hair in a bun and went out of the room. Maaz was talking to his uncle in the courtyard. He spotted me as soon as I made my way down the stairs.

'Go to your room' He looked at me, expecting me to take the order but I remained still.

'Maaz it will cause a problem later for us if we don't address this properly, you must understand that' His uncle shifted his attention back to Maaz, seemed as if he was trying to get his approval on something.

'It will not be a problem for any of us except you so don't put this on me' He shook his head in a mocking manner.

'Kabeer is no more and who knows where Usman is, how long are you going to search...'His uncle spoke but before he could finish, Maaz marched towards him and held him by his collars.

'I will find that dog and I will bury him to the ground...I will burn this whole city if I have to, I want him dead' Maaz yelled at him and even Amma couldn't stop him from pulling back.

'You don't think when you're angry Maaz' His uncle said out of boredom when he grabbed the hold of Maaz's hand that were on his neck and pulled it back.

'Your wedding celebration might make him come out of his cave' His uncle half smiled at him, it wasn't the type of smile that could be trusted but it did make Maaz drop his hands. He was finally ready to listen to his uncle.

'I worked too hard put my name to where it is today, people look up to me Maaz...and you are part of my family, I know Kabeer's death left you devastated and believe me I am also very upset with this but everything has been put on hold because of you, you need to finish my deals or else our partners will pull back. They are all concerned and I have promised them that things will go back to normal very soon and your wedding celebration is going to be step in that direction...it might even trigger Usman to do something in a hurry' His uncle ended his proposal with an offer that got Maaz's full attention.

'Set the date for next week' Maaz turned his head to the side and caught my eyes that were glued on him.

'Great, I will have your room ready by tomorrow' His uncle walked up to me.

'I didn't get a chance to properly welcome you in our family' Before he could place his hand on my head, I turned back and returned to my room.

'I am not going to that house' I expressed my objection as soon as Maaz entered the room moments after talking to his uncle. Without saying anything he went to the washroom. I walked out of the room to look for Amma so I could convince her to talk to Maaz. That house reminded me Kabeer, people of that house were responsible of taking a life of a man who did nothing but good things for me.

'Amma you have to talk to Maaz, I don't want to go that house' I walked inside of her room and sat on her bed.

'It's not for me to decide, Shahid Arsalan has made his decision and so has Maaz so we can't do anything' She said helplessly.

'Who are these people' I covered my face with my hands, feeling exhausted all over again, my body getting stiff just thinking about returning to that house were I was kept locked for days.

'He won't let anything happen to you' Amma patted my arms gently.

'I just want to leave from here' I told her.