Holding on and Letting go [Complete]

28) He Is Back.

Go help your mom with Sehri before reading.

Hunched over an insurmountable pile of documents with her elbows propped on the table, her head rested on the back of her balled fists as she prodded the words scraped over incredibly white computer papers that stared shamelessly right back at her.

With overwhelming load of office work and NGO for over a week now, her head had now started remaining fuzzy.

Ahid had asked her to just focus on NGO and leave her job in the office quite a few times but in vain. The routine was hectic but she was content. She liked keeping herself busy. But most importantly, she liked seeing that two girls, Shamim and Maria, she had gotten under her NGO's shelter happy. Just one smile on their cluttered faces and boom! She would forget everything else. They were finally happy.

She met Shamim though one of Ayesha's friends who was living her miserable life under the despicable patriarch of her dipsomaniac father who'd often subject to physical abuse after losing his money in gambling, verbal abuse being something he would do all the time. Her mother had died giving her birth and she didn't have any sibling to rely on either, not to mention the relatives who wouldn't even talk to her accusing her of her mother's death just like her father did.

The scars etched on her rough skin with her face cascaded in tears told her the tale of her lifelong suffering. She was so young and beautiful yet she looked older beyond her age. She pleaded Ayat to take her under her haven and she did.

But first she went to her house and confronted her father for treating his own child worse than a stray dog upon which he called her a bitch and what not as he created a havoc to give him his daughter back since he had no one to take care of the small prison he had confined her in, and to cook him delicious meals. But on Ayat's threat of filing a case of emancipation against him, he settled down asking her to take Shamim away. "I never cared about her anyway. She's a witch. She killed her own mother," he had said with muck etched all over his filthy face.

Maria's story was not much different except that in her case, it was her husband who played the role of the devil in her life. She came across her on one of her excursions to Sabeen's place. A humongous crowd of people was hovered over someone. Stopping her car, she rolled the window down and inquired a bystander about the situation to which he told a man was drubbing his wife with a slipper, usual stuff you know. Shocked, she asked as to why they were not helping the poor woman to which he had the audacity to reply, "It's their matter. Who are we to swoop in?"

Anyways, now both the girls were leading a peaceful life. Since they weren't much educated Ayat had taken it upon herself to teach them before hiring a proper tutor for them. She was doing the best she could, still she felt like she wasn't doing enough.

Last night, she hadn't gotten much sleep, working up till Fajar, and right now her head was on the verge of detonating.

As she flipped another page, her phone chimed and Irha's number flashed on the scoured screen while her face broke into a toothy smile.

"AsSalamuAlaikum!" She commenced joyously, her voice brightening, looking forward to chat with her best-friend.

"WalaikumAsSalam!" She replied energetically and Ayat could detect an enormous smile on her face. "I have a really good news for you."

"Yeah?" Ayat perked up on her chair with excitement and anticipation. "What's that?"

"I'm getting married," she announced.

"You're kidding me, right?" Her before-decrepit face blushed as she shot up on her feet.

"Na-uh. I'm as serious as someone could be."