Intekhaab✔️

Chapter 6 - Maskhara (مسخرہ)

Laiba's POV

I sat in my room surrounded by what was now a mixture of cut out card, sprawled crayons, paints and strands of my hair.

Seriously, Arif bhai? How could he!
Out of everyone who has proposed to me because of their craziness this has to be the craziest. The worst!

Were all men like this?
Zara friendly hue, aur woh kuch aur hi samjhne lagjatey hein.
Puri zindagi bhai samjha aur yeh anjam mila. I will never be able to like him as a brother anymore either.
Bilal ki hum umar or dost thi tho gharwalo ne kuch ka kuch samjhliya. Arif bhai ko bhai samjhke baat ki tho woh kuch aur samjhgaye.
Kya ghoom phirke yahi hota hai?

It's so damn frustrating! I feel deceived. I was always so careless in-front of him and this is what he's been thinking. It disgusts me.

The whole time he was here, just a while ago I held my tears back. Not wanting to appear weak, he should know what he has done is wrong and that I'm not going to cry over it instead I'm going to become rock hard over it.

My hair he liked, he can keep that to himself now.

I looked across the room into the big mirror hanging from my wall. The room looked a mess, but it looked neat in comparison to me. Hair chopped off in a rough scruffy bob. Skin and clothes stained with different colours of paint. Eyes swelling from holding back the tears and anger screaming from every pore of me. I turned to my right to see the easel still there.

Shit! I still need to complete this stupid poster!

Gathering myself I picked up the stupid bag I left behind. Pulling out the glue stick I stack all the cut outs I had made. And using the felt-tip board marker  I wrote out each word from the note Bilal had given me to paste onto the poster.

The poster wasn't done how I had planned to do it. Because now I only half heartedly completed it. But it should be good enough.

Pushing the remains of cut outs and stationary I had used, of my bed, I dropped myself to sleep. I felt exhausted. Shutting my eyes I forgot the world around me slept to peace.

———-

3POV

"Yeh kya karliya!" Shrieked Falak, waking up a totally behoshi level of sleeping Laiba.

"Hunnn Haan Kya hua?" Laiba woke up, asking where's the fire.

"Yeh apke baalo ko kya hogaya" Falak stared at her with horror.

Laiba was confused, she reached a hand to her hair and then it all came rushing back to her.
Oh shoot!

"Mere baaal!" Laiba began crying.

She actually loved her hair. She'd been trying to grow it out upto her knees. So that she could feel like Paro from devdas. And she was close to her target. But last night someone had made her detest her hair.  It made her even angrier at him. That because of him she had to let go of her jaan-she-pyarey hair.

"Ammi.." Laiba began crying even louder now.

And Falak rushed to her side to comfort her daughter. Falak was clueless as to what happened. But seeing her daughter like this caused an ache in her heart.

"Meri jaaan kya hua? Batao mujhe mere bachi" Falak coed with Laiba's head on her chest and her hands patting Laiba's back.

Laiba was going to say something, but she was struggling to put it into words. She still herself couldn't believe what Arif had said to her.

"Ammi me Aaj university nahi jaongi" laiba said coming out of her mother's embrace and facing her.

"Acha mere bache mat jao..par yeh sab kya hua hai mujhe batao tho" Falak said looking around the room. Which was a mess too. She couldn't help but think that her daughter is gone mad.