Possession by Laila Ali (best authors to read txt) 📕

"Dua you know nothing so don't accuse of something you have no knowledge about."

"Then tell me, I have a right to know everything if it concerns my brother's life."

"Come. We'll talk about it somewhere else" Zahra said.

Dua nodded and held her hand, talking her to her room.

As soon as they entered, Dua closed the door and they both sat down.

"Now tell." she said, clearing her tears. "I really want to know the reason for which you betrayed my brother"

"I..I never betrayed him, I never wanted to. I was compelled, I was pathetically blind in love. It was all Daniyal's plan. He made me do all those things, act like a perfect wife and then runaway with him. I always told him that I don't want to but then I was emotionally blackmailed. I am not throwing him under the bus, I should have used my brain but love, you know, it is a weird thing. It makes you do things which you can never imagine. And I received my karma too" Zahra told. Her eyes had a distant look in them. They became glassy with her tears as she recalled everything. It was all so hurtful.

"What do you mean ?" Asked Dua, guilt already settling in her.

"Daniyal was backstabber. He and his family are murderers of my Baba. His obsession was under the garb of love which I never saw. He told his brother to harass me so that I would gorunning intto his arms for protection and he made sure that I never uttered anything to anyone. I .. I was harassed by his brother Shoaib for five years, he made me believe I deserved it." Zahra was in tears by now, recalling those horrendous moments when he would touch me appropriately.

"What?!! Harrassed?!" Dua shrieked ans within seconds, she was by her side.

"I'm so sorry, Zahra"

"You know.... whenever I used to get alone, he would come to me, touch me inappropriately and all those situations were created by Daniyal. You know Dua, I loved that man so blindly that I plyed with someone's feeling. I know that was a hit below a belt on my part. I am ashamed of what I did to Irtaza but it was never intentional. I never wanted to hurt him, to break his trust but I was merely puppet. I let Daniyal exploit and manipulate him. I got my punishment and he got what he deserved that is death" she told her everything. Her tears were flowing down like a river. 

She didn't care if anyone could hear them, she was finally letting it all out. She felt a bit liberated. 

"One more thing, Dua that you should know before telling me that i was the one at fault. Do you even know how was I married to Irtaza? Do you?" she asked, looking towards her as she sniffled her tears.

She should know the whole truth.

"No" she shook her head. She never knew the whole story.

"Then listen, you remember that night" her voice was heavy now as she stopped and clear her throat before continuing slowly, "when I rejected Irtaza infront everyone. He came to my room that night, held a gun at my temple, then forced me in this marriage. It all started from that night. That was actually how I got married to him" she evaluated and cleared her tears from her cheeks.

"I hope, you no more think of me as a culprit now" Zahra told and stood up, leaving the room.

She had had enough of everything.

Dua was speechless. She couldn't believe her ears, how can someone endure all this pain. She was stunned at the fact how strong Zahra was. 

Zahra wasn't the culprit. Her brother was.

...........

Six days passed but there was no update on Irtaza. Shehryaar by now commanded over the haveli in place of Irtaza as the sardaar. He was controlling all the mafia dealings now, practically the new mob boss. The search still stood there but they had found immense amount of dried blood in that area which matched with Irtaza's. He was declared dead in a statement released by the terrorists but still Shehryaar didn't back off.

Zahra would try to approach him ands ask about Irtaza's well being but the reply she got did nothing to calm her restless heart. Everyone did their daily normal but one could detect that with passing time the light at the end of tunnel seemed to diminish along with their hopes.

Zahra's state was similar, she felt nothing inside, this feeling of hollowness consumed her. Whenever this question popped inside her tht she loved him? No voice would come inside from her. She was quiet.

She knew, there relationship had not reached that point where she can claimed to love him, about him, she was sure, he did. But not about her ownself.

Love is sacred emotion. It can happen within minutes or sometimes it can take centuries to commence, specially with the person whom you don't trust.

She was under the heavy weight of his favours. And the most prominent of them was that he brought her back, her home. She was truly thank ful to him. But trusting him, still her heart wasn't able to.

But she didn't understand why there was hollowness in her heart. That's usually where regret comes in where you feel love and affection for the that person but you didn't show them then. She dwelled on how his life could be at stake but brushed the thought under the rug as soon as it came, nothing could happen to him, she believed.

For every stich of pain she wove strength, for every tattered dream she qulited in hope and for every seem that ripped Zahra mended it again. But today when it came to him she felt helpless, this time her tapestry of resilience vanished into thin air. 

'He has to come back, please Allah, protect him' she inaudibly prayed

Three more days passes but still no clue about him. She waited for him, any news about him, from dawn to dusk but his promise remained incomplete. Her uneasiness increased the speed of her steps and she reached the far end of the haveli garden. She stood there all alone beneath half moon sky. The nip in the air made her shudder.