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کس سمت سے آؤ گے اتنا تو بتا دو
میں آج سے ہی رکھ دوں اس راہ پہ آنکھیں

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Everything didn't go as planned. Dua caught Jannat crying and would not stop asking until she knew what happened. However, the only thing Jannat's lips whispered were her refusal to marry Azlaan.

This unfolded chaos in the house. Dua was quick to inform her mother. Ammi was baffled. In intense worry, she herself came to talk to Jannat, but she won't speak a word. Her mother told her she was nervous and Azlaan was a good man but nothing. The only one person who got through her was Abbu. He patted her head continuously and let her cry. Seeing the anguish on her eyes killed his heart. What had he done? What had happened that had hurt his beti this much?

After an hour of consoling, she had stopped crying. With her eyelashes heavy with tears and blush-tinted eyes, she asked her father not to inquire about what had happened.

"Abbu, I don't want to marry Azlaan. Please don't ask why."
Eyes lowered, lips trembling.

Her heart screamed at her, her mind yelling at her to speak up. It was his fault. She should be vocal about what he had done and what she had to endure. She trusted her parents, Dua and once Ibraheem with all her being, however the latter had shattered that glass of trust with one cunning strike.

However, her lips didn't utter a word. Because if she did, the relationship that was held by a string between the two families, the two sisters, the cousins will whither away just like a plant kept in dark.

She knew not telling them would hurt them too, but not more than losing a part of family. She knew the consequences of breaking off the engagement, but she was a young soul. Her heart was ruined and she couldn't think rationally. What could she do except breaking off the engagement? The thoughts of marrying him scared her, even her heart had been scared the entire time they had been courting.

She looked at her father like he had solutions to all her problems, like only he could understand her.

His father tried to understand her. But the only answer he could find was the possibility of presence of someone else she was interested in. Could it be Ibraheem?

////////

Jannat was trembling. Dua sat beside her in her room along with their beloved old maid who tried to console Jannat as the elders talked in the drawing room.

She was eighteen and she had already faced two men who had betrayed her. Her soul was young and pure, she didn't know what was to come. Granted, there were many eighteen years old girls who were mature than her, but characters as shaped due to circumstances and upbringings. Jannat had always been sheltered, her decisions always made by others. She had never went out alone, hadn't even talked to any unknown person ever. Only twice had she ordered food herself, that too had made her nervous. She only had co-ed till eighth grade. Her high school was all girls.  It didn't feel like that before, but now it seemed that her hair, her clothes, make up was all partially chosen by others. She was indecisive, totally inexperienced and dependent on others.She was a a pearl enclosed in a shell, that waited for the right person to open it.

When they saw Ibraheem passing through the hallway, Dua jumped up from the bed grabbing him by his hand and dragged him inside the room.

In his cotton black Shalwar Kameez, he looked different than his usual black three piece suit business look. His gaze as dark as always, the hair on his jaw a little thicker than before. His stature was tall, so tall that he dwarfed Dua.

"What is it? I don't have time."
Annoyance rolled off hims as he addressed his younger sister.

"What are they talking about? How did they take it? What is happening?"
Dua bombarded him with questions.

His eyes flickered to Jannat sitting on her large white bed, now changed into her pink silk pyjamas.

"Everything is okay. Sleep. "

His instructions made Dua gape her mouth open, her hand rolling, gesturing 'What is his problem?' as Ibraheem turned in his back and exited the room in a second.

Jannat took in a shuddering breath.

//////

Jannat lay with her head in her mother's lap, Ammi's hand running through her hair.

The whole fiasco with Azlaan was over. Her parents had been as polite as possible to break the news to them and after a heated argument, they had calmed down. Azlaan talked to his mother, calming her by admitting he didn't mind Jannat breaking it off.
It would take some time to mend the relationship between two families but everything will be okay.

A tear of gratitude slipped from Jannat's eyes. She hadn't even told her parents the reason for her refusal and they had been ready to break off the relationship even if it harmed the close ties between the two families. To think they were not even her biological parents yet they had heard her pain through a single word uttered by her mouth.
She knew in her heart, they were her real parents.

"Jannat, meri jaan do you trust me? "

" With my life, Ammi."
She uttered without even thinking for a second. She would do whatever her mother asked.

Her mother paused for nearly five minutes. As the silence stretched around them, she whispered.

"Then marry Ibraheem."

Jannat's body deflated. Her eyes filled with tears and she stayed quiet as her mother's hand stilled in her hair.

"He is my brother Ammi. Why?"
She cajoled her words to be innocent, bent them to be soft.

" Beta, I can't bear to rukhsat you. My sweet child, how will you live somewhere else? My heart doesn't want you to be away. I am scared. This way, you can live with me forever. I know I am being selfish but I know he'll keep you happy. "

Her eyes closed. Who will love her more than this? More than a woman who was ready to make her son marry her just so she can stay close to her. Sons in desi households are usually held at a pedestal. Their choices, their wants, their decisions are always considered and accepted. Daughters are usually held in a glass shell, their parents deciding everything for them to protect them and their izzat , which is as fragile as a snowflake.

"What is the difference, Ammi? What is the difference between Azlaan and Ibraheem bhai?"

Both of them are lying, cheating drunks.

The word Bhai was such a concept, such a shame.

"There is, meri jaan. You just don't know it. Trust you Ammi. And trust that I will not hesitate to kill my son if he even thinks about bringing tears to your eyes."

But he has, Ammi. He already has. She wanted to say it.

How stupid would it be? To reject one man and to accept the other despite both of them making the same mistakes.

She would do anything for her mother. But could she do this?

//////////////

Jannat woke up, her body still as she felt feather light touches on her face. Fear gripped her heart for a second but she calmed down after smelling the familiar scent.

Finger tips brushed across her cheek, then out lining her lips. Fingers tucking her hair behind her ear, fingers brushing the hair on her fore head.

She gulped when she felt hot lips branding her forehead gently.

A dull caress filled with love.

"I am sorry. I am sorry. I just.. I just don't deserve you. Jannat, I- I am an arrogant man but I am nothing before you. That day when you saw me in my apartment, it was planned. "

She wast still. Tears threatened to drip out but she controlled them.

"I know I hurt you. You don't even consider me your brother now, do you? "

He chuckled humourlessly.

" I am a drunk, useless man. I don't deserve you. I am trying to be better, I promise. I have tried to control myself from destroying you but I can't wait now. I'll wait for your answer tomorrow. I know you're awake."

His voice felt like he had cried but it could be sleep too.

She stayed still until she heard him walk away leaving a jumbled mess in her head.

//////////////

Dressed in a pastel green Kameez with straight trousers, Jannat had put an effort in her appearance.

Her silky hair were blow dried after showering, her body felt pampered from all the sweet smelling body washes and scrubs she had used. Her sweet perfume reflected her sweetness, her skin a radiant roses and crème colour. Her lips were tainted with strawberry red, a gold pendant rested between her exposed blade like collarbones.

The pazeb in her feet jingled as her hand was suddenly grabbed and she was pulled. Ibraheem pulled her along with him, in his navy blue business suit, he was just ready for work.

He dragged her into the balcony as she struggled, the sunlight piercing through her eyes and making them golden.

"Leave me!"
She tried to free her wrist but his hand was an iron grip.

"You."
His voice was strong as his body stepped forward and in two quick strides he had her pressed againts the wall.

" Shaadi nahi karni mjh sey? (So you don't want to marry me?) "

his head nodded upwards, chin proud. It seemed like he was challenging her.

"Nahi. (No.)", her chin jutted upwards. Someone was confident today.

His head blocked half of the sun as he loomed over her, his nostrils flaring.

"Wajah? (Reason?) " He asked like he was annoyed.

"Aapko nahi pata, Ibraheem bhai? (Don't you know, brother )"

He rolled his eyes a little his jaw clenching.

" Maafi maang li nah? (I asked for forgiveness, didn't I) "

Like what he did was forgivable and forgettable just like that.

When she didn't say anything but moved to turn away, he placed his hands above her head. One of her eyes was illuminated by the sun light and he could see the green and the gold which hadn't seen before while the other was dark due to the blocked sun.

"Now listen. You will marry me and that is final."

His words like steel as he moved closer, his abdomen slightly touching hers.

She raised her eyebrows, eyes challenging him.

"No." Her head turned to the side, viewing the flickering green leaves of the plants on the wall.

He lowered himself to whisper in her ear,
"Soch lo. ( Think about it) "

Her chin jutted up again, exposing more of her neck as she said clearly,
"Soch lia. (I thought about it) "

His lips brushed against the shell of her ear as one of his hands left the wall to grab her waist. Through the cotton of her shirt, his hand felt hot. The feeling was surreal as his large hand covered one side of her waist completely. Her eyes flickered here there, trying to make sure that there were no neighbours peeking through their windows as her face flushed.

"Phir soch lo. (Think again) "

She was just about to respond despite the blush on her cheek but her words died down when his teeth nibbled on her earlobe and then moved down to place searing kisses on her neck in the sun.

Her legs felt weak when she pushed him away with all the force she could muster and he dared to laugh.

He dared to laugh, his throaty voice vibrating through her core, his eyes crinkling at the ends as she tried to digest the butterflies in her stomach.

Why was she putty in her hands? She melted like butter.

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Ah. Not one of my favourites but it'll work.

I seriously don't know whats happening in the story.

Did you guys like it?

If you read this chapter please take a second to comment anything here because I want to know who read it. (The reads keep increasing but I feel like only some people read it¿)

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