She entered the house to an impossible silence. It was impossible because the kids never stayed quiet. And she didn't like that silence. Nothing good ever came out of it. She wondered where the children were.

"Assalam o alaikum, Ammi. I'm home!" Her greeting didn't have the spirit as it did before. She went inside and saw his mother on the couch, looking awkwardly at the five figures inhabiting the hall.

"WaAlaikumAssalam", Shiza greeted back. "I thought you were gonna stay in hospital tonight."

She went in front of Bi Jaan and lowered her head, waiting for her to pat her back or head as a gesture of kindness and welcomeness. But she never felt any touch. After a moment of awkwardly standing like that, she looked up and into the green eyes which looked so like the ones which she dying for to open. She remembered the day Bi Jaan had first came to her previous home. Her eyes had been the first thing Layeba had noticed. Back then, she thought there was kindness in them. But today, she looked into them and wondered if those green orbs had ever once gave home to any soft feelings.

She straightened and paid her greetings to the mother-daughter duo sitting beside Bi Jaan, Yazaan's Aunt Naheed and cousin, Gul. Nodding at the twins, Shehryar and Asfandyar, she answered her mother,

"There was no need of it."

Six faces snapped at her, looking at her in horror. She realized how wrong her words sounded and she corrected herself, "i mean, there are professionals looking after Yazaan. I didn't need to stay there."

"Of course, why would you stay there? You wanted nothing more but ill upon him the second you got acquaited with any of us!"

The silence graced them with its presence again at Naheed's comment. Layeba stood frozen, unable to comprehend what to make of it. She knew they weren't exactly here to adorn her with garlands but she definitely didn't expect them to jump on her like this.

"Leave it, Ma. She would simply find some argument about how he brought it upon himself with his wrong deeds and she doesn't care about those who do such haram stuff."

Fury coursed through her veins at the audacity of Gul. But there was also embarrassment and guilt because she knew that two months back, she would have said exactly those things. But now, after several reality checks from her mother and Yazaan, she wouldn't even think about such stuff. She'd learnt that lesson the hard way.

But that was the only thing she'd changed in herself. If she'd let anyone just talk like this to her, in that tone, she wouldn't be Layeba Hussein.

Before she could show the girl about seven years younger than her, her place, the bell rang.

"Were you expecting someone?" Shiza asked her.

She looked at her mother and replied, "Phopho called. She said she'd stop by."

Shiza's eyes widened by a fraction and Layeba shrugged at her, going to open the door.

It wasn't that her Phupho was an unpleasant lady. Quite the opposite, actually. Hooriya was a wonderful woman who loved Layeba and Shiza to death, and the feeling was mutual. The only thing that created problems sometimes was the fact that she was straight-forward. A little too much. Guess that's where Layeba got that trait of her.

She invited Hooriya inside after greeting and hugging her. Hooriya went inside while she stood in the porch texting Sanem,

You coming to join the party?
~Layeba

Naahh.....you enjoy ;) serious case in
the ER.
~Sanem

What supportive best friend i got.
~Layeba

=D
~Sanem

She shook her head and went inside. The atmosphere was tense, with Shiza and Hooriya wanting to make small talk and the opponents being cold and dry with their one-word answers.

"Arre, Layeba! Come here, sit with me." Hooriya patted the space beside her on the couch on seeing her. She complied, wanting this day to be just over.

"How's your husband, love? What do the reports say?"

Waah phupho! Just the time to ask this. I'd already told you on the phone, hadn't i?

"The surgery was successful, Alhamdulillah. We're hopeful he'll be alright once he wakes up. There are certain things that we're worried about even though the reports were quite accurate. But those will inshaAllah be eliminated once he wakes up."

It was the most diplomatic answer she could manage, because it was directed at Yazaan's family. She just hoped that they would leave it be. But when did she ever get what she hoped?

She sensed the cutting remark even before it was voiced out.

"Cut the crap, Layeba. Stop sounding like you actually care for my nephew. Had the things gone your way, he wouldn't even be breathing right now."

Her gritted her teeth and tried too hard not to glare at Naheed, out of respect. But Hooriya had no such obligation.

"How can you talk to her like that?" Hooriya said calmly, though her eyebrows were furrowed in obvious irritation.

Shiza gripped her head with one hand and placed the other on Hooriya's shoulder, indicating to her to just let it go. She knew nothing good was gonna come out of it.

"I speak nothing but the truth. Ask your niece. Isn't that what she always wanted? Doom upon our family? Upon Yazaan?"

Layeba's eyes met Bi Jaan's and she raised her eyebrows silently asking,

You're just gonna sit there and say nothing?

But what was she expecting? That woman only spoke when only her so-taught morals were questioned. Come on! That woman had said nothing when her grandson had threatened to kill Shiza just so he could marry Layeba.

Not wanting Hooriya to be in bad terms with her in-laws, because she knew of their ways, she said,

"No, i didn't. I did not wish doom upon neither your family nor my husband. Even if my words may have implied that, i never really hoped it. And with the circumstances i was acquainted with you guys, i think my reactions were pretty justified, don't you think Bi Jaan?" She challenged the old woman with her eyes but she just sat there with sharp, unforgiving eyes just watching the drama unfold in front of her. "But I don't think all this talk is necessary, is it? Yazaan is struggling for his life right now. And he needs nothing more than all his family praying for his well-being. Right?"

She looked at Bi Jaan and swore that even if now she didn't ask the two ladies to shut up, all hell will break lose and she would probably be the one to unleash it.

"Oh, so now you're suddenly a part of this family?" Gul said, mocking her. "Because if i may remember correctly, we were all haramkhor who you wanted nothing to do with. Now you're suddenly all good and accepting, pretending to care for Yazaan?"

Ok, that's enough. This girl's asking for it.

But before she give a taste of her mind, Hooriya lost his temper, "Who are you to speak to my niece like that? How dare you? She's her husband's grandmother", Hooriya pointed at Bi Jaan, "so, whatever she says to her, it would be worth lending an ear to. She's her husband's mother figure," Hooriya pointed at Naheed, "so her word would be worth listening to as well. But who the hell are you?"

Layeba felt proud right now, having an aunt like Hooriya. She loved that woman. She didn't bother correcting her that Yazaan had nothing to do with Naheed. And Bi Jaan, well, she was a complex being. Yazaan seemed to love and adore her. But Layeba never felt any sort of comfort around her. From Yazaan's version of his past, she couldn't help but think Bi Jaan as a villian, as cliche as it may sound.

"Hooriya, calm down. Don't get so hyper. It'll only make the matters worse", Shiza squeezed Hooriya's shoulder, trying to make her understand. Shiza hadn't been feeling well since Layeba had informed her of Yazaan's condition that morning and now all this drama was adding to her stress.

"Oh please, Aunty! I don't need to tell you who i am and what position i hold in this family. And i'm not even addressing to you, i'm talking to Layeba here. So, stop getting all defensive and keep your nos-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, GUL!" Layeba yelled, standing up.

That's something Naheed or Bi Jaan should have said but they didn't, making Layeba hate both of them more than ever. No one dares to speak to her family like that and gets away with it. That's definitely one of the things Yazaan and Layeba have in common.

She exhaled through her nose, closing her eyes, then opened them again. The intensity by which she was glaring at the three women, it was a surprise they didn't light up.

"Ammi, Phupho. Please can you both go upstairs?"

"But beta, think rationally. Don't act on impulse." Bless Shiza's heart! She still didn't want a conflict even though it had been sitting and sipping tea among them since the time Yazaan had married her.

"Ammi," she grabbed her mother's hand and kissed the back of it. "Please."

She made eye contact with Hooriya, begging her to take Shiza away. She wasn't blind to her mother's sufferings. If things were to go her way, she would have packed everything and left for some nice peaceful place. But she couldn't. So she just wanted Shiza away from the argument.

Hooriya led Shiza upstairs, into her room. Layeba turned, her mind made up give the little girl exactly what she was asking for.

"Who the hell do you think you are, little miss? How fucking dare you talk to my Aunt like that?"

"Mind your language, Layeba!" Naheed dared to snap.

"Mind my language? Don't you think you're minutes too late to say that? I can bet your daughter could use some of your scoldings right now, no? But apparently you're just here to bash me today. And even more so, your daughter seems like she's got enough to say. So let's hear it, Miss Gul Khan. What exactly is your problem? 'Cause it ain't nothing related to your cousin's health and that, i'm certain of right now."

Sitting on the couch in a dark purple Anarkali frock with perfect porcelain skin, beautiful everyday jewelery, locks of blond hair falling elegantly against her back, Gul looked like royalty and especially in front of Layeba who looked disheveled in her creased blue printed Kurta Pajama, a black hijab and tired soul. But no doubt could be made about who held the seniority in this situation.

"What? Cat got your tongue? Because just a minute ago it was running faster than a bullet train."

When Gul refused to say anything or rather, didn't have anything to say, she continued, "See! That's how you look cute. With your mouth shut and your nose being where it belongs, out of someone else's business. How i treat my marriage and my husband is only between me and my husband. And you are the last person to have even an inkling of say in it!"

Don't know what snapped in Gul but she stood up and poked Layeba in her chest, standing a few inches taller than her and said, "if it weren't for you, Yazaan would have been my husband and he wouldn't have been in this condition!"

Layeba stood there frozen, looking at her for a good few seconds. Then she laughed. It wasn't voluntary. The situation was just too amusing to her.

"Really?", She gasped out. Then, she controlled her laugh. "That's your problem? That you wanted to be the one to warm his bed at night?"

This was totally not how Layeba perceived marriage to be like and what role of a wife was in it. But she couldn't help putting this insult out there to a woman who was so desperately annoying to her.

"How dare you!" Blood rushed to Gul's cheeks and indignation shown on her face. Her mother was going to come to her rescue with few of the taunts she'd packed in for Layeba but she was having none of it now.

"How dare i? Oh, i've always dared to speak the truth. Maybe you should've tried that instead of being a hypocrite, pretending to be all innocent and calm and not bitchy at all. Maybe then, Yazaan wouldn't have forced me to marry him."

She couldn't believe she had thought Gul to be a ray of light in all that darkness. Maybe she wasn't that good at reading people after all. Or maybe Gul was just too good at pretending. Either way, Gul was a bitch and there was no other word to describe her. (Even though bitches would be embarrassed to be in the same category as her.)

"But maybe someone in the family was aware of that fact, that's why she didn't marry you off to her grandson, right Bi Jaan?"

Hats off to the woman for still not saying anything and just giving her the cold stare.

"But even so, please go ahead. As soon as Yazaan wakes up, marry him. I've got no issue. Or even better! Ask Bi Jaan to allow one of his grandsons to threaten some Qazi. Maybe then he'll find a way to get you married to Yazaan unconscious as well. What say?" She clapped her hands together once, mock waiting for Gul or Naheed to say something. "Oh come on! Ziada se ziada kya hoga? You'd be called a second wife. But no biggie, right? As long as you get to keep your false pretense."

When Gul and Naheed both had nothing to say, she decided it was time to cut it all out. Removing all traces of mocking and amusement from her face, she glared at Gul who was red with embarrassment, and said,

"Don't bark unless you have the courage to bite. Understood?"

"That's enough", a voice cut through the silence which had fallen when Layeba had said the last sentence. With her walking stick clutched in her hand, Bi Jaan stood in front of Layeba.

Layeba gave her the exact same look she had given when she 'd seen Bi Jaan slapping her the first time after he'd married her.

Now you talk?

"I think so too. I think that's enough. You should all stop blaming me for Yazaan's condition. I had nothing to do with it. Tell me, Gul. Do you really think had you been his wife, he wouldn't have been eventually in this situation? 'Cause last i knew, i wasn't the one with armed men hunting me so they could kill me. Everything he's gone through in the past ten years is what you pushed him in, Bi Jaan. What he's become, what he does, you're behind all of that. You've created a monster and you know it!"

Bi Jaan could see in her eyes that she knew everything there was to know of his past. Down to the very last detail. And what Yazaan thought to be a blessing, she'd immediately caught onto it being the root of it all.

That day, Bi Jaan was the who'd seen the gun in Yazaan's hands first. And if she had wanted, she could have ended everything then and there. She was the one who was holding the power. Who were Yazaan's uncle to threaten him with the lives of his siblings, just so he could sit on the throne when there were people ready to kill for it?

And Layeba didn't need words to tell Bi Jaan that she knew the truth.

"Yazaan loves you, Bi Jaan. You're the one of the three people he genuinely cares about in this life. But i really wish he sees you for who you are.

"And he will! I'll make sure of it. I may not have been the most willing to be his wife, but whatever the reasons may be, he's my husband and i will not let him sink any more than he already has. I'll do my damn best to make things better for him. I'll try my level best to give him one thing he deserves. You know what that is? Happiness. 'Cause i've seen the light that is still shining in that broken soul. A soul that you corrupted."

One corner of Bi Jaan's mouth lifted but disappeared just as soon, making Layeba wonder if she'd really seen her smirk.

"You think you know everything, always wanting to make things better, always trying to mend things, wanting to make them perfect." Bi Jaan took a step closer to her, and lowered her voice so only she could hear it. "But do you really think you can perfect this one?"

"I can sure as hell fight for it."

"But what are you gonna fight for? Perfection is nothing but perception. How are you gonna fight for something that isn't certain? At what level are you gonna decide that the monster in him resides no more?" It was almost mocking in Bi Jaan's voice, and the chill in it really had goosebumps erupt on her arms.

"Fighting for perfection is fighting for self-satisfaction. And it won't be me who'll be satisfied. It'll be Yazaan. Because even if you didn't want it, Yazaan has already been trying to be better."

"But will you be satisfied with his satisfaction? Will you be able to live with it that he's taken dozens of lives? Let's say you will be, What if one day someone comes with a proof against him? Will you be able to watch him go then? Watch him rot in jail and being sentenced to death?"

She looked at Bi Jaan with wide eyes and agaped mouth, horror evident on her face. She had been rendered speechless. Chills ran in her entire body and cold sweat broke out on her neck.

Looking victorious, Bi Jaan took a step back and smiled. "Life isn't a fairytale with always a happy ending. What happens next is unpredictable. I just hope you're ready for it, Doctor Layeba Hussein."

"I think it's time we go." It was the first time in the night one of the twins, Shahryaar had spoken. Layeba had even forgotten they were there.

"Of course, beta", the fraternal twins went outside to start the car, and Naheed and Gul went with them. "Allah hafiz. I won't say it was a pleasure." And with that she was gone as well, leaving Layeba there alone with her thoughts.

•~•

The black SUV stopped behind another of the same model, a little far then the military area. One man opened the backseat door, letting the old woman get off.

"Shahryaar, you take the kids and the women back to the haweli. Asfandyar, you come with me", she ordered the men inside.

The young man also got off the car, closing the door behind him and both sat in the other car. Apart from those two, there was just a driver in the car.

"Where to, Bi Jaan?"

Bi Jaan gave him the directions and after an hour of silent journey, the car was on an unpaved track, dark fields, visible under the starry night appeared on both sides.

•~•

Putting her things in her locker, Sanem was ready to retire for the night. One more thing to do, which she'd been doing every half an hour. She opened her call log on her phone and dialed the first number.

Hum maazrat khwa hain, aapka milaya hua number filhaal mojood nahi hai. Baraye mehrbaani, kuch der baad koshish kijiey.

The number you've dialed is currently switched off. Please try again later.

She worriedly dialed Layeba when she heard the customer service recording go off again.

"Assalam o alaikum?"

"WaAlaikumAssalam. Layeba, you've had contact with Abeerah or Ozhan lately?"

"No. I've been trying Abeerah's number too. But it's out of reach."

"Allah! Where are these people?"

•~•

Assalam-o-Alaikum people!
How are you all?
How's Ramadan going for you?

Did you guys like the chapter? I personally have mixed feelings about this one. I loved writing it, but don't know if i love the end result or not. Do tell me what you guys think of it.😊

Yaar, i love Hooriya's character. Even though it's a character I don't plan on writing much about, and so far it was only for this chapter's sake but i loved writing about her. One thing though. In the last chapter, i'd written that she's Hassaan's mother. I've removed it there as well, cuz apparently i'm confused about relations. Hassaan had been addressing Shiza as phupho, so his mother would be Layeba's mami. Don't let it confuse you like i was. Hooriya's NOT Hassaan's mother. 😁

Sorry for not giving our favorite man's scenes in this chapter. It had already gone too long. We'll see alot of him in the next one, i promise. 😘💖

Hating Bi Jaan yet?

No?

Don't worry, y'all will. I'll make sure of it. Atleast make you hate her as much as i do🤭😂

Hhhmmmmm...... what's gonna happen next? Make a guess. I'm not giving any more spoilers.

But that's about it.

Please vote 🌟 and comment 🖋️ and share and follow.🥺

Thank you!💖💖💖
Happy Ramadan!
Lots of love❤️❤️❤️
Javeria.