Jahangir Shaikh sat beside her as she drank the tea next day, he would occasionally glance at her. She had never seen her father this nervous around her as she was done with her tea, he poured her more. "Have more...", he offered and she couldn't say no, because she rarely sat with her father like this.

He was lost in his thoughts, Seher done with his silence so she placed the cup down, "What's wrong Baba?"

He sighed rubbing his forehead, "I made a huge mistake...", he turned to look at the sky, "When you were younger, I always thought you were like your mother, and a man who has similar countenance will suit you. A man with a strong will who would look after you... I never thought Saad would marry another woman and betray you like that".

Just when she thought her father understood, he said the last line. The other woman was never the problem, it didn't to matter to her then and it didn't matter to her now. The problem was the man, he was abusive, he was an animal, she could no longer live with him.

"Baba I can't live with him anymore", This was her chance, let him think it was because of the other woman, maybe this could be her way out. "And now he has a heir too, Baba ask him to divorce me. I will stay here my entire life, people have already started talking about Jahangir Shaikh's daughter being childless..."

She used his name knowing how much he cared about his reputation, a little more than he cared about his family. He took Seher to the graveyard yesterday not because he didn't wanted to lose her mother, but because of the aftermath and how it would affect his reputation.

"How is he with you?" Her father suddenly asked, this was her chance, She couldn't cry about the abuse because it was a norm in her father's eyes. What her father cared about was treatment... how a man treated his wife? How much time he spent with her..

"He doesn't smile, he doesn't laugh. The only emotion I see on his face is anger. He hates everything about me, my views, my dressing sense and my thoughts. It's not like I challenged his views on purpose, I tried my best to follow the rules of the village, but it seems like he hates the very sight of me. How can I live with such a man? a man who despises my very existence. He hates me Baba, my husband hates me", Woman would stand infront of him in every Panchayat complaining about their problems, their husbands and their fathers. This time it was his own daughter, he was the culprit and the judge.

"I was angry myself when I heard about the marriage that's why I did something for you, I tried to kill him but he... survived", Jahangir narrated with a regretful look, he regretted not shooting him, but there was risk it could be traced back to him, "You seem to hate him suddenly", Seher remarked realising it wasn't an ego or reputation problem, there was something more. Saad and her father must have had a clash.

"It's nothing, you don't have to worry about it. Seher I have prepared a vile of arsenic, I want you to mix it in his food", as he gave her the small bottle, Seher's hand shook. She could stab him, because he deserved to die, for every slap to her face, for every scar on her stomach and for the child he crushed.

"Baba why didn't you drag him to the panchayat when you discovered about Ayesha. Wasn't that Zinah too?" The two met before they were married, and when Saad was married to Seher. That was cheating and Zinah. If the roles were reversed, Seher would have long been dead.

"A man can take numerous wives, a woman can't think about a man other than her husband, because she can't marry him. It's zinah if the woman does it"

_____

A man laid on the bed, his body covered with bandages, his face swollen and covered with a gauze. His eyes were barely open, and young woman sat by his side massaging his legs as the doctor has advised her to, he had twisted it and had to go through physiotherapy every day but the aftermath was he would feel the pain and whimper in his comatose like state.

He was being injected food through glucose and Dr Abdullah Khan visited twice a day to monitor his condition.

At night Ayesha sat beside him holding his hand, "Do you remember we used to hide on the mango tree when your father looked for you in the village?" There was a smile on her face, Saad had a temper he would always snap at his father for abusing his mother, he had seen it all. And he knew the consequences, Saad would often say, "Ayesha when I grow up, I will treat my wife like a Queen".

That's how Ayesha fell for him, and that was the reason she didn't believe Seher's words when she told her about the scars, Saad could never do that. She knew maybe this was a tactic or scheme by Seher to scare her, to destroy his image in Ayesha's eyes.

"You are my love", Ayesha whispered pressing a kiss on his cheek, "Jaan I hope you wake up soon, and embrace your son. He has your eyes, your smile, he is the mini version of you".

The next day as Ayesha heard her baby crying she heard a manly voice, "Ayesha?"

In a sleepy haze she jumped up and embraced him, realising too late that he was injured. He groaned in pain and she detached quickly,  "You are awake", she chirped her eyes filled with tears, as she caressed his forehead.

He only blinked his eyes, "I received your letter, you were injured when you were brought in, they said there were little chances of you waking up. But now you're up and I am so thankful to Allah for fulfilling all my prayers. Saad do you want to meet Musa?"

She stood up excitedly going to the young one's baby bed, but as she turned around his words stopped her, "Where is Seher?"

When he was in comatose he dreamed of a young girl hiding behind her father's leg, the two old men sat at the charpayi as their kids peaked glances at each other. Her brown hair, cute button nose and round face reminded him of a doll.

She gave him a glare, and when her father looked over she changed her expression in a second. The two old men conversed and Nawab Khan, Saad's father finally said those words, "I want your daughter to be married to my son".

He didn't remember these memories, but he remembered the little girl, she wouldn't talk to him and when he asked the reason she simply replied, "If my father found me talking to a man, he would kill me like he killed my sister".

___

Seher stood at her home's entrance feeling the sadness building in, she had to return to the hell, for the past few days she had hope, that her father would  take some steps but now he stood at the entrance tears in his eyes. She had been with her father for twenty years, but she never felt protected. He terrorized her in her childhood and handed her to a monster the moment she tasted her freedom. How could the same old man now shed tears? Was he crying for her?

He lifted his hand, and stopped her, removing some ten rupees bills, "Have this for emergencies", she nodded her head but before she could get on the car, he stopped her again, "Have this too", now a fifty rupees note as the car started moving he slipped in the last hundred rupees until his pockets were empty and Seher's heart was full.

____

Razia greeted her at the gate, beaming at her, "Finally you're back, I missed you so much", she tried to take hold of Seher's bag, but Seher shook her head.

"I will carry it myself", she looked around and noticed Saad's cars. Razia noticed her line of sight and started filling her in, "Saad sahab returned five days ago, he was in a coma until yesterday. He has been calling for you since he woke up".

He could never give her a moment of peace, she was living happily with her family and she had to return because of him. "Isn't Ayesha with him?" Seher couldn't help but ask, why was she needed here?

He hated her and she had started to hate him, this was hate wasn't it? The vial of poison she carried, it was her hate for Saad Nawab Khan. He was weak, if he suddenly died would anyone know? She would be finally free from this hell...

As Razia brought her to her room, she was disappointed on her bed laid Saad, "What is he doing here?"

She hissed the rage in her eyes, the hatred in her voice was visible, Razia fumbled with her words, "He... he missed you, that's why he ordered us to bring him here".

She clenched her jaw, feeling the poison in her fist, his presence was suffocating her. Before it was the house and now her room, he was everywhere. She fixed her expression and entered the room to greet her injured husband, her father had done a lot of damage. He was broken, she felt a sense of victory, although it was nowhere near the injuries he inflicted her, she was glad he was in pain.

"Seher...", he called her his grey eyes settling on her and lightning up. "Come here".

He was injured, she didn't had to listen to him anymore.  Seher walked to the window and opened it, the cold air rushed in and she could finally breath. She ignored his voice, tuned him out, in her own world, she was back in her room.

A few minutes passed by and she turned to him, "Are you ignoring me?" He asked his voice melancholy, Seher couldn't stand him, "Ofcourse I am. And you can do nothing about it, I hope you are in a lot of pain".

She said pointing to his wounds, her own words sounded insane in her ears, but she couldn't hold back her tongue, "Saad... how does it feel to be defenseless? How does it feel to be weak?" She advanced towards him like a predator and sat on the side, "I was wrong", he started as she looked into his eyes.

There was regret in his tone, "I was young when my father whipped my mother to death, as a young boy I had vowed in my heart to never treat my wife the same. But as I grew up things changed and I turned into my father".

Seher's laughter echoed in the room, a bitter, hollow sound filled with scorn and disbelief. She couldn't believe his audacity to compare his actions to his father's cruelty. "You think your empty regrets absolve you of your sins?" she spat, her eyes blazing with contempt. "You don't deserve forgiveness, Saad. You deserve to suffer just as you've made others suffer."

Seher's voice cracked with the weight of her words, each syllable dripping with the agony of her past. "For months, I lay here," she repeated, her finger trembling as it hovered over the spot. "The pain of losing our child, of enduring your abuse, it consumed me until there was nothing left but emptiness."

She could feel the raw wounds reopening as memories flooded her mind, tormenting her with their vividness. "You killed me, Saad," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the rushing of her own despair. "You turned me into a ghost, a shell of who I once was. And now, even in your weakness, even in your regret, you cannot undo the damage you've done."

Tears welled up in her eyes, cascading down her cheeks as she relived the nightmare of her past. "I will never forgive you," she declared, her voice quivering with a mixture of anguish and defiance. "Not for what you did to me, not for what you took from me. You are beyond redemption, Saad Nawab Khan."