As everyone in the neighborhood were surprised about the rain without warning, the Ali family talked on and on about it as each one of them mentioned how the rain took them by surprise.
They all were seated on the warm cozy couches in the small living room. Seema occasionally threw glances at their guest, Maryam had arrived just a few minutes before the rain started. Farida was caught in the rain as she exited Willow's house.
Maryam sat beside Farida as they make small talks, the new friendship was growing faster than seema had expected and it worried her. She worried that Maryam may ruin things if she talked to Farida about that ugly incident. Soon, Farida stood up to use the bathroom, giving seema a chance to speak to the guest.
She waited until her daughter disappeared and said something to Maryam for the second time.
"Please don't tell her anything about sudais." Maryam locked eyes with seema for a while, she was as confused as a lizard.
"What about sudais?" Maryam asked.
"She doesn't remember him. And if she is told about him now, I fear that she'd not be able to move on without him." Seema elaborated. Maryam now had her mouth hung open as the revelation was shocking to her.
Seema could see that the young chef was struggling to digest the information and explained further.
"She lost her memories after the accident. So she remembers nothing about him. Right now, she thinks that he is dead and sudais is his younger brother. Unfortunately she found out that he was from sudais's family yesterday night. So please don't talk to her about them."
Maryam nodded rapidly in understanding. She figured the reason why Farida was baffled when her mother in-law was mentioned.
"I won't mention a word about it to her, I promise. You don't have to worry about it." Maryam assured the older woman.
Seema managed to summon a lopsided smile at the young girl's quick understanding. She didn't even question her about anything. Seema was then sure that they wouldn't have to worry about staying with Maryam. Soon, Farida went back downstairs after putting her twins to sleep.
***
A faint knock was placed on Afaan's door, it was almost inaudible but Afaan being a light sleeper heard it.
"Come in." He said, he knew it was sudais.
Sudais opened the door slightly and smiled down at his brother who still had a grumpy face. He pushed the door forward and entered. Afaan sat up on his bed which was covered with dark blue sheets. Sudais pounced on a beanbag that afaan loved and rested on it.
"Something is bothering my brother." Sudais mentioned and gazed at Afaan who also held his brother's gaze and sighed.
He yanked his grey blanket aside, rolled out of bed and walked to the window. The rain wasn't ready to stop just yet, it was still pouring heavily and the air was even colder than before. Sudais's eyes followed his brother's every movement, now he was even more certain that Afaan had been hiding negative things in his mind. He got up from the beanbag and went to stand beside Afaan.
"What is bothering you Afaan?" Sudais asked without looking at him. Both of their eyes were fixed at the sky, lightening struck again as the sky brightened for a few second then went back to it's pitch black self.
Afaan sighed again and parted his lips to talk. "I don't want to marry her."
By now sudais's eyebrows had been pulled together to form a frown.
"What do you mean, you shouldn't have agreed. It isn't too late then, you can still call it off." Sudais couldn't hide his shock. Things were going well and Afaan had never objected to the alliance.
"I can't call it off, I had to agree. I had no other choice sudais." Afaan's eyes were now on his brother, they held each other's gazes.
"I had no idea Afaan. The last time I asked you about this, you said that you were undecided. You didn't say that you were being forced to do it. What is the situation you're in? Who is forcing you to do it. Is it Abi?" Sudais asked.
"Calm down brother, it isn't Dad." Afaan replied.
"Then it must be uncle, I'll talk to him." Sudais said sharply and turned around to leave but Afaan grabbed him by the shoulder. Sudais turned to Afaan with sadness clearly written across his face. Afaan's reluctant to say it made Sudais figure out who it was.
"Its um isn't it?" Sudais was beyond disappointed.
"Yes. Its her." Afaan noted courtly.
"And you didn't object?" Sudais was dumbstruck.
"I couldn't. You know how mother is. She swore to ruin maryam's career if I object. I had to do what she wanted." Afaan's voice broke as he explained to Sudais.
Sudais's heart broke after hearing what Afaan said, how could one's mother threaten her own child. She did to Afaan what she did to him too six years ago when he had followed Farida to beg her to come back, his mother stopped him with her threats. And now he wished he hadn't listened to her that day.
"You want her to ruin your happiness Afaan?" Sudais asked his brother as he searched for answers in his eyes. Afaan had his eyes casted down.
"I have told you before, don't get affected by her threats. They are empty ones. She cannot do anything." Sudais said.
"Have you forgotten what she did to rasheed? He is still struggling to build up his career, he's been falling behind ever since mom ruined his business." Afaan reminded his brother of the person their mother really was.
"Rasheed isn't her son. And you are her son. Besides, you have more power than her in our business. You can easily mend anything she destroys." Sudais assured and sighed when he saw the look on his brother's face, Afaan had an eyebrow raised and Sudais could guess the question in Afaan's mind.
"I know what you are thinking. Why didn't I do something that day, when mom stopped me from calling her back?" Sudais noticed that afaan nodded once.
"I was a fool and a coward. And at that time, I was blinded by rage. I was childish at your age Afaan but you are different from me." Sudais said and Afaan agreed with it as he nodded rapidly. Sudais really was being a coward that day.
"You are matured and sensible. I'm sure you can handle this without getting hurt. Try Afaan, don't be a coward like your brother." Sudais advised his beloved brother, his sadness broke sudais's heart but the new look on Afaan's face made his heart jolt back to life.
Afaan had found solace in his brother's words. He had a smile plastered on his face, Sudais was right. Why hadn't he thought about that before? Clearly because he was too busy taking care of business and his brother. That reminded him.
"The huge picture on your office wall. " Afaan said to sudais.
"Uhm, what about it?" Sudais was clearly not surprised, he had been expecting the question.
"Are you going to keep staring at it or are you ready to take back what truly belongs to you?"
Sudais sighed.
"I'm not sure she belongs to me Afaan."
Afaan was confused, didn't he see the envelope he left on his table?
"What do you mean sudais?"
Sudais went back to the comfy beanbag and slumped on it.
"I forced her to marry me back then, careless of whether or not she loved someone. But then when I started to think that she loved me... I found out that she loved another. It wasn't meant to be Afaan. Besides, I can never forget how she cheated on me." Sudais's eyes were now glittering as tears threatened to fall and he threw his head back to push the tears away.
"Don't tell me you didn't see the envelope I kept in your study." Afaan asked as he slumped on the opposite beanbag.
"What envelope?" Sudais now raised his head and frowned.
"They were papers and pictures. Also some medical reports of Farida. I had kept them on the table." Afaan confirmed.
"I didn't see it in my study. Come, show me where you put it." Said sudais as he lifted himself up from the beanbag. Afaan left his room, followed by Sudais, they went into sudais's study to look for the envelope but it was nowhere to be found. They left no stone unturned.
"You should have told me about it Afaan." Sudais said in annoyance, if afaan had told him before he kept it, this wouldn't have happened.
"You were asleep at the time and it completely slipped my mind the other day." Afaan replied.
Sudais had his hands on his waist and afaan leaned both hands on the table. The two were wary from exhaustion.
"Did you perhaps burn any papers." Afaan asked.
"No, I didn't burn any papers since I came here." Sudais said and glanced at the picture on the wall, it gave his heart a jolt.
"If you didn't burn any papers then where are they. I kept them right here." Afaan was losing his mind, he worked so hard to get those papers.
"Calm down brother, you can tell me what are contained in those papers tomorrow morning. Right now,we both need to rest." Sudais reasoned, afaan had just enough drama in his life.
Afaan gave a nod and exited the study room with one thing in his mind. Could their mother have seen the papers and thrown them away?
Sudais followed afaan to his room and made sure that he fell asleep before leaving for his own room. He hated to see his brother in distress.
***