Next part:
---
Naz's face showed pain, sorrow, torment; her restless eyes were the very reflection of her helplessness.
"I've thought so much, Jaida… thought so much," she said weakly. "I tried to break free of your shadow, but it's not in my power. I've tried a thousand times, but I could not drive you out of my heart."
Naz looked at Jaida's expressionless face. He was silently staring at her. Naz tried to shake him out of his stillness.
"If only there were a human heart beating inside your chest, you would understand my feelings… I should have hated you, but my heart refused. Instead, I began to like you."
"Naz," Jaida said calmly, "I am an old player."
"Listen to me, Jaida," Naz interrupted him. "I am not deceiving you. I am only a woman… a toy in your hands. If you wish, break me. But know this—there is a world beyond that window, full of deceit and hypocrisy, which drove me out of my home and left me in this state. And there is this world here, a grave for my living body, but in its sinful darkness, I discovered reality. Today, after six or seven months, when you told me I was free to go, I felt that this room had become my refuge and you, my guardian. God knows where this thought came from… but in you, I saw the difference between you and Aslam, and I fell in love with that difference."
The smile on Jaida's lips turned into a mocking grin.
"Aslam once told me, 'Naz, I adore you.' That was a lie. But you said, 'Naz, I will make you a courtesan.' You do not lie. He said, 'Naz, come to Karachi, I'll make you a queen in palaces.' That was a fraud—his heart held something else. But you said, 'Naz, I will earn money from your body,' and that is no deception. That is what is truly in your heart. You promised I would suffer no harm here—and you kept your promise, didn't you?"
Naz shook her head faintly, tears streaming down.
"There wasn't just Aslam… there were other buyers. My brother introduced me to other wealthy men in society. Now I realize the truth—they didn't love me, nor did I love them. They wanted my body for a little while, and I wanted their wealth forever. It was deception on both sides."
Naz's tears flowed, as if she were pouring out the suffocating smoke of grief from her chest, burning her own eyes.
"Jaida," she continued, "my brothers' greed for wealth pushed me into sin. They left me nowhere to belong. The place I fled from—I cannot return there. I have become accustomed to this captivity now. That means…"
Jaida whispered with a sly smile, "It means you have fallen in love with me. But perhaps you don't know—I hate the very name of love."
"Jaida! Just for a moment, become human," Naz cried, gripping his knees tightly. "I sacrificed myself to false love, while you keep running away from true love."
"You want to sacrifice yourself for me?"
"No, Jaida! I only beg one thing." Naz touched his chin gently. "Let me stay here at your feet, just like this, all my life. Reject my love if you must, but allow me to worship you in silence. And one more plea—don't ever let me fall into the life of a courtesan. For you, and only for you, I will remain imprisoned in this room."
Jaida suddenly sprang up, as if she had stabbed him with a needle. He began pacing the room, lost in thought.
"I swear by God—" Naz began, but Jaida cut her off harshly.
"Don't bring God into this. God has nothing to do with matters like these. In your heart there is neither love for me nor hatred for anyone. Before you lies only your own sins and your brothers' sins. You are merely seeking refuge from them."
Jaida seemed utterly unmoved. Silence spread across the room. Naz's broken breaths dissolved into the stillness, while Jaida stood more motionless than silence itself.
"I have lost… I am defeated," Naz said in exasperation, collapsing at his feet.
"And I accept your defeat," Jaida said suddenly, as if waking up. His voice grew louder. "Listen, Naz—whoever falls at my feet, I forgive them. But I do not call it mercy. I call it my victory. Your bowed head has lifted mine."
He paused, choosing his words carefully.
"Listen well, Naz. I will never be able to love you. Stay here if you wish—I have no objection."
He pulled out a few ten-rupee notes from his pocket and handed them to her.
"Keep this money. There's a boy—put him to work cooking meals, and stop ordering from the hotel. But remember this—you will never be freed from this captivity."
In that moment, Jaida revealed a weakness before Naz—one he himself had never realized. His subconscious had overpowered him. Naz's brokenness had stripped bare the very foundations of Jaida's personality. He was not mentally normal. No habitual criminal ever is.
Taking the money from him, Naz said with joy in her voice,
"I will cook meals with my own hands—for you and for myself."
"No," Jaida replied firmly.
Tears rolled down Naz's cheeks. She stepped forward, held Jaida's hand, and kissed it silently.
Neither the touch of her soft pink lips, nor the strands of silk hair falling across her forehead, nor the beauty of her body or her face stirred anything in him.
"Naz," Jaida said, "think carefully about yourself. How long can you remain in this prison?"
---
To be continue....