Chapter 50 #7
"Then what about my privacy? Why does Zaviyar get to live with his parents and I don't? Do I have a heart of metal? Or am I an alien? ", she clicked her fingers.
" Safiya we are not at a court. You don't need to argue like you are showing evidence for a murder case. ", wajahat's words only made her angrier.
" Indeed dad i am. I need to argue because this is about you trampling all over my emotions and thinking it is okay. It's everyone deciding my future and how i have to live my life, without my consent or opinions. ", She took another step closer.
"He wakes up every morning in the same house as his mother. He can come back home, and look at his parents knowing they are safe and healthy. What about me? "
"He has his parents, his life,", she stepped forward, "So why can't I have mine?", Wajahat looked away.
"It isn't the same.", his words were merely whispers.
"Why isn't it?", she snapped, her frustration growing. "Because you are married now."
"There it is.", She nodded slowly, "I knew you'd say that."
"Safiya-"
"No. I've listened to enough excuses and have been misled enough. "
, Her voice became frighteningly calm, "If you don't move to Azamgarh..."
, She swallowed, "...I'll leave. I'll leave that place and go so far away that nobody will ever be able to trace my where abouts. And I'm serious. " , His eyes widened.
"What nonsense are you saying?", Wajahat gritted his teeth at her words.
"I mean every word.", she shrugged, "Where will you go?"
" I always wondered why Zaviyar hates you so much. Which promise does he always talk about? But now I think he was correct. You are a liar dad. You have been lying to me from the day i got married. ", Wajahaat gritted his teeth at her words.
"Enough!", His voice thundered through the study.
"You are married, don't cat like a teenager. You need to understand we are not prepared to go there. And Zaviyar is there to take care of you. And I'm sure he does it very diligently.", She met his gaze without flinching.
Safiya lowered her gaze, guilt pressing heavily against her chest.
'I don't mean it... but if I want them there, I'll have to show them that my marriage isn't working. Maybe then Baba will finally be concerned enough to come. I'm sorry, Zaviyar.', The apology echoed silently within her, making every lie she was about to utter feel heavier than the last.
"IT WAS A CONTRACT. THIS MARRIAGE WAS A BLOODY CONTRACT."
The words struck the room like shattered glass.
Zaviyar's fingers tightened around the file in his hand as his entire body went rigid.
Every muscle locked in place, his breath stopping halfway through his lungs.
He had arrived only moments ago, intending to hand Wajahat the property file.
He wanted to get over this responsibility of holding onto Wajahats properties and finally be able to live with his wife.
Instead, he found himself rooted outside the study, listening.
"I signed a contract to withstand that family of yours."
Her eyes glistened beneath the light, tears threatening to spill yet refusing to fall.
"And I signed it because my parents promised they would stay near me."
Her breathing grew increasingly uneven, each word leaving her with greater difficulty than the last.
"You broke your promise."
The accusation landed directly on Wajahat's heart.
His expression crumbled with regret, guilt replacing every trace of authority he had carried into the room.
"I didn't want to-"
"You know what I'm tired of?", She cut him off before he could defend himself.
"I'm tired of living for everyone else. I'm tired of always being pushed around."
Silence swallowed the room whole. No one dared interrupt her anymore.
"I'm tired of carrying everyone's expectations.", Her voice quivered despite her desperate attempt to steady it.
"I'm tired of pretending I'm happy. "
A hollow laugh escaped her lips, painfully out of place as tears rolled freely down her cheeks.
"I've always been a burden."
"Zaviyar made it clear initially during our marriage and now you're slapping me with the same taste."
"No, Safiya. You're thinking too much."
"I was a burden before marriage. Mom had to run away and live a hard life to save me. You had to give up your inheritance and your family. I heard what those ladies said, just because someone leaked my photos you both were humiliated. Zaviyar was tied down to a marriage he never wanted."
A sorrowful smile tugged at the corners of her lips, one that never reached her eyes.
"And now I'm someone else's responsibility. A responsibility which he will get tired of, just like you got tired."
"Don't say that."
The plea came instantly.
Safiya watched the determination in her father's eyes begin to fracture beneath the weight of helplessness. It was exactly what she had feared and exactly what she needed. The next lie would wound someone who had never deserved it.
She closed her eyes for the briefest moment.
Forgive me, Zaviyar.
She had to make Wajahat believe she was unhappy. Only then would he insist on returning to Azamgarh to keep her safe.
"If I ask Zaviyar for a divorce..."
She brushed away her tears with the back of her trembling hand before forcing herself to finish.
"...he'll probably agree."
Wajahat shook his head immediately, refusing to accept the possibility.
"He won't, he will never divorce you. Haven't you seen the way he treats you."
"That's because he is forced to do so."
The fragile smile on her face finally gave way.
"I've always been your burden, Baba."
She swallowed against the painful knot in her throat before whispering the words that felt like knives against her own heart.
"And now I'll stop being his too."
"It won't be a big deal. He hates me because I'm your daughter. The little bit of affection he shows is sympathy. Now he can get rid of me."
For a brief, terrifying moment, a thought slipped into the darkest corners of her mind.
If I disappeared... if I simply vanished... Baba and Mumma would come looking for me.
He would worry.
He would follow me to Azamgarh.
He would stay there.
No one would ever hurt me again.
The thought sent a chill through her entire body.
She hated herself for thinking it.
It was selfish and cruel.
Yet the desperate part of her refused to let it go. Her eyes drifted away before anyone could notice the storm raging behind them.
All this while, the study door had been left slightly ajar from the moment Wajahat entered. Neither father nor daughter noticed the tall figure standing silently beyond it. The property file remained forgotten in his unmoving hand.
Every word had reached him with unbearable clarity. Every accusation and every confession. Every truth she had buried within her. And perhaps the one sentence that shattered him more completely than anything else...
It was only a contract.
If I ask for a divorce... he would agree.
Each sentence carved itself deeper into Zaviyar's chest, leaving wounds no blade ever could. He stood there in absolute silence, hearing every word from beginning to end.
He did not interrupt. He did not defend himself. He simply listened.
For the first time in years, the Nawab of Azamgarh found himself standing face to face with something dangerously close to heartbreak.
He had believed that the affection he had quietly begun showing her would one day erase the bitterness of their beginning. He had convinced himself that his actions were enough. Yet standing outside that door, he realised how deeply his past had scarred her.
Despite everything he had done since then, she still believed she was nothing more than a burden. She still believed he was trapped with her.
Perhaps this was the cruelest truth of all. A hundred good deeds could never erase the weight of a single mistake if that mistake had wounded someone's heart deeply enough.
When he had first seen Safiya in Azamgarh, hatred had been the only emotion he acknowledged. Or so he had believed.
Even then, beneath that hatred had existed an inexplicable curiosity. An instinct to keep her safe. She had always felt like a misplaced puzzle piece, one that never belonged anywhere no matter how desperately the world tried to force her into a shape that wasn't hers.
Initially, he had wanted to carve away those edges himself, to reshape her, to make her fit into the life he believed she deserved.
Instead, she had quietly reshaped him. She had become the first person to make him laugh after years of living without a reason to smile. She had walked into the hollow spaces of his life without permission and, before he realised it, had made them feel less empty.
Somewhere deep inside, Zaviyar had always known the truth. His feelings had not changed overnight. They had not been born from a single moment or one grand revelation.
They had grown silently, hidden beneath arguments, stolen glances and unspoken concern. Long before he admitted it to himself, he had begun seeking reasons to remain near her. Her presence had slowly become something he unconsciously looked for.
His anger had always been a way to push her away. He hated that she was becoming her weakness when his grandfather had always taught him to not show emotions.
Then came that night..One revelation changed everything.
The truth he had spent years believing collapsed before his eyes, leaving behind nothing but guilt. He had spent his entire life directing vengeance towards a person who had given him the chance of completing the one responsibility he never could.
From that day onward, he had silently vowed to spend the rest of his life making amends. Yet he never offered her an explanation. He never told her why he had changed.
He kept every truth locked away because years ago he had made his mother a promise, and he intended to honour it no matter what it cost him.
He could bear her hatred but he wouldn't let her ever escape him.