Ch.3 - What Is and What Should Never Be
''ami, apko kya lagta hai, alishba bhai ko khush rakegi?'' mahnoor hummed in her mothers lap, while her mother stroked her hair lovingly and gently, a touch that always made mahnoor want to stay in her mothers lap.
''mahnoor, tum zaib ko kuch bhi nahi kahogi. Zindagi uski hai toh haq bhi uska hi banta hai'' her mothers warm voice held a stern and discreet message that meant, staying away from the topic of alishba no matter how much she herself wanted to talk about it.
pushing away her mothers hand, mahnoor looked up and smiled, '' main kahbi kuch kehti hoon ami?''
''nahi nahi, tum toh kahbi kuch nahi kehti, apne aap hi sab kuch ho jata hai! haina??'' fluttering her eyelashes mahnoor made a face that even her mom could not resist melting at, '' theek hai, par yaad rakhna, alishba zaib ki pasand hai, matlab woh hamari pasand hai''
nodding, mahnoor got up and fixed the crease of her dress seeing her father walk inside, she shifted her scarf and silently placed it on her head downcasting her eyes, '' Aslam - o - laikum baba''
feeling her fathers warm hand stroke her head, mahnoor made a dash for the door leaving her parents alone in the room.
''zaib se apne baat ki?''
''woh ahbi tayar nahi hai zuleha begum''
opening the cupboard, zuleha pulled out an old album, '' baat karne mein toh koi harj nahi hai, aap waada ki jiye ki aap usse baat kareinge chahe joh bhi hojaye''
the stubborness that his wife held, knew no bounds and it was obvious he would now or later fall for her words so why not now?, '' baat karunga main, par usse alishba se shaadi karne ka faisla kar liya hai begum. Ab hawaon ka rukh kisi aur taraf rawana ho chuka hai''
''hawaein hai, phir rukh morh leingi. aap bas usse baat karna mat bhoolna''
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she consecutively read over the file again and again until she had memorized the whole project, the funny thing about this was, this project had been written by herself so one had to wonder why she was reading it over and over discreetly trying to remember each and every details when she was the one who came up with them in the first place.
dimissing her own thoughts, she lagged around the living room dressed in the most of informal clothes trying to diminish her own despair, having spent most of her life in this house one of the few ways she knew how to get rid of her loneliness was to dwell herself into the queit that way she was never alone, ofcourse speaking figuratively.
Noor - ul - Raza, the only daughter of lahore's biggest industrialist, who had married a girl equally of his status as times demanded that the rich sit with the rich and poor with the poor. That was the only way the world worked for them and thats how they worked also following the worlds made up systemic rules that neither knew any sanity or any humanity. But it was as if luck was favoring her side because before she could learn the rules of this imposturous world, she had been sent away to a boarding school where she grew up under the strict surveillence of nuns, ofcourse at times she had felt they were far off better than her own parents because at least they gave her the time of the day, unlike her parents who had shipped her off when she began to demand. And her demands weren't like the other children's of her age, she only wished for their time and love, which they could never provide for her.
But if they had done one good thing in their lives that was become friends with mahnoor's parents, the one person she loved more than herself. If anyone had given her a reason to live and suffer through all the hardship, it was mahnoor. Her bestfriend, from the day she first stepped into school. Everyone needs help from time to time. Someone to look out for them to make sure they're okay, to make sure they're ready and mahnoor was that someone for her and had been for a very long time.
The bell rang disturbing Noors thoughts in the living room filled with darkness, she ofcourse wondered who would knock at her door at this time of the day. she chuckled to herself remembering mahnoors words, ''raat ko agar koi darwaze pe khatkataye toh smajh lena, woh tumhara kal bane wala hai'' Noor also remember how she had chided her freind for saying such a thing, but now she was defintely wondering who could have destiny brought to her doorsteps.
pulling open the door, she smiled seeing mahnoor drenched from bottom down clinging onto purse waiting for noor to invite her inside. Noor moved out of the way to let her in and started to close the door behind her. But a strong pair of hands stuck to the wooden door and pushed back, '' mahnoor??''
Mahnoor turned around and hit her forehead for forgetting that there had been someone else behind her also, '' noor, bhai hai mera'' rolling her eyes noor opened the door to the stranger who was also wet but more so than mahnoor. She wondered what could have gone wrong with them, to land them up at her doorsteps, nevertheless she was pleased to have them here excluding the so - called stranger.
''mahnoor, tum upar jake kapre badal lo, warna bukhar hojayega'' Noor spoke in a motherly tone hovering over mahnoor who had started to sneeze a bit, which didn't go unoticed by zaib, but he had also come to another realization she was the girl he had met in the plane.
''theek hai'' mahnoor replied but paused, '' are noor in se milo, yeh hai mera bhai Zaib, ahbi hi kuch dino phele wapis aya hai''
Noor ofcourse pretended to be suprised and than smiled nodding. she didn't want to give him the advantage or the satisfication of knowing she still remembered him. And she did that too very clearly and somewhat fondly also, he had been the one to make her all flustered which no one had been able to do so before.
Mahnoor turned towards her own brother and pointed towards noor, '' yeh hai noor meri dost ''
''matlab woh pagal larki?'' zaib teased at noors expense but she took it all in her stride not wanting to make a scene, '' acchi hai, par mahi mujhe lagta hai gussa iske naak pe hamesha betha rehta hai''
Mahnoor scoffed at her brother and turned to noor, '' noor tum iski mat suna, agar is kamre koi pagal hai toh woh yeh khud hai!'' after saying so she dashed towards the guest in hopes of changing her clothes to get rid of the cold that had started to engulf within her.
''shandar ghar hai, tum yahan akeli rehti ho kya?''
''apse matlab?'' the walls within her alarmed at the intrusion, noor walked towards the closet and pulled out a spare towel. Zaib smiled when the towel hit his face and Noor tried to surpress her laughter when she saw she had caught him off guard.
''shukriya toliye ke liye''
Noor walked away towards the kitchen and placed the kettle on the stove to make some tea, because she was worried mahnoor may have caught a cold, '' ap chahye peete hai yan phir ...'' her voice trailed away, when she saw zaib looking sternly at the huge portrait hanging on one of the kitchen walls, '' kya yeh tum ho?''
ofcourse Noor shocked out of her wits, he had been able to understand the complex painting which ofcourse in one way or another depicted her being more so her emotional being, '' app ko kaise pata chala?''
''tumhari ankhein, un mein bhi yehi kashish hai'' Noor averted her gaze when tried to see into her eyes again, '' kahbi muskhara liya karo sehat ke liye accha hota'' zaib advised walking towards the counter and settling on one of the stools alined by the marble stone counter.
''apko meri sehat ki fikar karne ki koi zaroorat nahi, main bikul theek hoon''
''yeh tum mujhe app kyun kehti ho, hum dono ki umar takreeban ek jaisi hi hai''
''meri marzi, aur waise bhi mein tum usse kehti hoon jispe mera haq hai, aap mere kuch bhi nahi hain'' Noor was ofcourse conscious of her words and the fact that this conversation was becoming way too personal for her liking, '' app cheeni kitni lete hain??' she asked trying to change the subject.
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''lish kaha na i'm sorry, mujhe bikul bhi yaad nahi raha sacchi mein'' his voice was loud enough to be heard ten tables away but lucky for noor, she was sitting on the same table beside him watching him trying to coax his fiance into forgiving him, the things you had to do for love.
''kya hamesha hi aise tha, yan phir yahan ake ---'' noor asked mahnoor who was busy with her plate of food.
''mujhe lagta hai bachpan se'' both girls giggled at this expense.
The girls had decided to go shopping today and fourtunately or unfourtunately zaib was their only option. Ofcourse both had been dissappointed and angry but they accepted his offer to take them along with him but noor had not been too sure about that idea, and now she sitting here was realizing just how much a fool she was for not listening to her mind and letting her heart sway her over.
''alisha bhai ka bachpan ka pyar hai'' Noor who had been munching on a carrot stick felt a hard lump in her throat but she remained still and swallowed no matter how painful it was, '' aur alishba hai ke kahbi unhein smajh hi na payi''
''matlab?''
''jab ankhon mein sapne hon toh ird gird sab dhoondla jata hai''
''woh sapnon ke peeche bhag rahi hai??'' mahnoor nodded and looked over at noor,
'' aur bhai uske''
''mohabbat mein yeh sab jais hai mahnoor, agar tumhara bhai usse sach mein pyar karta hai toh intezar mein koi harj nahi hai''
''maine kab kaha koi harj hai, par main yeh bhi kahoongi sapno mein aur asliyat mein bahut farak hota, zaib bhai jiske peeche bhag rahe hain woh sirf ek sapna hai, bachpan ka sapna joh kahbi sach nahi hone wala beshak alishba ahbi man gayi hai main usse janti hoon woh do bhar bhi nahi sochegi bhai ko kuchalne se phele''
''dehko mahnoor, sapne haqeeqat kehne ki baatein hoti hain, agar sapna hai toh usse haqeeqat bane mein deir nahi lagti''
mahnoor flexed her hand and looked away at zaib who was still on the phone only now he was further away from them, '' joh bhi kaho, mujhe yakeen hai alishba woh nahi hai joh bhai ke liye bani hai!''
After the call ended the three left and since noor had not brought her car along, Zaib dropped off her mahnoor first and than left for noors house afterwards.
''kahbi mohabbat ki hai?'' zaib caught noor offguard with his question,
''mohabbat bas ek tasuvr hai jisse sab pana chahate hain''
''yeh mere sawal ka jawab nahi tha''
noor looked out the window and starred out towards the starry sky, where the moon was shining brightly and stars were gathered around it twinkling ever so beautifully. How she wished she could be one those stars, be a part of a whole but she never was and never would be.
'' jab mujhe khud nahi pata mohabbat kya hai, toh main kaise jawab dedoon?''
Zaib smiled at her indirect answer and kept his eyes on the road, '' jab hogi tumhe khud pata chal jayega'''
''mujhe intezar rahega''
''mujhe bhii''
Noor leapt out of the car and turned back once to see him still there, smiling back at her making her feel all tingly. What was happening to her, this was wrong he belonged to someone else and she belonged to someone else also.
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sorry again for the long wait, I doubt i'll be able to update this regularly but i will try my best.
hope you like it. I have decided this story would have 7 -10 parts in total.
Do leave your veiws i would love to read them.
Edited by -Sajjal- - 13 years ago
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