Rizwan then stood up and opened the cardboard box. He took out a pile of old papers and read the one on top,

My name is Hannan Tariq, I returned to this city with no purpose other than to make peace with my brother.

Rizwan felt a bit shaken as he read this and looked up straight. He wondered in his own thoughts,

Oh, my God! Is this real? Am I about to read stuff that will blow up my mind?

He then sat back on the bed and said,

Maybe I should read this slowly and calmly. These notes might be something that can influence me horrifyingly.

He then read the same note further,

My brother knows very little about me. I have never been jealous of him, but yes after I was exiled from the city and this family. I was jealous that he proved to be Tariq Yasar’s better son.

Rizwan shut his eyes for a moment and then continued reading,

The fact that he is Tariq Yasar’s blood and I’m not also teased me once, but I’ve learned to live with it.

Rizwan kept this note aside without reading it completely and looked for another note. He found a note that was entitled: ‘My Jail Note’. He read its first line,

I told everything to Rizwan’s son in law. He knew the truth and he believed me. He went out to make peace with Rizwan and sort a way for negotiation, but because of my rebellious son, he got shot. I hope he gets the paper I wrote.

Rizwan then remembered the scene,

More than twenty years earlier, Zakariya stepped outside the garage and said to Rizwan raising his voice,

“I have some news, you must know this.”

Rizwan then realised that Hannan was speaking the truth in his jail note, so he kept aside this note and decided to find out that note which Zakariya had and Khattab hid from them.

Rizwan took out all the papers and tried to find out by reading their titles. He came across a note and read its title, recognising Khattab’s handwriting over it,

‘Hannan’s Last Letter’

Rizwan understood that this was the most important letter of all; he took out this paper carefully, sat back on the bed and started reading it slowly,

My dear brother Rizwan,

I understand that you have been through a lot because of me. But believe me I returned to this city with no intention other than making peace with you. My intentions are mentioned on an old building’s top floor’s wall. I carved them with a metallic object.

Rizwan stopped reading as he remembered something similar from ten years back.

Ten Years Back, Rizwan received a phone call from some police station. He answered the call. The police officer said to him,

“There’s an empty building. Someone is planning to purchase it. He said that your name was carved on it as if someone wrote an entire letter for you on the wall.”

“Who is it from?”

“It stated Hannan at the finishing point.”

Rizwan got quite angry as he heard his brother’s name. He answered, “Thank you police officer, but I’m not interested in reading this.”

“Well, if you do ever want to read this then you can contact Mr Ansari. I’ll send you his number.”

Rizwan came back from his memorial flashback and said,

Oh, my God! I shouldn’t have ignored this stuff. I think I should contact Mr Ansari immediately.

He however distracted himself by reading Hannan’s note,

Because of my mischievous son, I couldn’t make peace with you. But today I want to reveal this truth before you. With God as my witness, I had nothing at all. Nothing at all. I had literally nothing at all to do with your daughter Omama’s murder. It wasn’t me. The truth is Jafar was at that wedding ceremony. He was present there. He is the one who poisoned your daughter and planted the entire crime on me.

Rizwan stopped reading the note and stood up immediately. He held his forehead with utmost regret.

Why does all of this sound so true? He asked himself. It makes perfect sense.

He was not even able to read the note further. He asked himself,

He spent his life in jail. And this was our father’s prophecy. But what for? A crime that he did not commit.

Rizwan then searched for other notes, there he found a note in Khattab’s hand writing entitled: ‘My Conversation with Hannan in Jail’. He read the words starting in front of Hannan’s name,

This is my punishment and I am going to stay here forever.

He then read Khattab’s words,

You just claimed that you had nothing to do with Omama’s murder. Then why did you surrender yourself.

After this, there were Hannan’s words again like a dialogue conversation,

Jafar was there at the wedding. I didn’t care about it. I should have. I ignored him completely which was why he opportunistically added poison in everyone’s glass that I was about to offer. Unfortunately, Omama drank it and became the victim. I delivered the glass myself, I should have been more vigilant, but I was not. So, therefore as a punishment I have easily surrendered myself and have accepted my crime. My evil son was the one who reported this FIR.

Rizwan stopped reading and uttered with disappointment,

Oh, my God! He has been there for a crime that he did not commit. He was just emotionally guilty which was why he turned himself in.

Rizwan then kept this note aside and spoke to himself,

Khattab knew. He knew all of this. He kept it a secret and let my brother rot inside that cell.

Rizwan then looked at himself in the mirror and said,

I have to be a man of justice. I have to make things right, but even if he was here to make things right, there are still questions that have been left unanswered.

He remembered his father’s prophecy in his father’s voice,

“A two–faced person will illegally capture the land that belonged to us once.”

He gave this a thought and asked,

What about this prophecy? We all clearly saw Hannan holding that file.

He was getting tensed until he read the jail dialogue further. He read Khattab’s words,

I’m sorry to say this but you Hannan, were never a caring person. Even though if you weren’t involved in Omama’s murder then it cannot nullify the fact that you have always given us a hard time.

He read Hannan’s answer to this,

Are you saying that I’m not sincere to this family?

Khattab’s reply according to the written note was,

No, according to me you were never sincere to Tariq Yasar.

Hannan’s reply to this

statement was,

I was not sincere to Tariq Yasar, says the person who wasn’t even present at Tariq Yasar’s funeral.

Rizwan stopped reading and commented regarding Hannan’s reply,

Good answer.

Rizwan read Khattab’s answer that made him angry,

I’ve been thinking that I could deliver your message to Rizwan, but since you always mock me with this funeral fact, I would rather let you stay here and rot inside this cell.

Rizwan kind of lost his temper and felt angry on his friend who had passed away, until he read the last line on the page which was actually Hannan’s last reply, Before leaving, I want you to hear out this truth. Rizwan’s daughter had lost a lot of blood once, she could have died. I was the person who donated blood to her.

The note fell off Rizwan’s hands and he was in a worst state of shock. He remembered his two decades old conversation in the hospital.

The doctor said to him and

his wife,

“I would like to congratulate you. Your daughter is fine.”

“Oh, thank God!” Alia said with relief.

“Some mysterious person came,” the doctor said, “he wasn’t revealing his identity. He donated a huge quantity of blood. It matched her blood group and now your daughter has recovered.”

“Yes, but who was this person?” Rizwan asked getting curious.

“I don’t know, he was simply not revealing his identity. But he did say something.”

“What?”

Rizwan asked him for the second time,

“I’m asking what that person said, the one who donated blood for my daughter.”

“Oh yeah, well, he said that Mr Tariq Yasar had several favours on him.”

Rizwan gave these words a thought and

then said,

“So, this is it? I mean that’s

all he said?”

“Yup.”

“I see, so therefore, he kind of returned the favour?”

“I guess so.”

Rizwan came back from this flashback and said,

Oh, my God! It was Hannan? I cannot believe this. Although, it does make sense considering the words ‘Mr Tariq Yasar had several favours on him’ but I simply cannot believe this.

Rizwan felt some strange sort of pain in his heart until he began to feel the pain in his head. He slowly fainted as he had some sort of nervous breakdown.

**********

In the same city, Rahman was walking on the streets since he was headed towards the house of his relatives.

After several minutes, he reached outside Uncle Taha’s grandson’s house and rang their bungalow’s doorbell. He was looking at the note trying to make sure that he had reached the right address.

Someone came outside, Rahman said to him,

“Can I talk to Mr Shabbir?”

“Okay, come inside.”

Two minutes later, Rahman and a guy of his age Shabbir were seated face to face. Shabbir asked him,

“So, what exactly do you want?”

“I just know that my grand–father Tariq had a close friend Taha.”

“Yes, indeed.”

“And he was your grand–father? Right?”

“Yes, he was.”

“So, I just happened to ask that did he or did he not ever mention about those last words.”

“Oh…You mean Mr Tariq’s

last wish?”

“Yes exactly, that’s what I’m here to know.”

“Okay okay, I understand,” Shabbir said and stood up, “I’ll go and call my father. I’m sure he can answer your query.”

“Sure, that would be great.”

Shabbir almost left until Rahman said,

“One moment please, you can take this now.”

Shabbir looked at the paper and asked,

“What is this?”

“This was the clue that brought me here.”

One hour later, Rahman was standing outside the house and he was talking to himself,

This will really upset my father. My grand–father’s last wish, it was not fulfilled. He wanted something and my father never knew about it? I’m sure Uncle Hannan never knew this either, but this sounds very devastating based on the events of my father’s life.

He then made a strong oath,

Alright, I have resolved this one issue, now I’m looking forward to make other things right. I’m sure; I can make my father’s last wish true.

He dialed his father’s cell phone number and spoke while dialing it,

He doesn’t know I’m here. It might be a surprise for him that we’re in the same city, but there’s a lot that he does not know and I must tell him.

Some woman answered the call,

“Hello?”

“Hello?” Rahman said getting surprised and confused. “Can

I speak to Mr Rizwan?”

“Actually, he’s here at the hospital. He had a nervous breakdown. Who are you?”

“Oh, my God! What happened?”

“Don’t worry, he’s fine, he is better. Are you related to him?”

“Yes, I’m his son. Please send me the address, I’m coming.” 

**********

Meanwhile, back in their city, Jafar was sitting in the passenger seat of his car. His goon was seated at the driver’s seat. Jafar said to his man,

“This guy, Moiz. He is very important for my team.”

“I see.”

“You know, I stole him from his real parents. I had both of them killed, and now this kid thinks of me as his real father.”

“I can see that. But what are your plans about him?”

“I’m going to use this guy. I’m training him specially to assassinate Rahman and his father.”

to be continued...