As Rizwan saw Hannan’s blood, he shouted,

“Oh, my God!”

He bent down to pick up his brother but Sartaj came from behind and pushed him. Rizwan fell aside and looked up at Sartaj.

“Listen to me, Sartaj,” Rizwan said pointing his finger.

“No, I am not going to listen to you. You are a killer. You have killed your father and now you have tried to kill him.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Rizwan yelled at him.

Maqsood came at that very moment and stood in front of Rizwan. He said to Rizwan,

“You cannot fool us now. I know that you have poisoned Tariq Yasar. Either confess your crime here or we’ll take the matter to court. Now, it is your choice. How do you want this to end?”

“I am willing to go to the cops but I will not utter falsehood. I am innocent as far as our father’s death is concerned.”

Hannan yelled holding the wound on his neck,

“Then, why don’t you tell us about your dispute with him? What was it between you two? Why weren’t you talking to him during the last days?”

“He was not happy with my marriage.” Rizwan said with embarrassment, “My marriage was not something that appealed to him. I had no other option, I loved her. I disappointed my father unwillingly.”

Hannan was quite shocked as he heard this. Sartaj held Hannan and said to Maqsood,

“We have to take him to the hospital, right now!”

“Oh, yes, of course.”

The two of them picked him up and slowly dragged him to the exit. Rizwan followed them but Sartaj stopped him and said,

“Don’t come near us. You are a murderer and from today onwards, we are not working for you.”

Rizwan was quite shocked as he wasn’t expecting this from him. He saw them dragging his brother away. Rizwan was deeply upset so he turned and walked towards the house. He wondered while walking,

Why is this happening to me? Why is everyone leaving me? Am I a man of sins? Am I a criminal? What is my sin? I really need to know why I am being molested like this.

Next morning, Hannan was lying on the hospital’s bed with a bandage on his neck. He opened his eyes and found Sartaj sitting next to him. He asked him,

“How is my condition now?”

“You don’t have to worry about it? It was a minor cut on the upper side of your skin. Don’t worry, you are fine.”

“Oh, thank God! What about Rizwan? Where is he? Are you taking any action against him?”

“I have sent Maqsood. He is going to convey this news to everyone. Your relatives will support you, once they’ll get to know what he has done.”

“Great, this is what I need. I need support of our relatives.”

“I Know!” Sartaj answered.

“And Sartaj,” Hannan said remembering something really important, “that man Khubaib, he is not associated with us. He wants to marry Sidra and he is planning to harm Rizwan. Therefore, tell everyone that he is not related to us by any means. We have no concern with him.”

“But, he is Khattab’s brother, isn’t he?”

“I don’t care, who he is. The guy should not put blame on us.”

“Okay, but why does he want to marry Sidra?”

“I don’t know, he obviously likes her that’s why.”

“I see” Sartaj answered.

“One more thing, I have to confess a mistake of mine.”

“Yes?” Sartaj asked getting curious.

“That paper of prophecies. The list that Rizwan made, I stole it.”

“You stole it?”

“I sent Khubaib the other day and asked him to collect it.”

“From Rizwan’s house?”

“Yes.”

Sartaj chuckled and then commented,

“Wow! Very smart. But also stupid, for using Khubaib for this.”

“I know, but let’s forget it.”

v v v

Two days later,

Sidra was sitting with her friend at a park. She was upset and was not talking much. Her friend said to her,

“Look Sidra, I know you are upset. But, your decision was right. You have to separate yourself from that family. Your life was not in peace.”

“No, I hate what I did. Instead of, supporting Rizwan when he needed me, I dumped him. I feel like I abandoned someone who would have never done the same to me.”

“So, you’re saying that you are thinking of reconciling with him?”

“If I won’t, then I would never be able to forgive myself.”

“What about your daughter?”

“I don’t know, I can’t think of any other way. Rizwan is alone, he needs me. I have been told that he had a fight with Hannan. Now, the servants have also left the house. He is all alone.”

“Why don’t you simply tell him that you would only reconcile with him if he is willing to give up his family and move out of the city with you?”

Sidra gave it a thought but disliked the idea. She said,

“My life is incomplete without him. I am going back to him.”

“You were also telling me about an old friend who wants to marry you.”

“Yes, he’s Khubaib, but I am not interested in him.”

“Oh, I see.”

“He is coming here to meet me,” Sidra said.

“Oh, what are you going to tell him?”

“I’ll tell him the truth.”

“Okay, that’s good.”

Half an hour later, Sidra was walking in the park all alone until she saw Khubaib coming towards her. She greeted him and asked,

“How are you?”

“I’m good,” Khubaib answered.

“I’m glad to meet you.”

“Yeah, same.”

“So, have you considered my proposal?”

Sidra did not respond and kept on walking until she heard him asking for the second time,

“Sidra, will you marry me?”

“Look, Mr Khubaib, you are a great guy but I’m sorry I cannot marry you. I miss my husband.”

“What? Are you thinking of reconciling with him?”

“Yes,” she replied firmly. “I am. We are not getting divorced.”

“But that guy has no interest in you. He keeps on seeing other women behind you.”

“No, that is not true. But I need to stop you here and remind you about your limits.”

“You are making a big mistake.”

Sidra stopped and said angrily,

“Alright, now that’s enough.”

Khubaib was shocked on her reaction. He heard her saying,

“I have given you a lot of leverage, okay? There’s so much that you say every day and I bear it all silently, but I have endured enough. Now, I cannot meet you anymore, therefore, stop thinking about us. I love my husband and I am going back to him.”

Khubaib’s was quite shocked after listening to her. Sidra continued,

“I am requesting you to go back to your home and stop following me.”

Khubaib said,

“But, I love you, Sidra. I have loved you since years and yet, you are thinking about that loser.”

“Shut up, Khubaib. Just shut up!”

“No, I want to know, what is attracting you towards them.”

Sidra lost her temper as she heard this. He provoked her by saying,

“Your choice is so bad because you have chosen a disgraceful person like Rizwan to spend your life with.”

Sidra slapped him with anger.

Khubaib wasn’t just shocked but embarrassed as well. Before looking at her, he saw other people in the park who were staring at him.

Sidra left from there immediately.

Meanwhile, at the graveyard, Rizwan was lying next to his father’s grave. He was feeling helpless and seemed to have no control over his body. He started talking to his father’s grave,

Father, why is this happening with me? Tell me what my sin was. What was my crime? Please tell me, what am I being punished for?

Leaves fell off from the tree nearby. He said looking at them,

I don’t believe in this. I don’t believe that there is any connection between your soul and the movement of leaves. But, Mr Taha always tries to convince me that there is.

He turned and looked at his father’s grave and asked,

Should I give importance to this unrealistic thing? Tell me father, what is going on with me? Is it happening because you were upset with me? I don’t know why you were upset. You were not aware of the unseen. There were people who claimed that you had knowledge of the unseen but I remember how you always refuted those ideas. You were not even confident about the knowledge you gained through dreams and praying.

He stopped for a while and waited. He didn’t believe in receiving response from the grave, but there was a hope in his heart.

He chuckled and asked himself,

Since when, have you started believing in this stuff?

That evening, Hannan, Sartaj and Maqsood were at the hospital. They decided to investigate the matter of that empty bottle. Maqsood who luckily had the bottle, went to the doctor and demanded what they had planned. The doctor responded,

“Alright, I’ll have to send it to the lab. Once, this will be done I will call you. Give me your number.”

“Okay, but I need you to understand, what exactly I am trying to find out.”

“Okay, it would be better if you clarify it one more time.”

“What I need to find out is if that was poison in the bottle? If yes, was that poison capable of suffocating a person to death?”

“Okay, I got it.”

Maqsood shook hands with him and left.

One day later,

Sidra was happily going to Rizwan’s house. She was wondering while walking,

Today, I am going to apologise to him first. Once he will forgive me, I will ask him to leave this house. I won’t force him, nor will I ask him to leave his family. I will simply ask him to come with me to another city for a couple of years.

Meanwhile, in the house, Rizwan was deeply upset. He was holding a picture of his wedding. He was looking at Sidra in the picture and said,

I had no idea that our marriage would end up like this. I was so excited back then, but I am disturbed about it today.

He heard the doorbell and got distracted. He stood up and went to see.

As he reached the main gate, he opened the door and quite unexpectedly saw Sidra standing outside. He was stunned as he saw her but deep down inside, he was delighted. He asked her,

“Sidra, is this really you?”

“Yes,” she smiled.

He was quite impatient about what she was going to say. She began,

“Rizwan I came here to…”

That second, a gunshot was heard and splashes of blood coming out of Sidra’s head were seen by Rizwan. He was extremely shocked and realised what just happened. She was shot on her head and the blood was unstoppable.

Oh, my God! Rizwan uttered as he saw her falling down.

He stepped outside and before bending down to look at her he looked up at the person who was standing close by with a gun. It was none other than Khubaib.

Rizwan, however, kneeled down and tried to pick up his wife who had unfortunately died and there was nothing he could do about it.

to be continued...