She was standing at the balcony, lost in her own world as the wind breezed past her. Dressed in light pink frock that reached just above her ankles with churidar pajama ,dark brown eyes gazing at the full moon with no care in the world. Pink soft lips crept up in a small smile as she inhaled the slight fragrance of motia hanging in the air, a small nose piercing sparkling on her small button nose. A perfect jaw line, long slender neck that was decorated with a thin gold chain rested upon her high collar bones, clad in a black shawl, long dark brown hair in a messy bun rested on her shoulders. Small pointed breasts hidden in the shawl,a small waist and perfect hips with long beautiful legs covered in the frock. wearing a pair of flat slippers. A jingling sound errupting now and then from the payal on her ankles and the tassels of the daman of her frock, an aura of innocence surrounded her. Her gandumi skin full of noor in the dark with the little light provided by the moon .
'Noorie'
'Noor api'
she was pulled out of her thoughts by her little brother Azaan. who was her life and vice versa.
'jee bolo' she asked politely.
(yes, what?)
'mai aap ko kab se bula raha hun, khair neeche aajain sab aapka pooch rahe hain'. he said the last part uninterested.
(i am calling you since eternity, anyways, come downstairs as everyone is asking for you).
'okay, let's go' she said adjusting her shawl.
'wese sab se murad?' she asked, closing the balcony doors.
(what do you mean by "everyone").
'sab se murad jese -' he started counting on his fingers. 'daadi, baray baba, bari ammi, Rafiq taya, Arfa ammi, Arman Bhai-' she stilled at her place, a sudden sense of pure hatred and anger boiled into her.'-Ammar Bhai, Haris Bhai or sari aapiyan'. Azaan continued.
(by everyone I mean [all the names which were taken] and all the aapies).
'Noorie, what happened?'
Azaan who had walked forward but turned when he did not feel any movement behind him asked.
'Noorie' he called a little louder this time.
Noor who was busy cursing Armaan deep inside her heart was again pulled out of her thoughts by Azaan
' huh, nothing. let's go'. she said quickly, before Azaan could get concerned.
she walked down the long old staircase that stood proud even after being centuries old, that was maintained and architectured elegantly, so that it can give the Haveli a more precise look. it gave access to all the three floors, with slightly rounded banister with antique designs.
as she stepped down the last step, she could hear the voices coming from the lounge. her heartbeat increased as she rounded the corner and came face to face with everyone sitting in the lounge. Azaan was long seated on the corner continued playing with his ball.
everything went silent and everyone looked at her, a little nervously but loud enough for everyone to hear she said her salam.
'Assalam-o-alaikum'
everyone replied to her salam and then carried on with what they were talking or doing.she took a sigh of relief as she hated being the center of attention. She looked around the hall and saw every elder engrossed in a heated discussion. her gaze travelled from them to Hira and Ammar who were busy in arguing about something like kids and not caring that they were both above twenty, and she was not a bit interested.
then her eyes landed on Armeen and Hareem who were looking busy discussing about something in magazine Armeen was holding. she smiled as she made her way to them but than her eyes landed on haris who was busy talking to Armaan who she loathed the most sitting on the sofa infront of her.
Arman who was siting discussing business with Haris looked up when he felt someone burning holes in his head. and met with her dark drown eyes which were only throwing glares filled hatred towards him, he shook his head in amusement and averted his eyes back to Haris who was showing something in his laptop.
Noor, when met the dark black pair of eyes which can destroy anything with the intensity they held, could not help but send looks of hatred towards him, when she knew he saw her looks and he replied with a head shake she went and sat near Hareem and Armeen satisfied, for what she did and not an ounce of regret because in her eyes he deserved it.
'Noor ab tum hi batao'
(Noor, you tell us)
'huh' she averted her eyes from him and looked at Amar and Hira who already were looking at her.
'Shah Jahan ne Taj Mahel 1625 mai banwa-' Ammar was cut off by Hira who quickly asked.
'Shah jahan ne 1935 mai banwaya tha na taj mahel?'
wow what a question, she thought. she was busy remembering the correct date as she was very bad at history, she was about to speak when Arman cut in.
'both are incorrect, it was built in 1632, now shut up'.
As they were registering his words, baray Abbu cleared his throat, everyone went silent as he did it to gain everyone's attention, then he continued
'last month a proposal came for Hareem-'. Hareem stiffed. 'so yesterday we invited them and accepted their proposal as they are our very good family friends and we know the groom already, we have kept the date for Nikkah on this Friday and the rukhsati will be at the end of the coming month. so start preparing. any question regarding it?' he asked looking at us, we shook our head not in fear but in respect.
we all cousins looked at Hareem with a sad smile who was on the edge to cry but controlling herself, she smiled at us. I knew that smile so well and the vibes she would be getting, because some years before I also went through this. i was also sitting over there crying deep in my heart on my fate. i absent mindedly looked at Him who was sitting over there with a blank expression as ever. and that moment i again realised that he knew about this and it was being done with his consent and agreement. because he was the only one to take final decisions. every elder asked for his advise and agreement on anything and everything. As he was..
Arman Mustafa Malick, the head of the house, , as he was the boss of the business world. a mafia lord of the underworld. he liked control over everything and everyone. and i was the first one on his 'to be controlled' list.and he never missed the chance to make me remember who I am and to whom i belong.
and everytime he made me remember, the hatred for him of mine increased ten times more.
Jahan Ara begum, was wife of Shabbir Malick. They had three sons,The eldest son, Mustafa Malick was a humble polite and respectful man in his late 50's who was married to Hameeda who was also a polite lady and caring mother figure for all the children. They have 3 children•Arman Mustafa Malick was 28 years old who was handling all the business and the underworld.•Then, Ammar Mustafa Malick who was 26 years old and was also taking part in business. He was Badtameez and hot headed.•and the youngest was Armeen Mustafa Malick who was 20 years old and was doing bachelors in IR. She was sweet and caring just like her mother.The second eldest son was, Rafiq Malickwho was also in his late 50's and was married to arfa. They both were very supportive and kind hearted to their kids, nieces and nephews. They also had 3 children.Haris Rafiq Malick was 27 years old and was giving hand in his dad's business. He was the best man of Arman in underworld.Then second eldest kid was, Hareem Rafiq M
After nikah was done, everyone congratulated them and gave them their blessings. No private meeting was held, because Arman disagreed to it and didn't wanted to scare Noor more all the family members understood.It was after one month when everything started.One day Noor had gotten an acknowledgement slip for her exams and was to be signed by the parents or guardian. She went to her dadi's room where Dadi with Baray Abbu, Arman along with Bari ammi were sitting. She came to them and gave the paper to her Baray Abbu, who after knowing that it was to be signed by the guardian, passed it to Arman who was typing something on his phone,He who was busy on his phone when saw his Abbu passing him a paper looked up and took the slip,They both could not understand, as she didn't know why he was being handed the slip and he was confused as to why he was getting this slip but, everything sorted out when his father spoke in his athoritive voice.' Arman, now as you're her husband,I want you to
When Noor's parents got married, they shifted from their home town to another town, for some business purposes.After a year Noor was born and every one was happy, every one congratulated them and sweets, clothes and foods were distributed among the poors.They lived happily there in their own house, at certain times their family would come to live with them, to spend some time with them.Those days when Noor was only 1,Their family did a small engagement and from then it was decided that Noor is going to be the bride of Arman. Everyone was happy.From the start Noor was told that she is to be married to Arman, it was settled in her mind. And the fact that she never said anything was that she was an obedient child and even if she wanted to say, she knew she couldn't because in her khandaan it was obligatory for elders to fix their children's marriage when they're only kids.▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪It all started when she was 6 and he was 14, all family gathered in Haider's house, everyone was enjo
It was one month after Azaan was born, their grandfather along with Noor parents went to attend a function. They left Azaan and Noor in supervision of their caretaker Amma.That night Amma and Noor both were sitting in the living room with Azaan sleeping on her Amma's lap, waiting for them to return.It was already midnight so they were getting a bit worried.Noor who was getting up to get a glass of water from the kitchen got startled when the telephone on the side coffee table rang.She glanced at Amma to see her already looking at the telephone.She went and picked up the phone up.'Assalamualaikum?' she said or it was more like a question.'Walikum assalam'. The person looked as if he was in great tension.'aap kon?' she could not help but ask when she didn't get why someone would call at this time of the night.(Who are you?)'Aap Haider Malick ke Ghar se bol rahi hain?'(You're talking from haiders malick house?)'jee, wo mere ammi abbu hain per kia hua?'Now the tension was tak
It was midnight when Noor completed her pending assignment that was suppose to be submitted by the next day. She was very tired and sleepy.She came out of her room, when she felt thirsty, and made her way towards the kitchen, in the state of tiredness, bare foot and without dupatta.After coming in to the kitchen, she quickly took a bottle of water from the fridge, a glass from the glass stand and started drinking.After she was finished drinking, she kept the bottle and glass on its respected places and then turned around with jingling of the Payal and tassles, to only see him standing,Arman, in all his glory, wide eyes, as it was new to him, mouth a little open, with slight shock, a folded coat resting on forearm,Noor could not grasp the situation, she was stilled at her place, she tookin his appearance,More broader, claded in black shirt with black pants, a little more bulkier than before, more muscular, and most of all a little more taller,She averted her eyes before she coul
When Arman woke up it was already afternoon, and no one even knew he has arrived.He freshened up and redressed before he made his way downstairs, to meet everyone, he knew no male would be there and he'll be only meeting all the ladies,Reaching downstairs, he could make out the voices coming from the main living hall.When He rounded the corner and came face to face with people sitting there,Everyone went dead silent. As if no one was sitting there few moments before.' assalamualaikum'He said calmly.'walaikumassalam'His ammi who was sitting, talking to Arfa stood up , ran and hugged Arman,' kese ho beta?, Aagai maa ki yaad?'(How are you son?. You forgot your mother)Arman chuckled.'ammi ab aagaya na, ab nahi jaunga,Or aap kesi Hain?'.( Ammi now I've come, I'll not go now.Okay, and tell me how are you?)He said kissing her hair.' Mai theek hun'(I am good)She patted his shoulder then kissed his forehead.'Tum kab aaye?'( When did you arrive?).'bhaaaiiiiiiee'(Brotherrr
After lunch he went to his study to do his pending works.He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice that it was now getting dark,He was reading a file when a knock on his door made him reply with a small come in.Hira entered with a sup of tea,' Arman Bhai aapki chai'.( Your tea bro)Arman nodded and gestured her to put the cup on the table,When Hira was about to go, Arman called her.' Hira?'.'jee'(Yes)'Mujhe tumse ek baat poochni hai'( I wanted to ask you something)Hira nodded and said'jee poochein'(Yes ask)She asked confused.' tum do'peher Mai itna hass q rahi thien?'.Hira was confused for a moment but then her eyes sparkled with mischievous.' uhh ese hi, kuch khaas nahi hai wajah'( Just like that, nothing serious)Arman raised an eyebrow, not buying her lame excuse.' chalain agar esa hai to phir pehle ek deal kerte hain'.( Okay if it's gonna be like this, then first make a deal)' kesi deal?'.(What deal?).She surely knew how to handle these situatio
Noor was a very reserved person, she became very introvert after her parent's death. She would talk less, smile less and would only interfere in others business when needed or asked.She became too close to her both Tayi Ammis, she would discuss everything with them, share her every problem and her both ammis also would try their best to get the best solution. No one treated her badly, they treated her with love, they gave her the same amount of respect and trust they gave to their other children.Instantly after her parents death she isolated herself, it was very hard for her to swallow the news that her parents would never come back. That she would never see them again.After her nikkah she would feel someone staring at her but she ignored. when Arman left for another state she became a little social. She would talk to everyone frequently, she started talking to her cousins, and started going out.After a little while she started her school again, most of the time she would be in th