Chapter 74: Chapter 74

Meanwhile, Hannan was in the cell and then in the hospital, his wife, and mother of his child, Dua has been trying to locate him utilizing her resources. Hannan has given up on his revenge mission because of Shehryaar's threat.

One day, while he was in hospital, the door to his hospital room opened and Dua walked in. Surprise came over his features. He had almost forgotten about Dua.

"Dua, we can't work anymore," Hannan was scared that his mother would come because he has hidden his marriage from his mother.

Dua who was about to say something with a smile on her face, suddenly, all the happiness on her face evacuated.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Dua," he uttered.

"But our child..." her words faltered.

"This child.... I never wanted it. You forced me to have an intercourse with you to seal this marriage so there was no way out," he told Dua, who knew that it was the truth.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, tears in her eyes, "why?" she cried out, "why?!"

"I.... fell in love with another girl,"

"Girl?"

"Yes... she worked at my office," he made up a story which would serve as a base for their separation, "I have always loved her.... ... I'm sorry, Dua,"

"Divorce me," she uttered with a steely expression coming over her face. It was third time in her life that she was being dumped in the worst possible way.

"Dua,"

"Divorce me, HANNAN!" She suddenly shouted, "divorce me now!"

And Hannan uttered the words, announcing their separation.

And then Dua left the scene with a heavy heart and a bandaged wrist, which depicted her recent attempt of suicide when she thought that her husband has left her.

She did not even get the chance to enquire that where he has been all these days.

....

After that, Dua has left and committed suicide, killing her child. And then, at her brother's wedding, through Sheila she came to know that Hannan was well acquainted with only one girl at the office, who was none other than Sheharzaad.

It was Sheharzaad with whom Hannan had fallen in love and left Dua.

She was livid. Enraged. Wanted to extract her revenge from both Hannan and Sheharzaad. Dua could easily tell Sheharyaar about Sheharzaad's past affair but she knew if her brother married this girl, then he would have known Sheharzaad better than Sheharzaad herself.

To give meaning to her plans, she befriended Sheharzaad, letting her share her bits and pieces of emotions with her.

Through Sheharzaad's conversation, Dua was able to conclude only one thing that she has been through something drastic which shaped her this way.

And the reason she thought was, her brother breaking the bond of Hannan and Sheharzaad and forcing her to marry him.

So telling Shehryaar that Sheharzaad was earlier involved with a guy appeared futile to Dua because according to Dua her brother was already aware of it. She had this plan running in her mind to get them both caught together after marriage because it would be a drastic blow to Shehryaar and then he won't spare them both.

Dua insisted Sheharzaad to ask Shehryaar for a phone. And a few days later, when Dua saw a phone in her hands, she knew that it was going according to what she has planned.

Sheharzaad was digging her own well.

She used Sheharzaad's phone, retrieved Hannan's number and began texting him as Sheharzaad.

It was all calm.

Calm before the storm.

Sheharzaad would not know since Dua deleted the chat before deleting Hannan's number and warning Hannan not to text her.

The third day, she asked Hannan to meet at a restaurant. And the very same day, Dua took all the other family members out to Alizey's birthday party. To make this news reach her brother, she told the driver to inform Sheharyaar when they reach the destination.

All the cards were against Sheharzaad.

Sheharzaad herself asked Shehryaar for the phone.

And since, Dua implicated infront her brother that it was Sheharzaad, who rarely took part in any of the activities at home and in the family, was adamant to celebrate Alizey's birthday outdoor and in that way Sheharzaad would get the perfect chance to slip away and meet Hannan as there would be no perfect opportunity to conduct a meeting with her beloved while her whole family would be involved in reaching the venue.

On the other hand, Shehryaar who was tapping Sheharzaad's phone was already noticing all her activities after he had given the phone to him. He read the texts she had been sending to Hannan. Not just that, Sheharzaad odd's behaviour around him, which was actually due to the plan Sheharzaad had been brewing with Amna and Wali, Shehryaar took it in the other meaning. He thought that she has the fear of getting caught of her plans going on with Hannan.

And meeting with Hannan became his breaking point. He wanted her to get caught red handed so there would be no room for explanations and apologies left anymore and this time it would be just pure punishment and darkness for her.

...

Hannan has told his side of story to Dua that his brother committed suicide because of Sheharzaad. He told her everything from A to Z that how Sheharzaad had lured him in her charms and when he advanced towards her, she badly rejected him. And even marrying her was a revenge game for him.

Dua was stunned.

Too stunned.

And left with nothing but guilt. Regret eating her heart and soul, depressing her.

Since that day she had been trying to confront the truth to Shehryaar. She deeply regretted the moment when Shehryaar asked Dua that did she arrange a surprise dinner for them at that hotel and Dua denied at Sheharzaad's face, who was counting on her.  Even she made the situation worst for Sheharzaad.

Sheharzaad has not just slitted her wrist once. The second time, she jumped from the terrace and was now hospitalized. It made her loose her baby.

The whispers of Sheharzaad being a psycho were now rising in the family, particularly perpetuated by Asma. Even there were talks that Sheharyaar would leave Sheharzaad. Dua has come to know that their grandfather now wanted the marriage to end. It had her worried because if their grandfather has made this decision then it will have to happen, no matter what.

These talks did not reach Shehryaar who was with his wife at the hospital 24/7.

After what Sheharzaad has done, as it appeared to the family, Dua was more than sure that Shehryaar would leave her. Especially the wretched past he carried with himself.

Sheharzaad appeared out to be exactly like his mother in his eye.

It had Dua get more worried, because if he left her then he definitely would punish her in worst possible ways for betraying him.

This thought alone has been forcing her to tell the whole truth to Shehryaar that Sheharzaad was innocent from the very start.

...

Several days later, Shehryaar brought Sheharzaad back to home as she was discharged. The door to the lounge was opened, her hands tucked around his neck as he carried her bridal style to their room.

He opened the door to his room, put her on the bed and closed the door of the room. Her eyes didn't let a tear out. They were opened. Staring at the sky.

She was emotionless.

She felt nothing.

Nothing but pure callousness.

Her heart was just beating but feeling no emotions.

She was just breathing.

Just breathing...

Shehryaar never talked to her. Never touched her the same way he used.

His eyes were enough to depict the loathe he carried for her.

After many days, he had just said one line to her, while placing his hand on her stomach, "you killed our child too,"

The sentence alone made daggers jab in her heart.

Since that day, she was not able to breathe properly without feeling a pain in her chest.

Her every breath would remind her of her child.

Shehryaar remained aloof and at a distance to her but sometimes whenever he would be sitting beside her, and his eyes would get off of his phone and moved towards her. Those grey orbs would grow intense and dark upon her which would make her soul shiver. And she would only able to expand her lungs when his eyes would move away from her.

He had been the perfect husband. Took care of her like she was some delicate flower. But never said a word. She could not gauge that what has been going in his mind.

Once or twice, she tried to make him believe that she was not involved in anything but she would place his finger on her lips, quietening her. And then warned her that if she did not want him to hurt her, then it would be better to be quiet. In one of the little conversations he had with her, he told that he was in process of making a decision regarding her.

What decision?

Would he punish her more?

Torture her more than he previously did?

The death of her child had broken her so bad that at that point, she did not care whatever he wanted to do with her.

After strictly warning and ordering the servants that they have to take care of Sheharzaad, he left her alone.

....

If Sheharzaad was emotionless then so was Shehryaar. In those days, he re-evaluated himself, his emotions and feelings which he had for Sheharzaad. After getting caught with Hannan despite being his wife, he still did not want to give up on her. Let her go. If he imagined his life without her, even for a second, he felt as if his world was crumbling. She has become the epicenter of his life. Like the compass that always points towards North, his feelings would mold in such a way making him consider Sheharzaad innocent in each case, in every circumstance.

She was still unreachable as she was since the day one.

She had something in her which kept on attracting him towards her no matter what happens.

He liked her.

No.

He was obsessed with her.

Rather this wasn't the case either....

He loved her.

Loved her so much that her thought of going away from his life, made his mind go insane.

If she left him now, then no way, would he be able to remain sane for more than two days.

She has become his sanity.

Sheharzaad had kept on telling him that she was being framed but his mind under the spell of past, reminded him of the incidents of his childhood and he didn't believe her.

This was his weak point.

Women.

Women were his weak point.

He never trusted them no matter what.

Always had this eye of suspicion in him whenever it came to them.

That was why he had taped Sheharzaad's phone.

And that was how he came to know of her conversations with Hannan.

It was still so unbelievable to him that how could she do that after what he had made her go through.

For a moment, he believed in her words.

But his past again clouded his judgement.

He was so untrustworthy towards the womankind. And this hunch, this paranoia had been inculcated, rather engraved within his soul throughout his childhood.

His grandfather also taught them, giving the example of his mother's betrayal towards his father, that women weren't trustworthy.

He was so bound and tied by his past that this haze of past created atmosphere of suspicion in his mind and through that thick mist, he was not able to gauge out the innocence of his wife.

Despite wanting her to declare free of every crime, he couldn't.

He just couldn't.

This wretched mind never let him do that.

And she was still the culprit infront his eyes.

....

Shehryaar had gone for a week to the States regarding the business project he had with Wali. Meanwhile, Sheharzaad was at the haveli without him.

His family members had changed their attitudes entirely towards her. Dua tried to come close to her and apologize to her secretly but Sheharzaad never gave her the chance. His grandmother was so off towards her. They won't sit at the place where she would sit.

They considered her as the culprit of the death of Shehryaar's unborn child, the heir of Shabbir Haider Syed and this family. And as she attempted suicide, the servants specifically stared at her with suspicious eyes that she would attack them. Different rumors were being perpetuated regarding her at the haveli. Asma did not let her children get close to Sheharzaad. Zahra would come to haveli very less and when she would Asma would try to pry Sheharzaad off their gatherings. But Zahra and Haseeb sometimes would come and sit with her and talk with her. Zahra would console her for loosing the child.

Asma had filled Ammara's ears regarding Sheharzaad as well and Ammara would reprimand not to go near her especially when Zahra was pregnant. Alizeh won't even come near Sheharzaad, scared that Sheharzaad might attack her since she was psycho and tried taking her life. Alizeh once said that you killed the innocent baby and that is bad thing before running away from there. Their grandparents were also aloof towards Sheharzad. And one day their grandmother was complaining that Shehryaar hasn't come to haveli. It has been a while since they had seen him. And her next line was that if his wife won't fulfil her wifely duties towards him that he had to call other woman at night then definitely he would want to stay away from home. She also said, that when a mother would kill her own child then how come a father would want to remain with the same person.

It had Sheharzaad go redden with fury and she left the place.

Sheharzada could feel the stigma they carried for her.

They all wanted her gone because in their eyes, first, she was psychotic and second, she took the life of the heir of this family.

His father, Haider, was still same and soft towards her. He was the only person who loved her and listened to her.

There were no gatherings at the dinner table anymore because whenever Sheharzaad would come and sit, one by one, they would leave. That had Sheharzad lock herself in the room and she won't step out.

...

Sheharzaad was sitting in the room when Dua entered.

"Please Sheharzad listen to me," Dua said.

"Leave the room, Dua! Now!" Sheharzaad shouted.

"No! I won't!" She said and locked the room, "and this lock would not open until you won't listen to me!" She cried out.

Sheharzaad felt her breath quickening with rage.

"What do you want?"

Dua stepped forward and went on her knees, joining hands infront her, "please forgive me," she said, tears releasing from her eyes, "please don't leave me like this. I live and die everyday, Sheharzaad. please forgive me,"

"What about me, Dua?" She snapped, "Do you think that I do not live and die every moment? Recalling my dead child? The child whom I took the life off? Huh?"

"No one can feel your pain on me.... I was also a mother once.... and my child died too... and you know the worst part? I took his life. I knew that there was a life brewing in me and still I took that life... " A tear escaped from Dua's eye.

"I don't need your apologies, Dua. You can go,"

"And you know who was the father of that child?" Dua looked at her, "Hannan. It was Hannan,"

Sheharzaad's eyes widened with surprise and on its own accord, her lips moved and a whisper escaped, "Hannan?"

"I will tell you everything from the start," Dua said, cleaning her tears and sat up to sit beside her. And then she told everything Hannan has told her which made Sheharzaad go into an utter shock.

It took her good five minutes to process every word Dua has uttered.

She had been played.

Played very bad from the start.

Yet her heart wrench because of only one man.

Hamza.

Hannan's younger brother.

Who was her classfellow.

He...

She did not even want to delve in the past. Did not want to recall the mistakes she committed.

And she quietened before looking up at Dua.

"Please forgive me,"

"Do you want me to forgive you?" Sheharzaad asked.

"I want to,"

"Then tell the truth to your brother the first instance,"

Dua stopped for a moment and after contemplation, she gave a nod to Sheharzaad.

...

That day, Shehryaar came back home after two weeks. After meeting all his other family members except Sheharzaad, he left for another meeting.

Sleep didn't reach Sheharzaad that night. As she had been thinking about what his grandmother said the other day. Not just that, Dua's words were also in her mind.

She was a young, naive girl when those incidents occurred which she still carried in her heart, which created a life long impact on her mind.

It has been an year since her parents death when she came across Hamza. One of the finest bachelors of the university. A person who every girl wanted to date.

She regretted the day when she sat with that girl Shumyle and her friends group.

Everything changed after that.

And she had not realized when the poison was seeping through her veins.

When a drug addiction has hit her.

When she became like them....

And-

The trail of her thoughts broke when the door to her room creaked open and Shehryaar entered.

Their eyes met creating a spark which travelled down their spine.

And she looked away.

Getting her dupatta, she fixed around her chest and stood up, before greeting him to which he replied.

One look.

And she could tell the utter craving which he was resisting to hold her.

"Shall I bring you food?" she asked.

"No," he replied, curtly, taking off his tie and throwing it away before taking off that coat and loosely sat on the sofa.

"But... you must be hungry,"

"I'm not," his reply was short.

It angered Sheharzaad further. He was not even looking at her.

"Why can't you look at me? Am I so despicable?" She blurted out. The attitude of his family and then his behaviour towards her has been eating her from inside.

"I told you, I wasn't involved in anyt-" She stopped when suddenly he looked up at her and gave that deadly look to her.

It stole her breath and she took a small step back.

She looked down, remaining quiet when he stood up and neared towards her.

Her eyes flashed up towards him as he unbuttoned his cufflinks, while probing his eyes in her eye, "You won't talk about that day, again, Sheharzaad,"

"If you're to treat me like that and your family members too then....I-I-I want divorce," she uttered in crystal clear words, looking him in the eye.

And the features on his face changed, entirely.

But she didn't back away.

"I want divorce,"

"Over my dead body," he snickered.

Suddenly, she held the collar of his shirt and pushed him towards her, "if you can call other women at night to serve you then.... I do have a complete right to demand for divorce," As the words left her mouth, tears began to release from her eyes, "you can't treat me like trash," she sniffled.

His eyes narrowed as he held her hand which were holding his shirt. And then it hit her. That night, when he was drunk and wasted, thinking about feeling her and he called a woman. Yet she was sent the instant she began to do her deeds.

"Who told you that?" he asked.

"Does it matter?"

"It does. Tell me," his voice was hoarse.

"Your grandmother was mocking me while your Aunt Asma smiled when she was mocking me so openly of not fulfilling my wifely duties," Sheharzaad jeered.

And then it hit him.

It must be his aunt who had informed his grandparents about this because that night, he saw her walking in the corridor.

"Why did you call that woman?" She asked, fiercely, "why?!"

"Because," he said and suddenly his lips were on her as his hand went to her waist and he pushed her closer to him, "I wanted you and I still want you," he uttered and pushed her on the bed, hovering above her.

Her mind suddenly became jammed as her body began to shiver.

"Please no," she cried between his ministrations, "please!" she began to cry out and he got off of her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as soon as he left her, "I'm sorry,"

Again, the fear of him punishing her coming over her.

He held her chin, inclined her head and kissed the crown of her head before leaving the room.

...

The next morning, at the breakfast table, everybody was there. And as Sheharzaad came and sat with Shehryaar, nobody dared leaving. They acted so friendly and jolly around her as if they never taunted her or mocked her the first chance they got.

It was surprising to Sheharzaad that how different his family was when he was around her. But then Alizey came and told Shehryaar in his ears that everybody says, Sheharzaad killed a child and she is not mentally well.

After that, Sheharzaad made Alizey and Sheharzaad both leave the table and after that day, Sheharzaad never got the chance to complain about them. They all were fine afterwards, not bothering her even when Shehryaar was not there.

But she did hear whispers that Sheharzaad had wrapped him around his pinky figure.

....

After a few days, she was busy reading a book and was in the room when he entered.

"We're leaving," he announced as soon as entered, taking her by surprise and she looked at him, shocked.

"Leaving?"

"Yes, we will go to our mansion at Lahore,"

"But why?"

"Take what you need," he didn't reply, "I'm waiting for you in the car," he told and left.

While she was leaving, she asked Dua about it, who told that grandfather asked him to leave Sheharzaad since she was not fit to be his wife and daughter-in-law of this family. This had angered him so much that he got up and decided to leave.

It was the first time in history ever when Shehryaar had gone against his grandfather.

Sheharzaad felt, he did not have the support of his grandfather anymore.

And she never liked his grandfather.

She had her own reasons...

Sheharzaad also enquired that whether she told Shehryaar the truth and she denied, saying she did not get the courage or chance.

...

The very day, they came back to Lahore, Dua visited Shehryaar in the evening. And after a few minutes, she heard him shouting while he was alone with Dua in his study. His grave voice made her shiver so bad that she got up and began to pace around out of fear and tension. She got out of her room and hid behind a wall, peeking at his study from a distance.

She saw some servants dragging Dua out while she was screaming for forgiveness and help. And she heard him say, "take her away and do as I've ordered,"

Then he got out from his study with a gun in his hands, walking furiously towards their room. She instantly stepped back and ran to their room when he entered, held her wrist, got her in the car and drove it a warehouse.

After that, he gave her a gun with a bound Hannan infront her.

"He is all yours. You can kill him or forgive him,"

She stared at him, while the gun in her hand pointed at his forehead. And after few moments she spoke, "I forgive him for the sake of his lonely mother," She said and the next moment, Shehryaar took the gun from his hands.

"Iski jaan tumharay hawaly. Iski zindagi meray hawalay," And then he shot him at his vital organs which would leave him handicapped for the rest of his life.

(His existence, your decision. His life my decision)

While Hannan screamed, he held her wrist and left the warehouse.