"TEARS & TOUCHES"

After last night events Razia was unable to focus on anything, she was still shocked over the fact that her husband who seems to have a heart of stone cried last night and all because of her. She was now again on the track where she would blame herself for the personality change of her husband and for all the mishaps they have gone through, with these thought the night of their first wedding aniversary came back to her, the rose petals on the bed, candles litted around the room and the pineapple cake in the middle of the bed which Farooq Ahmed had bought especially for her even though at that time he only worked as a employ in a small mart and was'nt able to afford it but he saved up for the day. She remember the whole night when they talked till the dawn and ate the pineapple cake, teasing eachother by applying frosting over eachothers faces and their love making when he would hold her so gently and kiss her down to her thighs and make her feel loved, cherished and the most precious thing he owned, with these thoughts came a flood of tears she still could'nt believe that she broke the man's heart who loved her the most.

Zainab knocked on her mother's door to find out why she have'nt came out of her suffocated room till now, it was noon and she was always the one who was very puntual of her routine unless she was sick and this made Zainab worried that what if her mother was not well, on the third knock the door opened and her mother stood there eyes showing no evidence of the past events and she simply walked past Zainab without uttering a word, Zainab stood there trying to figure out what has happened but followed her anyways, she found her mother in kitchen pouring some beef stew in a white glass bowl of her favourite china glass set then she turned around and called Zainab, " iam going to visit Asma aunty, she is not well i already asked your father, so lock the door and don' t let anyone inside other than me or your father, got it?" She warned her and Zainab nodded her head and closed the door after her mother left, it was not a common occurance that her mother went out to meet the neighbours because their father never allowed them to mingle with anyone. Asma was an old lady who lived near the corner of the street in a small house along with her niece and used to visit them when they were younger but after some time Farooq Ahmed restricted her visits, Zainab only remember her face in a blur of memories because it has been years since she last saw her.

Zainab was reading one of her favourite fashion magzine in her room while Hafsa was in the bathroom, showering when she heard a knock on the door and thinking it was her mother she opened the door without covering her head and met with the same raven hair boy! she did'nt get any time to process everything when Hussain pushed her slighlty just to get inside and closed the door then he put a hand to cover her mouth to prevent her from screaming, "i don't wanted to just barge in like that but i had no other option, iam sorry but please don't scream and just listen to me." Hussain explained to her, his hand still covering her mouth and as she tried to remove it and suceeded this time she started, "what were you thinking? my mother will come in any second! are you planning to get us both killed?" Zainab half yelled and half wispered and that was when Hussain gave her the black bag which he as hiding behind him and told her to open it and when she looked what was inside she could'nt help but feel the butterflies in her stomach, in the bag there was a beautiful red maxi so she took it out and found that it had white pearls along the neck and a black belt in the centre, she looked up at Hussain and saw him looking back at her with hopefull eyes, "whose this for?" She asked to which he replied, "this is for the girl with the most beautiful eyes and yeah, also her name starts with a Zeee he stretched the "ee" of the Z with a smirk playing on his lips, " i can't take it even if i take it i won't be able to wear it Hussain take it back please" as nice as it felt to hear his name coming from her mouth Hussain was disoppointed that she refused to take it, " just keep it! don't wear it but keep it i want to assure myself that you have something nice and expensive just like the other girls it does'nt matter if you don't wear it", Hussain insisted, "why are you even doing this we barely know each other" Zainab asked confused, "i don't even know myself, i just wanna see you happy and that's all so please do me a favour and keep it" The way Hussain requested Zainab could see he was'nt lying and she took the bag from him and asked him to leave she opened the door for him and before leaving he turned around and touched the corner of her lips where there was a small bruise from the past incident and said, "take care of yourself seeing you like this do something to me! Something breaks inside me i don't know what it is" Zainab stood there still not being able to move because the way he touched her was something very new for her, his touch was gentle but his voice contained dominance his hands made her feel safe, made her think that he may be the guy who could save her from her own father and then she saw him leaving.

Zainab turned around ready to hide the bag and saw Hafsa coming out of the bathroom so she hurriedly hid it under the small telephone table which was close to her and went inside her room. She was blushing and smiling like a crazy person and ofcourse Hafsa noticed but chose to ignore and it minutes later there was knock on the door and Hafsa went to open it not without covering her hair, their mother entered the house looking calmer than before she left, Zainab waited if her mother saw Hussain on the way home but when she did'nt said a word her worries flew away and the same unknown blush covered her face for the rest of the day.

After the little get together with her old friend 'Asma', Razia was feeling better because her constant blaming herself was eating her up everyday the guilt building up like a pit in her stomach and the fact that everyone now expect the same thing from her daughters was something she was scared the most about but the soothing words of a old friend who hold all the secrets of her past made her feel a little relieved, she remember her words, "the world is very big its full of good people but that's not the reason it still exist the reason of the existance of earth is people who make mistakes and learn from them afterwards nobody is born with Quran memorised in their mind we memorise it after we are able to understand what it actually is there is a reason behind every deed of ours and every decision of Allah remember that" and these words provided Razia the peace she was craving but she knows that it was not going to last long, soon enough something will again push her in to her ocean of guilt but till then she was at peace.

It was raining and Razia stood by the small window of her room and flashbacks of day came back to her, the day Zainab was born, the day she felt the most alive and the day she lost her husband! Her loving husband and forced him to beome a monster...