Chapter 8: Khizar Ajmal

The first thing i did after relocating, was to come across a very bright girl in the further maths department who, despite her dowdy appearance was actually the brightest woman in our class that I couldn't seem to stop noticing. Later on, I found her in the car park of the university with Ashar Hussain of all people! I had heard about how close he was to Sara and how he had gotten married unexpectedly…so this must be his bride! We talked for a bit before we both made our way to visit my aunt Fareeda who I had been caring for since I arrived. We had got along relatively well when she received me warmly for the first time….since I elevated myself in society. But she was going to be my future mother-in-law so I had to play nice and complete my nephew/ future son-in-law duties as I enquired about her health, made her tea, we engaged in small talk every day after university…but Sara was nowhere to be found for a few weeks. But at least it gave me a chance to get to know the man who was practically inseparable from my true love and his wife so I wasn't totally alone. In fact, I was now in the same friendship group as Khirad Hussain at university so things were going rather smoothly…I just had to find Sara who I guess was too busy with work since she was never around when I visited her mother? 

 But the more absent she was the more I couldn't help but silently blame moody little Ashar Hussain; who was the epitome of a mommy's boy. He looked like an upstanding man…but I couldn't help but notice a few things that were…off with him. He was definitely insecure as a man; he kept his eyes locked onto his wife the whole time we conversed as if he was…a predator who had found his prey. He kept looking at us as if there was something to find when we were keeping ourselves cool, calm and collected in conversation. All I could talk about were classes and look at her assignments to compare notes. But even that seemed to be a big problem with him. I didn't even want to imagine his reaction if I told him that his wife's driver had a problem so I was the one who ended up having to drop his wife and his mother home. He didn't say anything but it was hard to ignore the glare coming from his eyes and ears as I innocently praised her work in class. This guy clearly had egotistical issues that I wasn't interested in touching at all. We were distant relatives anyway, so I just decided to overlook these awkward issues and just keep things civil for his amazing wife's sake, who he clearly wanted to chain to his side. I knew it may have looked like I was over-exaggerating her praises but I did respect hard work and I had to give credit where it was due, she was even smarter than our lecturers sometimes! Sara was the love of my life but with Khirad…I guess I was a little too excited to meet a kindred spirit after all my years of loneliness. She wasn't as brilliant overall compared to my Sara but she came into close comparison I couldn't deny as I decided to keep an eye on her for her own well-being. God forbid I over-praised her again in his presence, who knew what kind of blow that would serve him. I guess he wasn't much of a popular fellow either since he barely met any of Khirad's growing friendship groups and only seemed to dismiss any positive thing I said about his wife. I thought marriage meant equal support but I guess not. I had no idea what my precious Sara saw in this insecure asshole who could barely call himself a man by definition or anything else.