Chaos in the Canvas √

30 | family

اب تیرے ذکر پہ ہم بات بدل دیتے ہیں
کتنی رغبت تھی تیرے نام سے پہلے پہلے

Friday - 12:32pm

"So, Hami, how are things coming along?" Mehmal's voice rang in her ear through the phone and Hemayal let out a deep sigh.

The week was coming to an end with a glorious shower of October rain outside and loneliness of the weather creeped into her soul as she shut her eyes tiredly.

"I don't...I don't know." The brown-haired woman replied, gaze lost and distant.

"What do you mean?" Mehmal questioned and Hemayal could almost see the deep lines of frown splattered across her cousin's face.

No matter what happened - Mehmal Khakwani was a constant in her life and she was immensely glad.

"I...you know what happened, right?" Hemayal rhetorically asked, having told the other lady the matter just a night before herself.

"Yeah, about the Rukhsati?" Mehmal mumbled and Hemayal let out a troubled sigh.

"Yeah, ahout that." The tone was pained and confused and Mehmal sensed a lingering sadness in her cousin's voice.

Hemayal Khakwani didn't deserve half of what life threw at her, she thought with a deep regret.

"I thought you went to see him and cleared everything." Mehmal was confused; Hemayal troubled.

"I did but can you blame me for not trusting him? You know how manipulative he is." Hemayal rolled her eyes as she said, leaning back in her seat as she tore her gaze away from the dark sky outside and fixed it somehwere between the walls of her office.

"So, what now? Do you want to go and tell his family about everything?" Mehmal guessed and Hemayal almost let out a chuckle.

"No, God, no. That would be like the last thing I'll resort to." She said, truth twinkling her eyes.

The woman well knew that it was probably the only leverage she had on him but she knew she could never stoop to the level of involving his family in this matter - no matter how much it pained her ego.

The blow her dignity would recieve after telling his family would be much worse, that she was sure of.

"Then?" Mehmal's voice was soft.

"I'm thinking of speeding up the plan. These back and forth arguments are taking a toll on me." Hemayal confessed, probably for the first time, about the damage to her mental health and Mehmal's brain came to a screeching halt as all the alarms went off.

"You okay?" The cousin asked with caution and worry and Hemayal almost lost it.

"I'm not, Mehmal. You know I'm not. I'm exhausted, bone-achingly exhausted. I just want to hide somewhere where I don't have to deal with all of this shit." She replied, pain lacing the voice, exhaustion painted all over her words.

Constant interactions with the man whom she had loved for almost half of her lifetime was nothing but sheer agony - forcing herself to hate him under the situation life had thrown her in was an even greater tragedy.

All of her defences were up and by now, she was tired and pained and everything in between.

"You want to give up on the revenge?" After a moment of silence, Mehmal questioned and Hemayal couldn't tell if it was hope in her voice or caution.

"Should I?" She instead asked and heard Mehmal take a deep breath.

"That's your decision to make, Hami, but all I can say is put yourself first. You're fighting too many battles right now. You're fighting yourself against his love, torn between his love and hate. You're fighting him to avenge your losses. You're fighting your father to not get close to him. You're fighting to get over Dadu’s death," Mehmal took a deep breath while Hemayal held hers. "Hami, for heaven’s sake, have mercy on yourself.”