"No soul knows WHAT it will earn tomorrow and no person knows in which land he will die. Verily, Allah is all-knower, all-aware."

-Quran 31:34

Eid was over and now it was time for stress mamu to return from a brief break. Final term exams were right over her head and she didn't even touch her books from the past week. It was her last year of university and the plan was to take the next year off from "school" and focus on her Aalima course. Two weeks worth of exams and then finally, relief. At least for a couple of months! Zaina thought.

Her thought however, was going to remain a thought.

•••••••

Because Faisal and family were over for just 3 days, they planned for preparations while taking advantage of everyone's presence. Also, for Zaina and Hassan's involvement. Hassan had to return to Islamabad to resume work and Zaina was to study! She was very tired from the past few days and anxious due to her finals during Eid. She tried to tell Madiha that she was allowed to pick anything for her but Madiha wasn't going to listen to this excuse.

They were going to go shopping in the evening. She decided to start her notes for the first exam which was of chemistry. After a few minutes into working, her mind wandered off to last night's dream. She tried to brush it off several times but it just wouldn't go away. Could it be just a bad dream? A coincidence? Or... her brain started creating negative scenarios. It was making her sick to her Stomach, she engaged herself into her notes again, avoiding the thoughts.

It was time for Asr when Saima tayi knocked on her door.

"Beta agar tum busy ho to mei baad mei ajati hoon.. tum se kuch baat kerni thi."

"Nahi tayi jaan, mei free hoon." She kinda lied.

Saima came to her and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"Mujhe tumhe Kuch batein samjhani thi.. inhein kisi hidayat ki tarah mat lena balke apni ammi ki naseehat ki tarah samajhna.."

"Aap bilkul fikar na karein.." She held her hand.

"Tumhe pata hai jab Hassan chota tha to puchta tha k ammi, Zaina hamare saath reh sakti hai? Aur hum yahi samjhte the k bacha hai aur tumhare saath attached hai. Vo to jab vo bara hua to humei samaj aayi k uss k liye sach mei tumhi ko aana chahye!"

Zaina's eyes were descending at her words.

"Humei tumpe Bohat aitamaad hai.."

"Shukriya tayi jaan aur mei apko mayoos nahi karungi."

"InshAllah meri beti.. tum parhti ho Aur tumhe koi nai roke ga.. job kerna bhi tumhari marzi hai. Lekin ek baat ka dhyan rakhna. Ek insan k liye sab cheezon se pehli tarjeeh uska ghar aur rishte hone chahye. Ye shok to chalte rehte hain. Baaki tumhari zindagi hai, hum Nahi tokeinge," She smiled at her.

"Mai dhyan mei rakhungi." Zaina assured her.

"Ek aur baat, apne mama baba ko samjhao k jahez hum har giz nahi leinge... humne Bohat kaha hai lekin kamayabi nazar nahi aarahi. Agar vo tumhe personal gifts dena chahte hain to bismillah lekin ghar aur zarooriyat ka ek daana bhi nahi! Tum kaho, shayad maan jayein."

"Jee tayi jaan. Lekin baaki gifts jo aap sab k liye mama ne liye hain, aap unhe inkar nahi kareingi."

Saima laughed. "Theek hai!"

Saima had left the room. Zaina sat on her bed in the same position. This conversation although wasn't complicated and Saima was very polite about it but it had still tied a few more knots in Zaina's head. She was now realizing how big of a responsibility marriage really is and that it held the power to either add on to her life's intensity or ease it forever. She thanked Allah every day for such a loving family but still hoped for the best.

•••

After around magrib, everyone was ready in the driveway. Hassan was driving them. Madiha agreed to take Sara and Noor along as well after 10 minutes of emotional black mailing.

"Hamari to koi ijjat hi nahi hai iss ghar mei.."

Shahvez told Madiha to take them along, listening to their whining. Him and Iftikhar had to attend an important military event gathering.

Zaina walked out wearing a simple abaya on which Madiha had given her a stare. This conversation had happened several times between them. Madiha wanted Zaina to become more modern and outgoing as she was near marriage. She didn't object to her hijab but told her to lose the abaya, at least in front of her in-laws. Zaina had always struggled to make Madiha understand that she felt comfortable in this sort of dressing. The one thing that annoyed her was the sentence,

"Hassan ko extra conserve larkiyan nahi pasand." But she didn't know how much truth this held!

As everyone sat in the car, Hassan took a look at Zaina from the rear mirror. She noticed but had crossed her eyes from his out of courtesy. He saw the ring on her finger and a delight had passed across his face. During the way, Zaina and Hassan had remained mostly silent while others were busy talking. She always thought that he might take second guesses regarding this rishta but she was slowly proved wrong by him.

"Wese Zaina, tum nikkah k baad humei lift to karougi na?" Sara had asked.

"Na bhi karoun to tum bandaron ne konsa meri jaan chor deni hai?" She replied, poking them.

"Bilkul, to mat chor ker jao na apna chirya ghar..!" Noor had said to her.

Suddenly the atmosphere became tense. Madiha had looked down and Zaina held her hand. Sara gave Noor a stare.

"Arey mei to mazak ker rahi thi." Noor tried to cover up her own sadness.

"Koi nai jaa raha.. Zaina ka ghar ussi ka hai aur hamesha rahega." Saima looked at Madiha.

"Masla ghar ka bhi nahi, Zaina kabhi akele 4 kadam bhi nahi chali, shahvez ne kabhi ojhal hone hi nai diya..to bas..." Madiha explained.

"Mama mei sambhaal lungi!." Zaina gripped her.

"Bhai, aap issey Islamabad ley ker jayein ge?" Sara asked Hassan.

"Hmm shayad.." He replied.

"Aur...humei wahan aaney deinge?"

"Vo..mushkil hai!.." He smiled mischievously.

Everyone in the car laughed while Zaina avoided his fiery gaze again, becoming almost pink.

After a few hours of selecting and deciding, everyone was exhausted. The whole time Zaina was walking behind Madiha and Saima answering their questions. She tried participating only because Hassan was there and it looked like he noticed how Zaina was uninterested. She couldn't have explained to him what had kept her attention.

"Aap pareshan hain?" Hassan asked as soon as they reached home.

"N..nahi to," She answered.

"Aap batana nahi chahti vo alag baat hai."

"Sach mei.. koi baat nahi hai."

"Kehti hain to maan leta hoon.. wese bhi iss waqt mei aur Kya ker sakta hoon.." He put his hands in his pockets.

"Oh.. Kahin vo Noor ki baat se udaas to nahi-" He remembered.

"Nahi.. vo mei bhool bhi gayi."

"Wese..aap sach mei sambhal leingi?" He leaned back at the wall and raised an eyebrow.

"Jee. Aap weley honge lekin mei nahi hoon, mujhe parhna hai." Zaina walked away almost running.

"Shit. Mere jeya ullu vi koi na hove!"

He exclaimed under his breath, running his fingers through his hair.

•••

One and a half week had passed reading and revising long, complicated chapters. Madiha and family were busy in preparation and involved Zaina as much as they could. They were connected to Saima and Faisal over calls.

***

It was a Friday evening and the clouds were showering since fajr time. The wet trees, grass and roads looked like a fascination to Zaina through the window. The Azaan for Asr was being called from the masjid in front of her. She was lost looking outside into the clouds, the peace, the damp atmosphere with no presence of people as far as the eye could reach. She was crazy about the monsoon season; she loved everything about it! It was the one thing other than the remembrance of Allah that soothed her.

She was going through the

"Current City Times" textbook for social studies when she paused at the title,

"The Rebels of the Underworld Propaganda".

The subheading read,

"Departures of Gilgit Baltistan"

The paragraph first outlined a few men. She was guessing they were the head of this "scene", she failed to understand. It named a few of them but had "dashed out" the rest! What was the reason behind that?

Were they censoring the names or was the story something else?!

Questions piled up in her mind. She read this brief section further.

** These groups are relatively dangerous. More to themselves and each other than the general public.

Some are oppressors, some are rejected individuals or society avengers. Smugglers, human traffickers may be involved but NOT primarily.

They can run huge businesses undercover OR originate false identities. Their underground empires can be found where the locality rate is lower.

Note: These rebellion groups are separate from gang mafias because they do not work on "organized crime", but rather personal social grudge.***

Zaina couldn't believe what she was reading. This was true and what was more frightening was that it was mentioned in the "current" times which meant that these groups are still active in Pakistan today!

"Wow," She was worriedly amazed.

•••••

"اور کیا زندگی رہ گئ ،

ایک مسلسل کمی رہ گئ..

وقت پھرمستقبل بن گیا ،

بات پھر ان کہی رہ گئ۔"

"Aur Kya zindagi reh gayi,

Ek musalsal kami reh gayi..

Waqt phir mustaqbil ban gaya,

Baat phir un kahi reh gayi.."

•••••

Salam once again! I know this wasn't a very "great" chapter and it was also short.

I promise the next one will be better iA.

Please comment and vote!🤧

Love, E.