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"The love of a family is life's greatest blessings."

Fariya

The whole room went silent. Every eye in the room was fixed on the two old ladies who were facing each other. Every mind in the room anticipated about what was going to happen. Every heart prayed for the goodwill of the broken family.

Fariya moved her eyes from her mother to grandmother and then back at her mother. It was fear which was implanted in her heart, and was clearly visible in her hazel eyes.

To say that she was worried would be an understatement. She was beyond terrified. She had met her grandmother for the first time in her life and yet she felt that she was attracted to her, that there was some strange bonding between them.

When she was in her grandmother's arms, she for a second thought that her father was still alive, that he was still around her, looking at her with love in his eyes.

And she wanted to feel that feeling forever.

Now that she had finally met her grandmother after all this time, Fariya did not want to leave her at any cost. So here she was, hoping that her prayers are answered.

Fariya saw her grandmother take a step forward towards her mother while a lone tear fell from her eyes. Fariya's heart started beating wildly, just like every other person's heart in the room. She caught her breath and awaited the step her grandmother would take.

Her grandmother finally reached up to her mother and after placing both of her weak hands on her shoulder, pulled her into a hug. Everyone present in the room, even the walls of the room, breathed out a sigh they were all holding.

A sad smile appeared on everybody's lips as they witnessed the reunion of a mother-in-law with her daughter-in-law. Tears fell on Fariya's face but for the first time tonight, they were the tears of gratitude.

Fariya saw that her grandmother was crying very hard as she hugged her mother.

"Ali! Ali!"

She repeated again and again, as if calling his name will undo the pain that she was in.

Her mother, who was still in shock and hadn't cried since she got the news, started crying as tears fell on her face in a continuous flow. Both the ladies, mother and wife, were crying and the mere scene was enough to make emotions run through the people witnessing it.

Fariya felt her heart exploding with pain. Never in a thousand years would she have thought that this would happen to her. That her Baba would leave her all of a sudden, that life will play its nasty tricks on her.

She forgot about everything, everything that happened yesterday. Her forced Nikah, her unexpected family. The only thing she remembered was the absence of her father, the death of her beloved Baba.

The two old, crying ladies pulled back from the hug and wiped their tears away but the tears were as continuous as their pain, not even stopping for a second.

All of a sudden, Dado started taking deep breaths and it seemed to Fariya that she was having difficulty in breathing. Fariya's big eyes widened even more and she began to move towards her but saw Omer coming towards them quickly so stopped dead in her tracks.

He grabbed his grandmother and helped her sit on the sofa behind them. Kneeling in front of her on the floor, he asked someone to bring water.

As Omer's voice rang through the large room, a young lady turned around and ran inside a room, which Fariya deduced was the kitchen. She came back with a glass of water in her hands and rushed back to Omer.

Taking the glass from her hands, Omer helped his grandmother drink it. Dado, who was now taking uneven and fast breaths, sipped the water slowly. Lowering her head, she placed a hand on her heart and and tried to take slow and deep breaths.

After some moments, with everyone looking at her with worried eyes and Omer rubbing her back, her breaths returned to a normal pace and she closed her eyes.

Fariya saw Omer take a deep breath and murmur an Alhamdulillah under his breath. He then got up and turned around to look for someone. His eyes searched the room before it landed on the person standing next to Uncle Ahmed.

"Saad, come here!"

The person, whom Omer had called Saad, hurriedly came to him and looked at him with a questioning gaze.

"We have to take her inside. She needs to rest."

Saad quickly nodded his head and helped Dado get up from the sofa. Omer and Saad stood on Dado's either sides and helped her move forward.

Everyone in the room including Fariya looked at them as they went forward and then entered a room, closing the door shut behind them.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

She was sitting on the bed in her grandmother's room, while her hand was holding her grandmother's weak and wrinkled hands.

With her big, doe-like eyes closed, Fariya's head was rested against the headboard when the door of the room opened and in walked a woman who was about her age.

Fariya's eyes fluttered open as she straightened her spine and looked at the woman who was carrying a glass of water in her hands. She looked at Fariya and gave her a small, beautiful smile which only lifted the corner of her lips.

Moving towards Dado, she bent her head to see if she was awake and before she could deduce anything, Fariya immediately answered her thoughts.

"She's asleep."

The lady with the almond-shaped, brown eyes lifted her head to look at Fariya and then frowned a little.

"But it's time for her to take her medicines."

Her frown deepened as Dado snored slightly in her sleep.

"You can place the medicines here. I'll give it to her when she wakes up."

Fariya suggested, looking from her grandmother to her.

The girl narrowed here eyes for a second as if considering her suggestion but then nodded her head. Placing the medicines and the glass of water on the nightstand, she turned around to leave the room.

But she had only yet reached the door when her steps came to a halt and she again turned around, only to look at Fariya directly this time.

Reluctantly, she took some steps forward towards the bed and stopped right in front of it. Fariya lifted her head and her glimmering eyes narrowed as she looked at the woman with a questioning gaze.

"Can I sit here with you?"

The awkward and uneasy silence which had descended upon the room went out the window as the brown-eyed woman uttered the words shyly.

"Yes, sure. Of course."

Fariya vocalised her words quickly, more quickly than she had wanted to.

Her reaction boosted up the hopes of the lady a little bit as she sat on the bed in front of Fariya. After looking at her own hands for one good minute, she finally lifted her head to gaze at Fariya's hazel eyes.

"Your eyes are beautiful."

She mouthed a silent compliment which made the hazel-eyed beauty smile a little.

"Thank you." She said as she slightly nodded her head.

"What's your name?"

It was Fariya this time who tore the silence with her question.

"Urwa. Urwa Ahmed Lashari."

The woman replied with a big smile etched upon her face. Fariya's heart skipped a beat as she heard the words came out of Urwa's mouth.

"Are you...."

She was beginning to question more about when Urwa cut her in mid-sentence.

"Yes. I'm Omer Bhai's sister."

Fariya parted her lips to say that this was not what she had wanted to ask but decided against it as she thought that she had got her answer anyway. She pressed her lips together and nodded her head again.

"Ummm.... I'm sorry. For Chacho's death."

Fariya gulped down the emotions that threatened to escape as she looked up to see Urwa.

"It's fine, thank you."

She blinked her eyes several times, a feeble attempt to control the tears which were on their verge.

"How many siblings do you have?"

Fariya asked quickly, desperately wanting to get away from the topic of her father's death that she didn't even think about the question she asked.

It had been two days, two horrible, frightening days since her father had passed away. And yet it felt like it was a minute ago when the doctor came through the door and gave them the heart wrenching news.

With every breath she took, she was reminded of her loss. With every second that went by, she grieved and mourned.

"Two brothers. Omer bhai is the eldest one, Saad comes in the middle and then there's me."

She replied cheerfully, sensing the sad aura that enveloped them and wanting them to get rid of it.

"Masha'Allah."

Fariya uttered the only word she could think of.

Urwa was a lively lady, Fariya could tell it without even talking to her for too long. She knew how to engage in a conversation and how to keep it alive, a thing which Fariya lacked. Fariya was the blunt one, the out spoken one but she was never the one who was good with conversations.

"What do you...."

Urwa was cut short when the door of the room opened and a man walked in. Fariya did the mistake of looking up but she instantly realised it and immediately lowered her head.

Omer stepped inside the room but what caught his attention was his sister who was sitting on the bed with his wife. He narrowed his sharp, penetrative eyes as he looked at her.

"What are you doing here? Mother is looking for you."

Omer's cold voice reached both of the ladies; one stood up hurriedly while the other trembled slightly.

"Umm.. I just wanted to talk to Fariya."

Urwa replied while looking at her brother, her voice controlled but alarmed.

"There's no need to talk to her. Go to mother."

Omer said curtly. His tone was as cold as ice but it turned Fariya Ali Sikandar into ashes. There was so much disgust and bitterness in his voice that the hair at the back of her neck stood up.

But she was wise, she didn't lift her head to look at him. Instead, she concentrated on her hands which were placed on her knees.

"I'm going."

Urwa mumbled weakly under her breath and left the room hurriedly, leaving behind a couple who hated each other and a sleeping grandmother.

Omer looked at Fariya for a moment or two, negativity and resentment oozing out of every fibre of his being, before he shook his head and without saying a word to her, left the room.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Three days. Only three days had passed and it seemed to Fariya that it had been three centuries, hard and painful centuries.

She was sitting in the TV lounge of the Lashari House. Everyone was around her but she was immersed in her own thoughts which revolved around her dead father and chaotic life.

Three days before and she didn't even know she had some grandmother or Taya Abbu and now, here she was, sitting in their house and living with them.

It was so unbelievable that sometimes she thought of it as a dream, a nightmare. But then the reality would come crashing down to her, knocking the air out of her lungs, leaving her breathless.

Today was the third day of her father's death so people had gathered to read Qu'ran and pray for him. They had left some minutes ago and now only family members were present, all of them seated in the TV Lounge.

Sitting at the far end of the lounge on a single sofa, she was so much occupied in her own thoughts that she did not notice Taya Abbu calling her name.

It was only when Maida called her name and placed a hand on her shoulder did she come back from her thoughts and looked around the room.

Her face turned the slightest shade of scarlet when she saw all of the people looking at her. However, she didn't take much time to recover from her embarrassment and looked straight at her Taya Abbu.

"Yes?" Fariya politely asked.

She saw Taya Abbu smile at her and then gestured both of them_ Fariya and Maida_ to come to him.

"Fariya, Maida. Come here, my child."

Fariya shyly stood up from the sofa, feeling everybody's eyes on her, and made her way towards her Taya Abbu.

Hamza, who was sitting beside him, stood up and moved to the next sofa. Sitting beside their Taya Abbu, Fariya and Maida looked up at him with a small smile on their faces.

"The last three days have been very busy so I wasn't able to give you a proper introduction. I know you've met them but a proper introduction is still needed."

Taya Abbu smiled his usual gentle smile while he looked at both of them.

"Okay so this is my younger sister, Momina. Your Phoppo. And the one sitting next to her is her daughter, your cousin, Syra."

Taya Abbu pointed towards the elderly lady who had hugged Fariya earlier in Dado's room when she was crying yesterday and then towards her daughter, Syra. Fariya had seen her with Urwa today while she was working in the kitchen.

Fariya slighlty smiled at them while listened to her Taya Abbu who was introducing other family members to her.

"This is my wife."

He said for the graceful lady who was sitting directly opposite to them.

She smiled at them, a full, bright smile which narrowed her already small eyes. She was the woman who was standing next to Dado when she had first met her.

"And that is my daughter and son, Urwa and Saad."

He gestured towards the man and woman sitting beside her Tayi Ammi.

"I've met Urwa before."

Fariya said in a low voice as she informed her Taya Abbu whose already big small deepened even more on hearing her niece.

"And I met Saad." Maida voiced as she looked at the two siblings siting with each other.

Fariya looked at them and realised that Saad was the same man who had asked her to leave her mother when they arrived in the house.

"Only two people are left. I think they are outs...."

He stopped when he saw those two people entering the house side by side.

"Here they come!"

Fariya saw as both the men entered the house silently.

"This is Talha. Your Phoppo's son."

Talha, who was now seated on the sofa Fariya had vacant, grinned at Taya Abbu and nodded his head slightly when his eyes landed on Fariya and Maida.

"Finally, here's the last member of our family. Omer. But of course you are already familiar with him."

Fariya's heart leaped up to her throat when she rasied her head to look at him and saw him already looking at her. His face was devoid of any smile, any emotion. He looked at her, his eyes conveying the message of hate.

Finally he averted his eyes and looked at his father and than at Maida. On seeing Maida, a small smile appeared at his face and that's when Fariya understood something.

His coldness, rudeness and darkness was directed only towards Fariya. For everyone else, he was a gentle and kind man who cared about every person around him.

As this thought rested in her mind, she immediately felt anger towards the man, her man.

However, he didn't look at her again and sat beside Talha on the sofa. Was it the atmosphere in the room which had suddenly become tense or her heart, she did not know.

Quietness which had sprawled its feathers on the large room was thrown out the window when Fariya's mother addressed her Taya Abbu.

"Bhai, three days have passed has happened. I think we should go to our house now."

Every eye in the room turned towards her, everyone looking unhappy.

"Bhabhi, no. You have to live with us. This is your house." Taya Abbu's wife said quickly as she looked at Fariya's mother.

"I want to live in that house. That house contains memories of Ali. I don't ever want to leave them."

As soon as her words registered in everybody's minds, sadness made its way in their hearts.

"This is Ali's house. His real house. Where he spent his childhood, his youth. Please live with us."

Taya Abbu said and it was sorrow which Fariya sensed in her tone.

"But Bhai..."

Her mother began to say something when immediately Phoppo cut her in mid-sentence.

"Bhabhi, please. Fariya, Maida and Hamza remind us of our brother. Please don't take this from us."

It was tears in her Phoppo's eyes which Fariya witnessed.

Blood relation is strong, it has always been strong. No matter how much you fight with each other, at the end of the day they still care about you and love you. That's the beauty of the family, joy of your own family.

"Yes, Chachi. Dado also want you people to stay with us now."

Urwa's desperate voice reached Fariya and she smiled a little, sensing how desperately she wanted them to stay here.

"Okay. We'll stay here." After taking a deep breath, Fariya's mother gave up as shenchanged her decision and decided to stay in the Lashari House.

It was happiness which rose from the ground in a swift motion and hurled around them in a gentle blow. Fariya too smiled as she herself wanted to live here, with her family, with her father's family.

As she smiled at everyone, she remained completely oblivious of the fact that someone was clearly not happy at the thought of Fariya staying in their house.

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Here's a brand new chapter all for you people! Please vote, comment and share it with your friends. That would mean a lot.

Picture of Lashari House at the side.

Till next time,
Salam!

Chachi - Chacho's wife
Tayi - Taya's wife
Phupoo - Father's sister