Saving Her

VII

♪♫ Jeene ke liye socha hi nahi,

Dard sambhalne honge,

Muskuraye to muskurane ke,

Karz utarne honge... ♪♫

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She reached her parent's house at 7 PM because there was some work that needed her attention immediately. She had already told Inaya that she would come late today as she had to meet her family.

Parking the car in the driveway she reached the door and rang the bell. She was greeted by a slap from her father—Harish Sinha, right after he opened the door. He harshly took a hold of her upper arm and dragged her inside. By now, tears were streaming out of her eyes. In the living room, her mother and elder sister were waiting for them.

"I told you to come at 6 PM, you're late by an hour." She flinched back when he yelled like she hadn't bothered to come at all.

"There was some urgent-"

"Again with all the excuses. You will never change." Her father cut her off and added, "You are an abomination, a disappointment for me."

"Bu-but what have I done?" she asked perplexed which seemed to make her father angrier than he already was.

"I told you to not spoil my reputation and you went ahead and did exactly that." He threw a phone at her, she caught it before it could hurt her, it was her sister's phone, the phone was displaying her picture with Aarav from her date yesterday. In the picture, her face was visible while Aarav's back was facing the camera so they didn't know who the person was; he was feeding her candy floss.

"We told you to not repeat your mistakes again but no, you did it again." Her father yelled again.

She looked at her sister—Nikita Sinha, hoping that she could see a glimpse of the sister she used to play with as a kid, but to her disappointment, her sister was smirking at her like she would do everything all over again just to see her suffer.

Her mother—Suman Sinha—came towards her and held both her arms in a tight grip to leave a bruise. "I told you to leave the company of those witch of a friends of yours, didn't I? But you never listen. I'm sure, that Ahana and Inaya taught you all these wretched ways."

"They have nothing to do with this and stop calling them names and blaming them for everything." Noor jerked off her mother's hands and for the first time yelled at the people she once called family.

"Keep your voice down in my house." Her father growled.

"Then what do you expect me to do? Tolerate your accusations and take every hit without saying a word?"

"I have understood that you would never change your ways and will continue to humiliate me and harm my reputation. So, I have taken a decision for you. You are getting married."

"Reputation? So that is what it is all about, huh? Your oh-so-fragile fake reputation that you flaunt at every chance you get but that same pride and reputation doesn't come in your way when you ask for favors from me. And marriage?" she couldn't believe this was once her family, she felt like someone has clenched her heart so hard that now it was hard to even breathe. "Did you forget that you left me, abandoned me 2 years ago? You don't get to make decisions for me when you yourself announced that I'm dead for you. Did you ever realize that I'm a human too and there is so much that I can take? You didn't and now you have the audacity to tell me what to do? I won't do a thing, do whatever you want."

"Yes you will. And even if I have to raise my hand on you again, I will." Her father growled.

She wiped her tears, but they wouldn't stop. "If that is all, then I would take your leave."

She didn't wait for their reply—she ran off to her car and drove back to her real family, her home.

∞

Looking at the baffled look on her friends faces, she could say that she was not in a good shape.

"What the hell happened?" Ahana asked in a calm voice which managed to make her look scarier than she usually is. "Where were you?"

So Inaya didn't tell her anything she thought.

"You were crying." It wasn't a question.

"I was at my parent's place." She uttered out trying not to breakdown.

Ahana seemed the answer enough because she immediately wrapped her arms around Noor and Inaya, who was watching the whole scene from afar, came and joined them. She cried her heart out in her best friends' embrace in the middle of their living room. None of them uttered a word, they let her cry as much as she wanted, no questions asked.

When she was done crying, Inaya helped her sit on the sofa while Ahana got a glass of water for her.

"Now, what happened there?" It was Inaya this time. "Tell us everything."

And so she did. She told them about her father's behavior, picture and marriage.

"I don't want to get married, please. I can't get married to anyone but Aarav." She cried out.

"Why?" Ahana asked almost emotionlessly.

"Because... because I-I love him. I can't imagine being with anyone else."

She had never stopped loving him, he was always with her, in every memory and now that he was in her life she can't live without him.

"We won't let anyone harm you or force you in doing something you don't want to do, okay? And you even have your Aarav now with you. I know he will keep you safe as much as he keeps you happy." Inaya assured her with a comforting smile.

"By Inaya's lack of reaction, I believe that she knew you were going to your parents'." Ahana stated.

She and Inaya gave her a sheepish look and said together, "Sorry!"

Ahana tried to maintain her demeanor but failed and softly smiled back at them. She again took both of them in her embrace. "It's alright." They broke the hug. "Just don't keep anything from me again."

"Promise." They again said together and all of them broke into fits of laughter.