MY UNREQUITED LOVE (EDITED VERSION)

ELEVEN

Matlabi Banda Hoon,
Sajda Karta Hoon To Wo Bhi Apne Sakoon Ki Khatir....

THIRD PERSON'S POV

Days passed and as promised, Mustafa started ignoring her again, truthful to his words. Maria was hurt, and even cried inside the four walls of her room, but she knew it was a price she was paying for loving him.

Knowing where it hurt the most, he was punishing her.

But her heart, it was stubborn just like it had been from day one. Even after getting rejected so brutally, and repeatedly, it never stopped loving him. It never stopped craving for him, and his smile...She missed him, she missed teasing him, getting pampered by him, getting adored by him... She missed being with him.

His mere presence was a soothing balm for her heart, he knew that... but the cruel man did not even bless her with his shadow. It was like he never lived in the same house as hers.

Sitting on the dining table, her heart hammered with pain, when she saw him gracing them with his presence. Her heart was quenched of the thirst it was denied long ago. It felt so liberating.

Maybe that was love she had always heard about. The one where the mere glance of beloved felt like happiness, even if the same person did not reciprocate the same feeling. Their presence and just being there was enough to sustain for a lifetime.

A tear leaked out of her eye which she quickly wiped off, not wanting anyone to see her vulnerable, and question her unnecessarily.

More like she did not want to show him how miserable and weak she was without him, but she was late.

Mustafa saw her. He saw how her lips quivered at his sight, and how the dullness of her eyes shined with sparkles for a second, with his mere glance. He also saw her going back into her shell, not picking up her favorite breakfast, choosing the nearest thing kept before her. With slumped shoulders, she quietly nibbed the bread toast, taking ages to chug it down. She was zoned out, lost in her own world. He noticed every single thing, every action of hers.

Mustafa took a few seconds and closed his eyes remembering that was not what he came for. Watching Maria was not in his agenda, even if it was an old habit which would take time to change, he knew he had one important task to complete.

Clearing his throat, he knew he had the attention of everyone present there and thus declared something which had sent waves of shock among the whole Ahwaan clan."I want to marry, baba." The news came as an atom bomb, crashing the minds of each person gathered.

"What!!! Ye kya bakwas kar rahe ho Mustafa?!" It was Aaqib Ahwaan who was the first one to retain his senses and shouted, smacking his hand hard over the table.

(What rubbish are you speaking, Mustafa ?)

Everyone sitting there flinched at his display of rage but Mustafa was not even fazed, it was as if he had expected the reaction and repeated his words calmly, like it was the most obvious thing that his father had failed to hear the first time. "I. Said. I. Want. To. Marry, Baba!"

His words ticked a wrong chord in his father's brain who stood up, furious at his eldest son. He did not expect him to behave so selfishly, when their family was in the midst of an emotional crisis. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, MUSTAFA ?! YOUR BROTHER JUST DIED AND YOU WANT TO CELEBRATE YOUR MARRIAGE!!!"

"You two were always after me for marriage. And now, when I am ready, you are behaving as if I am committing a crime." adamant on his stance Mustafa's voice was loud and clear. He was in no mood to hear anyone. He had made a decision and wanted to execute it his way. That's how it always worked.