Hiraeth

Chapter 3

"Walaikumassalam! I am Rayaan, Hana. How are you kiddo?" a masculine and throaty voice said from the other end. Hana's heart skipped a beat after hearing Rayaan's voice for the first time in 9 years. Her hands became sweaty and a shiver ran down her spine. Hana started to recall all the times when she would look at her cousins as they play and joke around with each other. She would always cheer for Rayaan because he was the only one who would talk to her. He rarely talked to her but he at least did talk to her. He never even hurt her physically or emotionally like all the other cousins and her both brothers. Every child in their family and friends would bully her. They even hurt her physically and mock her. They even called her names. They even called her Bad-Blood. Only Rayaan never called or hurt her in any way. He even took her side sometimes.

"Hello! Hana? Bachay are you there?" rayaan asked after a minute of silence.

"Gee Rayaan Bhai. Me idher hi hn. Or me bilkul theek hun. Ap kesay ahin? Or bhai zamid or bhai zayn kesay hain?" Hana hurriedly asked after getting out of her thoughts.

"Alhumdulillah! Hum sab theek hain! Bai bohot Mubarak ho! Humaray ghar ka genius nikli tum to! Me bohot proud feel kr raha hn k hmaray ghar say kisi ki position ayi! MashaAllah! Agay b esay result ki hi umeed lagao ga me tm say! Theek h na?" Rayaan praised hana politely and proudly. Hana's heart beat started to run a miles and a large smile came on her face upon hearing the sweet words from rayaan.

"Thank you bhai!" Hana happily said.

"No problem Bachay! Chalo ab apni ammi say baat krwa do zara! Un ko b mubarakbaad day dn na! okay? Allah Hafiz!" Rayaan said to hana. Hana wanted to talk to him some more but she obliged with Rayaan's command as she can never say no to anyone. After replying to rayaan's greeting, she gave the phone to her mother, hiba, who started to talk to Rayaan happily.

Hana sad very happy but she was also sad that her brothers have not called her yet. She was losing hope but she did not show it to others. After some time, she excused herself and went to bed. As she was laying on her bed, her phone rang and she saw that there was an unknown number and the number was also not of Pakistan. As it was an unknown number so she did not accepted the call and put her phone on airplane mode and started to read a new novel.

For the next 2 hours, hana was reading her novel and then there was a knock on her door. Hana looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:43 at night. She thought who it could be at this late in the night. She got up from her bed and covered her head with only hijab cap and opened the door a little bit to see who it was. She was that her mama was talking on the phone behind her father and her father was the one who knocked on the door. She opened the door fully to let her parents in. They sat on the sofa and hana sat in front of them on the ground.

"Okay beta! Here! Talk to Hana! I am in her room now!" Hiba, Hana's mamma said to the person on the phone. Hiba forwarded the phone to hana but hana looked at her mother in a questioning way. Hiba only smiled and encouraged her to take the phone. Hana took the phone from her mother and said;

"Assalamualaikum!" Hana greeted.

"Walaikumassalam!" a masculine voice replied. Hana was confused as she did not know who it was. She heard this voice for the first time. Then again, it could be one of her cousins as she also can't distinguish them from their voices as it is the first time that they talked to her.

"Why were you not picking up the phone and then your phone was powered off after some time?" the voice said. Hana was confused as she did not know who it was as none of her family members except for her parents had her personal mobile number. But she shrugged.

"I don't know who you are sir and I don't pick unknown numbers so I was ignoring the calls," Hana replied timidly.

"Okay but you can save my number now and I am Zamid. I just wanted to congratulate you hana! Bohot khushi hui tmhari position ka sun kr!" Zamid said. Zamid is hana's oldest brother. He is 9 years older than her.

"Talk to Zayn as he also wants to talk to you!" Zamid said awkwardly. Hana was very happy to hear that her brothers finally called her.

"Hello! Asalamualaikum Hana! Congratulations bachay! You did great! I am very proud of you!" Zayn said.

"Walaikumassalam Bhai! And thank you very much. Ap kesay hain? Ap log Pakistan wapis kab aa rahay hain?" Hana happily asked. She talked to Zayn for a little bit and then handed the phone to her father. It was an awkward talk but she was ecstatic to talk to her brothers.

After the call, hana was telling her parents that she is very happy. While saying that, her tears started to fall.

Her parents were very happy for her and hiba hugged her daughter and cried along with her. She can understand the pain and loneliness of her daughter because of everyone's ignorance. Especially, the ignorance of hana's brothers towards their only sister. That night, hiba and hana slept together and asfand slept in the guestroom.