MAQAAM - Chapter 12: Chapter 12

Her breath hitched. Palm coming up to cup any voice she may make. The line was no longer connected yet the apprehension to be caught prickled her senses pushing her into flight. She may never forgive her sister, but letting another person inflict pain on her was unacceptable to her. She was her sibling, her to hate, hurt, or love.
A man like that scumbag cannot hurt her.
Inara took a demanding breath, scooped her bag, and ran towards the exit.
She knew where to go, whom to kill, and a million ways to do a good job.
The only catch, she had to reach there before major damage was caused.
Iram may have offended her, hurt her heart but that baby in her womb was innocent. It didn't deserve it.
Neither Iram did.
She rushed past the security hardly checking out, that was a concern for another day as she flagged an auto rickshaw, luckily it was empty and willing to drive her.
Thrusting the address to him that she had received once months back, she called the first person she was supposed to.
"Hey" Came a greeting and her insides seemed to recognize his presence. "I will leave office in 10. Are you done?"
"Rahil." She said his name as if that would calm her and make her inform him.
"Inara" He was worried at once. "What's wrong?"
"Iram." She mumbled the word as if ashamed of her care for her. She had done wrong to them both yet here she was ready to catch her when she seemed to fall. "Something is happening. She is not good."
How was she to explain the breaking of her sister on call? She was jumpy and scared to her core. Begging for help.
"What do you mean?" He asked tonelessly.
"She needs help, Rahil. I heard that man hitting her. She begged me to save her child." Confessing to her husband never came hardly. "She said she was hiding and calling me. Those people are doing something to her. That they will kill her. I-I don't know. I am going to her."
"Inara, calm down."
"She was begging me to take her away from there. I don't understand but it didn't sound good. She is with a baby, Rahil. I fear their safety." Clenching her fist, she rasped into the phone all that she could manage. "It could be nothing but she is too proud to call me without. She has been trying for a few times. There were missed calls I didn't receive. He slapped her. I heard him curse her..."
"Listen to me, Ini." He cut her ramblings. "Tell me where are you."
She glanced at her surroundings and averted her eyes feeling the driver's alarmed gaze on her. "In an auto. I am going to her place."
"Okay. Reach there but don't go in without me. I will be there as soon as I can." He stated with finality.
But what if the harm was done? What if she was late?
"Wait for me to reach there. Do you understand?" He repeated and she grunted in agreement, that was all she could manage as her mind went into overdrive.
"Can you call Baba and tell him?" She requested. There was no way she could talk calmly to her father without breaking into jitters and letting the worst scenarios come to her mind.
"I will." He agreed silently. "Don't do anything rash, okay? Nothing will happen."
He assured her yet when she reached the place, the panic caught up to her sternum as Iram's broken pleas came rushing back to her.
It will take minutes for Rahil to reach, minutes that were enough to make permanent damage.
She tore through the main door and stabbed the elevator button; she will face the consequences later. There was no way that she would wait down while her heart somersaulted with apprehension.
They lived in an apartment complex, a much better society with their affluence.
It would be easy to gather an audience she thought.
The place was eerily calm, soundproof if that slap to her sister did not get people to step out and ask. Banging at their door, she yelled for their name.
"Open the door." Torturing the doorbell, she impatiently banged on the hardwood. "Qadri, open the door."
A scowling Mrs. Qadri answered her incessant demand to be let in. "What is this behaviour, Inara?"
Oh, behaviour she would tell her.
"Where is Iram?" A frown addressed her demand.
"Is this how you come to people's house? Where are your manners?" The lady dodged her question.
"In the same gutter that you came from." There was no holding back insults, they were shady. She should have known. "Now, tell me where is Iram before I gather people and tell them about the domestic violence you are inflicting on my sister. Call her out."
"How dare you talk to me like that?" She held the menace, a notch lower than what she heard on call making her insides twist.
"I dare just fine." Pushing the lady out of her way, she ramped inside the place uncaring for her shouting and yelling. Taking a quick sweep, she found plates of uncut vegetables on the table making her work easier.
Get your hold on a weapon, it could be anything.
Her father's words returned and she took hold of the sharp knife and whirled to point it toward the lady.
"Shut up." Inara glared at her. "Let Iram out. I will see if she is okay and leave."
"She is resting." She wasn't the woman who met her. Then she was a docile lady acting classy while the male in her household made decisions for her. This one, she looked no less than a blood-sucking leech. A chameleon. "Leave my place before I get you arrested."
"Don't bother." She waved her off with her free hand. "Police will be here any minute now. The arrest will happen, just not me."
"Inara."
She didn't wait. Rushing towards the hallway, she started checking the rooms and doors as the woman constantly yelled at her.
Inara wondered why the male Qadri's were still inside, not coming to aid her didn't seem fit to her.
"Stop. You are intruding on our house." Mrs. Qadri was past yelling and threatening.
"I am." She shot her a glare, one that spoke miles of danger to her as the knife threatened her to get closer. "Where is Iram? She should have gone deaf with the amount of yelling you are capable of."
Reaching one door, she felt it could be the one. Trying the handle, she heard it click open.
"Iram." She called for her sister but a raging Ashfaq stepped out.
"What is this behavior? You are disturbing my wife."
"Was she one when you slapped her?" Inara spat with an equal amount of rage in her blood. "Where is she?"
"She is not here." He snorted blocking her sight. "Even if she was, she doesn't want to see you."
"Let her decide that, you scumbag."
"Dare you curse me again, Inara Sohail." He took a threatening step closer and Inara gritted her teeth wanting to stab his eyes.
"You bastard. Let me see her before I release the recording where you slapped her."
His face darkened with realization. "So, she was on a call."
The bite in his tone made bile rush her throat.
"Tell her to come out." She clutched the knife harsher keeping his mother in her peripheral. The woman tried ganging up when she threw her fisted palm to her chest. "Stay where you are. I am asking you one last time, Ashfaq Qadri. Where is my sister?"
"In hell. Why not join her?" The man didn't learn, did he? He tried yanking the knife out of her when Inara kicked his shin hard. Groaning, he stumbled and she pushed him out of her way.
Throwing the door open, she took in Iram's huddled form lying on the bed groaning in pain. The bile that she had once pushed back came with a force and she cupped her mouth shut.
Her face was battered with an unattended, bleeding gash on her forehead. Her lips had a cut, eyes swollen because of the hit, and painful whimpers hit her semi-conscious body.
"You bitch..."
Inara turned just in time to see Ashfaq being thrashed to the wall.
"Don't touch her." Rahil choked him while his mother tried pushing him away. Their eyes met and his grey eyes looked thunderous yet he nodded at her.
He got them.
"Get Iram out of here."
Taking the big steps, she crouched near her sister who cried in fetal position ignoring the commotion outside.
"Iram?" She patted her cheek softly only for her to flinch. "I am here, Baby. I came."
Her sister withered at the gentleness and peaked an eye open.
Her lips moved yet no sound came out, her arm moved and Inara clumped a sob feeling her attempt to check on her baby.
"H-e kick-ed the b-aby."
Inara strained to hear her. She would have staggered if not sitting to hold her. "He will be paying for it all."
She promised.
"Can you walk?" Iram was shattered pieces of glass. If she wasn't careful, Inara would end up stepping on the damage and crushing them more under her weight.
Supporting her, she gently made her stand only to end up taking the majority of weight on her. Iram couldn't walk. She was hardly able to move. She was in pain, so much pain that it broke her heart.
"Rahil." She called for her husband as they reached the threshold of the room.
The door parted and Rahil's eyes met hers.
"She needs a doctor." She said watching Ashfaq coughing out blood, a side effect of getting a sucker punch in the guts.
Rahil nodded not leaving his hold on Ashfaq. "We will take her."
"You will not." Her so-called mother-in-law came barrelling only to be pushed away by Iram who suddenly seemed to gather her strength.
"I will." She sucked in a breath, glancing at her sister with bloodshot eyes. "Y-ou cannot stop me."
"Touch them again and police will be taking your barely alive son out of here." Rahil's threat made her step back. The lady recoiled at the murderous glare Inara matched with her husband.
Somehow she managed to take Iram towards the elevator, holding her weight and wishing there would be nothing wrong with her and the child.
As the lift doors parted, Rahil followed them inside. There was so much she wanted to ask him but his clenched jaw scared her.
For, Rahil Sohail was no less than a tsunami when angered. He could take everything, each one, and all forms of life away with a sweep.
There was her auto waiting for them, the man leaning against the vehicle as if waiting for all hell to break loose. She found him and he was ready to help them take Iram to the hospital.
"I thought to wait, Bibi." He had explained to them. "I sensed something was wrong."
There were these points where she believed in humanity. Thanking the man profusely, she settled Iram in the backseat while Rahil ran to get his Bike from the parking.
"I will follow you." He mumbled to her, nodding in gratitude towards the man.
On the ride towards the hospital, Inara shook the feeling of trying to talk to Iram. She didn't know what she had to say, if not for keeping her conscious and holding her closer, there was nothing more she could contribute.
As if there was a giant wall between them, they stood at each side seeing the other but had no idea how to climb to reach the same side.
Rolling her inside the emergency, she felt Rahil follow her. She was ready to let down the mask of bravery and sob in his arms. No doubt he would willingly take her and hold her for as long as she wished to.
Yet she could feel the waves of anger rippling from him. He was mad at her. Oh, how well she deserved it yet the intensity to let out some of these choking emotions won.
Spinning to face him, she lunged herself in his arms. "Hold me for a while, later you can bash my head for being disobedient."
"There would be more than bashing, Inara Sohail." His arms circled around her back instantly, holding her closer as she breathed into his scent letting her mask crumble and falling in sobs that she had held back. Uncaring if his light green shirt was stained with her mascara, she clutched harder and buried her face more in his chest.
"I am scared for her baby, Rahil."
"Shush, Ini." He drew soothing circles on her back, not saying much but the facts. "She is out of there. Doctors are checking on her. We will know soon."
Nodding against him, she refused to part just yet. Knowing what awaited her, she wanted to prolong his scolding that would be taking place not long after. Hospital or not, she will be getting what she deserves for her recklessness.
"I am sorry." She mumbled in his ears before parting.
His eyes took in her face and gently wiped her tears. "Sit down for a while."
Gesturing towards the steel chairs set up in the hallway, he guided her to one outside the emergency.
"Do you need water?" He tucked her hair strands behind her ear and adjusted her scarf on her head, she could see herself as a mess in her mental reflection. "I will bring you some."
She nodded guiltily. She had nothing but give grey hairs to this man while he took care of her at every instance.
"I told Ammi. She talked to your parents." He updated her on the status. "They left for Hyderabad. Will be here in a few hours. Till then we will also be out of emergency."
"Thank you." She watched him nod.
She had filled out the forms, and inquired with the nurse but none told her what was going on with her sister.
"Drink some." He came back with a water bottle for her. She was plucking at her cuticles. the wait made her anxious as the seconds turned into minutes he took one look at her and chided her. "Stop hurting yourself"
"None will tell me how is she." Confessing, she took a sip to stop her tears. She didn't cry that often, not infront of humans but her Lord. He was the only one who knew detailed accounts of her worry, her days, her wishes, and her dreams in this life.
"She is going to be fine." He repeated the assurance, patting her head as she ducked her head down feeling all sorts of emotions curbing the logical part of her brain. "Are you mad at me?"
"I am furious." He said it with so much calmness that made her skin erupt in goosebumps. She expected him to yell, not this. "You took 10 years of my life pulling that stunt."
"I thought something bad would happen if I waited." Inara confided in him. Truth was what held the power to save her. "I couldn't stay down, I felt as if I would get sick with worry."
"And you put yourself in danger." There was a tick in his jaw, the composure cracking in the slightest bit. "What if he would have hit you? I would have castrated his entire family."
"He couldn't have."
"But he tried."
She looked away bashfully, he did try and Inara left him a kick in return. But Rahil shouldn't know that. That is going to be her little secret.
"Tell me, Inara." He made her look up at him. "Was that the first time? Did he try hitting you before I came?"
That swallow must have given something, a small hint that made his eyes darken with uncurbed rage.
"That filth." He cursed. Rahil never cursed. "Let me get my hands on him, I will kill his any hopes of having an offspring in the future."
"I kicked him." She admitted. There was no longer a secret between them like it should remain. "I also threatened his mother with a knife. They didn't try hurting me."
His fist clenched, so did his jaw as he glared at the white tile.
"I am fine." Her assurance made him snap towards her.
"You wouldn't have." He hissed with controlled volume. "That is why I told you to wait for me. I don't trust them, not even Iram. What if it wasn't genuine and she was luring you in a trap? I was losing my mind the entire ride there and when I didn't see you, I lost it."
"She wouldn't lie like that." Why did she defend her sister was beyond her. She didn't wish to yet it came without a second thought. "I told you. She was crying on the phone. She was alone, hurt, and vulnerable. This marriage wasn't what it looked to the world. My sister was being abused. I don't even know if it was the first time. She said he kicked her womb, hurting her unborn baby. That man is a monster."
Rahil fell silent, he wasn't listening to her but was waging a war inside his head.
"If I didn't receive her call, what if he had killed her? She said they will kill her. She cried on call. I cannot fathom what could have happened, Rahil, and thinking I almost married him..."
"Don't." He snapped, eyes going wild. He snatched the water bottle and he gulped a big chunk before panting for breath. "Don't talk."
"Rahil..." He had never talked to her this way. This shocked her.
"Stop. Just don't. I don't want to imagine that." He averted his eyes cupping them and whirling away to not face her. "I can't think of you being with him, not even your name in the same sentence as him, Inara. I swear I will lose my mind. Thinking he could have married you, seen you each day, talked to you, laughed at your antics, or breathed the same air as you made me lose nights of sleep, Inara. Don't make me think of you in that condition. I wouldn't be able to live."
"I am sorry." She mumbled feeling his apprehension, the dislike to mere thoughts of her being with someone who wasn't he. Neither could she.
Thinking him of being with someone else, be it her sister brought cracks to her heart.
"Would you say the same for Iram?" She worded the thoughts that had eaten up the best part of her brain. Not until before today she had let the possibility draw her attention. She was happy, adjusting to the new role, cherishing the new life until that one phone call that brought the dreams of her perfect marriage came crashing down.
Illusions were real, and so were the mirages.
What is her was one such?
No, she didn't put Rahil and violence in the same sentence. He wasn't raised to be anything but a gentleman.
She had known from the first day she had given him more than a glance.
"What do you mean?" His face was distorted, the composure seeping back at a snail's pace, yet it would be there. Soon.
"Would you hold Iram like you hold me at night?" Putting a stone on her chest, she continued talking. "Would you take her around the city? Would you want her to stay in your room or, spend evenings with her working?"
She swallowed past the lump, clenching her knuckles around the edge of her chair, not wanting him to cut her off.
"Kya aap use mohabbat karte?" (Would you have fallen in love with her?)
"No." He chimed immediately., frowning and shaking his head as if the idea was as absurd for him as it should be for her. "Not at all. She isn't you."
"But she would have been your wife. Eventually, you would have given in to the dynamics of your marriage." Why she was inflicting this torture was a mystery. She may not tend to self-harm, but crushing her heart did occur at moments like these.
"But our marriage wouldn't have gone through the initial months." His answer held an irk that came against the tick of answering her. She knew he was growing frustrated after every second.
"You cannot be sure." The urge to roll her eyes at his confidence heightened.
"She wasn't you." As if these words held all the answers to her question. He saw her face and let out a sigh. "She expected a lot from her marriage, Inara. Unlike you, she wanted a trophy husband and a household she could revolve her life around. Like those women in the dinner, she wanted to go on and on about her house, her husband, her children, and her hobbies that didn't include more than some needlework. I am not judging those who are homemakers or have their life planned around these factors, I just..."
"I understand what you mean." She did. He wasn't being a prick or a masochistic brute but women need to hold on to a life for themselves before they dived into what they call home and family. She wasn't against those who did not work, she was against those who were and stayed dependent.
Inara admired women who were independent. Working didn't make them that but making their own decisions did. A homemaker could be equally independent as a professional. They both recognized their potential and made decisions that shaped their lives. It need not be just money; it could be anything in this universe.
She had seen her mother practice and manage her home. She wasn't independent because she earned, no it was because Jamila Khan had the last say in matters of her house. She took the smallest and even the biggest decisions about their house. None spoke otherwise.
If people stammered around Farish Khan, he never spoke twice around her.
"When I had made it clear for Iram what marriage meant to me, she had stomped her way out without telling me otherwise. She wasn't on board with my conditions yet never made it audible. Then, I knew she could not be the woman I wanted in my life. I may have gone through the alliance yet somewhere I was apprehensive about that wedding. I didn't wish to disrespect our parents, for them, I may have gotten through the ceremonies but there wouldn't be a relationship between us. Iram and I, would have shared a house, surname, even a room but it wouldn't have been ours, Inara. She would have never been mine."
"You said I wasn't her." Inara reminded him of his words from that evening.
"I did." His admission was the last straw of his composure slipping back. He was no longer the man who couldn't look at her. "You can never be her, Inara. You have too much of a spark to be dull. Too much audacity to sit back, and too much stubbornness to follow the basics. You have a spine which is missing in most people. You cannot be talked down, cannot be glared, and most importantly, cannot be confined."
"Is this some way to compliment me?" She made a sour face, "It seems you are making fun of me."
"And you cannot hold back from complaining." He continued with a shake of his head. "This makes you a lot different than others. I couldn't have found someone with all of these in one person. So, to answer your question, No, Inara. Me shayad kisi aur se kabhi mohabbat nahi karta."
(No, Inara. I wouldn't have loved her or anyone for that matter.)
She didn't want to face him, not when her eyes were ready to overflow. He abhorred tears in her eyes, she could not hurt him with them.
"You can cry if you want." He murmured shifting and offering his shoulder to her. "Today can be an exception for both of us."
And she did, burying her face in his arm she stayed cocooned in his warmth for the hours that followed letting the silence heal what had broken between them, or it had repatched again after the words that exchanged.
"I am sorry for being difficult for you." She had mumbled to him as the wing deserted and they watched the LED screen display the patient's whereabouts. "I know I hardly listen to you, giving you a hard time because of me. It will take years to change..."
"Or it may never happen." He commented offhandedly.
Not that she could rule out that possibility, but did fake a glower at him. "I cannot help it but I can do something."
"Like?" Rahil gazed at her with amusement. Their anger, disappointment, dread, and apprehension had been plowed and buried.
"Dying your grey hairs black again." Her shrug made him snort and roll his eyes while she smiled watching his smile.
Oh, it seemed like an eternity to watch it again.
An eternity she couldn't pass without an assurance of his presence.
Sulking, grumbling, and raging yet him.
For her, he was all that mattered.
Any form, any shape, anyway, but him.
Rahil Sohail was what all she needed.
Today, tomorrow, and the day after.