Chapter 91

Chapter 91

Zain's senses were not working. The air around him felt congested. He was unconscious with open eyes. His lungs were working, but he still felt an invisible noose tightening around his neck. Someone was choking him but who?

Ayzel's past

She opened Pandora's box today.

Zain wanted to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. Was the angel of death taking his life? Is that how one's soul departs from one's body?

"ZAIN! ZAIN! BHAI!" Burhan's shouting was not going in to his ears. They were in an open space. In the backyard. Air was free and open there.

But Zain was buried alive in the grave of Ayzel's past miseries.

For the last five years and a few months, Ayzel was breathing in that grave.

Now, it was Zain's turn.

Ayzel's words were now making sense in his mind.

The night she held him by his neck and said That's why he did not come for his revenge when he was released only after two months. But Ayzel suffered and burned for seven months.

She talked about her dead daughter. She could have saved, only if Zain had come earlier.

Only if he had come earlier.

But his focus was only on his revenge. Even after meeting Ayzel he did not ask Ayzel once that Ayzel how were you doing.

In her sleep, she was not asking for help from Sameer. Instead, she was seeking help to be saved from Sameer.

It was PTSD.

Demons of the past were still hunting her. Now, he has the answer to why he could not find Sameer. He was gone from this world but after ruining many lives. His ghost must be laughing at them, right now. Even after his death, he bestowed hell on them very well.

Zain could only wail now.

And he wailed.

His father's horrible death did not break him that much. But Ayzel's pain broke him beyond repair. Or maybe it was the pain of guilt crushing him. His thirst for revenge was quenched. But now her soul and heart were burning with the burden of his guilt.

His feet were on invisible burning coal but he made Ayzel walk on the burning coals.

His limbs were frozen, like he was lost in the deep horizon of a polar region.

"Bhai, please try to take breaths!" Burhan pleaded with him.

"Boss, you need to take hold of yourself. Bhabhi and Farheen need you." Osama begged him as well.

But Zain was only shouting and wailing.

Somehow Osama and Burhan made him take sleeping pills. He was unaware while being conscious that both boys put pills in his mouth.

How and when, Zain did not know.

They could only think of this.

The night was too long and heavy for all the skinders.

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With a very heavy brain, Zain opened his eyes. There was an effect of something which was not letting him get out of bed.

How did he land here? Was he feeling groggy?

He recalled the last night. The first thought that came into his mind, was that he might have seen a nightmare. But then reality hit him.

His breath got erratic again.

Finally, after getting some strength, he rushed downstairs, shouting Ayzel and Farheen's names.

Everyone was in the lounge area except Ayzel and Farheen.

"Asma Khala, where is Ayzel? Where is my Fairy? They are not in the room!" He was desperate.

Asma was silent.

"Say something, Asma khala!" He gripped her arms. But her helpless face told that she could not answer him.

"Zain, my son. Come here." Aliya Khanum called him with love. Burhan and Osama were there too.

"DADI, where are they both? They need me. I don't know how and why it was in my bed?" He said it all in one breath. His mind was not working properly.

Aliya only patted his face. She was trying to calm him.

"Boss, Ayzel had taken Farheen to another hospital. Miss Saliha had come two hours ago and taken them with her." Osama answered him obediently while his eyes cast down. He was well aware that this answer would provoke his boss.

Zain was shocked to hear it.

"But why? And why did you all let them go with Saliha? They are my family. My responsibility!" His voice got louder.

"Boss..I.., " Osama did not have a proper answer for it.

"Enough, Zain bhai. Enough is enough. Do you have any shame left?" Burhan cried out. "Along with you we all had to take sleeping pills, last night. It was one of the darkest and heaviest nights in our lives."

"You wanted your revenge. You got it. Now just enjoy it. Leave alone those poor girls. I don't think so, they would survive. So, you do not need to punish them in the name of Sameer." Burhan's face was wet with tears.

"I am saying that I am innocent. I equally shared that revenge thing with you. If you want to leash your anger, release it on me! Take my life! Because as long as I am alive, I won't be able to look into Ayzel's eyes. I can't even face myself!" He was breathless in the end.

"You know what, I do not have time for any s. I am going to my daughter." Zain dismissed them all. But somehow, Burhan joined him as well.

Zain called Saliha, to know the whereabouts of Ayzel. More fuel was added to Zain's already boiling blood when Saliha told him about the hospital where Ayzel had made Fraheeen admit.

It was a govt. hospital, with not so many facilities. Zain never let his employees be treated here and Ayzel brought Fraheen there.

"I am wondering why Saliha has told you where they are now?" BURHAN said while making a face. It was not out of jealousy but concern.

"Because she has confirmed my intention first. Either I want to take Ayzel and Farheen's live or I want to help them." Zain's face had very intense emotions.

Flash Back

"In which hospital are you now?" Zaina asked in a deadly voice. Saliha recognises the voice.

"Zain Skinder, the one quality of yours I know is that you do not lie to hurt your enemies or the people who have done wrong to you. I know you are aware of Farheen's paternity." Saliha took a long breath before continuing.

"Now just tell me, are you going to take Farheen's life or save her life?" She did not let him beat around the bush, and he is not that man either.

"Where is my daughter? I won't ask again without consequences, Miss Saliha." Zain left no room for further clarification.

Saliha took a breath of relief and shared the location.

Flashback ends

Burhan was in bewilderment after knowing it. Saliha trusted Zain. Just two words "my daughter" changed everything. For many years Ayzel and Saliha's minds were filled with fear of what would happen when Zain came to know Farheen's paternity.

The fear was over. But the way it was over, no one had thought.

The secretkeeper Ayzel revealed the truth. Farheen was hanging between life and death but not by Zain.