CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1 : Test of Resilience

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Author's pov:-

"Ismail !" A loud voice chirped as the happy boy swung his arm in the air hopping towards his best friend's apartment with content . He wanted to show the boy his new set of colour boxes which his uncle specially brought for him, so that he and Ismail could paint together.

"Ismail!" He chirped and opened the door of the apartment. The door was always left open at this time for him . It was a brown metal door which usually creaked when it was open or closed . It had stains of crayons , which were made by him and Ismail. They would paint almost everything and Ismail's mother would only laugh , letting the kids enjoy their childhood.

She was an alimah and taught the younger girls Qur'an. His father was paralysed from his waist down below and most of the work was done by his mother only . The fees and food came from a joint money which had the fees which his mother Ruqaiyya got from teaching and the other half consisted of the clothes which his father stitched .

He always enjoyed being here more than his own home . The warm chawal , daal and bharta were far more precious to him than the food served in glass dishes at his home which he devoured alone mostly .

The time of 3 pm was the best for Fawad . It was the time where Ismail's mother used to go to the neighbors house to talk and spend time with them , and his father used to go and deliver all the clothes using his wheelchair . Most of the orders which came to him were by the neighbours only due to his skilled hands . It was the best time for the two boys to have fun as much as they could .

He opened the door , but was taken aback by the scene which his eyes saw . Ismail was laying down in a pool of his own blood . His small white kurta had stains of red .

"ISMAIL !!" He screamed while dropping the crayons letting it crash on the ground .

"He is still alive" his father said from the side . He was shocked to see his father here .

"Dad..we need to take him to the hospital he is bleeding" The little boy sobbed as he witnessed his friend's eyes which shined with mischief, being dull and rolling back to the back of his head with every single second which passed by.

"Well that's necessary. He was teaching my son who is supposed to play with guns and knives , to play with colours . How can he be left unpunished?" The father said , a sob escaped the little boy's mouth filled with guilt and sadness that he was the reason behind this.

He left his friend and clung to his father's leg.

"Dad-dad please let him go ! I swear I will study , train and do whatev-whatever you want just leave him" the boy sobbed .

"Fine-I can do that , but you should be well aware that everything comes at a price" his father said while kneeling down on the ground to reach the same level as his son. The fear was evident in the eye of the small boy . His father was a medium sized man with broad shoulders and a wide body . He was well-built and his black hairs were parted with most of the hairs on the right side and the little area left on the back . It was gelled to secure the look.

"I-I wi-ll do that" The boy said with a gulp ready to sacrifice his own life if necessary for his friend .

He was scared and could feel himself shaking. The sweats of nervousness were forming upon his forehead.

His father walked towards the other room , with every step , a beat of his heart felt like it would drop . He pulled a small boy , around the same age as them in front of Fawad...who just looked at his father for a second and then at the other child who was crying and screaming.

"Shoot him" Khalid passed the gun while removing Fawad's arms clinging on to his leg .

"Dad-"he sobbed.

"Shoot him or I will shoot Ismail-or maybe time will do it , look at him with every passing second his soul is leaving his body" Fawad looked towards his friend who was bleeding and cries at the scene .

"Shoot Fawad"

"Please don't" The kid cried, who was kidnapped from his home just today for God knows what reason.

"Shoot"

"Please don't . I beg"

"Shoot"

The voice kept surrounding the room , but the only voice he could concentrate on was the heavy breathy voice of Ismail as he was trying his best to recite the shahada one last time .

"no..no.."Fawad panicked when his gaze shifted to Ismail , whose condition looked critical.

"Dad-" he tried to plead , but Khalid pulled out another gun and shifted it to Ismail.

"Gosh-I thought he would die this time , but he's looking like a fighter. Sad that I have to shoot him-One last countdown Fawad along with your last chance " Khalid whispered dangerously. A sadistic pleasure was visible in his devilish eyes while seeing the 3 kids suffering .

He liked the power of giving someone death , just by a moment of his fingertips . It made him feel superior to everyone . How he could kill the small child at the moment of his fingers.

"One"

"Please don't" The child who was kidnapped cried . His throat felt hurt by the cries he did , but these weren't of any help.

"Two" Khalid happily said knowing that in another second , a life would be taken.

The second countdown was enough to make Fawad's feet and hands feel cold .

"Th-" before the three could be said by Khalid , Fawad cried and shot the bullet . His hands felt shaky and the bullet which was supposed to hit the head , shot him on stomach and a cry full of pain filled the room .

Khalid without caring to console his scared son , just carried Ismail towards his car to admit him to the hospital. Knowing very well that he scared his son enough to never try to make another friend for the purpose of enjoyment ever .

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??? pov

It's 5 August . The rain has been pouring down the whole city and the sweet smell of mud has surrounded the whole of Delhi , especially Okhla . I opened the window of my house to enjoy the fresh breeze and it brought a smile on my face, and a few drops of water on the floor of my house . Which I obviously don't care about , I will sweep the floor later . The rain added to a soothing effect to my heart and reduced my worries a little bit.

I hummed a soft tune , while walking towards my kitchen . I started chopping the bar of amul dark chocolate, in order to put it in the centre of the cake . Today my parents were coming to the city from the village .

I was quite worried because abbu's reports were not fine. His kidney function dropped to 25 percent and in recent days , he had been experiencing muscle cramps , vomiting , shortness in his breath and nausea . But he was avoiding all of it , for a long time , saying he will take a test for this later on . Maybe he also knew that his reports were not going to be fine and he will be needing a treatment which would cost a heavy amount of money to him .

It wouldn't have been a problem if we were rich but we are not. Abbu have a monthly income of 20,000 rs . He works as a context writer for a local newspaper. It's not like he doesn't work hard enough or that it wasn't enough for me and my family while growing up . But as I grew up and my father sent me to Delhi to study in Jamia , and rented a pg for me . The expenses of the house have been divided .

A part of me feels guilty that I shouldn't have come here .

Truth to be told , I always wanted to study in the village I was born and brought up in , but I need to search for someone my best-friend lost . On his birthday he asked me to search for 2 people in Delhi . In the name of clues , I only have their pictures . A stupid part of me who grew up watching Bollywood thought it would be easy , and I gave him my words , but with time I realised it's nowhere near easy . In fact it's very difficult.

But when I moved to the city , I started dreaming of becoming very nice and successful to support my family , but not a single plan of mine is going the way I planned .

I only keep my calm remember that it's Allah swt , who have planned all this for me and indeed Allah is the best planner. So I hope that everything turns out fine in the end .

For now , I have forcely called abbu to the city and told him that I will arrange money for his dialysis , I don't have a proper job because I have just completed my Masters in History and was planning to do a PHD . The only job I have is teaching younger kids tution and it only earns me around 10,000 rs per month.

I don't know what he will think after he knows that I don't have much money arranged for him . I have only 40,000 rupees in my savings account which would only help his dialysis for one-month only .

I felt my mood dropping so I just broke a bar of chocolate while putting it in my mind to lift my mood.

"Nevermind I will just teach tution to more kids . I charge 3000 rs from each , so I will teach 15 kids . Hardwork has never been an issue for me " I mumbled to myself and smiled slightly at my brilliant plan .

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It's 5 August. One year has passed . It was another day of regretting my stupid plan. It was way too unrealistic but my stupid self couldn't see a better idea with no degree. I never included the time in the schedule which was 2 hours for each kid and I couldn't possibly teach 15 kids for 2 hours. It would cost me 30 hours a day which I didn't have . On top of that mostly kids studied tuition from 4:00 pm onwards because in the morning they have school.

I have started to work in a departmental store from 7 in the morning to 12 pm . After an hour of rest , I rushed to my second job as a waitress in a restaurant. It is just enough for the dialysis fees . The money for food is arranged by my best friend Ismail . I can never be more thankful to him .

I am full of pride , but it's a moment I can't actually deny it directly as it's very much needed.

My brain and heart already have a lot of pressure and even though I am carrying all this , it doesn't mean it's not heavy .

My parents have shifted here completely and we were living in a single room flat with 1bhk flat . There was 1 bedroom only . The only good thing is the peace I feel due to the presence of my parents . All the tiredness goes from a warm hug from them . But-body pain doesn't.

I stared blankly at the roof of the room for 5 minutes while gathering the strength to get up and go to work. My feet and palms were aching . I felt a hand caressing my hair and I turned to the side only to find ammi.

"Is it necessary to go to work today?" She asked and I nodded slightly while hugging her .

"You are under a lot of pressure right?" She asked me softly and I shook my head.

"No ammi..it's not a lot . Moreover I feel fortunate that I could do something for abbu" I told her.

"But...you get so tired and now you have started to work in the grocery store too . Because of all this you barely get time for yourself . Don't you think you should go easy on yourself and save some of your time?" She asked worriedly.

"I don't want any time for myself . I just want time with you and abbu and I am getting it all , so why worry ?" I asked her with a smile and she hugged me tightly while pecking my hair.

"I am so fortunate to have a daughter like you" she whispered and I smiled in content while getting up from the mattress. I got the motivation I needed to start the day .

I wore my green kurta with blue jeans and slipped a similar green coloured dupatta wrapping it around my neck . After offering my fajr salah , I ate a roll which ammi made for me while heading out of my house for the start of another day .

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"Time : 13:00" I looked at my clock and realised , today I waited for a longer time . I gasped and ran on the street towards the restaurant I worked in . The good part was that it was near the grocery store I worked in , bad part was that the owner was very punctual about time and when he said in his grumpy voice 'I WiLl cUt A PaRt oF YoUR sAlaRy' , he actually did for being late .

Like scold me as much as you want , but don't cut the money at this time when I know I need it the most .

I kept running as much as I could , while my feet felt like they would fall apart any next moment.

"THIEF THIEF!!"

To be continued.......

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Assalamualaikum Everyone !

Here was the first chapter of the book . Just the start is similar with Mrs Pride Weds Mr Arrogant, but the storyline is very different . With the second chapter you will realise it . Hope you enjoyed this chapter ♡

(Date: 8 March / 2024, Tuesday)