15. A smart mouth

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Marwan tried to stop himself from yawning for the nth time. He watched in silence as Daiyan narrated the driver's facial features to the artist who flawlessly traced his pencil across the plain white paper that would soon have the imprint of the image in Daiyan's head.

"Marwan, ek baar ja kar dekh lo tumhare abbu ko kya kehna hai. He wouldn't be pleased with you ignoring his words."

"Was the man ever pleased by anything I did?"

He groaned as he looked at his mother with a look that clearly said how against he was of the idea. Madiha sighed inaudibly, knowing well what her husband had to discuss was anything that would interest Marwan but she also knew the consequences of ignoring Waheed's words.

"Marwan, don't be so negative. He's still your father. Jao ab, it'll take hardly 2 hours and by then, yaha bhi sab ho jayega."

"Lekin-"

He swallowed his words down as his gaze met his mother's glare. Grumbling under his breath about how his evening would go to waste and in complete ruins, he stood up with annoyed steps and looked to where his friends sat, still not done with the sketch.

"Going to meet uncle?"

Laiha's voice sounded from behind him and he turned out to give her a sullen look, hoping to find a look that might support him but instead, he was met with a neutral look that said anything but that she understood his turmoil.

"Koi kabhi toh thodi kadr kar liya karo meri."

"Kadr karne layak koi harkat toh karo."

"Is it necessary to degrade me at every chance you get?"

Marwan's exaggerated words that were coated with fake sorrow did nothing to gain Laiha's sympathy. The latter just scoffed and flicked his forehead emitting a pained whine from Marwan who swatted her hand away in annoyance.

"That's my job, mister. Ab jao jaldi, wouldn't want more drama than the one already on our plates."

Marwan could only nod at her words that were nothing but true. He knew whatever that was his father wanted to talk about would be anything but in his favor. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to ease the tension that suddenly made its way in his body and mind.

He stilled as he felt a hand being placed one his shoulder. Looking at Laiha, he found her gaze softening considerably as she gave an assuring squeeze to his shoulder.

"You've been worried enough for the past few days. Just relax yourself and take deep breaths. Itna stress tumhare liye acha nahi hai."

"So miss. Laiha does care?"

He couldn't help but tease and Laiha simply rolled her eyes at him. The two chuckled among themselves, not really sure how the tense atmosphere had lightened by a little bit.

Ziah looked away from Aliya with whom she was having light hearted conversations. The latter mostly narrated about her last 2 days at Kabir's home and how everything felt so overwhelming but so natural at the same time.

Her gaze fit itself at the laughing form of Marwan as he scrunched his nose at something that Laiha had said. No matter how many times she scolded herself from putting a blind eye on the reality that was so obvious, always roaming in front of her eyes and she didn't know why her heart always looked past that one fact.

Looking at the two she realized that they did balance one another. Keeping a check of the other when necessary. Their words were nothing but a playful banter that brought smiles on anyone's face. A tug at her heart that was not even in the slightest bit soothing made her avert her gaze. The mess that her thoughts were in kept getting harder to decipher while her emotions just felt all over the place.

"Ziah?"

The familiar voice of Aliya made her shake her head. Ziah needed to show herself a reality check before the weird strings in her heart break into pieces leaving behind a teary mess.

It was about time that she reminded herself that her stay wasn't permanent.

"I'll be leaving then. When everything is ready, give me a call."

Marwan said out loud to everyone in the room. His gaze locked with Daiyan's who nodded at his words. Looking away from his friend who resumed his description to the artist, he looked at Ziah who sat beside Aliya, a smile rested on her lips but he frowned when he caught a look of the dullness in her eyes.

Was something bothering her?

The question resounded in his head but before he could ponder more on it, Madiha took hold of his hand and walked out of the room. His mind raced with the million possibilities about what had upset her but if only he could muster up the courage to ask her without embarrassing himself a million times.

"Suno, woh jo bole chup chap sun lena, okay? Jawab dene ki zarurat nahi hai until he asks you to and please, be respectful. We wouldn't want to play with his temper when things are already this bad."

Madiha advised her son with a soft yet stern voice. Marwan stopped himself from rolling his eyes and gave a hum in response. A sigh was all he heard from his mother before he started the car to drive back home.

It was eerily silent if not for the tyre screeches once in a while. Marwan kept tapping his left foot lightly on the car's surface, a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. The last encounter with his father was definitely one hell of a memorable incident.

Unconsciously, his left hand raised slightly to touch the skin of his neck that had fully healed. In the midst of Aliya's wedding and then the accident, he had no time to take a look at his forgotten injury.

Madiha glanced at her son with a worried look. Her eyes may have been trained somewhere else but she had observed his actions that even he didn't have an idea about. His eyes looked dim, the excitement and light in them had been suppressed by the raging worry of what Waheed had to talk about and Madiha never knew she'd have to be in a situation to choose between the two most important males in her life.

Waheed may be short tempered, a little rough on the edges, but since the 31 years that they had been married, not once had he raised his hand on her nor did he ever use his words as sharp swords to attack her heart or mind. He had always been considerate of her and her wishes and she didn't know what had changed him so much when it came to their son.

The car came to a halt in front of the mansion that stood all tall and proud but only by its architecture. Marwan had a little to few memories of a happy family since he could remember.

Getting out of the car, he quickly helped his mother too and the two moved their steps to the doorway of the house that now looked worse than an exam hall.

His steps felt heavy, it felt as though his heart had shifted from his chest to his throat while sweat trickled down the back of neck but all the while, on the outside he remained cool and calm. That was all it took to deceive people, wasn't it?

An 'I don't give a penny' facade along with a mocking bored look and Marwan had always considered himself a good actor.

"Marwan, main pehle jaati hu. You come a few minutes later, hmm?"

Madiha placed a hand on her son's biceps that felt too tense to be considered normal. Brown eyes identical to the autumn tree trunk met hers as Marwan gave her a small smile and a nod.

The commando watched as his mother walked inside the awfully quiet mansion. His mind raced with the worst of outcomes that might come from this upcoming conversation while a part of him replayed his last encounter with his father.

Should he apologize?

Was one thought that remained a constant. No matter what Waheed had said that day, a part of Marwan knew all his intentions behind it were care, even if it was the size of less than a fil. Towards the end, the reaction that he received from Waheed was majority his fault since he did use a few unacceptable ways to address the relation between his parents.

And one thing that Marwan knew was that his father was possessive of the bond between him and Madiha.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he took deep breaths and rubbed his slightly aching temples. He looked at his wrist watch and couldn't help but sigh when he realized that he should now step in too.

Not looking back, he took steps towards the living room from where he could hear the hushed conversations between Madiha and Waheed. Their words were unclear and Marwan had no intentions to eavesdrop hence, he cleared his throat loudly when he was in their presence.

"Assalamu alaikum."

His greeting was met with a sharp look from his father along with a salam in return. Waheed assessed his son from head to toe, a look that seemed indecipherable to Marwan crossed his eyes for a second before the same icy look frosted his father's eyes once more.

"Marwan, aao baitho yaha. Baat karni hai kuch."

Waheed motioned to the couch as he took a seat at the one beside it. Madiha's anxious eyes darted between the son and father duo before settling beside her husband- on the other side of where he had asked Marwan to sit.

Marwan bit his tongue to not say anything sarcastic and quietly took a seat where Waheed had asked him to. A second or two of silence passed over the three before Waheed cleared his throat.

"You have served the army for 3 to 4 years now. I think it's about time you leave the borders and focus on your family business."

Not again.

Marwan stopped himself from groaning out loud, knowing very well where this conversation was heading. Waheed's hard gaze didn't waver from him even once as he continued what he had to say.

"Abbu-"

"Listen to me. The army would forget you after you've fulfilled what they wanted you to. Your blood is the one that would be spilled at the needed circumstance and all they would have to offer is a few fake tears and words of utter nonsense that they call sympathy. I am not risking my lineage just because you were foolish enough to not see through the world's sharp claws that are waiting for the right time to tear you apart. Marwan, I don't care if you're interested in leading my company or not, you'll resign from your position and take over as the new CEO within a month of time or else-"

Waheed's hard glare met his son's. Marwan gritted his teeth as his hopes for one normal conversation were crushed and all his father had to worry about was his company.

"Or else what?"

His question held an edge to it, one that his parents recognized within seconds. Madiha was quick to place a hand over Waheed's shoulder in hopes to stop whatever havoc it was that was about to come.

"Or else I'd be forced to mend things my way."

The warning did nothing to ease the tension that flowed through the air. The air suddenly felt more solid than gaseous as Marwan felt his insides getting suffocated by every passing second that he spent breathing.

"Abbu, do you really have such a low impression of your own country's battalion that serves day and night to keep you safe or have you rehearsed it all to gain favor from my side?"

His mocking tone had not met with its effect since Waheed had his temper reigned in and all because Madiha had a firm yet assuring hold on his shoulder.

"A smart mouth like always. Shabd se zyada agar dimaag tez rakha hota then maybe, just maybe you'd have seen what favored you the most."

Getting up from the couch, Waheed dusted his crisp shirt a few times. The hard lines on his face didn't ease as he gave his son one last look.

"I am serious this time, Marwan. One month is all you have to set your mind. Either you come on your own or I'd have to do it my way."

With that, the older Qureshi walked away, leaving behind a silently fuming Marwan and a highly worried looking Madiha.

Why did these conversations always turn out to be a mess?

"Marwan-"

"I'll just go and check on the others. Ab tak toh sab ho bhi gaya ho ga."

Marwan didn't want to listen to anything else as he walked past Madiha and towards his car. Getting into the car, his hands fisted on the wheel with a grip like never before. His knuckles turned white as he took deep breaths to stop the raging emotions that were nothing but destructive from surfacing. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back on the seat, his tense muscles didn't ease even by the slightest bit and he knew it would take a good amount of time to bring down his thoughts.

He felt his phone vibrating in his pant's pocket. Having an idea of what it might be about, he looked at the caller id that read Aliya's name. Picking it up, he only hummed in acknowledgement, his eyes were still closed as he took deep breaths and mentally counted from 1 to 10.

"Marwan, if you're done there, then hurry back to the hospital. The sketch is complete."

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Waheed being the rude guy all over again...*shakes my head in disappointment*

Ahuh, the sketch is done. Problems are to come and wait, are any confessions due or is it all going to be a hidden secret?!

And humari Ziah seems to be hurting. Koi toh usko batao ki what's going on in our Marwan miya's heart....

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