It was past midnight and he was standing on a deserted street, the street lights were illuminating the surrounding and he could listen to a bunch of boys and a helpless cry, they all were standing in a far corner of that street, he was trying to figure out what was going on but at the distance he was standing he was unable to, but then something caught his eye; a boy who must be a teenager bent down but what made him frown was that he was dressed in a blue polo T-shirt over white pants and those branded sneakers he bought just before coming to Pakistan with his parents that year. Same clothes he was wearing that horrible night. Taking few step forwards suddenly he found himself standing in middle of the chaos, how did he get here so quickly? Just few seconds before he was standing so far away! He turned to look at the crowd around him and his frown got deepen when he saw a teenage Rayian smirking and looking at someone lying on the ground and that's when he heard a painful groan and his cousin, Murtaza's voice;

"Wali stop! you'll kill him!" was the word he said and shiver ran down his body.

He moved from behind of the young boy who was bending in front of him but with his back at him and went to stand to the opposite side he was previously standing, he abruptly stopped as he saw a boy much younger, lying down on the road, his lips busted open, a good amount of blood coming out of his mouth and his face bruised, Wali ran forward to cover the helpless child from the ruthless behavior of the another when a fist came and met his jaw and his own but much younger voice rang in his ears, "He fucking deserved it! I'll kill this waste of space! How the hell he broke the mirror of my car! Yay ghareeb ki aulad!"

Gasping for air I woke up yet again to another nightmare, my body was covered in sweat and my surrounding was still dark and the only light which was coming was from the sides of the curtains which were preventing the afternoon sunlight from filling up the room. It was past two in the afternoon and it had been just four hours that I went to bed, after Talha left with Ramzan and his family I came back to the guest house and indulge myself in different chores from confirming the hospital arrangements to calling Col. Naeem, who was Talha and Irtiza's uncle and was ready to handle Chaudhary and his pets, according to him this landlord has links to quite higher personalities and is directly in link with couple of MPAs, his own brother-in-law is an MNA so it's better that Naeem uncle, if needed to come in front, would be presenting himself as a normal civilian but if he would try to create a chaos and problem then he might involve his rank, right now we just need some evidence against him though what happened to Ramzan can be taken into measures but as Chaudhary himself wasn't in town last night we cannot prove anything but today as I had planned with Naeem uncle I'll be going to meet him myself.

I was still on the prayer mat thinking about past couple of days, last night, nightmare, a helpless child and myself when sudden banging of the main gate got me on my feet.

What in the name of God...

"Coming!" I yelled twice while rushing outside, I have done fasting without sehri a lot of time but today the heat and my headache were just acting like cherry on the top of ice-cream, bad example! Shaking my head on my shameful sense of giving examples I opened the gate only to find a lot of villagers gathered in front of my place but then a woman lunge forward grabbing my shirt into her fist she was sobbing pretty badly while speaking in her local language, I was unable to understand what was going on, where a part of me was completely terrified the other part of me was calm as if expecting something worst to happen. I was continuously trying to calm the woman while looking at the crowd for help when one of the caretakers I knew came and freed me from her grasp and explain me the whole ordeal. Chaudhary had played one of his dirty games, he proved my fear right and he was attacking the honor and dignity of his own home.

Taking the suffering mother of a thirteen year old missing girl along with the caretaker and the girl's father inside the house I somehow managed to send the rest of the people back to their places, "Behain, paraishan mut ho. Main apki beti ko lanay ka wada kerta hun." (Sister, don't worry. I promise you I'll bring your daughter back.) I said for the fiftieth time but I know for a mother whose child is missing my words are meaningless. "Bhai aap inko ghur laiker jain main abhi Chaudhary kai pass hi jaraha tha!-

(Brother, you take her back to home; I was just about to go to meet this Chaudhary--)

"Aap... aap chaudhary kai pass jarahay ho?" (You... you are going to Chaudhary?) Suddenly the caretaker nervously interrupted.

"Haan kion koi problem hai?" (Yes, why? Is there any problem?) I turned to him, this guy was never in my favorite list, "Aisa kero aap bhi chalo meray sath. (Let's do one thing, you should come with me.) I replied looking at his face which suddenly got paler.

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Sitting inside the spacious living room decorated with Allah knows what type of decoration pieces and expensive junk that it can easily work as living example of how to waste your money! I again turned to look at the caretaker whom I brought along with me or more like dragged here who was impatiently tapping his feet.

"Is everything okay Haseeb sahib?" I said looking at his face.

"Jee." He grunted and then the entrance door from the interior side opened and finally the majesty granted us with his presence and he was everything which I didn't expected, a clean shaved, tall and broad figure with quite good looks but arrogant smirk was standing in front of me dressed in usual white Kurta and Shalwar (traditional clothes).

"Wali Sahab, have heard a lot about you." He said moving his right hand forward which I reluctantly shook.

"I hope it's not all bad." I said with a slight smile which I am sure would have looked like a frown and he humorlessly laughed.

What is seriously wrong with this guy?

He looks quite an educated man but still he is such a conceited....

"No in fact my people -

"You don't own them," words slip out of my mouth before I could control myself and for a minute that smirk left his face.

"Well the fact that most proportion of this land is mine,"

"Most but not all."

"They work for me," he said leaning back on his couch.

"Yeah they do but so that you and your family can enjoy the food on those silver platters." I coldly replied, if by any chance he thinks he can scare me, Man! He was wrong.

"Mr. Ahmed it is? Well this is my land, my late brother might have allowed you for this charity work but I can't,"

"First it isn't charity, it's their right! And may I ask why? Because finally those who were deprived of their right are finally getting it? Or because the girls you wanted here for you and your sons' 'pleasure' are finally rising up for their rights? Or because the amount we give you per month as the rent isn't filling your hunger filled existence." I spitted my words, now unable to control my anger.

"I would have watch my mouth if I would be you!" He hissed, "Yai kia cheez hai Haseeb tum nay to kaha tha kay yai yahan nahi ayai ga!" he turned to the caretaker and though my doubt was confirmed and I wanted to give this Haseeb an answer to his duplicity but I gave his matter in the hands of Allah.

"Talk to me! I knew he was your pet from day one and you really thought I would have back down because of your threats? You are right I am not you and neither can you ever be me or we won't be having this useless conversation. We would rather have been working together to provide those innocent terrified kids a better future." I said more loudly than before. "You may have power and that might help you in this world but let me remind you, once He does tighten his hold on you neither any MNA nor MPA would be helping you.

"You know I was once told that we should never be proud of what our fathers, brothers or friends did rather than we should be proud of what we did but I guess you have never heard this that's why you are terrorizing these people, right? Believe me if using names and sources would have been the game? You would rather have me here for dinners and none of these conditions would have taken place but I wanted to do it on my own, I wanted to help these people as a normal civilian! I wanted to show them that they deserve a better life too. I don't understand why you are not happy? You should be proud that the girls of this area, our daughters and sisters are being educated alongside our boys! In which era are you living in? It's 21st century for Allah's sake! And you are threatening them? Your own two nieces are studying in that school and Alhamdulillah they are one of the brightest students! This mindset that girls will be married and will be handling another house hold, so what's the point of providing them good education is long gone! Even this country itself has been under a rule of female Prime Minister, if that's not an enough example then I don't know what is!

"Anyways it's useless to even talk to you! This is the last warning I am giving you Mr. Abrar Sikander-

"Chaudary Abrar Sikander!" He hissed.

"If that name matter to you so much then act like you deserve it! So now I want you to let that girl go that your men had kidnapped or believe me media would be here next hour and I am not saying this for this conversation sake, I am being pretty serious here and I am sure you don't want that because I heard some elections are supposed to take place! And secondly stop this drama you have created! Think about it, if the kids of this town would be excelling it's only going to benefit you and your people. You yourself have lived half of your life abroad and if I am not wrong your second wife is an American herself? Yeah I have done my homework so no need to get all surprised about this! So you better work with me rather against me or we are going to have some serious trouble!" I said with a satisfied smirk because the way his face is flush red from anger things were finally under control. "Well now call your men and bring the girl, the girl you have kidnapped this morning, a thirteen year old, should I tell the name too?" He looked at my face and then walked inside and I sat on that comfortable couch again.

"Wali sahib," Haseeb started and all the piled up anger inside me was ignited again.

"Save it!" I hissed without looking at his fake façade.

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The most irritating thing I am facing right now is that I am trying to sleep and Talha is watching highlights of some cricket match in the full volume and no matter how many threats I have given him it's not working! Ya Allah please give me enough patience or just turn the power off. Throwing the covers off me I got out of the room outside to the dark living room where the only source of light was the TV screen and Talha was sprawled on the couch while his eyes glued to the screen.

"How I wish I could drug you!" I mumbled sitting on one of the chair.

"C'mon we have to wake up in few hours for sehri so its better to stay awake." He shrugged.

"Dude we still have four hours, we can sleep! Because after Fajar we'll be on the road again." I said throwing the cushion at this guy who is acting like a kid.

Talha got back earlier today after doctor gave him the assurance that Ramzan is out of the maximum danger he decided to come back though I told him it was no use but he was persistent about it and now I know why, all the families have been showering us with goods from past two days and still the dining table is loaded with foods and dishes different people brought for us, as much as I stopped them and told them it's enough the more they do, the type of love these people gave can't be bought by any amount of money, the respect they have given us I guess I haven't felt it ever in my life, it's just so overwhelming, well it had been two days since I talked to that landlord, instead of media and Naeem uncle I made him talk to Rayian, Rayian is son of one of dad's old acquaintances and he is also in politics and is very well known around the area, later that day when I came back from landlord's mansion I got a call from Rayian though he still sounded like that old spoilt kid but well it turns out that like most of these politicians' kids as expected he did his studies from abroad and is now continuing his family business and politics. Rayian convinced me that he knew the man and he can handle him so the next day there was an hour conversation between the two and finally Chaudhary was off our case. Well I guess, sometime you have to take your acquaintances in count.

"Hello? Irtiza bhai?" I turned to Talha who was now standing up with his phone pressed between his ear and shoulder and a grin on his face. "What? Really? Congratulations bro! Yeah! yeah! He's right here!"

"Asalam O Alikum Irtiza?" I took the phone and heard the beaming voice of him from the other side.

"MAN! I AM A FATHER, THEY ARE TWINS! A GIRL AND A BOY! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" He was half yelling half whispering and the excitement in his voice was contagious.

"Masha Allah! Bro this calls for a party! I want a double treat as soon as I come back home!" I replied with a grin and Talha yells 'Me too'.

"Sure thing!" he replied and I could practically see him grinning, "Well gotta go dude! Call me later."

"Sure Allah Hafiz."

"Allah Hafiz." And the line goes off.

"We are chachus!" Talha lunged forward and we both laughed, well after all we finally have something good after past chaos we have been through. "Let's distribute some sweets around?" Talha suggested.

"Not a bad idea, genius!" I smiled.

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A.O.A

Well a long chapter, I have written this chapter in three days? Why? I don't even know!

Anywaysss hope you guys like it! Because finally something good after that bad wadera .-.

Don't forget to Vote and Comment!

Till the next update...

TC.

Zehra :)