Ignored Innocent Heart novel Chapter 19

Hana’s university started and it was really hectic for her. All of her time was taken by the university and when she comes home, it is usually 6pm to 7pm by then. Hana goes straight to her room and works her university assignments and usually has to stay awake most of the nights. Because of Zamid’s marriage, there were lots of guests in the house and everyone was very busy with the preparations. Hana’s health started to get really bad. The family was also noting this! She was getting thinner and thinner and it was becoming so noticeable that Rayaan actually asked about her health at the dinner table when she was not at the table for dinner once again. It has been 7 days straight in a row.

“Anni Hiba! What’s wrong with hana? She is getting so weaker and I can see constant dark circles under her eyes! I have noticed that she remains up most of the nights! Is her university this much burdening?” Rayaan asked worriedly. He was getting extremely worried for her.

“Her university is not very burdening! It’s probably her laptop that she uses for so long! Stop that girl from overusing her phone and laptop! That girl is getting really irresponsible!” Dadi jaan replied instead to Rayaan and then lectured her daughter-in-law.

“Even I think that we should keep a check on her! Baba, Ap us k phone or laptop ko check kiya karain! Pata nhi kiya krti hai sara din! Mjhay to shak sa honay lag gaya hai us ki harkato pr! (Baba, you should check her from time to time! I don’t know what she does all the time in her room! I am starting to get suspicious of her habits now a days!” Zamid said this to his father. Asfand just listened to the conversation without paying much attention. He was just worried about his daughter’s health.

“Acha abhi khana khao sab! Kal subah sab nay wesay bhi jaldi uthna h! 11am bajay kazi sahib nikkah k liye aa jain gay! (Okay everyone, finish your food! Everyone has to be up very early for tomorrow! The Qazi is going to be here at around 11am!)” Rayaan’s mother said to divert everyone’s attention from hana.

Then again, it is a big day for everyone as tomorrow is Zamid’s Nikkah and at night, there is gonna be a small function in the villa. In this function, all the girls and ladies are going to gather in the Shah Villa and get their mehndi done. The ladies from the Bride’s side are also going to be there. Even the bride herself! The day after tomorrow is the actual mehndi function.

Everyone went back to their food and a lively chatter filled the dining table. The cousins had decided to go for an outing as this was going to be Zamid’s last day as a single man. They decided to go for a long ride. Zayn went to bring hana along. He went to her room and knocked on her door. There was no response so he knocked one more time. When there was no reply on the 3rd knock, he turned the knob and went in.

He saw Hana, sitting in Indian style and face down on the bed. Her fingers were on the keypad of her open laptop. Her screen was still turned on. Zayn just shook his head and went towards her bed to turn her laptop off. He took her laptop and mobile from the bed and put them on the study table in her room. Zayn saw that hana was making something on her laptop. It looked like some sort of a t-shirt design. He thought that it was her university work so he just put the lid of the laptop down and went to hana’s bed and adjusted her in a proper way on the bed. He freed hana’s hair from their bun and put the covers on her. Zayn went out after turning the lights off.

The cousins went without hana and no one even bothered to ask about her. Zayn was now feeling for hana that how much she must be hurting with all this ignorance. He now started to understand hana and her need to stay in her room all the time. It must be lonely for her. He thought that he will give hana all of his attention so that it can make up for all the missing times.

……

The morning came and everyone was up for Fajr Namaz. They offered the prayer and went to do some last minute preparations. The breakfast was getting ready by the females and some cooks. Hana was not down with them this time. When it stuck 8am, hana came running down the stairs in her abaya and bag on her back. Hana saw that everyone was at the dining table so she slowed her pace and made her way to the table. She greeted everyone and took an empty seat beside Zamid. Zayn was on the other side of Zamid.

“Where are you going?” Zayn asked while gesturing towards her abaya.

“University main files submit krwani hain! Home assignment hai! Main file copy krwatay hi wapis aa jaon gi! (I have to submit some files at university! It’s my home assignment! I’ll be back after submitting them!)” Hana replied softly with her head down. Zayn just nodded his head and went back to food. Hana was not eating anything. She only put some juice in her glass and drank it with small sips. Zamid saw this but did not say anything. He thought that she will take something after drinking. When hana finished the juice, she started to stand up from her seat. Zamid saw this and took a hold of her hand. He pushed hana back in her seat. Hana gasped with the sudden pull and looked at Zamid in a questioning way. Zamid remained silent and did not even bother to look at hana. He just put four slices of bread in hana’s plate and put a fried egg on her plate.

“HUH?” Hana questioned with a small sound of confusion.

“Eat it and then you can leave!” Zamid ordered, still, without looking at her. Hana was not in the mood of food so she just looked at her father with a pout who was already looking at them. There was an unknown emotion in Asfand’s eyes that hana was not able to interpret. It looked like he was tearing but before hana could confirm these tears, Asfand turned his face towards his wife.

“Zamid beta, ye jam hana ko pakrhana zara! (Zamid dear, pass this jam to hana!) She does not like eggs!” Asfand gestured towards the jar of jam that was in front of Zamid. Zamid nodded and took the egg from her plate and put it in his plate and gave the jar of jam to hana. Hana took it reluctantly and spread a large amount of it on one of the bread slices. Hana started to munch on the slice slowly.

“I can’t eat anymore bhai jaan!” Hana whispered to Zamid. Zamid just glared at her and pointed towards the slices. Hana got scared with the glare and turned her face back to the food in front of her. She quickly finished her food and stood up from her seat.

“Allah Hafiz!” Hana greeted everyone and took her bag from the floor and went out of the Villa where one of the drivers was waiting for hana.

Hana went to university and all of the people in the shah family started to get ready and prepare the things that are needed to be done. By the time Qazi sahib was here, hana was still not there. Zayn called hana to know about her return but she said that she will be a little late so they decided to start the nikkah. When the nikkah was going to start, hana entered the villa from the main door. The nikkah was taking place in the living room that was the first room when you enter the villa. All the men of the house were gathered there with the groom. The Qazi and Zamid were sitting on the sofa and the others standing around them. Zayn was taking pictures with his cell phone.

When hana entered, Zayn dragged her to stand with him because she was covered from head to toe in her abaya. All the ladies were upstairs but they were also looking down from the stairs. The females were gathered on the top of the stairs so they can also witness the nikkah. They were not coming down because they were wearing traditional clothes and were not wearing any dupattas on their heads. You are not supposed to show your hair to the non-mehrams. They don’t bother to cover their heads when they are with their family members because they are very close with each other but when they go out, all the females cover their heads with hijabs. The female cousins don’t wear abayas but they wear very appropriate clothing. The clothing is modern but modest too. Only hana wears abaya in her cousins group which makes her a little paindu as all the others call her that. But hana feels proud with her abaya so she never bothers with their paindu comments.

“Main zyada khush hoon is liye zyada khilao ga! (I am more happy that is why I’ll feed you more!)” Daniyal said while trying to give reason for his action.

“Oh acha phir theek hai! (Oh okay then it’s alright!)” Hana was a little dumb when it comes to common sense so she just nodded and ate the second piece too. Daniyal pointed at others too and they got the idea so everyone came forward and fed the mithai and stared to feed it to hana. Not even once had she stopped them from feeding her the mithai. They were becoming amused with it and also a little astonished that she never said anything.

“I think I found the sugar thief Dadi jaan!” Zarmeena jokingly said to which hana started chocking and coughing on the piece of mithai. Everyone looked at hana and Zamid patted her back with a small smirk on his face. Everyone started laughing at this and Asfand asked hana about it in a serious way.

“Is it true hana? Were you the one to eat all the sugar?” Asfand asked seriously but he was highly amused by it. He tried to cover it and maintained his poker face.

“Sorry?” Hana said more in a questioning way. She had a big blush on her cheeks. She was extremely embarrassed so hana kept her gaze on her lap.

“Tmhay meethi chizain itni passand hai? (You like sweets this much?!)” Rayaan asked hana with a small smile on her face. Hana kept her face down and just nodded her head.

“Itni meethi chizain achi nhi hoti! Pata hai na? (So much sweets are not good for you! You know that, right?)” Rayaan said this to hana in a soft voice. Hana again just nodded with her face still down.

“Acha koi baat nhi bae! Ab nhi itni khaye gi meethi chizain! Hena Hana? (Okay let it be! She won’t eat much sweets from now on! Right hana?!)” Rayaan and Daniyal’s mother said trying to protect her from getting scolded from the others. She always had a soft spot for hana.

“I’ll try!” Hana said in a very small voice. No one said anything and they kept on feeding mithai to hana instead of Zamid. Hana happily ate all of it. When Rayaan fed her, he fed 3 pieces of mithais to hana. He did it for hana because she loves sweets and also because he was extremely happy for Zamid.

When everyone was done with feeding the mithai, they went to the lawn and took some pictures with all the family members. Hana was the photographer, unfortunately, but Zayn did manage to bring hana in some of the pictures. After the photo-session, they went to dining room and eat the lunch. After that, they got busy in the preparations of tonight’s gathering. Hana went to her room and changed her abaya and came back and helped all the others in kitchen and also in the cleaning of the house.