MEIN - (Ary Digital) Wahaj Ali, Ayeza Khan #6 - Page 104

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Is anyone watching Queen of Tears?

Are there parallels between this and Mein?

Is the styling critique correct or too nit picky?

https://x.com/qirmeziO/status/1772206434496688563?s=20

https://x.com/sueme_idontcare/status/1772202346505728250?s=20

Haven't watched it  but Ayeza's own Maya in Tou Dil ka kya hua and Sarah Khan's Miraal were better versions of  MJ 

For Ayeza- Wahaj fans

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Originally posted by: Ashley.Tisdale

Summary: The aftermath of the show, the thoughts of six individuals on everything that transpired...the good, the bad and the ugly...how they are each picking up the pieces and cleaning up the mess created by others.

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Please tag anyone I've missed out!

Okay I gotta say this was the TOUGHEST thing I have written because I had to write SIX different viewpoints in one OS  

The biggest challenge is obviously I see them all as grey so to maintain that is quite a task.

I have managed to cover six characters except Ayra because she never really repented any of her wrongdoings. 

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What If ?

Kashmala

The woman in her was thumping her on the back for taking such a difficult stance. Her mother must be smiling down at her from the heavens. The feminist bloggers and newspapers were congratulating her for being an inspiration to women across the country.

None of that mattered to her.

She subconsciously touched the growing bump on her belly, the only sign of life in her, staring at nothing in particular. Her eyes, which sparkled like the brightest of stars, were now dead. Her cheeks, which would normally be adorned by the reddest of blushes by her husband’s compliments, were void of any colour.

She was blaming her father for everything that transpired in the last 72 hours. However, she very-well knew how all of this started. Because of her wish to marry the man of her dreams. Had she not pressurised her father, then seven lives would have not been ruined.

She was the source of it all.

Kashmala gripped her ticket in her hand upon hearing the flight announcement. Very slowly, she walked towards the terminal. Some people said moving across continents would do her good. A fresh start, a new life.

But in her heart, she knew leaving would not really solve anything. After all, how could she undo the pain the rest of her family and ex-in-laws were going through?

Most importantly, how was she to unlove the man who had stolen her heart years ago…while turning out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Jaffar

The house had always been quiet after the matriarch of the house left years ago. He was used to the silence. What he was not used to was the emptiness.

It was not due to the lack of people. The large mansion had never been inhabited by too many – it had been Mubashira, Rayaan and himself for a long time. Later Kashmala moved in and Mubashira moved out. And there was also that span of two years when Mubashira had been married to Mohib, making them four in the house.

However today, he could hear his daughter’s heart breaking every single second. She wandered around the house, a shell of her former self. He saw her struggle to be as normal as she could whenever he was in the room, even though the word “normal” had lost its meaning for them.

He prayed every single second for an indication, some sort of guidance, that could help him in this situation. Bring a smile to his daughter’s face. Alas, it seemed there were times when everyone needed to face the consequences of their actions.

Jaffar’s eyes fell on the photograph he got framed for his room. A giant portrait of him sitting on a huge throne-like chair with Mubashira on his right, all winged liner and red lips, and Rayaan on his left, his eyes glinting with mischief. All three in black attires.

Another pang of regret spread through Jaffar’s body as he glanced at the people in the picture. Mubashira, his daughter and pride, standing majestically with a hint of a smile adorning her lips. Her eyes screamed with confidence and strength. Rayaan, on the other hand, looked smug as always, his hair falling in light waves and green eyes piercing through the frame.

Jaffar smiled melancholically remembering the number of times he would reprimand his son for not choosing a more traditional, shorter hairstyle. And everytime Rayaan would bring up the same point (“this looks great on me, baba”) and Jaffar would give up the minute his son would give him an innocent stare because it always felt like he was looking in a mirror. That was when Mubashira would always pick up a fight, arguing that she got her mother’s eyes, which is why she now owned a huge collection of contact lenses.

All of this felt like a lifetime ago.

A new set of thoughts invaded Jaffar’s mind. Was Rayaan okay? Had he eaten anything? His son had always slept on a memory foam mattress covered with Egyptian Cotton bedding with a thread count of 600. What were his sleeping conditions now? 

And…would any of them ever get to meet Rayaan’s child?

Jaffar could not stop the tears flowing down his cheeks. If only he had been a better father. If only he had focussed on treating both his children equally. Better parenting would have never made Mubashira a narcissist and Rayaan so diabolical.

But that was all he could do now. Wallow in his thoughts and pray for change.

Asif

Asif Shahwani had never been jealous of anyone. He had everything he could have asked for. A respectful, duteous son, a compassionate, somewhat naive daughter, a business empire that transcended boundaries and made him one of the most powerful men in his country.

But today, Asif was jealous of Jaffar. At least Jaffar had one of his children. Mubashira would gradually heal, work on whatever issues she had always had. She was young and beautiful so finding love again was not unlikely for her. She still had a shot at a happy ending at some point in her life.

What was he left with?

The walls were mocking him. The furniture was gossiping about his downfall. The business world had been waiting for the day Asif Shahwani would fall flat on his face.

And it had finally happened.

Oh what he would do to bring his children back home. Have Kashmala’s child-like innocence spread in the house. Zaid’s all quiet and broody persona until it came to teasing his little sister, those usually ended with Kashmala playfully punching her brother and then all of them sitting in the study with mugs of comfort hot chocolate, a recipe Asif had mastered after his wife’s death.

There were too many things he would have done differently. He would not manipulate Zaid into marrying Mubashira. He would not give in to Kashmala’s demand to marry Rayaan unless he was sure the boy loved his princess. Maybe he would even agree to Zaid and Ayra’s relationship, even though Asif was dead sure it would not work in the long-term.

But even after all the damage, the one thing he would surely have done is get Rayaan arrested the minute a frazzled Ayra came running out of her room and screamed bloody murder.

Maybe then, he would still have his family with him.

The silence was deafening, except the occasional sounds of the househelps working. He glanced at the group of individuals wearing identical black pants and white shirt, doing their morning routine of cleaning every bedroom. A depressing chortle escaped his mouth. What was the point? There was only one bedroom in use now.

That was what his life had come to. And he could not see any light at the end of the tunnel. He had accepted the fact that there was no end. Only pitch black darkness, the kind a black hole creates when it ends galaxies.

Rayaan

Everyday he woke up with a start after barely sleeping for two hours, hoping all of this would turn out to be the worst nightmare one could imagine. But that would be too good to be true. His eyes watered at the odor in his cell and he crouched further in the corner, placing his head against the cool wall, the only momentary relief he had.

He had caught his reflection in a mirror a couple of days ago and nearly broke down at what he saw. Greasy tangled hair, rough from the shampoo he was provided. Pale skin, seemingly at the verge of breaking out because of all the stress he was undergoing. He had definitely lost a lot of weight since he barely ate anything except two bites of roti and a couple spoonfuls of watered down dal.

Rayaan Jaffar had always taken pride in himself, his appearance. At a young age, he knew the effect he had on the female population. There were times when he would do something as small as running his fingers through his hair or flirt with his eyes which sent the girls into a frenzy.

He had never struggled to find a significant other. Well…to be honest, he had never been invested enough to call something that. Commitment had never been his forte. He did not care if it went on for a day or a week, because once he was bored there was always another to take the former’s place. It never bothered him to see his exes distraught after every “break up”. 

No matter how badly it ended, he had always walked scot-free, moving on to the next in line. Until his father decided to tie him down permanently. A marriage of convenience, an alliance to showcase power. That did not stop his philandering ways though. Kashmala had no idea about his whereabouts most of the time and his silver tongue had always helped him lie and manipulate naturally through his teeth.

So why did he choose to fulfill his own ego by committing such a crime within the household?

Rayaan buried his face in his palms, trying to mentally erase the memory of what he did on that fateful day. A few triggering words from Ayra and he had spiraled. His ego wanted to ruin her completely in front of the world. 

But at what freaking cost?

A lifetime in prison and no way to get out. Every bail application had been rejected. His father’s attempts had failed because of Asif Shahwani. His former father-in-law was only doing this because Kashmala broke all ties and walked out on him. So keeping the criminal locked up was Asif’s way of atoning for his sins.

Rayaan’s life flashed before his eyes. His father’s neglect and favouritism, Mubashira’s temper tantrums and mental illness, the loneliness inside him once his mother left the house, the times he got into a physical altercation with his sister, when he unwillingly wrote off his shares…

Rayaan had never understood the concept of family, but there was no one in the world he missed more than Jaffar and Mubashira. Dysfunctional as they were, there was still some twisted form of love between them. Hell, he also had Kashmala’s love…

A strange tightness spread throughout him at the thought of his ex-wife. Moreover, when it hit him that he might never see his child. The child he would have definitely given all the love in the world and been the best father to. Just because he had never experienced it, it did not mean he could not love his child. It was an emotion that would have risen from his heart for his blood.

Crying was second nature to him these days. His perfect life had been destroyed with his own hands. He knew he needed help but chose to sin constantly instead of trying to get better.

He kicked himself mentally. He could have rejected Kashmala’s proposal. He could have moved out of the country to start fresh. Work at his company’s foreign office. Built a new life there away from all the chaos. Learn to fix his problems instead of creating a false reality where he was “perfect”. And maybe…just maybe then…find the one thing he thought was overrated in this world. Love.

It was all pointless now. The only thing that was permanent would be the “What If” thoughts that invaded and battled in his brain every day. He knew his destiny and was too tired to fight it off.

Zaid

The papers in front of him were awaiting his signature. One word in ink and this would all be over. Mubashira would become a Jaffar again. A few days later he was certain he would receive a similar document from Ayra, and she would take her old name back. 

And he…he would still be Zaid Shahwani. Cut off from his father for the rest of his life with no clarity on if the future had any happiness to offer to him. 

His mind wandered to Ayra. They had barely spoken to each other in college until they were part of the same group project. After that, there was no separating them. Sure there were times when he would realise how different they are. Ayra was not so openly affectionate. There were definitely times when he did not feel she was prioritising their relationship.

He chose to fight tooth and nail to make it work because he knew the love was there, from both of their sides.

However today he could just think of how his entire world had spiralled in the last one week.

He wished he could have addressed the entire Rayaan situation with Ayra before he left for Turkey with Mubashira. Maybe then none of this would have transpired. He could have convinced Ayra to go stay with her sister-in-law if he felt it were necessary, for his sanity if nothing else. 

It was not that he did not trust Ayra. Of course he did, but given the delicate situation he needed to be careful. Zaid knew Kashmala had been falling sick constantly during her pregnancy and he did not want to be the reason for anything to go wrong there. Also Rayaan was his brother-in-law. There was too much at stake if he chose to act without proof. 

Had he confronted Rayaan earlier, there was always the possibility that Kashmala would choose the divorce option much earlier, even though that was something he doubted. His sister was blinded in love and as much as it hurts for him to even think of this, she never saw the red flags even when they were paraded around her.

Oh why had he agreed to Kashmala wanting to marry Rayaan? He knew his nonchalant and dismissive attitude was counted as a “yes”. Instead he could have knocked some sense into her head. Rayaan’s past was not well known to him, however he had an idea how ugly things had gotten.

Zaid wanted to scream in frustration. At his father for all the wrong decisions he took. At Kashmala for starting this battle in the first place. At Rayaan for wooing his sister (even if it did not mean anything to him). 

At Mubashira…no. Nope.

Not the least.

He had grown up with the Jaffar siblings. He was witness to how their mother's leaving had impacted the lives of both children. Rayaan grew to become detached and emotionally unavailable. A part of Zaid knew the younger Jaffar had developed a fear towards love and commitment. While the elder child…Mubashira was really something.

She had turned into a beautiful, strong woman who had every man she crossed on their knees. The number of suitors flurrying around her during their teen and college years were far too many. Everywhere she went, she broke hearts. Not intentionally; Mubashira had never led anyone on. She knew what she wanted and never looked at love frivolously. But of course that meant heartbreak for her admirers.

Zaid had been one of those many admirers. And when he tried to confess this, Mubashira thought he was joking. It was his fault really, the amount of hesitation in his voice would have made any girl think the same way.

He made sure not to repeat that mistake when it came to Ayra.

It was Mubashira’s rejection that turned him bitter towards her. He chose to count all her negative attributes so that he would steer clear of her. Clearly, there were things that were not her fault – like being born into a rich family and getting dotted on by her father. But he did not need to be rational about all that.

Zaid introspected about the kind of husband he had been to Mubashira. She had said he had been extremely fair to both his wives. However he knew that was a load of bull, most likely a lie so that she could be the one divorcing him.

He let her take the win for this one.

He had been the worst to his first wife. He had agreed to marry her. The entire pre-wedding manipulation was done by his father. If anything, she had been a victim of circumstances just like him. Neither of them had chosen each other.

So why had he treated her like that? Simple, Zaid did not have it in him to stand up to Asif.

The frustration moved up a few notches higher. Why did he need to be slapped in the face with such a traumatic event for him to finally start taking action? Hold the correct person accountable? He would probably never love Mubashira but had he chosen to fight directly with his father while treating her with at least some respect.

He was now aware of the games Mubashira had played. Still in his heart, he could not bring himself to blame her. After all, she was a woman who was trying to save her marriage. And Ayra was no saint after marrying Zaid. He found out about the fake wife she hired and other shenanigans from a few househelps the day after Rayaan got arrested. Apparently she also sat on the head chair of their dining table during breakfast…and unsurprisingly, she never said a word to him about any of this.

Zaid could imagine the emotions Mubashira must have gone through – sharing her husband, giving up her bedroom, hosting the Walima, losing the project to Fakhar group (he was certain she pulled some strings to bring it back to them though). If he had to do the same, it would probably kill him.

Mubashira Jaffar had never compromised even the least with anyone but she put her self respect and image on the line so that she could prove a point to her ex-husband…and the world. It had gone to such an extent that when he found a bottle of heavy prescribed sleep medications after she moved out, the guilt took over every other emotion in his body. He was aware of her mental health that had been deeply impacted after her mother left even though Jaffar never shared the details with anyone. But the fact that she was on such medications because of his actions was a severe punch in the gut.

He knew the line between games and genuinity had blurred for her a long time ago. Her confession was only a verbal confirmation.

But no matter what, he could not bring himself to love her. A few years ago, absolutely yes. Just not anymore.

Unless…

Zaid let himself indulge in one last daydream. Mubashira and him working out through their differences and coming to an understanding. Both of them had past baggage that they could work on clearing together. Them taking over the business world and finally deciding on starting a family. Maybe two kids…a girl as pretty as her mother and a boy as smart as his father.

It was a good thought, even though it would never come true.

Mubashira

Another day of food tasting like cardboard. She forced herself to drink some water to swallow it. Her black coffee felt watered down even though it was not. She pushed around the food in her plate for a couple of minutes, hoping the action would add some flavour. She gave up and wandered to the poolside, perching on the edge and dipping her legs in the cool water.

Mubashira knew her taste buds malfunctioned due to only one emotion: love.

She laughed at the sardonicism of the situation. Years ago when Zaid had proposed when they were dancing in the moonlight surrounded by snowfall, she thought he was joking. After all, he never really said the words. She had grown up with him and only felt platonically which was no crime.

LOVE.

There was only one person Mubashira had loved in this world. The one she would prioritise over anything and anyone else. That was herself. Mubashira’s biggest love was Mubashira and she took pride in the fact that she followed self love.

Although, somewhere in her teen years, self love had transitioned into narcissism. She could recall every incident where she would demand everyone around her treat her as the most important thing in their life. There were times when Rayaan needed Jaffar more than her, but she still managed to make it about her.

Karma can really kick your rear when you least expect it to.

Mubashira knew she had not been the best daughter, sister or wife (to Mohib). She felt repulsed by the way she treated her first husband even though he turned out to be a total fraud. In her defence she had suggested they date for a little longer so that they get to know each other completely before tying the knot. It was a smart decision, given Rayaan was not the only Jaffar child scared of marriage and commitment. She too wanted to get it right.

All her actions, obdurations and egotism had brought her to this day. When she loved her man more than anything in the world but he would never feel the same way for her.

Oh why had Jaffar asked her to return from America all those years ago? She was happy, away from all the mess. Mental health was considered extremely important there and she had made a lot of progress attending meetings, sessions with a therapist and joining groups. The American way of life had suited her perfectly. She was not being pressurised by society over there. Her life decisions were her own. She had been working remotely for her father’s company and the flexible working hours allowed her to focus on her mental health more than anything else.

Perhaps it was time to go back. The sunny California valley was calling her…

It struck her in that moment how Jaffar had actually coerced both his children to get married. First Mubashira with Mohib, then Rayaan with Kashmala. And she knew very well how the story went both times.

Could she have prevented all of this? Yes. She could have not set an ultimatum that she was to get married before Rayaan. But even if he did tie the knot before her…what was so wrong in that?

Why had she always hated her brother so much? He was younger than her and they always got along as children. Her narcissism had really blinded her into pushing away her immediate family. And that was why verbal spats had turned into physical altercations.

Another stab of regret in Mubashira’s chest. Hating her own brother. That was an all time low.

Perhaps…

Had she chosen to be the responsible older sibling none of this would have happened. She would continue to get her medical help, Rayaan would not turn into such a mess, Jaffar would not have to choose between his children. Had Rayaan and her gotten along, they both could have moved to the States. Living happy lives, been independent and find suitable life partners eventually.

At least she would not have to go through the humiliation she felt in her second marriage. By now she knew all of this had transpired in her life because of how she treated others. So she had made peace with all of it.

Except the twisted part of the storyline where she fell in love with Zaid.

Mubashira honestly did not know when it happened. One moment she was focussed on scheming to get Zaid all to herself. The next thing she knew she stared at him all night when he was asleep and her heart was no longer hers. Somewhere in those eight hours a switch flipped inside her and her world changed. The focal point of her universe was now Zaid.

She admitted she had resorted to dirty games to keep him all to herself. Because well, she was not going to change overnight, would she. But she had still lost him. Had she just had the guts to overcome her fear of divorce and admitted to Zaid she knew Rayaan was responsible but she did not have the proof…maybe things would have been different.

Despite all of this, Mubashira knew somewhere that she was fighting a lost battle and eventually would have to give Zaid up. It should have not happened the way it did, but it was inevitable. He loved Ayra, she loved him. The math did not add up.

Oh well…she needed to get out of the country.

Mubashira went to look for her father, to let him know she had decided to return to America once she was officially divorced. Again. She tried to ignore the two-time-divorcee label as much as she could since she and Zaid were more like roommates.

In the end, this was the first battle she had lost. The clash of egos, the war between two dynasties had officially ended with more casualties than she would have imagined. Everyone had dropped their weapons and were focussed on the aftermath of bringing back stability in their lives. 

And that was something she would do too.

I havent watched this show so I have no idea about the characters except their names, but I had to read this since it was written by you. You always amaze me with your writing!

 Mein hu idhar mein ke liye

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