Since she was a child, she always found her father fighting with and hitting her mother. He was a short-tempered and impulsive man who always wanted things to be in his way. He loved to control everything and Ayesha was already a meek woman so she easily gave him the upper hand to treat her however he wanted. Khalid got married to Ayesha forcefully and then part of the reason for his disinterest in her was she couldn't give him an heir.

  Ajwa just had an older sister, Javeria. She was also a mirror image of her mother; weak, having a tongue but didn't want to use it, and naive. On the other hand, the same conditions made Ajwa hard like a rock. Nothing affected her. In childhood, she always got hit and scolded by her father but now she became paranoid about it. Khalid often used to call her loose mouth. She sometimes even stood up in front of him as well. She spoke anything without any trepidation. She didn't fear.

  For her same loud mouth, she bear her father's slaps and angst more than Javaria who listened to him without any further question.

  The same happened now as well when she held him from slapping her mother.

  "What are you doing, Baba?" She questioned, crystal brown eyes so audacious and stern.

  How beautiful was that word? A sense of love, protection, and regard should elicit in someone's heart by the person to whom they referred it. She always found her friends feeling the same for the first man whom they ever fall in love with in their life. But for Ajwa, it was like a curse. She hated to call him this respectfully. When other girls honored their fathers, she despised her own because he was a monster to her.

  She herself saw her mother's bruise state due to him when she was younger. He used to come back every night drunk and then shrieks, screams, and cries were heard from his room. That was her mother. Ajwa knew it but Javaria also consoled her by saying she was having a nightmare. She even got hit by him first time when she was five years old only for wanting candy. She found him humiliating her elder sister in every nook. But the most important one was he cheated on her mother.

  "Go away!" He growled and pushed her harshly aside. This caused Ajwa to waver balance and she fell on the floor.

  "Ajwa don't do this. Go to your room," Ayesha cried out. She didn't want her daughter to fall prey to that devil she called her husband.

  Khalid again hurried after his wife but Ajwa was more quickly. She again stood up and came between her parents.

  "Is there any problem without with the meal? I prepared the gravy, Baba. And I deliberately put the salt less because you already have blood pressure issues. The doctor has strictly prohibited you from using excess salt. Don't you remember?" She quickly took the blame on herself. She knew her father was just beating around the bush and excusing her mother only because his hand was itching to slap someone.

  Khalid clenched his jaw. "Shut up! Covering your mother, huh?"

  "Ajwa!" Her mother again screamed but she didn't hear.

  "No. I am not doing this. But you are doing this just to humiliate---" She didn't get to complete her sentence as a harsh slap landed across her face from none other than her Baba. It was so strong that her teeth rattled. Tears formed in her eyes due to pain but she held them.

  "What a good brought up you are doing of your daughters? Teaching them to stand against their father. Wow, Ayesha Begum!" Khalid smirked and then as perhaps his desire to hit someone also died, he didn't attack his wife after that.

  He kicked on the chair. "Didn't even let me eat in peace. Ungrateful women!" He left the house after that.

  "At least have a meal." Ayesha ran after him but he was long gone.

  After that, she again approached her but was stunned to find Ajwa sitting on her father's seat and munching the food from his plate. She looked nothing like someone who was been scolded and slapped. Yet, the redness and imprints of big fingers on her right cheek were telling many things.

  "Ajwa, what did you do? You angered your father," Ayesha confronted her.

  She looked up from the plate. "He was acting awfully with you. I couldn't see that."

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  "I am his wife. It's his right. Who are you to intervene between us?" Ayesha asserted.

  Ajwa's eyes widened. She couldn't believe it. Her mother was so adapted to this abuse that it was normal for her. "Right? Mama, humiliating and hitting someone is none's right. He was being rude to you for no reason."

  Ayesha touched her cheek where she was being slapped. "Ajwa, why do you do this, beta? Why did you provoke your father? He will kill you one day. Just listen to what he says as Javaria does. You shouldn't speak like this in front of a man. He is more powerful than a woman and he can do anything to you."

  Her jaw clenched in anger. Men! She hated this specie. They thought of women as low. For them, women were any animals who just should obey them and fulfill their necessities.

  Ajwa licked her fingers before regarding her mother with remorse before walking back into her room. She was like this; so reckless and impulsive in the eyes of others. But in reality, she was the emotional person who got hurt by all of this. Yet she didn't want anyone to misuse her and her weakness. That was the reason she became so tough and made everyone think that she didn't bother anything. That one tear she fell from her eyes proved it but Ajwa harshly wiped it away.

  When she entered her room while humming a song she recently listened to, Javaria was already standing there. Ajwa smiled at her and stepped towards her single bed where she already had her book scattered. She was studying when suddenly she dozed off; only to be wake up by the noisy kids.

  Javaria came near her. "Why do you do this, Ajwa?"

  She raised a brow. "What did I do?"

  Javaria sighed. "Look at your face. His fingers are still clearly imprinted. Why do you aggravate his anger?"

  Ajwa grimaced at her and left her book. "He was about to hit Mama. I couldn't see that."

  "But you got hit instead. He is very violent, Ajwa. Our Baba can't bear misbehavior. Mama says right; you will get killed by him someday due to your tongue. Mama would have handled him like she always does," Javaria reasoned.

  Ajwa stood up with a jerk. "Handled him? By saying sorry over something which she never did and by getting his beatings? I tasted the meal for God's sake. It was fine. He just wanted to burst his anger on someone and Mama seemed the easiest target to him. Sometimes I can't understand why she is still with a demon like him. If I were in her place, I would have opted for divorce long ago."

  "Ajwa, watch your mouth!" Javaria snarled. She was anxious their father would be back home and might hear her.

  Who could believe a successful businessman like Khalid would be like this at home? But here it was reality. The character couldn't change by good status and environment. The practice of blaming women for not bearing a male child was still going on and Khalid was one of them.

  Ajwa shook her head as her eyes watered. "I can't believe you both." She walked past Javaria; so swiftly that her shoulder collided with her arm and Javaria moved in her place.

  She just decided she wouldn't bear this hell. She would get rid of them at any cost. She couldn't live a cowardly life like this. She loved freedom and happiness and she would get it.

  ______________________

  Faraan stared at the rapidly growing followers of his Instagram account which prompted a smile to appear on his lips. His fingers shifted at the phone's screen and he chose a shirtless picture of himself and uploaded it to his account. Within the blink of an eye, his picture was flooded with likes and comments.

  He read all the comments amusingly as every one of them was causing his smile to change into a smirk. Girls were drooling over him and he knew it.

  Oh my God, you are so handsome.

  His abs just make my innocent heart go wild.

  Will you be mine, Mr. Handosme? ;)

  Will you marry me, pretty guy?

  The last comment made him laugh out loud.

  These teenage girls and their fantasies.

  It was not an odd or uncommon thing for Faraan to receive statements or remarks like this. But how every other girl was drooling on his handsome face and the well-built body was so humorous to him. This face and body were his knights in armor and he knew very well to use them.

  "What are you smiling at?"

  Faraan looked up from his phone to the middle-aged lady sitting on the chair in front of him. Her immense makeup and the bright red lipstick color weren't even doing any good to her as her wrinkled skin was evident under this much layering as well. The very desperate attempt to make her look young by wearing a sleeveless, skin-tight white top with red pants wasn't helping her either. When the lady didn't find any reply from him, she snatched the phone from Faraan's hand. He was on a date with her in a private restaurant as it was almost midnight right now.

  Faraan got startled by her sudden act but took a deep breath to calm himself down. The lady's eyes got softened and a smile appeared on her lips.

  "I just wanted to click the beauty of the wonderful women sitting with me in my heart," he mumbled, with a sly smile.

  Faraan's sweet words made her gaze up at him with a shy smile. Her cheeks got a tint of red due to shyness.

  "When I am sitting in front of you then what's the use of it?" She asked as she timidly tugs the curly layer of her blonde hair behind her ear.

  Faraan smirked and leaned forward. He cupped her cheek with his big hand.

  "Because I want to savor my every moment with you, beautiful, " he whispered as he winked.

  The lady's cheeks got more ruddy as she playfully punched Faraan's chest which made both of them burst out in laughter. Behind Faraan's laughter was a sigh of relief that he quickly opened the camera and clicked her picture. Thank God his mind worked at that time. Aside from his body and looks, one of his shining armor was his brain as well.

  He knew the weak spot of those women; ranging from a young girl to a teenager to a woman in her middle age. And he mastered it.

  He would be half of that lady's age and by making a desperate single woman like her a fool in his fake love, he was getting what he wanted- the money and countless expensive gifts.

  Faraan's smile got deeper when he saw the woman dragging her chair closer to him, looking at him with a straight face. She took his hand in hers as she eyed him with a serious expression. Faraan stared at her face then his hand which was intertwined with her.

  "Listen, darling," she mumbled.

  "Yeah, baby?"

  Faraan was anxious at her sudden act. What got into her all of a sudden?

  "Let's get married. I can't wait any longer," she whispered, desperately.

  Faraan tried hard to suppress a smirk at her words. Finally, the day which he was waiting for had come. After wasting his precious time on his old lady for two months, he got his favorite thing. That woman was not the first woman with whom he had played and tricked. He had dated countless rich women and after robbing them enough, he used to dump them all.

  Some demanded marriages and some just wanted a handsome guy to kill their solace and he had always obliged all of them as long as they were giving him a luxurious lifestyle and lots of money. His handsome face had always helped him. Faraan squeezed her hand.

  "Baby, why are you so..."

  Faraan got interrupted when his phone rang. He diverted his gaze to the table where his phone was laying. After smiling apologetically at the lady, he

  picked up his phone. At the sight of the name glowing on it, his eyebrows gritted in confusion.

  Why this person was calling him?