Sadqay Humare.

eight

When the Prime Minister couldn't attend his first Lady's graduation ceremony for the second time in a row, he decided to pen down a letter for her. 

My Aaina,

That pout on your face when I left for my journey and the way you still tried your hardest to bid me off in the best way possible, it made the guilt inside me ten times worse.

I am so gutted that I can't be there with you, standing up and applauding as I hear them say your name, congratulate you and cheer for you. I will make upto you though, you know that.

I am on my flight to Washington and in the middle of this long journey, I could not help but think about what you must be doing right now.

I am sitting among my ministers, preparing for an economic Forum that is so very important, meanwhile you must be getting ready for your graduation ceremony.

Let me tell you, my wife, I am so very proud of how far you have come as a person. When I got married to you, I got a very whiny, desperate but kind of cute girl who had no idea about anything.

I know that phase of your life was hard and I didn't make it any easy for you. I do wonder at times, if I hadn't come into your life..unannounced..would you have fallen in love with me?

Anyway, I did come into your life and maybe it was one of the best things God could do for me. You have grown up to be a wonderful woman, an intellectual hardworking woman who has not only made a space in my heart but also in the hearts of millions of Pakistanis.

I am very proud of you, Aaina. You are so brilliant, darling. No wonder my heart belongs to you.

Congratulations.

Much love,

Zaydaan. 

----

Zaydaan. 

"And please enlighten me, father. How am I the reason?" Zaydaan asked his father.

As far as he knew, Minal's husband knew everything about their past, she had told him everything and he was perfectly fine with it, how could he be the reason then?

They were not in contact since the last two years or more, then how could Zaydaan be the reason for her divorce?

What would he tell Aaina? How did he become the reason for Minal's divorce. He already had alot going on, did this have to happen too?

On top of everything, he felt extremely upset about Minal. She really seemed happy with him.

Idrees Ziagil craned his neck to a side, looking at his son.

"Apparently her husband's sister is one of the women who is somewhat involved in the harassment charges against you. Minal had a fight with her, her husband chose to divorce her in the heated fight."

A man who could not control his emotions at the right time, was just not a man. A man who could let his woman go so easily, merely because of something that hardly even concerned her was just a bastard.

Zaydaan did not understand how an army man, a man so disciplined could make such an abrupt decision.

"Bastard. She's better off." He mumbled, his father didn't look like he agreed with him.

"A woman in her forties." He added.

"A good woman." Zaydaan shot back.

"I wonder why she didn't call me." He added next, not understanding why she hadn't called him, if he was the reason why she had got divorced.

Techinally, he wasn't the reason. Her ex husband's lack of manhood was the reason.

"Calling an ex lover after a messy divorce screams desperation." Idrees Ziagil said, Zaydaan almost wanted to chuckle at his father's understanding of women in general but chose not to.

"Are you sure she got divorced?" Was he certain? Divorce took months to actually happen and the accusations against him had hardly gone viral since a week or so.

"Ashfaq told me that she came home crying and told him that he divorced her. She hasn't talked to him ever since."

Zaydaan knew he would talk to her himself so he nodded.

"Okay."

When the topic was finally closed, he expected his father to get up and leave but his father didn't move an inch. Infact, he seemed a little uncomfortable, a little hesitant.

Idrees Ziagil being hesitant, that was new.

"That's all you wanted to tell me?" The Prime Minister asked his father, waiting for him to say something.

"One more thing." His father started off, Idrees Ziagil was the man who was probably more informed than ISI. He knew everything, every scandal, every politician's strength and weakness, every threat to his family.

"Go on." His father kept his silence for a moment before speaking up again.

"They are planning to malign Aaina's name as well. And Zayla."

The amount of self control it took for him to not smash his hands against the desk and throw everything away, it was massive.

The minute he heard Aaina's name, his anger had reached the surface and upon hearing Zayla's name, the scowl on his face was enough to show his father how angry his words had made him.

"Excuse me?"

"They are planning to spread a rumour that Zayla is not your daughter."

The Prime Minister's knuckles went white and he glared at his father. They were willing to go that far?

"Bullshit. Then whose daughter is she?"

"Ahad and Aaina's."

He took three deep breaths, not reacting anymore. People were disgusting and lacked honor, they didn't care about anyone's integrity, especially people like Awan.

If he had to fight against the bastard, he had to make sure that his actions didn't affect him or his family.

"Awan should have never got out of the f*****g prison." He said instead, regretting the fact that he didn't play any part in making Awan suffer.

Instead, he let the judiciary give him a fair trial. He shouldn't have.

"But he did. And he's going to go at you with all that he has got. Be ready."

Idrees Ziagil and his ways of making his children realise that he would always take care of them. He was a f****d up man, for sure. But he was a man who did love his children.

"Thank you for informing me, baba." Zaydaan said, voice soft and the edge of anger slowly going below the surface.

"Zaydaan, don't let anger get the best out of you. Be the calculative son that I have raised." He advised, shrugging his thanks like it was nothing.

Zaydaan leaned back with a nod, knowing that tea was the solution to everything right now.

"Would you like some tea?" He asked his father, Idrees Sahab smiled.

"If the Prime Minister is offering, why not?"

--

Zaydaan x Aaina.

Late at night, the husband and wife were laying down on their bed, his back turned away from her, demeanour silent and no words spoken.

He had been this way ever since he arrived an hour ago, not saying much. At first, Aaina figured it was just because he was tired but now she understood that wasn't really the case.

So the first lady had herself pressed against him, her leg between his legs and eyes closed.

"What has you so bothered?" Her voice came out muffled against his back but Zaydaan understood what she had said.

He knew that didn't like to talk about her but he wanted to tell her about what he had heard today.

Her husband turned around, facing her.

"Minal." He took her name and as usual, he saw a small frown on his wife's face.

She looked confused, he hadn't really talked about Minal in a long time.

"Minal?" She repeated in question, he nodded.

"Yes. She got divorced." Her eyes shot up at the news, face etched into a deep frown and eyes looking at him with an unreadable expression.

"Oh." She whispered.

Zaydaan stayed quiet for a moment, before speaking up again.

"She got divorced for me." He added.

That confused Aaina even further.

"I don't understand."

Zaydaan leaned a little up from his laying position, facing his wife as he switched on the television and put it on mute.

"She defended me in front of her husband and he divorced her for it." He explained.

Aaina didn't believe it at all.

"She told you that? People don't randomly get divorced over such things, Zaydaan. She might be lying."

"She didn't tell me anything. My father did." He elaborated.

Aaina snorted.

"Your father? An even bigger liar."

Her husband stood up, frowning.

"Mind your tongue, Aaina. He's my father."

She changed the topic instead.

"Are you planning to talk to her?" She questioned, feeling insecure all of a sudden.

"Yes, I am." He replied.

"Fine. I'll go with you then."

"She won't be comfortable around you." He excused.

Aaina wanted to stop him, she didn't want him to go and meet her. Yes, she felt bad about what was happening but at the same time, she wanted to protect her own marriage.

Zaydaan had never given her any reason to feel insecure at all but she couldn't change the way she felt when it came to Minal.

"Zaydaan." She called out his name, frowning at the way she checked his phone and then started to wear another shirt.

"You told me that her husband was a good man and he loved her." She stated, not understanding how he could just be the reason for someone's divorce.

"Family makes a man do irrational things." He replied, picking up a file from the side table.

Aaina bit her lip, her mind going back to the time where he had confessed that he loved Minal, where he had wanted to marry her even when she was in his life, where he only thought about her.

Zaydaan looked at his wife, understanding her dilemma. He hated that she always got irrational when it came to Minal, she had no reason to feel that way.

"Don't, Aaina. It's been years, just don't." He mumbled, trying to pull her mind away from the entire thing.

"There's one more thing." He said to her, ignoring the slight roll of her eye.

If she wanted to be an immature i***t about something that had no concern with her, he could be mature enough and ignore it.

"What?" She crossed her arms over the bed, a frown on her face.

"Avoid going out with Ahad for a while." It didn't seem like a suggestion, it seemed like an order.

It seemed like he was dictating her all over again.

"Why?" She questioned him, ready to hear the most unreasonable answer from the Prime Minister himself.

"Just listen to what I'm saying." Zaydaan said instead.

"Tell me the reason." She insisted.

"I'm asking you not to. Is that not an enough reason?"

The way he said it, Aaina couldn't help but not insist over it again.

She wanted to, ofcourse she did. But she didn't want to annoy him, she had no idea why he was asking her to not go out with Ahad of all people.

"And Zayla too. Don't send her out with Ahad."

Zayla? Was he serious?

"That is absurd. You don't trust your own brother now? Is that what this all has come to?" She shot back at him, not understanding how his mind was working at this point.

Zaydaan let out a sigh, looking at his wife with the most tired expression. His voice turned soft and his eyes lacked any trace of anger, suddenly, she felt sorry for him.

He was clearly going through alot of mentally exhausting stuff and there was definitely a reason behind all of it.

"Trust has nothing to do with all this. Just listen to what I'm saying and understand it. Okay, Aaina?"

She wanted to disagree, she wanted to argue but she didn't want to trouble him when he literally looked tired out of his mind.

She nodded, shrugging.

"Okay. Fine." She agreed.

"You'll have to tell me the reason though." She added next, knowing that she would have to get it out of him once he was less exhausted.

"Don't be stubborn, Aaina. I'll tell you when I'm sure." He told her next, wearing his shoes.

He heard his wife groan at the sight.

"You just came home, where are you off to again?" She questioned, he kissed the top of her head.

"Damage control, darling. Wait for me." He whispered, a smile was begging to slip out of the first Lady's mouth but she controlled herself, feigning annoyance.

"I'm not going to wait for you." She stated, he simply chuckled.

"Sure."

Zaydaan Ziagil knew for sure that everytime he left the house in such an exhausted state, his wife waited for him. She couldn't sleep without him, not with content.

Aaina clicked her tongue at his casualness.

"I'm serious. You were very rude, I don't appreciate it." She said instead, he simply shook his head and stood up.

Aaina looked at him, waiting for him to say something in return.

"I'll be back soon, you better be awake." He simply replied, then left the room.

Aaina couldn’t help but wonder how the hell had this man changed so much and yet hadn't changed at all.