3. The Mysterious Home

Sadia’s home was not what a normal person would call as a home. There were loads of problems around this innocent girl and there was none at her home with whom she can really discuss her matters or give her such kind of love. She always used to tell Saqi to take her away from hell, what she referred as her home. Don’t know, her parent’s behavior towards her was worse than what one would expect even from step-parents. There family had met with some tragedy long time back and they somehow held her responsible for that without any reason. God knows, in what world they used to live in. And she doesn’t use to share a healthy friendship with any of her friends. Saqi always used to think that why she being such a nice and kind-hearted person does not have any of good friend around. All she used to tell him is that she does not want anything in life. She does not have much expectations. Just give her a shoulder to cry. Just talk to her so she does not feel left out from this world. And with course of time he too realized that her parents are really not understanding at all. They would make her plead for pennies. She had to literally beg in front of her father to get currency in her phone or to at least buy her basic stuffs needed for a girl of her age. They didn’t recharge her phone so that she couldn’t get in touch with anyone on phone. She had to give an account of every minute spent outside her house. Everything around her was so inexplicable and mystifying.

All the time Sadia just used to tell him that at least you stay there and talk to her at least on the phone, so it was Saqi mostly who would call her every time they needed to talk. Her family was not much religious and her father hardly ever used to offer salah except for the Friday prayers. To be honest, even that was skeptical. Neither did their family share healthy relations with their neighbours nor even with their relatives. They did not even share a healthy relationship amongst themselves so relatives and neighbours were beyond question. Initially Sadia was also not that much religious but that was obvious because of the aura around her. So Saqi usually used to tell her about religion and to start praying and ask God to set everything right around her. So he made her promise that she would never skip any Salah and mostly he used to tell her its importance and the way to lead a life as taught by their religion. And with course of time Sadia became regular with Salah and now knew a lot many things about her religion and how to lead a life as per that, but still every time after the religious and other talks, Sadia used to give him a hint towards her feelings for him. Saqi, on the other hand, still was not comfortable with that and wanted to keep it just limited to a friendship and tried to slowly cut short his talks. But then the feeling that this friendly-relationship is productive in a way that at least a girl who did not know much about her religion now really cares offering salah and is now particular about it that she does not skip any of them in future, kept him talking to her. He felt that at least he should keep talking to her till she gets regular with salah and really start to comprehend that this is not for him but for God. Sadia used to pray daily now and ask God to set things right around her, and she used to feel that God has sent Saqi as a person listening to her prayers and he would set all things right around her.

But her family was just not happy with her changing behavior. Don’t know why they could not see her happy. Her father used to get angry over her for offering prayers and used to tell her not to waste her time doing that. Her parents always used to have quarrels between them for every topic whether big or small and this used to take a toll on Sadia. They even did not let her sit and talk to her younger sister who was now in her 2nd standard. So all Sadia was left with, were the walls of her house to talk with. Neither she used to get any pocket money to meet her small needs nor did she use to have a balance in her phone so that she could at least call and talk to somebody whenever she felt lonely. They had just made her life miserable to live. With such conditions around her, she used to see Saqi as a savior who would just come one day and take her out of this hell, where she was made to suffer each moment of her life. So as days passed, her possessiveness towards Saqi started increasing.

Saqi felt that this is the reason of her loving him so much in such a short period of time. Saqi used to patiently listen to her problems whether big or small and really used to feel very bad that such a sweet girl has so many problems around her. All he could do was to pray for her and her family that things become fine for all of them and asked her to do the same. But this was not all what Sadia wanted. She wanted to see a Saqi, committed to her, though she did not say that but she wanted to know whether Saqi really loved her or not. Saqi, on the other hand, respected her a lot and could not think to speak anything that would hurt her feelings. He used to think that this girl has so many problems around her and if he speaks something of which he himself would not be sure, that would just break her heart. He used to think and pray for a day when everything around Sadia would be fine. He thought that the reason for Sadia to love him so much at this time is obvious as she gets a person who listens to her problems and tries to solve it and prays for her well-being. She gets a person to speak her heart-out, everything that she used to keep within herself and wanted to speak to anyone close to her. She found Saqi as a person in front of whom she can cry and feel lighter and who would really take care of her. So Saqi felt that they both should give this relationship some more time and wouldn’t think about commitment matters least till Sadia’s studies get over. He just could not think of anything that would upset this sweet girl who just has started to offer salah and started feeling things around her better.

Every time he thought to speak anything that would go against what Sadia wants, something stopped him as he thought this would really upset this girl who has just started to see world with a much better perspective, who has just started to learn about her religion because of him, who has just started to love things around her because of him.