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Hamza

I kept screwing things up over and over again, and Hania had already given me chances. She was not going to trust me again, and frankly, I couldn't even blame her for it. She had come out in the middle of the night, to a club, to look for her idiotic husband and had gotten hurt in the process. A girl who had probably rarely left the house alone after Maghrib, had to go to a club because she was worried about me. I was a major screw-up and I was dragging Hania down into my dark world along with me.

I was standing at a petrol station, absent-mindedly filling up my car, when I suddenly noticed a familiar person on the other side. I almost ducked behind my car to hide, hoping that my father-in-law wouldn't see me. I was probably the last person he would want to see right now.

I'm sure he must have seen the photos. I'm just wondering why he hasn't mentioned a word about it yet.

As he headed inside to pay, an idea occurred in my head, and I followed after him. Turns out that luck was not on my side, because the queue for the payment counter was right beside the magazine section, and I could clearly see one of the tabloids displaying a photo of me and that girl, who just happened to be a girlfriend of one of my friends. Oh God, they are using that photo out of context. But nobody would know that she wasn't my girlfriend, looking at this photo. I turned around, giving up on my ridiculous idea. He was going to end up burying me alive right here.

"Hamza?"

I winced, stopping in my tracks, before turning around with a polite smile. "Assalam Alaikum, Uncle."

"Walaikum Assalam." He raised an eyebrow at me, a look of disapproval covering his face.

"How's Aunty?" I asked, casually. "And Iman?"

"Alhumdulillah." He nodded. "How's Hania?"

I gulped at his tone, and I did not fail to notice his clenched jaw. "Uncle, can we talk?"

"Let me pay for petrol first." He turned to make payment. 

Once we were both done, we parked our cars on the small car parking in front of the adjoining café, and headed inside.

"Would you like something?" I asked him, nervously.

"I'm okay, thanks." He looked impatient.

"Please, I insist." I cleared my throat.

He agreed very reluctantly, and we both got coffees, after I insisted again that I paid for it.

My father-in-law is meant to be an extremely nice, compassionate and mature person, and yet I was practically shaking at the prospect of talking to him. I suppose it was simply the fact that he was Hania's father that made me anxious. Hania's overprotective father.

"I...I have a feeling that you saw those photos." I began, once we were seated at a table.

"You're very intuitive, aren't you?"

"I have messed up. And I honestly have no idea how to fix this." I admitted.

"Are you asking me for marital advice?" He looked surprised. "You do know who I am, right?"

"Look, I know you're Hania's father. But I can't really ask Papa on marital advice based on his experience with Mum. After that, you're the closest father figure I have, so yes, I'm asking for your advice. Don't think that I'm Hania's husband, but just...I don't know." I ran my hand through my hair, feeling really confused.

This was so weird. Sons-in-law usually didn't have a heart-to-heart with their fathers-in-law, but somehow I wasn't uncomfortable. He seemed like genuinely reasonable man, and easy to talk to, despite the fact that he probably wanted to kill me for repeatedly hurting Hania.

"It's just..." I continued. "I've seen your relationship with Aunty, and you guys make marriage seem so easy, and I already feel like I'm a complete failure."

"Well, we have been married over twenty-two years and I've known Jasmina since she was born, so that all helps." His expression softened. "Look, I've had this same talk with you before. Hania is a sweetheart, and I know that I sound very biased right now, but it's true. She doesn't care about materialistic stuff. She just wants love and respect, and of course, trust is very important to her as well."

"And I keep breaking it. I don't even do it intentionally." I muttered, feeling disappointed in myself. "I guess I'm just careless and inconsiderate. How can I ever be a good husband if I continue to be like this?" 

He looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "It was a similar situation with me, but instead of clubbing, I was mostly busy with my career. As you can imagine, being a doctor takes up a lot of my time, and it can get hard to balance a family and career. I am very fortunate to have an understanding wife who never complained once, even if she was justified in doing so. And Hania, being her daughter, is very understanding, I know that very well. But just because someone is understanding, we can't just take advantage of it. If she is being understanding, being an amazing wife, then I knew that I had to play my part as well, and so, I spent most of my free time with her and my daughters whenever I wasn't asleep, just so that they realise how important they are to me."  

I nodded. "I need to give Hania time?"

"Family is very important to Hania." He said. "I'm not saying neglect any other duties, but sometimes you do need to take that extra step to make her realise how important she is to you. Is she important to you?"

"She's my everything." I admitted honestly. "I'd do anything to make her happy."

"You need to show her that. You're married now, you need to realise that you have a partner, and you need to consider her before you do everything, because your actions affect her directly." He paused, looking annoyed again. "And you need to stop doing acts that goes against your culture or religion. And if you can't, just say it clearly without messing around with Hania. You keep forcing me to think that you haven't really changed your original intentions and you're still using Hania just to keep Daniyal Sahab off your back."

"That's not true Uncle."

"You may be saying the truth, but you certainly haven't earned the trust yet, Hamza. In fact, you keep going backwards instead of forward. But don't forget that this isn't just your life anymore. Hania is connected to you, and your behaviour keeps making me think that maybe we rushed the decision of marriage." 

I felt horrible. If he was feeling that way, maybe Hania felt that way too.

"With you words are just not enough now, Hamza." He added. "You need to show Hania- and me and Jasmina- that you are worthy of trust. Clubbing should not be a part of your life anyway, as a Muslim. You just need to consider whether that is more important to you than your marriage with Hania." 

"There's nothing more important to me than Hania." I stared into my cup of coffee "But I don't think she even wants to hear me out right now. She doesn't always express it directly, but I can see the disappointment in here eyes. And I hate it. I just want to win back her trust." 

"As I said, you need to earn it. And possibly you really need to work hard for it." Fawad Uncle said. "You need to remember that Hania's very sensitive, so it might take longer."

"I'll do whatever it takes."

"I can see that you genuinely want to try and earn her trust." He said. "But we haven't even discussed your intentions during the Nikah, and now this happens. The thing is that constant emotional pain might seriously damage Hania, because of the sort of person she is. I know that she's married, your wife, but I would not want to see Hania hurt in any way. I'm very observant when it comes to people's behaviour, especially my wife and daughters', and I'm telling you very clearly now, Hamza, that if I start to notice a negative change of behaviour in Hania, I will step in. I respect your position as her husband, but not if it means turning a blind eye to any damage to her self-respect or self-esteem." 

"I've caused her enough pain as it is, Uncle." I said, regretfully. "Now, I will do everything to keep Hania happy, In Sha Allah."

"Good." He nodded. "It might take time, and it might not be easy, but as you know, earning trust takes time, while damaging it is very easy."

"Thank you, Uncle." I rubbed the back of my neck, awkwardly. "And sorry."

"One more thing, Hamza." He added. "Always be honest to her, whether it's easy or not. She's your wife and she deserves your full honesty. No matter what you're feeling, trust her. That's a part of maintaining trust in a marriage; you both need to show each other that you can trust each other."

"I really appreciate the advice, Uncle." I meant that genuinely.

"Anytime, Hamza." He looked serious again. "But don't let her down again. Because there's only so much one person can tolerate."

"Are you talking about Hania or yourself?" 

"Both." He said.

He spoke quietly, but there was a threatening promise hidden behind his words. Hania may be married, but she wasn't alone. In our culture, it wasn't uncommon to let the girl be after marriage, and let her deal with her own marital problems, but Hania's parents wouldn't tolerate anything unfair against their daughters. And that's how it should be. A married girl shouldn't feel like she had nobody to turn to once she was married. She should openly be able to turn to her family, her parents when she felt that her husband was a selfish, inconsiderate pr**k like I was.

I will win her trust, and then I'll never let any damage come to it again.

****

Iman

I got home from university after another mentally exhausting day. "Mama?" 

The house was quiet and I headed straight to the kitchen where Mama was usually found. But it was empty and silent. 

"Mama, where are you?" I turned and saw a noticed a message on the small white board attached to the fridge.

'Mani, I'm going to the city for some work. There's some aloo keema in the fridge. Heat it up, as well as a paratha I had made earlier. Xxx Mama.'

Usually Mama heated everything up when we got home for us. She had spoiled us all too much. 

I washed up upstairs and changed, before returning downstairs to heat up the mince meat and potato curry.

My phone buzzed as I ate and I looked down at the notification. It was a message from one of my friends, asking me to come out and meet them. "Not happening." I muttered, deleting the message with my clean hand.

Seeing the pride on my parents' faces when they realised that I had won the award had really put things into prospective for me. I had almost destroyed my potential career because of my Iman-ness, and I refused to do that further. My goal was to be a doctor, and I will do everything to achieve that goal.

The front door opened and Papa walked in.

"Assalam Alaikum. Tussi chayti aagaye ho?" I micked Mama with my rubbish Punjabi. She often teasingly said that to him, even though her own Punjabi was only slightly better than mine.

*"You've come early?"

"Walaikum Assalam. Kyun? Koi planning chal rahi hai, Patakhi Sahiba?" He teased back, standing in the doorway.

*"Why? Were you planning something, Miss Firecracker?"

He leaned back and looked towards the kitchen. "Itni khamoshi kyun hai? Hamari begum sahiba kahan hain?"

*"Why is it so quiet? Where's my wife?" 

"Haww! Are you implying that she's noisy?" I pretended to be shocked, placing a hand over my mouth.

"Don't tell her that." He winked at me.

"Mama's gone to the city for some work." I told him. "Aap fresh ho jayain, Dr Fawad, aur main... I'll make coffee for you. Or shall I heat up something to eat?" I struggled to speak in Urdu.

*"You freshen up, Dr Fawad, and I..."

"Coffee, please. Urdu sikhani paday gi aap ko, Iman." He began to head towards the stairs. "I'll just go shower. Is the cricket match on?" 

"Yes." 

"We'll watch it together then." He headed upstairs.

I had gotten interested in watching cricket thanks to him, and it was fun watching it together. 

****

I made some toasted keema sandwiches for him anyway, along with the coffee, and the two of us sat on the sofa together, eating, having coffee and watching the cricket match.

"Your Arhaan Mamu and I used to watch cricket together all the time." He smiled, his eyes on the screen. "Our mothers always got fed up during cricket season." 

"So... rumours have it that the two of you were troublemakers?" I looked at him. "My level or worse?"

"No comments."

"Come on, Papa. I've promised to behave myself. You can tell me." 

"All I'm going to say is that your mother is not the one you inherited these troublemaking qualities from. But your Mamu and I eventually realised that troublemaking and rebellious behaviour will get us nowhere in life." 

"So, you regularly got yelled at by Dada Jaan?" I giggled. 

"Stop enjoying yourself." He told me off in mock anger.

"Aww, I wish I could be a fly on the wall in one of those moments." I continued laughing.

"Those moments stopped when I started uni. This was well before I even married your mother." 

I pursed my lips thoughtfully. "Was it easy for you to win back Dada Jaan and Dado's trust after all your rebellious behaviour? I mean, I don't know the things that you did, but I've heard that you were always up to no good with Mamu." 

"Your Dada Jaan was always sceptical about my sudden change, but your Dado trusted me completely." He looked at me. "Iman, Maa aur Baap ka trust jeetna phir bhi itna mushkil nahin hota, because we're almost naturally inclined to believe you. Laikin har koi Maa Baap ki tarhan nahin hota, tabhi hum aap ko aur Hania ko samjhate rehte hain ke bharosay ko maintain karna kitna zaroori hai."

*"Iman, it's still not hard to win your parents' trust..."
"But not everyone is how parents are, that's why we keep telling you and Hania about the importance of maintaining trust."

"Can I ever win your trust back?" I asked, worriedly.

"As I said, we're naturally inclined to trust you. Your Mama and I have hope and faith that you won't let us down, and yes, we will continue to do so as long as you don't break our trust again."

"My family and my education is my priority now, Papa. I don't want to do anything to take away the chances of me becoming a doctor like you." I glanced back towards the TV. "The idea of Dr Iman Fawad, cardiothoracic surgeon is so amazing." 

"In Sha Allah." He said. "I hope I get to see that day." 

"In Sha Allah." I whispered. "I still dream about a day when I'll get to work with you, and I will do anything to achieve that dream, In Sha Allah." 

He looked really happy, hearing that. I watched his profile as he resumed watching the game. I've heard of stories where fathers didn't support their daughters' educations, but Papa had always encouraged me and Appi with this, and ever since he realised that I was serious about being a doctor, he had always given me hints and tips about how to handle medical education. 

I truly am incredibly blessed. I need to learn to be grateful to Allah for giving me so much and more. Alhumdulillah.

"Can I get a car, Papa?" Taking advantage of his good mood, I asked, pouting slightly. "With this rubbish British weather, it would be good for me, and it would be very convenient and..."

"Second hand car." He spoke. "Consider this another chance, Iman Fawad." 

"But, Papa, I promise...." I gasped. "Wait. What? Did you just agree?" 

"Your mother and I have discussed it. As a reward for the national award, we are going to get you a second hand car." He smiled at me. "But don't do anything to let us down, Mani. Don't take advantage of our trust." 

I squealed and leaned forward to hug him. "I love you and Mama so much! Thank you!" 

"The right path had its rewards, one way or another." He said. "But this is also, at the same time, a way for you to prove to me and your mother than we can trust you." 

"I won't let you down, I promise." I was so excited.

I couldn't wait to tell Appi! She would be so happy for me. 

Now that I was doing things with my parents' blessings, I seemed to be truly getting rewarded for it. First by success in education, and now by Papa and Mama giving me a car, and therefore trusting me again.

****

This was a bonus chapter. I thought it would be good for the former male lead to have a conversation with the current male lead and give him some advice!

After all, Fawad can give the best advice on being a good husband :D

I hope you liked this chapter. A point of this chapter is that I wanted Hamza to eventually have an easy relationship with his in-laws, unlike the usual formality.

Plus @raniaaazafar wanted some Iman and Fawad scenes, so I will try to show their bond, and not just Hania's bond with both parents.

Thoughts and comments?

Thank you for reading and don't forget to vote!