THIS STORY IS A PURE WORK OF FICTION / IMAGINATION!!!

NOTHING WRITTEN WITH AN INTENTION TO HURT ANYONE'S FEELINGS!!!

[WARNING - Sensitive issue is touched in this part and it will be really emotional. Please don't read this part if you can't handle too much of tragedy]

No time to proofread so excuse the mistakes!

PART - 6

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The Scars You Can't See Are The Hardest To Heal"

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"I would like to marry in this Muhurat (auspicious time) ..."

"Don't tell me you want to marry that girl" Madhu warned pointing her finger at Inayat.

"Yes, I want to marry Inayat now" Veer said decisively.

"Great! I will ask my Junior Mhd. Aashiq to prepare the Nikahnama (Marriagr contract)" Roshan said with a smile "And Veer, you make sure to send me a cheque of Rupees 50K for doing this job" he added behaving like a typical Advocate.

Madhu slapped Roshan's arm asking him to shut up. Roshan pinched his ear and mouthed 'Sorry, auntie'

"Veer, we would like to talk to her family" Rishab said in a calm tone.

Veer was about to open his mouth to talk but his mother cuts him off. "What's there to talk? Veer is not going to marry her" Madhu said firmly.

"You don't get to decide that, Madhu" Rishab admonished her.

"Only you get to decide huh? I am the mother and I get to decide about my kids' future. If you hadn't stood by Naira's side and supported her stupidity, I would have convinced her by now and got her married to my Roshan boy but you messed up. And now again you are supporting Veer..."

"Madhu, tone down and listen to me" Rishab placed his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it asking her to calm down.

"I am not deciding anything here. Kids are making their own decisions. They know what they want and what they don't want..."

"They don't know anything, Rishab. We have to guide them..."

"Madhu, just because we are calling them 'kids and babies' even now doesn't mean they are innocent and immature babies who need our guidance"

"No, you are wrong"

"Maybe, I am but let's give them the chance to show us they are right. Let's first ask what Veer and his girl want"

"There is no use in talking with you at all because you are not going to listen to me. You never listen to me, Rishab. You always convince me and grant them their wish" Madhu said getting upset over him and swatted his hand off her shoulder. She walked away from him and sat on the bed. Roshan sat next to her, taking her hand in his and offered her a soft smile.

"I better adopt you as my son, Roshan. You are the only one understanding me, here" Madhu said leaning her head on his shoulder.

"What's the need to adopt me when I am already your son, auntie?"

Madhu lifted her head up and nodded her head in agreement with a smile.

"Dad, I want to marry her" Veer said again.

"You already told me that Veer and first stop using that selfish word "I" when it comes to love, life and marriage. Tell me 'We love each other and we want to marry'..." Rishab chided his son.

"I don't know why he is always strict with my poor boy Veer. He didn't say the same when Naira was chanting 'I love Sabeer! I want Sabeer! I want to marry him'...I don't like this at all." Madhu accused Rishab's double standards to Roshan. He chuckled but didn't comment on it.

"Sorry, dad"

"Call her parents, Veer. I want to talk with them. You simply can't bring a girl and ask us to get you married to her. Though I presume she is a major, it's still wrong to conduct the wedding without her parents' consent and presence"

"Her parents passed away" Veer said glancing behind him at Inayat. She stood there with her held down and her fingers laced with her shawl.

Madhu gasped in shock and looked up at Inayat, sympathetically.

"She has any other family members?" Rishab asked.

"She has only me" Veer's reply made Rishab to feel proud of him.

"You are willing to marry my son, dear?" Rishab asked Inayat.

Inayat lifted her head up and turned her gaze towards Veer. He nodded his head upside down hoping she would mirror his action but she shook her head left to right and then came her meek reply "No"

Madhu sighed in relief.

Rishab pinched his brows together and stood silently for few good seconds before darting a questioning look at Veer.

"Dad, one sec, I will convince her." he said and quickly moved closer to her but she stepped back in fright. "Okay, okay, cool." He lifted his hands up and took a step away from her private space. "Inayaa, I promised Izzaan and even you agreed to marry me" he reminded her.

"You tell them about me first"

"No, I can't and I won't do that to you." he whispered back.

"Please, they should know about me. If they don't accept me, our Nikah (marriage) will not happen"

"Inayaa, please" Veer pleaded. "My dad will not appreciate me saying such personal things in open."

"But I think your mother will want to know"

"No, she doesn't want to know. No one wants to know."

"Please, Veer..." she pleaded through her teary eyes.

"What's happening here, Veer? Care to explain?" Madhu asked impatiently.

"What I am going to tell you now is something personal..."

"Then keep it with you. You don't have to tell us" Rishab bluntly said. Madhu glared at him. Veer gave Inayat an I-told-you-so look.

"But Inayat wants me to tell you..." Veer hesitated.

"Well, I will take your leave then..." Roshan stood up not feeling it right to intrude in their lives. Madhu held his hand and gestured him to sit, silently telling him that he was like a family to them so they don't mind having him. "No, auntie, I really have to go and see my parents. I have to tell them everything..." Suddenly his face fell and his voice cracked.

"Sorry, Roshan" Madhu apologized again. He offered her a sad smile.

"Uncle" he nodded. Rishab returned his head nod.

"I am hoping at least your marriage will happen, Veer, so I am getting the marriage contract ready" Roshan informed Veer and walked out of the room without minding to spare a glance at Naira.

"Arjun, I am hungry. I will go grab something to eat." Kathryn said and sneaked out of the room before Arjun could stop her. She wasn't interested to witness yet another family drama which didn't concern her. So only the family members were left in the room along with Inayat.

"Inayat, why don't you go with my sister and freshen up in the guest room?" Veer suggested.

"No, I want to stay here and make sure you tell them the truth"

"Trust me, I will tell my parents everything"

"Okay" she nodded her head. Veer looked at Naira.

"You don't worry. I will take care of her." Naira reassured Veer with a smile and took Inayat's hand making her flinch a bit but she didn't pull away.

Arjun felt the air getting thick with tension in the room and his mother seemed to break down into a sobbing mess any moment so he felt it better to go with the girls and have some fun time.

"I will also go with Inayat bhabhi and get to know about your love story" Arjun said excitedly and was about to drape his hand over Inayat's shoulder but Veer held it firmly and stopped him.

"Don't touch her" Veer warned his little brother.

"C'mon bro, she is my soon to be bhabhi..."

"It's not what you think Arjun and I don't doubt your intention, you are my brother and I know you respect her. It's just she doesn't like being touched."

"Ohh" Arjun said and glanced down at Naira's hand firmly gripping Inayat's shaky hand.

"Opposite gender, mainly" Veer added guessing Arjun's impending question "What the hell Naira di can touch her but not me?"

"Okay, I get it. I will keep my hands stuffed in my pockets" Arjun said and shoved his hands in his pockets to give added effects to his statement. Veer smiled appreciatively. "Now shall I go and probe her about your love story?" Arjun asked.

"Why are you so curious, Arjun?" Veer asked irately. He wished his brother let his girl take some rest.

"Because I am hoping next to Veer-Zaara's love story (It's a movie characters), Veer-Inayat's love story is going to be epic" Arjun said with a wide grin. Veer rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you go find your girl? She must be bored roaming alone in the new place"

"Oh shit! I forgot. I will go check on her" Arjun ran out of the room as if his butt was set on fire.

"Why doesn't she like to be touched, Veer?" That was the first thing Madhu asked when Naira took Inayat to the guest room.

"She... she has haphephobia (Fear of being touched)" Veer said.

"Oh no! Please no! The history can't repeat again" Madhu slumped down on the bed and shook her head as she covered her face with the palm. Though Madhu hadn't had haphephobia, she was subjected to various phobias like claustrophobia, acrophobia and scotophobia and it took years for her to fully recover.

"What happened to her? What caused her this fear?" Rishab asked his son as he gently patted his wife's head with his fingers, hoping she would pull herself together and stop crying.

"She was sexually assaulted..." Veer said leaning his back against the wall and looking up at the ceiling hoping that would block his tears from rolling down.

"OMG! OMG! No! No!" Madhu burst into tears feeling for that poor girl.

"Madhu, control yourself" Rishab hugged her and rubbed her back, soothing her.

"Who did this cruelty to her? No one was there to protect her? When this happened? Where the fuck you were, Veer? Answer me, now" Rishab shouted at him, angrily, when he stood there in silence.

"It happened six months ago, exactly when Naira met with that dreadful car accident and I came here to Mumbai to see Naira..."

"Oh God!" Rishab groaned.

"Inayat's mother died after giving birth to Inayat's little brother Izzaan. Her father went into depression after his wife's demise and few months later he too passed away. Inayat was just 7 years old when this tragedy happened and she was loaded with the responsibility of her new born brother. Her father's friend Rafiq helped Inayat to take care of herself and her brother. He provided apple picking job for her in his apple orchard." Veer paused as he remembered meeting her for the first time in the same apple orchid. The moment he saw her he fell in love with her. She was such an ethereal beauty.

"Inayat was a smart girl; she managed her work, her studies and even took proper care of her brother Izzaan. She holds a master's degree in English lit and she worked as a teacher in the same school her brother studied."

"Where is Izzaan?" Rishab asked. Veer shook his head and pinched the inner edge of his eyes to make the tears disappear. Rishab and Madhu shared a worried look.

"Once Inayat got the teacher job, she dropped working in the apple orchard but Izzaan replaced her and worked in the apple orchard after his school hours as he wanted to earn some money and support his sister. He also felt loyal to Rafiq and took care of his apple orchard as he was growing old to take care of the orchard all by himself." Veer paused thinking about little Izzaan's loyalty and thoughtfulness to help his sister. He remembered Izzaan telling him that he was secretly saving money for his sister's Nikah. Veer even teased Izzaan to work hard and save more money as he would be the one marrying his sister and he would expect everything extravagant in the wedding.

"One night, Izzaan didn't return home in the usual time he would return daily, so Inayat went to the apple orchard to check on her brother. Rafiq's house was in the mid of the apple orchard and she knew her brother would be there when she couldn't find Izzaan anywhere around the orchard. She worried Rafiq had fell sick or something and Izzaan was in his house, taking care of him and that's why he couldn't come home. When she walked into his house she found Rafiq drinking and her brother was passed out beside him on the floor. She was shocked and shouted at Rafiq for making her 16 years old brother drink. Rafiq asked Inayat to come back to work in his orchard as he missed watching her there, daily. He said he liked having her around him. Inayat got scared when he behaved strangely like a psycho she decided to wake up her brother and go home but Izzaan was high in alcohol's influence. Suddenly drunken Rafia fell on top of her and he...he forced himself on her." He stopped and fisted his hand into a tight ball as his blood started boiling with red hot fury. He wished he could bring back him from his grave and kill him with his own hands.

"When Inayat tried to get out of him, he knocked her head with a glass bottle and tried to molest her. Her loud screams and cries of pain brought Izzaan out of his unconscious state and he fought with Rafiq. It really amazed me that little Izzaan fought with that mighty animal..." His face grimaced in disgust thinking about that old bastard.

"I will always feel so proud of Izzaan's willpower and determination to protect his beloved sister and also feel grateful to him for saving my Inayat but I will always regret for not being there for them, not being there to protect Inayat from being sexually assaulted and Izzaan from dying..."

"Izzaan is no more?" Rishab asked in sheer shock as his eyes welled up with tears. Madhu had not stopped crying from the moment she heard about Inayat's phobia.

"He was badly injured when I found him the next day but he had managed to kill Rafiq by slitting his neck." Veer felt so restless on that day the horrible incident happened. His gut instinct told him something was wrong back in Kashmir. He tried contacting Inayat's phone but she didn't pick up and that made his worry more. He couldn't stay in Mumbai for long once Naira was out of critical condition so he left to Kashmir that night. When he reached Inayat's house, she wasn't there so he went to the apple orchard because he knew she wouldn't have gone to school on a Sunday. There he found the three in the pool of blood.

"I took Izzaan and Inayat to the hospital. Izzaan was in critical care unit for two days... His lung was stabbed with a broken bottle and it was punctured pretty badly making it hard for him to breathe... he couldn't make it..."

"Oh God! What an ill fate for that little boy" Madhu cried.

"Before closing his eyes, he asked me to promise him that I will take good care of his sister and I did promise him. I will never let anything happen to Inayat and I will protect her with my life" Veer repeated the vow he made to Izzaan. "And then Izzaan asked his sister to marry me. She refused to him because she felt she wasn't the deserving one for me, anymore. Izzaan pleaded and said that was his last wish and closed his eyes, once and for all" Veer couldn't hold himself any longer so he fell on his knees and broke down. He lost Izzaan who was like a brother to him.

... To be continued!

Sorry if had written anything wrong or hurtful!

Sorry if I had made you guys emotional and left you teary eyed!

Oh and I assure you guys, this story won't be this depressing in the upcoming parts! Lots of love and romance scenes are waiting in the queue! :)

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