And Risha, she couldn’t believe what had just happened either as she walked up the stairs angrily. It was the single longest conversation she had ever had about mummy with anyone since she had passed. It shocked her to find how easy it felt to talk about mummy with him, for her, that was a no-go area. She never talked about mummy, never. But somehow, it felt kind of nice, those memories of the past. It felt good to remember, and that is what annoyed her. Why did it have to be him? With him? She felt angry at herself, for saying all those things to total stranger. That was the whole problem though, it did not feel like she was talking to a stranger. No, it felt nice, easy and simple. “That fool” she scuffed angrily as she closed her door with a slam. “Why won’t he just mind his damn business?” As she whispered this to her herself, her eyes fell on the photo album on her bed. Without evening thinking, she shoved it aside angrily. But later that night, she found herself going through it, smiling at the memories they brought to mind. Again, this was something new for her, she hadn’t done anything like this since mummy passed away. She stayed deep into the night, going through it and when she finally, she held it fondly to her chest and despite the tears in her eyes, she was smiling.
Farhan tossed and turned over in the small bed, hard as he tried to relax, he couldn’t find any sleep. His heart felt heavy. He couldn’t tell why but today, he missed his family so much; it had been a month now, one whole month in this house, with that crazy girl. The days had turned to weeks and now a month. He couldn’t believe it, his mind had cleared well enough and this was no joke. He had hoped that the crazy girl would come to her senses, get tired of him and just let him go. But it was taking too long. Since her last outburst when they had spoken about her mother, he had tried to avoid her as much as possible. He figured that if he just danced to her tune, do whatever she wanted, she would come to her senses. But no, not her, the crazy girl seemed to be enjoying every minute of it to the fullest. True to her words she had been doing everything she could to make his life a living hell.
She would wake up him with a bucket of cold water any day she found him in bed, just as she had promised. Sometimes, he came back in the evening to find his mattress soaked with water, his books and files drenched. Feeding these days was another thing all together, he had gotten used to eating the worst of the worst. Some days when he couldn’t bare the hunger, he tried cooking, but she stopped him from doing that. The food she offered were designed to make even the most patient person complain, some days, the spice in just one plate of the food was enough to cook a whole pot, while sometimes, it was the pepper, some days, it was half dawn food, the list went on and on. How could anyone be so wicked? He wondered. Every single day he had spent in this house had served to re-enforce the notion that she was insane, pure crazy. To his shock, the girl never prayed, since he had been in the house, he had never once seen her pray, every morning, he was greeted by the blasting sound from her stereo she called music, it was always so loud that it echoed through the whole house. And surprisingly, she actually enjoyed all that Hutt! Hutt! Vulgar words she called music. Despite being a graduate of medicine, it didn’t seem like she had a job. But still, sometimes she went out early, where she went to, he had no idea, at times, she spent the night out or came back very late. All these worried him a lot, yet he couldn’t bring himself to talk to her. She was so unreasonable, so inconsiderate. Yet despites all these irrationalities, he couldn’t help but notice something else about her also. In everything she did, there seemed to be a calculated genius, everything about her seemed calculated and timed, he had to admit, his life had been a complete hell due to this genius of hers. “But no more” he thought, “I will end it all today, I will speak to her, no matter what,” he concluded. Because from what he could tell, if he waited for her to show some kind of sanity, he would wait forever, with that thought in mind, he closed his eyes in search of sleep.
* * *
Risha sat in the parlour humming to herself, but this time she was considerate enough to put an earpiece. Life this past month had been so much fun for her, everything was turning out just as she had planned. The jerk was getting all that she had promised and she was really proud of herself, he had become so docile and submissive now. He obeyed everything she said like a well-trained dog. To her pleasure, she discovered he didn’t smile anymore, slowly but steadily she was getting to him and she had no intention of stopping. It was too much fun.
She heard a strange sound close to her ears, opening her eyes slowly, she found him there, sitting on the sofa beside her. There was something about the expression on his face, something different from his usual expression, he looked kind of determined.
Frowning, she removed the earpiece and asked roughly, “What?”
“I need to speak to you” he said in a calm voice, but his expression was serious.
Sitting up slowly, she looked at him straight in the eyes. “Talk to me about what?”
With those eyes staring at him like that, he found it hard to concentrate, but he knew he had to speak, had to end everything today, enough was enough. “About everything that has happened…, you know, everything that is happening. It’s been a month now and I don’t understand why I am here now any more than I understood it the first day I walked inside this house. I have thought and thought but I don’t get it. When do you intend to let me go? How long are we going to continue like this? Don’t you think you have proven your point? I have done everything you wanted all this time, isn’t it enough? Isn’t it time you ended all these?” He said in a persuasive tone, trying his best to reason with her.
She looked at him with blank expression, then suddenly burst out laughing. “Let you go?” She inquired. “And why will I do that? When I am having so much fun.”
“This is not normal behaviour, it’s not fair” he protested
“I don’t care” she countered coldly, “you have not suffered enough yet, I still have a lot of hurting to do you see,” she added sweetly.
“Why?” he asked desperate, “why are you doing this?”
“Because I hate you” she answered simply
“Why do you hate me? What is it that I have done that is so unforgivable? What is so difficult about me that you can’t tolerate?” he demanded
At those words, she found herself thinking once again about the same thing she had thought about over and over again. “What exactly has he done to me to deserve this? Why do I hate him so much? Why am I so obsessed with him?” Hard as she tried, no satisfactory answer came to mind, just looking at him like that, sitting there and speaking like that in that annoyingly seductive voice, was enough to unsettle. It was strange even for her.
“You intruded in my business she answered simply, that day in daddy’s office, you made me look bad and weak, no one does that to me, no one talks to me like that, no one.”
“Is that really it?” He asked not believing her, “is that really why you are doing this? Why you hate me so much?”
She didn’t reply, she just avoided his searching gaze.
“If that really is the reason, if that really is everything to it, then from the bottom of my heart I am sorry,” he said. “I am sorry I had to speak up that day. I am sorry I intruded in your business, Hanifah was going to lose her job that was the only reason I spoke up.”
At the mention of a female’s name, Risha felt the anger grip her with such force, she didn’t even realise how angry she was until she spoke, the sound of her own voice surprised her.
“Shut up” she countered savagely, “so you are still defending your actions, right? You can still sit there and blame me, right? You think it is that simple? Apologise and that’s it?” Her own words and the venom in her tone surprised her. When he had said he was sorry, she had felt a weird satisfaction. But as soon as he said that name, that stupid secretary she remembered so well, it upset her all of a sudden.
Farhan looked shocked and disappointed.
Something stirred within her as she saw the hurtful expression on his face. Surprisingly, it didn’t give her any joy now. Her heart ached strangely without another word, she stood up and walked away angrily.
“I have a family Risha”
She froze at her place. It was the first time he had ever said her name, the sound of it from his lips shocked and what he had just said along with that defeated tone stirred something deep within her being. Slowly, she turned to look him.
“I have a family” he repeated, “I have a mother, sisters and brothers that depend on me.” Despite he tried to say it as boldly as he could, his voice was shaking. “People I love and care for more than my own life.”
As she looked at him, Risha couldn’t explain what it was, but those words and the pain in his eyes was doing something to her. She opened her mouth as if to speak but no words came to mind. Unable to stay there any longer, she hurried upstairs.
It was almost a week later before Farhan laid eyes on her again, it seemed she was avoiding him. He knew she was in the house but he didn’t once see her. She no longer played that crazy music anymore. The house was very quiet these days. He didn’t know what else to do now. He had done what any reasonable person should do, he had apologised. What else did she want? He wondered, as he sat on the sofa in the parlour.
Then he heard her steps on the stairs as she walked down, it was a Saturday, so he didn’t go to work. Slowly but gracefully, she came to sit on the sofa beside him.
“Hey.” she whispered, much to his surprise,
Not expecting such politeness, it took him few seconds to reply, “hi,” he ventured cautiously.
“It’s ok don’t worry, I just want to talk.” She said in a tone he had never heard her use before.
He looked at her and surprisingly, she smiled. It was a genuine smile, beautiful and sweet.
He didn’t say anything, he just relaxed a bit and listened.
“I have been thinking about what you said before, you know, about why I hate you and all that, she said casually and you are right, I can’t seem to find any reason. But that does not mean I don’t hate you any more” she added quickly, “so don’t get your hopes up.”
He smiled but still said nothing.
“When you said those words to me that day at daddy’s office, I think I hated to hear it so much because I knew it was partly true. I don’t like treating him like that, I just can’t help it,” she said smiling strangely. “I hated it so much that your words affected me the way they did. No has ever dared to speak up to me before. But you are right, that is not the reason, at least not the only reason I hate you so much, there is something else, something I can’t explain, something I don’t understand.”
She peeked at him with the side of her eyes; he was watching her with an unbelievable expression on his face.
“What?” she asked self-consciously.
Coming back from his thoughts he said, “Nothing, I just didn’t expect that at all, but now that things are like this, what is the way forward?”
“I haven’t thought that far yet” she said defensively, “I still hate you, I am not done with you, so the idea of letting you go is not even up for now.”
He digested that quietly.
“It’s your entire fault, she continued,” evidently becoming angry and again, “why did you have to speak to me? Why did you have to say those words? Couldn’t you have just minded your own damn business? Why did you show yourself?”
“I already said I am sorry for all that, but if I am to be honest, I don’t regret it. Someone I cared about was going to lose her job, in the same circumstance, I think would speak up again.”
Without warning, she felt the anger grip her. “Are you stupid?” She asked not believing what he had just said, “are you trying to provoke me or what?”
“No,” he said quickly, “believe me that is not it at all, you were being honest with me and I just wanted to do the same, you already admitted that what I said was right, that there was some truth in it, then why does it bother you so much?”
“I already told you, I don’t know, it annoyed me period.” She snapped.
“Ok,” he said, “what will you do now? How long will you keep me here before you would be satisfied?”
“I don’t know, all I know is that I am not satisfied just yet, when I am, you will get your freedom, not a minute before.”
He observed her closely; there was nothing about her that seemed to prove she was joking.
“So, I am to stay here?” He asked, thinking to himself
“Yes”
“And you would continue to do all of the stuffs you have been doing so far?”
“Much more than that even” she replied evenly.
After a short pause, “it’s a deal then” he said in a surprisingly jovial voice, “I stay, I suffer in silence, you speak to your father and you let me go right?”
“Yes, that about it” she answered flashing a cynical smile.
“Ok,” he said conclusively.
“Ok”, she responded.
An awkward silence followed. After about a minute, she said “OK” then stood up and left.
Farhan sat there wandering what had just happened, then he started to laugh, it all seemed like a joke.
* * *
And it continued, the crazy girl stayed true to her word, things only got worse for him, hardly any day passed without her doing something deliciously evil. There seemed to be no doubt to the fact that she was enjoying herself to her heart’s content. And Farhan, he just took it all in silence. Some days when she was in a good mood, she would speak to him for a few minutes nothing reasonable, just silly stuffs about the havoc she was wrecking in his life. But amidst all these, something else was definitely happening; they were slowly but steadily becoming more familiar and aware of each other’s presence. Subconsciously, she found herself thinking about him always. It was true that most times, these thoughts were of the next diabolical plan she would unleash, but sometimes, she found herself wondering at the kind of person he was. She had never met anyone who had such superhuman restraint and self-control. Mostly, he would just smile when she said or did something bad to him, nothing seemed to upset him anymore. At the beginning, she was certain her crazy stuffs unnerved him, but not anymore. There was something calm and peaceful about him that she couldn’t explain, he evolved a certain inner peace she could not disrupt. Another thing she noticed about him was his dedication to religious duties, he never missed his daily prayers and most nights, she would wake to the sound of him reading the Quran. Once or twice, she found herself sitting at the door that linked their rooms listening to him recite. It was such a musical and inspiring voice he had. Seeing him do all these sometimes made her feel guilty about her own ways, but like everything else with her, she responded with anger. “What does he mean to prove?” She would ask herself in disgust. “The foolish show off, rubbing his spirituality over my face huh? I will show him.” And she always did one way or the other.