Their Last Season

Hamza sat outside the doctor's cabin.

It had been five minutes since Mrs. Khan had gone inside.

His palms were sweaty.

He tapped his leg restlessly, running a hand through his hair every few seconds.

Inside the cabin, a man in his early thirties sat behind his desk with an amused smile on his face.

Mrs. Khan sat across from him, glaring at him.

"Are you done with your glaring session, ma'am?" he asked respectfully.

"Listen, I didn't want to come here. I am here because of my son. So tell me what you have to say and then tell me that I am perfectly fine," she said in a firm tone.

He smiled.

Leaning slightly on the table, he said, "Okay. Let's start. Tell me about yourself."

"I am Nayyara Khan, a wife, a mother, and a homemaker," she replied in a flat tone.

"Okay. Who are you?" he asked.

She looked at him in confusion.

"Haven't I told you?" she countered.

"Yes, but that's just your name, not your identity. Tell me who you actually are."

He leaned back in his chair.

"Huh?"

"Ma'am, your personality, your likes and dislikes, your hobbies... what makes you happy?"

She looked at him with an unreadable expression.

Silence filled the room.

Her armour cracked.

"I don't remember. I never got the time to develop one."

Her lips curled into a faint, bitter smile.

The doctor carefully studied her expression.

"Any wish?" he asked softly.

"Gaining her forgiveness," she said in a reverie.

The moment she realized what she had said, her jaw tightened.

"Her?" he asked.

"None of your business."

Her tone was rude.

"Okay."

He nodded, closing the file in front of him.

"It's enough for today."

He smiled at her, but the gesture wasn't reciprocated.

Once she stepped out of the cabin, he called Hamza inside.

After asking his mother to wait in the car, Hamza walked into the cabin.

"How was the session, Doctor?" he asked impatiently.

The doctor let out a quiet sigh.

"I won't beat around the bush. Your mother is a complex personality. She's carrying a lot perhaps something she has never spoken about."

Lines formed on Hamza's forehead.

"What can I do to help her?" he asked.

The doctor smiled faintly.

"Let her live for herself. Encourage her to do something that truly makes her soul happy. For years, she has lived for everyone else. Now she needs a reason to live for herself."

He nodded silently, absorbing every word the doctor had said.

"I'll do whatever it takes," he said, determination evident in his voice.

The doctor gave him an encouraging smile.

"Don't try to fix her overnight, Hamza. Healing takes time. Just be there for her."

Hamza nodded again.

"I will."

With renewed resolve, he thanked the doctor and walked out of the cabin.

They reached home.

Mrs. Khan retired to her room.

Once seated on the bed, she took out her diary.

With a shaking hand, she started,

The door of the room clicked.

Ayla felt someone entering. She lifted her lashes and saw her mother carrying a tray of food.

Putting the tray on the table, she sat beside Ayla.

Nayyara looked at her with a painful smile.

Her eyes welled up.

Her gaze trailed over Ayla's face.

Ayla's ever-radiant eyes were hollow.

Her lips were chapped.

Her cheeks bore dried tear marks.

She simply engulfed her in her arms.

"Ayla, meri jaan, how did you fall in love with him?" she asked, voicing the question that had been bothering her.

Ayla looked at her.

"It was a hot afternoon. I had just returned from school.

When I saw Hashir entering with a man, the moment I saw his face, my breath hitched.

He was the same man whom I had met that afternoon.

I was coming out of school when I fell down.

I felt a sting on my forehead.

Just then, I heard some boys laughing nearby.

I looked up and saw a few unknown boys.

I got terrified.

I stood up with difficulty and tried to walk past them silently.

Then I felt a tug on my dupatta.

A shiver ran down my spine.

I looked back and saw one of them smirking while holding the edge of my dupatta.

I was about to say something when I saw one of them being punched.

That man punched them, and they ran away.

He turned towards me, his gaze lowered.

He offered me some water.

I took it with shaking hands.

'Don't worry. They won't harass you,' he said in a warm tone, without meeting my eyes.

'Thank you,' I whispered.

Then I turned to leave.

I had just started walking when I felt someone's presence behind me.

I turned around again.

It was the same man.

"I am walking behind you just to make sure they don't come back. I'll walk with you until the main road."

I nodded.

Once we reached the main road, he was gone.

But from my heart, he wasn't.

Ammi, that day I came to know at home that he was Bhai's friend.

He protected me the way Bhai and Abba protect me.

His gaze was lowered.

He didn't even look at me, Maa.

How could I not fall for someone like him?

So soft-hearted.

Modest.

A gentleman."

Nayyara looked at her, squeezing her hands.

"Protector."

The word echoed in her mind.

"'Protector.' Ammi, Bhai and Abba are my protectors. Let me talk to them once more. I know they will understand," she said as she stood up.

She ran towards the study room.

Opening the door, she stood in front of Mr. Khan.

Mr. Khan's gaze hardened as he looked at her.

Ayla noticed it.

She felt her heart being sliced into pieces.

"Abba, you love me, so why can't you understand? I can't marry anyone else."

She spoke with quivering lips.

She saw her father's fists clench.

Hashir stood up.

"Don't come between me and Abba, Bhai," she roared.

Hashir stopped in his tracks.

She was their blood too.

"Abba, please. I won't be a good wife to Aamir."

She received no response.

Moving closer to him, she knelt beside her father.

"Abba, even our beloved Prophet asked his daughters for their opinion before marrying them. How could you not, Abbu?" she said in an utterly broken tone.

Her father looked at her with a straight face.

"Don't you have any shame, Ayla, saying all this in front of your father?" Hashir snapped.

"I am not talking about anything illicit, Bhai," she retorted.

"You have to marry Aamir," she heard Hashir say.

For the first time, something inside her snapped.

She turned back.

"I will not marry him," she said, each word laced with defiance.

Just then, she felt a hand around her neck.

She turned and saw her Abba's hand.

She looked at him.

It felt like a nightmare.

She felt herself choking.

She realized her Abba was strangling her.

She sensed Hashir rushing towards them.

She heard his voice, but her eyes couldn't move away from her father's face.

"Abba, leave her! She'll die!" Hashir exclaimed.

Ayla's legs felt like jelly.

She felt the blood rushing through her body.

She felt her body giving up.

Then she felt herself hit the ground.

Ayla Khan left the world while looking at her father's face.

Her eyes remained open, still gazing at him.