Both the step brothers who saw each other after quite a long time were not feeling easy seeing each other. Rizwan who was very angry with Hannan rushed towards him with fury in his eyes. Rahman followed him and stopped as his father stopped.

“You!” Rizwan said pointing his finger towards Hannan. “You are the enemy of this family. But your son, he is worse than usual enemies. He has kidnapped my grandson. I need an explanation from you.”

“Respected brother Rizwan, first of all, I need you to know that he is not my son anymore. I have exiled him just the way you had exiled me.”

“Is he related to you by blood?”

“Yes.”

“Then, he is your son. You cannot exile someone who is related to you by blood.”

“That’s no rule, Mr Rizwan. You have always preferred breaking families and creating subdivisions. This is not something Dad would have liked.”

“Hannan, I don’t want to argue with you. Just tell me, where is my grandson.”

“I swear upon God, I have no idea. But I can promise to help you out with this.”

“No Dad,” Rahman said to his father, “We cannot trust this man.”

“I know,” Rizwan answered.

“I know that he is just playing tricks with us. He has his own purposes.”

“Look Rizwan,” Hannan said getting annoyed, “I was here for reconciliation. But you guys are very biased. I cannot help you if you are not willing to

trust me.”

“We don’t need your help,” Rahman replied. “We are not begging you to be kind on us. We just need to know where you have hidden your son, so we can break his bones and bury him alive.”

“I’m leaving,” Hannan said, “But before I do, I want to say something very honestly. I have no issue if you literally break my son’s bones and bury him alive in front of me, because this would in fact be a favour

on me.”

He turned and left them alone.

Rahman and Rizwan were very surprised on his reply.

Rizwan said,

“Maybe, he really hates his son.”

Rahman walked back to where he was sitting earlier. Rizwan was thinking about how his brother had grown and had changed, since he was talking about reconciling. Rizwan had developed a soft corner for his brother and wondered,

What if he’s learned to improve, because of his son?

He looked back and saw his son standing on the footpath. He walked towards his son and asked,

“So, what are you planning on doing today? Sitting here all day.”

“I have no choice. I don’t know where he lives. I’ll have to wait… I’m doing this for Harun.”

“What if he never comes here?” Rizwan asked.

“So, I’ll stay here forever.”

“Or what if he’s not even the culprit?”

“What do you mean?” Rahman asked looking at his father’s face.

“I mean like Khattab, I never expected that he would plan on crushing my father’s grave and for no reason.”

“Okay, in that case you can put all your strength on Khattab and I will work on Jafar. One among the two, I’m sure is our culprit.”

Rizwan agreed with his son, he said to his son before leaving,

“I’ll go and check on Khattab, but I need you to understand that you need to take care of your health. Don’t keep yourself hungry.”

Rizwan took out his wallet and after taking out some money, he lent it to Rahman.

v v v

That evening, Hannan was on the top of the same building when he came to the city. He had a torch in his hand. He read his note that he had carved on the wall.

I came here for a purpose and if it weren’t for my rebellious son, I would have focused a little more on my objective.

Next morning, Rizwan who was at his home and hadn’t left for work, was sitting deeply upset as he hadn’t slept for the entire night.

Alia came that very moment and said,

“There’s a call for you.”

“Who is it?” he asked.

“He’s not answering that. He just says he wants to speak with you.”

Rizwan stood up immediately realising something. He guessed,

“They must be the kidnappers.”

He rushed to answer the phone.

As he reached, he picked it up and answered the call,

“Hello? Who is it?”

Maqsood was on the other line. He had tied a handkerchief on the phone as he was trying to hide his identity. He was speaking from a phone booth.

“I am not going to reveal who I am, but I need you to know something very important. Your grandson was kidnapped by Jafar. He asked me to do it, I did it but it was too heavy for my conscience.”

“Who are you?” Rizwan asked controlling his temper. “Please tell me, I promise you I won’t harm you. I won’t even involve the police.”

“It doesn’t matter who I am,” Maqsood replied quickly, “What you need to know Mr Rizwan is that he is trying to teach Rahman a lesson. You need to be careful with this guy or else he would really harm the kid.”

“Can you give me his address?”

“Yes I can, I will. But you need to trust me. You know me very well, okay? You are not a stranger to me.”

Rizwan concentrated on his words and guessed,

“Are you Khattab?”

Maqsood felt really guilty at the moment. He finally spoke out trying to ease his conscience,

“I want you to know something. It wasn’t Khattab. It wasn’t him at all. He never had that intention; he went there to stop those old guys from crushing your father’s grave. It was all just a conspiracy.”

Rizwan was shocked, but since he was getting different signals at the same moment, so he asked just to clear his confusion,

“You planned all these conspiracies or was it Jafar’s idea.”

“No, don’t mix them. Jafar had nothing to do with Khattab. He had only planned to kidnap your child, your grandson. He just wants those prophecies.”

“Are you not going to reveal your identity?”

That very moment, the call dropped.

Maqsood regretted as he couldn’t guide him regarding the address. He however said,

“Anyways, I feel better. I think, I have done a good job so far. I am an honest person and from now on I will lead a virtuous life.”

Back in Rizwan’s home, he placed the phone back. He wondered,

“Well, this proves that Jafar is the culprit. But, Khattab’s reality was a bit shocking for me.”

Rizwan saw his wife coming. He said to her,

“The kidnapper has been discovered. We just need to find out some addresses and then, we are all set.”

“Rizwan,” his wife said with disappointment, “When will these end? One problem dies, another takes birth. I think that there is no happiness for Omama at all.”

“But we can’t stop from trying. Her happiness is not what matters to me right now; her son’s life is what matters to me.”

“I know. I agree. I’m also concerned about the same problem.”

“The call was from someone associated with the criminal. He was working for Jafar, and now he was too guilty probably. He simply revealed the truth, but unfortunately I couldn’t get Jafar’s address.”

“So, how are we going to get there?”

“There’s one person who can probably guide me.”

“Who?”

“But first, I’ll have to apologise to him.”

“About what? Who are you talking about?”

***********

Next evening, Rizwan and Rahman were standing outside Khattab’s apartment. As Khattab opened the door, he looked at Rizwan with amasement.

“I’m here to apologise and reconcile,” Rizwan said his first words.

“Okay,” Khattab said giving an expression of confusion.

“It was a misunderstanding.

I can explain everything.”

Several minutes later, the three of them were standing at the balcony of the house. After the entire explanation of the misunderstanding, Khattab said,

“I knew someone was conspiring against me. But you, you didn’t even consider our past.”

“Look, I’m sorry…”

“…you don’t know anything about trust and faith.”

“Look I know, I get it. You are right about it, you have every reason to be mad, but right now you need to understand that things are getting really worse. My grandson has been kidnapped.”

“What?” Khattab asked getting a bit worried. “Your grandson? Wait, when did your daughter give birth to a child?”

“A long time back, he is one years old now; I mean he will be this week. But he has been kidnapped by Jafar.”

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry to hear about that.”

Rahman said,

“We can’t say for sure that he would turn one this week, if only he is alive…”

“No, Rahman!” Rizwan stopped him, “Don’t say that. Don’t even think like that.”

Khattab spoke raising his voice,

“No, everything will be fine! Have faith in God. Everything will be fine.”

“Yes,” Rizwan agreed.

“Look, I’ll help you with this,” Khattab said. “I’m with you guys, I promise.”

“I’m sure, you would. Right now, we are looking for Jafar’s address. We need to resolve this in front of both of them.”

“Hannan,” Khattab spoke unusually, “actually I do have his address. I know where he works.”

“Wait, where he works or where he lives?”

“No, I’ve seen him at a wedding hall. He works as a supervisor. He has a small job there.”

“That’s it, that’s great!” Rizwan said getting excited. “We will simply go and meet him.”

“Okay, how about tomorrow?”

Rizwan looked at his son. Rahman answered,

“Alright, tomorrow’s good.”

“Should we take cops along?” Khattab asked.

“Not right now,” Rizwan suggested.

They had a little conversation and then, they went back inside.

***********

Next evening, Rizwan along with his two children, Rahman and Omama stepped out of the car. Khattab was driving the vehicle and he had stopped outside the marriage lawn. Some wedding ceremony was taking place inside the lawn.

The three members of the family walked towards the entrance, as they were asked to show their wedding invitation. Rizwan said,

“We are here to meet Hannan.”

“Hannan, the worker?” the receptionist asked.

“Yes.”

Five minutes later, the three of them were seated at the corner of a table. Hannan rushed towards them and said to Rizwan politely,

“Yes, how may I help you?”

“We are here to talk about our child’s issue.”

“Oh yes, what about it?”

“We’ve been informed by an anonymous person that your son Jafar is involved in this.”

Hannan gave it a thought and then said,

“Alright, just give me ten minutes, I’ll join you. In the meantime, I’ll bring you some drinks.”

“Okay.”

Hannan turned and left in fast speed.

Rizwan looked at his brother and wondered,

I assume he has changed.

At some distance, Jafar was standing and watching the entire family. He hid his face with a piece of cloth and followed his father.

Minutes later, as the family was having a conversation, Hannan came and put a tray of drinks on their table. He left indicating that he would join them soon.

They were not really in a mood to drink, so Rizwan said to his kids,

“Go on, have some.”

Rahman didn’t touch it and asked Omama,

“Why don’t you have some?”

Omama quite reluctantly picked up the glass and had a huge sip since she was too thirsty. In just two minutes, she finished the entire drink.

“You can have mine too, if you want,” Rahman said to his sister.

That moment, Khattab came walking towards them and asked,

“Did you guys find Hannan?”

Omama coughed out aloud. She took everyone’s attention. She coughed a little more and with pain. Rahman and Rizwan were a bit worried. Rizwan asked,

“Are you alright dear?”

Omama coughed a little more and stopped as she threw out some liquid through her mouth and nose. Khattab walked towards the spit and as he examined it closely, he saw that it was blood.

Omama kept on coughing. Rahman looked at her face and saw small splashes of blood on her nose and her hand.

“Oh, my God!” Rahman uttered. “What’s happening to her?”

Omama vomited and this time there was loads of blood in her vomit.

Rizwan stood up with anger and astonishment.

to be continued...