"Really?" She asked innocently.
"Yes. Friends help each other. Listen to each other and calm each other when one of them gets angry." he said in a soft tone. She nodded.
"You are a good friend " he was lucky that maah e roo said him a good friend. He smiled.
"Yes. I listen to your scolding and bey you. Don't you think you should also listen to me?" He again came to the same point. Mah e Roh frowned.
"I will not obey you." She said sternly.
" Mah e Roo," He sighed.
"Okay, okay. don't go to the hospital. What If the doctor comes here and checks you?"
"Don't even think about it" She denied angrily.
"Okay. Fine. I'm going." He got up and walked out of the room. Mah e Roo was embarrassed. But what could she do ? It was also a psychological issue of her. She was horrified by doctors and hospitals. She once saw a patient covered in blood in a hospital and since then, she was scared of hospitals. Despite having so many diseases she was not ready to consider herself sick. She neither liked to be treated by doctors, nor did she like sympathy for herself. Whenever she heard the word "poor girl" for herself, her anger would rise.
_______
"Baba." Nayab's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He sighed and looked at her. Today, neither he smiled seeing Nayab nor had a gleam in his eyes. He had realized that Nayab always lied to her about Mah e Roo's health. She always said that she took care of her but now Mah e Roo's condition told him the truth.
"Are you angry with me?" She approached him and asked.
"No. I'm angry with myself, not with you." Zarib Shah replied sadly
"I know you're angry with me. I didn't take care of Mah e Roo and kept telling you that she was fine. You don't believe me now Baba." She said with innocence and sat before him. Zarib Shah looked at her in wonder.
"Yes, I admit I lied to you, but the real reason was that I did not want to upset you. I know you already suffered a lot. That's why you went away from us. When you see Mah e Roo, you remember your second wife whom you loved very much. I understand your feelings, Baba. You left Mah e roo but I tried my best to take care of but she never listened to me. I can't be strict with her as she is so weak but she is very rude to me. She even beat me many times. If I didn't tell you about her condition, then I didn't tell you anything about her bad behavior. I always consider her my sister." She explained and subsided the suspicion about her in the mind of Zarib Shah cleverly.
"I am not angry with you. You did right. I believe in you but not in your mother." Zarib Shah said.
"Baba. You know her. She got angry at Mah e Roo sometimes but I would handled her. However, Mah e Roo was a little difficult to handle. She is very combative and turns red with anger in a moment. Many times she has fought with all of her cousins. One day she got angry and went to the third floor. She said I would stay here from today. We tried to persuade her to bring her down but she didn't listen to us. She went away from everyone, but I took care of her even there. Despite being insulted by her, I continued to do all her work." She was proving herself oppressed and Mah e Roo as tyrant so that Zarib shah started hating her again. But it was not possible now.
"I apologize to you on her behalf. She is still a little kid. Do not take it to heart and continue taking care of her." he said in a serious tone. Nayab was disappointed.
"Okay Baba, I'll take care of her ." She muttered.
...…
The morning breeze and the rays of rising sun made the weather pleasant. Mah e Roo came out of the room to enjoy the weather with her doll. Nowadays, her life was going smooth because Aunt Sarah was here and Nayab couldn't torture her. She slowly walked with the wall, came to the stairs and looked up at the rooftop Her heart wanted to go upstairs so she quickly acted on it. She was standing on the roof two minutes later and glanced around . A smile spread on her rosey lips. She always liked to see the hilly area of Mirpur standing on the terrace. She kept looking around for some moments and then she looked at her doll sitting down on the floor.
"Fairy! You know I like green mountains . I want to fly over there. take me to these mountains today." She said, closing her eyes . the fairy took her to the mountains in her imagination. Her mind could make scenes of mountains. She felt herself flying at the green forest, grass, trees, plants, flowers and butterflies all around her.
Suddenly the sound of someone's footsteps broke her and she came out of her imagination. She opened her eyes angrily and saw the man standing in front of her.
"You came back again?" She asked with disgust.
"Yes." He said in a heavy voice, sitting down on his feet.
He saw maah e roo while sitting in his car on the road in front of Shah Palace. He recognized her in an instant and cane to her.
"Why are you here? I told you to never come back again." She said angrily. Hasaan took a deep breath and stared at her with furious eyes.
"Why are you staring at me now?" She wrinkled her nose. Hasaan didn't answer her.
"Why have you become dumb? Why are you not answering me?." She gritted her teeth. Hasaan's stare turned into a glare.
"Hey, stop staring at me. You are looking like a Ghost." she remembered Hasaan said he had a ghost in His captivity. She stopped talking in fear.
"What happened? Why did you stop talking suddenly?" He asked in wonder.
"You said you have ghosts, don't you?" She said in a frightened tone.
"Yeah. So the fairy queen is scared of ghosts?" He said sarcastically. Mah e Roo fumed.
"I am not afraid of ghosts. Call your ghost in front of me. I will beat him . " She spoke, proving herself fearless.
"He is scary." Hasaan made an excuse.
"Don't make lame excuse And call ghost here . Ohh Maybe you were lying." She narrowed her eyes. Hasaan chuckled.
"No. I was not lying. He is really scary. You can't see him" Hasaan himself had no idea why he was having a childish argument with this little girl.
"Liar. I have caught your lie." She laughed. Hasaan mesmerized for a moment. Her laughter was so beautiful. He took away his eyes from her hardly. Even at such a young age, she was so attractive. a strange feeling arose in Hasaan's heart which was beyond his comprehension.
"I'm not lying. Think yourself. How can I know your name?" She felt he was right and could not speak out of fear. He looked intently at the changing expressions on her face.
"Mah e Roo!" He addressed her. Mah e Roo looked into his grey eyes.
"Your stepmother beats you, doesn't she?" He asked.
"Not now. But she beat me in the past " Mah e Roo realized what she had said after answering him. She widened her eyes in astonishment .
"How…..How do you know?" She stammered. Nayab warned her to not tell this to anyone. How could she make such a big mistake.
"Ghost told me." Hasaan succeeded in his purpose.
"He told me everything about you." He made another psychological attack on Mah e Roo.
"What?" She shouted. She wanted to hide herself from everyone but that boy knew everything about her. She was in shock.
"Your parents left you and your stepmother treated you badly. You fight with everyone. They call you psycho. That's why you got away from them. And you are sick." He told the everything about her which a maid of Shah Palace had told him in repay of money .
"I am neither psycho nor sick. You're lying." Her face turned red with anger.
"You are a psycho. How dare you call me this?" she pounced on him and started punching Hasaan's chest and shoulders with her delicate hands. Hasaan was surprised at her reaction
Why was she so furious at the word psycho? He should have not said it. He regretted it but when she overreacted he got angry too.
"Just stop it. I didn't say anything wrong." He clasped her delicate wrists in his hands and spoke sternly.
"You're wrong. I'm not psycho. You're psycho. You're blind, dumb, deaf and lame." He could stop her hands, but Mah e Roo's tongue couldn't be stopped. Hasaan was shocked to hear such words for himself.
"You are a beast …." Before she said more in his praise, He screamed.