Chapter 6: A Daughter-in-Law Like a Daughter

Mahendra looked at Haji Kareem and noticed that his friend, too, had become quiet.

Mahendra: "You've been listening to me for so long. Now tell me, how are things at your home?"

Haji Kareem smiled faintly, but there was sadness behind it.

Haji Kareem: "Every family has its own wounds, Mahendra."

Mahendra nodded.

Mahendra: "Tell me."

Haji took a deep breath.

Haji Kareem: "You remember my elder son, don't you?"

Mahendra: "Of course."

Haji's smile disappeared.

Haji Kareem: "He left his wife while she was pregnant with their second child. He walked away from his family for another woman."

Mahendra was shocked.

Mahendra: "Kareem..."

Haji lowered his eyes.

Haji Kareem: "The woman he left behind is my daughter-in-law, Poornima Qureshi."

Mahendra listened carefully.

Haji Kareem: "She is only thirty-three years old. She could have left this house, blamed all of us, or started a new life somewhere else. But she stayed—not because she had nowhere to go, but because she wanted her children to grow up with a family."

Mahendra nodded respectfully.

Haji Kareem: "She works as a teacher in a government school here in Bikaner. Every morning she wakes up before everyone else, cooks for the entire family, gets Ayat and Aarhan ready for school, teaches her students with a smile, comes back home, and still takes care of every responsibility."

Mahendra smiled gently.

Mahendra: "She sounds like a remarkable woman."

Haji smiled proudly.

Haji Kareem: "She is."

Then his expression became heavy again.

Haji Kareem: "But my wife, Shabana... she still blames Poornima for my son's mistakes."

Mahendra frowned.

Mahendra: "That's unfair."

Haji Kareem: "Very unfair. Every day she tells Poornima that she couldn't keep her husband happy. Yet not once has that girl answered back."

Mahendra shook his head.

Mahendra: "She has endured a lot."

Haji Kareem: "Do you know what hurts me the most? She still respects us. She still calls me 'Abbu' with so much affection. She never lets Ayat and Aarhan speak disrespectfully to their grandmother, despite everything."

Mahendra was silent for a moment.

Mahendra: "Not every daughter is born into a family. Some become daughters through their actions."

Haji's eyes became moist.

Haji Kareem: "That's exactly how I see her. She came into my house as my daughter-in-law, but today she is my daughter."

He smiled proudly.

Haji Kareem: "She has never asked me for anything. She only wants her children to have a peaceful life."

Mahendra looked thoughtfully at the calm waters of the lake.

Mahendra: "It seems our grandchildren carry the burden of other people's mistakes."

Haji nodded.

Haji Kareem: "Yes. Veeresh is paying the price for a broken marriage, and Poornima is paying the price for a husband who abandoned her."

The two old friends fell silent.

Neither of them knew that fate was slowly weaving together the lives of Veeresh Rathore and Poornima Qureshi, two people who had given everything to their families yet received very little happiness in return.