I sat infront of the dressing table, staring at my henna covered beautiful hands; when a drop of tear streaming down my chin, dripped onto my hands. Sniffing through tears, I rubbed my nose with the back of my hand.

I looked up from my hands to my reflection in the mirror. Once again the sobs started to break out as I began feeling sorry for myself.

'How could I've ever imagined, that the most beautiful day of my life would actually be the worst day!' I watched my lower lips puckering in the mirror and almost praised the waterproof liner and mascara that had still not given up on me, even after the amount of tears I had shed tonight.

Sadly, my pity party was crashed by a detestable figure appearing in the mirror. Immediately my lips drew into a thin line and I got up, turning to him with a scowl.

"YOU!" I seethed through clenched teeth and with all the hatred built up, stomped towards him. He paused in the midst of pulling up the sleeves of his white kurta and eyed me with irritation brimming in his eyes. Before I could say anymore, he walked past me with a roll of eyes and sat down on the edge of the bed after discarding the sherwani in his hand.

Not getting discouraged in the least by his lack of response, I turned on my heels and bellowed once more.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! Do you hear me?! What are you going to do about this situation, huh?!!" I screamed after coming to stand infront of him. He didn't even look up from unbuckling his shoes.

"Can you stop screaming like an illiterate person? I can hear you just fine, even without your yelling—" He didn't shout. His voice was low when he turned an icy gaze to me and I would've almost crashed my fist with that pretty face of his if I didn't feel a little humiliated by his words. In the end, thinking better of my brought up, I left my hand hanging between us; whilst still gawking him through clenched teeth and quivering lips.

His eyes drifted to my fist before skidding to my tear stained face and narrowed in irritation.

"My fault?" His voice was low and eyes blazing coal as he got up to meet my gaze. Instead of feeling intimidated by the proximity, I almost snarled at him.

"Yes!! You—!! I hate you—you jerk!!" I screamed through trembling lips and barely caught myself from landing a punch against his chest.

'Ugh!! If it wasn't for the stupid etiquettes that I was brought up with and my common sense, I would've strangled this horrible—despicable—man infront of me!' I wheezed with constrained anger, glaring at him through gritted teeth.

Unaffected by my yapping, he towered over me. His brows furrowing in a frown before a snicker erupted across his features.

"Maybe your memory needs some refreshment?" He began slowly, eyes still peering into mine as he began to inch closer. This sudden change of pace made my heart beat faster and without meaning to I took a step back and another but he didn't stop until he finally pulled me to his face with a jerk. My eyes drifted to his tight grip on my arm before slowly shifting to his face, in suppressed rage. His eyes held enough blaze to burn the whole room, when he began to address me through clenched teeth.

"If you hadn't decided to get kidnapped, then I wouldn't have had to bear the torture of looking at your face for my entire lifetime—" He remarked in a low piercing voice that would've scared me, if I didn't hate him so much.

My response came in a scoff and I caught his frown deepening in malice.

"You were actually expecting me to be grateful for your so-called-charity?" I inquired with widening eyes and a caustic smile. His mouth had pursed into a thin line and I felt his grip tightening for a fleeting second.

"Do you think I don't know what you and your father got in return—?" My face had scrunched up in disgust and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Screw you Hadeed Rehman—!" I screamed at his face before wrenching free of his hold and stalked to the bathroom. Slamming the door shut behind me, I slid down to the floor and wrapped my hands around my knees. After dropping my head between them, I let my tears break loose.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

2 WEEKS BEFORE

"No. Even if he is the last man on this planet, it's more likely that I murder him, than even think about marriage—" I remarked slowly, barely able to hide my anger. My eyes remained fixated on my hand clutched in my lap; rather, on that diamond ring which he had forcefully slipped onto my finger, just an hour ago.

It felt like that band was burning into my flesh. And if I didn't know any better than I would say that I might be having an anaphylactic reaction from that crystal.

"Hoor—let's not jump to conclusions—" Papa began with a sigh and would've continued if I didn't sharply turned my gaze up to meet his.

"Papa—Please—I—I don't wish to disobey you—but what you're asking me—this—this—I can't—sorry—" I stuttered without meeting his gaze and got up to leave before they could say anything more. However, not without pulling off the ring and slapping it on the glass table.

———————————————-

Sigh.

For the millionth time, I had sighed into my hands. It'd been only 2 days since that unfortunate visit and my life had literally turned into hell.

At home, whenever Mama, Papa got a chance they began their efforts to convince me otherwise. It frustrated me beyond help that I couldn't seem to make them understand the absurdity of this whole situation.

'Why?! Why can't they trust my words?!! I get that they hold far more experience than me and only want my best—But no matter how good their intentions might be—why can't they take my word for it?!'

When I came back from Police Station after that dreadful meeting with him and explained the whole thing to my parents, they seemed to be convinced about how much of a jerk he was. However, Papa just had to call his father to tell him the reality about his son's intentions.

Yet, the thing that left me baffled was how—just how did my Papa get pulled into Uncle Rehman's manipulation? I mean—I knew Papa was a pretty smart man and wouldn't believe just anyone—So, it really did leave me astounded, when Uncle told Papa that he had talked to Hadeed; who said, he was only getting cold feet and only meant that he would prefer for us to get to know each other before tying the knot.

I didn't believe this whole crap for a flipping second. I knew what I saw that day at the police station—He had zero intention to marry me then and even now when he visited 2 days back, when we had that joke of an engagement.

According to Papa, there was no issue in giving this a shot—it was just an engagement, which I could break later and this would give me a chance to get to know him. But I didn't WANT to get to know him—! I knew already more than I cared to know about him—! So, why was this so hard for Papa and Mama to understand—?! I mean—Ughh!!

"Hey—are you okay?" Laiba, placed an unsure hand to my shoulder and I slumped to my desk with a groan.

'Ya Allah—please, help!!'

————————————

I had just walked out of the office, towards the parking lot; when I felt someone grabbing me by my arms and pulling me back. Before I could make a sound, something soft pressed against my mouth and I started losing consciousness.

When I woke up, I was lying in my bed.

'Was that a dream—? What a weird dream. Felt so real.' I thought groggily and went to the washroom to freshen up. That's when my eyes fell on an unknown bruise on my arm. I pressed a shaky hand to it.

Suddenly, my heart beat had picked up. My breathing felt constricted and I exhaled short gasps to catch my breath.

'How—how did I come back—' I wondered, my mind racing to the last thing I remembered.

'I was walking towards my car—' The thought was left unfinished, when my feet halted on top of the stairs and heard not so unknown voices.

"You need to be brave Safdar—for Hoorain and your family. If you are going to breakdown in this way, then how is everyone else going to hold up—" Uncle Rehman's familiar voice clashed with my ear. Beneath his voice, was my Dad's sobs buried. I felt my feet, working on it's own down the stairs. One step at a time.

"It's good that you called us immediately. If Hadeed hadn't reached on time—You should be thanking God that the worst didn't happen—" He continued and I had almost reached the end of the stairs.

"You have nothing to worry about Safdar—Hoorain is still our daughter. She is our honour as she is yours—" He would've continued if I didn't interrupt them.

"Papa—?" My voice cracked as I stood at the door to the lounge. Uncle Rehman was sitting with Dad on the couch who was sobbing into his hands. Mom was almost passed out in Auntie's arms. There was only one person standing idle, with a hard expression on his face, while gawking Dad and Uncle.

Immediately everyone's eyes shot up to mine. Dad tried to get up but fell down on the couch with a slump. Uncle Rehman tried to help him but by then I had reached to his side.

"Papa—? What's wrong? Wha—why are you—" I began, crouching to the floor by his side. I had taken his hands in mine, who couldn't stop shaking in my grasp.

"Hoor—my brave beta—" Dad uttered through sobs and I felt my face getting wet with tears. The only reason I was crying, was because my strong and courageous Dad was breaking apart in front of me.

And I was the reason behind it.

"Papa—what—what's wrong—what happened—" I could only speak in broken sentences while my Dad engulfed me in a hug. His hand stroking the back of my head.

"Nothing—Nothing's wrong, my dear—Everything is fine—Everyone—is—" I silently cried in his embrace, wrapping my arms around the bravest person I ever knew and hoping I could protect him from falling apart.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Hoor—" My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the bathroom door. I didn't say anything but raised my head from my lap.

"Hoor please open the door—There's no point in locking yourself inside. Please come out." His levelheaded but exhausted voice sounded from the other side of the door. For a moment, I sat there contemplating my next move before finally deciding to get up in my 6kg lehnga and 7-inch heels that I had forgot to discard in my rage.

Sighing, I opened the door and without sparing him a single glance, walked up to the dressing table and sat down to take off my jewellery and hair accessories. I had almost pulled out a pin when it got stuck in my hair.

"Ouch." A yelp escaped my lips.

Exhaling an exhausted sigh, I went back to work when my gaze caught him moving towards me in the mirror. He came to stand behind me and without saying anything, he started pulling out the safety pins. 

I became absolutely still as he removed pins after pins. For a few minutes, I silently watched him, too stunned to do anything. He got rid of my dupatta in minutes and then went on with getting the pins out of my hair. After he was done with that, I felt his hands working its way through my hair. Heat spread across my face as I gawked his reflection in the mirror.

And then he caught my gaze in the mirror. Instead of looking away, I held it. There was something steely in his gaze which regarded me with an unreadable emotion—an emotion that made me grit my teeth in annoyance.

In one swift motion, I coldly jerked away his hand and got up; wrapping the folds of my dress around me.

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