Zoya's POV:

"So how was the date? I need the deets!" I shook Rubab's shoulders in anticipation while she just laughed softly and looked away. She opened a bag of Lays and then looked at me thoughtfully. Was she trying to find the appropriate words to describe the date? Typical Rubab. But this was something I liked about her. She thought about everything before saying anything. Her words were well structured and careful unlike me who said whatever was on my head.

"It was alright. He got me a bouquet of roses. We were both wearing black which was awkward. He wanted to take a picture with me for the sake of memory but I refused." She replied without hesitation and I whistled. "Also, I told him to break up as soon as possible." I blinked once, twice. Why am I not surprised?

"You did what? Why? I mean I am not a fan of Fahad's flirtatious nature but you can have fun with him."

"Um," I turned to look at her, she was hesitant while her cheeks were pink. "I did have fun with him though." I wanted to hug her for being so cute and innocent but I knew she would feel awkward about it. She wasn't a huge fan of displays of affection unlike me and Misha.

"Why not just keep him around? For the sake of it? He is not that bad to be honest. Enjoy it while it lasts? No strings attached kind of way but like more halal." I really wanted her to enjoy life after the shit Zohaib put her through but then again I didn't know if Fahad was the one to give her that peace of mind. He was a wreck himself.

"I can't keep lying to my family. They think he might actually marry me after the time he saved me from Zohaib. The bad part is that he is not going to do that. It is all just a game to him so I will probably ask him to not meet me again after the next meetup. This is meaningless. I can't lead everyone on." She had a point. This didn't seem to have a happy ending attached to them.

"What are you going to do about Zohaib and your broken engagement? I mean it is true Zohaib hasn't showed up again yet but we don't know when he will be back." I reasoned and Rubab just sighed deeply to this.

"Fahad told me he might make a move soon again. According to him, he is not the type to remain silent." I snapped my head in her direction. And she is telling me this now?

"What are you going to do? Should we contact the police? Get a restraining order or something?" I offered but she just shook her head. I was surprised at her ability to stay calm. I would have left the country if this was the case. She really had the nerves of steel.

"I don't think that will work. Zohaib's family can bribe the police. You know how strong they are. Ugh! Why did I have to say Fahad is my lover? Why couldn't I just introduce him as my friend? My brain stopped working during that time. This is such a mess! How do I get rid of him? Of both of them?"

"I don't think Fahad's ego would have accepted that friend-zone to be honest." I shook my head trying to imagine him as Rubab's guy friend. He would make a disgusted face and talk about how 'no woman has ever friend zoned him' till now. That would be a sight to see. "Keep Fahad around then? I don't see any other way around this. I know you want to forget about him as soon as possible but he is probably the only one who can help right now. Plus he already knows the situation."

Rubab didn't reply to this. The atmosphere of the room turned extremely gloomy so I decided to change the mood. "I am sure Allah will find a way for us. He never abandons us. It will all workout in a way that is best for all of us. How about we go shopping to make the mood better? Misha's wedding is only a month away. I need to buy heels for the wedding. What do you say?"

Rubab brightened up at the suggestion. She slowly got up from the bed and crumpled up the empty lays packet and threw it in the dustbin. "I am sure it will work out. If Fahad is the one to help me I just need to accept it. I am already indebted to him. My pride doesn't really want to rely on him again but I guess I need to talk to him. I was really harsh on him during the date because I was intent on getting rid of him. I hope he didn't think on it too much. Nah, he is not the type to do that. He probably has a girl sitting in his lap feeding him grapes and wine or something stupid right about now." The visual image that Rubab's words had set made me laugh.

I can actually imagine Fahad doing something absurd like that. He wasn't really as bad as of a guy as we had made him out to be. Speaking on comparative basis, he was far better than Zohaib at least.

"Yeah, you should do that. He is not that bad, I suppose. Who knows? Maybe you guys end up being good friends. He will be around anyways since he is Ibraheem's best friend. It's not like we can avoid him even if we want too. Speaking of avoidance, I wonder what I am going to do about Kamran. I hope I can avoid him for as long as possible. Well, I am not worried because he is in Karachi these days anyway." I was assuring myself.

"Yeah, you won't be seeing Kamran for another month or so. We can just go with the Burkah plan then." Rubab joked and suddenly the gloomy aura in the room had settled down. "I am sure it will all end up on a good note. Let's head out then?"

I nodded as I grabbed the keys from the table and told ammi I was going to Packages mall for a bit of shopping. She agreed on the condition that we take the driver since it was slightly late so we decided to go with that. They had been extra careful since that scene with Kamran in front of my house. 

I was so glad Saad didn't follow me to Lahore though. My father and brothers assured him that it was going to be alright since I was 'protected' at all times. They all were way too protective at times but they had a reason to be. I had no complaints whatsoever.

Ever since my childhood trauma, constant surveillance was the only way to go. I still wondered at times though, just how bad was the scene I witnessed that caused my brain to suppress my memories? I know I saw a murder and got caught witnessing it but that was all I remembered. I don't know how I got away or what the murderers looked like. All I got were  fragments and if I thought really hard on it I ended up getting a piercing headache or worse yet, nightmares that I didn't trust entirely.

All I remembered were images. There was a body. A female. Three people standing near it. An abandoned warehouse near the Sea. A wound on my arm that Kamran recognized from my childhood. And a name. Sher. Somehow the name always brought a warm, soothing feeling with it. I didn't know what it was associated with but it brought me peace and safety. But in the end, it was all just a blur for me. And I guess that was for the best after all. It was just a bad chapter of my life and thankfully, it is over.

After some time

"I am going to call Fahad and talk to him about things. I think he is sulking or something. I seen-zoned his messages. I don't want to do this but I think I should. I need his help after all." I nodded and Rubab excused herself from the shop as she stepped while I tried on another pair of heels. I noticed how she took a huge breath before placing the phone next to her ear. She really seemed to be struggling with it which was adorable to see. I looked down at the heels, surprised at how comfortable they were. Packages mall really was the ideal place to go to. This one was a perfect fit.

"Yeh karden. Issi size men. (I will buy this in this size.)" I told the shop keeper and he nodded as he started to wrap the heels up.

I excitedly rushed to Rubab's side with the box of heels in my hands. She was standing near the edge of the glass fence with the phone next to her ear. Oh, was she still on call? Well, it didn't matter, I still wanted to show her my six inch platform heels. I was sure they were going to look great with the mehandi outfit I had decided.

I hopped to her side like an excited little child. It was rare for me to find my size so easily so in my defense, being overjoyed was very fair.

"Rubab!" I called out as I stopped in front of her. She turned to look at me and brought her index finger up to tell me to wait a minute. I nodded eagerly as I unwrapped the box to take out the heels and show them to her. My eyes glimmered as I looked at the beautiful heels. They were so sexy. Black with little stones around the bottom. The only con was that they were heavy. Quite heavy.

As Rubab was hanging up on the call, I brought the box towards her. I noticed a small child running towards me. I didn't get the time to react as he accidentally pushed me from behind causing me to lose balance. Ugh, annoying little brats. Don't they know it's dangerous to play on such-My thought process was cut short when I witnessed how one of the heels slipped out of the box.

No, no, no. I was about to grab them but they slipped from between my fingers and fell of the glass fence. NO! My precious heels. Oh my God, they are going to break if they touch the floor beneath us. I wanted to save them but Rubab grabbed me just before I toppled over the glass fence too.

I looked down at the falling heel. I felt like my heart was dropping with it. I panicked as I watched the six inch heel fall in slow motion but rather than dropping unto the marble floor it landed on someone's head. OH MY GOD! I watched in absolute horror as the heel hit someone's head and then fell to the ground. That has got to hurt. Those heels weighted a ton. I was so embarrassed because I knew I had to go down and apologize to the person and get my heel back. I hope the person was understanding. 

I continued to look down to see who the unlucky victim was until I recognized that brooding face. It just didn't look as emotionless as it usually did. The person who had gotten hit looked up for a fraction of a second and I felt myself pale further. Rubab and I looked at each other in horror and to confirm whether we had seen the real thing or not.

I instantly ducked down when I saw the person grabbing my heel. Fuck the heels. Was that really...? No way. I don't believe this. Of all the people in the world, Kamran? I HIT KAMRAN KHAN NAREJO? In the head? With my six inch platform heels?

"Hey!" I heard him roar and I was sure everyone in the mall must have heard his booming voice. He sounded so angry. I looked towards Rubab and she looked back at me. We both nodded quietly knowing exactly what our next move was going to be.

We were going to run.

Author's Note:

Hello and Asalam o Alaikum Lovelies!

I hope all of you are well and safe. So who saw this coming? I know I did not. Fate really knows how to mess with Zoya and Kamran.