Jan 12th, 2017

I wrote a part of this chapter looooong back but this semester has been so weird (You must have received the hint from my Instagram posts) that I didn't find the chance to finish the chap and update. However, today I decided to pretend like my work pile does not exist for it was about time I updated. I honestly appreciate your love and eagerness towards all my books and didn't want to keep you waiting. Happy reading <3

Also, Anabya is different from my other characters. While she's not perfect, I've tried to keep her as a relateable figure. We all know what's right but we don't always do that. Please keep this in mind till we finish this book. Because if you begin to judge midway before the last chapter is posted, you'll be misled! 

"O people! be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, by Whom you demand one of another (your rights), and (to) the ties of relationship; surely Allah ever watches over you."

[Qur'an]

Chapter 15:

Congratulations on making it to my hate list!

Anabya, from the very beginning, was known for her calm self. Tammara would bring the house down over a silly argument with Furqaan but Anabya? Even if someone hurt her, she'd give excuses in their favor.

There was a time when her best friend in sixth grade had started ignoring her, getting close to a new girl that had joined a month back. She did try a lot, hoping to continue their friendship although she made her feel like she was unwanted.

After three months, Anabya diverted her path. It hurt her but she simply smiled it off, thinking that maybe she couldn't be the kind of friend Rim wanted. She found new friends along the way but up to this date, she did not have any ill feelings for her. In fact, believe it or not, when Rim messaged her during their final exams in tenth, she even shared her precious notes with her.

Of course, when Tam had found out, it had Aearned nabya a fifteen minutes lecture on how you couldn't let someone take advantage of you.

"Bee, take it from me," her big sister had said. "Never let anyone take you for granted. Learn when to walk off, do not cling on to toxic people, do not let them walk all over you. There's a difference between being good to people and being dumb! Understand it!"

While that had made Anabya more careful and smart, by and large, she still thought the best about people. Sometimes more than necessary.

However, this time, she was burning in rage. It wasn't easy to get on her hate list because the girl was so understanding all the time but if you still managed to get there, it meant you screwed it up pretty bad.

When Anabya found out that Shamaaz had gone through her journal, she was hands down, mad at him. Yes, she didn't approve of his flirtatious self all this while and she had even asked him to maintain a distance from her but so far, his previous antics hadn't got her mad.

In true and simple words, more than angry, she was upset.

He had invaded her privacy and that was unacceptable. She couldn't imagine her own family reading through such details of her and he?

He was a stranger, an outsider.

At first she wanted to do nothing but storm to her brother and ask him to solve this. But what would she say?

She couldn't tell him a stranger had read through her heart break diaries, because the first question would be - Who broke your heart?

That was a story that was long over. No way, no freaking way would she bring it up!

For the next two days, no one saw a smile on her face. It wasn't something she could brush aside, it wasn't something she could think about. Everytime she read through her journal entries, she'd resist the urge to pull out her hair in frustration because imagining him read those words would drive her crazy.

So long, she saw him as immature, someone incapable of understanding a logical conversation. But this gesture was downright rude on his part!

Not kiddish, definitely not funny.

It was simply rude.

When Thursday came, she decided she wasn't going to be this way anymore. She still hadn't thought what she was going to do with Shamaaz but she knew one thing, she wasn't going to continue living in this mood. While that thought angered her all the more, since she was running late for the morning lecture, she decided there were better things to focus on.

After parking her bike and rushing to her class, she sighed upon seeing the door closed.

The teacher was so punctual that one minute late, he wouldn't let you enter the classroom. In fact, he'd latch the door after entering.

She contemplated on knocking but after a few seconds, decided against it. She may have tried had it been another time but given her current mood, she'd rather lose one hour's attendance than face the insult.

With almost one hour left for the next class, she first decided to spend her time in the library.

However, she quickly decided against it.

Books, or written words in general, had begun to scare her. They'd tempt her to write, and that was something which she had currently begun to distance herself.

Deciding to sit outside in the campus, she walked towards the vast space sheltered by trees.

It had been a good ten minutes of her sitting there and going through her lessons to kill time when she noticed that one person who ignited her to the very extreme.

At first she asked herself to calm down but all sense vanished in thin air when he waved at her, and Mariam, who was walking beside him, arms linked together, smiled in recognition.

With squared shoulders, she walked to them.

"Hey, aren't you the girl who wrote me that letter?"

"I guess your boyfriend would know that better," Anabya gritted out, and Shamaaz gave her a half surprised grin.

"Excuse me?" Mariam exclaimed. 

"No, excuse me, Mariam," Anabya emphasised, and despite herself, turned to look at Shamaaz. "Who do you think you are?" She questioned.

Like always, Shamaaz was about to give a witty answer but something about her expression told him if he needed to survive, he better keep his mouth close.

"Hey, what's going on?" Mariam interrupted and Shamaaz replied, "Mariam would you please give us five minutes?"

"Wha-"

"Please?" Shamaaz insisted and stomping her foot, Mariam stepped aside. While she pretended to scroll through her phone while she sat on a bench, she could still hear them clearly.

Anabya didn't care. She really didn't.

"Woah, what's up with you, 'Bya?"

"Anabya, it's Anabya," she corrected. She wasn't screaming, but her calm tone did more damage.

"Anabya," Shamaaz nodded, clearing his throat. "What's going on?"

This was the first time in life he was talking in a serious tone with Anabya.

"Who gave you the permission to go through my journal?" She asked bluntly, catching him off guard.

"I didn't..." he started.

She nodded, having expected it.

"Go ahead, lie to me."

"I can explain."

"Do you ever get a hint or are you always this oblivious?" She asked, in the same cold tone she had been using all this time. "From day one, I've been asking you to stay away from me. But now, you crossed a line. Is everything a joke to you? How could you invade someone's privacy to such an extent? If nothing at all, you should have at least thought that Allah is watching you. Oh wait. I'm saying this to a wrong person."

Stunned. Shamaaz was absolutely taken aback by her words, her attitude. This girl was fierce and she was practically burning him with that fire!

"I didn't know you had your personal stuff in the document."

"I'm sure you could come up with a better excuse," she smiled bitterly.

"I promise. The only reason I went through your files was because I thought it contained your writings. I didn't know it was about you."

"Who gave you the permission to go through my stuff in the first place?"

"I was curious," he admitted, no traces of laughter, no traces of smile. "But once I began reading, I knew it wasn't right. If this makes you feel any better, I didn't read your entire journal..."

"How much did you read?"

"The first eight," he answered guiltily, adding on to Anabya's frustration.

"How kind of you," she replied sarcastically.

"You write so well that I couldn't stop."

"Are you crazy? You read my freaking journal and this is what you have to say? Should I thank you now for complementing me on my writing skills?"

She didn't care that he didn't read the entire thing. She still hated him! She hated him for what he did and she hated him for what he made her do- standing here like this and talking to him.

"Maybe late, but the realization did kick in," Shamaaz justified, making such an innocent face that had it been another girl, she'd fall for it.

But Anabya? If she was angry before, she was angrier after having this conversation!

Not only had he done such an obnoxious thing, the guy had the nerve to even justify his actions!

"It still doesn't make me hate you any less," she stated and turning her back towards him, she walked ahead.

Well, that hurt more than he'd like to admit!

***

"What is this?" Anabya questioned.

"A Nutella jar."

"Why is it empty?"

"Because someone ate the contents," Furqaan shrugged. "Why ask the obvious?"

"Why? Why are all men so clueless to the feelings of a girl? Why don't they understand that there are certain things they just don't mess with?"

"All men?" Furqaan questioned, raising a brow. Taking his gaze off the laptop screen, he turned to look at his sister. "Care to elaborate?"

"All men as in the entire male population," she hurriedly replied, her hands moving in exaggerated motion.

"Are you having guy problems?"

When Anabya gave him a blank look, he said, "It's the first time you are studying in a co-ed, I need to know if there are any guys I need to punch."

"I'm not a baby, Bhai," she dead-panned, resisting the urge to let him know of a guy who deserved more than a punch.

"But still, Bee, you are the baby of the family."

"I'm twenty one, you know."

"And I also know guys, Anabya. They can be worse than you imagine."

"Bhai, you're insulting your own kind."

"Look, Bee, I know how a guy's brain works. There are good guys, there are bad guys, and there are ones with a facade. Know matter how mature and big you think you are, if, and I pray you don't, but still if you find any issue in this department, you come to me, okay? I know you are big enough to take care of yourself but this is something I don't want you to deal with, you hear me?" 

She nodded, not really sure why she suddenly felt the urge to cry.

Tell him.

Tell him.

Tell him.

Her mind urged her to tell him about Shamaaz, not the complete details but at least a hint. However, she gave up the last second.

"Now if we could discuss this Nutella jar," Anabya started, diverting from the topic.

"Blame it on the boys," Aamina said, coming into the room carrying a freshly bathed Sulaiman.

"Boys?"

"I was reprimanding Furqaan for downing half the jar and in the middle of it we heard a clanking sound from the kitchen. Upon walking in, we found Sulaiman with both his hands in Nutella, his face and shirt smeared with chocolate, finishing the rest of the contents his dad had left."

While that was too adorable and funny, Anabya said, "I don't think we can afford to have another Nutella lover in the family. That's just too much competition!"

"Since Aamina isn't a fan of it, I wouldn't mind if our boy got her genes in this case but alas..." Furqaan sighed.

"You are so awesome that all your genes were dominating, right?" Aamina finished his insinuation.

"Now that you've said the truth, I'm not one to deny," he grinned cheekily.

"It feels like there's a role reversal in your relationship. Furqaan Bhai is the one who looks for attention and complements," Anabya joked, and Aamina laughed and high fived her.

"Not funny," Furqaan sulked. "My lady can be demanding too."

"Of course, you need constant reminders that other people are around you, you know?"

"Oh don't worry, I wouldn't forget that. You'll won't understand my plight of being the only man amongst four women! Torture I tell you! But it's alright, I have my boy to give me company now."

"Be grateful for all the pampering you receive from us. You're spoilt by now!"

"Grass on the other side is always green," he drawled, secretly agreeing that he was probably spoilt with the amount of love and care all these ladies gave him.

Alhamdulilah for family!

A couple of hours later, when they had finished dinner and Anabya was done with Salah and reciting Qur'an, she logged into her Facebook account since they had a project on street photography.

She was looking through some of the pages when a message popped up.

And when she opened it curiously, she didn't know how to feel about the fact that it was from Shamaaz Salman Abdulla.

She had tried very hard to not think of the entire encounter the past couple of hours. She had cried and cribbed about it but the bottom line was she had to deal with it. However, this guy, like always, had a way to annoy her every time she kept her cool.

Shamaaz: Hey 'Bya. You there?

Where will I go? She thought to herself.

Shamaaz: Don't be angry, come on.

Who are you to tell me what I need to do?

Shamaaz: I told you it was a mistake.

And not once did you apologise for it. Not like I need one.

Shamaaz: There are so many reasons for you to maintain a cordial relationship with me. To begin with, we're neighbours. And then, we study in the same university. Your mum likes me, your brother has become a good acquaintance. I can literally write a book on 1000 reasons to like me.

'I can write a book on 100000000 × infinity ways to dislike you,' she thought.

Shamaaz: Please don't be mad.

Why do you care?

Shamaaz: Bya come on. I'll erase the things I read out of my memory. Let's pretend like this never happened.

It doesn't work like that.

Shamaaz: I'll get you chocolates. 

Shamaaz: I'll get you flowers.

Shamaaz: I'll write you apology letters.

Shamaaz: Damn it, Anabya. I know you aren't like other girls. Tell me how can I make up for this?

Shamaaz: Can you at least reply to me? I know you're online.

Do I care? Nope.

Since he forced so much, Anabya decided it was about time she replied to him.

Thus, dragging the cursor to his name, she jumped to his profile and replied to all his question with a single click.

She blocked him.