People can grow strong enough to whisper at the iron bars that hold them and see them bend out of their way, like the most crazy magic. That's what love can do: fix souls, fix brains, cure us all. I wish I could have mastered that way, but it's hard when you've been starving for so long.

"Hani, from when?" He asked in a very low voice.

His eyes, they pierce her, all the way to her very soul, whispering her sweet nothings of succulent passion,cutting her into shreds, sending her into a turmoil. Rushing into her, like the runaway wind through the window sill, sending her thoughts into a dizzying disarray, blasting open the dusty chests of forgotten dreams & locked down storms.

Igniting the heaped branches of broken dreams into a raging inferno, sending her thoughts into freefall. The whole world dimming, till nothing matters.Till she is almost ready to rip open her heart and lay it down for him. Just because this upheaval becomes too much to take.

The swell of emotions threatening to burst out of its bony cage And yet, at the same time, making her feel alive.

She felled for him...

All this was there in her mind, but not a single word spoken.

"Hani..." He voice slowing down.

Giving him a one side smile, she asked "Does it matter, Zain?"

The soft blue waves crashed against each other as she sat on the beach's sandy shore. Sand and seashells clung to her dress as she stretched her legs. Casting him a sideways look.

She was brushing a strand of hair with a finger. Making his heart beat a little faster as he looked at her, heat rising to her cheeks as she remembered how she had fallen in love with that look.

But it was time to tell him that how she felt, although, knowing his answer very well.

“You know...” he started, but faltered as she turned to look at him. His eyes were narrowed, and she knew for sure that he would either get mad or sigh.

He sighed.

"You want to tell me something?" she asked, dugging in a handful of sand and slowly let it slip through her fingers. "Speak up, then."

"I want you to know," he said, with a  change in his expression. "How I feel about you."

She stiffened a little bit. Sitting up straighter, she turned away from him. Feeling a cold stab of fear in her heart. She could tell he had guessed, she had understood want he wanted to say. She was worried thay they could never be the same as it is they were never. Turning towards him, she looked at him in the eyes, and smiled.

"Why can't you see it? I can't love you, ever. It hurts me to see you like this, Hani. I  had never thought that this day will come in our life!!" His voice trembling.

"I see you. I do. I see pain in those eyes. It has sat there for your life time. I see love too, the love you would have given, were it not for the scars. It's still there baby, and one day you will set it free. I know I'm not perfect, yet I love you, and I know what love means. Give me a chance and I'll prove it. There is so much of your life that is a hell for your soul, and you stay there from strength rather than weakness, I know. So let me join you in that pain, walk with you, feel the same torture I know you bare. And one day I'll find just the right way to bring you home, my love." She replied him back giving him a sweet smile, that she knew he craves for.

"You know what? This is what I hate about you the most! How can you smile? We're having a serious conversation and how can you be so calm, not a line also on your forehead!!" He expressed.

To which she actually laughed.

"But I thought that normal husbands likes to see their wives smiling and calm" She commented.

"Ofcourse I would love to see too. But now is the exception"

"Why Zain? Is it because I confessed or is it because you didn't reciprocated my feeling? Look Zain, people do react in these cases, some laugh and some cry. But I'm smiling because I've finally came out of my shell and poured my heart out. I'm smiling because at least you listened to me and not ignored my talk. I don't care what your answer is, for me all that matters is, now, I could show my love to you, I could say that I Love You, I can hope that one day you will too." She said the last part very slowly.

It was as if the time stopped. They couldn’t see the people around them, or hear the roaring of the sea. All he could comprehend was her, smiling at him, the colour of her face rivalling the setting sun.

He held her hand for a long time. 

She knew.

He knew that she knew his answer.

That was enough for him.

And her lips curled up in a knowing smile.....

"I can die for this smile." He whispered.

"You know Zain, I feel more connected to you than any man I ever met. I love the feel of your arms, your touch, your embrace, but it kills me. I get lost in your eyes, happy to drown, yet I must breathe. There comes a point in all natural romances where they must progress or implode. Zain, we went past that point so long ago." She again smiled.

"Hani, I have my reasons" he said inhaling a deep breath.

"I know your reasons; I respect and understand them, support you. I won't walk away because I promised I'd always stay. You say I am closer to you, understand you, fulfil gaps in your life, that you need me in the long term. I say "I love you," you say you "care." If my emotions are stronger than yours, why is it that you can't let go?" Her eyes turning moist.

"I feel so raw today; like there is no skin over my pain and the wind is making it bleed." He said looking deep into her eyes.

Her heart started bleeding after hearing him.

"I think we should leave now. Adeel needs me" She said standing up.

He walked up to her slowly and pulled her closer to him wrapping his arms around her. His embrace was warm, and his big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around her frail body, gently rubbing her back. Despite the heaviness in her stomach, it fluttered at the feeling of her body pressed against his.

She sunk into the warmth of his side, appreciative of the simple gesture. His touch made the atmosphere warmer somehow, her future within its walls seeming a little less bleak. The world somehow around her melted away as she squeezed him back, not wanting the moment to end.

Ride back to the hotel was silent. Both of them lost in their own thought. Zain couldn't help but compare the night with his own state of mind. Just like those clouds, his insides were in a chaos. A mess. Something was bothering him. Something was hurting him.

Something ached inside him. Something felt so wrong, so invalid but Zain couldn't tell what. He tried to pin point the cause for this unexplained pain but failed. He tried to reason this unbearable burning but didn't find any. Everything felt so confused, just like a jumbled set of a puzzle.

A puzzle that Zain didn't know how to solve.

It's strange. How hollow she felt...It was like those chocolate bunnies, people buy, a sweet shell encapsuling a world of nothing. She was like that. She encapsuled a world of nothing.

Hanya had never felt so alone, so lost... So incapable of doing even the smallest tasks. And this was only the beginning, the beginning of her pain, the suffering and the endless line of emotions that were in store for her.

They reached the hotel, lost in their own world. Once inside the room, she took Adeel in her arms as he happily embraced her. Adeel was her life, she can forget everything for him. They thanked Nusrat. Adeel wanted to play with his new toys so she made him sit down.

Zain wanted sometime with Adeel so before she left, she called out to him.

"Zain?"

"Yes?" He said.

She walked towards him. Standing right infront of him.

"Always remember one thing Zain" She took his left hand and placed it on top of her heart.

"It beats only for you."