...

The smell of fried food was the first thing that hit Farrah Hussein. Next were the bright colours of the pleather cubicles. She looked around the dimly lit room, eyes searching for a familiar face. The place was beyond crowded that evening, like it was always. The once-famous kebab house now turned into a hip burger joint was always a popular spot in their city, hence why Malika had chosen it to celebrate Farrah's new job.

She greeted her friend and sat down in the empty seat besides her. Minutes later, Salman slid into the sofa in front, panting slightly from running to make it in time. "There you are!" Malika cried, seeing him. "I was just about to call you."

"Told you I'd be here in five minutes, kid." Then he looked at Farrah and smiled. They had barely spoken since their fight at the Ahmads', she wasn't sure where they stood currently. For a moment, Farrah almost asked it out loud. She reeled the question back from the tip of her tongue. He had obviously let it go and slid it under the mattress with all their other issues, and she wasn't going to be the one to ruin the moment. So she simply smiled back.

The evening was spent on greasy burgers, spicy fries and ice-cold coca colas. The three friends chatted and laughed like they used to once upon a time. Nostalgia bloomed in Farrah's chest. She cast her fiancé a curious look.

"Do you remember when we used to come here after school?" she queried tilting her head to a side, eyes searching his face.

Salman nodded. "With Yasmine Aunty and Layla."

Surprise flickered in her eyes. "You do?" she repeated with disbelief.

"Of course." He chuckled. "Yasmine Aunty would bring us here every Thursday after school."

She met his eyes for a brief second. "You used to sneak out with Fardin half the time," she said, even after the years passed, her tone turned slightly accusing. "You would excuse yourself to go to the toilet and disappear."

Salman grinned at her. "Now I can't believe you remember that."

"I couldn't forget it even when I tried to." A wry smile stretched her lips. "You know, this was one of the only times we got together without your friends. So it was heartbreaking for little Farrah when you left."

Her confession seemed to flicker a foreign emotion in Salman's face. She was such a private person usually. For a moment, even Farrah was surprised she had shared this so easily. But then again, the years of carrying those emotions in her heart was starting to feel too much.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?" he asked, staring at her with curiosity.

"Would it have mattered if I had?"

Her question was met with silence, but the look in his eyes told her more than enough.

Farrah let out deep breath to let out the heaviness forming in her heart. She tried to force that smile on her face again. "Our meetings here were some of the rare occurrences when you would actually speak to me."

"I still spoke to you when I was around my friends," he said.

"Not like this." She shook her head.

Nicely. Without mean nicknames and jokes. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she reeled it back, again.

Something flashed on his face. The look on his eyes softened as he gazed at her. These memories held completely different sentiments for him than what they held for her – Farrah thought with a startling realization. He remembered those times with fondness; whereas, for her, they were only painful reminders of self-doubt and longing for something she never believed she could have.

"Where'd you and Fardin even used to go from here anyway?"

The moment between them broke, the couple's eyes darted towards Malika. She was swirling the thick strawberry milkshake in front of her, watching as the crystallized ice were slowly turning into water.

"The douchebag used to take me behind the dumpsters in the next road," Salman replied, chortling again. "Introduced me to my first cigarette there in eighth standard."

"Oh, I remember what happened after that." Malika's raised her eyebrows. "Kaveh wasn't ecstatic about it. He kept showing you these ridiculous articles about the side affects of nicotine. When he realized his attempts were futile he went straight to Mom and busted you."

"Not only that, he told Nana Jaan that Fardin was getting me into drugs. Which wasn't true." Salman rolled his eyes. "Grandpa was so disappointed that they almost sent me to military school. Jesus, I was pissed at Kaveh. He was such an idiot."

"Can't agree with you there." Malika snickered.

"There's a little detail you guys don't know," Farrah started, a look of slyness descending on her face. "I might have been the one to tell Neela Aunty, Kaveh just supported my claim."

His mouth opened in shock. Malika guffawed. "Oh my God!"

"I can't believe this," he said, eyes widened at her. "You, Farrah?" He shook his head. "How come in all these years I never found out?"

She shrugged. "I have no clue. It's not like I was very secretive about it."

"I can't believe Kaveh didn't say anything either," Malika added.

"Perhaps because he was in favor of what I was doing."

"So I wasn't just backstabbed by my best friend, but Fari too," Salman complained to his sister.

Farrah clicked her tongue. "That's not what it was. Trust me when I say, I thought I was the one saving you."

When they started for home, it was close to midnight. After leaving the burger joint, Malika cried that she was craving ice cream. Salman took them for an hour long drive, swearing up and down he was going to introduce them to the best ice cream in town.

He parked his car near a curb. They got down. The street was dingier and more crowded. Malika started complaining about her shoes getting splashed with mud. They stopped in front of a street vendor with an ice cream truck. He started scooping ice cream in those flimsy, orange cones they used to have when they were children.

"Admit it, it's the best you've ever had," Salman asked his sister once they started walking towards his car again, licking their ice cream cones.

"Meh," Malika spat out, but she didn't stop eating until she'd devoured every single crumb.

They arrived at the Hussain residence. Malika waited in the car as Salman walked Farrah to her gate. Farrah looked up to their house to see all the lights were turned off, except for the one in her mother's room.

He cast her his infamous grin once she twirled on her feet to face him. The street was so quiet, crickets could be heard in the distance. The over-populated city was slowly welcoming sleep.

"What do you think your Mom would do if I walked inside with you right now?" Salman asked as his mischievous eyes landed on Rani's window.

"Why don't you find out for yourself?"

"Nah." He shook his head dismissively. "Even I don't have guts to face Rani Hussain's wrath."

They both chortled. Before he could bid farewell, Farrah spoke up. "I wanted to talk to you about the other day."

"Farrah..." he sighed, the twinkle disappearing from his eyes.

"No, I wanted to apologize," she said.

"C'mon, I don't want to talk about this right now." He shifted weight from one foot to another.

"Salman, please. Let me do this," she requested. "I was rude to you the other day. I'm sorry."

He gave her a small nod, his brows still furrowed.

"I also wanted to tell you, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Not about your cousin or anyone else. If you knew how crazy I was about you when I was younger..." She raised her shoulders and dropped them. "Perhaps even now, you'd realize how absolutely ridiculous your assumptions are. There's never been anyone else for me."

She stared at him for a few minutes, expecting him to say something back. When he didn't, Farrah twirled on her feet and started for her home, murmuring a disappointed "goodnight" under her breath.

Farrah's weeks started longer even though their days were technically getting shorter. Saira kept her buried in work up to her nose. Her weekdays melted to the weekends, and her days into months.

She was doing overtime pretty much every single day. And while staying at her barely full office, while the janitors worked in the background – she was introduced to the nightlife of Akhtar and Sons; which for them just translated into overbearing teenagers.

Her law firm offered night classes for A 'Level and IGCSE students. Farrah sometimes attended the lessons and liked to listen to the lectures.

The classes she found herself repeatedly visiting were the ones taken by Rashid Osmani. At first, she was just curious to check if the lessons had changed at all since her time in school. But soon, she was surprised to discover that Rashid was more than just a man with a fancy degree.

He was an excellent teacher. Farrah always loved to learn. Even in school when her friends shamelessly dozed off in class, she could be found attentively taking notes in the first bench. But with him, she felt like she was starting to learn anew.

She always sat in the last bench and tried to stay as discreet as possible. The way he spoke, delivered lecture – even as a fulltime lawyer she could still find herself scribbling down notes, taking pointers to solver her current cases.

The way Rashid Osmani connected to his teenage students was impressive too. He always found a way to incorporate his life into his lessons to make them even more engrossing. He talked about his childhood, his teenage years and twenties. His topics ranged from his childhood rabbit Bunny who was a terrible pet to his deep passion for politics. He also happened to have a weird obsession with the country Germany.

Farrah could watch him talk for hours and never get bored. She could tell even the teenage students, who would rather be anywhere else, was mesmerized by him. She slowly started staying late regularly. If he saw her, he never acknowledged her presence.

Farrah was starting to consider teaching as a career. Attending his lectures had become a mandatory thing for her.

A/N: This has to be one of my favourite chapters of this book! But do not give me baad dua if it wrecked your heart.

I also made some social media stuff for the characters and posted them on my book Kat Calls under the chapter Keeping up with the Khandans (seasons 1, 2, 3 & 4)! Do check it out if you haven't! They're hilarious.