Layeba sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, her legs stretched out before her, completely ignoring Sanem. She was typing furiously on her laptop, wanting to complete the research paper as soon as possible.

"A little help here?" Sanem groaned, throwing another catalog of bridal dresses over her shoulder. She, too, was sitting on the floor with Abeerah, almost a hundred catalogs, magazines, card samples, pieces of clothes, and papers spread around her. She was trying to find everything perfect for her wedding: perfect invitation cards, perfect color schemes, perfect makeup, perfect dresses. Currently, she was in the process of choosing the perfect dress having selected only the cards in four freaking hours.

"Nope", Layeba replied, popping the 'p', not even moving her eyes from the laptop.

"Uff! You're the worst best friend ever!"

"I love you too."

"Sanem Api, look this one looks really nice", Abeerah said, pointing at a beautiful white lehenga with a red dupatta. Even she, who was so excited to plan a wedding, was tired in just four hours and was desperate for Sanem to select something so they could move on from the dresses.

"But I already told you, I don't want the typical red for my baraat and I'm already wearing white on Nikkah", Sanem replied half-heartedly, looking at the beautiful dress with longing eyes. "Layeba yaar! Please! Come and help me!"

"Babe, you're far better than me at fashion and if you're unable to decide, how am I supposed to do it? I've never planned a single wedding in my entire life! Not even my own so . . ."

"I'm canceling the big wedding! Enough! Done! We're having an intimate event. I'm getting married in a court wearing kurta pajama, with my white coat on top. Perfect!!"

"This is the fifth time you've said that Sanem api", Abeerah said, rummaging through different catalogs.

"Not to mention the intimate wedding with close family members you're talking about consists of at least a hundred and fifty guests. Only", Layeba reminded her.

That was true. You do not want to upset Phuphos or Khala's on a desi wedding. And with a lot of relatives on both Sanem's and Hassaan's side, even if Sanem or Hassaan could bear to upset some of them, his mother or her bhabhi wouldn't let them. Hence, they would have a big wedding.

"Why am i even getting married?!"

Layeba snapped her laptop shut and exhaled loudly. She stood up and walked to the center of the room where Sanem sat. Sitting down, she stacked up two magazines, "you've already canceled out red. So I don't know why you're confusing yourself by looking at them?"

She glared at Sanem, while Sanem looked guilty. "But what if my dream dress is red?"

She stacked up a few more, "you don't even like pink, idiot!" Slapped a few more. "White, you're already wearing for one event." A few more. "Lavender is for Walima, so no purple." She straightened. "Right! So, that leaves you with Orange, Green, Blue, and Black. Unless you want a brown dress. Finding which would be a real task, let me tell you." She exhaled. "So now, first choose the color. By the way! Whoever gave you this genius idea to buy whole catalogs of different colors and not of brands?"

"Me?"

"Of course! Itni aqal or kisi main ho bhi nai sakti!" I seriously pity your innocence if you thought Layeba was actually praising her.

(Of course! No one else could be this genius!)

"Acha na! Now. . . No green, because that's your color on literally all my events."

"All different shades." It was Layeba's time to look guilty.

"And you'll look beautiful in all of those, I'm sure Bhabhi." Bless Abeerah!

"That's not the point, girl. You should try different colors!"

"Darling, we're choosing your dresses here. No one cares if I wear a gown or a goat's hide. So, choose a dress."

Not five minutes later, Sanem exclaimed, "THIS!" pointing towards a beautiful orange-colored, heavily adorned bridal dress. Layeba and Abeerah both excitedly looked at the dress she'd chosen and indeed, it was really beautiful. Layeba could imagine Sanem looking ethereal in something like that.

"Finally!" Abeerah sighed in relief while Sanem slapped Layeba's forearm, making her go "Ouch!" Mind you, friends really don't sometimes know the difference between harmless hitting and full-on violence.

"What?!"

"Pehle nai aa skti thi?! Itna time waste kar diya!"

(Couldn't you have come sooner? Look how much time you've wasted!)

Is she for real? Layeba gaped at her.

"Really Bhabhi. You should've come earlier. "

"How was I supposed to know that all the idiocy she had in her would come out today?"

"Anyway! I'm gonna make a few changes in the dress, so Abeerah you're going with me tomorrow. Now! Let's select everything else ", Sanem clapped her hands together once.

"Take a break."

"I agree. I'm hungry. Gonna find something to eat. You guys want something?"

"Nope", Layeba said, while Sanem requested, "whatever you'll have for yourself."

Abeerah left while Sanem stood up, picking the catalog with her, and sat on the couch, putting it on the table beside her. Layeba sat beside her and looked at the mess Sanem had created.

"Allah! What have you done to my room." Layeba looked horrified at the state her room was in. Sure, she made similar havocs when she had to study for a peculiar case late at night, but it was different when she was the one making it. It was her room after all. "I swear Sanem, clean it all before Ammi arrives. Nai to meri tumhare saath ho jaye gi. Or wo jo toofan aap kitchen main laayeen theen na, us ko bhi saaf karein. If she saw the mess you've made in her kitchen, she'll kill you. Aaj to maid bhi chutti per hai. Aise kaam tmhein aaj hi yaad aane the?"

(Else, i'll also get scolded along with you. And the storm you brewed in the kitchen, clean it too. . . Even the maid is on leave today. You had to do all this today?!)

Sanem was trying to make a dish she couldn't even pronounce. It was bound to end badly.

"Haww! Layeba! I'm a guest for just a few days now. You'll make me do the cleaning now?!" She's such a drama queen!

"And you're marrying into this very family, need I remind you? And if you haven't realized, my mom is going to be your Phopho Saas. Two most vicious relations put together."

Sanem looked at her deadpanned. "You know you're trying to make me afraid of Shiza Aunty, right? The most cutest and sweetest woman to ever exist. I still wonder how she gave birth to a sarcastic b-b-beautiful lady like you."

She slapped Sanem on the forearm, both of them laughing.

"Acha, I want to talk to you about something." Layeba grew serious.

"Haye Allah!" On Layeba's glare, she grew serious as well. "Okay, okay. Continue."

"Yesterday, I realized something."

"Sounds. . .scary. O-kay. What is it?"

"Last night, I went to the guest room. Well, technically, Yazaan's room. And we talked for a while and went out for a walk as well. And I realized that I've grown quite fond of him. . . I think I love him."

The non-existent lint on her kurta suddenly seemed way too interesting to her.

"YOU WHAT?!"

Layeba winced and rubbed her ear as Sanem screamed.

"Poore muhalle ko bata do jaa kr", She said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. But it didn't to be said anyway, that sentence was self-explanatory.

(Go announce it to the neighborhood!)

"I can't believe it."

"Why is that too shocking?" She was almost offended. Almost.

"Because it's you saying it. You never do something simple. Anyway. I don't know whether it's hard to believe that you love him or that you slept together."

"What?", She squeaked.

"I did not need to know that", Abeerah exclaimed as she entered the room with a bowl of what seemed like half-burnt popcorn, scrunching her face up in disgust. The fact not even crossing her mind that her brother couldn't even stand up.

Layeba slapped her forehead and exhaled through her nose, shaking her head.

I'm surrounded by idiots!

"Sanem! At least think once before saying something!" She didn't know how many times she'd said the exact same thing to her before.

"What did i say?!"

"When did I say that I slept with him?"

"You said you went to his room last night."

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you must've gone late since we were both with you last night. And you definitely weren't in the room when I woke up for Fajr. And I saw you coming out of his room at eight in the morning."

Her face opened and closed like a fish. Either this girl really was crazy or just managed to make Layeba crazy.

Finally getting hold of her words, she smacked a cushion on Sanem's face and exclaimed, "Sleeping in the same room doesn't mean sleeping together! Idiot! And I didn't even sleep. I merely dozed off on the couch!"

Yup! When she had tucked him in the bed last night and made him swallow a sleeping pill because she was sure that he would continue overthinking stuff, she had sat on the couch in his room. She wanted to make sure that he didn't need anything else but just a few moments had passed when she'd passed out on that very couch.

"Acha Acha! Maaro to na! Calm down." Sanem rubbed her cheek and grabbed the bowl from Abeerah, placing it in her lap. "So, what's the problem now?" And she was serious again.

"What problem?"

"You realize you love him. So what's the problem? Go for it. I, more than anyone else, know that you deserve all the love in this entire universe. So, what's stopping you?"

"I don't know!" She groaned in frustration yet again.

"Yes, you do. For once, I think you're not oblivious to your inner battles. You know the reasons for all of those."

"Sach bataon? I'm afraid." There. She said it.

"Of what?" A frown marred Sanem's and Abeerah's foreheads.

"Of . . . Of all those awkward firsts that we'll experience if I just accept my feelings in front of him. I mean, I don't know. I think those firsts are bearable and cute and beautiful when, you know, they happen right after the marriage. But there's almost a whole year of fights and hate and distance between us, that now I think all those 'firsts' are going to be nothing but awkward. You get it?"

Abeerah sat on the floor with her mouth open, an unchewed popcorn in it. This was the first time she'd seen Layeba so openly describe her feelings. And Sanem? She just shook her head at Layeba.

"That is the stupidest thing I've heard in a while."

Layeba exhaled loudly. "I knew you wouldn't get it."

"No! I get it. And that's the reason I think so. I understand every word you said. And just because of that, don't you think you should go for it? I mean, as you said, that whole year has been wasted in those fights and hate and distance. So why waste more time? Just so you could avoid a few moments of awkwardness? You've decided to spend a life together! Why delay the inevitable?"

"When did you get so smart?"

Sanem pulled a face at her but then smiled at her encouragingly.

"Woah! I swear, listening to you both talk, it's so confusing. I lost the point there a gazillion times", Abeerah remarked, putting a few popcorns in her mouth slowly.

"Haan ji. Why would you understand anything we say? We're not Ozhan after all", Layeba and Sanem laughed at her beetroot face.

Sanem's face contorted in disgust suddenly. Glaring down at the bowl, she uttered, "I can't believe you managed to burn the simplest of snacks Abeerah. You're hopeless in the kitchen. Ozhan's definitely going to starve."

•~•

That night, Layeba entered to see one of the rarest sights she was probably ever going to see. Yazaan frowning at his phone, his lips formed in a slight pout. Taking out her own phone, she quickly took a picture. The sound of the camera shutter announced her presence, and he looked at her.

"Delete that, doctor."

"Khan Sahab, do I strike you as a woman who takes orders? That's going to end up in frame soon." She grinned at her phone, zooming in on the picture. Placing the phone back in her hoodie's pocket, she plopped down on the bed beside his legs. "Anyway, what are you doing?"

"You're beginning to have a lot of free time on your hands, doctor. Don't you have somewhere important to be?" As usual, he looked irritated.

"Who says I'm not already somewhere important? Or rather, with someone important?" He looked at her in shock for the umpteenth time. "I just love to make you speechless." She laughed. "Anyway. What are you doing?"

"Acting on what you told me yesterday."

She smiled, exposing all her thirty-two teeth. "Really?"

"It's not going to be easy", he sounded like he was warning himself.

"What is?"

"Fair point. Right, so. I was looking for opportunities to use my degree and well, I realized that I need to first know what is in my degree."

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"It's been ten years, doctor. I need to revise everything all over again."

"Yeah, I figured that might be an obstacle. But it can easily be overcome. We can just hire someone to teach you the work."

"That. Yes. I already talked to my cousin about that. He'll be here in the morning."

"Your. . .cousin? Yazaan." She said softly. "Isn't. . .that risky? I mean, you guys just cut yourselves from the family and now. . ."

"Don't worry, it's my maternal cousin. And my mother's side hates the Khans almost as much as you do. For all the same reasons."

"Oh. You sure?" She still looked dubious. She might not say it but she didn't want to lose him now.

"Yes. I'm not going anywhere." His green eyes looked in her brown ones. It was as if he looked right in her soul. Like he was able able to read exactly what was in her mind.

Wait? Could he?! Or. . .did she just say that out loud?

"No, you didn't."

"W-hat?! H-h-how?"

"I told you before. You're just easy to read doctor." He tried to conceal his smile and looked down at his phone, exploring different pages on the chrome. "Hey! Can I use your laptop?" He asked.

"Sure." She slowly replied, looking at him with wide eyes, but didn't move to bring her laptop. She was still dumbfounded at his ability to read her like that. Or maybe she'd just lost the last of her brain cells. Who knows?

"You okay?"

"Uh. . .yeah."

"I just love to make you speechless", he mimicked her. That snapped her out of it. She made her way to her room to bring her laptop, but then thought better of it and changed the route and went to her father's study.

She opened a locked cabinet in which she had put a spare laptop, she took it and went to Yazaan's room again.

"You can have this one. I have no use of it." She handed him the silver laptop with an Apple sign on the back.

"This is not yours." It was a statement, not a question. From the subtle metallic grey sticker reading 'Marvel' on the right corner of the back of the laptop, he could guess whose it was.

"Ahem. Well, yeah. It's yours now."

"It was your brother's, wasn't it?"

Why did he have to ask that? Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut? He immediately regretted what he said. Because a weak Layeba wasn't a sight he enjoyed. And in that moment, he could see her struggling to keep it together. The slight tremble of her lips, the shaky breath she drew, the glossy eyes, the light red of her cheeks, the tremble in her fingers___ all this happened in just a moment and they screamed vulnerability.

"Well, as you said. It was my brother's. I have no brother anymore."

She was about to move away but he clasped her elbow, halting her movements. "Don't!"

"Don't what?"

"Don't run away. From me. And from the reality."

"I'm not. How can I run away from something that literally comes in my sleep every night?"

"Layeba, I'm-"

"Please don't", she shook her head softly, her eyes pleading him not to comment.

What was he going to say anyway? That he was sorry? For saving her? He wasn't. For killing him? He wasn't. But if that was the consolation she needed, he would've apologized. But she didn't. It was like being stabbed a hundred times every time Arsalan was mentioned.

"Please don't apologize. It would feel as if trying to justify his acts." She ran her tongue on her lips which suddenly felt dry.

"I wasn't going to apologize. I was going to say that I'm here for you if you want to talk."

She smiled, but there was no joy in it and shook her head. "You wouldn't understand." No one will.

"Try me."

"Can you understand what it feels like to hate your baby brother because he was not a good human?" And the tears finally fell. "First I mourn his death which I feel was because of me. If I hadn't been in Hunza in the first place, he wouldn't have been there. But no, then I find out that my husband killed him. And I've barely acknowledged that fact and cursed you to hell when my mother tells me that the little brother who grew up in my arms, is a drug dealer and human trafficker?

"How can you possibly understand that? Arsalan was just three months old when Baba left us. He always made me promise that when he leaves us, I have to take care of Ammi and Arsal. And I did everything I could to fulfill that promise. He was more like a child than my baby brother. My sweet innocent baby brother. How do I behave now that I know he was anything but innocent? Every time I miss him, I force the tears to stay in because he doesn't deserve those. Because it would be unfair to the lives he'd destroyed. Every time I cry myself to sleep, I have to wake up and behave as if everything is normal. I have to behave as if I don't see my mother blaming herself. As if I don't read all the 'what-if' questions my mother asks herself every night.

"How can you possibly understand what it's like to hate someone you brought up? Do you have the answer to the question that 'where the fuck did I go wrong?" She dropped her forehead on her palms and sobbed, each whimper like a gunshot to him.

He cleared his throat which he hadn't even realized had clogged up more and more with her every word. "Hey. . . come here." He grabbed her hand and brought her closer to him, tucking her under his arm and hugging her close, her hand fisted on his chest. "You're right. I don't understand any of that. And I can't. No one can. The hardships you've had to face, those are incomparable. So I'm not even going to insult your pains and say that I understand them. But in order to show someone support, it's not necessary to understand. A presence is enough. Holding hands is enough. . .", he took her fist and opened it, entwining their fingers together. ". . .hugging is enough. . ." He tightened his hold. ". . .words are enough." He kissed the top of her head. "And I promise you, i'll always be there with you. Always."

She smiled up at him gratefully. "Thank you."

There was silence for a few moments, then he said, "I'm never going to be sorry for saving you then. I'd do it all over again if need be. But I am sorry that you lost your baby brother." His shirt was already soaked from her tears but that single tear that fell from her eye then, the weight of that was something he was never going to forget. "And no Layeba. You don't have to force yourself to hate Arsalan. When his memories hit you, they're not of some evil person. They're of the sweet little brother you love and know. So don't force yourself to twist those beautiful memories into something they're not."

"You're right. I know. I just-" She stopped, not having it in her continue.

"You just what?"

"I know it's haram to even think of it. But I can't help but sometimes think, what if I had died that night? Wouldn't everything have been so much simpler? I wouldn't have to deal with all this. This pain, this anger, this frustration, this devastation. I wouldn't have to face all this. Everything would've just ended right then and there."

"Now that's just selfish. You would rather give your mother the heartbreak of losing both her children in one night just to escape a few moments of agony?" Her mind subconsciously made the connection of how Sanem had said a similar thing to her just that morning. "She would've had to live in this world all alone, with more guilt inside her than what would be impossible to fit in the entire universe? You wouldn't." He answered himself. "If the choice was presented in front of you, you would choose your misery over your mother's a thousand times. So don't worry that little mind with an impossible scenario. I don't want to hear anything like this from you ever again. Understood?"

She nodded, sniffing. Now that he put it like that, she knew he was right. She would trade a million lifetimes just so her mother wouldn't be in pain.

"Trust me, Layeba, I know evil. And I know with your mother's and your upbringing, no one can grow out to be evil. He was just led astray. And that's also what I'm sorry about. That if I had acted after just a moment of thought, you might've been able to guide him back. But since nothing could be done, let's just remember him in good words and leave the rest the Almighty?"

It had been a while since he'd talked of faith. He knew it was always somewhere deep in his roots, hidden away, afraid of all his demons. But today when he was giving her assurances, he felt his belief or rather, his mother's belief shining brightly once again. And in that moment, if he would've been able to, he would've bent down on the floor in prostration and cried in front of his Lord till he was certain that he'd been forgiven for all the sins.

But guess that's a task for later.

His heart muttered an Alhamdulillah for this second chance at life that he was given and his eyes closed, letting the tears soak his beard. He was brought out of his zone when Layeba nodded and said, "yes. He's the best planner. He does everything for the better. I don't know where my head was. Idiot!" She slapped her head.

"Probably to eat grass?"

She laughed, making him smile.

Moments passed without any word spoken and they were one of the best moments of his life, because his love was in his arms, willingly. Freaking finally!

"Layeba?" He called.

"Hhmmm?" She replied, her voice barely audible.

He looked at her and found her sound asleep, her bottom lip slightly jutting out.

Am I dreaming or is she really sleeping in my arms?

•~•

~One month later~

Abeerah straightened her back after being bent for almost two hours. She was preparing an assignment and it had taken her whole day. She checked the time and it read eleven thirty-two p.m. Picking up her phone from the floor, she opened her Whatsapp, heart hoping for a single message but none. The last text she'd send an hour ago was too left on read.

Her thumb hovered over the 'call' button, contemplating whether to call after being ignored or not. She knew he wasn't doing it deliberately, that he was just too busy. But he could at least tell her how he was. For a whole month, she could barely get a hold of him, texting for just a minute where only the pleasantries were exchanged, when he'd either sleep or just remember another task.

Just yesterday when she'd called him in the afternoon, it had gone like this. . .

"Ozhan, you could've at least texted that you wouldn't call after you'd promised."

He'd sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. I was just so tired that I slept as soon as I was free. Couldn't call."

"Ozhan, this is not done. If it weren't for Bhabhi or Lala, I wouldn't even know if you're even alive. You know I'm worried about you. I'm not asking for much. Just a simple text that you're okay? Please."

"Okay. You're right, I'm sorry. Now if the complaints are over, can I please talk to you? I miss you."

She'd exhaled. "I miss you too. I've barely talked to you in this past month and you came home only once, that too, just for a few hours. And it's just the beginning. I don't know how I can spend four years like this. Pata nai kis ne parhai ka faarigh mashwara de diya tha", she'd grumbled.

(I don't know who gave you this stupid idea of studying.)

He'd laughed. "I suppose that stupid would be me. Anyway, tell me. How are you? How's your university going? Tell me everything."

She'd started talking about her life when he'd suddenly interrupted, "I'm so sorry, love. I have to go. I'll talk to you later, inshaAllah."

Before she could've said Allah Hafiz, the ending beep had greeted her.

She decided to call. Putting the phone on her ear, she waited for him to pick it up.

"Hey", a whisper came from the other side.

"Hey. You okay?" She asked, worried. His voice didn't sound okay. And she knew that just from one syllable.

"Yeah, just a light flue since yesterday."

"And you're telling me that now?! Ozhan, I told you to take care of yourself! Aik to hostel main jaa kr beth gaye hain aap, uper se phone bhi mashaAllah se karte hain! Dawai li hai aapne?"

(You've gone to live in a hostel and call once in a blue moon. Have you taken any medicine?)

"Meri jaan. I have no energy left to listen to your scoldings today please." He sniffed. "Let's do this, why don't you come to my university after your off timings? I'm so sleepy today."

"Okay, but-" She frowned, anger seeping in her bones. As usual, he'd had the last word and had cut the call.

She collected all her books and stuff hurriedly, slapping them on her study table, and turned off the lights. She laid on the bed, huffing, telling herself to remain angry at him but ended up wiping the tears that fell from her eyes.

•~•

The next day, she booked an Uber for UET as soon as she'd exited her last class.

"Abeerah, aren't you going to the library as we planned?" Eshal, her classmate, asked, falling in step beside her.

"No, I have to go somewhere today. I'll go tomorrow. You guys go."

"Okay."

She was walking out of her university when her phone pinged. She opened the text message and barely controlled her angry tears from falling as she read Ozhan's text,

~professor called for an extra class. Can't meet today. I'll call you later. Love you. Xoxo.

•~•

Assalam o alaikum guys! How are you all?

How was the chapter? Did you guys like it?

This chapter is the reason why i should have probably concluded this book happily when i had the chance. I just can't write happy moments without adding anyone's misery🤦😑

Anyway, Arsalan pata nai kahan se yaad aa gaya mjhe or phir mjhe andaza hua k maine abhi tak aapki behn Layeba or uske shohar k darmayan aik b confrontation nai karwaya. Bus isi liey scene lamba khichta chala gaya. Ahem....i hope bore nai huey ho ge aap log.

Anyways! Do comment if you want to see some particular sweet scenes between your fav couples. Next chapter would probably contain more scenes on Abeerah and Ozhan. But i'm not gonna lie to you guys, my brain is just giving me ideas on Yazaan and Layeba right now. So, i hope you can bear those.

That's all.

Please vote ⭐ if you liked the chapter, comment 🖋️ share and follow.

Thank you 💗💗

Lots of love ❤️❤️❤️
Javeria.