The courtroom was dead silent as everyone awaited the final statement of the judge. One could even hear the sound of a pin dropping. But it was not like that at all to Kubra. It was all too loud for her. The blood rushing to her ears, the pounding of her own heart, the accusations people were throwing at her with their eyes, the sympathies some were sending her way ___ they were too much for her to handle.

She gripped the side of the chair, the wood biting into her palms but she couldn't care less. Though everyone kind of knew that she'd lost the case, the stupid bud of hope was still in her heart. Perhaps she had too much faith in the justice of her country. Saad Mirza, her lawyer patted the top of her hand, a silent request to calm down.

But it wasn't possible for her. The only thing she could see herself doing in the next five minutes was either passing down or screaming on top of her lungs that she didn't do it. Relaxing was the last thing she'd do. She looked over to the plaintiff's table where he sat, Yusuf Bukhari, looking calm as ever. Though his face was impassive, no trace of emotion on his face, she knew he was rejoicing over the fact that he had won.

And his victory was only affirmed when everyone stood up and the judge spoke.

"Keeping all the witnesses and evidences in consideration, I hereby declare the defendant Kubra Shahbaz guilty of murder of Wali Bajwa."

"No!" A whisper escaped her lips. It couldn't happen. Why didn't these people understand? She didn't do it! This time, Saad gripped her hand, warning her not to say anything.

"The court sentences her to a lifelong of solitary imprisonment. Till death."

Till death.

She breathed in.

Guilty of murder.

She breathed out.

Someone behind her in the spectators cried in relief, no doubt Maryam Bajwa, mother of the deceased. Someone behind her in the spectators cried in protest, no doubt Sonia Shahbaz, mother of the guilty. But she didn't pay heed to any of them. Her attention was on Yusuf, who was gathering the files in front of him, now that the judge had gone out of the courtroom.

Why isn't he celebrating and cheering right now? He's won the case after all.

Maybe she thought too soon. He turned, now facing her and she could see the happiness on his face. The challenge in his eyes directed straight at her saying, I've won and you've lost. Got nothing to say?

And she did not. She couldn't even find it in herself to glare at him. He passed her and went behind her, to his best friend's family and hugged his father, Jamal Bajwa.

"Thank you so much, beta. You've done what you promised. You have avenged your brother."

She couldn't breathe. The room spun around her. Her parents were blurry in front of her eyes. The fresh tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She was about to fall when Saad caught her from her waist. Instantly, her gaze was on Yusuf, who was already looking at her. Or rather at the hand that was around her. He looked into her eyes, accusing her of something she knew he had no right of now, and then looked away.

Saad made her sit on the chair and offered her a glass of water. Tremors ran down her body, causing the water to spill and wet her clothes, the swelling wetness catching her attention more than the sobs of her mother. Her best friend, Huma consoled her mother, patting her shoulders. Her father, Shahbaz Baig tried to maintain his composure, but anyone could see that it was already crumpled.

Two policewomen broke the crowd of four that was around her and one of them grabbed her arms and put handcuffs on her. They began to take her out of the courtroom and only then did she find her voice.

"NO! I didn't do it! MOM! DAD! Tell them I didn't do it! Please! I'm innocent! I don't want to go. Please! Stop! Yusuf! Stop them! You have to trust me! You know I could never do it! Please!" she yelled and thrashed and struggled. But no one seemed to listen.

"Saad, do something! Please! They're taking her away. Please!" Sonia pleaded the man, grabbing his arm.

"Yes. Bhai. There has to be something you can do!" Huma begged her brother as well, even though she knew there was nothing anyone could do right now. Coming from a family of lawyers and studying law herself, she knew the only way was if some new evidence was brought in and the reopening of the case was appealed. Till then, she was guilty and had to carry out her sentence.

As she was passing past Yusuf, she grabbed his coat. "Please! Yusuf! You have to tell them that you're wrong. I didn't do it, please."

Yusuf took hold of the hands on his arm. For a minute she thought he remembered the love they once shared. That he was still the man she was ready to marry. The man who couldn't stay away from her.

But then he jerked them off him and she was slammed back into the reality. She realized that he was only the man who'd swore to see her behind bars and get justice for his best friend who was killed. With that realization, she went numb. No struggling, no crying, no pleading __ nothing. And let the police drag her out, her head hung low.

Out in the corridor, Saad stopped the police and requested to talk to her as her lawyer. They respectfully stepped back.

"Hey", his soothing voice reached out to her. She raised her head but didn't meet his eyes. Instead, she focused her bloodshot eyes behind him on the wall. He cupped her face with gentle hands and removed her hair from her face. There was no sign of the woman Saad loved. In place of the lively, cheerful and beautiful girl, was a hollow, hopeless and a graceless woman whose lips were too chapped, whose cheeks were too hollow and whose dark eyes were too big on her face. "I'm so sorry I let you down. But I promise you this isn't the end. I'll find all the evidence we need and we'll prove it that that they tampered with the evidence. You'll be a free woman once again. I promise."

Kubra saw the genuine distress in his grey eyes and wondered why couldn't she have loved his guy and been happy? Why did she always have to chase the troubles?

But now she was going to pay for her mistakes. A very heavy payment it was too. One she could even give her life to proof that she didn't deserve it. And why didn't the judge simply sentence her to hang? Why make her go through such a harsh punishment?

She let a smile grace her dry lips. "And how long will that be, Saad?" He didn't have an answer to that. "I know you think you have a lifetime to work on my case. But really, here's one thing I promise you. I'll wither away every second I spend in that prison. How will you free a dead woman?"

"Please don't say that."

"Then let me say this one thing instead. I'm so sorry I couldn't love you back. You're the best thing that's ever come in my way and I let it slip through my fingers. Maybe I'll spend the rest of my days regretting about that. After all, I'll have more time on my plate than I'd ever know what to do with it."

She stepped back and the police once again took hold of her. When she turned, she saw the man she could love back looking their way. He came near them, no doubt to gloat about his success. But she beat him to it. "And I'm really sorry I loved you. I'll spend my days regretting about that too."

And then she was taken away. To spend the rest of her days in a cell, with no one with her, to fulfill the life sentence she was given.

*~*

Yusuf breathed in the bittersweet scent of the coffee and relaxed in the warm cocoon that wrapped him in it. Taking a sip of the bitter liquid, he reflected back on what he'd accomplished today. He had avenged his best friend who was more than a brother to him. He told himself again and again that it didn't matter that it was at the expense of losing the woman he loved. He probably didn't even love her that much. It was just a silly crush. He could never love someone who snatched someone so close to him. And he had almost accomplished to convince himself.

Until today when she'd pleaded him instead of Saad, he'd remembered that he did love her that much. But this was just a test. He'd passed the most difficult test of his life. Justice above all. And he'd proven it.

Then why did it hurt so much?

And I'm really sorry I loved you. I'll spend my days regretting about that too.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud slamming of a mug on the table. He looked up and saw his former best friend, Saad, seething down at him. His grey eyes were bloodshot, his cropped dark hair ruffled and his beard unkempt. He'd abandoned his blue suit jacket, revealing the creased white shirt underneath it, the sleeves of which he'd rolled up and opened the top buttons. Compared to Yusuf, who looked pristine in his black pinstriped suit, his dark hair, blue eyes and neat beard adding to his charisma, he looked nothing like the successful lawyer they both were.

"Congratulations, brother. You won. You ruined an innocent life today. You must be really happy." His tone contradicted every word he said. Saad sat down opposite him, taking a big gulp of his hot coffee, liking the burn on his tongue.

"Please, Saad. I don't have the energy to argue right now. It'll be best if you leave", Yusuf replied tiredly.

"Why? You should be bursting with happiness right now! You succeeded in sending her behind the bars. And now you don't even want to throw it in my face? You beat me. Come on! That's got to be something to be excited about! For twenty-eight years you've been trying to do that and you've accomplished it." He leaned back in his chair, all emotions he felt expressed in their raw form on his face.

"Come on, Saad! You know I never intended for you to lose. You were my best friend. My brother. You just were on the wrong side. You chose to forget justice and side with emotions."

"Emotions?" He mocked him by laughing. "Perhaps you should've sided with emotions too! You would've seen then, that emotions and justice were on the same side this time! She was innocent and deep down, you knew it!"

"Innocent? She killed my best friend! Our best friend! Maybe you could forget that but I can't! You saw all the hardcore evidences. But still you believe she's innocent!"

"Yes! Because unlike you, I trust the girl I've spent the best years of my life with! I trust the girl I freaking love! Not some tapes or objects I know were tampered!"

Yusuf knew Saad loved Kubra too. And he honestly couldn't blame him. She was beautiful. She was witty. She was fun. She was lively. She was interesting. She was caring. She was considerate. She was everything a man wished to have in his partner. But what he couldn't stand, if he was honest with himself, was that there was a high possibility that Kubra could love Saad back. He gripped the mug in his hand, the heat burning his palm. "I loved that girl more than anything in this world and you know it! But I will never let myself be blinded by some silly emotions unlike you!"

"For both our sakes man, I hope you did the right thing. Because if she really was the murderer, perhaps it'll be easier for all three of us to live the rest of our lives better."

*~*

Huma Mirza sat with her entire family: her parents, Shams Mirza and Ayesha Mirza, her elder brother, Saad, and her younger brother, Tayyab Mirza, in the lounge of their lavish house. Television was turned on in the background but no one paid any heed to it. Everyone was worried about Huma and Saad. Saad was lying on the couch, his head in his mother's lap, while Huma was sitting on the matted floor, her chin on her knee, refusing any physical touch but unable to keep her hiccups in.

"Dad?" Saad's called his father. "You never once told me if you thought that Kubra was really innocent or not."

Huma looked at her father through wet eyelashes, awaiting his answer. Shams Mirza was one of the best lawyers in the entire country. His insight on any case was enough to win it or lose it. Saad had asked him several times what he really thought of Kubra but he'd never given him a direct answer.

"What do you mean, Saad?"

"I mean that you always supported me in every step of this case but you never really expressed your views on it. Is it because you believed she was guilty too?"

"I believed that all the evidence was against her and if it continued to remain that way, it was a lost cause. But if my son really believed in her, then I believe in my son."

"She didn't do it, dad." Huma spoke, replying to her father's unspoken words that he believed there could've been a chance that she actually could've killed someone. "The only problem is that she didn't have anyone to prove it otherwise other than the words of the people who trusted her and loved her."

"Let's try to move on from it, shall we?" Ayesha Mirza cooled the fire before it could even rise. That's the kind of lawyer she was. The one who thought rationally, not letting the circumstances get the best of her. "I know it's a tragic event and in no way can we forget it. But you both shouldn't let it worsen your health. It's over and we should move on from it too."

"But it's not really over, is it?" Everyone looked at the youngest member of the family, Tayyab, questioningly. He looked at the television and raised its volume.

There was a split screen on the news channel that was running. In one, some news anchor was speaking and in the other, a video of Kubra was being played as she was being taken away by the police with handcuffs in her wrists.

"Now let us tell you that the court has finally given its verdict on the murder of Wali Bajwa, son of MNA Jamal Bajwa. The case was one of the most followed cases of the country. Two of the most renowned lawyers, Saad Mirza and Yusuf Bukhari were fighting against each other. But as of this morning, Yusuf Bukhari won. Yes. The defendant, Kubra Shahbaz, daughter of businessman Shahbaz Baig, was declared guilty of Wali Bajwa's murder this morning. She is sentenced to a lifelong solitary imprisonment. Was it really a fair decision? Or was the twenty-one year old student was convicted wrongly? Let's hear what the plaintiff lawyer, Yusuf Bukhari had to say after the trial."

The video clip of Yusuf outside the courtroom started playing on the screen and Huma snatched the remote control from Tayyab's hands, turning the television off. The proud face of Yusuf on the screen was enough to make the blood of Saad and Huma boil.

I swear, Yusuf. I'll never forgive you for what you've done.

*~*

Salam!
What do you think of this story?
Is Kubra really the murderer?
Do you guys think Yusuf would ever come to trust her?
And which team are you guys on? Yusuf or Saad?
Let me know in the comments.
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Until next time,
Allah hafiz.
Lots of love❤️❤️❤️
Javeria Naeem.