~One Year Later~

Saad grabbed his cup of espresso and leaned against the door frame overlooking his lawn. Like the morning dew wetting the grass, his eyelashes were also moist from the dreams of her he'd woken up from. But also, the quiet of the dawn and the songs of the birds—the overall peace of the undisturbed morning—were finally reflected in his own heart. 

He smiled and took in a long breath, the scent of dewy greens and bitterness of the coffee wafting into his nose. He was finally going to leave this place. Despite the media haunting him for the past year and every now and then, Kubra's case resurfacing on social media with every trending case of unjustified killings, he hadn't been able to leave this city. 

The city which held all their memories, their laughter, their love, and their pain. The city which had her scent entrapped in its flowers. The city which had her body buried in its land. For a year, he'd been encouraging his heart to be more stubborn in not leaving this place, while everyone else was telling him to start afresh. His mother, sister, even his father had been trying to convince him to let go, even if it meant not seeing him return ever again. 

But now, when she herself had told him, of course he obliged. 

The soft vibration of his phone brought him out of his thoughts and he checked it. It was a message from his sister, Huma. 

All packed and ready to go? It read. It had been a long time since he had heard her voice or even seen her. She only ever contacted him through text messages. He was even following her success through news and not personal updates by herself. Huma had become a leading criminal lawyer in the past year. She was slowly but steadily paved her way in the lawyers' community and he couldn't be more proud of her. 

He pressed the "video-call" icon and waited for her to pick up, almost excited to talk to her again. What greeted him was a woman who was much more than a lawyer's sister or daughter. She was a woman who had built a name for herself, and even though she had been confident her entire life, what now radiated out of her was belief in no one but herself. 

"Hey, big bro. How come you remembered me today?" It was apparent that she had just stepped out of an ongoing meeting just to talk to him. 

"Hey little sis, don't you look dapper," he sipped his coffee, settled on the stool by the breakfast bar and set his phone again a ketchup bottle. 

"And you look human again." There was concern shining through the mischief glinting in her eyes. "Almost."

"What can I say? New city, new me, right?" He looked behind the phone and smiled as she  propped up on the kitchen shelf and winked at him. 

"When is the new city happening though?" He could see she had settled down in his old office at his dad's firm. 

"Tonight." A sombre silence enveloped them. They both knew what it meant. He was hardly going to look back if he had to survive. Which meant it was probably their last day together for a long time. 

"Bhai?" She said quietly. His heart swelled up with emotion hearing her call him that. "Can I please come and hug you?"

Had they both talked a little while longer, they would have started crying again. So he just said, "Please do." And hung up. 

*~*~*

 Saad picked up the razor and stared at it for a long time. He'd often wondered about the moments when she'd almost ended it all. Had she thought about his promises? His love? His words? Had she thought about him at all?

And what would she think of his thoughts now as they corrupted him to meet with her faster than what the God has planned. Would she want to meet with him too? Would she be as eager? Would she be counting days till she could engulf him in her arms again? Or would she ask him to snap out of it and live his life to the fullest? Would she be selfish or selfless? Would she think about only him or them together?

I suppose we'll never know.  

"Yes we will, so don't even think about it." His lips curved up in a smile as he watched her jump up on the bathroom counter. Gosh, how could one person be so beautiful?

"Well, well. Look who's decided to make an appearance again."

His Kubra smiled at him, so carefree and happy. Like she'd been before it all. Before her engagement with Yusuf. 

"Hey, it's not my fault you've been so busy with the packing for the new life you're gonna build," there was that same playful sarcasm that he so loved. 

"And on whose instructions am I doing it? I was perfectly fine with it all here." He started shaving his jaw lathered in cream. 

"But on whose instructions are you shaving away your beard? Because I never said it. I like your trimmed stubble." She was swinging her legs and moving her fingers through his hair.

Oh how he wished he could feel those delicate fingers in his scalp again, taking away all his misery and tension again. 

"It'll grow back just how you like it, love," he leaned into his hand but then shook his head at his idiocy for seeking warmth in a figment of imagination. 

"You know you should stop willing yourself to conjure me. One day my spirit might actually start to haunt you," she teased him.

"I wish!" He smirked. "But all this is gonna do is confirm my ticket to the mental asylum."

"You're not crazy, Saad," her fingers rested on top of his as he wiped the cream away with the towel, hiding himself away from her concern. 

"Aren't  I?" He groaned and threw away the towel. "I picture you by my side every single day. I haven't met a real person in months now, and I don't even want to. I just want you to keep smiling at me and guiding me to a less miserable existence. I'm sure any psychiatrist would classify me a Schizophrenic."

His doorbell rang, cutting whatever she was gonna say, or rather whatever his conscience would have made her say. "I suppose that cuts our meeting short, Superman."

"Never, KB. You're always going to be in my heart. Just like you're going to be in Huma's, who is right now going crazy thinking why I'm not opening up."

He smiled, winked at her, splashed water on his face, and when he looked back in the mirror, he was all alone once again.

*~*~*

Huma hadn't stopped crying since the moment he'd opened up, looked at her and then wrapped his arms around her. He'd moved them on the couch, but she still stay clutching his arm and hiding her face in his chest, crying with sobs. 

And he couldn't say he was much better, but at least he was trying to soothe her now. "Hey, KB wouldn't like this, right?" He rubbed her back and then pulled her away, wiping her face with his hands. "That's what you always said to me."

She sniffed. "Yeah, and then you stopped talking to me for months."

"I'm sorry." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I should've been there for you too. I should've let you be there for me too. I'm sorry I didn't."

She took in a deep breath, rubbed her face and exhaled. "Yeah, well. Life's not been easy on any of us. So I forgive you, Bhai." She exhaled again. "And hey, I made a career out of my misery!"

"And I couldn't be more proud of you, love," he kissed her forehead. 

There was a comfortable pause in which she snuggled into his side, just like she did when they were young. And despite his own raging storm, her brother provided her the same peace and sense of safety. "You're really leaving for good?"

He rubbed her back and rested his chin on top of her head. "I have to. I'll invite you there the moment I've sorted out my way in the States, I promise."

"And I promise I'll come after you even before that." She hugged him tighter. "Mom and Dad really miss you, you know. Dad looks like he is drowning in the sea of regret. And I've never seen mom cry so much. Even Tayyab now calls frequently to ask about you."

"Yeah, well, you've got to make them believe that I'm not really mad at them. It's just taken  me a year to face my own self. I don't know what it'll take to face all of them again. And as for Tayyab, I suppose I'll meet him abroad."

"And Yusuf? Would you meet him too?" Yusuf had left the country the day of Jamal Bajwa's execution. No one knew exactly where, just that he was somewhere in the fifty states of America. Saad remembered how their last meeting had gone.

~ Flashback~

Saad watched as Yusuf placed the fresh roses by her tombstone as he sat on the soil. Both of them looked a reflection of each other. Yusuf could hide his misery from the entire world, but he hadn't ever managed to trick Saad. Under that crisp suit and the perfectly trimmed beard, Yusuf was just a hollow man too, in whom regret, guilt and shame echoed so loudly, it deafened Saad.

The man who was once his best friend, so confident and self-reliant, Saad couldn't almost recognise him anymore. His blue eyes, filled with grief and shame, met his grey ones, begging for forgiveness and ashamed to even long for his best friend again. 

"You won't ever forgive me, would you?" Yusuf sat down on the ground beside Saad and looked at Kubra's tombstone. It was simple with no quote, just her name and date. Because no one could decide what to write on it. There were so many emotions and not enough words. At the end, it remained blank.

"I forgave you the moment you came clean, Yusuf." Even Saad knew his voice was hollow. "She hadn't. She asked me to make sure you got what you deserve." Yusuf smiled at the irony. Years back, he had also thought he was giving her what she deserved. "And you did, didn't you? What worse punishment can I give you than the regret you've chained yourself to?"

He swallowed. "None, I suppose." He stood up abruptly and dusted off his suit. "I'm leaving today." He grabbed some soil from her grave in his fist and then watched as it slowly sifted through his fingers. "I suppose this is goodbye. I don't know if I want life to make our paths cross again. I won't be able to face you." 

He turned to leave but stopped short on Saad's words. "If I know one thing about Kubra, it's that she would have forgiven you by now, Yusuf. She wouldn't have wanted to die with resentment in her heart for someone she loved."

Tears filled his eyes which no one would ever see. "You think?"

"I know." There was a pause before he said, "but a word of advice, brother. Don't disregard your years of trust on someone for a moment of uncertainty again."

Yusuf chuckled, concealing his desperation to cry and scream. "Lesson learnt. Brother." He turned to looked at him and for the last time, Saad looked at him too. "Goodbye, Saad."

"Goodbye, Yusuf." But that farewell was lost in the wind for Yusuf had already left.

~End of Flashback~

"No. He won't meet me." He looked down at her. "But don't you worry about that, Love. We're all on our journey to heal on our own now. Let's see where life takes us."

Kubra sat on the table in front of them and placed her hand on the siblings' joined ones and smiled. Saad knew she was proud of him. Whether she looked down at him from the heavens or from across her, she was proud of him. 

Don't worry, he hadn't gone totally crazy. He knew she was just her imagination. Something he could let go of if he willed himself to. Like he'd let go of this city. 

He just wasn't strong enough right now. But he'll try. It won't be easy, but he'll try. He'll live. For her.

It was all for her.

~The End~

Assalam o Alaikum everyone!

This is officially a goodbye to Life Sentence. I'm really sorry for all the times I broke your heart. And for all the Nimra Ahmed readers, I especially feel guilty. 😢😢😢

But anyway. I know for some of you, this book wasn't up to the mark as my previous one. And if for that, your time and patience was wasted, I apologise once again. But Thank you sooooo much for all of you who stuck till the end. I owe the completion of the book to you all! 

As of this moment, I don't have a sequel story as some of you were asking for or hoping for. But it might develop, who knows. For me, this story is complete. Maybe we'll see Saad or Yusuf or Huma in my future works, maybe not. 

For now, let me know in the comments what you guys think of it. Shower your love for Saad one last time. I'll be honoured to know the characters I created held place in your heart for a little time. ❤❤❤❤❤

Until next time, 

Allah Hafiz❤❤❤❤

~Javeria.