The clock ticked 5 as Haya stood in front of the mirror, trying to make herself look more presentable.

Never had she ever cared to actually make the effort and apply the makeup she had collected over the years, except for a few times.

Today, she felt obliged to put it on to look better but unfortunately there was not much place to put makeup on. Besides, there was no amount of makeup that could make her feel better about herself.

She heard the doorbell ring and heard the sounds of Zayan talking to her parents.

Zayan's and her family went way back.
They were both born in the same hospital, a day apart, with Haya being the elder one.
That's where their parents had met each other and ever since that day, their families had been inseparable and so had the two of them.

"Haya, hurry up!" She heard her dad call and so she walked down the stairs with her face hanging low, still not wanting to go out.

Zayan said his goodbyes to her parents and so did she before he practically pushed her out of the house.

As they got in the car, she sighed audibly. She felt a lump in her throat, even though she had absolutely no reason to cry at that very moment.

This had been her perpetual mental state these days, she would feel like crying every two seconds for no reason and the feeling would go away just as quickly.

It was a thing that confused her, one of the many things, actually.

She remembered the first day she woke up, sane. She remembered feeling like her brain would somehow un-jumble itself.
It didn't.
It only got worse from that point forward.

"Okay cupcake, rule number one. No sadness. It's hard, you're hurt, I know. But no sadness for the next few hours. Got it?" Zayan said after a few minutes.

He had purposely called her 'cupcake'. It was a nickname only he called her.
She earned the name when the first thing she ever baked was cupcakes and she ended up putting salt in them instead of sugar. As much as she pretended to hate it, the name always put a smile on her face, except today.

When she didn't smile at the name, he realized he was looking at the shell of someone who was once his best friend, and he felt a pit of hopelessness in his stomach.
He had vowed to do everything in his power to end his hopelessness. Their hopelessness.

"So now we've got rules?" Haya scoffed, already annoyed.
She didn't know why she was annoyed either, he was only trying to help her.

"Yes. We have one simple rule now and you're going to follow it religiously" He stared at her, asking for confirmation.

She sighed again, this time in despairing agreement.

"Okay. But you can't take me anywhere crowded." She said and he nodded in agreement

"Noted, ma'am"

And they drove. They drove past her favorite ice cream place, past his favorite park, past the majestic trees behind which the sun had began setting. They drove out of the city before he stopped in the middle of nowhere.

She smiled to herself as she recognized the place they were at.

As kids, their school used to be on the outskirts of town and this was their designated spot to come to when they bunked classes.

Zayan looked at the flight of stairs that led to the top of the ruined fort.
The fort of which only a few walls, a flight of weak stairs and half a broken balcony was left.

Haya had never understood how it had been over 20 years but half of the balcony still stood strong.

Zayan look at her, arching his eyebrow, as if asking her
Shall we?

She arched her eyebrow too, to answer
We shall

So they ran, up the flight of stairs they had never been able to successfully count.
The stairs where they had tripped several times and bruised themselves even more times. The rest of the city sat below them and became a blur as they ran to the best of their potential.

It was only when he screamed that she realized he had won, as always.

"I still got it!" He laughed and normally she would've told him to not get too cocky but today she just smiled.

They sat down on the muddy floor of the half-balcony, staring at the sunset.

From this spot on the balcony, it looked like the sun had come down to greet them. The sky was now painted an orange-red color, like it was on fire.

Lately everything in her life resembled fire, or maybe it was her who thought so.
Anyhow, the sky may look like it was on fire, but it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

Zayan slung his arm around her shoulders, just like how he used to do when they were children. To add to the nostalgia he handed her a bag of skittles, her favorite.

"I know you hate it when I ruin your special moments with my constant chattering but there is something very important you should know." He looked at her somberly, the last sun rays painting his face a rich orange color, which made him look like a movie's hero.

"I'm listening." She replied as she popped a red skittle in her mouth.

"Look at the sky" his grip on her shoulder tightened
"Doesn't it look like it's on fire?" His voice lowered

"It's beautiful." She said
"I know." He replied
She knew he was staring at her instead of the sunset.

She also knew what he was about to say and her throat choked on the thought of hearing those words.

"Well then what makes you think you're not?" He continued

She hung her head low as he finished his sentence, a single tear escaping her eye.

There were a million things she wanted to say.
The sunset was beautiful because it was meant to be this way. It was natural, it was the way God had made it.
Meanwhile, her fire wasn't natural. It wasn't her choice. Nobody looked at her and thought that she was the most beautiful thing in the world.
There was no philosophy behind it, neither an explanation. It was general knowledge. She was no longer beautiful.
Only, he would refuse to accept that.

"I'm trying to accept myself like this, you know. It's just very hard." Her voice came out feeble and heartbroken, not at all like she intended.

"I know you are, I know." He replied.
She rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his' on top of her's.

He knew her mind was swirling with thoughts about herself. About how she didn't deserve to be called beautiful.

Did she meet the 'standards of beauty'? No.
However, to him those standards were nothing short of bullshit. To him she still remained one of the most beautiful people in the world.

He firmly believed that whatever was inside you, would reflect itself on the outside.
Sure, she wasn't a saint, but she had one of the most beautiful personalities he had ever seen.
To him, that was the standard of beauty.
The whole world could call her whatever they wanted but to him, she was simply gorgeous, and he would tell her that every minute of everyday until she believed it too.

Another thing he knew was that no amount of words could stop her racing mind at this very moment. So he simply sat there for an hour, watching the sky go from being bright to dark. Watching her go from crying silently to closing her eyes to feel the essence of her childhood in the shattered fort.

It all felt like a scene from the most cliche rom-com, but they both wanted to stay there forever.

They silently drove back home and she invited him to come inside but he politely refused, for he knew her family had planned something for her.

She walked in feeling better than she had felt when she left. What she saw when she entered made her day even better.

The whole house smelled like food and scented candles. Her mom had made lasagna and a batch of brownies while her dad had put on some old music that sounded boring but it made her happy.

Then there was her, Zara. She ran forward and hugged Haya as tightly as her petite figure would allow.

Zara had cut her hair short and dyed them a lighter shade which made her look like one of the housewives on those real estate catalogues.

They sat down together as a family after a long time that night. All of them chatting about random things and eating the best food in the world.

Mr and Mrs Siddiqui felt themselves breathe a little easier at that dinner table, as compared to the last few weeks.
As they saw their two girls, who were now women, they held each other's hands, a feeling of triumph washing over them.
Of course there were many tough battles they still had to fight, most of which would be concerned with Haya but for this one night, they were glad to see themselves as a family again. To see that they had raised two beautiful and strong women.

Damaged and destroyed as it may be, it was still family.

After dessert, Haya cornered her sister.

"Before you say something I just wanna say how sorry.." Zara began but she stopped her sister mid sentence

"I know. I was really mad at you for a long time before I finally realized why you hadn't come to see me and I want you to know that it's okay. It's okay if your strict as a principal mother-in-law doesn't want you to see me. There's really not a lot of people who understand that this isn't my fault." Her sister smiled, teary eyed. "And tell your husband thank you for sneaking you out of the house and bringing you here"

Zara didn't have any words. She loved her sister with all heart and wanted to spend every minute with her but she was a married woman with strict in-laws.
Her set of options was very limited.
She was just glad her husband understood, on some level. She was also extremely glad that her sister understood. So she hugged her sister, so tightly, again.

"I'm really sorry" were the only things that left her mouth for the next few minutes.

The look Haya got from her sister before she hugged her again, was dripping with pride and love.

In that moment, Haya truly felt fierce like the sunset.
Which is why later that night she told her parents she would be going to the police the following morning with Zayan.