The first thing Haya did when she woke up the following morning was to open her phone and see the picture again, to make sure she hadn't lost her mind last night.

Sure enough, she still thought she was beautiful.

It was a weird feeling, this new confident. It kind of took away from all that she had been crying about. Not that she was complaining, but it felt weirdly good.

When she saw herself in the mirror, she winced.
Then she shook it off, this was who she was now and she was beautiful.
As she had thought before, this wasn't a one time thing, it was a process that would take months, years even.

Later, she called the police station and told them if she could see him today and they agreed.
When she broke the news to her parents, they were not very pleased which didn't shock her, it was a normal reaction.

"Darling we have never objected against any of your decisions and we won't object against this too but we really want you to think this through. It's not going to be easy." Her father said and she smiled in response

"Of course it won't be easy dad. But I need this closure. I need to make sure he knows that all he ruined was himself." She replied.

Although reluctant, her parents told her she could go ahead if she wanted to but she should keep all possible consequences in mind.

They offered to go with her but she declined. She wanted to be alone for this.

Coincidentally, Zayan texted her at that very moment
"Hey, got any plans today?"

"Yes. A big one. Going to see him in jail today. And I do not want you there, Zayan Sheikh. I want to be alone there" She replied although she knew the last part would have no effect on him.

If she knew him as well as she thought she did, he would definitely show up which is why she didn't want to tell him in the first place but he texted and she couldn't lie to him.

That day when she dressed up, she still felt a little urge to hide her face but she ignored that urge. Choosing to not cover her face instead.

She drove to the jail, which looked just as depressing as the police station from the outside and she didn't even want to imagine what the inside would look like.

As she got out of the car, she felt the stares around her burning holes into her once more. This time, however, it didn't hurt that much. Instead of lowering her head and hunching her shoulders, she kept her shoulders straight and her head high.
It wasn't easy, she felt nervous and judged but she continued anyway.

That was the whole point, she had to crawl out of her self loathing pit. She had to realize that nobody would respect her or love her if she didn't love and respect herself.

She spotted Zayan just outside the gate and rolled her eyes.
"Obviously you showed up." She smiled knowingly

"I knew you knew I'd show up." He smiled too
"But I won't follow you inside. You're right, you need to be alone for this. I'll be out here when you're done. Just remember that whatever that manipulative piece of shit tells you, you're amazing." He said

She nodded.
"I know"

"I love you."

Then there was a brief moment where she imagined herself saying it back. A moment where the words just slipped out of her mouth but the moment was short lasting.

She walked inside with bated breath.
The inside of the prison had white walls and smelled like dirt and crime.
Thankfully, the room where she was to meet him wasn't too far and she didn't have to roam more of the prison.

She sat down, ignoring her sweaty hands and waited for his filthy face to show up.

"Your hands must be very sweaty." A voice cut through the silence in the room.
The voice sent chills down her spine and for a minute, she forgot how to breathe.

"Mohsin." She whispered. She hoped her voice hadn't come out scared, because that would only make him more cocky

He came and sat in front of her and she honestly was shocked to see him. His hands were handcuffed, he had grown a beard, he seemed to have lost a tremendous amount of weight and he reeked of guilt, anger and prison.

"Why'd you wanna see me?" She asked, not even meeting his eye

"Oh wow, you can't even look me in the eye. That guilty?" He laughed cynically.

His horrible laugh brought her back to the night and the words he kept chanting.
Wanting her to rot. It made her shiver but she reminded herself she had all the time to cry later. Right now she needed to show him she was okay, she was good.

She raised her face, looking him in the eye with so much hate, he looked taken aback. He quickly regained his composure

"If I were guilty, you wouldn't be the one in handcuffs." She stated simply

It ticked him off, the mention of the handcuffs. Mohsin was a man who craved power so this specially triggered him, yet she saw him somewhat swallow his anger, scared of the officer standing in the room

"You brought this onto yourself, you know." He said and his words made her want to lose her temper.
He knew that, he was playing with her mind.

"If this is your amazing plan. To convince me that I was the one at fault, then it's a lost cause. I will never, for one second doubt that I brought this onto myself. It's all because of you, you piece of shit." She spoke angrily, not raising her voice the slightest bit. To show him she was composed, she wouldn't shake.

Suddenly, his expression changed. It scared her, but she waited for his next move.

He quickly grabbed her hand which lay on the table.
"Forgive me, Haya, please." He pleaded and his sudden change of emotions surprised her.

For a minute, it felt like time froze.
To the outside world, it was just him holding her hand. To her it felt like her hand was on fire.

It was the same hand which had touched her everywhere when she practically screamed 'no'.
It was the same hand which roamed her body like it was his property.
It was the same hand that had slapped her.
It was the same hand that had thrown acid on her.

Suddenly she couldn't control herself. She exclaimed loudly as she punched his hand with her free one. He cried out in pain.

"Ma'am, no touching please!" The police officer exclaimed too.

"I'm sorry officer, won't happen again." She quickly apologized for losing her temper and the policeman gave her a stare before returning back to his position

"You bitch! Look at what I did to you." He laughed, his face turning red with pain and his emotions changing again.
"I ruined you. I ruined your face. I ruined your life. I ruined everything you ever held close."

She processed the words he said. Had he ruined everything? Yes.
But was everything still ruined? No.
There was no way things were back to perfect. Her face wasn't the same, neither was her life but what he did freed her of him.
It freed her of her insecurities. It made her appreciate who she actually was.

"You know what, you're right. You did ruin everything. But look at where you are now and where I am. My shackles are only in my brain and someday, I'll grow out of that but you will never grow out of your shackles, because they're not just in your mind." She said

"I'm sorry Haya." He said.
Her head now started spinning, trying to keep track of his feelings.

He looked scared, like a two year old. The apology wasn't derived from guilt, it was derived from fear.

"No you're not. I just need you to tell me one last thing. Why did you do it?" She finally asked

"I...because...I..." He fumbled with his words but she knew the truth

"You don't even know why. That's how irrational you are and always have been. You do the task first and think later. Look where that landed you." She said, hatred dripping from her voice but there was also something else. A sense of being the bigger person.

"You ruined us. I was ready to spend my whole life with you but you ruined it all. Just for your lust and your anger. I may have even loved you had you given us a little bit more time. What would it have done to you if you had just heard me say no? You didn't even think, before you threw acid at me. You didn't even think twice before you changed my life the way it was. You didn't think twice before you changed me! I'm my own person. I was never your property and you had no right to treat me like I was!" She exclaimed.

She tried to stop it, but her anger rose with every passing minute.

His expression went from being scared to being terrified with every word she said.

"I'm so glad you divorced me that night, verbally at least. You have no hold over me anymore. Your parents sent the divorce papers through the mail while I was in the hospital. Trust me, no girl in the history of the world has ever been happier to see her divorce papers. I am so glad I'm done with you, you filthy bastard. I hope karma hits you soon and with all it's strength." She said and got up to leave.

She had so much more to say, so much more anger to let out but judging by the look on his face, he was already deep in the pits of darkness in his mind.
That was a bigger torture than any of her words.

"Will you ever be able to forgive me?" He asked with a quivering voice.

In a picture perfect world, her answer would be hopeful. She would be able to tell him that maybe someday she'd forgive him.
However, this wasn't a picture perfect world, it was the real word and almost at all times, the world never serves you what you want. No matter how deep she dived, she found no sympathy or forgiveness for him.

"Probably not." She told him.

If possible, he looked even more terrified and she still found no sympathy for him anywhere.

She felt a little heartless, for not having sympathy.
Then she took a look at him again and she remembered all the reasons why she wasn't heartless, she was just human.

She walked out with her head held even higher. He had done a thing which, subsequently, hurt both of them. One more than the other.
Her life as she knew it before, was gone now but as she looked into the possible future, she saw one of them hurting more than the other. And that wasn't her.

Sure, her life wouldn't be amazing, neither would it be perfect but it sure as hell would be better than that of the man she left inside. She heard another 'click' as she walked out of the prison.

She was healing.

As she walked out and saw Zayan, she saw with him a future full of promises.
She was still scared, still doubtful. Then again, being scared of confrontation was what had led her here.

A feeling rose within her, a feeling so strong it could break even the strongest of walls.

Still scared, doubtful and unsure she ran to him.
"I love you. I love you. I love you"

Only when the words had left her mouth had she realized how natural it felt. It felt as if she was meant to say the words to him and only him.
Every moment when she felt it but just confused it with a different kind of affection, came back to her.

The moment she wanted to cry with happiness when he praised her salty cupcakes. The moment she wanted to go on her shopping spree with him instead of her female friends. The moment she wanted to flaunt the fact that he only had eyes for her at their first boy-girl party. The moment she wanted to jump into his arms and tell him he was right when he had told her not to marry Mohsin.

She was just too scared of losing him, still was. The only difference was that this time she was ready to take the leap.
The acid could've done much worse to her, it could've killed her but she lived.
She got another chance and she couldn't waste it.
Death is inevitable and so there was no reason for her to not do this.

He lifted her and spun her in circles, as she held onto him.
And there, in front of the worst place in the world, they had one of the best moments of their life.

"Are you serious?" He exclaimed

"Yes, yes, yes. I love you." She repeated.

Even she couldn't believe that she was saying those words, how could he believe it so easily?
But the more she said it, the more she realized how true it was.

She loved him.
She hadn't planned being so strong when she woke up this morning and she definitely hadn't planned on telling him anything of the sort. Even now, there was no explanation for why she felt the need to say it.

All she knew was this felt right.

He really didn't have any words. He had waited for this moment his entire life.
He had always rehearsed what he would say to her but his words fell short in front of his happiness.
He simply held her face and planted his lips on her forehead.

He didn't know what talk she had had inside, but it wasn't important for it had led to this.

Maybe all of it would crash and burn — but for right now all they needed was each other.

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Hello everyone! It's my first author's note, yayyy!
Anyway, this is the second last chapter for part I which means the next one concludes Haya's tale.
What do you think will be the end of this tale?
What are your reviews about this part?
Let me know in the comments and please vote! :)