...

Kaveh Fayyad was back at Little Stars Elementary school.

It was a windy day in their city. Spring was slowly rolling to an end, flowers budding to sweet fruits and welcoming the summer breeze. Rainy season was due on them soon, even the air hinted to it.

Dahlia watched as her students stood like the most obedient little angels, with a little impatience here and there. The initiator of most of the mischief that took place, Jason, was standing besides her with a shy smile again since Kaveh greeted him with a hello. She did not even have to hold his hand to keep him still or make the kid stand besides her.

Jason was behaving, it was the eight wonder of the world. Peace, there was a moment of peace in Dalia's life. Supposedly, at least.

Dahlia peered at the Kaveh from beneath her lashes. He was impeccably dressed even this afternoon. There were sunglasses over his eyes. From his stance it was clear that his eyes were glued to the gate, from where he was expecting his little sister to expel.

Kaveh was standing a little too close to Dahlia, further away from the rest of the parents, even though his designated spot was in front of Alana, Azar's teacher. Their conversation at Nargis' house seemed to have broken through whatever reservations led him to maintain distance from her for the past couple of months.

The piercing eyes had stopped bothering her heart and soul, now just his mere presence seemed to do that. He wasn't doing anything, just standing there; yet somehow crossing the invisible line he had no right to cross.

A part of Dalia was secretly swooning at his competency with her kids, but a part of her was also severely annoyed. Kaveh was making her look bad at her job – doesn't matter he was doing it unintentionally. The only reason Jason behaved around him was because Kaveh was a stranger and the little rascal was self-destructive and lived to make his caretakers miserable; not because that man was better at disciplining. However, that's not how it would appear to the neighboring parents and her employers.

"It's nice of you to make time for Azar everyday," Dahlia spoke up, filling the silence between them, trying to keep out the indignation she was feeling out of her voice. "She gets so excited every time you come to pick her up."

He looked up, a smile made its way to his lips. "She wouldn't have it any other way. She cries all the way home in the days I can't make it. Then I have to find other ways to make it up to her."

"You seem to be good with children."

"It's all the experience I had from raising Salman." His lips spread into a playful grin.

Kaveh was joking around with her. Dahlia had a hard time wrapping her head around it. The man with the coldest eyes she had ever seen. But there was nothing cold about him, not any longer. Her mind replayed the conversation she had with Lily. She could no longer think of him as the cruel person she used to regard him as, even if she tried to.

Dahlia returned his grin. He had shifted his gaze again. Her eyes lingered on him for a couple more seconds. She wondered why he was wearing shades, to protect his eyes from the sun or to close the window to his soul? She wondered momentarily what was going through his mind. Now she was the one crossing the line, wanting to peer into the mind of a man she had no business with.

Azar made her way towards her brother. The kid was screaming Dahlia's nickname the at the top of her tinkering voice. Kaveh lowered himself in a near sitting position while balancing his body weight on his toes, getting himself to Azar height. Then he pushed her hair behind her ear and whispered something to her.

Dahlia's heart was fluttering in her chest. This was bad. This was very, very bad. She almost prayed Jason would start misbehaving again so that she would be forced to remove her attention from the scene her entire heart and soul was aware of with rapt attention.

But to further fan the fluttering in her chest the little girl smiled with embarrassment and murmured a sorry to Dahlia. Kaveh then affectionately ruffled her hair and said, "good girl."

Now he was making Alana look bad at her job. Dahlia couldn't even rejoice at that fact because of how her heart was melting, and it wasn't happening because summer was approaching.

After Ashiq Salehin appeared at her work place, Katrina Khan should have known this wouldn't be the last time she would see him.

It was the end of a long week. The busy street was moving at a slow pace. The anticipation for the weekends could be felt in the air. Katrina saw the silhouette of her ex-fiancé and his car near the lake where they used to meet.

Before she could express the frustration budding in her chest, her cousin was already snarling under her breath.

"How dare he! How freaking dare he!" Tamara was stomping to cross the street.

Katrina was exhausted. She didn't have it in her to face him, or worry about getting her cousin's behind out of jail for murder.

She clutched Tamara's arm. "Let's just keep moving," she muttered.

The cousins walked past where Ashiq was standing, maintaining their distance and ignoring his presence. Tamara narrowed her eyes even from the distance.

"Katrina, listen to me!"

Katrina gritted her teeth and kept moving. She was already on her way to the main road, with no particular direction in mind, Tamara's hand clutched in hers, far from the man she could no longer bear to see.

As they kept striding, a familiar face appeared.

"You girls okay?"

Katrina Khan ended up going home in the backseat of Salman Bashir's car.

She watched silently as the brick buildings melted one into another outside the window. Katrina had her jaw clenched and arms tightly folded over her chest. In the front seat, she could hear her cousin enthusiastically exchanging conversation with the man in the driver's seat.

Katrina couldn't help but feel this was the most inappropriate thing she had done all week; which was saying a lot, considering her phone was filled with messages from another woman's husband.

She had been texting Tamara since the moment they got into his car.

Why did you agree to his offer? Katrina typed furiously. We could have just taken an Uber.

You looked so upset and fragile, I thought you'd be more comfortable with someone you know instead of a random Uber driver.

This was her cousin's reply.

I'm not upset nor fragile, I'm just reacting to the situation. You know, I'm allowed to. You guys need to stop acting like I'm made of glass ready to shatter.

And you just wanted to ride in a BMW, admit it.

Tamara ceased to reply to her texts after that.

Katrina lifted her eyes and peered at Salman, her gaze shining with caution. After her last encounter with him in their office lounge, he walked straight up to her the next day and asked with concern etched across his face, "are you okay?"

Katrina was mortified. Not only was he speaking to her in public, but he was openly discussing a matter that was very private.

Salman was too friendly, too forward, too flashy for her taste; and she never knew what to feel when it came to that man.

Katrina liked order and discipline, and Salman Bashir was the exact opposite of that. He stood against every moral she was raised with.

As they entered her neighborhood, Salman's car stood out in the dingy streets. The area was still alive with people. The sidewalks were bustling with the local vendors. The honking of cars and chatter of people blended into one another.

They reached the general store near their home, owned by a man they grew up calling Jahangir Uncle. Katrina instructed Saman to drop them there, earning a look from Tamara.

Salman furrowed his brows and darted his eyes around the street. "I don't see any residential buildings here," he mused.

"This far is enough," Katrina told him curtly. "We don't want to trouble you any further."

Salman looked over his shoulder. "It's no trouble at all!" he answered earnestly. "I insist on driving you to your house."

"The street in front of your home is too narrow," she said. "You can't take your car there."

He straightened his head again, momentarily fooling Katrina into believing he had bought her words. She let out a breath, but then the next moment he began to undo his seat belt and reach for the handle of his car door.

"What do you think you're doing?" Katrina asked in a clipped tone.

"Walking you home," he answered simply. "I can't strand two girls in the middle of the street."

Katrina let out a frustrated sigh, barely holding onto the last strands of her patience. "You wouldn't be stranding us. We grew up in this neighborhood, it's familiar and safe."

"Still."

"I don't trust you enough to let you know where I live," Katrina snapped.

He looked at her, astonished.

The day's exhaustion was already seeping into bones her bones. "That's what it is."

"Katrina..." her cousin started.

"You really need to learn to stay in your lane,"

"Noted," Salman simply said, letting the seatbelt sit flat across his chest, face wiped of emotions.

Fuming with anger and without sparing a second glance, Katrina got off his car.