Third chapter in three days. I tend to write fast when I have exams over my head lmao.

Anyway, this is a nice chapter I think. More drama coming next.

Comment and vote. Ya'll know what to do hehe. Bubye!!

Aaina x Zaydaan.

Aaina rushed out of the courtroom, looking around to find her husband. She pretended to be calm and composed, Sami bhai trailing behind her but in reality, she was anything but that.

Why had Zaydaan just walked out of there like that? She knew he had to go straight to his office after the hearing but he didn't even bother to say goodbye.

Had the court session got to him? Was he seriously seething about those stupid accusations?

She didn't know.

She looked to the further end, finding the Prime Minister's cars and protocol team around him as he was just ready to leave the premises.

Aaina walked upto him, seeing his team gathered around as they prepared his car to leave. Prime Minister Ziagil waved at the media reporters lined up outside of court, giving them his signature smile and wave.

The first lady put a soft smile on her face too, knowing that she was being captured and recorded.

She looked at her husband, who waited for her. Aaina knew he would have stormed off but the reporters were watching everything and he could not express his anger here.

"I want to talk." She whispered to him.

He nodded, then started to walk towards a small room, his team by his side.

They all entered the room at the same time. Aaina felt uncomfortable talking to him around his entire security team but they were literally always there and having a word alone somewhere outside the house was practically impossible for them.

"Zaydaan, what happened?" She kept her voice low as she questioned him. Why had he just left like that?

The Prime Minister shook his head.

"Nothing happened. Go home." He told her instead.

She clicked her tongue.

"Why did you storm out of there?" Aaina enquired next, her husband still didn't tell her why he had done that, instead his eyes flashed with anger.

"Aaina. I said, go home." He said to her yet again, voice very low and barely audible.

The first lady shook her head, feeling herself get angry. She was there, being questioned about horrible things, being accused of utter crap and now she had to worry about this too?

"No. Tell me what happened." She insisted, she looked around to see his team standing all around them. Yes, they were at the corners but it felt so awkward to argue in front of them.

She looked at Waseem bhai and then the others.

"Can we have some privacy here, please? I'm really tired of you guys listening to every single conversation of ours."

She mumbled the last part but it was still quite audible. Zaydaan frowned in anger at the way she had talked to them.

His team didn't exactly leave but they walked out of the room and opened the door, standing in front of it.

"Badtameezi mat karo." (don't misbehave.)

He said to her, the moment his security was away and couldn't hear anything. His tone was extremely rude, Aaina hated that tone.

"Maine kya Badtameezi ki hai? Kheryat hai?" (When did I misbehave?)

She mumbled back, voice laced with confusion. Her head hurt, literally. It hurt so bad.

The Prime Minister looked at her in anger, almost glaring at her.

"This is why I always wanted you to stay away from Ahad. The media is going to have a field day. How nice." That taunt in his tone didn't go unnoticed by her.

He was affected by it. She knew that.

She was his wife, his izzat. Now everyone would simply go around and talk all kinds of things about her, about her character.

They would talk about how the rumours were true from the very first day. The horse riding incident was still very much remembered, they would say that there was actually alot more than just friendship between them, they would say that the first lady had her eyes on her brother in law. They would accuse her of horrible things, spread even worse rumours about her.

Aaina gulped upon hearing him.

"Don't blame this on me, Zaydaan. This is not my fault." She didn't want to be blamed for something that was not her doing.

Why was he even saying that to her?

"I told you. Stop being close to Ahad in public, it's not right. But no! When has my wife ever listened to me?" He seethed, voice sharp and just so pissed at her.

She let out a sigh. With a man like Zaydaan, you could not really win. You could not argue and make things okay. What you could do was make him understand how you were feeling, what your perspective really was. He had no shame in understanding someone.

"You're just mad that they dragged our private lives into this." She started off, continuing.

"You're angry. I get it. Well, I feel humiliated. You're not the only one who has got affected by this. You, me, Noora, Ahad..we're all affected." She tried to explain.

Zaydaan gave her a blank look, the one that made it impossible for Aaina to read him at all.

"I am leaving for work." He told her, ready to walk out.

She held onto his arm, making him stay.

"Zaydaan." Her hold on his arm tightened as she looked at him.

"This is what Awan wants. He wants us to fight." She tried yet again.

"All these cases, all these accusations, the drama, threats to the family. It is getting to you, you're frustrated and you're taking it all out on me. This is not the way to handle things, Zaydaan." Her voice was softer this time, more gentle.

"There was a woman accusing you of the most vile and disgusting things. I had to sit through that." He reminded her, she nodded.

"I know."

"You're my izzat, Aaina. My respect is with you. My honour is with you. I am already fighting a battle for my honour, I don't want to fight one for yours too."

He finally said, making her understand why he was mad, where he was coming from.

She nodded at him.

"Don't you understand, Zaydaan? I am trying to do the same for you. If that makes them question my honour, then so be it."

When it came to her fighting for her love, she didn't care about what they said. Ofcourse, a woman in her position had to care but she couldn't stop people from spewing shut out of their mouths. She had to get through it and she knew she had the courage to do so.

"Allah knows what is in my heart. He knows what's here and here." She put her hand on his heart and his hand on hers.

She felt it beat under the touch her hand, his heart beat at a normal pace but hers didn't.

Her heart beat under the heaviness of his hand. It's pace fast. Zaydaan understood why her heart was not calm. It was because of all that had happened inside

He was so busy thinking about his izzat, his honor, all of which came with her that he almost forgot that she had to sit through those kind of questions. And she had done so well. She had answered so well.

"When the truth prevails, their mouths will be shut." Aaina promised.

"Doesn't change the fact that I am disgusted by what happened there." He grumbled. She just shrugged.

"I can assure you that I'm feeling just as disgusted. You being mad about it isn't helping either."

Zaydaan put his hand on the back of her neck, gripping it just lightly.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad at the situation." He assured, continuing.

"Their fight is against me, yet they talk shit about my wife. Is that not reason enough to be mad?" He questioned her.

Aaina just nodded and leaned into his touch, inhaling a deep breath, her lips on his neck as she tied her hands around his waist.

Zaydaan didn't hug her back like that but his hand was still gripping the nape of her neck.

"Okay." He heard her say.

"Okay?" He reaffirmed.

"I am not going to push you when you're mad." She said into his neck, then pulled back.

She gave her one of her soft smiles, leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

"Have a good day at work." Zaydaan couldn't help but smile back.

"You too."

He murmured, then he was out of the door.

--

As the first lady walked out of the small room with nothing but content in her heart and confidence oozing out of her body, her eyes fell on Saaniya Chaudhry who was walking towards her direction.

Since both of them stood in the hallway and walking forward, it was inevitable for them to not meet at one point.

Saaniya had her team around, her lawyer, two bodyguards and a few political allies.

On the other hand, Aaina had her security team around her and was ready to leave for home along with Ahad and Noora.

She could not find them in the hallway so she figured they were still talking somewhere.

"Saaniya." Aaina took her name. The Chaudhry woman stood right in front of her, staring at her from head to toe as if measuring her competition.

Aaina couldn't help but cross her arms.

"Aaina." She said in the same tone as the first lady.

"Ahad was the one with an acting dream but look at you, you really acted out the whole innocent thing quite well." Aaina taunted, not able to help herself.

This woman had gotten accused of having an affair with her own brother-in-law, of being obsessed with him, of being in love with him. She didn't want to have hatred in her heart for anyone but she could not help but feel disgust for this creature standing in front of her.

"I learn from the very best." Saaniya replied, as if she was proud of herself.

Maybe she was. She had put on a show after all.

"You think that you're going to ruin it for us but you're not. Keep dreaming." Aaina told her, standing her ground.

"This is just the start." Saaniya reminded, continuing.

"I had a talk with your mommy dearest this morning. Turns out, she doesn't like your husband much."

She hit where it would hurt her the most. The first Lady swallowed the bile down her throat. She did not know why her mother was siding with someone that had the intention to not only ruin her husband but also her entire family. Did she hate Zaydaan so much that she did not care about her own daughter at all?

"My mother is none of your concern." Aaina snapped back at her, instantly regretting how weak she had sounded.

As they were in the middle of their conversation, the railway Minister and his wife arrived. They spotted both Aaina and Saaniya standing opposite to one another, surrounded by their teams.

Saaniya noticed them first.

"Ahad." She greeted with a fake smile, and then looked at Noora.

"And his botox wife."

Noora just rolled her eyes. The story behind that name was quite dramatic. She had gone for a laser treatment and the media had instantly picked it up, falsely claiming that Noora Ziagil was against natural beauty, social media had trolled her for using Botox and lip injections.

It was far from the truth but it was something that she had just learned to live with.

Ahad could not help but snap back at Saaniya.

"Saaniya. My favourite betraying bitch." He greeted but there was no fake smile or any taunting tone. He was extremely serious and his face showed utter disgust as he looked at his former lover.

"Come on Ahad, let's go." Noora grabbed his arm, ready to leave. She did not want anything to do with this evil woman.

Ahad shook his head, waiting.

"No, no wait. Let me hear what this liar has to say." He stared at Saaniya, waiting for her to say whatever she wanted to.

"I think your wife might mind you talking to me." Saaniya replied instead. She wanted to press his buttons and Ahad knew her too well to react like that.

She glanced at Noora, talking to her directly.

"Won't you? Noora, right? I'm Saaniya, although I'm pretty sure Ahad has told you about me." Noora stepped forward, nodding.

She was very sweet to the people who were sweet to her but if someone dared to insult her, someone that she didn't respect or know at all, Noora never held back.

"Yes, he has. He told me that you're just a whiny immature sixteen year old stuck in the body of a thirty something old woman." She shot back at her, Saaniya actually scowled.

All that calm composture went away for a moment and she visibly stiffened before she relaxed once again.

She put the same fake smile back on her face and turned to Ahad again.

"Aw, you still mad that I wasn't in love with you?" She taunted.

Ahad let out a small chuckle.

"I'm not the one who is still alone and living a sad life with a brother who uses me as a pawn. You, not loving me is the best thing you have ever done." He finally said, grabbing his wife's  arm.

He leaned forward, his hold still tight on Noora's hand.

"You're going to pay for your sins, Saaniya. And your brother too." He hissed in her ear, ready to get the hell out of this place.

He looked at the first lady, motioning her to come with them.

"Let's go, Aaina." He murmured to her but Aaina, who had been quiet ever since Ahad's arrival, needed some answers.

"You guys go ahead, I'll just need another minute." She said to him, then turned back to Saaniya Chaudhry.

She didn't want to show any weakness in front of the woman, she didn't want her to think that her mother was bothering her but how would she ever get her answers then? Her mother would never talk to her about her involvement in any of Awan's plans. She had to know. She just needed some clue. Anything. Maybe then, she could convince her mother to not go down this path.

"What does Awan want with my mother?" She questioned Saaniya, who just smirked at the first lady.

"It's not what he wants. It's what she wants and now, we all want the same thing." She answered in the most puzzled way that she could.

"Aaina, come on." Sami mumbled to her, telling her that it was time to leave.

He already knew that the Prime Minister would not appreciate her talking to Saaniya off the record. But Aaina seemed so determined to get her answers.

She looked conflicted, she wanted to leave but also wanted answers.

Saaniya cleared her throat, speaking up.

"Tell you what? Come meet me at my place and I'll tell you what your mother is upto." She offered.

Aaina raised an eye.

"I'm not stupid. I'm not giving into any of your games." She denied.

Saaniya shrugged.

"Bring your security with you, I don't really care. We'll just talk. Maybe even negotiate and end this all." She explained further.

Aaina didn't show her that she was interested but at the same time, she could not help but question out loud.

"You're willing to negotiate?" She asked. Saaniya nodded.

"I am." She confirmed.

She wasn't.

"And your brother?" Aaina questioned.

"He has a soft corner for pretty girls." Saaniya remarked.

She wanted to tell her that Awan had been interested in her for a very long time. Not because he liked her face or her, but because she was the key to controlling Zaydaan Ziagil.

Aaina pondered for a moment, ignoring Saaniya's remark.

"I'll meet you tomorrow at my given place and time." Aaina told her.

Saaniya simply nodded, not saying anything further as the first lady walked away.

--

As the night arrived and the first lady looked at the clock, she realised that it had been quite late but her husband hadn't been home yet.

Her daughter was sound asleep beside her mother, her face pressed into Aaina's stomach and small breaths escaping her mouth.

It was around twelve at night. Even though it was quite normal for him to be late, Aaina could not help herself as she dialled his number.

They had a tough day and all she wanted right now was him to be by her side. Besides, she had to tell him about meeting up with Saaniya and that could only happen if he was home.

The bell rang for a few moments before he picked it up.

"Hello?" His voice reminded her of the very first time he had called her. She remembered that day like it was just yesterday. She was ready to sleep and an unknown ID was displayed on her phone. She was so scared about everything at that time. And he had called her up, apologized and made her feel so comfortable.

Of course, it was all for drama but she liked to count it as a nice memory.

"Hey. Where are you?" She questioned, knowing how unavailable he usually was when it came to talking on the phone.

"Lahore." He replied.

Wait..what?

"You went to Lahore?" She asked, surprise laced in her tone.

Was he not supposed to tell her that he had to travel? Hadn't they made up in the morning?

"Yes." He confirmed.

"You didn't tell me." Aaina stated, disappointed.

"I'll be back tomorrow evening, Aaina. It was a sudden plan. I have more to do than ponder over court shit."

He grumbled. Aaina let out a groan.

"You're still mad." She commented.

"I'm not, just busy. His attempts of getting me riled up will fail miserably." Zaydaan answered truthfully.

"How are you?" He mumbled, asking her.

"Tired. I went to the foundation and now I'm back home."

"How's our daughter?"

"Slept just now. I was checking out some pre schools for her. Mama insisted that we stop coddling her like a one year old."

"Her thoughts would have been different entirely if she was Ahad's daughter."

Well, Zaydaan was still bitter over his mother. Clearly, they both had mother issues they needed to get over.

After the attack, Zaydaan and Safina Ziagil had got close for a few days but after that, they started to act like strangers again.

However, Aaina and his mother were so lovely towards one another. Aaina considered her like her own mother and Safina Ziagil loved her just as much as the daughter she had once lost.

"Your mother loves Zayla, you can't deny that." Aaina mentioned.

Zaydaan changed the topic.

"Go to sleep." He uttered over the phone. She let out a sigh.

"I can't sleep without you." She admitted.

Besides, how could she sleep when she knew damn well that she wouldn't be able to tell Zaydaan about Saaniya. She wanted to tell him but the only way to convince him was to talk in person and that was not possible until tomorrow.

She decided that she would tell him the moment he would arrive home. Until then, she would tell the family about it, just to be sure. She had already told Ahad and Noora. She would just have to talk to Uncle Idrees and Mama in the morning.

"You can. You're tired, you should sleep. I'm still in a meeting." Her husband said over the phone. He sounded so concerned that it put a smile on her face.

She let out a small yawn, feeling sleep embracing her gradually.

"Okay. Love you." She whispered.

"Sleep well, jaan."

The last word she heard before falling asleep was her husband calling her jaan.

There was nothing more special than that.

The morning, however would bring another storm.

Because the one thing that Prime Minister Zaydaan Ziagil hated the most, it was his wife keeping things from him.

---

Yoooo!

I'm on a hattrick.

Thoughts?