Belated Happy Birthday @bejeweled_30 :D :D

LOL I was going to update on your birthday but oh well :P

~~~ASMAARA's POV~~~

I dropped to the floor the moment I closed my bedroom door. Damn, that was embarrassing! As much as I was glad to see Shehry there, I part of my regretted his presence. I saw his expressions change. He looked so angry and confused; only because he saw a part of what actually happened. Woh kya soch raha hoga mere baare main? I should have told him everything.

Aur woh Aditya; samjhta kya hai apne aap ko?

(NEXT MORNING)

~~~PREET's POV~~~

I ran a hand through my hair and smiled to myself. As much as I tried resisting him, every fibre in my body only just made me fall even harder for him. Par yeh sab kaise ho ga? I am not ready to take any chances when it can cost me his life. I don't have the right to steal a son or a brother or a friend from his loved ones. That would be just so selfish of me.....

I closed my eyes and plopped on my bed again. Some shuffling behind me caught my attention. I slowly turned around only to find Rajveer Veer Ji standing by the door, awkwardly looking at the floor.

"Woh paani," he said after a long pause and brought a glass of water forward.

I smiled at him and took the glass. Sweet. I slowly gulped it down and passed it to him. We both stared at each other but, when he didn't say anything, I chose to turn around and cover my head with the pillow. I could seriously use some extra hours of sleep.

"Hussain Asif," veer Ji finally spoke and I froze. That name always sends shivers down my spine.

"W-what about hi-him?" I stuttered, taking the pillow off my face.

"He is the reason why you look sad all the time," Veerji frowned. He knows?

"I saw his picture on your other phone," he confessed, "I didn't mean to but, I came to talk to you the other night and you were sleeping with that phone unlocked in your hand."

The phone that I got on that trip..

I slowly sat up and looked up at him. "Veer Ji...." My voice trailed off. I wasn't sure about what to say.

"You love him" he asked and my eyes widened, "don't you?"

"I... Not that it matters," I said, containing my emotions. I lowered my eyes to prevent any sort of eye contact with him or else It would take him a second to get everything out of me.

"I think he is nice," he said innocently and placed his hand on mine.

Tears welled up in my eyes and my policy about no crying was shoved aside. I instantly wrapped my arms around him and cried on his shoulder for a couple of minutes until he pulled away.

"I am sorry," I mumbled between light sobs.

"Pagli, why didn't you tell anyone? me?" He frowned and I looked away, "how can you even think of marrying Raj if you love someone else?"

"This is daarji's dream," I said, nervously smiling at him.

"You are crazy. All daar Ji wants is for you to be happy," veerji cupped my face, "aur agar woh khushi Hussain ke saath hai toh wohi sahi."

I didn't say anything as I was trying to figure out if this was all a dream.

"Your dad always says that when a guy is in love, you can see it in his eyes," veer Ji shook his head, smiling, "if what I see in daarji's eyes when he tells us stories about dadi- what I see in chachu's (uncle) eyes when he looks at your mum's pics and what I see in Karan's eyes for Mehek is called love, then I must say that Hussain is crazy about you. The way he was looking at you yesterday- he really deserves you, Preet."

I couldn't help a light sob from escaping my lips. "But he is a Muslim," I said, "that too from Pakistan."

Veer Ji glared at me for a few seconds and then laughed. "Which era are you living in?" He asked, "you dumbo, religion doesn't matter these days. Yeah, cultural differences can be an issue when you are asked to celebrate a whole new set of festivals or rituals but, that shouldn't stop someone from marrying the one they love."

I rolled my lips inward and veer Ji sighed.

"Come on," he said, getting off the bed, "hum aaj hi daarji se baat karenge."

"But he must be sleeping."

"It's your sangeet today. Do you understand what that means? Shadi ke baad baat karegi kya?" he said, sitting on my bed again, "we will wake him up and talk to him now."

I am not to sure if I wanted to do that...

"Preet," veer Ji cupped my face again, "I can't let you marry Raj after what happened. He was supposed to protect you and not stand there like a spectator. If you meant anything to him, he would have stepped forward but, he didn't. You definitely deserve someone better."

I looked at my cousin with moist eyes. How I had thought that no one will understand me. I was so damn wrong- I was such a coward- a fool. Ek baar baat karke toh dekhti, yeh rishta shayad kabhi itna aage na bada hota.

"Preet?" Veerji broke my chain of thoughts, "one hour. Get ready."

"Par.."

"No if's and no but's," veerji rolled his eyes and kissed my forehead, "it's true that I don't like Hussain very much since he stole my princess but, at least he will treat you like one. I promise, I'll stand with you through this."

He glared at my face and releasing a sigh of relief, I smiled. Rajveer veerji left my room after that and I still couldn't believe that it was happening. It was all supposed to be so damn simple and I stretched it just because I was too scared. Now I hope ki bas daarji maan jayein. Sab theek ho jaye bas.

~~~HUSSAIN's POV~~~

"Bhai kya hua hai?" I asked Shehry for the tenth time and like always, he didn't bother looking up at me.

"Kuch nahi," he mumbled without taking his eyes off the treadmill.

Just when I was not in a state to, these boys decided to hit the gym. So, just to save myself from getting into a fight with Raj, I decided to join Atif, Waqas and bhai here. Aisha bhabhi had gone over to the guest house since the ladies in this house weren't to welcoming and Aisha bhabhi had began to enjoy Kashish's company since yesterday. And Adeel; he was, as usual, running after random girls.

"Oye chalo sab," shaitan ka naam liya aur shaitan haazir. Adeel came in and plopped on the chair next to mine.

"Invitation hai bhabhi jee ke yahaan se," he casually showed me his phone which had a text from Jess. Waqas came forward to read it too.

"Woh sab chor, Saale, pehle yeh bata ki isse manaya kaise?" Waqas punched Adeel's shoulder and everyone's eyes landed on Adeel.

"Yaar she says ki usse lagta tha that she was the only one I used to flirt with," Adeel shook his.

"Aur tujhe har doosri ladki ka haath pakarne ki bimaari hai," Bhai added, chuckling and Waqas went back to doing push-ups.

"Just how.... a dog can't... stop barking," Waqas said between the push-ups, "Adeel Ahmed can't... Stop flirting." We all laughed and Adeel rolled his eyes.

"Healthy flirting hai yaar," he said in his defence, shaking his head, "aur waise bhi- kam se kam tum dono bhaiyo ki tarhaan aashiq bana toh nahi phirta. At least mera dil toh nahi toot-ta, Shehry."

I narrowed my eyes at Adeel. What does he mean.

"Guys, is there something we need to know?" Atif asked before I could.

Bhai stopped the treadmill right there and sat on the edge of it. "We are way off point here- what's the text about?" He asked, shrugging off our questioning gazes.

Adeel took that as a que and stopped forcing him, "Kashish invited us over for breakfast."

Why all of a sudden?

~~~~
~~~~

It wasn't a peaceful night for Raj after all. He had constantly been in and out of the toilet; or let's just say, mostly inside.

"Are you done yet?" Aditya groaned, settling on Raj's bed.

"What do you think?" Raj huffed, stepping out.

"Wow, this wedding is being a real pain, isn't it?" Aditya chuckled, "what happened all of a sudden?"

Raj smirked as he sat at the foot of his bed, "to find that out, we need to find the owner of this," he pulled out something from his pocket but, before Aditya could have a good look, it was time for another washroom trip.

~~~ASMAARA's POV~~~

I was early to rise; or shall I say, that I didn't really sleep last night? The only person I could think about was Shehry. Kya soch raha hoga mere baare main? I tried so hard to convince my self that it doesn't matter however, even after that, something kept bothering me. Ajeeb si feeling hai yeh. Aisa lag raha hai jaise kuch galat hone wala hai. Par kya?

I shrugged away all the negative thoughts and headed off to Preet's room. I didn't get a chance to meet her after she climb up that pipe for obvious reasons. Paige told me that it wasn't easy to get Preet out of there since Bani, being her nosy self, wouldn't leave Paige alone and so, Preet was stuck in Hussain's room for quite a while. Oh well, something good she did there since it gave Preet more time with Hussain.

"Just so you know," I halted in my tracks the moment his voice brushed past my ears, "the one you dressed up for is not even here."

Shehry came around and stood in front of me. He looked into my eyes with much hatred... Annoyance... Anger?. It took me a while to understand what he meant and when I did, I couldn't help but nervously chuckle. He was jealous! But, what ached my heart was that he really thought that all the efforts that I had put in this morning to get ready were for Aditya. How could he even think something like that about me? And why was he bothered anyway? Gosh, don't go down that track, Shehry. Please.

"Asmaara, did you find it?" Paige came out from her room and glared at Shehry and me.

"Good that you told me," I showed attitude to Shehry and grabbing Paige's hand, I walked past him to the living room.

Happy, Daljit and Preet's uncles were not at home since they had to pick up her Bhua Ji (paternal Aunt) from the airport. Yet, the living room felt so full. Oh that's right! Hussain, Shehry, Atif, Aisha, Adeel and Waqas were here too. Rajveer called them over for some reason. Not that I minded but, he sounded pretty serious when he asked Kashish to ask Jess to call Hussain especially. I wonder what's going on in his head. Preet might know.

"We might have to go back and check," I whispered to Paige and shook my head. I just hope that we get to it before anyone else does.

~~~PREET's POV~~~

"What's taking so long?" Jess asked grumpily while I kept searching.

I would have been outside half an hour ago but, I just couldn't find my phone. Sometimes putting that thing on vibration can cause a lot of trouble. I was constantly cursing myself for doing that because I had to message Hussain about what veer Ji said and this phone was no where to be seen. Jess, too, kept pissing me off by asking me to come outside every 30seconds.

"Preet!" She screamed again while I tipped everything off my bed.

"Why do you have to be such a- ohh. An earthquake?" She barged in my door and stood a few steps away from me, "what happened in here?" She asked, picking up my pillows off the floor.

Isn't it obvious much?

"Can't find my phone," I sighed and plopped on the bed.

"When was the last time you saw it?" She asked.

"Last night." That's right! I gave it to Asmaara.

"Let's go," I told Jess and went to the living room.

I halted when my eyes fell on all the faces Present. I wasn't expecting him to be here. I felt my lips curving upwards as I bit the insides of my cheeks to stop myself from smiling like an idiot. Hussain made sure that no one was watching and then gave me a flying kiss. Nervously turning around, I blushed.

"Everyone has been waiting for you," Rajveer veer Ji came forward and winked at me.

"I guess," I smiled, shaking my head.

I took the seat opposite to Asmaara and next to Jessica. Hussain came forward and sat on my right and veer Ji awkwardly cleared his throat. I glared at him for a few seconds until bhabhi knocked us out of our little teasing moment.

"Anyone seen Daarji's constipation medicines?" She asked.

Before I could answer, Asmaara chocked on her lassi while Paige scoffed and excused herself. Okay? Weird much!

"No," I shook my head and she went back inside to look for it.

"Oh by the way, where is my phone?" I asked Asmaara, filling my plate with poha (flattened rice flakes).

Asmaara coughed even more this time and excused herself. Now that's more than just weird.

Haye Rabba, kho toh nahi diya?

"Asmaara rukk!!" I yelled but my voice was surpassed by bhabhi's........

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Short, I know....
It's weekend and I got busy with shopping and stuff LOL.

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