"So-who's the patient, again?" I looked away from my hand outstretched infront of Rayyan, who was currently making me take my medicines; to Haniya who had just come in.

I took in the relieved look on her face, as she dumped a bag on the couch and came over to hug Rayyan, who was sitting beside me on the bed. It was his strict orders that I were to not get out of the bed until, I had caught up on sleep.

"I missed you bhai-" Her voice was muffled, hidden in Rayyan's embrace. I caught the soft smile tugging around the corners of his mouth as he patted the back of her head.

"You did so great-I am very proud of you-" He softly murmured against her head and held her in his arms for another moment before she slowly began to pull away from him; rubbing her tear stained cheeks with the back of her hand. I felt myself tearing up at the sight and had to look away from them to hide my tears.

"Oho-Ofcourse, RB! You know how reliable, I am-! You can always count on me-Especially when it comes to Zaira-I just know how to get something through her stubborn head-!" She remarked cheekily while jumping on the bed beside him and we all bursted into fits of laughter. I shot her a reproving glare through a smile which she returned with a teasing grin.

"Anywho-I think I have got almost every necessary item packed; but still you should check if you need something else. I'll send it over-" She was saying when I began to realise the situation and sharply turned to glare at Rayyan; who was by now, looking at his phone, pretending to not notice my penetrating gaze.

"Rayyan-!" I turned to him shocked who was getting up to create some distance between us.

"Rayyan she is the bride-Her wedding starts in 3 days-! We can't treat her like an errand boy-I could have got them myself-" I remarked at a loss of words to his back, but he carelessly shrugged me off and went to sit down on the couch with Haniya; who seemed as unconcerned about my outburst, as him.

We had already had this conversation before and I had told him that I would go quickly and grab mine and his stuff. He didn't say anything to that except, he could ask Ahmed to get his.

"Zai-sweetheart, the doctor said you're very frail and with all the stress that you've been through, the baby could-" He only looked up from Haniya's phone; who was showing something to him, to say this to me. But I didn't let him finish and sat up with a jerk.

"The baby is fine Rayyan-He is a fighter like us-" I tried saying by keeping my tone as levelled as I could, but he was barely giving me any attention.

"Zai-Hani doesn't find any problem with it. Also, I am not letting you out of my sight for even a single moment-" He kept going on without meeting my eyes and soon became engaged in conversation with Haniya about something. I could only shake my head at the hopeless duo in defeat, before slumping back on the bed with a sigh.

But as I watched them, I couldn't help but realise something.

"Rayyan? If I ask you for something, will you give it to me?" Later that night, I murmured against his chest, as he held me in his arms.

"Ofcourse, sweetheart. Anything-" He was saying in a sleepy voice but abruptly stopped midway and began to pull me away from him. Still in his embrace, I peered at him through my lashes; to watch his face, now barren of all previous signs of sleep.

"Zai-No." He remarked in a strict tone and I could only blink at him shocked.

"You didn't even hear-" I tried saying but he had pried his hold off of me and sat up to lean against the bed rest; his face turned away from me as he tried to restrain his anger.

For a few moments, I watched him unsure. Unable to believe that he could really know what I was thinking, without my saying it.

"Rayyan-No matter what, he is still her brother-"

"Zaira. There is no room for discussion in this regard. Drop it." He remarked sternly without letting me finish. I watched him with my mouth hung open for a moment.

"Rayyan-imagine how horrible Haniya would feel, if her own brother wouldn't be at her wedding-"

"Zaira." He turned an icy glare towards me, hoping that, this would be enough to shut me up; but I knew that I needed to do something.

"Not even if I beg you?" I said in a small voice without looking at him.

"Zaira-you're doing it again-" His hard voice came after a moment's wait and I gulped down my tears.

"Please, Rayyan. I am begging you-I won't be able to look at Haniya's face without feeling immense guilt, when he doesn't come-She knew what might happen to him because of her. Yet, she chose to do the right thing. I can't help but think; how even years later, whenever she would think about her most beautiful day, her first thought would be that her own brother wasn't there to be part of her happiness-"

"Zaira-how can you ask me this after knowing everything he has done?! He tried to kill me and nothing would stop him to hurt you too-!"

"And Haniya? What about her? What is her fault in all this?"

"Zaira-No. Don't put me on the spot, please. I am not putting you and our child's life in danger after knowing what that person is capable of. We are not having this discussion anymore." He added in a voice constrained with anger and that's when I took his hands in mine. His sharp gaze clashed with mine and I could easily see the rage behind them.

"I love you, Rayyan-Alot. But I won't be able to erase this guilt of knowing that I gave up without trying. I don't want us to be the cause behind someone's sadness, Rayyan-I don't want us to be the reason behind the hurt in Haniya's eyes. I can only imagine what she might feel. No matter what, or how bad they are-family is still family. We can't give up on them. We can't-even if we wished to-" I added gently and saw him slowly turn his gaze down. The last part was more for me than him but sensing his anger dissipating, I gulped down my emotions and tugged the side of his face to look at me.

"Please? Pretty please? Atleast give it a thought? Please? I know if you want to, you can figure out a way through this that might work out in everyone's favour. I know you can somehow find a way to work it all out-Please Rayyan, please? If he still doesn't come then it won't be on us but atleast I don't want to live with the regret of never trying to make things better-" As my voice trailed off, he pulled away my hand from his face and clutched it in his hand; his eyes downcast.

"Fine. But we'll do it my way." He added sulkily after a long pause and I felt a smile forming across my face.

I knew his scars ran far deeper and were far worse than mine. I couldn't even imagine the pain and grief he had felt at their hand. And still to this date, suffers because of them. Yet, it had never once stopped him from doing the right thing. Rayyan, really was an amazingly strong person and I was so lucky have him in my life.

I took his hands in mine once again and kissed the top of them with tears stinging the corners of my eyes.

"I love you, Rayyan."

At my words he only sighed, shaking his head in defeat before holding me in his arms once again.

------------

I came out of the shower to catch him still glued to his iPad, reading books on how to care for your newborns. It had just been a few hours when we got back to the Haveli after spending 2 days and 3 nights, in the hospital. Rayyan had got discharged a few days before schedule on strict instructions to not move around much, until a week passed.

With a small smile, I came to bed and snuggled close to him, whose free arm immediately came up to wrap around me.

"Rayyan?" I cooed, while drawing circles on his chest with my fingers in hopes to distract him from his stupid book. But Rayyan was Rayyan. Instead of discarding his book, he turned around slightly, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he pressed a lingering kiss to my temple.

I clicked my tongue, irritated by his lack of attention. Feeling jealous of the iPad for taking my Rayyan from me, I pulled it away from his hands.

"Wha-? Zai-! We were getting to the important bit-I need to add it to my notes-" He remarked panicked, looking between me and the iPad that I was holding away from him. I watched this with a teasing smile and after putting it away on my sidetable, I crawled back to him on my knees, who was watching me with confusion filled in his eyes.

"Rayyan. Have I told you how much I love your nerdy side but not so very much, right now?" I asked with raised brows and caught a smirk forming across his face before his hands went behind my back and pulled me against him with a jerk.

"Maybe slipped your mind while you were so busy pretending to hate me-" He remarked cheekily before catching my lower lip between his. I felt myself groaning against his lips as he deepened the kiss but before I could completely lose myself in him, I pulled away with shaky breaths.

"Mm. Rayyan-no-" I tried to say but he kept on distracting me by dropping hickeys down my neck. Just when I was ready to give in, he pulled away abruptly and sat back to watch me with a seemingly calm facade. But as much he tried, it was impossible for him to hide from me, the desire burning in his eyes and his laboured breathing.

For a moment, I sat there trying to catch my breath and unintentionally ran my tongue over my bruised lips. Just this little action was enough to push him over the edge and he had once again pulled me closer to his chest by grabbing at my waist.

In that moment, as I looked down at him, our breaths intermingling with each other's, I felt a feeling of immense contentment.

"Rayyan." I blurted out his name and watched him suck in a sharp breath. Gulping down my desire, I said it again. My thumb caressing the top of his cheekbone, as I held the side of his face in my one hand and rested the other atop his shoulder; all the while, peering down his face.

"Rayyan--Rayyan-I could keep saying this forever and ever-I love you-I love you-" I remarked breathlessly and watched him gape at me for only one more moment before his lips reached up to meet mine in a promising kiss.

-----------

"-what if I get realllyyyy realllyyy fat-?" I hummed, with the side of my head resting on top of his chest.

"I'll get fat too, then-" He said easily while his thumb caressed the top of my arm.

"Rayyan-!" I whined, unsatisfied by his answer and thwarted his other arm lightly. He could only chuckle at that.

"-Annndd-if I ask you to take me for pizza at 3am?" He waited for a second to reply in affirmative. I thought for a moment before asking my next question.

"Annndd-if I pick fights with you?" I drawled.

"Zai-sweetheart, you still do that. You don't need the excuse of mood swin-" He couldn't finish because I had turned up to shoot him a sharp glare, which he returned with a sheepish grin. Turning away with a hmph, I thought of my next question.

"We'll leave the names to Granny and Gramps-If it's a boy-" He didn't let me finish.

"It's a girl. A cute little Princess like my sweet Zai-" I could hear the smile in his voice and had to bite down on my own to look up from his chest and shoot him a reproving glare but before I could counter him, he quirked his brow at me.

"Zai-the way you've already gone through one entire box of chocolates, it can't be anything but a beautiful baby girl, just like you-" I opened my mouth to protest but then just shrugged in understanding.

"Yeah-I hope you're right. It won't do to have my boy take after anyone but you-I would like him to be your spitting image, InshaAllah." I felt myself smiling at the thought. It was a silly thought, but we were so happy with just their thoughts, I couldn't imagine the extent of happiness they were going to bring into our lives.

We had already told Granny and Grampa about it and they were besides themselves with joy. Already, they had started thinking of name for the baby. Grampa had sent a whole list of Dua's that he told Rayyan to read to me every night, before going to bed. Granny had sent me a long list of foods that I was supposed to eat to improve my health and the baby's. I had attached it with the one that Mom had dictated to me.

"And? What are we going to call him/her? We can't keep calling it baby-Oh!! Choco-!" My eyes widened in discovery and I caught Rayyan shaking his head at me with a small smile.

"Obviously-" He mumbled loud enough for me to hear.

"Choco-choco-chocobun-! How does chocobun sound?" I asked eagerly but Rayyan didn't seem as excited about the idea.

"You don't like it?" I looked up at him with puckering lower lip to have him tug my chin towards him and drop a kiss at the tip of my nose.

"I can't even argue with that logic. It most definitely cannot be anything but chocobun-" He remarked with a soft chuckle and I felt myself smiling with him. The thought already flooding me with happiness.

AUTHOR's NOTE

Assalamualaikum-! Thankyou for reading as always❤️

I know, I said that this would be the last update, but I couldn't cover everything in this one. Most sincere apologies🙈🙇🏻‍♀️
I really did think, I could wrap it up in one chapter.

Anywho, there's InshaAllah InshaAllah (InshaAllah 😅 only) one more chapter and an epilogue, left.

Sorry, once again and Thankyou for reading ☺️❤️❤️Stay blessed.
Do vote and share your thoughts🥰❤️