"Screw you! Let my brother go!" Misha scratched his face while telling Rubab to call the police and she nodded immediately. The moment, the police inspector picked up, all his friends halted along with Zahid who felt their faces going pale.

"Let him go. We will handle them later. Let's leave. And you," Zahid turned his bloodied battered face at Misha, "I would be careful if I ever you." With that he left along with his friends while Misha rushed to her brother's side who was lying on the ground moving from left to right and Rubab hung up on the call.

"Bhai? Bhai? Talk to me. Zoya call an ambulance please!" Zoya started to dial the number but Qasim stopped her immediately.

"No, it's fine. I can walk. Call Saleem or Humayun instead."

"Bhai, you need to go to a hospital." Misha said as she pulled him up while he seethed out in pain.

"Yeah, I will go but call them instead. An ambulance will only exaggerate the situation." Qasim said as he sat down on a chair and grimaced at all his body parts that were aching. Misha agreed as she called Saleem who didn't pick up so she called Humayun who picked up on the first ring.

"Humayun bhai! Please come to the location I am sending you ASAP. There was a fight and Qasim bhai is injured badly. Please come quickly." Misha said in one go and Humayun felt his heart drop as he replied with 'I am on my way.' Misha then focused her attention back on Qasim. Zoya had given him a glass of water which he was drinking while frowning.

"Are you sure I shouldn't call an ambulance?" Misha questioning, eyeing her brother's condition.

"Yes, little one. I am fine. Nothing is broken, I think. You girls acted smart and fast and they left me alone." Qasim said while dabbing a tissue on his busted lip. He was sure he was going to have dark blue bruises everywhere tomorrow but he could feel all his body parts so that was a good thing. "Stop panicking, I have been in worse fights when I was your age." He brought his aching arm up to ruffle Misha's hair.

"How did you know where to find us?" Misha smiled weakly at her brother who was trying his best to appear strong.

"Well, you weren't picking up plus you had sent me the location when you had sent me a reminder message to pick you up so I just decided followed the leads. What happened here anyway?"

"No idea bhai, he was just some creepy stoned guy who decided to come bother us while we were minding our own business." Zoya answered because unlike Rubab, she had practically grown up with Misha and her entire family so she was pretty cool on talking to Misha's brothers as if they were her own.

"Well, why did the staff say anything to him?" Qasim asked confused as he looked to the manager who had been standing silently by the side with an apologetic and frightened look on his face. "You! Come here! Why did you let them bother other people?"

"Apologies sir, the people who just left are regulars here and one of them owns the area that this restaurant is made on so we are at a risk of losing our jobs if we tried to do anything. We are very sorry sir, we didn't think the matter would escalate to this extent. It has never happened before." The manager replied hesitantly.

"Can you tell me who they are?" Qasim inquired as he relaxed on the seat while processing the information the manager had just told them.

"Well, sir, all of them have powerful backgrounds, the one that um, bothered Ma'am here is Zahid Sheikh. He is the son of a health minister and well the rest you can see. We will give you complimentary dishes to make up for this mistake. Do forgive us, sir but we were helpless in that situation." The manager replied with a frightful expression. They all could tell he wanted to say more but decided to stay quiet instead. He breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed another man, Misha's other brother, Humayun, join the scene.

"I got here as soon as possible. Can someone tell me what the hell happened here?" Humayun said exasperated as he looked at all four of them for answers.

"I just got into a fight with some idiots over something stupid." Qasim spoke quickly and Humayun narrowed his eyes at him, not believing his cover up.

"Why? What did they do?"

"They were just being annoying to the little ones. I am fine. I don't think any major damage happened." Qasim smiled through his battered face.

"Let's get you checked just in case. We can't take you home looking like this. Ammi Abu barely got over the shock Misha put them through." Humayun explained and all of them nodded. "Zoya can you drive Qasim's car back? Qasim doesn't look like he can drive at all. Is that fine? If not, I will call a friend." Humayun examined his brother's situation and concluded.

"Sure, no problem bhai." Zoya replied almost instantly.

"What will we tell ammi abbu? Your injuries will eventually become prominent." Misha asked carefully.

"Just tell them it was a minor brawl. Nothing to worry about. I won't mention that it has anything to do with you." Qasim assured Misha because he knew what she was thinking. If their parents find out that, some guy was bothering her in a restaurant they would put a ban on her going out at all. "I know it wasn't your fault."

"Thank you Bhai. For everything." Misha said, the guilt prominent in her voice.

"Thank you ki kya baat hai ismen? Bhaiyon ne khayal nahi rakhna tou kisne rakhna hai? (What are you saying thank you for? Your brothers are here to protect you. If not us, then who?)" Qasim smiled as he ruffled her hair.

....

After the checkup, the injuries were just as Qasim had put them. Minor. No broken bones but there was definitely areas that were starting to turn blue. He had a black eye, a busted lip and blueish marks on his abdomen, back and left shoulder that Qasim knew were going to hurt like hell tomorrow and for the next week but apart from that, he was good to go. Qasim changed to his gym clothes after the checkup to cover up the blood stains and ripped shirt to make the impact less drastic on their parents.

On the way back, Humayun drove one car with Qasim in it and Zoya, Rubab and Misha followed in the other car. The silence in the car was broken by Misha.

"It's all my fault Qasim is like that. Why does stuff like this always happen to me? I always drag you both with me as well." Misha said in an apologetic tone.

"Misha, don't blame yourself. Your brother is proud of what he did. In his eyes, he protected his sister's honor. Just be glad it's over." Rubab replied as she squeezed Misha's shoulder.

"I agree with Rubab. Plus, it's not your fault that we met with such trash today. The guy was just high and a douchebag. That is all there is to it. Plus we are your best friends, we are supposed to be there for you. It's kinda like our job, you know." Zoya gave an assuring smile to Misha that Misha replied.

"I know, I just feel so bad."

"Aw, it's okay. I am sure, tomorrow after our slumber party is over everything will be great again. Your brother is okay, we are okay so it's all good. Plus look, if something ever happens to one of us, I know you would do the same for us." Zoya added and Misha nodded immediately.

"Of course. You guys are my family away from family. I wouldn't think twice before jumping into danger for you guys." Misha replied sincerely and both of them smiled.

"See? There we go. It's the same for us." Rubab answered and Misha smiled warmly.

"I am so blessed to have you both. I would hug you guys right now but I don't want Zoya to crash into a tree so yeah."

"Yeah, don't do that." They all laughed together.

....

The slumber party was going perfect. All three of them were squealing, stalking and doing random things like doing each other's makeup or playing Ludo while giggling. As expected, Misha's mother asked a million questions when she saw Qasim's state but decided to let it slide when Qasim said it was just a minor fight with some boys because of a game they were playing and Humayun vouched for it so it was all good.

It was now 1 a.m. and it didn't look like the girls were going to sleep any time soon. They were about to put on a movie when Misha's phone vibrated causing all three of them to look at the phone questioningly. Who would text her at one in the night when her friends are sitting beside her? Misha knew for a fact that it couldn't be Ibraheem because he was attending his cousin's wedding which was supposed to go pretty late. She picked up her phone. It was a text from some unknown number. Zoya and Rubab sat on either side of her as they looked at the phone screen.

Aj tou bach gaye ho. Kal nahi bachogi. (You were saved today. But not tomorrow.)

The text sent goosebumps all over Misha's body. She felt her stomach turn into knots. The color drained from Zoya and Rubab's face because all three of them knew who had sent that text. It was the guy from the café. Zahid Sheikh. They had completely forgotten the part where he had taken Misha's number. They were still recovering from the initial shock and he sent another bone chilling text.

Dhund kar nikalunga tumhe. Mere par police bulati ho? Tum, tumhari doston aur tumharay bhai, aik aik ko tabah kardunga. Galat insan k sath panga liya hai. Jidher bhagna hai bhaag lou Misha Yousaf. (I will find you. You were going to call the cops on me? I will ruin you, your friends and your brother. You messed with the wrong person. Run wherever you can while you still can Misha Yousaf.)

Misha felt her hands start to tremble. She was finding it hard to breath. What could she do now? She couldn't believe what was happening. Zoya grabbed the phone and read the text over and over again. They couldn't tell her family because it would only aggravate the situation since they had already lied to her mother about how Qasim had gotten into a fight elsewhere. They couldn't go to the police because of what the manager at the café had said. The system was corrupt, the police couldn't do anything to Zahid Sheikh who was the son of a minister.

Before Misha could even comprehend what she was doing or her friends could stop her, she had already dialed the number of a certain Hiba who picked up on the second ring.

"As much as I love the fact that you called me, it's scary when the time is one in the night, little fox."