Arham stood there at the spot for Allah knows how long. Hooriya's words were ringing in his head, his own thoughts were running a hundred miles per hour.

He didn't know where his feet were taking him but he kept walking, walking to run away from Hooriya's lies which were projected as the truth in front of him.

Arham had probably walked for an hour, aimlessly before he stopped in front of a Mazaar.

Slipping out of his shoes he quickly climbed the marble steps and walked towards the Dargah.
He didn't know why he was there, how he had reached there, but he knew he had to be here at this very moment, this was the only place which could give him that ounce of peace he was desperate for.

He bowed down and kneeled, to make his dua. What should he ask Allah for, he had everything he had ever wished for, the only person he always wished for was his Hoor and she today had made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with him, she wanted to separate herself from him, she had even asked him for a divorce.

A helpless tear slipped from his eye and rolled down his cheek. He felt hollow, numb, he felt dead.

A hand pressed on Arham's shoulder making him open his eyes. He blinked his tears away, the pain in his chest wanted him to give up everything.

"Kya hua mere bacche?" A quivering yet strong voice asked him. (What's wrong child)

He looked behind to find an old man in tattered clothes looking at him with a smile.

Arham opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out of his mouth.

"Jo bhi mushkilat hai beta Allah sab theek kar dega, bharosa rakh usspar. Uski har saza me bhi jaza hai. Uske Kun se jab fayakun ki ladi milti hai, tab lamho me taqdeere badal jaati hai. Bharosa rakh mere bacche voh jo kareyga bhetari ke liye he kareyga."

(Whatever problems you are facing my child, he will make everything better. Understand that even in these difficult times there is a reward waiting for you at the end. Have patience and wait for him to make things alright, have faith and he will reward you.)

Arham bowed his head and listened to the fakir, he knew all he could do was believe and have faith in his Allah.

•••

The sound of door closing was what woke Yusuf up. He had fallen sleep sitting on the couch next to Meher who was still curled into a ball. He looked at her sleeping figure and smiled, she looked so innocent, so untouched from the world's cruel clutches, he wanted nothing more than to protect her, save her innocence forever.

He moved Meher out of his embrace and got up from the couch to check on the noise which had woken him up. He walked around his house, his kitchen and gaming room where empty and so was his bedroom, he walked towards the guest bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Alia !" He called out. "Alia."

Getting no response he pushed open the door and stepped inside. The room looked untouched, like nobody had stayed in it the night before. An envelope was kept at the foot end of the bed addressed to Yusuf. He recognised the handwriting well, it was from Alia.

Tearing the envelope he removed the letter and opened it. Her beautiful cursive handwriting greeted him.

'Salam Yusuf,
Considering you are reading this letter, I have left your apartment successfully without waking either of you up.
I have left from there taking along with me the tiniest bit of hope of ever having an us again.
I know, the idea of even an 'us' today to you would be horrifying, you are a man in love and the thought of either of you being with anybody else even to me too sounds ridiculous, the two of you are made for each other.

Allah SWT makes us in pairs and you are her other half and she is yours, and even after knowing this, I, a fool still loves you. I never stopped loving you and maybe I never will.

Kabhi kabhi humari marzi, Allah ki marzi nahi hoti, par mai ye janti hu ki voh jo karta hai sahi karta hai. (Sometimes what we want is not what Allah wants, but I know that whatever He decides is for the best.)

I'll see you in Islamabad, I still have my duties as a doctor to fulfil and I won't forget that just because of my own personal problems.

Give my love to Meher.
Take care
Alia'

Yusuf read the letter once and then again. He wanted to tell Alia how wrong she was, Allah did make Meher for someone but it wasn't for her, he wasn't the one for her.

He kept the letter in his drawer and walked outside into the living room to see Meher staring out of the large roof to floor window.

"Subha Bakhair." Yusuf said.

"Good morning to you too." Meher said turning around with a small smile on her face.

"Chai ?"

"You don't even have to ask." Meher replied making him smile.

Yusuf made his way into the kitchen with Meher on his trail. He kept the water to boil while he prepared coffee for himself.

Meher took a seat on the small coffee table place on one end of the kitchen.

"So ?" Yusuf prodded.

"So ?"

"Are you not going to tell me what happened yesterday ?" He said coming straight to the point.

He looked at her and saw her face ashen, her eyes had turned glassy.

"Nur ? What happened ?" Yusuf asked worried, he crouched in front of her and took her hand in his warm large ones.

"He left me." She said letting out a sob.

"What ?"

"He took me for dinner and left me in the middle, he asked me to wait for him, I waited for three hours." She cried. "They said they had to shut the restaurant so I had to leave, I was lost, I didn't know where to go. I had dropped my mobile in the car, so I walked hoping to find a ride home, but.. but." She chocked on her breath making Yusuf's own breath hitch.

"They robbed me on gun point Yusuf, three men, they took my bag and my jewellery and my watch, they had kept a gun on my forehead and they-."

Meher burst out crying, hiding her face behind her palms. Yusuf pulled her towards himself and wrapped his arms securely around her.

"Shh Nur, stop crying. We'll lodge a complaint against those three guys okay, stop crying my love." He coxed her. Her breathing normalised and she looked up at him with red rimmed eyes.

"He left me there, all alone Yusuf." She complained.

"He will have an explanation for it Nur, I am not justifying him but I know that he understands his responsibilities well, he wouldn't ever do it without an explanation." He said wiping her tears away with the pad of his thumb.

"Hmm." She hummed.

"We'll ask him okay ." Yusuf said looking at her lovingly. "Let's feed you something before we march in demanding answers."

"Aloo paratha." Meher said softly.

"Yes ma'am." Yusuf mock saluted and got onto preparing her her desired breakfast.

•••

Arham walked back home as the sun took its turn to light the sky.
He was looked like a living corpse, broken as he was.

Arham entered the dark house and sat on the couch staring into space, unaware of everything and everyone in the world.

•••

Yusuf strapped himself to the seat and looked at Meher who was already seated and played with her fingers.

He put the car in gear and moved out of his building towards the Butt Mansion. He was angry at what Arham had done but he was scared as to why Arham had done it, he was the responsible one among the two.

He drove down the relatively empty street as it was still quite early in the morning. The silence between the two was comfortable.

As they neared the butt mansion Meher looked at him sideways, Yusuf was focused on the street. Although he looked calm Meher knew a lot of questions where running in his head, his eyes reflected the inner turmoil.

"Yusuf." Meher said. "Can I ask you something ?"

Yusuf looked at her, she was already looking at him, Meher had never been the one to hesitate before asking him for or about anything.

"I guess." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"What was Alia doing at your place so late at night ?" She asked.

"What ?"

"Alia. She -."

"Nothing." Yusuf said furrowing his eyebrows. "I'm going to Islamabad, I have some work there with Alia, so we were discuss-."

"Do..do you." Meher gulped. "Do you still love her ?" She asked catching him off guard. Where did these thoughts come into her head from.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked." Meher said as Yusuf remained silent to her previous question. "When will you come back from Islamabad ?"

"I don't know." Yusuf replied.

"You will come back right ?" She said her voice breaking.

"Nur, why are we discussing Islamabad or Alia right now ?" He said looking at her.

"Because I.. never mind. Just.. just call me okay, I don't want to loose you." She said averting her gaze from him and looked out of the window, watching the passing streets of Lahore.

"You will always have me Nur Jahan." He said as he pulled into the drive way of the Butt mansion.

Yusuf got down from the car and walked to the other end to open the door for Meher. Meher got down and looked at Yusuf, he knew she was scared, she didn't want to go inside.

"Come, let go." He said taking her hand in his and pulled her along with him.

The entered the Butt mansion which was bathed in darkness. Yusuf walked towards the switchboard and turned the lights on.

The warm white lights illuminate house in an instance.

"He isn't home I think." Meher said meekly.

"Do you want to go and change ?" Yusuf asked her and she shook her head.

"Want to have coffee ?" Meher asked.

"Yes please."

They made their way inside the house, but stopped at the inner courtyard as the person they had been wanting to talk to sat on the sofa staring into space.

Meher and Yusuf looked at each other before Yusuf walked towards Arham and crouched in front of him. He placed his hand on Arham's leg gaining his attention.

"Where were you ?" He asked softly looking at his friends condition.

"Yu..Yusuf." Arham gulped. "She's gone." He said. "I've lost her, she's gone."

Yusuf understood who Arham meant by she, although he did not know what Arham knew yet, he couldn't let Arham talk in front of Meher.

"Arham." Yusuf placed his hands on Arham's shoulders and made Arham look at him. "Meher is here." He said warningly. "Are you listening to me?" He shook him a little.
"Meher is here Arham."

Arham looked at him confused and then looked behind Yusuf's shoulder to see Meher standing.

It hit him like a light bolt, he had left her all alone in the restaurant, how could he.

"Meher ? Ya khudaya! Meher." He said springing up to his feet and walked towards her.
He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her.
Guilt was all he could feel. How could he do this to her.

Meher stiffened in his embrace, what was she to tell the man who had abandoned her ?

"Why did you leave me." She said chocking on her breath. "I waited for you to come back, but you didn't come." She said letting out a sob.

"I'm so sorry Meher." He mumbled against her hair. "I didn't mean to leave you I'm so sorry." He said.
He caressed her hair as she cried burring her head into his chest.

Arham was a mess, guilt and pain and anger, he was a mess.

•••

Yusuf stood there watching Arham console Meher.

To say that it didn't hurt would be a lie, it did. He felt like someone was ripping his heart out of his body.

He turned around to face in the other direction. He took out his phone and opened it in front of him to distract himself.
Nothing could help him from his pain, he was a man in love, and his love was forbidden.

"Thank you." He heard Arham say. He looked behind to find Arham and Meher standing behind him.

"For ?"

"For cleaning up my mess." Arham replied.

"I won't be there to do it the next time, so make sure you don't make a lot of mess in the future Mr. Butt." Yusuf said giving a half hearted smile.

"What do you mean ?"

"What I mean is, your wife owes me a hot piping cup of coffee." Yusuf said sitting down on the sofa.

"Getting coffee right away sir." Meher mimicked Yusuf's cadet style and turned around to head to the kitchen.

"Before I forget." She said looking over her shoulder to look at Yusuf. "Do not ever call me Meher." She turned around and headed down to the kitchen.

AN: So this chapter is in bits and pieces but, significant nonetheless.
Next chapter is about the charity ball, should I make it one long chapter or two regular sized chapter let me know

I have finished the second half of the chapter but I haven't started on the first half of the chapter so I'll have to do that but I'm super busy today as well 🤦🏽‍♀️

Dw will figure a way out.
Next update at 185

Stay safe gorgeous people
Lots of love