(Selena's POV) I believe hate must be cold. The way he fixes his honey-brown eyes on me can make any other person freeze to death but I guess two are playing this game. So none froze yet.

Selena plays with her fingers. Her family stands in front of Hafeez uncle's apartment door. Her eyes have been on her phone the entire ride skimming through various publications on PubMed about the role of Garlic and Fish Oils in reducing hyperlipidemia. Now they are sore from the strain in the darkness and shifting yellow street lights. The chirping of the birds from inside intensifies as Aariz opens the door. His eyes widen as her dad gives him a strong shake of a hand. Selena proceeds inside, almost brushing past Aariz.

The slight brush of Selena's lilac abaya sleeves against his stone blue sleeves activates the nerve impulse sending sensational messages to the brain making him tense. He fights the urge to rub his hand on his arm. Momentarily, his eyes close, twitching his lips. His conscience presses him to follow the trail of jasmine and wisteria but when the craning of the neck leads him to here snaps back to his senses.

"Some people just can't fucking move out of the way". She mutters under her breath. A forceful bang of the door silences the birds for a moment. Aariz stands in front of the closed door for a few minutes with frightened birds gawking at him in silence with their beady black eyes.

Selena has always enjoyed her stay at Mr. Hafeez's apartment whose wife has expensive taste in interior design. The shadows of two golden leaves above the beige-white sofas with matching golden cushions could have caught her attention if she hasn't been distracted by the slamming of the door. The small sprouts growing in the money plant by the TV table beg her to smile in her direction awestruck by the growth up against the wall. However, what catches her attention this time are the flickering candles everywhere. On the dining table by the sofa. Outside kitchen in the corner. In the corridor on a table with a mirror hanging above.

The people sitting in the lounge make space for Selena's parents to sit while Saad rushes to meet Harun, Aariz's younger brother. Selena has to sit on a chair at the end of the lounge to remove her heels. As she bends forward her hijab slips off her shoulder dangling in front of her.

Selena's abaya follows her behind like a cape when she strides into the bedroom. The lilac-colored nidha fabric dares to slip off the thin white wire hanger but Selena swiftly buttons the topmost snap button in its place. Amelia pauses after hanging the abaya on the hook to contemplate whether to remove her hijab or not. While Selena's mom stood in front of the dressing table removing her hijab to replace it with a dupatta on her head. She looks in her daughters' direction. They both nod confirming she looks perfect.

Selena swings her hijab cloth back on her shoulder wiggling at Amelia standing frozen. When Amelia emerges out of her thoughts she pinches her hijab looking in Selena's direction. She gives her a thumbs up.

Nuha wipes her hands across her apron as she moves out of the kitchen. She rushes back to remove the apron and grabs her dupatta from above the microwave before she enters the lounge to greet the guests. Selena and Amelia resort to Nuha's room after a glance at their reflection in the large mirror near the fluttering candle flames in the corridor. The room that once was shared with Aariz too. The bookshelves hold paper, sketches, and stencils. Some romcom novels. 

It is dark with a few candles flickering as the fan rotates on the ceiling. Perhaps Mrs. Hafeez loves the candles for their glow and warmth dancing in the darkness. The wax melts upon itself forming tears solidifying into lakes around itself. Selena and Amelia walk towards the bookshelf to read the books' names. "Think like a Monk". 

A guy jumps at them making both of them flinch in terror, "Ihsan! Jeez!", Amelia cries.

"How's life?" Selena moves away planting herself onto the bed while Amelia walks up to the dressing table to check out Nuha's new nail polish collection.

"Not so bad". Ihsan pauses. "Okay maybe bad". He laughs running his fingers through his silky long hair and tucking them behind his ears.

Nuha walks into the room switching on the lights. Before sitting beside Selena she runs her fingers through Ihsan's hair. "I like it, Picasso."

"Stop! I JUST set them!", Ihsan hisses.

"You need an elastic hairband?", as Selena digs through her handbag Aariz walks in.

"Here you are! Sitting amongst- ''. He eyes Selena as he walks up to Ihsan sitting in front of her.

"Amongst who? Huh?" Selena stares at him. "Girls, you mean? Or people much better than you". she places a white hairband in Ihsan's hand. "People better than me? I got better brains, baby!" Selena points at her head. "Ihsan, I could have given you some pony ideas but some people are too eager to have you all for themselves. Now shoo off."

"Just to set your record correct humans have one brain. ". Aariz smiles. "Seems like your hippocampus has stopped working. Or don't even have a brain to begin with".

Selena gasps at being called brainless while Amelia scoffs choking on the water Nuha handed her.  

Aariz turns around to leave but then swings back. "Get off my bed".

Selena rolls her eyes, "Oh! Is it your bed? I don't see the label on it. Heartless."

"My heart is pumping perfectly. Seems like you don't know how to use your stethoscope". 

"Oh really! How can YOU know that, child?! You don't even have one! Do you even know how to check your pulse". 

"I know how to draw blood. Just make sure you don't come close or you might die of blood loss". 

"That's called hemorrhage. Please! By the time you are close enough to intricately puncture my blood vessel you would be dead from your slashed internal carotid". 

"As if you would know how to hold a scalpel". Aariz remarks quietly. Turning to Ihsan he snatches the elastic hairband from his hand giving Selena a stern deathly stare.   Ihsan, I can do that too". 

Selena rolls her eyes standing up from the bed. "A knife would do that same job, Doctor Sahab".

Selena is a little surprised by the counterattacks she is receiving from the enemy who has always observed a cold silent war. They have always fought with overachieving grades, thick fancy certificates, and shiny medals. But something tells her that this time it won't be the same. However, since she is armed with her fluent tongue and quick-witted brain she is ready to step into the battleground.

He gives his hair a little tug which makes Ihsan wince as he ties his hair into a ponytail. A few seconds later all the hair slips out of its band and drops onto the bed.

"Please!" Selena picks up the hairband, "Watch and learn. That's what a junior should do".

Selena's short nail combs Ihsan's hair before parting them from above his ears and tying it into a ponytail.

"Selena, how did you pass your first year at uni? I just can't!" Ihsan, who is a freshman in the biomedical engineering program,  laughs as Selena makes him face her pulling out a few strands of hair from his ponytail. I

"With just enough sleep and crying". she replies in a monotone. The two phones on Aariz's bed lay beside each other. A notification pop on one of them. A manhwa character, Kieran from Purple Hyacinth winks with a smirk on his face. 

"Wrong. Binge-reading comics on a webtoon and crying a day before the exam". Aariz folds his arms his eyes on the phone. 

"Please! Not like you, at least. Reading " Think Like A Monk'', by Jay Shetty". She rolls her eyes at him.

"Says the person who has a crush on Doctor Mike".

Selena storms up from the bed knowing he got his fair share of stalking her on social media, "Big words from the mouth of a person who follows Dr. Shirin".

Aariz rolls his eyes, frowning. She has stalked him enough to expose him to the world too.

Feeling attacked, Aariz folds his arm and stares at the perfect ponytail she has made. Her voice interrupts his silence.

"There is more to it!" She moves towards Aariz. "Says the person who watches Ali Abdaal".

He doesn't dare flinch backward and stares into her eyes. The trails of jasmine that wrap around her with the hint of wisteria envelope him in the thick winter mist hanging low over the jasmine garden. Drain the blood out of her. His intrusive thoughts whispered. 

(Aariz's POV) What's with this girl who was stuck helping me in the first semester?

He steps away his razor eyes still on her wishing he hadn't opened the door for her family or should have closed it right in her face had he known she would step in and choose violence.

"Okay, first of all". Aariz pauses for a moment with his clenched fists. "He is smart". He points a finger at her nose. When she jerks away she stumbles on the bedpost tumbling onto the bed.

She breaks the eye contact. His scoff strikes her nerve, "W-Whatever makes you sleep at night". She rolls her eyes rubbing her sweating palm against the white sheets. Well, Ali Abdal being smart is a well-established fact that she can't deny.

"Jeez, Aariz no one asked you! You're still in the first year". Ihsan's words enforce the ceasefire. Amelia and Nuha stand in front of the dressing table pretending to ignore the drama going on by testing new nail polish on Amelia's nails. Despite the ceasefire enforced, Selena stands back up face to face, eyes locked. A sharp tap of Ihsan's hand on Aariz's shoulder makes him blink out of the moment. He looks away still seething under the skin.

Selena's eyes follow the boys moving out of the room. She later joins the girls, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes fall on the perfume bottles arranged in the order of their heights. Amongst them, she finds the perfume her parents had gifted Aariz last year when he was leaving for Denmark.

Nuha places a hand on her shoulder as she examines her face, "Love your eyeliner".

Selena blushes. "Thanks. I use a pencil because my hands are kinda shaky. But I am trying to learn these days. So I'll avoid spicy food".

"Yeah, the tear may cause it to smudge. And the reaction your eyes have to spicy food is dramatic".

"Nuha!", Mrs. Hafeez calls her. It was the cue for girls to move their conversation to the kitchen as they lay down food.

"So which field you are going to specialize in?" Mrs. Hafeez asked as she spoons biryani into a dish.

Aariz who has been setting up PS4 for the gaming night with Ihsan switches it off and puts the news channel on. Ihsan brings a white bedsheet put lays down on the floor with sufra in his other hand.

"Umm... Something that keeps me busy?" Selena replies laughing sheepishly, uncertain about the future because she has loved almost all the modules so far.

As they finish the set up they walk to the kitchen to lend a helping hand. Aariz pauses as he hears his mom.

"Get time out to think about marriage as well". Her words silence the crowd in the kitchen. Selena almost chokes on her spit, batting her lashes in disbelief. Eyeing her hands fidgeting silently Aariz's lips turn into a smirk. New weakness unlocked. As she turns around she almost bumps into Saad.

"Jeez! Move outta my way". She shoves him to one side.

"Mom!" Nuha hisses.

Mrs. Hafeez turns to Aariz, smirking. He shrugs biting his smile. Such a petty excuse to be upset about. His eyes follow Selena as the bathroom door clicks to lock.

Selena stands in front of the mirror in the bathroom fighting tears back. A sinister smile flashes in front of her however she shakes her head lightly slapping her cheeks to make her get off the spiral.

"Why would you care about some random person's marriage? You have me to worry about.", Aariz wraps a hand around Saad. Amelia takes the dish from Mrs. Hafeez's hand and makes her way to the lounge to put it on the sufra brushing past Selena and mouthing. "The audacity".

Selena passes her a stifled smile. She inhaled deeply, overhearing Aariz. Another deep breath before she goes to the kitchen and picks up the two plates of salad to take to the lounge where men sat on sofas discussing the success of Expo 2020. Regretting to agree upon meeting the enemy was definitely a grave mistake. Maybe she should have stayed home to complete the pharmacology objectives instead of glamming up for being thrown into an awkward situation.

---
HOW WAS THE CHAPTER?

Do you hate Aariz as much as I do?

Quick question:
Who is your favorite singer? And why?

I am a Swiftie through and through. And yes, I love cats! But being Pakistani I also love Desi singers like Atif Aslam and Asim Azhar. (And learning about BTS)