8th July, 2019

"How can you be this irresponsible!"

Eram flinched on her spot and took a step back in fear, her eyes closed tight shut.

"What were you even doing! I've not hired you to make such stupid mistakes!" The loud piercing voice made her shudder in fear, a chill running down her spine. "I can't wait any longer. Damn it!" The woman in front of her exclaimed, slamming the papers on the table as she stood up.

"I don't want to do this anymore! I quit!" Eram declared as she met the woman's eyes gathering all the courage in her. The woman turned to face Eram and that's when Eram saw her face for the first time. Eram had so far only talked with the woman on call but this was the first time that the woman met her in person, having the expectation that she was going to get the property papers signed but her expectations shattered brutally when Eram handed her the papers which were now absolutely wasted. She was beyond frustrated as she removed all her anger on Eram and listening to Eram's words, her frustration increased tenfold but she put on a calm face, and faced Eram again.

"Your wish." The woman said, nonchalantly. "Oh I will absolutely love it if you quit because I'm done with your stupidity!"

"You asked me to marry Shumail, I did. You kept asking for money, I kept giving his money to you from time to time. But getting all his property transferred in your name, I don't think I can do that!" Eram said in a tone, that said how hurt she was from the inside and what all problems she was facing in her life.

"That's my money! That's my property!" The woman shouted, making Eram take a step back in fear. "Have you, my dear, perhaps fallen in love with Shumail?" The woman suddenly questioned in a calm tone but her piercing eyes were glaring daggers at Eram and Eram's eyes went wide listening to her question.

"No I haven't!" Eram denied quickly, shaking her head.

"You better not. It will only be good for you." The woman laughed. "But since you want to quit then you falling in love doesn't even matter." She gave her shoulder a shrug.

"Who are you? And why do you want to hurt him, so badly?" Eram questioned, looking at the middle aged woman in front of her with furrowed eyebrows. "You had said that Shumail had aquired your husband's hard earned money, his position and his whole company, and you wanted to get everything back from him but I don't think there's a single percent truth in it. Living with him for so many months, I've come to know how amazing of a human being he is and I can bet on my life that he can't do such a thing. So I ask why!" Eram voice rose a bit as she questioned the woman standing in front of her. Eram didn't have any fear of the moment as she questioned the woman's motives. Eram suddenly was feeling a burden on her heart and remembering how Shumail had treated her with so much love, care and respect, she wanted to know the reason why anyone would want to hurt him in the first place. Surely she had first agreed with her and worked for her to get his money and his property but as time passed, she began to realise what she was doing was wrong. Her heart just wouldn't agree to the fact that Shumail can do anything of that sort and if he can't and he hadn't then that meant the woman in front of her was lying to her, and she wanted to know why!

"You're right!" The woman began with a smug smile on her face. "Shumail Ibrahim will never do such a thing." She finally accepted and continued to speak. "I lied to you, but...!" She interjected, facing Eram, "What will you do? Go tell Shumail everything?" The woman gave her a look with raised eyebrows and then laughed. "You can't do anything but just so you know I can do a whole lot of things!"

"You won't!" Eram's eyes were wide with horror, the words rolling off her tongue with great fear.

"Oh darling I can and I will, if..." The woman stopped speaking and her hand went to the glass that was placed on the table as she pushed it to the edge of the table but stopped before it fell off of it. "You won't do as I tell you to."

"You can't do this! You can't blackmail me like this!" Eram's vision was blurry as tears formed in her eyes on the thought of it.

"Just a change in documents and game over. You, my dear, got to protect your priced possession. Choice is yours." The woman put forth, giving an innocent look.

"Fine!" Eram's hands were curled up in fists beside her form, as the words rolled off her tongue. "I will do it."

***

Eram walked in their room, her mind in a haze. Her handbag slipped out of her shoulder and landed on the floor but she cared about nothing in the moment. She walked to the couch and sat on it, looking at a distance. She couldn't think straight and couldn't decide which way to choose.

Her cellphone in her hand began to ring and her eyes went to the screen to find a call from Shumail. She cleared her throat and quickly swiped the call to answer, putting it on her ear and immediately Shumail's cheerful voice sounded from the other end.

"Salam wifey." Her tears leaked and a cry left her lips as she quickly covered her phone so as to not let him hear her voice, and quickly silenced herself and swallowed the lump forming in her throat making it hard for her to speak. She put the phone back on her ears  and tried to get the words without crying.

"Hello?" Shumail's voice sounded concerned from the other end.

"Walaikum Assalam." Eram finally answered.

"You okay? What took you so long to answer?" Shumail questioned.

"Uh nothing. I just dropped my phone." She lied.

"Oh no worries. I called to ask if you're ready? I'm on my way to home to get you." Shumail spoke and that's when she remembered that he had told her to be ready as they were going out for dinner.

"Sorry but I don't think I can go. I'm not feeling good." Eram voiced her thoughts, closing her eyes in pain.

"You fine? What happened?" She could imagine his eyebrows knitted together in worry as she questioned her, bringing a smile on her face.

"I am just not feeling good. I'll take some rest and In Sha Allah I'll be fine." She said not wanting to worry him more about her.

"I'm on my way. Be there in sometime." He said and the moment his call went off, Eram broke in tears and began to cry hysterically. She put her face in her palms and cried hard. Her shoulders shook and her cries came out slightly muffled.

"Why are you so good Shumail?!" She questioned. "Why do you have to treat me so good that it's making it difficult for me to hurt you?" She cried more. Her form slipped from the couch and she landed on the floor on her knees, her hands placed flat against the lush carpet. She cried harder, her tears leaking from her eyes continuously.

You got yourself in this mess Eram! Ever thought what Shumail will do when he'll come to know about the truth?

Her conscience mocked at her and as the thought struck her mind, her eyes widened in horror. The thought of how Shumail will react and what he will do, made her whole world crumble. Her breathing began to get harsh and as all the thoughts kept swirling in her mind, it began to get difficult for her to breathe. She tried to take in deep breaths but couldn't. Her eyes began to water again, sweatbeads forming on her forehead and she felt her heart pounding heavily against her chest. She tried to stand and get herself a glass of water but she couldn't gather the energy to do so as her hands trembled and slipped from the arm rest of the couch which she had held to support herself to stand.

The door opened and in came Shumail. His gaze directly landed on her who was on the floor, trying hard to catch her breath, and his eyes widened in horror as he hurried to her and knelt in front of her, holding her cheeks.

"Eram? What happened?" He questioned, making her look at himself but she just couldn't. He noticed her difficulty in breathing and the reality struck him that she was having a panic attack.

"You're having a panic attack!" He said as if more to himself. His hand went to his head and he thought how he should deal with it. "Take deep breaths." Shumail instructed her as he quickly removed the pin securing her hijab and removed her hijab to help her breathe normally, but her mind was too hazy for any of his words to register. "Eram look at me." He tapped her cheek and tried to make her look at him again. "I'm here. You're safe with me. Try to tak deep breaths." He kept trying his best but her situation seemed to worsen. "Eram try to focus on me, it will help. Look at me and don't think about anything worse."

Eram didn't seemed to register his words and rather her mind was having all the thoughts of how she will face him if he got to know about the truth, and such thoughts were making her situation all the more worse.

"You don't seem to listen to my words. Eram, please try not to think about anything worse. Focus on me." When he still felt her situation worsen, he had no other choice then to forcefully stop her from having bad thoughts and in order to get her attention to him, he did the one thing that he could. "I'm sorry for this." He apologised before he grabbed her face and captured her lips. She seemed to register the situation and the position she was in, in his arms with him as her eyes went to his face who had his eyes closed as he kissed her slowly. Her hands went up to him to push him away but instead, her hands curled around the fabric of his overcoat tightly as she steadied herself, holding onto him. Her eyes focused on him completely and now that she was in his arms, her mind didn't seem to think about the thoughts that she was having earlier. She slowly began to get stable as her eyes closed on their own accord, letting herself live in that moment.

Shumail opened his eyes to find her completely normal and he slowly pulled away from her, moving his hand on her head as he moved her hairs out of her face.

"Are you fine now?" He asked and she slowly nodded her head in yes. "What happened? What is so disturbing for you to have a panic attack?" He asked. She couldn't lift her teary eyes up from her lap, and she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. "Eram?" He called out, holding her chin firmly and making her look up. Her teary eyes spoke volumes but he stayed silent, to give her time to speak up.

She kept looking at him and kept thinking if she could do what she was hired to do and every time the answer came negative. She couldn't hurt him.

Eram sat on her knees and came up to his level as she slowly brought her hands to his face and held him by his cheeks. "You're too good to be true and I can't do this to you." Eram said, searching his eyes and all she could see was love. She lowered her face and put her lips on his and began to kiss him slowly. She pulled back minutes later to look at him, who was looking at her with a concerned look and taking in a deep breath, she decided to tell him everything before he got to know anything from anyone else.

Whatever his decidion would be, she was going to accept it happily.

"I need to tell you a bitter truth." She began, closing her eyes for a brief moment. Shumail urged her to continue and felt her thumb caress his cheek. "Someone had hired me to get your property from you." Finally she said that. Her eyes were pinched tight shut, not wanting to see how he was going to react on it. She kept waiting to listen what he was going to say, how he was going to react but what she heard from him, she hadn't expected that in her wildest dreams. Her eyes flew open in shock and she looked at him, trying to think if she heard him right.

"I know."

Assalamualaikum!

I don't know how to describe my emotions now...I had a lump formed in my throat as I wrote this chap because this chap was meant to be a heart breaking one and I just couldn't help but feel so sad while writing something so cruel. They're just characters I know but the emotions were really heavy.

Anyways let me know how was the chap in the comments below.

Until next time...Cyaa!