~This chapter is dedicated to my lovely and sweet reader queenKiara6..!

Wishing you a very happy belated birthday sweetie, from our very own Shahveer and Hooriyah🎈🎉🎊

Keep sparkling and shining like this always♥️

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~Shahveer

"Shahveer?"

A whisper as soft as feather escaped her mouth as her eyes widened with shock.

And why won't they?

After all, they had seen the most unexpected and the most hated person after a whole week since that painful encounter. I knew that she might have been thinking that how shamelessly and confidently I had appeared all of a sudden, as if nothing had ever happened and that too, just on the day of her wedding.

Yes, her wedding!

Something I had never imagined even in my dreams before.

She was going to be someone else's and here I was standing all alone, hopeless, tired and exhausted. I never wanted to face her again after what she had told me that night, but as soon as I heard about her wedding, I couldn't help myself and ended up here in order to allow her to crush my feelings, self respect and emotions for one last time.

I didn't want to turn and look back because I knew I won't be able to control myself when I see her being all dressed up in a wedding gown. I only came to congratulate her but I knew that watching her as a bride of someone else and not mine would definitely weaken my soul, forcing me to start begging for her love once again, which I had pledged at that night to never do again.

Trying my best to avoid all sorts of numbness of my mind and my soul, I turned.

And as as soon as my madly swollen eyes laid upon her, they immediately turned gloomy once again. Dazzling in a perfectly designed wedding lehnga, she was looking beyond beautiful tonight. Just like the full moon which was playing hide and seek on the sky above, ready to kiss the clouds a perfectly melodious 'goodnight'.

It felt as if I was about to lose my senses again.

This woman never failed to amaze me.

The more deeply I looked at her, the more madly I started to fall in love with her.

She had perfectly aimed at my heart already and she always knew how to throw a dagger straight towards the center of it. 

How difficult was it for this heart to control its emotions, which were continuously bleeding away, after watching her all dolled up like a Hoor of paradise, but unfortunately not for me!

"Kya zalimaana ada hai apki Hooriyah Jahangir Khan, hum sey bicharty waqt zarurat se zyada haseen lag rhi hein! "

I smirked sarcastically while my eyes twinkled with myriad of tears as I examined her from head to toe, making her feel extremely broken.

I know that she was broken from inside, but God knows what sort of stubbornness was this that was forcing her not to just punish me, but herself too. 

"Why did you come here?" She asked aggressively.

"To attend your wedding, of course!"

I laughed painfully while she remained silent, perhaps feeling pity at my disheveled state.

"I thought you would invite your childhood best friend at your wedding. But Alas! I had to forcefully invite myself." I added while trying to gulp my tears.

"If you are done with wasting my time, you may leave. People are waiting for me inside!"

She replied in a way which I was unaware of.

"Shadi k baad bhool to nae jaogi mujhy?"

I asked while throwing a poisonous taunt towards her heart but she chose to remain silent.

"Just give one answer to my question, and then I will leave only to come back never again, I promise!"

She closed her eyes tightly as the pain in my voice started to shake her soul to the core.

"Did you ever love me?"

Her eyes popped open with amazement as if I had no right to ask such questions.

"Or was it all just a lie?" I added.

"You have no right to accuse me for lying!" She fired back.

"I don't have any right left Hooriyah. The only right I had was to love you, which I lost too, tonight!"

I smiled again as I painfully watched tears trickle down her face. I came closer to her in order to wipe them, making her take few steps back in return.

"I came here to apologize. I know it is my fault. Allah has given you a heart purer than crystal. When Allah can forgive the biggest of my sins, then being the part of HIS Beloved Creation, why can't you forgive me too?"

Unintentionally, the tears started to find their way out through my eyes.

"I am tired of forgiving you again and again. You love to torture me. And that's what you have done since five years."

She sobbed innocently.

"I want you to know just one thing Hooriyah!"

I whispered painfully as she watched my disheveled state with grief.

"That night, whatever I said, just came out of my mouth unintentionally! I know that I was a dumb head five years ago, but still I had no intention to break your heart that night!"

"What's the point of explaining things which I don't even wanna know, and that too, after five years?"

She gave me a disappointed look.

"It's just that, I want you to know that at that night, my heart was bleeding with pain while humiliating you! But I couldn't stop myself because I thought that showing any kind of sympathy to you will embarrass my honor, my status and my reputation in front of that bunch of trashy friends of mine. I will always hate myself for this because that was the same night when I realized that my honor, my reputation and my status only belonged to you, and no one else. "

I whispered painfully as she remained silent.

"I had already realized that I was in love with you, but I failed to admit it just because of my superiority complex which eventually died the same night. The moment you cursed me for a painful destiny, I finally understood the true meaning of love! The moment you left me, I realized that, slowly and gradually an important fragment of my soul was about to disappear!"

She sobbed silently as she heard this painful confession of mine.

"If you had known and even witnessed just one of the painful nights which I used to spend while screaming, crying and continuously hallucinating about you, you would have abruptly forgiven me. You weren't the only one who suffered, Hooriyah. I suffered too! The moment I had laid my eyes upon you for the very first time, when you were offering your prayers, I had already started to sense that there was going to be some strange connection between you and me. The moment you were leaving my house, my heart was bleeding and screaming with pain, which my brain refused to accept!"

I cried mercilessly.

"Stop it Shahveer! For God's sake stop it! It's of no use now! I am going to sign the Nikkah papers in few minutes. There is no point in trying to tell me all of this now. This means nothing to me at all!"

She cried and begged me to leave.

I shook my head in disagreement and knelt down in front of her and joined both of my hands together while an ocean of tears cascaded down my face.

"Mujhy Maaf Kardo Hooriyah! Mein Mar Jaunga, Khuda K Lye Mujhy Maaf Krdo !"

I cried like a child as she looked down at me with helplessness, while her heart continued to wince with pain.

She took few steps back as I continued to beg again and again, like a poor helpless beggar.

"You can take my life, you can punish me the way you want, but please forgive me and don't leave me like this. I beg you, I have waited and suffered through five years, only to see you as my bride, not someone else's. Please don't torture me beyond my patience. For God's sake please forgive me!"

I cried harder, this time his sobs turning out to be even more louder, making her feel afraid that all of the guests may gather around us.

"I may leave, I can't stand here anymore!"

She started panicking.

"You don't have any idea what you are doing to me Hooriyah! You will regret it later!"

I wiped my tears and stood up as I continued to warn her.

"I have already regretted a lot, just because I loved you. But not anymore, I am sorry, but this is how we have to part our ways tonight!"

She gave her final statement and turned to leave.

"Hooriyah please stop!"

I shouted from a distance but she did not listen to me at all.

"You will regret it Hooriyah!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs like a mad man.

"You will always regret for what you have done to me tonight!"

I cried harder but she didn't even care to look back for once.

"You will cry and curse yourself. You would be dying to have a single glance of my face, but you won't be able to see it again ever in your life! Because I won't be there to pray for you, to live for you, to breath for you anymore!"

I cried as she finally disappeared from my view, leaving me all alone in an extremely disheveled state.

I held my head which was spinning wildly as I winced with pain and silently turned to leave the house with a heavily defeated and broken heart.

"You will always regret this, Hooriyah!"

I mumbled to myself with satisfaction as I started to walk towards the empty and wet roads.

Unaware of where my tracks were leading me to, I continued to walk down the lane lost in my own thoughts. Flashbacks from the past started to revolve around my head, thus aggravating my pain.

The day when I laid my eyes upon her after eighteen years. 

As soon as she raised her head from the prostration, she looked like a prepossessing angel from a different world. So much neat, so much pious and so much indulged in her worship that every other thing in the world seemed to be meaningless in front of her.

The day when she knocked into my room and gifted me the Holy Quran.

I had never been gifted with such a precious and blessed gift before. It was she who respected me and considered me worthy enough to gift such a Holy Book to such a sinful person like me, which later turned out to be the best guidance for me.

As I slipped a cigarette between my lips, something which I had long left, some other flashbacks started to encircle me just like the smoke which was escaping from my mouth.

The day we collapsed into each other and the very first time I touched her milky white wrist. The fear and hesitation in her beautiful hazel brown eyes and the insanity in my olive green ones.

The day when I sat by her side and she told me that the doors of forgiveness are always open, and how I laughed off everything that she said, thinking that she was a fool.

But indeed it was me who was the biggest fool of all times.

The day when I rescued Alizeh and her from the goons. The chastity and piousness in her eyes that day was something which was enough to deteriorate the already disheveled state of my heart. The way she lowered her gaze with nervousness as I handed her dupatta was enough to drive my senses insane.

The day when she screamed during her nightmares and I knocked on her door and ended up watching her eyes full of tears. At that time I wanted to do nothing but hug all of her worries away but don't know what stopped me.

And then came the day I dread the most. The day which could have turned out to be the most beautiful day of her life if I had accepted her feelings for me and confessed mine too. But it was the day when I had done a mistake for which I am still getting punished even after suffering through so much pain and agony.

All of my sufferings went in vain, perhaps!

As I walked down the memory lane, I failed to notice that I was walking on the middle of the snowy road, absolutely unaware of my surroundings.

Her million dollar smile, her melodious laughter, her twinkling eyes, her heartwarming words and her soul shaking curses started to encircle my already blurred thoughts as I tried harder to come back to my senses, but it seemed as if this trance was going to last till eternity.

I had left drinking five years ago, but still it seemed as if I was nothing but just a drunken stupor.

Loud deafening sounds of horn started to scatter along the chilled breeze but still lost in my own gloomy world, I failed to notice them.

I reached towards the pocket of my leather jacket and took out the photograph of our childhood from inside and started staring at it with insanity.

As I caressed the picture of little Shahveer and little Hooriyah with the back of my hand, the horn started to get louder and louder until I realized that it was too late to find an escape, and that's when I decided to happily give up on this pathetic life which was of no use now!

A life which was as meaningless as Shahveer was without Hooriyah.

A life which was as horrific as the consequences of my undying love for my beloved.

A life which was nothing but more than a burden itself!

Within a blink of an eye, a monstrous truck collapsed with my already deteriorated and hopeless form, despite of the poor driver's undying efforts to avoid the accident. With a loud and painful thud, I could easily feel myself being pushed with a gigantic force which eventually resulted in being brutally thrown towards the other end of the road.

I tried my best to stay awake and stretch my heavily bruised arm but it was of no avail. The body slowly started to get numb while it braced itself to get deprived of blood mercilessly. A pool of blood started to cascade down my head ,forehead and my neck as I struggled hard to breath. The unbearable pain soon started to eventually fade away as I stopped feeling everything. The rate at which my eyes were blinking slowly began to slow down as I started to surrender myself to a deep slumber which seemed to be inevitable.

Perhaps this was how we were meant to part our ways.

She was right, but so was I.

She had to regret it for the rest of her life.

"Hoorr-rri-yyah..!"

I moaned painfully as a waterfall of tears began to trickle down my face, but she was nowhere to be seen. My heart hated to admit that but I knew that up till now, she might have signed and sealed her destiny with someone else's name and this thought was enough to force me to stop showing any willpower, thus I decided to slowly and gradually, give up!

The last thing I could see and hear was a bunch of extremely nervous men rushing towards my deteriorated body and a deafening noise of siren of an ambulance which had reached at the spot a few seconds ago.

The last wish which slowly began to generate inside my heart was to be helped by no man and no ambulance. All I wanted was to be left here alone only to rot in this snow till eternity!  

x-x-x-x-x

~Third Person's POV

Sweet tinkling sounds of windchime scattered along the synchronised rhythms of cool but soul shattering breeze while the tiny orange flames of the heavenly scented candles, resting in the corner of the room, flickered mercilessly, as if secretly wishing to be blown away any second.

The pin drop silence along with the pale hues which had been scattered throughout this dimly lit room, due to the mixed efforts of flickering candles and the sparkling moonlight which was busy playing hide and seek with the dancing off-white drapes, was enough to give birth to a soul shaking atmosphere which was spreading sorrow and pain everywhere, slowly and gradually.

Amidst this peaceful as well as heart wrenching atmosphere, she slowly lifted her head up from the prostration as she continued to murmur verses. Salty drops continued to cascade down her rosy cheeks as she blinked her swollen eyes. The storm which was gradually rising in her badly injured heart, was enough to defeat the peaceful atmosphere which had enveloped her uptil now.

As she turned towards her right and then left and offered her Salam, she immediately shaped her trembling hands into a crescent before the One and Only Almighty, in order to ask for the life of the one who was so close to her heart that just upon getting informed about the most unfortunate news of her life, she fainted on the spot.

It had been twenty four hours since Shahveer's accident and the moment she gained her consciousness back, she had glued herself to the prayer mat, begging Almighty to bless her love with a new life while continuously weeping for uncountable hours.

As she tried to voice out her pain with her quivering lips infront of Allah, Ms. Nancy watched her weak trembling body with sympathy while holding a tray full of fruits for her.

"Come on my daughter, eat something, you haven't eaten anything since last night!"

She entered her room and sat by her side while caressing her tear stained face with affection.

She blankly stared at the tray while the tears never stopped from falling.

"A sincere prayer which comes straight from the depths of the heart never goes unnoticed!"

Ms. Nancy wiped her tears as she hiccuped between her painful sobs.

"He's suffering because of me and my stubbornness!"

She whispered softly while her heart continued to bleed with grief.

"Don't lose hope my child. The doctors still believe that they will be successful. Dr. Hammad called me an hour ago and informed me that they were going to start his surgery soon."

Ms. Nancy smiled as she squeezed her hands gently.

"But he's going through so much pain, just because of me!"

She cried harder as she rested her head on Ms. Nancy's shoulder while she continued to rub her back in order to console her.

"You were always right. I wished I had listened to you before. You warned me, that when we stop valuing the blessings of Allah, it is eventually snatched away from us!"

She sobbed innocently as Ms. Nancy remained silent, trying to control her tears.

"He's in pain, just because of me. He continued to beg me for my love only to get back my hatred, each and every time. I ridiculed all of his efforts and continued to take him for granted. I tortured him more than he did. I had always been madly in love with him, then why did I cause him so much pain when Allah Himself sent him in my life to spread colours in my life once again? Throughout these years, I continued to search for the missing fragment of my soul and when I found it, I crushed it underneath my feet. My heart which used to be famous for being as soft as feather eventually turned out to be as hard as a rock. He searched for me madly throughout these years and when he found me, I dumped him as if he was a trash for me. And now I am paying for my sins. Over there he is battling between life and death, and here my own soul is flickering like these candles. Every passing second is accelerating the fear inside my heart that if I lost him, I will lose myself forever. I won't be able to bear this at all, because our souls were created together by Allah. If one soul leaves, the other has to follow it too. There would be no use of it without the other one. I will die Ms. Nancy, I will die with this guilt, agony and pain which is traumatising my soul after every passing second. I will die!"

She continued to cry harder and harder as Ms. Nancy kissed her forehead and wiped her tears.

"God will never do injustice with my Hooriyah! He has seen the struggles of you both. He will not let any of you down, believe me. He will do justice!"

Ms. Nancy continued to rub her back while trying to ease her pain.

"Please take me to the hospital!"

She sobbed innocently.

"It's too late my child. We will go tomorrow, I promise. Mr and Mrs. Shehroze are also going to be here any moment. They have also been informed!"

Ms. Nancy whispered painfully.

"How will I face them? How will I?"

She burst into more tears as the guilt stared to grow inside her heart.

"Please take me to the hospital, I want to see him! Please!"

She continued to beg her until she finally agreed to take her to the hospital.

x-x-x-x-x

The silent corridors of the hospital emanated all sorts of sorrowful vibes as she watched her beloved with pain, through the tiny window of the door of the operation theatre.The surgery was still going on while her heartbeat never slowed down as the seconds continued to convert into minutes and the minutes into hours.

After some time, Hammad came out of the theatre, only to get surprised by the visit of the woman he was about to marry last night.

"Hammad, how is he now?"

She hurriedly stopped and asked him while her eyes twinkled with lots of pain.

"The surgery is still going on Hooriyah. There are some minor injuries in his brain, while a lot of blood has been lost. Luckily we had arranged a blood donor right on time. But I won't give you fake hopes. He is not responding well uptil now. But still, all of us are trying our best to do whatever we can!"

"Hammad! I know you have done lots and lots of favour for me. But tonight, I am begging you for the last one."

She cried like a child as she joined her hands infront of him.

"Please, save his life!"

He watched her with pain as he knew that the love she possessed for the man who was fighting for his life inside, was something she could never feel for him ever in her life!

"Please save his life!"

She continued to repeat her words again and again while tears burst forth from her eyes just like water spilling out enthusiastically from a dam.

He silent held her hands and lowered them and cupped his hands around her face while wiping her neverending drops of agony.

"I will do whatever I can, Hooriyah!"

He comforted her.

"I know you love him more than anyone else in this world. I have watched you since five years. I had always known that Shahveer was the only reason why your heart was beating! I had always known that I would never be able to take his place in your heart. And it's my responsibility to save the life of the man who is the reason behind this beautiful girl's beautiful smile! I will try my best Hoor, just make as many prayers as possible, your Shahveer was always destined to be yours. And you were always destined to be his. There is no power on Earth except for Allah's, that can cause harm to this inseparable bond. This bond was meant to last till eternity! The how can it end so soon, my love? All you have to do is just pray pray and pray and trust Allah. Before loving you, I had always been your best friend, and this best friend of yours will make sure that you don't lose this sparkle again, which you had gained after five painful years if your life!"

She silently listened to his soothing words. What a gem he was. He loved her so much, but still wanted to try his best to reunite the love which was more important to him than his own.

He wiped her tears and came forward to kiss her forehead.

"He'll be fine! In Sha Allah!"

He reassured and finally turned to leave as she continued to stare at his disappearing figure, blankly.

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~A few hours later~

As she continued to drop the beads of a tasbeeh one by one along the thread and blow the healing verses of Quran on her beloved, her mind and heart started to embrace peace slowly and gradually, not untill one of the nurses came out and informed her about the completion of surgery.

She immediately stood up from the bench.

"The surgery is completed, but the patient is still unconscious and his body is not responding the way it should. The doctors have tried their best uptil now, but it seems as if his condition is getting critical instead of getting better. Maybe because the patient himself doesn't want to show any willpower, or it seems as if he doesn't want to stay alive and is loving this state of unconsciousness. He isn't showing any sign of improvement although we have tried everything we could."

The nurse informed her with disappointment as guilt started to aggravate inside her heart.

"But there must be another way to bring him back to consciousness, sister!"

Hooriyah looked at her with her pleading and tired eyes.

"There is only one way, and that is knocking on the door of Allah!"

"Can I go inside?"

Asked Hooriyah, helplessly.

"Just for few minutes!"

She gave an apologetic smile and finally left as Hooriyah's mind started to spin wildly with pain.

She took small scared steps towards the room where Shahveer had been shifted now and slowly turned the doorknob with her trembling hands, so that she could enter inside.

He was lying on the bed lifelessly. His hands and arms were full of cannulas and bandages while his forehead was covered with a large bandage through which some blood had managed to seep out.

She covered her mouth with her hand as she burst into tears while looking at his vulnerable state as she slowly took steps towards him.

She wept mercilessly while sitting beside him and kept on looking at his badly injured and deteriorated state with pain, guilt and sympathy.

As she rubbed her fingers along his bruised arm, she immediately shut her eyes tightly as if she had perfectly felt the same pain which he might have been feeling right now.

"Look what have I done to you, Veer!"

She whispered while grieving and staring at her beloved.

"You were right. My love for you was fake and nonexistent. For it had been true, it wouldn't have resulted in the pain through which you are going right now!"

Tears trickled down her face and fell on his hand as she continued to weep.

"Mujhy maaf krdo Veer, mujhy maaf krdo!"

She begged him, although knowing that he wasn't listening.

"Please wake up my love, please wake up. Look how much pain your marshmallow is going through!"

She passed her hand through his dark black hair and caressed them with immense love.

"Your Hooriyah is dying to listen to your voice once again. Please wake up!"

Her eyes started to sting with pain as they became devoid of tears.

"Please Shahveer. My eyes are dying to see that sparkle in your beautiful olive green eyes once again!"

She begged again and again while holding his hand gently.

"I have always loved you Veer and I have always hated to feign hatred in front of you although my heart continued to still beat for you throughout these years!"

She kissed his hand and brought it near to her heart.

"Can you feel my heartbeat? It had always been for you and only you. And now watching you like this, is causing pain to my heart. The heart which had always been the castle of your existence! Please for God's sake wake up Shahveer!"

She continued to beg while caressing his hair, but to no avail.

At last, tired of her useless begs and pleas, she finally laid down her head on his chest and silently listened to his peaceful heartbeat as she decided to surrender herself to a deep slumber while her eyelashes began to drown due to the weight of grief they had been carrying since so long!