Continued...

"I need to talk to you about something important." Fawad said and waited for Maya to leave the kitchen.

"Yes?" Zayan said cautiously. Fawad hadn't even talked to him since everything had happened and ignored all his calls. He was curious at what he had to say now. He must want to clear things with him he thought. Fawad's cold expression however told a perfectly different story. He looked like he was ready to kill him.

"I want you to come to our house with auntie and propose for Maya to my parents." He sad without beating around the bush.

"W-What?" Zayan stammered thinking he had probably not heard him right. "What did you just say?"

"You heard what I said." Fawad replied coldly.

Zayan looked at him perplexed. He had shocked the living daylights out of him. Fawad was taking this to a whole new level. Before he could even open his mouth to speak Fawad cut him off.

"I really don't appreciate what you two were doing that day. Stop playing with her feelings if you don't want to marry her. I don't care that you are Areesha's brother. My sister means everything to me and you better stop seeing her."

"Fawad man you are getting it all wro-" Zayan started to explain his point to him.

"Stop. I don't want your bullshit. You bring the proposal to our parents and that's it. You don't know what I can do to you and everything related to you." He snapped with his cold eyes boring in Zayan's.

"Shut up Fawad. You don't understand anything do you? You claim that she means everything to you yet you don't know what's going on in her life." Zayan growled back losing his patience. The way he said everything related to him made him cringe. 

He could feel the sinister promise underlying his tone. He couldn't believe Fawad meant what he was thinking. He wouldn't do anything to Areesha would he? He just hoped he was overthinking.

"You claim to know her better than I do?" Fawad lashed out on him. He couldn't believe this man in front of him. He had thought of Zayan as a religious person but he turned out to be anything but religious. Every time he remembered that day in the hospital his blood ran cold. He had seen the way Zayan kept glancing at his sister during the dinner. Heck he hadn't even wanted her to come but Areesha and his mother had insisted so he didn't want to remind Areesha of anything that would make her tensed.

"What's going on in here?" A voice said from behind them.

They both turned around to see Areesha standing at the threshold of the kitchen frowning.

"Nothing." Fawad gritted out and stormed out of the door.

Zayan rubbed his temples at his behavior. Areesha looked at him confused and raised an eyebrow but he did't reply.

"Let me go check up on him." Areesha muttered to him and hurried out of the kitchen.

If it was a normal day Zayan would have teased her to no end that she loved Fawad more than her brother and might have been a little teeny tiny bit jealous too. But this wasn't a normal day. It was not everyday someone's brother came up to him threatening him to marry his sister. The way Areesha showed concern and love for him made his thoughts steer into an entirely different direction.

"Fawad! Listen to me!" Areesha went after him but he ignored her and left the kitchen.

"Stop." She said sternly as she grasped his hand making him stop.

He met her sharp gaze hesitantly and opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off.

"Calm down." She said drawing patterns over his bicep.

"Why does Maya have to do this to me?" He said in a hurt voice, gripping his hair in frustration. "If she likes your brother she should tell me instead of doing this."

"Fawad, don't let it take toll on you. She won't take any wrong step and I'll talk to her. Zayan isn't like that either and you know it too."

He rolled his eyes at that but didn't say anything.

"Can I see the smile I love?" She said as she stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his teasingly.

That action alone made him smile slightly, but the smile disappeared as soon as it had come. He was in a really bad mood.

"I'm crazy about you." He groaned as he pulled her against himself. They both had been so busy that they had not been spending much time together. By the time he would get home at late at night due to the new project his company was working on, she would be exhausted because of Uzair and asleep already.

"I've heard that one before." She smirked slightly and her eyes lit up with energy. She loved how she had the same effect on him like he had on her.

"You have?" He asked before pulling her tightly against himself and kissed her with all the pent up emotions: hurt, anger, betrayal, love, frustration. He knew he was mad at Zayan but he couldn't take it out on Areesha. He just wished that she was never Zayn's sister in the first place.

"Fawad! You do realize that this is my mother's house, don't you?" She asked pulling back but couldn't help but glance at his plump lips that looked so inviting.

"Areesha, don't get me started here." He groaned. "We're leaving now!"

"Yeah you and I have business to attend to when we get home." She winked at him. 

"We sure do!" 

"I'll be back in a minute. Go call Ammi and Baba." She said and looked around for Zayan.

"Zayan?" He turned around to see Areesha standing by the door of the kitchen. He composed himself and offered her a smile. He hadn't moved from his spot as he contemplated on what to do. He couldn't destroy his sister's house could he?

"Yes?" He asked cautiously.

"We are leaving. I just wanted to say bye to you." She said and went forward to him wrapping her arms around him.

"You know Mama is looking for girls for you and she is going to tell you to get married soon?" Zayan just stared at her.

"Maya is a very nice girl. From the time I have known her she has been very supportive towards me. You know how she took so much care of Uzair when I wasn't well. You should really consider her. You know you can't stay stuck in the past and you should make it halal with her."

"Areesha you guys have gotten it all wrong." Zayan said quickly taking this as his chance to explain it to her. "I don't have any kind of haram relationship with her."

"I know that already and I trust you. I am sure what Fawad thinks is a big misunderstanding but when he confronted Maya about it she just plainly admitted that she was with you that day. I have tried asking her about it but she refuses to open up and I can't say it that plainly."

"Areesha are you coming or do you want to stay here forever?" Fawad snapped at her as he entered the room breaking their moment. He had heard what they were saying outside. How could he have misunderstood when he had seen them together that day and especially how Maya had never denied it. Whatever games Zayan was playing had to stop.

Zayan stared at him. The way he had said 'forever' didn't sit well with him and he felt like he was giving him a plain warning.

"Gosh Fawad! Calm your horses I am coming." Areesha said to him shaking her head. Zayan kissed her one last time silently praying that she would be fine. He had seen the happiness in her eyes because of Fawad and it broke him to know the way Fawad was using her.

"Khuda hafiz." Areesha said to him.

"Take care of your self." He said with his eyes watering. For the first time he felt scared of sending her with Fawad. He just hoped everything would be fine.

He looked around to see Uzair in Maya's arms and as much as he wanted to hold the baby in his arms he didn't say anything so as not to make things more awkward with her. He caught her eye and looked at her expressionless face. He wondered what she might be thinking right now but he quickly averted his gaze in case Fawad developed another misunderstanding.

"Think about what I said to you." Fawad said to him before walking to the car.

"The food was very nice." Fawad's mother said to his mother.

"It was my pleasure. I loved having you over. Please do come again soon." His mother replied back with a smile and Zayan waited impatiently for their desi see off to finish.

After seeing them off, Zayan came back inside with his mother sighing heavily.

****