Maya had gone shopping with Areesha and Fawad for her 'wedding'. She was still not on good terms with her brother but she didn't bother attempting to talk to him now.

She didn't even want to go with them but her mother had insisted thinking that shopping might cheer her up.

She was given full reign over the credit card and she could buy anything she wanted. This was by far the only good thing about this so called wedding.

She lazily dragged her feet behind her brother and Areesha when a red dress hanging on the window of a shop came in view. The intricate designs at the front and color scheme really appealed her and she couldn't let go of and opportunity to buy it, wedding or no wedding.

"I love this one!" She told Areesha pointing to the shop.

"Lets go inside then." Areesha grinned at her excitement though she didn't know whether it was for the wedding or for the dress.

"Fawad wait!" She called to him as he had walked forward while they had been tagging behind slowly.

Fawad turned around and groaned. Now they were going to spend another hour at another shop and not buy anything at all.

He reluctantly followed them inside.

Areesha was looking around at the other dresses while Maya asked the shopkeeper to show her that dress.

The shopkeeper got the dress of the hanger and placed it on the counter in front of her as he stared at her and Maya averted her gaze uncomfortably.

"This color will really suit you." The shopkeeper said to her as he stared at her in a creepy way.

"Excuse me?" She gritted out, feeling scared under his gaze.

"Okay, I will rephrase it. This dress will stand out more on you than the other way around." He said with a wink and Maya backed away from the counter before he could say anything else.

Her heart beats escalated and the scenes from the hospital invaded her mind. The memories flashed in front of her eyes and now she was imagining this shopkeeper guy touching her as well.

Her back hit something and she quickly turned away thinking it was another guy who was trying to touch her. She wrapped her arms around herself trying to get those images out of her mind.

"Maya?" Someone called from behind and she flinched.

"Maya? What's wrong?" Her brother asked her.

She slowly turned towards him and glanced at him.

"Maya? Are you even listening to me?" Fawad asked her holding her shoulders. She was staring at him blankly as if she wasn't registering him at all and just stared right through him.

"Are you even listening to me?" He asked again confused as to why she was ignoring him like that. He understood that they weren't on the best terms but why did she need to behave as if she didn't give a shot about him.

"B-bhai... Can we please go home?" Maya asked him as tears filled up in her eyes. She just couldn't get it out of her brain. He had touched her in such personal places that she felt contaminated. She tried to keep the tears from falling for the sake of her brother but she just could not stop her brain from thinking about it.

"Areesha had to use the washroom. Let me pay for the dress and we can go after she comes back." He told her a little revealed that at least she was talking to him but confused at the same time.

Maya glanced at the shopkeeper who was still looking at her curiously and quickly left the shop as Fawad rushed behind her.

"Wait for Areesha at least." He told her but she turned away from him and looked at the people passing by, but not really looking. 

"Wait here, I'll go call Areesha to see if she is done." Fawad said before turning.

"Bhai please don't go." Maya said holding his hand tightly.

Fawad stared at her confused.

"I'll be back in a minute Maya." He told her.

Maya glanced at his face and met his eyes. She had been alone that day too and she couldn't stay alone here now.

"Maya are you crying?" Fawad exclaimed as he stared at her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Maya quickly wiped her eyes and smiled. As long as her brother was here she was safe.

"No I'm not." She said as she tried to smile at him reassuringly. He opened his mouth to say something but someone called him from behind.

"Fawad?" 

They both turned to see Areesha standing inside the shop waiting for them.

They went to her to see what she had to say.

"We need to buy this first." She told him. "And Maya which one was the one you wanted?"

"I don't want it anymore." She said quickly glancing at the shopkeeper from the corner of her eye.

"Why? You said you loved it."

"Its too expensive. Lets get it from somewhere else." She said quickly.

"Maya you don't need to think about the expenses." Fawad told her.

She shrugged, at a loss of words now. What should she say?

She reluctantly followed them inside and avoided looking at the shopkeeper.

"Maya turn around." Areesha told her as she put the dress against her shoulders to check the size.

"Bhaiya please show me the other one. This is too big for her." Areesha was telling the shopkeeper.

The guy glanced at Maya before he took out the other size from a box.

Areesha checked it against her shoulders and the length was fine too.

"Perfect." The shopkeeper said and Maya's eyes widened. She glanced at her brother but he was scrolling down his phone without paying attention to them. Areesha didn't react to the guy's flirtatious comment either.

Fawad took his wallet out to pay for the dresses

While he was counting the money, the shopkeeper guy took out his phone and positioned it towards her face or so she felt.

Maya's eyes widened. Was he taking a picture of her? She glanced at her brother but he wasn't looking.

"Don't you even dare!" She snapped at him angrily, before he could snap a picture and her brother and Areesha stared at her in surprise.

"What happened?" Areesha asked her in concern.

"This guy. He keeps staring at me." She said through gritted teeth glaring at the guy. "Don't you have any respect?"

Fawad's eyes rounded on him and he glared at the guy.

"Keep your eyes to yourself." He snapped at him through his teeth and Maya sighed in relief and moved closer to her brother.

"Bhai I would never look at any girl with a bad intention." The guy said quickly. "I have younger sisters and a wife at home, Wallah I would never do that."

"Baji you are mistaken but I am still sorry." The guy said to Maya staring in her eyes. 

"No you shut up. Is that the way you treat females? You don't think I didn't notice how you kept staring at me?" She accused him while Fawad pressed her hand in warning. This was no way to talk to an unknown guy. She was picking up an unnecessary fight. You could not control the society

Maya ignored her brother and continued to glare down at the guy.

"At this rate your shop is going to close down so you better control yourself." She snapped at him in anger.

"Enough is enough. Bhai this girl is accusing me of something I would never do and then threatens me. I even apologized even though I had no such intentions." 

Fawad glanced at the guy and then at his sister who was still fuming.

Islam taught modesty and told women to cover themselves. He knew as a man that things never work like this and if anyone's honor is at stake, it is the girls. It is a vile rule of society and no matter what they did they wouldn't be able to change it.

"I'm sorry brother. Here is the money." Fawad said handing the notes to him and took the shopping bags and they left the shop.

"Lets go home now. I'm very tired." Areesha said and solemnly they went towards the parking lot.

Maya was still thinking about what had happened and how no one said anything to the guy.

They sat in the car quietly with no one speaking.

"Maya?" Areesha said calmly.

Maya looked up questioningly.

"What actually happened?" She asked cautiously and Maya clenched her jaw.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said and opened the window and let the cold air rush in. Fawad glanced at her through the rear view mirror but didn't say anything. They would talk when they got home.

***

After they had gotten home, Maya went straight to her room.

She climbed into her bed and covered herself with the blanket. The guy was actually staring at her. She had wanted to rip him apart. She could feel his disgusting hands on her and that feeling was killing her. She did not want to think about it but she could not stop her brain. The more she tried not to think about it the more those scenes swarmed in front of her eyes. She clenched her fists and her eyes closed tightly of their own accord as she tried to fight her demons.

She was stronger than this.

She couldn't- would not- let that man snatch away her happiness anymore. She would not let him have this kind of power on her. He was not worth it.

Between her mental pep talk she heard the door creaking open. She poked her face out of the blanket and saw the silhouette of her brother. As discreetly as she could, she wiped the moisture away from her eyes.

Why did he want to talk to her now? She held her breath and waited to see what he wanted.

"Are you sleeping Maya?" He asked but she didn't bother to respond. At first she thought she would, but then decided that she didn't want to pretend to be fine anymore so she just wouldn't confront him right now.

Fawad walked up to her and slightly removed the blanket from her face and Maya quickly closed her eyes, feigning sleep. Fawad caressed her hair and kissed her head when he realized she was sleeping.

She was still very mad at him for assuming that she wanted to marry Zayan and not listening to her but her heart melted at his love but she didn't respond, she didn't have the courage to.

***

"Maya, I need to talk to you about something." Areesha told Maya as she changed Uzair's clothes.

"Hmm?" She hummed in response, as she cut up the apple she was eating.

"Why did you react that way at the shop?" She asked her and the knife in her hand stilled. What should she say? She chose to stay quiet because she didn't want to tell her the truth.

Areesha took that as her cue to continue.

"Maya he wasn't staring at you in any bad way or otherwise Fawad wouldn't have us go inside that shop. I know a man's glance and I really think you were being paranoid about it. When anyone has a bad intention they don't bring in their sisters or wives because the females in your family are your honor. And also people don't do this stuff when there is another male person around the females so Fawad doesn't let us go alone in such shops." She explained.

"He was going to take a picture of me." She told her. "I am not over reacting."

"What?" Areesha asked sharply surprised at this. "How do you know that?"

"I just know. He took out his phone and I was standing right in front of him." She tried to explain but even to her own ears it sounded pathetic and  not convincing. 

"Maya that doesn't explain it. He might have just taken out his phone. In such situations you can never speak put like this. Society puts females in such a situation where every girl is responsible for her own honor."

"So you are saying that I should stay quiet about such things and not voice out anything?" 

"Of course I am not. I'm just saying that we as women can't go picking fights with people or accusing them like that without any proof. People are like that. If you accuse someone they want to take revenge because if a woman accuses a man about such a thing it bruises his ego and he must go to great lengths to restore that ego. This is a vile rule of society."

Maya glanced at Areesha trying to take in what she was saying.

"Look, this is not the first time you faced something like this and maybe not the last so you have to guard your honor yourself. Ignore the situation because we can't change anyone else. If you retaliate about such things, it gets back to you and a small thing becomes big and the situation can get out of hand. Its best to keep to yourself when you are around such people because you never know what their potential is and how they may harm you."

"Yeah so I should have just kept my mouth shut because that's how the society expects women to be? That is the reason why men think that they can do whatever they want to." She snapped back at her.

What Areesha was saying basically meant that what happened between her and Daniyal was her fault too as she had instigated him by slapping him and he took it as a big insult and sought for revenge.

"No I am not. You are not required to accept anything people do to you and not react. All I mean is that we need to keep us to ourselves unless the situation gets out of hand. That's why women and men alike are commanded to observe modesty. We do it by covering ourselves. If you challenge someone like that you are practically making them to notice you and look at you to try to figure you out. That is attracting their attention too. Sometimes such rudeness comes out as if the girl is playing hard to get and enjoys the attention. Am I making sense to you or not?" Areesha asked.

Maya glanced at her when she felt a searing pain in her finger. She glanced at her hand through her clouded eyes and saw blood gushing out of her index finger. She hadn't realized that she had cut herself.

Areesha seemed to not have noticed as she put Uzair's shirt on.

"I-I... need to go to the washroom." Maya said and she rushed out and left the room quickly trying to keep her tears at bay.

Areesha was right in a way. She wasn't completely wrong about what she was saying. She needed someone to blame so she just blamed herself. She had been asking her this question till this day that why her? What was her fault in all this and today she realized that it was her fault.

She went to the washroom and locked herself inside.

She stared at the mirror as tears streamed down her face as she cradled her finger.

Was Areesha actually right?

What would have happened if she hadn't challenged Daniyal like that? Would he have stayed away and accepted that she wasn't like that. He might have given up.

She realized it was really her own fault. He was a disgusting person and he was just like that but he had nothing to do with her until she had been rude to him that way.

She opened the tap and splashed water on her face. She needed to stop these pathetic tears. She pressed her injured finger and washed away the blood. Oddly it didn't even hurt as she had more pressig matters to think of even though she'd rather not spare them any thought.

She rubbed her eyes and went out of the washroom. She had to move on from that. She wouldn't let that one incident rule her life. When she thought about it again a few more tears spilled.

"Maya? Why are you crying?" Her mother asked when she saw her wiping her eyes out.

"I'm getting married Ma." She said as her eyes filled up again. She didn't want anyone in her life.

"And you are crying because of that?" Her mother asked chuckling.

"Yes. Because I don't want to get married." She said, feeling a little unnerved that her mother was laughing.

"Oh my baby. We will miss you here too. Don't say that." Her mother said thinking she was crying because she didn't want to leave her house.

They sat down on the sofa and Maya laid her head in her mother's lap and her legs dangled off the sofa.

She buried her head in her lap and started crying again.

"Ma please don't make me go." She pleaded. "Please cancel everything."

"Baby you are getting married in a few days, don't say things like this. It is bad luck." He mother said.

"But we can postpone it right?" She asked hopefully.

"No. All the arrangements are done. There is no reason to postpone it." Her mother said moving her hand through her hair, amused at her daughter. It was normal to feel nervous like this but Maya was always the confident one.

"Won't you miss me at all?" She asked peering at her mother.

"Course I will jaani. You can always come here whenever you want to and its not like you are going to another country. I can visit too whenever you want and we can always talk to each other." Her mother said comfortingly.

"I still don't want to go." She said crying. Her mother shook her head at her daughter's emotional behavior.

Maya didn't stop the tears from coming. She was crying about everything. About the fact that it was her fault that Daniyal had touched her and that he wad a bastard and that her relationship with her brother wasn't the same anymore as even if she did tell him, what would she say? That it was her own fault and that she gave him a reason to do that?

No. She told herself.

It was not her fault entirely.

It was that bastard's fault if anyone's.

She cursed Daniyal to hell.

Maybe this was just written in her fate but she didn't want to accept it.

She actually felt better after cursing him her brain as if he was in front of her. Her biggest weapon was her cuss words.

***

Salam y'all!

Do you understand what she is going through?

This chapter is three times longer than usual and such a quick update. I'm just amazing aren't I? 😜

Any favourite line or scenes? I'd love to know!

Do comment and tell me what you all are thinking about this!