Long chapter ahead!

Read throughly to understand everything!

*Continued*

Before Zayan could reply, the door to his office flew open to reveal a very angry Fawad standing with Zayan's assistant behind him telling him to stop.

"Bhai?" Maya muttered in shock when her head snapped in the direction of her fuming brother. He really had the worst timing. She prepared herself for another scolding. More questions to answer. 

"Salam Zayan." Fawad greeted him.

"Walaikum salam." Zayan replied mildly surprised. He felt scared for Maya. He just hoped that Fawad would let it go and not be too hard on the poor girl as whther he admit it or not his heart went out for her. She wasn't at fault yet she blamed herself and that is the worst thing anyone could do to themselves. He knew it from experience after all. He could feel her self loathing in her words. She held herself responsible and he wished he could tell her not to but he had no right to do that. He was a stranger to her after all regardless of the fact that they might end up married.

"So how's everything going on at home?" Fawad asked him in a distant tone and he could hardly say that they were good friends before all this.

"Alhumdulilah, everything is fine." He replied still trying to make out his attitude. Fawad was painstakingly formal and he hated it.

"Maya if you don't mind we need to leave." Fawad said turning to his sister who was eyeing their response quietly hoping that her brother would not blow up this time.

"Yes bhai." She replied meekly. She could see the anger in her brother's eyes and she felt scared.

"Ok lets go then. Allah Hafiz." Fawad said and left the office.

Maya glanced at Zayan and he whispered to her to send the details. She nodded and followed her brother out.

She followed her brother put, who was one step ahead of her and made no attempt at acknowledging her presence.

When they reached the parking lot he opened his cars door for her.

"I brought my own car too." She told him cautiously.

"You are going with me. I'll get your car home. Give me the keys." He said curtly without even sparing her a glance and Maya ried to keep the hurt inside.

She queitly gave him the keys and he started driving. It was an awkward silence and Maya could see how Fawad's hand was clenched on the wheel.

Fawad glanced at his sister from the corner of his eye. He wanted her to explain why she had felt the sudden urge tos ee hik when they were getting married soon but she was quiet.

"Maya..." he started, not being able to keep it inside anymore. Maya turned towards him and gave him a questioning look.

"Maya, I understand your feelings but you are going to marry him soon. It is not good that you still see without a mehram." He said as he applied the brakes to stop at the red signal.

"I don't- " She started to say but then bit her tongue.

"I want your word that you are not going to see him again. It's only a week left tell you get married to him."

Only a week.

"You won't understand, so just leave it." She said as her eyes teared up when she realized that there was no one to understand that she didn't want to marry him.

"I don't understand?" He said raising an eyebrow at her. "What exactly don't I understand?"

"Forget it." She said through clenched teeth. No one understood her at all.

Except maybe Zayan. He did understand what she was going through. She wasn't sure if he could do anything about the pictures or even of that was possible but he had reassured her about it. And she would try to trust him.

She even understood why he was so worried about Areesha but she couldn't believe her brother and Areesha fighting about anything.

"Maya, tell me how I don't understand? You are not telling me what you are thinking so how do you expect me to understand?" Fawad asked, trying to make her see sense.

She glanced at her brother, he seemed to be in a mood where he might listen to what she had to say.

"Bhai, I don't want to get married to him. Please." She said with tears pricking at the corner of her eyes.

"There should be a reason why, right? Am I entitled to know that?" He asked with sarcasm dripping in his voice. Why was she so desperate to go to his workplace to see him but did not want to marry him? All her actions contradicted what she said.

"I just don't want to marry anyone for that matter. Mama misunderstood what I meant." She explained.

"How could she have misunderstood anything when you said that you wanted to marry someone?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her. What was she playing at?

She turned away not knowing what to tell him about it.

"Wait!" He exclaimed suddenly and the car skidded to a halt making her jerk forward. "You want to marry someone else? Do you like someone else?" 

"No. I don't like anyone." She frowned. "What's wrong with not getting married at all?"

Fawad sighed at this. He didn't like it that she was hiding things from him.

"You keep stalling my question Maya. Why don't you want to get married? What are you so insecure about?" He asked, trying to stay calm with her.

He was mad at her for what she had done that day but she didn't stop being his sister. He had accepted that she made a mistake and that is why he had come urgently to be with her when she had gone to see Zayan. He cared for her, he loved her so much but she wasn't cooperating.

What was she supposed to say?

Look bhai, I can't marry anyone because a guy has pictures of me kissing him. And you know bhai no one wants a girl like that.

Maya even cringed herself when she thought of explaining something like that to her brother. Then he would have to know everything.

He would have to know that it was her fault that she had practically invited him to have his own way with her by challenging him. He would hate her after that and she couldn't have her brother hating her.

She looked at his face to see he was waiting for expectantly.

Why was she in this situation? What was her fault in this? She hated herself so much for being weak. She had gotten herself stuck in this situation. 

Suddenly, without warning her eyes filled up and tears started to spill at the intensity of the emotions flooding through her. 

She didn't want to fight these battles on her own. She needed someone who would understand. 

She wanted this to end. She hated it. She needed a way out.

She wanted someone to tell her that it was alright and everything would get better just like Zayan had told her even though she was no one to him, expect maybe his potential spouse. Would he support her the same way after they got married or once he saw the pictures he would believe them?

"Maya, jaan, why are you crying now?" Her brother asked trying to understand what was going on in her brain as he rubbed her back in an attempt to sooth her. There was an unbreakable silence between them punctuated with a car zooming past them once in a while.

Fawad consoled his sister, still failing to understand what was wrong. She was always the sensitive one and he could always deal with such situations with her, but right now he didn't know what to do.

It frustrated him and hurt him that his own sister didn't want trust him. He was no mind reader that he would magically understand everything.

Maya wiped her tears away and braced herself. She gazed at the cars zooming past, with blurry eyes. She wished she wasn't a coward like this. She wanted to tell her brother. She was not brave enough to carry all these burdens alone, but she wasn't brave enough to tell him everything either.

She was a bloody coward.

No. She would say it to him.

While Zayan supported her right now, even he would not anymore after he saw the pictures.

She was truly alone. No one could help her. She couldn't imagine the look of shock on her brothers face when she told him that someone had tried to take advantage of his little sister.

There was a hijab between them and she couldn't say such things to her brother. She couldn't tell this to her mother either, who treated her like her little princess.

She was so confused. It was so hard. She looked at her brother who was still waiting for her to say something. 

Bracing herself, she started cautiously.

"Bhai, look...W-what if Zayan changes after we get married? What if a misunderstanding comes between us and he decides to leave me? So many people get divorced these days even when they love each other so much." She had tried to put her fears in words without saying where they came from. 

That is what would happen even if they did get married an her primary concern was not getting married to anyone without telling her brother the actual reason. 

"It doesn't make sense to take such a big risk for nothing." She said reitrating what she meant when he stayed quiet. 

Fawad silently sighed in relief. He had been imaging the worst possible situations from her silence. She was just insecure, but that was natural.

He sent a mental prayer towards Allah hoping he would be able to tackle this properly.

"Maya, misunderstandings are normal in any kind of relationship. You should always talk them out and everything is going to be fine. If we have such fears we will never be able to have a healthy relationship with anyone for that matter, whether its between parents and children or siblings."

"But sometimes you can't just talk things out like that. What if that misunderstanding is real?" She asked.

 Fawad frowned at that. What was she trying to imply? Did this have anything to do with the time she was at the hospital with him that day?

"Maya..." He started, unable to form any words. "Maya do you want to tell me what happened between you two that day?"

Her eyes widened. What the hell was he trying to say?

"Nothing happened between us that day." She gritted out. It sounded so wrong the way he had said it. Her eyes clouded again with tears. "That's how much you trust me that you dare think s-such things about me? Bhai, h-how could you?"

Her eyes were burning with tears again and she furiously wiped them away. In this moment she decided that she had done the best thing by not telling him about the pictures or anything. If she had told him, he wouldn't trust her and would rather trust the proof.

But then anyone in their sane mind would trust the pictures.

"Maya! I-" He started in shock but she cut him off.

"Don't talk to me." She muttered as angry tears spiked her eylashes, blinding her vision.

Fawad clecnched his fists.

"Maya, I swear I didn't mean anything like that-" He explained and she snorted derisively. 

"I am not a kid anymore. I perfectly understood what you meant." She said through her teeth. She hated everyone. She hated herself the most for being so pathetic. Angrily, she turned away and faced the window, ignoring her brother.

A muscle ticked in Fawad's jaw at what she was saying. Did she really think he could think that way about his sister? His sister? He trusted her but she clearly didn't. She had been ranting about misunderstandings so he had just thought if they had had a fight that day that caused the misunderstanding she was talking about. She was taking it to another extreme.

H-how could he say such things about his sister? How dare she even think like that? He wasn't that low.

"This is exactly what destroys relationships, Maya. You are not even ready to hear me out. I-I didn't mean anything like that. You are taking things to an entirely new level." This was too much to swallow. He couldn't understand what was wrong with her.

Maya glanced at him through her tears as he angrily pulled the handbrake down and started driving again. If anyone who knew what had happened that day, they would understand why her brain automatically went to that idea that her brother was implying something like that. 

It was a normal thing to ask but her thoughts had steered into an entirely different direction when she thought of that. 

She should hear him out her rational mind would say but right now, she couldn't think rationally. All rationality had flown out of the window and she just wanted this to be over.

She needed someone to be angry at because she was tried of being angry at herself and she just turned her anger at him, refusing to see reason and that he had clearly not meant that.

She just needed a way out. She was sick of everything. 

***

"Areesha why did you have to tell bhai that I was going to see Zayan?" She asked her through gritted teeth when they got home and her brother was safely inside his room. She just wished he hadn't come there in the first place and they had not had this argument at all. She hated fighting with her brother.

Areesha glanced at her cautiously. She seemed angry for some reason.

"Maya, calm down. I didn't want to tell him. He was really mad at me when I wasn't saying anything." 

Maya's eyes widened. Her brother was fighting with Areesha becuase of her?

"He was mad at you?" She asked surprised. Maybe Zayan was right.

"Not that kind of mad. He was just worried about you." She reassured her but Maya still couldn't believe it. Was she really creating problems between them?

"Areesha? Uzair is hungry, he won't stop crying." They both turned to see her brother standing in the doorway of Maya's room.

"His feeder is on the side table. Just give him that. I'm coming in a minute." She said to him.

"Hurry up." He smiled slightly at her and left the room.

"Let me go check these two before Uzair pulls his hair off." She said chuckling and left the room.

Maya was unaffected by everything and all she could see was that she was going to create problems between them too if this continued.

Her brother wasn't at fault beucase Zayan was Areesha's brother after all and what he thought of Zayan was not good at all. So she couldn't really blame him if it did affect his behavior towards Areesha too and at the end of the day it was all her fault.

She ran a hand through her hair and tugged at them in frustration. She had never felt more lost and alone in her life. The feeling that you were the reason to someone's problems was very killing. It was eating her inside. She felt empty. She was destroying everything. 

She had never felt more broken hearted and confused. If marriage to Zayan would help solve everything she would do it. She knew it was a rash descision but she was known for making rash decisions. Every time her brother was there to fix her mistakes but this time she had pushed him away herself by being a coward. 

This is it. She would sacrifice herself becuase there was no other option. She would marry Zayan becuase she was not brave enough to fight for herself anymore. She was losing now. She wouldn't ruin her brother's marriage. If thats what made him happy, then so be it.

Zayan wasn't a bad person and she would learn to adjust with him and if it didn't work out they could always seperate. Thousands of people were tied in a loveless marriage. So what if she were too?

If marriage was really the solution to all her problems, then so be it. Maybe it really was in her destiny after all. Maybe that is what Allah wanted. This life was a test after all. She was determined to pass it. She would. Inshallah.

With tears streaming down her cheeks and wetting her eye lashes she prayed to her Lord with the utmost sincerity that may this step be good for her. Allah loved her more than seventy mothers can love their child, He would most certainly do the best for her. There was no question about that.

It was high time she accepted her destiny and did not give up on her hope. She needed to move on and stop dwelling in the past. She hated that guy who had brought this upon her. She hated him so much. With every breath she cursed him. 

But this is not the solution, she told herself. Cursing him wouldn't change anything. 

She shivered thinking how it could have been so much more worst. People went through worst things in life bit never let go of their iman. She was certainly not that weak to give up her faith at this point.

No. She would move on with life. Maybe there would be a day in the future where she would be able to look back at her past and not cry over it. Maybe time would prove her fears to be futile. Maybe things would be better one day. 

There were so many maybes and she was so scared of them. The uncertainty of the future worried her so much. She had no idea what was in store for her after she'd get married. 

Taking a deep breath, she tried to smile. She had left her case in His hands. He would do the best for her.

At this time she really understood what it meant to look at people who have lesser than you or are in a worse situation. There were so many people who had faced worse situations. Allah had saved her from anything more worse.

She tried to look at the positive side. Everything has a positive side to it. All you have to do is find it.  At least she would be safe from him. He wouldn't know that she had gotten married and this way she'd get rid of him.

Even in the dark there is a ray of light that leads you. That ray of light is hope. Hope in His Mercy.

She promised herself that she wouldn't pity herself anymore. She would move on with Allah's help. 

She was not alone after all when the All Mighty was with her.

After days she felt a little beacon of hope in her heart. Bad times always pass, she told herself.

****

Salam lovelies!

This chapter took so long!

I tried my level best to explain everything properly and what compels her to agree to the marriage eventually.

She is not wrong if you see it from her point of view, just very, very scared. Even Fawad is right in his own way as he does want the best for her. 

There comes such times when you are completely helpless and such fears begin to shadow your mind. This is the time when we really need to put out faith in Allah and hope for the best.

I pray that none of you face such helplesness in life. Ameen!

Bad times come and go. They always pass. Just hold on to hope.

If there wasn't any hardship and sadness we wohld never be able to understand the true essence of happiness. Happiness and sadness are like two sides of the same coin; one doesn't go without the other.

I hope you do learn something out of all of this and it is more than just a story for entertainment to you.

Also, I don't understand silent readers at all. Are you too lazy to vote or do you just not like the story? If the latter is the case please do tell me so that I might be able to improve. I am open to such constructive criticism. If you do enjoy the story (hopefully) just leave a vote or coment as a token of appreciation as I spend hours writing this. It is kinda hard managing this with my studies and all.