My breath halted, in fact the whole world seemed to have stopped when I turned around and found those eyes looking at me. My hand instinctively went to my face that had been covered with the black mask that has become my identity for the past seven years, a veil that kept me away from all that I had known for my entire life.

"Long time no see?" he repeated his sentence and a rush of warmth surged through my body at the familiarity of his voice, the way he was looking me like i was some stranger made my stomach curl in the worst ways possible, the butterflies turning into a chain of thorns that pierced my feeling and left them to bleed.

My hands that had been shaking due to the intense cold curled against the scarf I had once handed him on my way out of his day, the wool covering my neck along with half of my already covered face and my eyes assessed the man taking a place next to me to stand beside me under the open sky.

"I guess" my voice sounded distant and foreign to my own ears, I had to force myself to not stare at his perfect profile and continue staring at the rushing water that had picked up its pace to rush to the shore and against my already numb feet. I was going to fall sick but I already feel the sickness from my past gaining on me.

"Why are you here at this hour?" it was him who had asked and i fought the urge to look at him, if i did i would have to pay a heavy price.

"Same reason as you" I replied and i didnt know why I said that.

"Punishing yourself for your choices?" he whispered and I'm not sure if I was supposed to hear that.

"If i didn't know better i'd say you're a psychic '' i mumbled and he chuckled, i found myself turning to look at him. Still as tall as I can remember, I reached his earlobe to say the least and it was oddly satisfying to stand beside him but undeserving at the same time.

"What, do you know?" he asked and I gulped.

Exactly, what did I know about him? What did he know about this person standing beside him? I didn't say anything. Maybe I didn't have anything to say and this was all I could think of. I never said anything, he was a man of words i always did what could be done. My words held no weight, to me they didn't at least.

"I don't know how you've been standing here barefoot but I can't stand the cold any longer" the man spoke again and his voice thinned by the end and I looked down at his bare feet.

"You shouldn't have been standing here if you couldn't handle it" why did i sound so cold? Why was I acting this way? I didn't bother looking at him as I walked back onto the sand towards the dock where Ahmed stood waiting with my belongings.

"Is there no way we can talk without you walking away like this?" I heard him and his rushing footsteps behind me and my heart started racing again.

"We've barely met and you're saying as if i've abandoned you" i said and i was suddenly crushed under the weight of my own words.

"Are you sure about that?" I felt the coldness in his voice before his presence behind me.

I stopped and turned around to face him, he looked exactly how I imagined. Tall, calm and handsome, the ever focused gray eyes and the long, beautiful hair that had grown to caress his nape and fall on his forehead.

I didn't say anything, honestly, i couldn't. His eyes held the arrogance that I had witnessed all the times when he faced his opponents, when he looked at someone he knew didn't stand a chance against him and right now it was me against him.

"You've abandoned me quite a lot of times, but you always leave me indebted to you and lets just say, i return everything i get with great interest" he said with a tilt of his head and a pull to his lips, he slid his hands in his pockets while i stared with my eyebrows raised.

"Then i guess this is the last time we will meet since you've returned my scarf" i said and he shook his head while leaning close to my ear.

"How can it be the last time we meet? I have a lot in store for you." he whispered and if not the intense cold his voice really made me shiver.

"Am I supposed to know what you mean?" I nodded to Ahmed for bringing me my shoes. I wanted to run away from the way nostalgia was hitting me but I was teleported back to Hadiya's wedding when his eyes held the same coldness but from Behzat for handing me my shoes.

"You should, but let's just say I have a life full of debts that need to be paid for, so I guess we have a long way to go till I leave" he said and when I looked up to meet his eyes, I felt my throat drying. He was looking at me as if he knew my deepest secret, my deepest regret and my worst nightmare.

He knew me.

"Well, I'm Zahan" he said, putting his hand forward.

I kept staring at his hand for the longest wondering who am i? Who is the woman he is supposed to shake hands with, zoya? Mahtab? Wraith? A producer? A murderer? A selfish person who ruined people's lives?

"Mahtab?" I found my answer and ignored his hand, my hands shouldnt touch him, they've touched gruesome things, cut open human beings and ruined families. These hands were too tainted.

"I hope this to be the last time we meet Mr. Zahan" I didn't wait for a reply, I couldn't stand there any longer without bursting into tears and hugging the man who had been my comfort person for the longest of my life.

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He couldn't take his eyes off the woman's back, his shoulders fell and the smoke from his cold breath blocked his view of her getting in her car to leave. His jaw clenched as the man from before turned around to give him a glance before getting in the driver's seat to do his job.

"Mahtab or....." he shook his head with an exhale, he watched the car moving out of his sight and only then was he able to numb his feet making him crouch down to rub his feet. A broken chuckle escaped his lips that soon turned into muffled sobs and the man buried his face in his knees, the boy who had just spewed all the secrets he shouldn't have was staring in disbelief as his boss sobbed, his confident frame was shaking with choked sob that left his heart at the way this whole world had turned against him.

"Wh— why?" he mumbled to himself and raised his head towards the sky, his eyes were closed and his skin was met with a cold touch of snow. This was a walk they could have walked together with their hands intertwined but she walked away like always.

"Sir" he heard someone calling him and he looked up from his teary eyes to find ahmer beside him with a gleam of moisture in his own eyes.

"Let's go home" ahmer told him as he helped the man put on his shoes and then to walk to his car.

"How long has this been going on? '' Zahan asked the same question he had been asking ever since he had told him everything as if he couldn't believe it.

"Ever since you moved here" the boy replied like always. Zahan laughed bitterly while wiping his tears. His laughter grew and the silent car was filled with the sound of his choked chortle.

The shower of snow hit the tinted glass of the car and melted away like her cold act of bravado. Her tears were cold against her skin as she witnessed her hands shaking, the scenery that was passing by the swiftly moving vehicle stopped and before she could even lift her head up she heard ahmed speaking.

"I'll step out for a while" his stoic words were followed by the door and Zoya was once again glad she had hired him as her personal bodyguard.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled and kicked the seat before her in frustration, her head was starting to ache and her vision was getting blurry. Her body was in desperate need of some warmth and she knew not even burning a house down could keep her warm. This wasn't the cold of this ruthless winter, it was the cold of her empty soul and her loneliness. She missed him for god's sake and she couldn't even hold his hand.

"I have lost all rights, haven't i?"

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"Hosgeldiniz" the maid greeted her as she walked inside the house that was bustling with energy. Loud voices were coming from the kitchen and the living room where most probably hameen was in the kitchen with his mother and asad in the living room playing videogames with his father.

A typical Sunday in Hadiya's house where the kids never learned to sleep in.

"A few more years and these kids will be begging to sleep in '' zoya thought with a small smile on her face as she made her way to the kitchen while yelling her salam to zaryab who had always ignored her.

He hated her because his wife and kids loved her more than him. He can suck on it for all she cares about.

"Hamee" she yelled happily opening her arms for the kid to come running in her arms, with his loud shrieking. Zoya laughed when the little man tackled her down to the ground and was soon joined by his brother asad.

Both of them had her neck in a chokehold with their hugs and their mother enjoyed the free time she got from their constant chatting.

"Cal.... calm down" she could barely speak as happiness took over her from the way the kids had her on the ground.

It was moments later that hadiya wondered if she had two kids or three. The aunt had become a child and her sons didn't let her come to her senses as the fake wrestling kept going on the kitchen floor.

"Ohhoo" Hadiya yelled in annoyance, making the three stop at the sound of the wooden spoon hitting the counter and soon straightened up to look at her.

"Get out of my kitchen" she yelled and the three held in their laughter before she lost her calm. They left her there but once they turned around they came across zaryab who was glaring at them playfully.

"How are you?" Zoya asked and he scoffed.

"Get lost" he mumbled gesturing towards the door and zoya chewed on her lip while silently grabbing a fistful of flour from the bowl, the boys who noticed her movement followed suit and while zoya silently made her way out of the kitchen she threw the flour on the grumpy man's face before making a run for it across the counter.

The kitchen was soon a mess and hadiya was not going to let it slide, she stood in the corner yelling but her husband wasn't having any of it and while zoya escaped to the other corner the parents were both busy fighting the other off. She could stop herself from laughing and it had been a long while since she had a stomach ache that was a cause of such intense laughter.

By the end they all looked like ghosts with their hair and faces covered in flour, hadiya though had not been laughing, she was more than ready to chop their heads off with her big knives and everyone knew they had to make a run for it and that's exactly what they did.

"Yahan aao jahilon" she yelled from behind and started running behind them, zaryab had held her by the waist to stop her from murdering.

"Calm down, love" he whispered but the woman wanted to get a hold of her gandi aulaad that was the twenty eight year old woman and her two kids. Their laughter ran in the corridor as the three ran towards the living room ignoring the fact that they were spreading flour all around the house.

Their voices had caught the attention of the unexpected guest who had shown up to make up for the ruined dinner last week but to also see if what ahmer had told him was true or not. His heart raced when he heard the sacred sound of her familiar laughter and he moved towards the corridor that led to the kitchen instead of the living room.

He turned around the corner and he felt someone collide with his leg, his eyes had barely caught the sight of a tall figure covered in white when he was forced to look down at the child who was in a similar condition as the others.

"Hameen?" he asked crouching down to be on eyelevel to him. The boy chuckled mischievously and zahan couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Zahan bhai?" He heard hadiya and looked up to see everyone was frozen on their staring at him, his eyes settled on the woman who was covered in flour from top to bottom and he couldn't look away. He knew one thing: she couldn't have been hadiya since she was still trying to get out of zaryabs hold and none of the maids ever wore sweats around the house.

"You here?" Hadiya grabbed his attention and he cursed for looking away as the mysterious woman took that moment to walk past him towards the door.

"I couldn't come for dinner so I thought I'd make up for it" he said and turned around to look at her but she was putting her shoes on with her hair covering her face.

"I'll come back some other day mrs. khan" she spoke and before he could even grasp the idea of her really being there she was gone.

"Okay" he heard Hadiya who had come to stand before him.

"Hey.." he said, getting up, not being able to stop himself from looking behind him again and again.

"Come have a seat, we were jus–"

"I— I forgot my keys in the car, I'll be back in a minute," he said, patting his pockets and running outside.

"Shit" zaryab muttered under his breath and hadiya held onto her own.

"Where did she go?" he mumbled looking around while running a hand through his hair, he noticed there wasn't a car in the driveway so she must've come here on foot but where could she have gone this quickly.

Cursing under his breath, Zahan walked back inside the house, still looking over his shoulder to see if he could get a glimpse of her but she had just disappeared into thin air.

"Who was that?" he asked as they all settled down in the living room after hadiya and zaryab cleaned themselves and the kids, the couple shared a look and zahan almost scoffed at their audacity.

"Neighbour." Hadiya replied shortly and zahan nodded.

Maybe she lives nearby.

I'll find you zoya or mahtab or whichever identity you want to use, i'll have you soon.

Assalamulaikum guys.

How are you all? So im back with another update.

Zahan isnt gonna let her live peacefully now is he?.

Lets see what he does coz we all know he can be petty when he needs to be.

Comment to let me know what you guy think of this chapter.

Love,

Hafsa tahir.