Dark.
Cold.
And so cold.

The whole room was painted in the deepest shades of darkness and even if the moon tried, it couldn't send light there. Not even a bit. The person sitting near the window loved the moon, too dearly but right now, even her dear moon couldn't bring her joy.

She was aching her wounds were left open in the cold air, for it to pain more and more.

A week had passed, maybe more than that, yet she had no trace of her father's returning. And badi ammi said he will come back. She wanted to scoff. But more than that she wanted to scream,so loud that her father could hear her and come to her.

She knew her crime wasn't punishable, heck it wasn't a crime. Yet the way her father had reacted, it felt like she had committed a sin. What was the reason, she knew not but what would knowing give her. It didn't hurt less.

It hurt more, seeing that her father, the man who had never ever lost his calm and had always listened to her, didn't this time. And the reason he gave? That nobody else will again wish to marry her, she knew how to read between those lines. She knew he too thought that she wasn't that worthy and spoiled just like so many people in the society.

She had an idea what they all used to whisper behind her back. She had heard herself, so many times.

It didn't affect her much, because she knew it didn't matter.

But listening the same words from her father, it had pierced her.

Saman picked her phone up and once again dialed a number, only for it to be ignored, yet again.

This was getting exhausting now. Even living was feeling like a task.

"Ek dafa sun lete mujhe papa." She whispered, staring at the screen. (Atleast you should have listened to me once.)

__________

"Ahad stop near some dhaba." Zeeshan said soon after they hid the road for returning. It was the day they all had to visit the current site in the capital city. They had left home early in the morning with their respective teams and after a long day of site inspection, deciding about further production and other things, they were now returning back.

Spotting the first roadside dhaba, Ahad pulled the car near it. Zeeshan and Ehtesham stepped out of the car and stretched their arms. All of them were exhausted and hungry on top of that. There was so much to do to even take a break for a meal.

"Ahad wake her up." Zeeshan said and walked towards the dhaba with Ehteshaam. He turned back and found Nadia sleeping with her mouth slightly opened . He suppressed his smile, it looked like she had been drugged.

Nadia had been practically running around, multitasking,as if her life depended on it. That's how she was, perfectionists, passionate and professional. Ahad couldn't even count on finger how many things she had done today.

Presentation of her team's ideas and designs. Done.

Finalizing the designs even though client, specially the rude manager seemed like he wanted to stall more. She had directly targeted the main of them, royally ignoring the snob and the way she had made sure her points were clear had stunned him too.

Excellence. She oozed excellence.

People had been damn blind. The same people who had always pointed fingers at her, at everything she had done and one of them was him too. A blind jerk who couldn't read the real her even though she was one of the most transparent person ever.

She was as strong as misinterpreted.

"Nadia wake up." She didn't even budge.

"Nadia!" He raised his voice and this time a frown formed on her face.

"Wake up Nadia."

"Yes sir." She mumbled, making him stare at her with surprise and mirth. Stepping out he opened the back door and closed it loudly making her jerk up.

She looked around frantically with eyes wide as saucers, all the sleep out of them. A laughter hollered from his mouth making her turn towards him and after a moment or two she understood what had happened. And boy did she look annoyed.

"Ahad I am gonna kill you!"

"Later, first come out and have something. You might need it to kill me." He replied with a sly smile making her narrow her eyes at him.

She didn't say anything further. He tilted his head slightly and smirked. She adjusted her dress and herself and walked towards the said place where they were having dinner. It would be better if they all just went back home. She had no energy left to spend on more human interactions, let alone dine in a buzzing place.

"Nadia?" Ehteshaam's voice snapped her out of the haze. She had zoned out the moment she had taken a seat beside Ehteshaam. She knew with the three of them around she could just shut down her brain.

"What do you want?" He asked, gesturing towards the menu.

"Anything bhai." She replied making Ehteshaam nod and then the rest of the time she wasn't present there. At least mentally. Too exhausted to even think she just had her food and went back to the car leaving the guys back.

The darkness around her helped her to relax a bit, so she locked the doors and resting her head, closed her eyes. But soon she heard her name being called again and groaned loudly. She just closed her eyes!

"Nadia, come out, we're here." She heard a distant voice called and peeled her eyes open and turned right. It was Ahad, again, peeking from the window. She straightened herself and looked around, they were at her home.

Stepping down the car she yawned. What a day it was. Ignoring the guy beside her she started walking towards the main door.

"Nadia." He called again

"Kya hai!" She replied, her voice laced with frustration.

"Your bag." He said in a low voice, forwarding her bag towards her. She looked at him for a moment and then grabbed the bag.

"Thanks."

"No problem." He said and started walking beside her. Hands in his pocket, ruffled hair that was once neatly set, navy shirt with rolled sleeves and a small smile on his face. He was just beside her, and even if her senses were cloudy she had noticed everything about him.

"It was a tiring day, right." He said, making her hum in reply. "You did a really excellent job."

"Hmm- what?" She snapped her head towards him only to find him smiling. Beautiful.

"You did great and thank you for helping me, especially." She was stunned to say the least, listening to these words from him was alien to her. And on top of it, he sounded sincere, with no hidden meanings or sarcasm behind what he said.

It should sound great, who didn't like praises but it felt different. Too raw.

"T..thanks." She replied in a bare whisper. She sounded vulnerable and she felt exposed. Not wanting him to read her, she immediately walked away.

Knowing very well, the sleep that she needed was far away from her.

___________

She should now stop staying awake this late as it was becoming her habit. It was way past midnight, two in the night exactly. No one in the haveli was awake at this time except for her who was now roaming in the kitchen like a ghost.

She had skipped dinner saying that she would eat with Ahad,even if she knew he already had dinner on his way back from the trip. And so now her gut grumbled violently. She had been ignoring it for a long time but the hunger wasn't reducing so she found her way downstairs.

All she could have at this time was the leftovers of the dinner and so she was heating it along with rolling some tortillas. Somehow the eerie silence around her was calming her senses unlike most of the times. She used to hate silence. Look at her now.

Having sufficient food on her plate, Saman made her way towards the kitchen island. She might have had a few morsels when she heard faint voices from the living room. Her hand stopped midway and she froze in fear. Everyone was sleeping, she was sure of it.

Without making any noise she carefully got up from the chair and clutched her phone in her hand tightly. Murmuring supplications under her breath she made her way towards the living room, the only suspect she could think of the voices was jinn.

She was scared to say the least but she had to know who it was and what if there were thieves.

Her steady steps took her to the living room but what she saw there wasn't any jinn or thief.

It was Armaan.

He was a few steps away from her, and he had stopped walking after finding her there.

She frowned, he wasn't to return for another week if she remembered correctly

"Are Saman beta, tum yaha?" It was Nausheen. (You're here? )

"I...I came for water." She lied. Nausheen nodded with a small smile. She looked radiant, and so relieved unlike the last few weeks.

"Armaan come, I am warming food." Nausheen said holding Armaan's arm making him look at her with perplexed eyes as if not comprehending her words.

"Ammi, don't worry, I had dinner already." He assured making Nausheen watch him with suspicion, but nevertheless she agreed and after asking him to rest, left.

"You didn't have dinner." Saman spoke after a few seconds, making Armaan look at her with surprise. It wasn't a question but how did she figure it out.

"I didn't want to trouble ammi."

"I am having dinner myself, do you want to?" She asked, raising her brows. Armaan seemed to ponder for a few seconds but he nodded in agreement.

"I'll just...keep these in my room." He said pointing toward his luggage. Saman nodded and left towards the kitchen.

_____

Armaan sneaked another glance at Saman. Something had changed. He could sense it, as if she was and wasn't herself at the same time. Her hands were moving methodically while she kept looking at her food.

"How was the trip?" Maybe she had sensed his eyes on her so she asked. Armaan was caught off guard as she looked up.

"It was great." He replied hurriedly, mentally grimacing at his tone.

"It was tiring but the experience was worth it." He completed .

"Do you wanna see something?" He asked, making her nod. Opening a video on his phone Armaan slid the phone on the table towards her.

It was a video of a child who was apparently imitating Armaan, Saman figured it out easily. The way he was adjusting his specs was so similar to how Armaan did.

"He does look like you, specially doing that." She said looking up at Armaan who was already watching her intently.

"Doing what?"

He asked but Saman was too captivated to even hear his words. Armaan's eyes were staring directly in hers, and for the very first time she noticed how enchanting they were. As if black and brown had embraced each other to an extent where one could never differentiate them.

"Saman?" He whispered, making her snap out of the haze.

"Umm...he..he is adorable." She spoke looking back at her food.

"That he is."

"Thank you for the dinner, I was starving honestly." Armaan said after completing his food.

"You should rest now." She replied, still not looking his way. Armaan nodded and got up, but before leaving he turned towards her again.

"Are you okay Saman?" Saman's head shot up at his question only to find him staring at her, with a passive face.

Did he know? She couldn't face another person who would pity her.

"Ye...yeah." She replied, looking away. But Armaan wasn't convinced, she knew he wasn't as he was still standing at his spot. And she knew he was still looking at her.

Saman didn't have the courage to look up. She feared if she did, all her boundaries would crack in a split second. There would be transparency between nothing and everything.

And she feared exactly that.

__________

Assalamualaikum everyone.

I am trying to fasten the update so you may find some mistakes here and there.  I apologize for that.
But I hope you are liking the story so far.