Disney makes love seem so simple. No obstacles. No internal battles. Just the external ugly villain. No wonder why there are so many retellings of their movies. Love is raw. As raw as Peter Parker losing Gwen Stacy in an attempt to save her. She was just within reach. A few inches away. But the gravity of the Earth was too strong. The cobwebs he weaved were too weak.

At night, in his bed when Aariz recalls the entire night the hot tears dare to escape. And they did, dripping onto his pillow and soaking into it leaving behind a stain that can be washed away. But what about his stained heart? He feels his mattress dip to one side. He blinks his tears away and clears his throat as he sits up.

Nuha pulls him into a hug and reluctantly dives for it. He needs support. His dams finally break and he sobs on her shoulder. She runs a hand through his hair and tries to calm him down.

"I am leaving in a week.", he whispers, "The covid count is soaring up again."

"Shhh... Give her some time. You are moving too fast for her.", she hushes him.

"I have loved her from far back when we were kids. And when these feelings come back they have ten folded themselves.", he pulls away placing a hand on his heart, "This heart will burst from these feelings."

Nuha wonders if Selena feels the same. What if she is just using her brother? What if she is just playing with his heart? The heart that unlearned to love everyone 2 years back and when it loves again, it loves the person who can't devote herself to the love.

"Why were you obsessed with Disney in childhood? What did you gain from all the toxic love they portrayed?", he hisses, "You and your pathetic obsession!"

"Calm down! That was my childhood. Just because you hate the romance genre doesn't mean the standards haven't improved."

"But Cinderella still stands the same."

"Cinderella has her own business. Her prince steps down from the crown to live with her. You should have watched Amazon's retelling."

"Why would he sacrifice his dreams for her?"

"He never dreamt of being the successor of the throne.", Nuha gets up from his bed and massages her hand with lotion before closing the side lamps.

She picks her phone to open Instagram to talk to her lover. The flowers which still have some freshness left in them are in a big vase with water in it to preserve as much of their beauty as she can.

When the feed loads a pang of jealousy creeps into her heart as she sees him with his hands around a girl who clearly doesn't look like "just a friend" type. As she scrolls through the comment sections a frown crawls on her face.

Ex-lover to not-just-a-friend:
Why was it so hot again?

Not-just-a-friend to ex-lover:
Because I was standing too close to you 🔥

Ex-lover to not-just-a-friend:
But I was feeling pretty hot too 🤡

Not-just-a-friend to ex-lover:
Then, I guess too of us are too bad for this earth 🌍 WE ARE GLOBAL WARMING 🔥

Tears don't escape her eyes but color language from her mouth does. She likes the post acknowledging how blind she had been in her heist to find a man. The back and forth flirting while giving her the flowers with a longing stare and gentle finger brush.

She goes to her followers list and removes him from the list so he can no longer stalk her. Then she goes to the messenger to see his chats.

Him:
Hey Princess.

She leaves him on seen.

Aariz stares into the darkness of the room speechless. His furrowed eyebrows try to digest what Nuha said. She rejected him because she didn't want to be a princess.

Not like she will be the only one suffering even if they get engaged. The miles of seas and lands that will tear them apart can be overcome by the invisible string of nikah or engagement. Wouldn't it?

Shut up brain! Aariz tosses and turns in his bed breathless and sweating. He can't sleep. He screams into his pillow to calm himself down and ends up crying. He needs space. His heart can't take this. He needs a break from Mr. Asad's family but he recalls his emotional promise to her. Oh, God. Slowly his tired dry bloodshot eyes close and he falls into a deep slumber.

He misses his alarms ringing after every five minutes for an hour. When he finally wakes up it's time for zuhr. When Mrs. Hafeez enters the kitchen at noon to prepare something to eat her eyes fall on the flowers lying in the dustbin. The petals have been ripped apart. The stems are broken into small pieces. She smiles to herself knowing she can persuade Nuha again for a new match suggested by a lady.

The family is exceptionally quiet today. Neither he or Nuha are able to meet their parents' eyes. At lunch when they all sit down together letting the Pakistan news channel fill in the silence. But Aariz knowing his moral responsibility initiates the conversation.

"Dad, I didn't mean all this to happen.", he doesn't start eating. His dad continues chewing, staring at his plate.

"I am sorry.", Aariz stares at the coriander floating in the salan with a thin layer of red-orange oil emulsifying on the top.

"It's not your fault. But you should have both discussed the things before getting families involved. They might think we forced the marriage on her.", his dad has a point because after they both returned yesterday the parents were painfully awkward.

"I can make it up to them. I can give them a phone ca-", his dad interrupts him.

"Let Selena handle her family. You don't have to jump into everything to save it.", his voice is stern and loud, "Now start eating. We are going shopping for your clothes today. Get ready by four."

"A family is coming by for evening tea. We can leave at 5" Mrs. Hafeez clears her throat. "I told you, dear". She places a hand on Mr. Hafeez's hand.

Despite it goes against her wishes Nuha decides to take this head on. " Oh. Is the match maker also coming? And the guy? You should invite them too."

Aariz can feel the drama is about to unroll the moment they step in. He can smell it from far.

"I have so much to do". Nuha's chair scrapes as she gets up. "My skin care routine calls me". She skips out of the room leaving her parents in amused by her excitement.

" She has always been this excited. But she has been rather shy the last two time. This time she is going bold". Her father exclaims folding his arm with a smirk on his face. "Let's keep our fingers crossed".

Instead of choosing pants and floral blouses last two times this time she opts different. Her room door is locked till she gets ready. No one is allowed to peak in. Her eyes meet her reflection as she applies kajal and adds mascara to elongate her lashes.

Brushing her soft curly dark brown hair she braids them carefully allowing a few small strands of curls to fall in her face. The glass churiyan jingle as she puts them on. And to add the last touch to her look she grabs her net dupatta twirls in front of the mirror hugging the dupatta.

The bell rings. She hear people settle in. The manly voice. Yes. Her may be future husband is here.

As she opens the door. She breathes in. She breathes through. She breathes out. She enters the room with no dupatta on her head. And sits right across the guests with her legs folded one on other.

"So..." The mother of the guy starts her sentence.

"So, you are here to check me out. Cool". Her eyes fall on the guy who's head hung low. He sits besides his mother with socked feet against the floor. "Hmm... Not bad. He is dressed in..." Her eyes follow his clothing. White shirt. Grey pants. Black socks. "Civil. Thank God, he didn't come in T shirt like the last guy".

Her ammi lets out an awkward laughter when she sits beside Nuha and slaps her leg to demand to sit properly and to zip it.

"Actually, the last one... They didn't want our daughter to work". She continues with an awkward laughter.

"Oh yeah. And they also wanted me to get out of modern clothing. So I just stop wearing it to of course match making meetings". Nuha smiles at the guy who was still looking at his feet.

"Chai... I'll bring chai". Mrs. Hafeez gets up to bring tea.

" Ammi". She pushes her ammi into the sofa. "I'll bring".

As she walks out of the lounge she couldn't help but stand in the kitchen to eavesdrop on the conversation.

" So, does she have plans to work after marriage?" The question lingers in the room for good 1 minute before her ammi uncomfortably speaks up.

"Yes... But-"

"Good. That's good. Girls should". Nuha who is now bringing the tray of tea cups almost trips upon hearing it.

"Bismillah". The mother exclaims. "So Nuha... Do you wear western clothing?"

"Umm..." Nuha pauses for a second realizing how the mother was dressed in a pant and a blouse and keeps the tray on the coffee table. "I do. I just wore it because last two people told me I was too modern for their sons". This makes the guy look in his direction.

" And what about your mom?" She asks as Nuha sits on the floor in front of him.

"Oh she... She wears... Normal... Kameez Shalwar?" Nuha's eyes shoot up in surprise.  "I don't think clothing should effect any relationship that is to be established. What might effect the relationship is your son's lack on interest in initiating any conversation here". As she hands him the tea his eyes momentarily meets her.

There is no spark. The dullness and paleness of his character even more evident in his black eyes.

"I don't even want this woman". He mumbles but she hears him.

The tea splatters out of the cups as the cup clusters on the coffee table. Her anger reflecting in her boiled spilled tea and got cup. " You think I want you? Hah! I am just tolerating you people for the sake of trying all options out there. But good to know you are not even an option". She stands up and motions all of them to get up.

Aariz, Mr. Hafeez and Harun who have been hearing all this conversation from the other room walks out of the room. The volatile chaos in her eyes fuels up when his mother points a finger at her.

"You are too old fashioned for our taste".

"Hah! I am a fashion designer, bitch". She marches up to the door and pull it open. "Leave. And. You". She points at the match maker. "Don't ever show your face here. I am not for sale".

The matchmaker wanted to say something but before she could open her mouth Nuha bangs the door in her face. She stands there gripping the door knob. Her body dares to slouch but she musters up the courage to straighten herself although she can't force herself to turn around and meet her ammi's eyes.

The guilt crowds Mrs. Hafeez head. She sighs walking up to the coffee table. The had dared insulting her daughter in front of her. Not once bit thrice. How had she failed to notice this?

A few hours later they all are sitting in the hospital in a covid PCR testing queue because Nuha and Harun want to go to Ferrari World tomorrow morning and Abu Dhabi is awfully strict about covid. After two hours of waiting and 5 seconds of tormenting nasal swab, they are driving to the heart of Dubai amidst the granite jungle of towering buildings. The metro tracks run in front of them. Through the open window, Nuha peeps outside her letting her hair flutter in the air to let go of her desires to built a dream castle where she is the queen of her king. Her hands fidget in her sweatshirt pocket before she pulls a hand out to push the curly strands out of her face.

When they reach Dubai Mall Aariz smiles, feeling the nostalgia surging into him, his footsteps spontaneously lead him to the dancing fountain. The sun showers its soft rays upon the people while Burj Khalifa reflects them. The song starts and the people gather around to be awestruck by the dancing fountain. The song makes him pause for a moment. He can imagine the sparkle in her eyes, the smile on her face, and, her larynx screaming the lyrics if they were to play Taylor Swift once.

Aariz moves out of the crowd realizing they have to first get done with the shopping. A few hours of constant walks and window shopping made them weary. They stand in front of the aquarium staring at the fishes swimming lazily. Before the clock strikes 9 they decide to leave realizing the ever-growing crowd of people around them.

Aariz's mobile pings as it gets a wifi signal when Harun unlocks the apartment door. Aariz drops the shopping bags on the sofa in the lounge and pulls his mobile out to check notifications.

COVID negative results from the hospital and an email from the university. He almost slides both the notifications away but then opens the mail just in case.

"Return to Denmark before Tuesday.", reads the subject.

---

So who else reads comic on webtoon.

Any suggestions?
Read Match made in Hell.