Morning means start of a new day. It comes with its own fair share of happening. New challenges. The buzzing of vehicles carrying people going to work, birds chirping in their nests to admire the beauty of the day following. For some, it's a complete hustle of getting things started. For some, it comes with a victory of getting things done they'd started. For others, it's just another mundane day following yet another monotonous routine. But one thing stays common. Days keep flowing in the same usual rhythm with just minor shifts, and sometimes none at all.

For Safa Hayat, however, the case was different.

For her, this morning came with a new life, opening perpetual end of possibilities for her. A new chance at life where she didn't feel suffocated anymore. A breath of fresh air. She was rejoining the school from today and to say she was excited beyond lengths wouldn't be an overstatement. She had rejoined it right after she had come back but today was her first official day as a teacher. She was finally going to meet those little munchkins of hers and only God knows how much she had missed them.

When she had no will to live back in those days, those cute beans came as rays of sunshine, becoming her only motivation to keep going in this cruel world. The only rights in this world full of wrongs. And today, she was starting anew which gave her a sense of fulfillment. There was no extra baggage in her plate today which made her all the more ecstatic. She felt light. As light as a feather.

Taking a deep breath of fulfillment, she stepped inside the school and glanced around. The familiar premise breathed the familiarity of something akin to home. The red swing on the far end where she'd give pulls to her students while talking to them about the little details of their day. It was her way of letting them know how important they were and that their voice and opinions both mattered.

"AsSalamuAlaikum, ma'am!"

The classroom boomed with the chorus of very cheerful kids as soon as she entered. Needless to say they were more than just excited for their teacher's return.

A fond smile reached Safa's face as she stood on the front.

"WalaikumAsSalam!" She replied. "How are you all?"

"We are good." They all announced in unison and Safa nodded.

"We missed you so much."

One of the kids said, pulling her attention. She was about to respond when another one piped in.

"Yes, ma'am. Where did you go?"

She craned her face in Fatima's direction and that was when another question was hurled towards her.

"Yes, ma'am. Why did you leave? Were we not good?"

This one particular question caught her off guards and she turned towards a very solemn Umer who had his lips bent down from the edges.

Taking long strides, she walked over to him and pinched his nose. "No. You all were good. More than good. Excellent actually." She hugged him sideways and he tilted his head towards her.

"Then why did you leave? You don't leave those who you think are good." His eyes bored innocently into hers and she smiled.

"Yes, but there were some things your teacher had to take care of."

"You mean Ayyan?" Izzah asked from the other side and she could swear ground slipped from beneath her feet.

She was very excitedly looking forward to the prospect of joining back but saying she didn't dread this one particular question thrown in her way would be a lie. What would she say to those innocent souls asking her about Ayyan? How would she be able to provide them with solace when she couldn't even provide that to herself? When she was still as much disturbed from this bitter reality as she was when she first heard the news? She had no words to console them with and this fact scared her. Numbness surrounded her.

"Yes, ma'am. What happened to him? We miss him so much. Ma'am Khadija says he's left us all and will never come back. But we miss him. We want him to come back."

So they hadn't told them anything yet. It was wrong keeping them in the dark, she thought. They might be kids but shunning them away from the harsh realities of life would only make them weak. Building the perfect image of word inside their minds would only blow up in their faces when the crude truths of life would be hurled towards them. They wouldn't know how to deal with this new turn life had just taken because it would all be too alien to them. Something they had never anticipated, let alone experiencing. Keeping them in Utopia was downright wrong. They needed to get familiar with the pain. Life is not always sunshine and rainbows.

She heaved a sigh.

"They're right. He won't ever come back."

"But why?"

"Because he can't. He's gone to the place from where no one ever comes back." She kept the tears at bay.

"And what place is that?" One of the kids asked in utter bewilderment.

"Allah Miyah."

Her reply had the entire class room in silence. No one said a word, no one moved as they let her words register in their innocent minds.

And then finally a sob broke the heavy silence.

"I knew it." Hamza covered his face with his hands as hot tears rolled down his cheeks. "I might be a kid but I'm not a fool."

Without wasting any second, Safa ambled towards him and cupping his face, pulled him in her warm embrace.

"It's okay, my love! He's in a far better place than this." She patted his head but the cries were coming in succession. Everyone else was crying, too, by now.

"I know. I'm sad over losing my friend. But I'm also happy that he finally got rid of all that pain. He was very sick."

Safa's heart sank. She didn't have the heart to tell them that he had gotten back to healthy.

How could she when she herself hadn't yet accepted the fact that Ayyan was snatched away from them when they were sure they had gotten him?

She hissed remembering that fateful night but pulled herself together nonetheless.

"You are a brave kid." She held him sideways and then turned towards the entire class. "You all are brave. And your friend was the bravest. You should all be proud of him for fighting through that pain. Do shed tears for he was your friend, but don't let your mourning overshadow your pride for him being a warrior."

The same kids who were bawling their eyes out just a second back now had pride and determination sparkling in them.

"We are all are proud of him." One of them said and the other nodded in unison.

"And I'm proud of you all." She gave them a victorious smile.

******

Pushing the files aside, Azlan stood up from his revolving chair and taking long strides across the cabin, reached the window that looked over the vast mountains of Margalla Hills. Now that the things had gotten somewhat clear and the haze had been lifted, his mind had started going towards the other nuisances in his life.

Nuisance like Khalil Pasha.

The school's construction was done. The only remaining task that was left was to paint the walls. The principal of the former school wanted that school to open right away, the painting could go hand in hand, she had said, because starting the school soon was necessary since many kids from the village were still deprived of education due to lack of space in the former one. But he had refused to go along with the idea of opening it with mundane walls with no colors.

Colors are the most important factors in life that shape our realities and sense of seeing things. What with having kids studying in a drab environment, it would only make the very task they'd be there for, boring. Colors have the tendency to make things fun and fun is what's needed in studies to drill the difficult concepts in mind.

But right now, he was worried about TTC and its ruler, Khalil Pasha. The man could do anything especially when it comes to woman standing up to him.

And standing up to him is exactly what Safa Hayat did.

Knowing him for years now, Azlan knew it wouldn't end well for her. Funny, how even in other nuisances of his life, his main focus was still that woman. To keep her away from harm's way.

He knew Khalil Pasha's attempt at burning the school down was one of the many blows that would be coming their way. He wasn't the one to sit quiet if things didn't go his way. And when it contained women trying to stand up to him that would serve as the breaking point because, according to him, women were just mere insects who had no right to come up to the level of men. It was downright low of him but that's the thing with men with fragile ego. They can't stand women trying to fight for their rights and standing up for the right cause. It hurts their already feeble ego.

The problem was that there was a complete calm form Khalil Pasha's side. It was eerie. How was it that a man as weak and hot headed as him hadn't tried pulling off anything yet? Azlan didn't know if he should be grateful for that or gear himself for something heavier coming ahead. He could expect anything from that douche. His first instinct was to tighten the security around the annex, but he knew Safa too well. She wouldn't like him trying to boss her around or considering her a weakling even if it was for her own sake. Her self-respect would never allow it.

At first he wanted to go to him and talk face to face, but then decided against it. Men like him don't understand things just by talking. Violence is the only language they know because that is what they have been fed with all their life. Also, if he hadn't made any move yet, it was only fitting that Azlan kept quiet as well because engaging him in any sort meant giving him an open invitation for the fight himself. And that's something he didn't want because that'd only create more mess.

But it didn't mean he wasn't prepared. He was just waiting for him to make the first blow because doing that himself was plain foolish and waging a war was what he didn't what. If Khalil Pasha was keeping it quiet, he wouldn't make any commotion, too. It was a wise choice. But he was prepared nonetheless. Come what may!

******

"We have got to do something about that woman, Malik. She's back and is just summons to nothing but danger."

Sprawled in his magnificent chair he was rocking back and forth. Clad in pristine white shalwar kameez and stout fingers wrapped in ostentatious rings, Khalil Pasha radiated of nothing but power and hunger.

With his eyes that held indignation and stance that exuded contempt, he craned his face towards the man who had just announced Safa's arrival.

"We are doing no such thing." He said with finality.

"What do you mean we are doing no such thing? The woman is a threat." Faizan was bewildered by the response. He was one of the many men Khalil Pasha had for doing his dirty deeds. "And so is her lover boy."

"Exactly my point!" He bent forward and taking a cigar from the table, ignited it. "Taking that woman down alone won't be enough."

"Then we take them both down." Faizan proposed, earning a deathly glare from his Malik.

"Don't be a dunce!" He seethed before looking ahead into nothing in particular.

"Azlan Shehryar isn't some mere dirt in the way we can just wipe off. The man comes from a very well off family and has strong grounds in the world of business and riches. Taking Safa Hayat down means inviting Azlan Shehryar and inviting him means planning our own downfall. We don't attack the ones in the position of retaliation. You and Khezar are already stupid enough to have done that." He said, hinting at how these two had tried burning down the building and attacking Azlan that night.

"And remember how that woman came in between? She is not just any woman. Woman is a weakling but that weakling was strong enough to take you two cowards down." Faizan shifted his weight from one leg to another as he looked sideways as if caught stealing something. "Besides, she has won the hearts of people by helping that kid, what was his name?"

"Ayyan."

"Yes, Ayyan. Everyone now sings the song of her kindness." He flickered the toxin between his fingers.

"So we just shut them up with money, Malik."

"Money can't buy loyalty, Faizan."

"It bought mine."

"That's because you never had your heart in the right place to even begin with." He said with an air of nonchalance, making Faizan cower. "But these people, they are close knotted. Their hearts go out for each other. Half of them already liked that woman, and the other half developed their likeness for her after what she did for that kid. Majority of them are in her support, if not all. Doing something to her is nothing but a death wish because no one will stay quiet. And it's not just them. I did background research on Arham Nawaz and his father is also a known and famous figure. He might call himself orphan for whatever daddy issues he might have with his father, but that doesn't change the fact he does have one who also appears to be a very powerful person as well. That woman has very influential people by her side so staying away from her is a wise move."

He had just put out the cigar and had had lit up another one right after.

"Then what about this second school?"

"We let them build it like they are."

"But all this education, it won't turn out good in our favor. Women getting aware of their right is our downfall." He was concerned.

Khalil Pasha shook his head with a diabolical chuckle.

"The education in our country is a joke. Power rules here. Yes, women will start demanding their rights but who are the ones they'll demand them from?" He looked at him with triumph. "Us." He laughed. "And we'll make sure to never give them that. They can never stand shoulder to shoulder with us, and they shouldn't even try to. They should know where their place lie which is beneath our feet."

He threw the cigar on the floor and crushed it under his shoe.

******

It had been a week since their last encounter. A whole week since they had seen each other. And a whole week since they had last talked to each other the effects of which were quite perceptible from Safa's behavior if crankiness and throwing fits were any indication.

"You know cell phones are there for a reason."

Asmara piped in seeing a very agitated Safa pacing along the length of the living room. Stopping in her track, she gave Asmara a confused look.

"Call him if you are missing him so much." She said from where she was balled up on the couch.

"I'm not missing him." She said which felt more like convincing herself.

"Funny how I didn't take any name but still you got the reference."

In this one week she had deliberately not contacted Azlan. She wanted to take her time off to come face to face with the facts and make her peace with everything that had happened over the course of these few weeks. Her life had been nothing short of a rollercoaster during this time period. Getting one blow after another had left her both exasperated and exhausted.

Azlan hadn't contacted her either. He was giving her the needed space and time. She might have had forgiven him but that didn't mean she had fully accepted everything. She might have had understood where he was coming from but that wasn't his cue to expect her to forget the pain he had caused her. It would take her some time to make her peace with everything, he knew that. And he was more than ready to give her space. He could wait. For her, he could even wait an eternity without complaining.

Even if she didn't reconcile, he wouldn't complain.

Safa's shoulders slouched forward and taking a few steps she dropped herself on the couch beside Asmara.

"I have never felt this way before. I hate this feeling of constant waiting and missing." She huffed. "I'm not a kid. I shouldn't be acting like this."

"You're not a kid. You're just someone who's in love." Asmara reasoned.

Safa didn't know what to say. She fell quiet.

Was she really in love?

Yes. Her mind whispered. She had accepted this hard truth long back when she didn't even want to. And now that she did, shying away from it wouldn't do any good.

She was in love.

With someone who was head over heels with her as well. Something she wasn't used to. She had always been the unluckiest in the love department. And to think that someone out there was irrevocably in love with her was both daunting and beautiful.

She smiled.

Thinking about him.

And then she smiled some more.

"Call him!" Asmara deadpanned, pulling her out of her reverie.

She looked at her with a jerk. "What if he's busy?"

"Busy for Safa Hayat? I don't think so!" There was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Doesn't mean I should take advantage of that."

"God, Safa, you are thinking too much."

"I'm just giving him space."

Asmara slid herself towards Safa and held her hands.

"It's good if you guys are mature enough to understand that. But be a bit mindful in your way of giving each other space. You don't want this space to stretch into distance and then into separation."

There was an edge to her voice and Safa felt there was more to what she was just implying.

******