Safa enveloped her arms around Kashana Zanjani and gave her the warmest of hugs. "How are you now, Auntie?" She inquired, still glued to her. Kashana cupped her face.

Kashana's health had not been up to the mark for quite some years now. She was a BP patient and every now and then her blood pressure would get high, mainly due to the suffocating environment of their joint family.

"I'm better now." She said as Safa pulled away. "How are you?" She took a biscuit from the plate placed on the table in front of her. The late morning breeze was refreshing as they enjoyed their brunch sitting out in the lawn. Asmara was on duty.

"I'm good too." She said, genuinely.

"I can see that. You look better than the last we met. Something has changed. You look different. In a good way."

Safa beamed at her response. Kashan Zanjani had no idea whatsoever about the havoc Safa's life had been so this coming from her actually did feel good.

She hunched forward and scooped her cup of coffee. Her coffee intake had been reduced to a great extent now. She'd only drink two cups a day now. But drinking at night was strictly prohibited. Night was only reserved for sleep now. Not that her nightmares had stopped completely. She'd still get them, but not an onslaught of them like she used to before. Her mind wasn't on alert now all the time since the newly found feeling that she was experiencing was harboring their 24/7. With this positive emotion inscribed in her mind now, there wasn't much room for the negative ones to play the role. Hence, the nightmares had been reduced. And to say she was thankful for that would be an understatement.

"It's been so long since you last visited. I missed you." She leaned back on the chair and ran her hand on the perimeter of the cup.

It was true. She had quite a good rapport with Kashana since she had visited Asmara quite a few times before. She had always showered Safa with the same love she'd with Asmara. For her there was no difference between the two, and it warmed Safa's heart.

"I've missed you both, too." She smiled but then it faltered a bit, and soon it had completely vanished and a somber look took its place instead.

"What is it?" Safa's eyebrows knitted in both curiosity and fright. Putting the cup back on table, she clasped Kashana's hands.

"I'm not here for just a visit, Safa." She looked at her, her face was contorted into a mixture of both gloominess and hopelessness. Not helplessness though.

"Then?" Something told Safa she wasn't going to like the answer.

"Sadiq Bhai has finalized the date for Asmara and Umar's wedding."

The bomb was dropped with full force making Safa's heart go on an overdrive. She cursed under her breath, but contained herself the very next moment.

"When is it?" She asked, dreading the answer and she almost wished it never came. She knew how much Asmara despised Umar.

"In two weeks."

"Damn!" This time she couldn't contain herself. Kashana was completely unfazed by her reaction. It was very much reasonable.

Safa's teeth clenched at the cruelty of Sadiq Zanjani to decide the date without taking the person it was being decided for into account, and then at the sheer audacity of announcing it to her as if she wasn't a human, but a toy for him to play. But that was the problem with men like him. For them, women are nothing but clay dolls they can mould in any way and into anything they deem right.

"I've loved Umar like my own child all my life but there are some serious problems with that boy. He's not mentally suitable to take up a responsibility like marriage. And that's the major reason Sadiq Bhai wants him to get married as soon as possible. According to him, he'll get better once he gets married. His wife will fix him, as if my daughter is a therapist. It's not her baggage he's like this, so it surely isn't her responsibility to clean after him either. My daughter is a human, not a scapegoat who should face the wrongdoings of someone else's actions."

If Safa was expecting, Kashana Zanjani had come here to take Asmara back to Abbotabad, then she was proved downright wrong. What she had just said was a proof she was here for the opposite and that made Safa release a long breath of relief she didn't know she was holding.

"Now tell me Safa," She moved her head towards Safa. "What kind of a mother will I be to throw my daughter in the fire with my own hands? I can't let her marry Umar. I want the best for Umar. I'm not his enemy, but I can't be my daughter's enemy either. One wrong move and her whole life will be in shambles. She has a long way to go. Both her sisters look up to their Asmara api with pride. How can I let their role model's life become this battered. It can't be my Asmara's fate. It shouldn't be. She doesn't deserve this."

Tears were now cascading down her face in full force. Safa's heart sank. Coming close to her she held her wrinkled hands and wiped the scalding liquid away from her face.

Safa was actually thankful that Kashana understood all this. For all she knew, this alliance had been done with Kashana's willingness, not that she had any say in the first place. Her agreeing or not didn't matter to the men of Zanjani clan. It was a whole circus with their superiority complex and thinking women of little to no value when they were the off springs of ones themselves.

Not that Safa ever doubted Kahsana's intention towards her daughter. She was her mother after all. How could she agree to such an arrangement for her daughter where she'd be nothing but a victim? But knowing Kashana actually had her thoughts sorted, Safa took a sigh of relief. She didn't take the alliance as an opportunity to get done with one responsibility of hers and that was commendable in Safa's eyes, considering the kind of situation she was in stuck where she had no say and no place to go.

But still, could she do anything about the entire fiasco?

"I didn't come here to take Asmara along with me." She said after a while, looking ahead into nothingness. Her head was held high as if she was a woman on a mission.

The reply had taken Safa off guard and she craned her head towards her in abrupt motion.

If she had thought Kashana couldn't do anything for her daughter because of her hands being tied, then she was very much and without any doubt wrong. She was a mother. A desperate one. And when a mother becomes desperate she can go to any length to save her child.

"I need your help, Safa." Her movement was robotic as she rotated her head towards Safa, breaking her terrain of thoughts.

"Anything, auntie." She straightened up.

"I never tried leaving Zanjani house even after everything they did to me and my children. They are not letting go of any of my children. With Asmara's wedding date finalized, they have fixed Ammara's alliance with Umar's younger brother as well. Although he's a good choice for my daughter unlke hs brother, but I can't let these people decide my children's fate for them. It's their life. They should be the one to make decisions for themselves. Not them. Not even me." She paused before continuing further as she straightened up her back.

"Rahman left one plot on my name. He knew the extent his brothers and father could go on to so he was having it built secretly. His plan was to take us away from all of them once it was constructed enough to be lived in, but, sadly, before the day for us to settle in could come, he passed away." There was a painful edge to her voice while talking about her late husband. A tear rolled down her cheek but she kept herself together and went on. She couldn't let her resolve break now. She had to be strong.

"With the passage of time the idea of living a life of freedom in that house shoved away in the back of my mind. It started seeming like another impossibility I could only dream of but never get. But when a mother on a wheelchair sees her child in front of a running bus, suddenly she finds it in herself to stand on her feet. I found the strength too, Safa." She looked at her and her face hardened.

"I'm gonna take my daughters away from that house, away from that fateful house. I won't even let their shadows lurk near my innocent children." The determination with which she said it shone in her eyes. "And for that I need your help."

Safa nodded, prompting her to go further.

"I'm sure they have a hunch about the house. Even though Rahman was having it built in secrecy but Zanjanis are Zanjanis, they keep a sharp eye on everything and so the things happening under their noses cannot stay hidden for long. Sooner or later, they do dig it up which is why I want that house sold and with the money I'll rent an apartment somewhere safe. All my life I've survived in that house not being able to leave it because of how terribly terrified I was. But not now, it's my daughter in question this time."

"You want me to sell your house for you?" Safa was confused. She really did want to help Kashana but what she had just put forward wasn't possible for her.

"No. Not the house." She shook her head with a slight chuckle. As slight as a person going through immense pain could manage. "Asmara told me you have a sister who works in an NGO." She gave her a questioning look. Safa nodded incredulously, not knowing where she was going with all this.

"I want Ammara and Annara under the NGO's protection. I know the ruckus that'll take place once they find out Asmara and I are missing. As a punishment and to make sure their honor doesn't stain they'll cage Ammara and Annara. Because apparently honor is only bounded to women, and men don't have any."

Even in that serious moment, Safa couldn't stifle a small laugh that came with the last part of the sentence.

It was Kashana's years of anger bottled up inside and so her venting was absolutely justified.

"Can you do that?"

"Of course, Auntie. But how? Do you want me to send the authorities to the house?"

"No. Of course not. That'll cause a showdown and that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid because it will only bring trouble and nothing else. We need to proceed with caution. We have only two weeks which means if Asmara and I don't reach the Zanjani house in a week, they'll be on an alert which leaves us with only one week deadline. Everything needs to be done in this week. I'll keep pulling strings to sell the house, but if I'm not lucky enough to do that, thankfully I've enough amount of savings and gold that can save us from any financial trouble."

She paused for a moment to take a breath.

"With all this I'll have to look for an apartment and once Asmara and I are settled there, I want Ammara and Annara to be taken under the NGO's protection when they're in the college. That's the safest place and no one from the Zanjanis will ever know. And from there on, they'll come to the apartment with their help. All this needs to be done within one week so we are not in their reach each once they find everything out. I know it's still a risk, but worthy nonetheless. I'm trying my best."

Safa hugged her from the side.

"InshaAllah, everything will go as per the plan."

Only with a slight twist. Her brain had started working.

******

Safa grunted restlessly as she paced along the length of the lake. This was literally the tenth time she had called on Arham's number but in vain. Finally giving up, she dialed Azlan's number, making a mental note to kill Arham the next time she'd see him.

With the second ring, the call had been attended.

"Ugh. Thank God, at least you picked up the phone." She snorted.

"Why? Who was not picking up?" He asked and Safa could detect a smile playing on his lips which softened her up a bit. The restlessness had come to a halt now, but the anger on Arham was still intact.

"That clown friend of yours."

"Is everything alright?" He was amused at her whining, knowing all too well who she was referring to.

"No. Nothing is okay and that clown needs to come right now."

The smile had vanished now and concern took its place as he shot up from his seat.

"What's going on, Hayat?"

Ignoring the butterflies that erupted in her stomach on hearing her name in his voice, she came straight to the business.

"I can't tell over the phone. I need you both here as soon as possible."

He scowled and the restlessness that Safa was experiencing could be seen in his stance as well now.

"You're not helping, Hayat. Did something happen?" There was urgency in his voice and she smacked herself mentally for worrying him.

"It's not about me if that's what you're concerned about." She tried placating him. Too bad it didn't work.

"Even if it's not about you but as long as it's affecting you, I have all the reasons in the world to be concerned. Now tell me what it is?"

She huffed. She couldn't back out now. She'd have to explain everything to him right now.

******

Like Safa had demanded, they were both here the same day, without wasting any second. And were now sitting right in front of her in the same Dhaaba.

"Ah, thank God, the Devdas is here." She huffed dramatically.

Azlan laughed at her antics while Arham's eyes glinted with an air of mischief. "You know you could have dragged your Devdas here without using me as an excuse because unlike you two, some people actually have to work."

Azlan shot him a glare. "You're literally MY secretary in MY company."

"Yes, and that's why with you running after your Paro all the time, I've to take care of your mess behind."

Safa rolled her eyes at the word "Paro."

"I pay you for it." Azlan gave him a challenging look.

"It's high time you actually give me 50% of the company share actually."

"How about making you the CEO instead?" He gave him the phoniest of smiles.

Safa who was experiencing the entire exchange finally intervened.

"Alright, enough with your squabble now! You can kill each other over property some time else. And you," she accosted Arham who did a double take at the octave of her voice. "I was calling YOU Devdas, not him."

"Me?" He raised an eyebrow as he pointed towards himself.

"Yes, you." She pointed her finger at him, mimicking his tone.

Azlan who had his arms folded on his chest by now was enjoying the entire situation.

"Look, Safa." Arham leaned forward, putting his arms on the table. The seriousness of his tone and no nonsense expression on his face made Safa all attentive towards him. "I know you think the entire world revolves around you but, I'm sorry I can't become your Devdas, too. Azlan is enough I guess."

He sniggered but it was soon wiped off with Safa hitting him with the newspaper that was there on the table a moment ago.

Few heads turned towards them but she ignored them royally and threw the newspaper back on the table. Azlan cursed how there were no popcorns.

"Wait till you hear what I'm about to tell you. Your Devdas will come out himself."

"Petition to allow me to change your name if it doesn't." He took a sip of his coffee.

"Asmara's wedding is in two weeks." She dropped the bomb without any further delay and suddenly Arham felt the taste of the coffee was bitterer than it should be. He felt his throat burning which was weird considering the coffee had gone cold by now.

"That's why her mother is here?" The amused expressions which were etched on his face a minute back weren't there anymore as a somber look descended upon them.

There went all his attempts at trying to keep up the façade. He had a hunch Safa was going to interrogate him regarding Asmara which is why he was trying to keep her distracted. This was an achingly touching topic for him and the amount of pain it brought him was insurmountable. But all his efforts at avoiding it went down the drain now.

Since the moment Kashana had asked Safa for help, she had been waiting to divulge Arham with everything. If there was someone who deserved Asmara Zanjani, it was Arham Nawaz. It was their chance.

"Yes, exactly." She nodded and went on, narrating him each and everything.

"Shit!" He raved a hand through his hair in distress. Azlan put a hand on his shoulder in support.

"It's your chance, Arham. Don't let it go in vain." Her voice was soft but determined.

"Asmara is not a chance, Safa." He rasped, clearly distraught.

"I didn't mean it that way." Her shoulders slumped but her exterior wasn't defensive. She understood the inner turmoil he must be going through right now.

"Look man." Azlan turned towards him. "When you were sure you had lost your love, love was kind enough to knock at your doorstep." He said with the same composed demeanor that was his personality, but Safa decided to brighten it up with her colors.

"Yes, and you'd be nothing but a pathetically miserable dunce to turn your back on it."

Azaln glared at her with his eyes almost bogging out of his sockets, and then shook his head with a slight chortle. Arham didn't show any reaction. He was still not out of the shocker Safa had just dropped on him a while back. It was as if he had seen a ghost.

"Go and ask Asmara's mom her hand in marriage."

He didn't know if it was Safa or Azlan who had said it. The reality was closing in on him as everything became a blur. He had promised himself to pull Asmara out of this whole mess, but to think, it'd come this easy wasn't something he had anticipated. For all he knew, it was going to invite fights, showdowns, and loads of trouble out of which convincing Asmara herself would be the most difficult task. He could fight with everyone for her. Heck, he could fight the world for her. But to fight with someone for them only is the most difficult thing in the world. Because how can you save someone who is ready to throw themselves in the fire already?

Right now, marrying her wasn't his concern. Not even in the slightest. Her misery wasn't his opportunity. His only concern was her finally getting the chance to get out of this entire mess.

But the most difficult part had been over. The rest only included fighting with the Zanjani Clan. Easy Peezy.

It was only when Safa waved her hand in front of him did he finally come out of the terrain of his thoughts with a jerk.

"Did you talk to Asmara and her mother about what you're thinking about?"

"Not yet. I'll talk to them tonight. But we'll have to be quick. There's not much time."

She knew Asmara would be nowhere safe other than with Arham. He'd protect her at all cost. But her idea of them getting married wasn't an excuse to ensure Asmara's protection. Hadn't they were in love with each other, she'd have never thought on these lines. But the reality was different. They both possessed the same feelings for each other. And no one deserved them more than they did. So what could be better than them finally getting the chance to be together? She was just killing two birds with the same stone. Her proposed idea was going to be proved good for them only. Them getting married and Asmara being safe. That was the plan.

"I'll see what I can do about the plot and apartment." Azlan intervened and Safa mouthed a thank you.

At least one problem had been solved. Now it was time to convince Asmara.