"K-kya kaha a-aapne ?"

(What did you say ?)

Gathering all her courage she looked up to meet eyes with Mustafa who had now settled the glass of milk on the tray beside himself and was gazing her intensely, making her shudder at her place and look down awaiting his answer.

"Wahi jo aapne suna..."

(The same thing which you heard.)

Happiness was evident in his tone and it got confirmed when she looked up to meet his eyes which were a little red having moisture on the corners making it look like he was controlling his tears.

His happiness was at its peak. The happiness of parenthood and the feeling which came with it was indescribable.

"I-is it true ? Am I.....Ya Allah."

Her heart was flooding with happiness and she didn't knew how to react. All she knew was her heart was thumping wildly inside her chest with a feeling unknown to her. It was amazing, out of the world.

She was going to be a mother. Ahh how amazing that feeling was.... Definitely the best news she had ever heard after years of torment and extreme pain.

A throaty laugh left her lips finding him cupping her cheeks with his warm hands and lean towards her forehead to place a soft kiss over it making her cheeks go warm, tinging red, burning in the intensity of his doting gaze.

"Ji meri jaan it's true. We are going to become parents."

Pulling back a little he smiled with his hands still resting over her cheeks, grazing fingers over them, watching her with so much love that it made her insides turn warm, reflecting her eyes with the same emotions running inside his eyes.

"I am going to be a mother. There's a baby growing inside me..."

Getting full confirmation of her husband Maria hopped onto him happily, clutching him tightly in a strong embrace who gladly accepted her hiding her small frame in his strong arms, kissing her temples repeatedly asking her to be careful and not to jump around seeing her previous stunt.

"Aaram se meri jaan. Don't jump around. Our baby will get hurt..."

(Be careful, my love.)

Mustafa's fingers curled around her hair as he instructed her to be careful like a strict teacher, when his gaze fell over her abdomen. A strong desire purged into his heart to feel the baby which he did after retreating his hand from her hair towards her stomach and caress it affectionately with a small smile losing himself in another world, when he heard her sniffing within his arms, alerting all his senses.

"Hey!! Why are you crying ? Is something wrong ?"

Her eyes were trailed down, with long eyelashes curtaining them, stopping him from looking inside her eyes and read her emotions as she wasn't ready to look up.

"NO! E-everything's i-is not f-fine. I-its...."

Her emotions hyped up automatically. It was like she switched off her happy mode exchanging it with emotional mode which was very scary for him.

Ya Allah please help me with her mood swings...

"Yes...Tell me."

Holding her hand he traced circles over it with his thumb cooing her like a small child to confess what was disturbing her.

"No! I won't tell you."

Wiping her tears she turned her head away from him, pouting like an angry child making him smile and groan at the same time. Groan because she was being her stubborn self but he couldn't do anything knowing well it was her mood swings kicking in, nothing else.

"Aur wo kyu bhala ?"

(Why so ?)

Wounding his strong arms towards her, he caged her in his arms and held her chin turning her towards himself, making him smile at her cute childlike expressions.

B-because.... Yes! Because you are bad."

Thinking for a while she answered glaring at him feeling extremely irritated watching him smile. She was serious and here he was smiling like she was joker entertaining him. She felt so angry, to the extent that her hands were itching to punch him straight on his drool worthy handsome face.

"And why am I bad ?"

Tapping her chin with his forfinger he asked watching her leisurely with amusement. He was able to trace his same old birdie inside her making his heart go warm and enjoy her childishness till she decides to pull her walls again.

"Jaiye yaha se...."

(Go away from here.)

No matter how much amazing his arms felt around her, she felt irritated which made her push him, well she tried pushing him who was taken aback with her sudden actions but his concern was not her anger, but her tears which were flowing down.

She herself didn't knew why she was crying. Maybe because he was being too irritating or maybe she had lost her mind after a long tiring session of confronting with the past.

Or maybe because she was upset. Yes!! She was upset with him for sharing the news of her pregnancy with her so late. And she was so angry at him for keeping the another secret from her.

"Par maine kya kiya meri jaan ?"

(But what did I do, my life ?)

Pouting innocently like a small angry child, she ignored his question and started punching his bare chest struggling to get out of his hold which got more ferocious when he pulled her on his lap, holding her wrists in tight grasp stopping her angry protests all together.

"Chodein mujhe."

(Leave me.)

She whispered, looking downwards towards their interlocked fingers, noticing how big, rough hands were compared to her small, delicate ones which appeared to look beautiful together.

"First tell me why are you angry ?"

His hold on her chin broke her trance making her look up towards himself as he wiped away the remnants of her tears, kissing the crown of her head asking her the reason of her anger, melting half of her anger with his gentle tone.

Watching his anticipation she sighed, deciding to answer strengthening her heart not to forgive him for the biggest mistake he committed against her.

"It should me who should be giving this news, not you. I am the mother I should know about my baby first, not you."

She accused, jabbing his chest flaring with temper watching him laugh loudly till his stomach hurt and his heart scolded him to shut up, seeing her pouting cutely like an angry kid; again.

It was her right to know about the baby first but no, god decided him to be the first one to know about the baby.

It was so unfair.

"It's my child too Maria."

Getting a good laugh, he wiped the corner of his eyes, answering her seriously watching her nod and sigh dramatically not ready to back down.

"Still it's not fair..."

She couldn't point out how upset she was and the way he was rubbing it on her face like a champion was making her feel more unhappy.

Be was he was right too. It was his child as much as it was her's but that didn't gave him right to laugh around and make fun of her.

"But now you can't do anything about it jaani.... Wait! One thing can be done."

She was quiet lost in her own thoughts and that was the time he decided to tease her more, feeling alive after so long. It was then he tapped her shoulder turning her attention towards him when he spoke and as perceived she was excited to hear his suggestion to overcome the sadness of getting the news late.

"What is it ?"

Her eyes sparkled and her ears perked up in happiness as she waited for him to answer her.

"You can give the news to me next time you conceive and I promise to take it happily unlike you who is sulking like a big baby."

Keeping a poker face he answered watching her eyes go wide and cheeks go warm with his answer.

Her red cheeks and shy gaze made him proud of himself. He was proud of himself of having that effect on her.

"WHAT!! It's not going to happen..."

Crossing arms over her chest she answered ducking her head downwards, curtaining her face with the help of her long tresses which he didn't liked as he was quick to hold her chin and tuck her hair behind her ears, getting a full fledged look of her face and her beautiful eyes which he adored the most.

"We'll see jaani.... But for now I want you to drink milk like a good girl."

Deciding to put an to his teasing he grabbed the glass of milk towards her direction asking her to finish it, watching her frown turn to horror, shaking her head in negative feeling bile rise to her throat with milk's mere sight.

"I don't want to. Milk makes me feel sick."

"It's for the baby..."

His voice was soft as well as intimidating at the same time but she had reached another level of stubborness which crumbled down as soon as he mentioned their baby.

"Ughhh....that's emotional blackmailing."

He got her and he knew it. Only a little push was needed for her to agree which worked just as he thought.

"Please my beautiful jaani."

Groaning she took the glass away from his hold as she proceeded to hold her nose with her index finger and thumb which helped her a lot to gulp that white liquid she hated in one go.

Feeling a sense of achievement she opened her eyes in relief finding him look at her like he was in trance.

"What ?"

Snapping finger in front of his eyes she asked watching him giving her a guilty look, asking for her forgiveness.

"Will you forgive me for everything I did ? I know my sorry isn't enough to heal your heart but...."

Yes, he was right. His sorry wasn't enough for to compensate for pain she went through but at the same time it felt so wrong on her part to blame him fully for everything. He did hurt her and broke her but he too just like her went through a lot, if not more.

And most importantly her heart was at peace knowing he didn't mean what he said. He didn't mean to hurt her, he was forced to. She knew his actions towards her couldn't not be justified no matter what but she forgave him.

She wanted to forgive him because he was sorry. She wanted to forgive him because Allah liked people who were quick to forgive others for his sake. If he could forgive people for grave sins, then who was she to hold grudges and that too towards the man who loved her. Atleast he had guts to ask for forgiveness in this world full of people who didn't consider to apologise for the sake of their big fat ego's.

She wanted to forgive him to give him a chance and to give her heart a chance to beat. Again. For him. For her. For Noor and their unborn child.

"Shhh.... You have gone through the same pain if not more or less. Atleast I was spared from marrying someone like...."

She stopped abruptly remembering he only married her after Asmara's demise. What if she would have not died ? Would he had married her if she was still alive ? Would he had choosen her if Asmara was still there cause no matter what today's situation was, no matter how much they loved each other the truth was that he married Asmara first. She was his first wife and maybe she would have been his forever if she was still alive.

The thought of Asmara being his present pained her but she managed to conceal her emotions, not wanting to ponder about it even when all her mind was revolving around it.

"Why did you stopped ? Is something wrong again ?"

Taking her silence for another mood swing he teased her again, pinching her cheeks watching her go stiff and give him a small uneasy smile, trying to retreat back from his hold.

"I-i...Nevermind."

Watching her stutter he knew something was totally wrong as he was able to read her eyes even when her lips tried concealing her feelings from him. Her eyes never lied to him and this time too they were narrating him the tale of her misery.

"Yes. Tell me what's wrong..."

"Rehne dein... It's nothing big."

(Leave it.)

She tried shrugging it off fearing his answer but he didn't wanted to listen to any of her excuses and know the reason she had gone quiet suddenly.

"But it's something which is troubling my wife and I won't stop until she tells me what's troubling her."

Kissing the back of her wrist he answered fluttering her stomach with the intensity of his words and doting eyes which decided to confess her fear to him, knowing he was her's and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I..."

"Hmmm. I am all ears my love..."

Taking her cold hand in his he rubbed her giving her a gentle squeeze, encouraging her to go on.

"W-would y-you have been s-still with her if s-she was a-alive today ?"

Mustering all her courage she questioned closing her eyes, taking deep breaths, readying her heart for his answer and face the consequences of it.

"NO! I won't have. I made her sign the divorce contract. Our marriage would have ended after the baby's birth. Her aunt manipulated my emotions using the baby so, I too manipulated Asmara to sign divorce as well as custody papers at the day of nikaah...."

It was a secret which no one knew except him and Asmara. He somehow manipulated her to sign those papers saving himself from torment of lifetime and Asmara being a idiot agreed asking him to save her uncle in return, promising not to tell about the contract to her aunt who could have harmed the baby if she would have known about it.

"Then why you didn't tell me about it ?"

"Because I wasn't sure if everything would work. Even if she had signed the papers I was scared about her aunt. She was so good at manipulating that I wasn't sure how would she react after knowing about my deed. And even if it worked I still wouldn't have told you. That cunning woman was after you and I won't have done anything which would have risked your life..."

Her life was at risk. And he was honest when he said he wouldn't have told her anything. She was too attached to him and would have done anything to get Tabssum Bashar off his back even if would have risked her life. She was crazy for him just like he was for her. So, he decided to keep mum until she was gone.

With her gone he had the upper hand to defeat Tabssum Bashar which he did by destroying almost all her business empire she invested her years in.

She loved money and that's why she quickly jumped to grabbing the opportunity to run her husband's business after he fell sick.

Mustafa used her biggest weakness as his benefit making her their business partner, acting to aid her falling emipre when in actual he was making her depend upon himself. On the other hand he helped his actual business partner Bashar uncle to recover behind the back of his cunning wife making him watch her true colours.

Bashar uncle who loved his wife was devastated when he got to know about her cheating on him with not only one but with multiple men and thus he decided to divorce her, making Mustafa the happiest man on earth watching his plan to destroy that women work perfectly.

But somewhere in his heart there was void of what he did with his little birdie and that's why even after avenging Tabssum for her every deed his heart wasn't at peace remembering the brown eyed girl whom he loved insanely.

"And why did you never contacted me after everything settled down ?"

Her eyes teared up angry at him for not contacting her.

"I was too ashamed to even call you. I tried many times to contact you but was unable to. Everytime I remembered you I saw the innocence of your eyes which got destroyed that day..."

Bringing his fingers to her wet eyes, he caressed them before placing a soft kiss over them as a silent apology for his every action.

Yes, he didn't had the courage to call her after breaking her officially. He wanted her to stay away from him knowing he won't be able to let her go if he sees her again. He wanted her to move on and leave him to perish alone, after what he did. He didn't deserved her at all. He deserved to live alone with her, only with her memories.

But fate had another plans. She did returned and just like he knew he wasn't able to let her go this time. He was too selfish.

He had always been selfish when it came to her.

"Everytime I was close to call you I remembered the way your lips wobbled when I harshly pushed you away from me..."

His fingers now travelled to her pink lush lips which parted as soon as his fingers contacted them making her breathe go a little fast with his ministrations, lost in his warm comforting eyes.

His breaths too just like her became short but he controlled himself from tasting her knowing she was tired and needed rest more than anything.

His wishes could wait untill she herself was ready to be with him. Her comfort, her emotions were more important than anything and he was ready to sacrifice his wishes for her.

"Her manipulation adding to my fear of loosing you, got the best of me and I sinned breaking your heart..."

Mustafa was going on and on with heart grouping with regret when he heard Maria speaking something which not only shocked him but swirled down his insides with unfathomable fury towards Tabassum Bashar.

"You know you are not the only one who got manipulated by her... Us din party mein unhone mujhse kaha ke aap Asmara se mohabbat karte hai aur Noor aap dono ki p-pyaar ki ni-nishaani hai..."

(That day she told me that you love Asmara and Noor is the symbol of your love.)

A fat tear leaked out of her eye which he was quick to wipe off watching her take a deep painful breath, gathering herself to continue further. He knew how she was controlling herself from breaking down in his arms. He knew everything but he silently watched, fearing he would scare her with the intensity of the fury he was suppressing inside himself.

That witch dared to hurt his wife knowing well about his temper. The inner devil of his was clawint out his insides to unleash itself ready to destroy Tabssum Bashar and this time he would make sure she would know with whom she messed up with.

"She said you only pity me and I am nothing but Asmara's rebound and a second woman in your life...."

And then she stopped to look at him who was pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed, jaw clenched tightly making it more prominent than ever. He was chanting Quranic verses in his mind to cool himself down and stop himself from doing things he would not regret at all, but would definitely trouble his pregnant wife and family.

"Mustafa....Aap theek to hai na ?"

(Are you fine ?)

Hearing her voice he opened his eyes, which had now turned red with anger scaring her as she got off from his lap, and lie down on her side of the bed thinking she said something wrong to trigger his anger.

She had never seen him so angry and thought it was best on her part to sleep rather than facing his anger.

"Yes, I am fine."

His voice just like his expressions came out cold that it made her gulp down her saliva and give him a small nervous smile, ready to close her eyes and avoid him by sleeping which he noticed and held her wrist tugging her towards himself hearing her squeak in fear as she tried to get her hand out of his hold.

"Maria ?"

Cursing himself for scaring her he pulled her towards himself, as he buried his face inside the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent like a drug to calm himself which did worked as soon as her flowery scent hit his nostrils.

Only she had the power to calm him down, no one else.