25th August, 2012.

Dear Diary,

Today is my last day as a free girl. Tomorrow, at this time, I shall be married. It's only now that I remembered that I had a diary stuffed in my closet somewhere, and as I was packing the things I would take with me to my new home, I decided to take you along.

Every girl tries to imagine what it feels like. To be married. To have the pre-wedding jitters, the nervousness, the excitement. The 'Oh-my-God!' moments when you want to call it off, and then having a heart-to-heart with yourself in the bathroom mirror to calm your nerves. I wanted that too, but in the light of recent events it seems so stupid to be thinking of the things that happen at a normal wedding. This is not a normal wedding, anything but.

Lets start at the beginning.

I've never been one to talk a lot. My friends have called me shy. My parents have had to urge me to talk to strangers. Communication was never my forte. But I made up in writing that which I could not voice. I wish I could speak up. Then perhaps I could have avoided the disastrous turn of events in my life.

I know what has happened has got something to do with Jaffar. That lying, deceitful, worthless piece of vermin. How I hate him! I do not know the extent of his lies to my parents, but from my 'friends' I've heard that he had claimed to be in a relationship with me. I've never spoken a word to him! I have no idea why he chose me as a victim of his venomous planning.

When I tried to speak to Abbu about it, he was so angry and agitated that he nearly had a heart attack. He was rubbing his chest furiously. Ammi slapped me hard and threw me out of the room, screaming at me for being the "biggest mistake of her life" and "source of all misery to her". That's the first time my parents hurt me physically. The emotional impact of it was heartbreaking. It still hurts to think about it.

Soon enough my parents decided that the only way to get rid of me, as soon as possible, was to have me married off. The sooner the better.

And so here I am. About to be married to Aamir Hassan.

I'm scared to death. I have no one to talk to about this. The insecurity is killing me every moment. What if Aamir doesn't like me? What if his family doesn't like me? What if I make a mistake?

I need to get a grip! That's it. I'm really being stupid now. I should probably sleep. Maybe that will clear my head, for the big day tomorrow.

Bye Diary.

He read the first page of her diary over and over again. His heart ached every single time for the young girl who was scared and extremely nervous, but had no one to share her feelings with. He shook with fury every time he read that bastard's name. That despicable and disgusting letch who had caused them both so much misery. Mayra had borne the brunt of his evil scheming. For two years, she had endured the pain.

Suddenly a nurse came running out straight to him and said, "Mr Hassan, her blood pressure is falling. Really fast. She is going back into shock. We need blood. She is A positive. Anybody here A+?"

"No. We're all B+ and Dad is AB+," replied Khalid.

The nurse looked exasperated, "please arrange for it, anybody in her family, parents or siblings here?"

Aamir shook his head no. There was no way her family would be here. He hadn't been the only one who had hated her and was responsible for her pain.

"Then please get them here as soon as possible. We're about to finish our last pack of A+. You need to..."

The nurse trailed off as Aamir turned and ran without waiting for her to finish what she was going to say. He didn't care if the people turned around and stared, if his white shirt was stained red with her blood. If he had to drag her parents here by force he would do so, but he would bring them here.

He sped off in his car towards her parents house, his heart beating frantically. He had to get back in time. He jumped three traffic signals, ran into almost a dozen cars, didn't once care for the speed limit as he drove maniacally.

He brought his car to a screeching halt right outside of their home. The Khan's. This was Mayra's past. He had to be strong and he had to hurry. There would be time for them to deal with all the foul history between them at a later date, right now the most important thing was to bring them to the hospital.

He walked up to the front door and rang the bell, twice. When no one answered within the span of ten seconds he banged his fist on the door.

An angry looking Rizwan Khan, Mayra's father, answered the door. His expression of annoyance turned into one of shock and immediately to one of alarm as he took in Aamir's state.

"Aamir, what happened?" Mayra's father asked in shock, unable to believe that he was seeing his son-in-law, and seeing him covered in blood.

"I need you to come with me immediately," Aamir replied. "I need A+ blood. For Mayra. She.."

"I don't care about Mayra!" the older man yelled, going red in the face at the sound of his daughter's name. "She isn't my daughter anymore! I don't give a damn about her.."

"Your daughter is dying!" Aamir yelled back. "She's had a horrible accident, she's extremely critical and she needs blood! We can talk about the crap later, just come with me now!"

"Mayra had an accident?" A woman's trembling voice sounded. Mayra's mother, Maimoona was standing right behind Rizwan, tears in her eyes, her hands shaking. Aamir knew what he had to do.

"I'm begging you, please, come with me! Your daughter is dying. She needs blood. Please.." Aamir broke off, unable to continue speaking. Tears ran down his face. Pulling himself together he stepped towards his mother-in-law, and pointing to his stained shirt he said, "this is her blood. Your blood. I know you don't want to see her face. Fine then, just think you are doing this for an unknown person, but come. Please."

Maimoona reached out to touch his shirt with a trembling hand and then snapped out of it just before her fingers would brush against the stained fabric. Wiping her tears she said in a firm voice, "We're coming."

Aamir tried desperately to control himself, drive a little safer, kept telling himself that another accident wouldn't possible help Mayra, but the moment he pulled out of the driveway, the urgency to get to Mayra overcame his senses. He drove, as fast as he could and reached the hospital in record time.

Running up to the nurse, Aamir said,"I have my father-in-law, he is A+. you can take his blood."

The nurse left with Rizwan and Aamir turned to see Maimoona staring at her daughter through the glass panel. Aamir realised how difficult it must have been for her to see her own flesh and blood at the verge of death, but then a small part of his mind wanted Mayra's parents to suffer as well. They had hurt her too, caused her so much distress.

But Mayra wouldn't want that, his heart reminded him. And so he did what he had never thought he would do. He walked up to his mother-in-law, gazing in the same direction as she was he whispered so his own family standing a few feet away wouldn't hear, "she didn't do it, you know. What Jaffar had said was a lie. Mayra was innocent, she never betrayed your trust."

Maimoona turned to him in shock, "your lying!"

"No," Aamir replied, sadness crept into his voice as he gazed at his wife lovingly, "I heard it from the bastard himself. He lied for revenge, and we believed it. And for two years, two years we have been punishing her. And she has been hurting, when she didn't even commit the mistake she was being punished for."

"No. N..no!" Maimoona whimpered. Her whole world started to crumble around her. The walls of indifference that she had erected around her heart to shield herself from her daughter were falling, even as guilt and pain viciously assaulted her heart. "Oh my God!" she cried, covered her mouth with her hands to silence her whimpers as she turned away from the sight of her innocent daughter.

Aamir walked up to his mother-in-law and sat down beside her and said softly, "She loves you and Abbu a lot. Even after everything, she does. You know Ammi, every single night she would stare at your's and Abbu's photograph. She knew she couldn't call you up to talk to you, so she would talk to the photo instead. She couldn't say no to you, Ammi, she will do anything if you ask her to. Please," he cried softly, "Please ask her to come back to me. I can't live without her. Please tell her to come back to me!"