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𝓕𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓞𝓷,

𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓕𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻.

"There's no force or pressure, Zubab. You have the complete authority to decide."

Zubab glanced back and forth at her mother and her hands. She couldn't decide. Azeem Shah with Maham Shah came to her home for Zubab's proposal. At first, Zarmain was too focused on the fact that he was her best friend Aliza's husband.

The past hurt her. Things were not easy for her, it wasn't easy for her to watch her best friend Aliza break apart for Maham's huge betrayal at them, at Aliza. But out of everything, she loved the fact that it was Asfandyaar who loved her daughter dearly.

On that evening when they came, Maham was behaving as if she had done nothing. Zubab wasn't home. It was just Azeem, Maham and Zarmain.

Azeem requested Zarmain to agree to the proposal indicating to the fact that what can lead if one doesn't gets married to the one they love.

But she knows how important Zubab's decision is in this overall occasion.

"I don't know, Ammi." She sighs, sitting in the bed. "Asfandyaar is a great guy but everytime the thought of getting married envelopes my mind. It's too hard to adapt."

She leans in the head board, sighing. She closes her eyes and feel the metal of the ring Asfandyaar gave her. She didn't wore it. It was in her palms.

"I know it was hard. I know things were hard on you when you got married to Rizwan. No one thought he would turn out like that. Nobody did."

Zubab stared at the ring hearing her mother's words. She tried to process everything but after Rizwan, she lost her interest and felt scared about building a life with a foundation of love and hope.

"Loving him was my choice, Ammi. Marrying him was my choice. Living with him was my choice. Getting at the brink of death was led by my decision." Zarmain kept hearing her. She didn't chose to interrupt her daughter who was weeping on her misery. "I was young and highly distracted to him. He grew feelings in my stomach on my high school that I thought that it was my first and final love. I thought no one can do it like him. Irony that I was wrong all the while."

She could hear her mother hiccup, "It was my fault, Zubab. I made you grow in a household where your father never showed concern for her daughter even once. All he cared about was his reputation."

She cried hugging her. "I am sorry for making things worst while you grew that made you so distracted to the outer world for seeking love. If your father and I would have had a healthy relationship. We would have had been a great family now and you wouldn't have had suffered for everything that happened to you."

Zubab stroked Zarmain's back slowly to make her feel that she was here with her. Last time, it was Zubab who decided to marry Rizwan because she foolishly thought that he was her only love and this time she was sure that only Zarmain can conclude the best for her.

"Last time I took a decision. You know it was a disaster." She looks over at the window in front. "This time I want you to decide the best for me, Ammi."

Zarmain smiles, "Do you know where Asfandyaar's mother and I met?"

Zubab simply chose to shook her head. She didn't knew anything more about Asfandyaar's family. "His father and Aliza were not tied in a happy marriage. Though Aliza thought she was in one but no she wasn't. Maham is a maid's daughter who was working at Aliza's place. Aliza and I met at our university. We often went to a lake, near a shore. She was so excited before getting married to Azeem but I still remember how broken she looked crying her heart out in that lake."

"Why?" Zubab asks with concern written well in her face. "Why was she crying?"

"Life with money and royalty doesn't gets you everything, Zubab." She stared at her for few seconds and continued, "I remember Asfandyaar being so happy and lively with his mother. Aliza cried for the cruelty destiny showed to her. I was there at the lake because one evening you wanted to visit it but I end up meeting her again after University. It was their where she told me that Maham was brutally snatching her husband. She couldn't hold things straight with the fact that Azeem didn't reciprocated her love. She told me how miserable her life was with Azeem. There was no love, nothing. They had only Asfandyaar in between."

Zubab couldn't process anything.

"Asfandyaar was the clean heir of the royal family. Akbar Shah, Azeem's father just wanted to follow the royal principles."

Zubab kept glancing at the ring. It reminded her of him, of how good he was even though his growth was so disturbed.

"Aliza was used, brutally used by the royal principles." She sobbed remembering her friend.

"It's not like I want you to walk over that, Zubab. I just want you to know that Asfandyaar is not Akbar Shah, the one who uses people or Azeem Shah, a coward who couldn't love or withstand with his wife."

She understood where her mother was going. She knew how Asfandyaar was.

"Asfandyaar is Aliza's son, Zubab. She loaded him with everything which was left with her. She gave him love and warmth but... May be while she showered him with her soul, she didn't realise that her soul was emptying. I sometimes pity him more than anyone. You at least grew under my shadow but him?" Zubab sheds tears hearing it. "He has no one."

"She was the strongest, Zubab. My friend was the strongest."

Zubab cried in Zarmain's arms. Crying for how miserable people make women feel though they give their everything to the point of wiping their existence. "She must be in a better place, Ammi."

"She is. I am sure." Her mother says, hugging her back tightly.

"Asfandyaar was that boy who watched his father fighting with his mother, he was the boy who saw her mother cry so hard while hugging him like she knew her end was too near. He was the boy who saw her breaking apart. He saw her smiling because of only him." Zarmain pauses, a lump in her throat hurting her too much.

"He saw her dying, Zubab. He saw his mother dying in his lap. I still remember how shocked and taken aback he looked at his mother's funeral like he lost his everything, his only friend, his only soul. He looked like Azeem snatched that soul Aliza filled him with."

It was Zubab crying so hard now. She couldn't hear how much pain Aliza and Asfandyaar had to go through.

"He saw his father marrying his mother's maid's daughter. He couldn't do anything. He was too small for everything. They already had a clean heir, Azeem marrying anyone would not matter to the royal principles. He was too small for everything."

She was stunned at the amount of things that had happened to them.

"This is your mother's and Aliza's request. That night when he came home, I saw home in his eyes for the first time after Aliza died."

Zubab cried so hard for the emotional damage he faced. No wonder why Lily, his nanny is so special to him like a family member.

"He might live in a mansion but he does not have a home. You are the only person who can give him the home."

A tear drops down at the metal of the ring when her mother says to her,

"Be his only home, Zubab. Please."

•

Zubab needed to talk with Asfandyaar before anything she decides at all. Her mother requested her to accept but she texted him to meet her. She wanted to answer him herself.

That lake had grew to became closest place to Asfandyaar and Zubab. He texted back within few seconds.

She smiled noticing the heart at the end. She knew he was in general meeting. She was not sure if he'd turn up or he would be able to turn up then. She gazed at the moon, remembering the first day Asfandyaar sat with her their.

He was known for his rude and arrogant demeanour. He was known for being ruthless CEO and a monster. Zubab knew him for that earlier. They grew as friends, more than just friends. Now that she has realised how he is. She did judged him with the way he behaved with her but that's how everyone did.

No one knew how he became such a monster that it irritated him to just exist.

An hour passed. He still didn't turn up. Zubab wasn't angry. She knew that he was busy. She glanced at her wrist watch and stood up as it was 8PM already.

She turned around and stood smiling. He was there, staring at her.

Her heart went too wild and butterflies started flying in her tummy.

She noticed how Asfandyaar was leaning in the tree while his eyes darted at hers. She sat down again and he sat beside. They say in silence for a while before she finally asks,

"You came?"

"You called."

Her heart felt too good at the moment. She was scared if it would turn to be a nightmare. She just wanted love; pure love and respect.

"When did you arrive?"

"Around fifteen minutes ago."

"So you made me wait for 45 minutes straight?" She queried glancing at him, with her eye brows streched up.

"You waited for an hour, Zubab. Those 15 minutes were the best for me to watch you." Zubab's eyes stayed looking at his chocolate brown eyes. He was too good to be looked at, too good to be just a friend.

"You were gazing at the moon. I was gazing at my moon."

She chuckled, blushing. She couldn't stop herself from hiding the redness in the cheeks. He smiles looking over at the water giving them a fresh stroke of breeze.

"So, why did you called me?"

"To tell you my decision myself." He sat straight hearing that. He wanted himself to give his attention to her."I am all ears." There was one thing he was sure of, that is, if she decides to decline it. He will respect it with all his will.

"Like you said you made me wait for one hour."

"Yeah," he nods "I hate waiting and you made me do it?"

He gazes at her shocked that she might decline. Deep down he was too scared to let her go. He was in love with her, too much.

"Zub-"

"It's a no for several reasons, Asfand."

He closed his eyes and sighs. Looking down at his hands.

"Don't tell me that this is because of the thing that I made you wait." He asks with knitted brows. She gazes back at him.

"One of them." She confirms.

"What are the others?" He asks again. Worry written all over his face. She inhaled a deep breath.

"My mom is a divorcee as well, Asfand. Dad and her parted ways because they simply couldn't stay together after they had me because Dad never wanted a girl. Dad is a rich man. My mom couldn't bear to be with him because thinking that he might abuse me later."

Asfandyaar patiently listened to her.

"I was seventeen when I received my first bouquet of roses from a guy who was my crush. I was over the moon. He was the first ever person to make butterflies dance in my stomach. I thought I was in love. I was foolish. I shared it with my mother, she didn't seems to have a problem with it because she wanted me to chose a guy for myself. Rizwan and I became really good friends throughout my education."

The thought of Rizwan made him jealous for the fact that she was called his wife one time. She wasn't his. She never was.

"After I completed MD at 25. I started looking for jobs as well after I got married to him. Everything was good until he realised that I wouldn't bring any riches from my rich father. He started mentally abusing me first."

Asfandyaar could see the tears glistening in her eyes under the moonlight. He was angry at the very thought how can one hurt such a beautiful soul.

"Slowly, the mental abuse changed to physical abuse. I tried my very best to hide things from my mother. I stopped visiting her."

A tear falls off from her eyes.

"He started hitting me. He started insulting me now and then. I thought he would change. I thought he would change back to the old sweet and lovely Rizwan I knew but he never did. Heck! He never even tried."

Asfandyaar scratched the stone he was sitting. He wanted to beat the shit out of Rizwan. He deserves every pain coming in his way.

"He raped me, Asfand."

She sobbed so hard that if he was married to her, he would hugged her right away. He wanted to love her with everything that was left with him.

"He raped me so bad. I still how he pushed me across the sofa that I hit my head in the tea table."

Asfandyaar kept inhaling trying to control himself from bursting in anger. He looks over at her, tears rolling down from his eyes as well. It was the first time he cried after he cried in his mother's funeral.

"I still remember the places where it hurt me the most. I still remember feeling my body so numb and after everything, I felt like I was dead. I thought there was no pain left in my body that would hurt me the most."

He felt his heart sink in the pool of too much of pain. If hearing it hurts so much, bearing it would kill the one.

"Why didn't you asked help from authorities?"

"I didn't sleep for 3 hours due to the pain after I dozed off and when I woke up. I found that he wasn't home. It brings so much pain to think about, I was screaming, crying throwing up. I was crying so hard under the shower,"

He inhales and looks at her, she was a crying mess by now. She says,

"I cried so louder but no one heard me, Asfand."

She sat there crying. He was left with no words. He didn't knew if his words could fix her broken pieces but all he knew was, she was the strongest and he wasn't going to let her go for silly reasons except her concerns.

"I quickly got up and went to a divorce lawyer directly. I filed a divorce and went to my mother's. I didn't tell her anything that day. I just cried so hard that day. She knew I wouldn't be able to answer her. She was crying with me as slowly she applied medicine on my wounds and bruises. We got divorced and never had looked at each other ever since then. It's been more than a year. I was twenty seven when we got divorced."

Asfandyaar was too still. He didn't it was so hard for women to live their lives. All his life he ever imagined was women could do anything only his mother wasn't given an opportunity.

"You are the strongest, Zubab. I am glad that you prioritised yourself. You fought till the end. You don't know how much I am proud of you for knowing the fact that you deserve much better life."

She stared at him with teary eyes and a lump in her throat pinning her.

"I have never been so thankful as much as now that I separated ways with Rizwan, Asfand."

He twitched his eye brows. She smiled wiping off her tears. "Then how would I have became your fiancée?"

She showed him the back of her left hand where she was wearing the ring he gifted. He couldn't believe his ears. He was crying so hard now. He was going gaga over the fact that she agreed.

"It's a yes, my nut-heat CEO Asfandyaar Shah."

He giggled so hard with happiness. She chuckles looking at him. Never did man was so happy to have her in his life. She was glad Asfandyaar was the only one.

"Trust me, I will never make you cry. You will not shed a tear because of me, moon." He says making her blush and sigh. "How did you agree, Zubab?" He queries excitedly.

"I had lost faith in love and trust after Rizwan but when you came as Asshar Zamaan at my cabin that day just so you could meet me... That's when I realised," He heard her while she said with a pause.

"You resemble love to me, Asfand."

•

"Qubool hai."

Mrs. Zubab Asfandyaar Shah.

That's what she was now. A tear escalated but she knew she was going to be a lot happier. Asfandyaar grins from the other side hearing her response. He was over the moon.

She was his.

And then he was asked. There wasn't a means he rethought or regretted his decision. He was falling more and more with her perfection, everything related to her, her heart, her soul, her vibe, the way she talked with him, the way she didn't see him as Asfandyaar Azeem Shah, the heir of Shah family. She saw him as Asfand, her Asfand. She kept him grounded and comfortable.

"Qubool hai." He says, closing his eyes as he feels peers cheering. The best moment of his life was when he felt getting prettier as time passed. This was the time, things were falling in the right places. It was just peerless perfection.

The partition was taken away and he walks towards her, their friends and cousins cheering at the best as he stands in front of her. He leans down and takes off the veil.

Love.

He witnessed pure love in her eyes when she slowly looked up but she couldn't look in his eyes. There was a saying, "You can't see the person's eyes if you are in love with them."

She was in love with him. Just the thought that proved it drives him crazy. He planted a kiss on her forehead. She turned crimson red. He chuckles looking up.

They were married.

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