• her doubt •

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The shoot came towards an end with the entire team packing up, ready to leave. Gule was wearing a maroon turtleneck sweater with black flare pants, her feet placed on the sofa with an ice pack on top. Her head was falling sideways from the sofa's head, hair falling over her face like a curtain.

She had been sleeping like that since she drank the entire cup of coffee. Completely knocked out among all the noise of the set. A substitute model had covered up for her remaining shoot.

One of the staff members came to shake Gule awake since everyone had almost left, but Sameer stopped her, saying he'd take care of her. Gule's mind felt hazy as she gained consciousness. She felt someone throw a cloth over her, covering her face.

She sleepily tried to throw it away. Her head was spinning and throbbing. She tried to get up from the sofa but couldn't move. It was all dark and she was too exhausted.

She felt strong hands grab her from the arms harshly making her stumble down the sofa. They dragged her somewhere and she had nothing left in her to fight back. Her body felt paralyzed. She was toppled inside, what she felt was a car seat.

She wanted to cry out loud but all she could manage were tears. She still could not move. She used up all her energy, but could not even move a finger. No sound escaped her lips, however hard she tried. She felt drowsy and once again let the darkness consume her.

Shaheer had lost every ounce of patience he had gathered over the past fourteen years of his life. He was definitely going to kill the useless piece of tin sticking next to him with his own hands.

Hunain threw the can of coke in the bin, letting out a burp. He passed Shaheer an unapologetic grin, pointing towards the mechanic shop. "He's almost done, don't worry." The khattara car which should've been fixed a day before, was still rotting at the shop they'd dropped it on that day.

They couldn't risk going on Shaheer's bike since Hunain needed to carry his laptop to hack into the security files through the router that Shaheer had to attach to the internal system. The job had to be carried out swiftly at the spot. He'd easily do it in the car.

"You've been saying that for the past 2 hours. I'm running out of time and patience." Shaheer gritted out, looking at the watch for the umpteenth time impatiently. Her shoot would end in a few hours, but that was none of his concern anymore. He wouldn't go to pick her up.

He was going to distance himself from her, remove her from his memory box and never look, think, meet or talk to her ever again. That's what he'd decided in the morning when he saw her, for the last time.

She'd left in the company's car as he had watched standing by her house's gate. He didn't quite understand her spontaneously weird behaviour when she was the one who called him to drop her for the shoot in the first place. But again, she was crazy just like that. And it had saved him from another huge risk.

After another torturous hour, they were finally on the way to their destination. Hunain parked the car a few yards away from the mansion, on the backside which was near the jungle.

Shaheer was in the security uniform as he wore his black cap on his head, a mask covering his face, ready to go. "Be careful," Hunain said and with a nod, Shaheer got out of the car with the ear piece. Hunain wore his and made some weird voice check noises until Shaheer told him to shut up.

He reached the main gate where four guards stood side by side. This tight security system had delayed their mission for too long. He'd tried to get past them before with a duplicate uniform but the attempt had failed miserably due to bad timing or call it luck because they asked to check for his thumb print recognition in the security system machine and he had to make a run for his life.

Thankfully, the guards were different this time and Hunain had aced the skills to hack into the machine to fake his fingerprint match with Daniyal's with the chip Shaheer had clenched in his fist in case they asked for it again this time. He fixed his cap, walking towards them with confident long strides.

"Where have you been, man?" One of them stopped him with a hand on his chest, making Shaheer clench his jaw under the mask at the contact. He held back a hard glare, taking a step away. "Unit 2 arrived some time ago. Why are you late?" The guard checked the number '2' written over the sleeve of his uniform.

So her shoot was over already, was his first thought. "I was assigned to stay with Miss Gule until her shoot ends." He simply lied and the guards gave each other some skeptical looks. Was it not a trust-worthy lie?

"I drove her back home." He added to make him arriving late look reasonable. He hoped she had reached home safely and not with one of these guards.

"Oh!" One of the guards exclaimed, "you mean you drove her car back home because she's here right now."

Shaheer felt as if a punch was thrown at his face because he really was exposing his own self due to his genius lies. Gule was there, at the enemies house, right now, while he was lying about dropping her off.

"Oh shit!" Hunain cussed in his ear and Shaheer had to control every single nerve in his body to not react in any way possible.

"Yes, nobody would be suspicious of her whereabouts from the shoot now since her car is back home." The other guard added in a low voice then looked back at Shaheer. "Good job."

Confused at his words, Shaheer gave a nod with creased brows. What did he mean by that? Suspicious about what? He didn't get a good feeling and something inside him woke. Concern for her safety.

"Anyways, go to the security room. Boss will be back soon." He added and Shaheer didn't waste a second to enter the gates crossing them with a lowered head. It could've been a bad timing again, but maybe he had a good luck ( charm ) this time.

"Well, that was close." Hunain commented with a sigh of relief. "Don't utter a word until you're asked to, bewaqoof." Shaheer seethed.

He entered inside the house and through the corner of his eyes, scanned the main lounge for cameras to avoid them catching his face. The lounge was pretty big as he made sure to walk close to the wall and peek through every area.

"Bro where are you right now? What's going on there? Hello?" Hunain continued whispering as Shaheer toured the house silently looking for the security room. "Dekho, I'm bored. Is the house pretty? Banda pooch hi leta hai left lun ya right. Mashwara karna achi baat hoti hai. Bhatak gaye ho tum kya?" He kept rambling when he heard a notification sound on his laptop of the chip getting inserted. "Woah woah! Mil gaya, mil gaya!" He excitedly flexed his fingers, humming a melody.

"Work your fingers, not mouth." Shaheer rolled his eyes, standing outside the locked double door of steel at the very back side of the ground floor. Hunain hacked in the password in a few minutes, and the door clicked open. "Yes! Go, go. Wah, Hunain, tumsy tez aur acha hacker koi ho hi nai sakta." Hunain complimented his own self.

Shaheer was about to enter the room, but paused and looked back at the empty hallway with an unsettling feeling in his stomach. He was not only searching for the security room.

"Hello? How is it? What is inside? Insert the chip so I can play my part. Are there guards in there?" Hunain kept throwing questions bringing Shaheer back to reality. Right, he should focus on the job in hand and not care about her.

He went in to find a huge computerized system with 5 guards sitting on separate chairs like robots. He needed to find the main CPU of the system connecting them all and insert the chip in it. He casually walked in looking around and caught sight of the wired system at the end of the room.

One of the chairs was right next to it and Shaheer pretended to go towards him. He was watching the CCTV footage of the entire house with full concentration. "Was there any suspicious activity in the backyard just now? We heard some noise." He grabbed his attention, while purposely moving towards the wires and disconnecting one with his shoe.

"No." The man moved forward to look at the backyard's footage. "Oh, must be a cat. My bad." He bent forward to pick up the wire, his other hand inserting the chip on the side.

"Got it! Last step bro, IP address." Hunain cheered from the other side as Shaheer cracked his neck, his eyes desperately searching for the router. He almost let out a victorious 'yes' when he saw it hanging on the wall right next to the door he had entered from. This just made it so easy for him.

"Boss is here. Inform Sameer sir, boss has returned. Hide her in the basement, be quick." The man watching the CCTV footage spoke in his headphones mic as Shaheer turned his head back.

He switched from outdoor footage to indoor one, displaying the drawing room and Shaheer subconsciously took a step forward to get a clear view of what he was seeing.

Sameer aggressively grabbing an unmoving Gule's arm and pushing her towards two guards as she half fell to the floor on her knees. They grabbed her, dragging her away, out of the drawing room frame.

Shaheer was angrily fisting the chair, his eyes on fire. What did they do to her? He couldn't fathom why he felt so protective towards her only.

"Hello 123. Router mila?" Hunain asked making Shaheer snap out of his trance. The man on the chair had turned around giving him a questioning look. "Saanp kyun soong gaya hai tumhy? Oh, oh, wahan tou aur guards hongy na tou of course you can't answer-"

Shaheer let go of the chair, taking off his ear piece and striding towards the router. He took it off, cautiously turning his head back towards three of the men who were now watching him.

"It was about to fall off. I'll fix it back." He cleared his throat, letting it slip from his hands and bending to catch it by turning back around to cover their view with his back. Smoothly taking out his phone, he clicked shots of the information on it's back and put it in it's place within seconds, rushing out of the room.

He needed to make sure he wouldn't run into Ruman Haider Shah on his way since he had arrived, and he also couldn't look suspicious on cameras. He walked towards the main door and noticed him standing with his guards a few feet away, busy on a phone call. Shaheer managed to swiftly avoid them and walk out.

He settled back inside the car, taking off his cap and mask and throwing them on the backseat as Hunain begin screaming about how worried he had been since he wasn't replying back.

"Can you hack into the CCTV cameras in the house through the router?" He questioned Hunain with a steeled expression.

"Why? I mean, yes, of course, I can. But that's not wh-" Hunain confusedly replied, but was cut short with Shaheer's stern voice.

"Do it. Right now." He demanded handing him his phone with a clear picture of the IP address.

"We needed to hack into the computer files. Live footage ka kya karna hai?" Hunain drew his eyebrows together, not understanding the absurd command.

"I'm ordering you to do it. Right.Now." He seethed, glaring at him and that was enough for Hunain to get into action. It didn't take him long, since the cameras were wired, and he had the access to the router connected to the security system.

The screen showed blocks of each room in the house which had the cameras. Shaheer closely viewed each box displayed until his eyes caught sight of the movement in one. Hunain seemed to have noticed too as he zoomed into the footage.

"Oh shit. Is that miss beemari?" He exclaimed with squinted eyes and zoomed into the basement footage, until it was large enough to only show Gule's still figure by the wall.

"Zoom out of this." Shaheer demanded trying to understand the surroundings of the place she was in and imprinting the house map in his mind by viewing the footages closely.

The main lounge showed Ruman Haider Shah sitting with his son, Sameer, and a few unknown faces, surrounded by a team of guards facing the wall. This man thought he was a president of some sort with such tight security even inside his own house. Acting to be so royal for nothing but show-off.

Shaheer had to look for another way inside now. He zoomed into the empty basement hall, with multiple ventilator windows on top of the wall. She was in the first room if he entered through the last one through the back side. The plan was made in his mind instantly.

"Don't tell me you're planning to jump in through this height?" Hunain shouted reading his mind on point.

"It's not that high. Marun ga nai." Shaheer estimated carelessly, it was at most 15 feet.

"Maro gy nai bss koi do chaar haddiyan hi tootein gi." Hunain affirmed with a sarcastic smile. As usual, he was given no response.

"Do something about the live footage so they don't-"

"Pata hai mujhy! Dumb nai hun mein. Jao tum, ban lo hero apni jaan par khel kar." Hunain complained with a frown. "Khud tou mary ga, mujhy bhi marwaye ga saath mein." He started typing the code to send a cute virus into the computer system to distraught the cameras, which will maximum take them a few hours to fix if they have got a professional to handle such situations.

Shaheer got off the car in a hurry, jogging towards the gate. The walls surrounding the house were way too high and had grills on top, making it impossible to jump in. He pretended to be in a coughing fit, covering his face as he passed by the guards with a wave of hand in hurry.

He ran towards the garden to go around the house towards the backyard. He was out of breath but her unconscious face kept appearing in his mind, driving him insanely worried. He broke the corner of the glass window with a rock, inserting his hand in to unlock it and slowly let it fall open.

Hunain watched through the zoomed in footage on his laptop screen, as black combat boots appeared and Shaheer's legs slid into the area, his body slowly dragged downwards, before he let go to jump down on the floor.

"Bhens ki dum!" He shut his eyes, jerking back from the screen, then peeked through one open eye to see the man had already rolled back on his feet.

Gule's mind had been awake but hazy since the car ride here and she was still processing what Sameer had said and done to her. She just couldn't move her body, it felt as if she was paralyzed. She had given up on trying and was just lying there with no energy, will or hope.

She felt a presence when the light through the door entered into the room making her anxious again. She was only scared because she was helpless right now with no control over her body.

Her insides were shaking with fear when the figure crouched down next to her and forcing each cell in her body to move, she slid away slightly, pushing her head up to find a very similar person appearing in her peripheral vision.

"Puma?" She breathed out with half-closed swollen eyes, cold sweat dripping down the sides of her forehead, few of her hair strands sticking to it.

"Gulunu." He softly whispered moving his arm towards her. His hand stopped mid-air, as his face twisted in helplessness trying to control his overflowing emotions. He clenched his fist, retracting it. His hand itched to hold her face to check if she was okay.

"Let's get you out of here." He voiced out, scooting an inch closer towards her.

The drowsiness had started to fade away and Gule folded her legs backwards, shifting herself forward gradually. He reluctantly placed his hand over her elbow to help her.

"W-hy....why are you," she panted, her voice mushy, the words hardly coming out, "here?"

Shaheer clenched his teeth, shutting his eyes for a solid moment. Her distraught condition was killing him. He needed to think straight, get her out of here without getting caught himself. He couldn't waste any more time. If he gets caught, it'd be over.

"Bro, Ruman Shah is out and about with his men again." Hunain informed through the ear piece and Shaheer instantly looked at the door. He would not be able to take her out through the way he intruded inside, keeping in mind her condition and the height of the window.

"Is there a back door in the basement that leads outside?" He whispered back to Hunain who was already looking through the CCTV footages of the basement.

"Yes! Found it. Straight out of the room, head right and it's ahead on the left end of the wall. It looks like a normal door with a lock, so you'll have to break it." Hunain guided as Shaheer drew a mind map of the said directions.

"Oh shit! Sameer beghairat is on his way to the basement, jojo!" Hunain put his face into the laptop screen staring at the tiny part of the screen showing Sameer heading down the basement stairs.

"I'll handle him." His eyes on fire again, he pulled the ear piece out, letting go of Gule's elbow as she sat with her back against the wall, confusion and pain all over her face.

"I'll be right back and we'll get you out of here, okay?" He reassuringly spoke with such tenderness unlike how he felt at the moment, but he knew he needed to assure her to ease the panic on her expressions. "You're safe now." He repeated with creases of worry on his forehead at her lack of response as she finally gave a small nod.

With that he walked out of the door just in time as Sameer entered through the basement door. Shaheer crouched behind the boxes stashed in the corner, hiding from his sight and waited for him to take a few steps in, while sneaking his way to the basement door to lock it up from behind his back.

It took 5 seconds for Shaheer to reach the door till Sameer had almost reached the room Gule was in. The loud bang of the door shutting behind him had Sameer flinch and turn around in shock. Shaheer locked the door and turned towards him with a proud look.

Gule felt stronger as the numbness of her body started to fade away so she got up on her feet holding onto the support of the wall behind her. She walked towards the door with wobbly legs, slow and shaky steps, breathing hard.

"What are you doing here?!" Sameer roared, pointing a finger towards Shaheer, recognizing him. His eyes had grown bigger in size due to fear.

By the support of the wall, Gule reached the door and peeked out to find Sameer standing nearby, and Shaheer taking steady steps towards him from the other side. So calm. Cool. Confident.

"Aw jeez!" Shaheer let out a sarcastic chuckle, shortening the distance between them with each step, "Are you afraid of me?"

Sameer looked around with a panicked gaze, making a run for the door, "Security! Sec-" He couldn't make it far as Shaheer grabbed onto his collar, pulling him towards himself.

"You should be. Because I'm going to break your bones this time." He seethed out, eyes burning with rage.

"You-" Sameer didn't get time to react as he got shoved to the ground with a blow of Shaheer's boot on the back of his knee. Shaheer took ahold of his right hand, jerking him forward with the grip on his collar with the other hand.

"This is for thinking of putting your dirty hands on her." He spoke with raw anger dripping down his tone and mercilessly bent his hand backwards from the wrist, a toe-curling scream echoed through the basement.

"This is for hurting her, twice." He twisted the hand back and Sameer was crying out loud in pain. He dropped the limp hand, and was about to grab the other one when he heard a small whimper. "Stop."

His eyes snapped up to the front, the fire in them turning into ashes as soon as he found Gule looking at him, her face white with fear, eyes shaking, lips quivering.

He gulped, his strong hold on the withering man's collar loosening. Before he could react in any way, they heard loud footsteps of the security team reaching towards the basement door.

Shaheer dropped Sameer right there, turning towards the door, the knob to which was violently turning up and down to no avail since he'd locked it from the inside.

They were going to break it open any moment. He had taken off his ear piece or else Hunain would've given him a heads up.

Gule panicked, taking a step forward, but lost her balance without the support of the wall and fell down. "You should leave." She cried out, dreading the thought of him getting caught red-handed. "Please. Go." She pleaded when he neared her instead.

"I'm not leaving without you." He quickly reached out to her, a loud band on the steel door as the security tried to break in.

He took off his jacket, draping it around her shoulders. "Allow me to protect you. It's my job." His words were a strong whisper near her ear, an assurance, as he grabbed her arm from over the jacket, his other hand sliding under her knees.

Gule gasped, her hand clutched onto his shirt's collar as he lifted her in his arms. He picked her up like she weighed nothing. Her other hand rounded the nape of his neck at a distance, holding onto his shoulder.

She was a mess of emotions and numbness. Whatever they had given her before, died down in her blood flow at that instant. She was currently in his arms. He told her to allow him to protect her. He was there for her. Her insides melted into a puddle.

Her body relaxed in his arms, she placed her head under his shoulder, resting it on his chest, the throbbing in her head and the craze with which her heart was beating made her feel dizzy. Her nostrils invited the musky scent from his shirt which made her feel calmer. Safer. Crazier.

Shaheer made his way to the back door, trying to ignore the object of all the unreasonable emotions he felt in his arms. Why was his heart beating like he'd overdone his exercise for over five hours on 180 miles per hour?

He felt her ease in his arms, her head was under his chin. It felt like she belonged there in his arms. Her lavender scent invaded his senses fully engulfing him in the addictive warmth.

He had planned to maintain distance from this magnetic beauty, but somehow something always brought them together again, totally unpredictable, totally against Shaheer's plans.

The urge to protect her was so strong, he couldn't even imagine to leave her stranded. It felt like a predestined compulsion to care about her wellbeing and safety, one that got activated for him the moment they had met each other and he had landed his eyes on her.

He reached the door, which was locked so Shaheer had to think of a way to break it open. There was a table right beside the door, as he made Gule sit on it, panting hard.

He slid his hand from under her knees, then made sure she was balanced by gently caressing her shoulder from atop his jacket, their faces just inches apart. Their eyes held each other's from up so close for a hot second before he roughly moved away.

Gule's heart was running wild against her ribcage and she had no idea how was she still breathing. Shaheer took out a sharp object from his pants pocket and within seconds, as they heard a loud sound of the door breaking and men entering into the basement, the lock had clicked open.

He threw open the door aggressively, hurrying back towards Gule to carry her in a firmer and tighter hold this time. He was out of breath, hot blood pumping through him as he ran up the dark route towards where ever it led. Gule was holding onto him, panic engulfing her fully.

If this led to the backyard of the house, he'd have to face the security guards standing by the gate and they'd get caught with no way out. He has to protect her. He prayed internally, unknown to the fact that the girl in his arms was praying for the same thing. His safety.

He reached the end of the dark alleyway and kicked open the old rotten door among the bushes. Stepping out, he realized they were outside the house premises, in the jungle behind the huge wall territories. This secret passageway was definitely meant for secret invasions.

Internally thanking God, he sighed, protectively holding Gule closer. She had her eyes closed, hand gripping onto his shirt, head falling down his shoulder. This felt nothing short of a work out as his heart beat extra harder in worry carrying her towards the car which was parked near the jungle, so with a sense of direction as good as his, he was quick to make his way out.

A few hours after the entire ordeal, they were currently at the hospital since Gule had fainted in his arms. Shaheer listened to Hunain's continuous complaints and endless lectures, waiting impatiently with a weird feeling outside the ward.

"The doctor found traces of heroin in her blood." The nurse had informed them and the way Shaheer wanted to go back and break each and every bone in Sameer's pathetic excuse of a body. He was boiling with murderous rage and Hunain had clearly never seen the man go feral to this extent for someone before. But that was a topic of discussion for another time for now.

Gule gained consciousness, her entire body ached and felt weak, but the numbness was gone now. She moved her toes and feet, then put her hands up in the air, looking at her hands. God, her precious body was in control again.

Someone cleared their throat to grab her attention and she quickly dropped her hands and stopped dancing her toes. There he stood leaning against the door with folded arms in all his might, with his sharp profile but he was staring at her with a soft look in his amber eyes. Unlike how she'd last seen them. Wild and dark.

She sat up on the single bed, not needing a back support to sit upright anymore as he walked in to stand infront of the bed. She folded her legs, sitting cross-legged across his standing figure. She suddenly gasped, wide-eyed.

"Baba jaan ko tou nai bataya?" The first words coming out of her mouth were about her dad and Shaheer felt a strange kind of warmth in knowing and understanding how this crazy and naive girl truly cared and loved her father more than anything, just like his feelings towards his mother.

He shook his head. He hadn't and couldn't inform anyone. Though, he had no idea what kind of chaos must've broken down in Ruman Haider Shah's territory by now.

Gule eased, but her face fell, furrowed brows, worried eyes, low-casted mouth. The events of the day replayed in her mind, the hurt resurfacing in her being.

What would've happened to her if he wouldn't have shown up? She gazed at him, inner emotions taking a form of wet tears in her eyes. She was so helpless and pathetic.

He's looking at me like I'm a loser, isn't he? She broke off their eye contact, looking down as if slapped in the gut.

"I must be looking horrible." She sniffed, trying to dry off the tears with rapid blinking. He could almost feel each and every thought and emotion flowing through her, living through them each with her, it was eating him up, not being able to take away all her pain, to not know how to stop all the hurt. He didn't know how to make her feel better, he had no idea what to say or do.

He took a step forward, just looking at the beauty sitting like a small girl trying to hide herself in a shell, where he'd locked himself up years ago when he lost his mother.

She was radiant like the brightest star in the night sky and her bright personality radiated more warmth than the sun. He couldn't bear to look at her like this.

"You look like a little chocolate." He whispered in a low voice, his ears turned red as she glanced at him upon hearing the innovative compliment. The next moment, she let out a heartfelt chuckle, taking in his words.

Shaheer let out a sigh of relief. In that moment, all he knew was he could do anything to bring back that dazzling smile on her face. To look at her glowing again. The stars twinkling in her eyes. The sun shining in her smile.

There was something about the glow on her face everytime she smiled that brightened up the entire world for his eyes. Made him feel. Something. He hated the lack of control over his emotions when it came to her.

Gule's fuzzy heart was wrapped up with instant warmth upon hearing his words. Little chocolate. She'd heard dozens of compliments, but nobody had ever said this to her, that too when she was in a hospital bed. She gazed up at him, admiringly.

He really was a fallen angel sent to her, for her, by God. Everytime she was in trouble, in danger, he'd show up to protect her, to save her. Like a meant to be thing.

"Shaheer?" She reluctantly spoke, eyes wavering, mouth slightly apart, her heart skipping too many beats scared of his reaction.

His name rolling out of her tongue caught him fully off-guard, his breath stuck in his throat, eyes widening. His heart flipped backwards, as he took in a huge breath of air. He was not hearing things. She called him by his actual name.

"I knew from the very first day that you aren't the real Daniyal Khan." She revealed, not knowing what his reaction would be to the truth. The file they had gone to get in the cafe on the very day he had arrived was on Daniyal Khan with his picture attached in it.

He clearly looked nothing like him because he wasn't him. That's why Gule had to make sure her father doesn't check the file or any information on the real Daniyal Khan.

Gule had never believed in his lies, she had just decided to trust him. For him to have a good reason for lying. To actually be a good person. It was a risk which she willingly took because something in her heart told her to trust this amber-eyed man.

She was glad it was him. She didn't want a bodyguard from their security team in the first place, knowing what kind of people they are. After all, she always had a doubt that Ruman Haider shah was a corrupt man who runs a secret agenda to have become the rich man that he is.

She had been making guesses and her top guess was that this mysterious amber-eyed man had been wronged by the evil corrupt man so he was here to teach him a lesson. A revenge game.

She just couldn't guess what her part in it could be, since he'd never try to hurt her in any way, instead always protected her from every danger.

If he was keeping secrets from her, so was she. Gule Shah was not the naive girl he'd thought her to be, she was infact, the exact opposite.

"How did you...." He trailed out, still in shock and disbelief.

Shaheer junejo had thought he was fooling the beauty but it turned out, she was the one who was foolishly making him believe that she was being fooled. She really made a fool out of him and he'd never felt so foolish before.

She knew since he wasn't an actual guard, he couldn't come across Ruman or any of his men so she'd told him indirectly on the phone call about today's schedule, yet he ended up being where she never imagined him to be. It all made sense now.

"You don't work for him. You work to destroy him." She worded out, staring straight into his eyes, with a meaningful look, almost daring him to try and lie to her face again. "Sameer knows your real identity."

"What did he tell you? What does he know about me?" Shaheer's entire demeanour changed to a serious one as he stepped beside her bed, closer to her, as if trying to read her thoughts.

Gule's body felt like paper as they took her inside the mansion, settling her limp body on the sofa in the drawing room. She tried to focus her blurry vision on the man who removed the cloth from her face.

"Gul jaan, look at what you made me do now." She recognized that voice, the feelings of disgust and terror arose within her. "Before we get to business, tell me what is going on between you and that fake bodyguard of yours?" Gule was taken aback. He knew.

"I sent you the details file on Daniyal Khan myself. He was one of my men. Where did he go? You must know since you've been hiding it all along, right?" He queried further, grabbing her face to make her look at him.

"I sent my man to stalk you on the day you were strolling across the lake with that guy. And guess what I found out? He is the same guy who broke my nose the last time." He spat out in anger, Gule tightly shut her eyes, her mouth fell open due to the pressure he applied in squishing her jaw in his harsh grip.

"My men have been digging up on him since that day to no avail. But today! Today I found out some information about him. From where? His ex-workplace, the ISI." He continued manically, jerking her face away and straightening up.

"Shaheer Junejo!" He growled out his real name and Gule shivered internally, it hurt everywhere but this wasn't how she'd imagined to get to know his true identity.

"If he's here to ruin my set-up business and you're helping him with it, mein sab kuch tabah kar dunga. Tumhy, tumhary beemar baap ko, aur ussy!" He threatened with mad eyes. "Imagine if I tell my father about it? Do you have any idea what he'd do to all of you?" He evilly grinned.

If Ruman Haider Shah knew that Gule had been hiding the truth about the bodyguard sent for her purposely, his punishment came later because her father would've disowned her first and that would be worse than death for her.

"Why are you even helping him, Gul?" He neared her again. "He isn't clean of crimes himself. Do you know why he lost his job? That psycho ki-" Before he could continue, he was cut off by a guard entering to inform about the arrival of Ruman Haider Shah. She was dragged into the basement then.

Narrating what Sameer had said to her, she closely studied the change in Shaheer's expressions. He was not meeting her eyes. His posture stiff. As if uncomfortable under her constant gaze. Wavering eyes. As if dreading what questions she would throw his way now.

"I'm not going to ask you anything, don't worry." She assured, making him glance at her from his side eye. Shaheer's uneasiness faded out, the fear of her judging him for what he'd done or was doing was something so out of order and nowhere. He'd started to care what she thought of him, he couldn't deny it anymore. The thought single-handedly shook the base of his life goal.

Gule hoped he'd stay and not turn his back towards her now that she knew who he actually was. She'd survived through the time of not even knowing his real name even if the curiosity pinched her each passing second of her life, so she could live through this too until he, himself, would be comfortable enough to share his story with her. She could wait, for him, she would, no matter how long it takes.

"I want that man destroyed as well. I'll help you." She declared with a strong nod, head held high, posture straight to show the dedication in her words. Shaheer stood there, fully silent and weirded out. Hunain who had just arrived after having some snacks reached the door to witness the strange sight.

"Let me join your team." Gule added with enthusiasm looking at Shaheer.

"Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, but there's nothing you can do for us after joining our team." Hunain entered the room coming into her view, munching on a chocolate.

Gule's lips fell into a sad downward look, as she slouched with her shoulders falling. Physical blackmailing dramatics. She was just like Hunain. He knew she'd be fun to have around.

"He fights. I hack. Your speciality?" He asked with a playful grin on his face. Shaheer snapped his neck in Hunain's direction. Gule regained her energy as she clapped her hands together, thrilled.

"Teach me. I wanna fight too." She stared at Shaheer with bright, hopeful eyes and once his gaze landed on hers, he knew there was no way out of this new trouble.

"That sounds like a plan." Hunain nodded in utter amusement and excitement. He rounded an arm over Shaheer's shoulder with a proud grin for setting his friend up, who in return threw daggers his way.

She was discharged as they drove her back home. It was already midnight and she knew there were a million thoughts waiting to be thought in her overthinking brain for tonight. When she entered the house door silently, she was surprised to find her father waiting for her on the sofa in the hall.

"Kahan thi?" He questioned in his weak voice, eyes red due to lack of sleep, wrinkles on his forehead almost doubled in just a day. Gule dashed her way towards him, concerned and nervous.

"Wo....mein," She crouched near him, hands on his knees, tears gathering in her eyes. She hated lying to him. She wished she could just pour out all her worries and pain right there to him.

"Daniyal ky saath aai ho?" He asked and Gule gulped before biting out a small, "Jee." She closed her eyes, placing her head on his lap as he caressed the top of her head lovingly. A tear rolled down her eye as she heaved in a huge breath before speaking, "Baba jaan. Mujhy aap ko kuch batana hai."

//❄︎❄︎❄︎//

"Calm down, Jojo." Hunain munched on a packet of chips, his eyes following Shaheer's movements from left to right as he was sitting on the bike without a worry. It was amusing, since he'd never seen the man this anxious before. Ever.

"How much time has it been?" Shaheer placed his hands on the sides of his lower waist, looking in the direction of the faraway Shah house. The huge walls could be seen from where they stood near the jungle trees.

"Barely 15 minutes." Hunain looked at his watch, informing with his mouth filled with crisps.

"Is her location on?" He asked again. Hunain let out a sigh, his tongue moving to empty his mouth of any leftovers of the junk he consumed, crumbling the empty packet in his hands.

"Yes boss." He checked through the GPS of his smart watch, fishing the crumbled packet into his pocket. Rule number one; do not litter, it leaves a trace of you being at the spot. And it's disgusting for the environment.

It was one day after the incident. Gule had narrated everything to her dad, a summarized version. Hunain had successfully hacked into the computer files of Ruman Haider Shah, but there were a million. Literally.

It would take them months to jot down all his dirty works and corrupt business deals. Most of all, to find the right way to expose it all to the world before getting caught by their hands.

It was a matter of time until the security found the chip in their system and located the buyer. They'd have to go into hiding, shift places before that happened. However, Gule joining them changed things.

If she'd manage to bring the chip before they found it, their identities could remain hidden for longer. It was Hunain's idea and Shaheer had been completely against the plan of letting her go back in there.

Gule being her stubborn self didn't back down. She knew her father was going to visit Ruman Haider Shah after she'd told him what Sameer had done, so she tagged along with him and here they were.

Shaheer had her turn on her location and in case of any emergency or danger they'd receive a signal through her location turning off.

"I had no idea that he wasn't Daniyal Khan." Gule spoke with a straight face, making sure not to give a single expression away. She clenched her phone with both her hands placed on her lap.

"I was told his file ID was delivered to you in hand which had his picture on it." Ruman Haider Shah responded, his voice thick with authority, tone stern and accusing.

"I just looked at my schedule and didn't bother to turn the page around to go through his profile." She lied while her heart was pounding out of her chest as sweet beads formed on her forehead.

"Gule, Gule. I don't expect such irresponsible behaviour from your side." He stood up on his feat, looking grand, just as his grandiose facade.

"I didn't expect your men to make such a mistake either. I just t-trusted th-" Crap. Her voice quivered. God, her hands were shaking.

"Why are you interrogating my daughter? It is not her fault." Her father interrupted at the very right moment as she let a heavy breath out.

"That boy had been following her around for days and from what I have been told, your daughter did not treat him like a mere bodyguard." Ruman Haider Shah raised an eyebrow, his hands resting behind his back as he stood in front of them.

"My son's arm is broken and he has been severely injured. How is it that he caused no harm to your daughter? Isn't it suspicious? Unless, they had something going on between them." His eagle like eyes landed on Gule, closely observant and suspicious.

Good. He deserved it. And oh, how I wish we had something going on between us. Gule avoided eye contact, staring at her hands and blinking profusely.

"Bss. Apni beti ky khilaf ek lafz nai sunun ga mein." Her father raised his hand, his voice loud. "Your son. I treated him like my own child, trusted him and this is how he returns the favor? He tried to-" He coughed out, his face going red due to raising his voice.

Gule quickly moved forward to pat his back, concern and worry visible on her face. She was sure she had done the right thing by telling him, but if this took a toll on his health, she'd regret it immensely.

"I'm fine. Leave us alone to talk, beta." Her father requested with a weak smile. Gule shook her head, refusing to go. He gave her a reassuring look, "Bring me some water."

Gule nodded and stood up to leave. Ruman Haider Shah chuckled, "I have servants everywhere in the house for these chores."

"I'll go. It's quite alright." Gule grabbed the opportunity to carry forward the secret mission she had in hand and left the hall.

Luckily, she found a servant lady cleaning the showcase in the corridor area. Requesting her for a glass of water to be taken to her father, she excused herself.

Hunain had drawn a rough childish sketch of the hallways leading to the security room for her, which was definitely of no help to her directionally challenged brain. Until Shaheer reminded him he had the CCTV footage of when he hacked into the system.

She tried to remember correctly and walked looking at the specific decors she'd marked as a nishani in her brain. She could just hope she was going the right way.

She found the locked door and celebrated with a tiny 'yes'. Taking in a huge breath, she knocked on it. Putting her ear to the door, she waited. No response. She shook the door as hard as she could, then played with the lock. Why wasn't anyone responding from the inside?

She leaned forward, with her forehead on the door, not expecting it to burst open as she stumbled to sustain her body from falling forwards, gaining her balance.

A young man with curly hair, baggy eyes, messy uniform stood there with a serious look. Lord, did he not have time to iron his clothes? Gule thought, before reminding herself to not judge. He might've worked for that evil bhoot for days without a break.

"Hi." She casually waved her hand with an awkward smile. "Sameer told me about this room. May I come in?" She kept the smile intact on her face, hoping he'd fall for her useless lie.

She had boasted in front of Hunain & her very crush that she didn't need their help to manage to get into the security room. Shaheer not trusting her with the job had her skite a little too much. "I know the way now, I'll manage the rest on my own. Just wait and watch."

The man didn't waste a second and moved away from the door. Not that he believed her, he just seemed uninterested and done. He looked like he hadn't slept for days. It was probably the sleep deprivation, nevertheless, she was glad it was him who opened the door.

That was such a piece of cake for her. She proudly grinned following him into the room. "Woah," she mumbled, scrutinizing the huge system and set up inside. Two of the men were sleeping uncomfortably on the chairs. One would sprain his neck if he kept that position and the other would have a backache.

Focus, Gul, focus. She shook her head, reminding herself to stop getting distracted. Right corner. Large CPU. She paced forward ignoring everything else. But, the man on the last chair was wide awake with a mug of coffee in his hand, staring back at her.

She cleared her throat. "Umm, actually, I wanted to ask," she touched her ear, meekly continuing to ask, "Do you have a footage from yesterday?"

"No, our system went down unfortunately." He scratched the back of his head, above the small ponytail of his long hair.

"Oh." She stepped as close to the CPU, pulling her hand down as her earring dropped to the floor with a light clank. The man turned around to place his mug on the table, while Gule acted as quickly as possible.

"Uffo, my earring fell down." She sat down near the system, eyes searching for the earring on the floor, but hand on the side to look for the chip. "I think it's somewhere here."

Her eyes sparkled when her hand touched the slick chip inserted at the back of the system, hidden from the eyes. She bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.

"Your earring's right here." The man pointed at the accessory next to his shoe, far from where she was searching for it. Or pretending to do so.

"Oh my God. I thought it rolled behind this thing." She fake laughed, pulling the chip out in her fingers, as she moved forward to grab the earring with her other hand. "It's my favorite one. Thank you." She got up on her feet, one hand in fist as she dangled the earring in the other hand.

The man narrowed his eyes at her. He was getting suspicious and that was not good. "You have nice hair, by the way." She complimented, giving him a full blown smile. He was taken aback, falling for her distractive measure. She was just not good at getting distracted herself, but also at doing so to others.

"Thank you." He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling. She could tell he was very muh proud of his long unwashed oily hair.

She rushed her way out of there back into the hallways. Hiding the chip into the cover of her phone, she started making her way back to the hall, all while grinning and trying to put her earring back on. She had no idea her brain could be this smart. She must be a mastermind. Internally boosting her self-confidence, she stepped into the hall to witness an unexpected sight.

"I still regret it, I do." Her father was a crying mess. Shaking uncontrollably as he was confessing. "Every breath I take is torture, a punishment to me. It should've been me-"

Before he could speak further, Ruman Haider Shah let out a sinister chuckle watching Gule rush towards him. She landed on her knees by her father's side, caressing his face to wipe his tears away.

"What's wrong, baba jaan? Why are you crying? What regret?" She was confused, but scared for him. She'd never thought living was ever that hard for him to say the words he had just said.

She'd always doubted Ruman Haider Shah had something against her father which she always wanted to find out. Today, she will ask him herself. She needed to know it now.

"What did you do?" She looked up at the man, who had created such an authoritative aura of himself that made every person fear him. Gule, however, forgot all boundaries looking at her father's condition, as she fearlessly stood up, questioning him.

"Tell me! What is it that your own brother is so scared of you? That he is not allowed to ever say 'no' to you? That makes him regret," her voice cracked as she held back tears, "living?" She wanted to scream at him. She wanted to let her insides explode today. All that she'd kept inside, but she still felt too little. Too terrified. Too unsafe in his territory.

Ruman's blood boiled at the tone she had used to talk to him. He grabbed the glass of water, throwing it to the side on the floor, as it broke into pieces.

"Apny beemar baap sy poocho! Mein na hota, tou jail mein marr chuka hota kab ka." He spat at her. Gule stood in front of her father, protecting him and breaking apart. He was making things up. What could her father have done to deserve jail?

"Gul, ghar chalo." Her father held her hand from the back, shaking and warm. Too warm. He was starting to run a fever. Without a question, without a thought, she obliged.

Shaheer was running impatient by each passing second. Hunain being a chatterbox who spout nonsense 99% of the times he opened his mouth wasn't helping.

Just when he was about to send the text which he'd erased and re-typed almost twenty five times, they saw Gule's car driving in their direction. It drove past them at a fast speed that he could barely catch a glimpse of her. He immediately knew something was off. They quickly trailed behind on the bike.

The next day, Gule woke up late since she'd spent the entire night taking care of her father. His fever had gone down by the morning, but she still booked a doctor's appointment for him.

After taking a shower, she was standing by the full-length mirror, drying her wet hair. She looked at the reflection of the red track suit she'd taken out to wear today. Hunain had wanted her to join them in their 'hidden spot' since she was a part of their team successfully now.

She had been feeling so low that she had just given them the chip and bid them off. She didn't even get to boast about her smartness. Sighing, she stared at her face in the mirror, before breaking her mouth into a full-blown smile.

"That's right. Let's have fun today, Gul!" She motivated herself, shutting off all the negative thoughts in her brain. She was going to train with him today and spend a lot of time with him and only think about positive stuff.

She got ready, putting her hair in a high ponytail. "Which ones should I go for?" She bit her nail in confusion, trying to choose between the red joggers and the white sneakers. She had white stripes in her red track suit, so both would go well.

The bell rang indicating they were already here to pick her up so she quickly went for the white sneakers she'd initially wanted to wear to look cool. Checking up on her father who was fast asleep after eating the medicines, she informed Neelofer baaji of her departure and soon she was in the back of the old-looking car with the two partners on the way to the so-called secret place.

Shaheer was sitting on the passenger seat, wearing a tight black shirt, his hand placed on his head between his hair as his elbow was leaned onto the window, flexing his arm muscles through the half sleeves. Gule was seated right behind the seat, so she moved to the middle to stop ogling like a creep.

Why was everything he did so cool and made him look so hot at the same time? She kept glancing his way. It was hot in the car for some odd reason.

"I must say you're amazing miss beema- Gule." Hunain corrected the slip of tongue before continuing like it never happened, "if you had joined us earlier, our job would've been much easier and quicker. Tell me, how did you manage to get it?"

Gule smiled, feeling proud. It was her time to shine. She started narrating the story, dramatizing it as Hunain didn't fail to give her dramatic reactions. She went into heavy details and he was exaggerating the scenario with his comments and some weird sound effects. The certain someone she was trying to impress, however, didn't seem to be interested at all.

"Earring? Jhumka, you mean? Your jhumkas are iconic, man." Hunain landed a slap on Shaheer's thigh while laughing out loud, sharing an inside joke about the day he'd spent hours searching for it. He was responded with a hard glare though.

Clearing his throat, he got back to her. "Yeah, so, he found you sus? Then, how did you manage to leave?" Gule's excitement had died down looking at Shaheer being so quiet and unbothered. His behavior seemed to be cold towards her. She leaned back on her seat, putting an end to the talk after answering the question.

"I just distracted him by complimenting his hair. People like compliments about their hair, you know." She shrugged, her eyes darting towards his silky hair as her fingers itched. She looked out of the window, chanting tauba in her wild heart. Unaware of the scowl on his face upon hearing her words.

They reached the abandoned building as Gule gazed up at the broken exterior with huge black marks. It looked like it was on fire ages ago and nobody bothered to demolish it or renovate it. She wondered if the owner of the land was one of the two, or someone else in their team.

They headed inside as she followed behind with curious eyes darting in every direction. Climbing up to the first floor which was completely empty, she wondered if they even had a proper team.

The building seemed to have no interior as well. It looked like a hangout place for thugs, not professionals. Sameer had told her Shaheer Junejo was an ISI agent before. If he quit his job, maybe to earn more money, he must've made up his own team. He probably didn't want to waste money on renting a proper place? She came up with ten questions and twenty answers, but when curiosity got the best of her, she decided to speak.

"It's just the two of you?" Her voice echoed in the empty floor of the rusty building.

"It's just the two of us." Hunain affirmed copying her tone.

"Acha?" She trailed out, face in a frown. So were they just two jobless people working together to destroy bad people? Or...was it a personal enmity against Ruman Haider Shah? Her mind went back to her father's words. How many lives had that man ruined?

"Why did that sound like disappointment?" Hunain squinted his eyes at her bringing her back to the present. Gule shook her head, only positive thoughts today, Gul!

"Chalo ab mein aa gai hun na." She clapped her hands together, a huge smile covering her face. "Aani paye jaani aye."

Shaheer felt his lips twitch upwards at her words, the Punjabi accent naturally flowed out of her mouth. His mother was Urdu speaking, but she knew Punjabi very well. He only understood a few phrases though. Snapping out of it, he went ahead towards the stairs.

They climbed up to the second floor as Gule struggled to walk on the imbalanced rocky stairs. Upon reaching the floor, her mouth fell open in surprise. It was a whole gymnasium, or maybe boxing arena as she looked at the boxing ring in the middle. Dumbbells and weird machines she'd never seen or used before were there.

It was quite dusty, since the broken windows area remained uncovered letting the particles in. Shaheer spent three hours of each day in this place to exercise and practice fighting. It was his routine and he never misses it nor talks to anyone while in his zone, Hunain informed Gule as they watched him getting ready to begin.

There were two doors in the corner, one of the rooms had all of Hunain's computer system set up. He was going to get to his job of hacking into the files so he excused himself.

"Haath paun halky rakhna, mujhsy zyada shor mein concentrate nai hota." Hunain casually remarked with a wink. Shaheer threw a hard glare his way as Gule innocently blinked. Grinning like an idiot, he left after passing a two fingers salute their way.

"So, um," Gule awkwardly spoke, clearly realizing he was ignoring her existence on purpose. "Where do we start from?" He was standing near the boxing ring, as she slowly walked near. "For your information, I was a yellow belt in karate. I know the basics of fighting, I guess." She shrugged, pursing her lips at his non-responsive behavior.

"You're on your own. I like to exercise in silence." He indicated without looking at her.

"What do you mean? Who's going to teach me?" She frowned, feeling dejected and annoyed.

Shaheer paused for a second, then left to walk into the other room's door, closing it. Gule huffed out loud, squinting her brows. "Iss badtameezi ka kya matlab samjhun ab mein?" She murmured diggiing holes into the door with her eyes.

She decided to look around while waiting for him to be out. She walked towards the heavy machines, wondering how they worked. She heard the door open and quickly swirled around, almost stepping on the barbell lying on the floor.

"Careful!" Shaheer jerked forward from the door, with his empty hand in the air and she felt her heart skip a beat at his action. He cared. He clearly cared about her then why was he being so odd today?

He had changed his outfit. Oversized gym vest, casual sports pants and trainers, all in black again. Gule tried not to stare at his bulky arms. He was holding a MacBook by his side as he came forward, towards the other side, away from the machines, near the open window area.

"You can watch and learn." He placed it on the small bench there, pulling forward the stumbling chair for her to sit on. Gule was about to complain when they heard splitter splatter. It was raining and the sound of it hitting the unsecured old building was loud.

"Oh my god! It's raining." She rushed forward to where he was, pushing past him closer to the uncovered window area. Extending her hand outwards, she grinned as the cold wind hit her face. Turning her neck around, she met his amber eyes which were already on her, completely lost.

"It reminds me of the day we met for the first time." She reminded joyfully. Strangely, it always rained when they're together. Not that she was complaining, it was her favorite weather. She fully turned around, their eyes not breaking the contact.

"When I saw you in the rain and fell so hard, it still hurts." She added jokingly, double meaning behind her words, placing her hand on her hip bone. He looked away, blocking her out of his sight. Covering the distance towards the machines, he sat on the rowing machine to begin exercising.

"I wish we never met." His words were a small whisper under his breath, barely audible. She had turned his goal-oriented life completely upside down. His path was revenge. He was an ex-convict. There was so much she didn't know about him.

She was an extraordinary girl who deserved happiness. He couldn't let himself get swayed and ruin her life. The blind trust she had in him would break if she found out who he really was. So he pulled up his walls. Putting an end to whatever it was that they had between them.

But every time she was around, he lost focus. He forgot the purpose of it all. Everything would only become about her. So he'd decided it will be the last time he'll be with her. Just these few hours. Then they'll leave tomorrow. To another city. Somewhere far.

He spent 50 minutes on the machine without a break, then stopped, breathing heavily. Instead of taking a break, he grabbed the dumbbell and began bicep curling.

He was planning to run away from his stirred emotions like a coward, but one thing was for sure. If he'd stay beside her, he'll have to give up on the revenge he was desperately chasing behind for years. Since the Gule he knew would wish to do so.

Unaware of his thought process, Gule was seated behind the screen with her eyes totally in a different place. She had searched up for the videos, but couldn't choose any since the sight over the screen was so entrancing.

Goddammit. He's so fine. Every single little detail on his face had so much character. Her love for art revived inside her while looking at him.

She was admiring him with full concentration when his movements stilled. He placed the dumbbell down, turning sideways to hold his water bottle and gulped it down before getting up.

Gule panicked as her fingers attacked the screen, clicking on a random video. He was walking to the back to grab his towel, his eyes glancing her way. He could get a view of the screen and her side profile from where he stood.

Her eyes widened as the video began. The dude in the video was shirtless while teaching steps to defend attacks. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment, shocked and apalled. She was watching a freaking shirtless man teach her how to fight! What was he going to think of her?

Shaheer's brows fell together, staring at the screen and then at her cheeks slightly tinted pink. He dried up the sweat from his face in two aggressive swipes, eyes focused on her.

Gule tried to press the back button but the screen was stubbornly stuck on that useless video. This couldn't get any more embarrassing. If she had to count all the embarrassing moments of her life, this was going to be right on top.

"I'll teach you." He appeared out of nowhere, standing right by the bench where the MacBook was placed.

"You will?" Her ears perked up, looking up at him with large excited eyes. "But this-" She pointed at the screen to complain about it not working, but the video showed the guy doing a high kick as the camera zoomed into his abs when he stood straight.

Gule's mouth turned into an 'O' shape impressed by the kick only. She imagined herself trying it. Before she could say she wanted to do that, the screen was shut closed by him bending forward, his face on her eye level due to the action.

"Eyes on me, Gulunu." He commanded in a gruff voice taking her breath away. She was confounded and flabbergasted. His face was only a few inches away. With her mouth still open, she blinked once.

The possessiveness in his voice and the way he was looking at her put everything inside her on fire. He called her Gulunu. She could die right there. My eyes are only on you, for you, uper, neechy, left, right, har taraf sy, she almost blurted it out loud.

"Let's start." He moved into the boxing ring, pulling the rope up for her to enter as well. She hurried in, feeling overjoyed. He was finally not ignoring her anymore. He was also sacrificing his exercise time for her, on her. She bit her lip to stop smiling like a fool.

"Let's start from the basic stance." He spoke while handing the boxing gloves to her. She nodded enthusiastically, wearing them on and letting him tighten them around her wrist.

"Are you right-handed?" He questioned and she nodded. The calming sound of the rain, him teaching her how to fight, so romantic. However, she was getting nervous now that he was actually going to train her.

"Your dominant hand should be in the back." He guided as she folded her elbows, hands up in position. Left hand in the front and right in back.

"Slightly bend your knees. Feet diagonal, little wider than shoulder width apart, back heel raised." He was talking fast, hands on his waist watching her get into the position with each instruction. Lost in aligning the feet, her hand positions went wrong.

"Elbows down, hands up." He pointed as she stumbled to correct her stance. "Head behind your gloves, chin slightly down, your eyes should see over the gloves." She obliged in a fast pace. This was not how she expected it to be.

"Now relax and breathe!" He smoothly said, turning the coach mode off for a second. Gule relaxed, glad that she got the simple stance right. He was making it sound so hard with those instructions. He could literally just stand like that and she'd have copied it in a second.

He taught her the basic punching technique and held into the boxing bag hanging in the middle of the ring.

"Start from a relaxed position." He reminded as she got into the position on the other side of the huge bag. "Throwing punches is simply the act of being relaxed. You tighten your fist at the moment of impact and then relax the hand to throw more punches."

She threw the first punch, flinching at the impact of hitting the hard surface. He released the bag which hadn't even moved by the light punch. He told her to try again and again, observing till she stopped flinching as a response.

After quite a few punches, she got used to it and began enjoying. She tried throwing three punches without a pause to swing the bag, but it caused her feet to go off-balance with the movement.

Shaheer grabbed onto the punching bag. She was getting passionate about it very quickly. "The trick is to utilize your entire body weight behind the punch without falling off balance. Skills and experience will teach you over time." He was telling her to take it slow. She couldn't become a pro at it in a few hours.

"You show me." Gule ordered, panting a little after the work out. Her stamina was too low to run out of breath only after throwing punches. Shaheer raised a brow at her. She held the bag from her side, directing him to start with her eyes.

Shaking his head, he pumped both his hands into fists, opening and closing them. "Step aside. You won't be able to hold it still." He stated, rotating his fists up and down from the wrists, not bothering to wear any gloves.

Lord, the confidence. Gule smirked, "we'll see." She gripped it from her side, putting her entire body weight on to keep it stable. Without a warning, he landed a hard punch on the other side, shaking her entire existence. It sprang too suddenly hitting her head and face in a split second. He grabbed onto her gloved hand speedily refraining her from falling backwards.

Their hands on each other's on the boxing bag with it hanging between their bodies like a thick border. Faces looking at each other from a few inches apart. His eyes had grown bigger in concern. He hadn't hit it that hard, but she had put her face right behind it so even the sudden slight movement of the bag hit her directly.

Gule didn't know if it was the impact of the blow to her head, but him standing this close with those amber eyes studying her face was not helping to keep her mouth shut. So, she acted on her impulsive thoughts.

"Oof. You have very...." she drew closer towards him, "I'm secretly an assassin type eyes, I swear to God."

"What if I really am?" He questioned, challenging amber eyes against innocent large brown ones.

She laughed. "Wait," she paused, studying the serious look on his face, "you're being serious?"

It was unnerving how she'd call him a deshatgard on their second encounter and now an assassin. Did she know anything about him or was she just saying it as a joke? He stepped back letting go of her hand and maintaining the distance between them again, looking away to avoid meeting her eyes.

"I'm sorry if it offended you. I just meant to say your eyes look so fearless, like," she stumbled to find the right words, almost in panic, "you know, like," she scratched the area beneath her ear, "you're like a superhero but they don't exist, you know."

He had smiled and sighed simultaneously. She was smart, but dumb. He didn't know what to make out of this girl. How was she trusting a person like him who had been lying to her since the day they met?

"I wanna try that high kick." She quickly changed the topic, easing the tension and discomfort in the air between them. "I just have to kick as high as I can, right?" She took a step back from the boxing bag, getting in the pose to kick.

"It's not that simple." He frowned, but she was all ready to go. "Make sure to avoid leaning too much, and maintain a neutral back." He instructed a little too late as she swung her leg up, hitting the hard surface causing her other foot to lose balance as she had, as expected, leaned back too much.

She fell sideways, her entire weight on her wrist, but her eyes were on the punching bag which was swaying due to her kick.

"Did you see that? She exclaimed; all wide-eyed and beaming with a sense of achievement. Her wrist was slightly bruised because of the hard surface and that's all Shaheer was looking at. She got back up, still smiling proudly.

There was something so amazing about the look of triumph on her face despite the pain that it made him yearn for the feeling that she exhibited. Simple things mattered to her, making her smile and glow with such positivity. He'd never experienced this kind of happiness.

"Your-" He was about to check up on her wrist when the sound of a very loud phone alarm started ringing. Gule rushed towards her phone without wasting a second. Shutting it off, she started calling someone.

She had put up the reminder alarm for her father's doctor appointment, since Neelofer baaji was going to take him. Confirming that they were on their way, she put the phone away. Shaheer heard the conversation, feeling the change in her energy, as she leaned on the boxing ring.

"How's your father doing?" He asked, joining her by the ring.

"Fine, I guess. He never really expresses it even if he's in pain." She smiled sadly. Shaheer was just like that too.

"The thought of losing my father scares me all the time." She said, looking down at her straightened legs. After the recent incidents and witnessing his condition at Ruman's house, she'd started getting negative thoughts.

"I cherish my relation with him more than anything in the world. He's the only one who has always been by my side." She expressed, realizing he was standing there to listen and be there for her like he'd been since they met.

Her father might not have been the best parent due to his sickness, but everytime he was sober and in his senses, he'd make her feel like the luckiest daughter. All the nicknames he'd call her by, fulfilling her small wishes, reading his books and poetry out for her, he had showered her with love in all these memories she has with him.

"Everyone always leaves. They run away and then forget so easily. It's actually very easy for people to abandon one another." She lowly added, multiple people's faces appearing in her mind. Her own mother had abandoned her, how could she expect strangers she met to stay?

"You won't run away too, right?" She turned her face sideways to look at him, taking him aback by the sudden question.

Shaheer felt like a teen getting caught red-handed while trying to sneak out at midnight. Her hopeful eyes were staring straight through his soul.

"I'm here for you through whatever, whenever." He assured, eyes softly lost in hers, jaw ticking at the loss of control he felt when with her. He was bound to her and there was no escape for him.

Gule felt all her thought and worries vanishing into nothingness, drowning in the amber eyes of the man who was becoming the cause of her heart problems. She'd never felt the way he made her feel.

They both broke the eye contact after what felt like ages, awkwardly clearing their throat. Gule was sure her face was flushed tomato red.

"You can practice kicking now." He said, knowing her wrist would hurt if she practiced punching. She nodded, getting back on the ring.

"Without putting your leg down, swing around into a side kick with your leg on the hip level. Repeat this 10 times, then switch to the other leg." He gave her the instructions and went back to working out. Gule practiced the movement obediently.

"I'm done doing it 10 times each." She told him with a smile, heavily breathing. She really needed to work on her stamina.

"You're free to go then." He remained unbothered, focusing on his work out.

"What about more punching?" Gule asked, wanting him to continue teaching her. Her wrist was slightly hurting only when she twisted it upwards or downwards. "I wanna practice dodging punches with you." The last two words were supposed to stay in her head only.

"For a beginner, the most important thing is to learn the proper punching form. Later on, you will be able to throw many different variations of punches from different positions." He didn't want her to overwork, and she still needed to learn about some basic pivot footwork to defend and dodge punches.

"Show me." She sulked. Shaheer found himself standing in the ring again, next to her.

"Maintain your stance and balance for better power and mobility." He threw a punch on the bag to show her. Gule carefully observed, pretending to understand his words.

He was so soothing to listen to, the way he brought his voice down an octave had her weak in the knees.

"You okay?" He inquired finding her lost in thoughts instead of paying attention.

"Oh absolutely." She blinked. He was so dreamy with his hair all ruffled up like that, ouf.

"Alright. Let's call it a day." Shaheer moved away rubbing the back of his neck, heat rushing to his face because of her strong gaze on him.

"Abhi tou shuru kiya tha meiny." She complained, stepping forward like a whiny child. Sighing, he looked at her. She was too adorable to ignore or scold.

"Nai te mein ki karan. Do I not deserve a break?" He tried to sound as serious and cool as possible, with his broken punjabi accent. Gule burst out laughing, slapping a hand over her mouth.

Shaheer, though ashamed at his attempt, felt his lips twitch upwards at her reaction. They heard Hunain rush out of the room. "Food is here!" Just in time, Shaheer was glad at his appearance for the first time.

He got back with two boxes of pizza and cold drink, panting hard since he had to run towards the end of the road, away from the building to receive the order. They opened the boxes to start eating, Gule was starving after all the physical torture.

"Shït! Why are there olives on both of them?!" Hunain complained, pretty sure they messed up his order.

"Why? Olives are yum." Gule shook her head at him.

"I know, I love olives too. This picky eater doesn't like them." Hunain pointed at Shaheer.

"I'll eat yours too." Gule moved her plate in the middle so he could place his olives in there. Olive theory is real, she internally danced as he picked out the olives for her to have.

After they were done eating, Gule and Hunain continued playing their silly colour game, guessing what object is the other thinking about with the colour they tell. While Shaheer went to take a shower.

He got back and offered to drop her home as it had gotten late. They went in Hunain's car, though Gule really wanted a ride on his bike, but she'd get it in the future, or so she thought.

He got off the car to watch her go in, the main door was locked as Gule picked up the flower pot and the key was hidden there. Shaheer rolled his eyes, a very safe spot for house keys.

"Is nobody home? Why didn't you go with your father?" He wasn't sure if he should leave her home alone.

"Wo kehty hein mein bohut jaldi pareshan ho jati hun, tou wo mujhy nai ly kar jaaty." She complained like a whiny child, worry visible on her face. He could tell why her father preferred not taking her.

"Do you want me to wait till they get back?" He found himself offering without a thought. He'd always warned Hunain to 'think before speaking' and now he was doing the exact opposite.

"Yes." She blurted out instantly, as if it was waiting on the tip of her tongue. "I mean, only if you want to, she added feeling embarrassed. "It's not your job or something." She further added, remembering his words from when he had saved her. "If you've something else-"

"I'll stay." He cut her train of excuses, even though, like every other night he had to go to search for clues on the drug dealer, which he'd never skipped, since doing so calmed his restlessness.

He entered the house behind her as the door shut automatically with a bang. There was silence as she turned on the lights of the lounge and he awkwardly stood there.

Gule smiled at him, telling him to make himself comfortable on the sofa. The air suddenly became uncomfortably awkward and she knew she had to think of something to do or talk about to make things better.

Was this a bad idea? She did not mind being home alone with him, in fact she trusted him more than she trusted herself around him. She served a bottle of water to him since they'd already had dinner.

While thinking of possible stuff to do, her phone tinged. Radwa's message reminded her she was coming the next day and they had planned to meet up outside. "Offo! I completely forgot." She smacked her forehead, "I had to iron my clothes. Neelofer baaji jala deti hein, hamesha."

Shaheer was seated on the single sofa, gulping down his second glass of water as he looked at her confused. Gule considered all the possibilities. She won't be able to do it after her father arrives, she'll be too sleepy in the morning, she could not think of anything to do right now and she has to wear them tomorrow. She decided it was the best time to complete the task, so she excused herself to bring down her clothes from the room.

The iron stand was next to the stairs, near the corner of the lounge area. Shaheer was sitting in the opposite direction so he got up to go towards Gule.

"Oh wait," she quickly went into the kitchen right behind the area, pushing the sliding chair out. "It'll be awkward for you to sit there alone," she was using her right elbow to move it and not put pressure on her wrist, which didn't go unnoticed by Shaheer.

"Here you go. Have a seat here." She smiled, stopping the chair beside the iron stand.

"Sit down. I'll do it." He spoke with a stern voice. It wasn't a request, but an order.

"What?" Gule's jaw fell open, eyes wide in surprise.

"I said I'll iron your clothes for you." He told with certainty and stepped towards the iron stand, leaving no space for argument.

"But I-" Gule just watched as he turned the switch on and got a hold of her dupatta spreading it out. He looked like he'd been working as the iron lady in their house for years. She stifled a laugh, sitting on the chair.

"Water spray?" He looked around the stand. Gule pushed her chair backwards with force, sliding towards the cabinet showcase nearby. She'd hidden the spray bottle from Radwa since she always picked it up like a child to annoy her.

The chair hit the wooden cabinet with a loud thud, she took the bottle out and kicked the cabinet to slide back, only to realize he was staring at her completely weirded out. "Sorry." She stopped the chair on time by placing her feet on the floor, feeling embarrassed. "It's a habit."

She started using the sliding chair when her father got on wheelchair, and seeing her slide around jokingly always made him laugh.

"Nobody is judging you. Do whatever makes you happy." He grabbed the spray bottle, turning his attention to the task. Gule could only gaze at him in awe. She put her feet up on the chair, hands locked over her knees, sitting comfortably.

"What's this?" He eyed the scary-looking little doll hanging above the stand on the key hooks.

"That's Muriel Bagge from courage the cowardly dog. Don't tell me you haven't watched those cartoons?" She gave him a look of shock when he shook his head.

"So she's like your favourite character? Or the opposite?" She had drawn a cross over the doll's face which made him wonder why she'd hang it there like that.

"Actually, that's Hitler aunty. I was home-schooled, so she was my private tutor for 7 years and she looked just like her character." This lady was the reason behind her abandonment issues, not her mother.

"I hate her and this doll hanging here is a reminder of that." She gave the doll a cold stare, "she was evil."

"If you truly hated her, you wouldn't have something that reminds you of her hanging like this." He stated, catching her off-guard. He was right. She wanted to know the reason behind the woman's rude behavior towards Gule on their last encounter.

"I'm all ears." Shaheer flipped the dupatta over, after ironing one side perfectly.

"One day she had a fight with my father and disappeared. She never bid goodbye, never once thought about me and left, just like that. She even changed her address." Gule begun. "At first I was happy, since she'd always make me study and give loads of homework. I was free and managing studies on my own."

"But then I started to miss her. Her daant. Her maar. Her jhooti kahaniyan. It was more annoying because with that woman around, my life was hell." She frowned, the frustrated emotions she felt were visible on her face.

"She'd still been my mentor so I decided to pay her a visit and after digging around, my best friend and I found her address." Shaheer was so invested that he put the iron aside to focus on her story.

"She was living with her youngest son. I was going to greet her with a smile but as soon as she saw me, she started screaming at me to leave or she'll put a curse on me to never find happiness." Gule still had the memory fresh in her head. She remembered there was pain in the woman's eyes and no matter how strict she was with Gule in studies, she'd never been this cold-hearted.

"It was traumatizing so I decided to traumatize her back." She jerked herself out of the emotions, hugging her knees as she continued with a playful smile again. "I started sending parcels of different things and a smiling selfie of mine with 'I'm happy' written on top of it to her every week. I sent my result copies, and even parceled the cake I learnt to bake. This continued for two months until I got to know she'd shifted to another place."

"I hope wherever she is, the thought of me still haunts her." She laughed, only to realize there was another sound synchronizing with hers.

He was laughing freely and the sound of it reaching her ears made her want to dance around in pure joy. She wanted to tell him to laugh like this more often. To let go of whatever it was that was holding him back.

But fearing that he'll collect the sound back and hold it captive inside him again if she said anything, she silently enjoyed the moment of bliss.

"Ab tum batao." She placed a hand under her chin, "How was your school life? Were you a good student? A backbencher?" He seemed like the bad boy type but she held the comment back.

"It was fine," His face grew serious again, "until it wasn't." The last three words were a whisper.

"You must have some funny or embarrassing stories from school, no?" She changed the direction of her question. She loved listening to those from Radwa too, since interesting stuff always happens at school. "Batao na!" She coaxed.

"I was mostly kicked out for sleeping in classes. I even rolled down and fell from the chair a few times." He was such a sleepy-head when little. Who knew he'd be praying for a few moments of peaceful sleep when grown up.

She chortled, throwing her head back to laugh out loud. It made him smile, yet again. Her laugh was melodious.

"Did you fight a lot in school as well?" She curiously asked.

"Not really." He negated.

"Ey, you're lying to me." She waved a hand, narrowing her eyes at him. "So you're saying you never got into fights at school?"

"Maybe a few times." He cleared his throat, agreeing dryly. Gule nodded at him to continue.

"Once when a boy bit off the skin on my arm." He looked at his forearm as Gule let out a horrified gasp. "Jungli kahin ka! Phir tumny kya kiya?"

He smiled. Gule had more to comment than he had to tell. She continued pestering him to narrate more stories from his childhood which he'd never thought were still locked in his memories.

Soon enough he was done ironing her clothes, but the awkwardness and silence was long gone and the air was filled with positive vibe and their comfortable conversation.

She got a call from Neelofer baaji informing her that they'd arrived. They went to the door to receive them, but her father was dozing off in the car due to the medicine and injection the doctor gave him.

Shaheer helped him up to his room with the help of the driver and Gule was grateful he'd stayed behind. He left right after, telling her to take care, two words which made her insides feel warm.

After checking up on her father sleeping one last time, she took his reports and new prescription to her room to search up the side effects of the medicines. Usually, Radwa also checked the reports for her since she was a medical student.

She hadn't talked to Radwa on call since the past two days so she dialed her number after freshening up and getting in her bed.

"Hello!" She answered the phone on the first ring as always.

"Ajwa! I miss you, ab bass aa jao wapis." She whined with a pout as she heard her best friend giggle in response.

"I'm coming back on Friday, bass samjho aa hi gai." She looked at the time, five minutes till twelve and for Friday to start. "You tell me, what's up? Aur kal, parsun kahan thi?"

Gule's mind drifted back to those ugly memories as she shook her head. She'll narrate the entire incident to her once she was back. Although, after talking to her father the previous night, she was about to call Radwa to cry about it all to her. Thankfully, she hadn't done so.

"I'm afraid I'm a simp for life." She shrieked in the phone, smoothly changing the topic.

"Tell me something I don't know." Radwa rolled her eyes on the other side, Gule could even guess the exact facial expressions she'd be wearing upon hearing that.

"No you don't know. You don't get it." She dreamily sighed as she reminisced the day she spent with him, blushing all over again and forgetting everything else in the world. "He's the sweetest thing to ever exist. Made me wonder how can someone be that perfect."

"Ab kya kar diya ussny?" Radwa could hear the excitement in her best friend's voice. She hadn't heard her talk about someone like this ever before. She had really gone crazy over this man.

"He just left after ironing my clothes for me." Gule flopped on the bed, giggling like a teenage girl.

"He just WHAT?" Radwa frowned. Before she could ask why the hell would he be ironing Gule's clothes, the crazy-in-love girl didn't let her say a word.

"It's crazy to me that he's real." Gule perked and Radwa could only shake her head with a smile listening to her talk about him their entire phone call.

"And oh my God!" She shrieked happily, lying on her stomach on the bed. "Him trying to speak punjabi is the funniest thing I've ever heard." She could talk about him for hours and she did, with her platonic soulmate.

//❄︎❄︎❄︎//

White clouds spread over the sky in various forms and shapes, hiding the sun somewhere amongst them as the winds consumed the air leading the afternoon to be fresh and chilly.

Draped in white cotton dupatta over her white frock with a matching plazo, Gule took strolls in the garden barefoot on the grass, enjoying the breeze while awaiting for her call to be picked up.

"Kidher ho tum?" She attacked him with the question as soon as her heartthrob picked up the call.

"Kidher hona chahiye?" He responded copying her tone.

His habit of replying to questions with another question was starting to grow on her. It was impressive. And she definitely knew how to answer them now.

"Asoolan tou mery paas hona chahiye." She smugly responded taking him completely off guard. After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat. "I had to go somewhere else, I'll be at your place soon."

Gule pondered over where he could be, but she chose not to invade his privacy by asking and kept her curiosity aside. "Okay. See you. Jaldi aao." She finished saying and as expected, he ended the call right after without a word. "Bye kehna tou seekha hi nai hai na issny. But he's pretty so I'll let it slide."

It was Friday and she had gotten up early even though she'd talked to Radwa on call till late night. When she went to her father's room she found out Neelofer baaji had informed him about Shaheer's visit.

Her father's reaction was something she'd not expected. She was discussing how his reports did not look good and she needed to visit the doctor herself when he had asked her, "Do you like that boy?"

She'd gone quiet, cheeks flushing red. "I'd like to think about tying the knot depending on your answer." Her father had weakly smiled seeing her nod. "Invite him over today." She was taken aback but rushed out of the room with a fast beating heart.

Tie the knot? Shaheer and her? Was her father really not against it? Never in a million years she'd expected it to unfold so smoothly. She had not talked about her feelings with her father, fearing what his reaction would be. Negative thoughts of his emotional state worsening always stopped her.

Who knew he'd initiate the conversation himself? When inviting Shaheer over, she was not sure how her father would talk to him, but she was sure about one thing. If he's going to reject her, she'd rather have her heart-broken now officially than later any other way.

She was extremely nervous, but looking forward to it too. She'd made a special dua after praying and she had a positive feeling that whatever was going to happen would be good for her.

Even if he doesn't want to get married now, or for a year, or even a few years, she didn't mind. She'd wait for him. Since she didn't have any thoughts about getting married either. Knowing how it had ended for her parents. So she was guessing her father will just put forward the idea and get them engaged.

She let the last petal of the motia flower fall with a whisper of, "he'll say yes!" Giggling, she twisted the stem between her finger and thumb. This was the fifth flower and the ratio of no and yes was 2:3. She pulled out her phone to look at the time. Staring at the time every passing minute, she ran out of patience in five minutes and dialled his number obtrusively.

"Where are you? I've been waiting for a decade at least, I mean twenty minutes, but it seemed like a decade." She sulked. She was impatiently taking rounds on the terrace, eyes wandering over the gate waiting for him to arrive.

"Erm," his culpability was evident when he spoke, "something came up."

Shaheer stared at the 'something' from head to toe, shaking his head. Hunain raised his brows, pointing at himself in question.

"What did?" Gule asked worriedly as she heard muffled voices and noisy shuffling from her phone's speaker.

"It's his birthday today and it's also Jummah," Hunain screamed into the phone as Gule had to pull her ear away from the speaker, "so he went to visit his mother's grave like he does on every Friday and now," he panted from the other end, clearly running for his life with the phone, "I'm trying to get my birthday treat out of his kanjoos ass."

Gule took a moment to digest all his words.

"Ow, maaro tou mat, chaval insan!" Hunain winced loudly from the other end before she heard shuffling noises and some muttering. The owner of the phone cleared his throat putting it back on his ear.

"Aaj tumhari birthday hai?" Gule asked quickly, "Tum ny bataya hi nai?" She further added before he could respond.

"Aap ny poocha hi nai?" He carelessly replied. Oh, she could hit his pretty face over this one, but he always had a point with his questions.

"Phir bhi, batana chahiye tha na tumhy." Gule scoffed.

"I'm not big on birthdays so I didn't think it was necessary." He said, showing no interest to talk about it. "Anyways, I'll be there in-"

"Anyways, ab mein bhi wish nai karun gi." With this dramatic comment, she ended the call.

Shaheer pulled the phone away, staring at the screen with a scowl, confused. Why was she offended over him not telling her about his birthday?

"HA! She shut the call on your face! How did experiencing it feel now since you always do that, Mr. Jojo?!" Hunain laughed out loud, pointing at his face.

"Shut up." Shaheer warned and before Hunain could further continue testing the man's patience, his own phone started ringing.

"Miss beemari?" He said the caller's ID out aloud as Shaheer's face involuntarily turned towards him, giving him the wanted attention.

"Hello from the other side!" He picked up, dancing with his shoulders, a teasing expression plastered on his face. Shaheer passed an annoyed look at him. "Really? Okay, sure." He spoke and stuck out his tongue at Shaheer who clicked his jaw.

"I got you, partner." He shut the call with a proud grin as Shaheer folded his arms leaning over his bike and asked as casually as possible, "What was she saying?"

"Kyun bataun?" Hunain sassily rolled his eyes, seizing the given opprtunity to tease the man like it was his life goal. "Are you curious? Or jealous?"

Shaheer straightened up and Hunain instantly got into fighting pose with his fists out. The tall man got on his bike instead, not entertained by his antiques. "She invited me over too!" Hunain rushed to get on the back of the bike making Shaheer twist his neck around to give him a questioning stare.

"Let's go together, jelly Jojo." Hunain patted his shoulders, keeping his hands there. Shaheer roughly jerked his hands off by shrugging his shoulders, but the upbeat guy had no intention of taking them off as he pressed his shoulder blades.

"I'd like to invite you to come along with Shaheer, but you've a secret task. Can you make sure you guys get, like, 15, no 20 minutes late?"

He thought over Gule's words on the phone call, coming up with a quick plan. He could puncture the bike's tyre, but Shaheer was riding the bike at a fast speed and he was aware of all his tricks.

He slowed down reaching a speed breaker and Hunain successfully took the opportunity to take out the sturdy sharp pocket knife he always carried around for his own safety.

Since Shaheer knew how to fight and protect himself, but Hunain was zero in that aspect. It was Shaheer who had strictly ordered him to carry around a weapon for precaution.

He carefully pierced the surface of the tyre from the back and before Shaheer could speed up again, he began screaming, "Ruko, ruko!"

Shaheer didn't pay attention to him, but instantly felt something was wrong with his bike. He stopped at the side as Hunain hopped off with a sigh of relief. Twisting his upper body around, he inspected the back tyre which had gone flat.

"Oh shit!" Hunain faked a shocked expression. Taking off his helmet, Shaheer threw a hard glare his way.

"Tum bike utha utha kar maarty ho, tameez sy chalani thi na!" Hunain shamelessly threw the blame on him. He got off the bike, running a hand through his hair.

"I don't care. Now, you get this fixed." Shaheer ordered, still not sure what caused the puncture on the road. He was about to bend down to check closely as Hunain panicked.

"Kesy fix karun? Ura kar ly jaun kiya?" He covered the tyre by blocking Shaheer's way. Fishing out his phone, he put his hand up to make sure the man with hawk eyes doesn't move. "Hilna mat tum, mein call kar raha hun tyre ky liye."

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he glanced at his wristwatch. She must be waiting for him and he kept on running late.

The wind blew her hair out of her face as she ran towards the chambeli bazaar. The nearest market to her house and she knew each shop there like the back of her hand. She'd often sneak out to go there since little, when her father would be asleep.

To her luck, it was also the place where she had met him for the first time. Chambeli bazaar will always have a piece of her heart for that.

"Mujhy bouquet banwana hai!" She announced in the flower shop running out of breath, but the smile never left her features. The shopkeeper gave her a surprised look, then smiled back looking at the elated girl. "Apni pasand ky phool utha lein."

Gule had returned home in exact 15 minutes with a beautiful bouquet of red and pink tulips alongside long baby's-breath flowers with thin long stems at the back in a creative arrangement.

She was grinning ear to ear when her phone tinged. It was a message from her best friend informing about her safe arrival. The turn of events had caused her to cancel her plan of picking Radwa up, so she'd called her best friend to come over at her place after taking some rest from the long trip. She had so much to tell her.

Daydreaming while looking at the flowers, she almost dropped the bouquet hearing the bell ring. Fixing her hair and checking herself out in the mirror by the main door, she bit her lower lip in nervousness.

She ran towards the gate, holding the bouquet carefully. Wondering if she should hide it behind her back or hide her face with it when greeting him. She decided to go with the flow and put it in his face right after opening the door.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Fully opening the gate, she extended her hand with the bouquet forward, "happy birthday!" She exclaimed, grinning.

Hunain silently moved out of the way, bringing Shaheer who was standing at the back into view. Gule didn't budge, awkwardly standing in the same position. Hunain pushed Shaheer forward with a smack, pointing at him to accept the bouquet instead of dragging the moment.

"Th-" He cleared his throat, "Thank you?" Unable to process the situation, he muttered a very questionable thanks. Hunain clapped, hooting, which made Gule smile, shaking her embarrassment away.

"OOOOH! Your first time receiving a bouquet." He leaned to Shaheer's side and whispered, "wo bhi ek larki sy."

She led them in, closing the gate. Shaheer's gaze was fixed on the bouquet of flowers in his hand, closely staring at every flower in it. He definitely felt something fluttering inside him.

They were standing by the entrance as he turned around, eyes raising from the bouquet to her now. Gule froze in her spot behind him, a shy smile on her face.

He was wearing black shalwar kameez, sleeves folded till his elbows. She was seeing him in shalwar kameez for the first time and this man could pull off any outfit without even trying.

He took in her white outfit, few layers of her black hair were resting over her right shoulder as her hand went up to tuck the fallen strands behind her ear gracefully. She looked dazzling.

They were both wearing their favourite colors. Black and white. Both wondering if their new favorite color was going to switch to each other's.

"I'll guide myself in, I guess." Hunain looked between the two and walked in when they didn't pay any attention to his existence. He greeted Neelofer baaji who guided him towards Gule's father's room upstairs.

"In honour of Shaheer day, the sky was absolutely mesmerizing today." Gule declared, excitement masking her features. Shaheer was captivated and he didn't know how to respond.

"Do you like the flowers?" She asked with wide hopeful eyes.

"They're beautiful." He affirmed, eyes not leaving hers. For a moment, Gule felt he had double meaning behind his words. Calling the thought ridiculous, she smiled broadly at the man who was focused on her. He was, indeed, talking about her.

"Can I get a glass of water?" He requested as they entered the house. Gule nodded, rushing towards the kitchen. Neelofer baaji was there and informed her Hunain was with her father upstairs.

When she returned with the tray, she found him sitting on the sofa, trying to balance the bouquet beside himself so it won't fall or disfigure the position of the flowers, so very gently. This man was going to be the death of her.

After he was done drinking, she led him to her father's room. Not having the confidence to stay or patience to wait, she stood outside the closed door, eavesdropping on the conversation taking place inside.

"I support this proposal." Hunain whispered to him when he went near the two seater sofa by the wall next to the door. Shaheer gave him a confused look.

"Idher betho." Her father patted the space on the bed, calling him near. Shaheer obliged, sitting by the corner of the bed.

Gule's father had actually been looking for proposals to marry off his daughter before anything happens to him. Life is unexpected and the thought of leaving his beloved daughter alone in the world scared him.

Especially after his last visit to the doctor, who had told him his bones were growing weak, almost like paper, and he had little time left. Gule had no idea about this, but he was adamant on marrying her off as soon as possible.

Having no mother growing up, he'd feared the society they lived in would judge her every step. His fears were valid and came out to be true when he had met a few families for her rishta a few months back.

A girl's father putting forth a proposal for a man was already an unacceptable thing in people's eye. If accepted, he'd find the guy to be undeserving of his daughter after digging in about him.

Those proposals were from nearby places, so he easily got the information from the driver and Neelofer, who resided to gossip in every house of the town. They were rejected before ever reaching Gule's ears, who had never once shown interest in marriage.

Until this handsome young man showed up at their house. He'd noticed her behavior change around him, her eyes glowing when asked about him.

At first, he was reluctant knowing he works for Ruman Haider Shah. But the day Gule disclosed his true identity, he knew this man was not someone to take lightly. If he was risking to stand against the powerful empire of that corrupt man, he could be the only person to do what a father couldn't do in all these years, protect his daughter from him.

"Mein seedhi baat karun ga. I want to ask for your hand in marriage with my daughter." His words were like a bomb dropped straight on Shaheer's head. His brain went blank and he thought he was hearing things.

"I see you as a smart and responsible man. Your friend here told me you have graduated as a top student and were recruited in high paid jobs." He praised Shaheer who was idly sitting there with a straight posture and unreadable face.

"Did he not tell you that I was kicked out of my job and," he looked over at Hunain, "I think he also forgot to mention that I'm an ex convict." His hands in fists over his laps, he was saying in a low tone.

Gule felt goosebumps rising all over her body, not that she wasn't aware of these things, but hearing him say that made the weak information turn into strong facts. Unable to hear the conversation any further, she stepped down the stairs.

"He mentioned it. That you were falsely accused." Her father calmly responded. "You don't get to choose what test befalls on you, but you do get to choose what lessons you'll learn from it." He lectured with a faraway look on his face.

He hadn't suffered the punishment for his sin, while the young man had suffered the punishment for a sin he didn't even commit. Maybe that's why life had cruelly taken away the most essential thing from him, his health, while blessing the blameless fellow with the most precious thing, his daughter, Gule Shah.

"I'm an orphan," he said, even though he knew the grown man was aware of the fact, "and I've never thought about having a family of my own." He added.

"Tou ab soch lo." He spoke in his sick rusty voice.

"She deserves someone better than me." Shaheer was looking down, his jaw ticked, as if the idea pained him.

The fact that the young man with oozing confidence was showing reluctance to accept his daughter's proposal only because he feared he was not worthy enough for her was such a huge assurance and relief to the sick father.

The little doubt and trust issue he had with this rishta, flew out of the window in seconds. Now, he saw him as a man who knew the worth of his daughter and he could easily leave her to his care.

"Meiny apni beti ki ankhon mein dekha hai." He smiled, seeing the man with more respect. There was a reason his daughter was fond of him, he clearly saw and understood it now.

However, his heart ached at the thought of separating from the only source of happiness in his life. He was her father after all, how could he be relaxed at the idea of giving his daughter's responsibility to another man.

"Thori jhalli hai, magar bohut samajhdar hai. Bohut hassas hai. Chotti chotti baaton ko feel karti hai. Meri gul, ek khoobsoorat phool ki tarah hai." Her father had a pained look on his face as tears gathered in his wrinkled eyes.

"Ussko kabhi murjhany mat dena." It was a request of a father who'd raised his daughter all alone while losing everything in his life.

Shaheer couldn't refuse. How could he when he himself wished for the same thing, for her to never lose her sparkle.

"Meri taraf sy bhi han, yes, done hai." Hunain cheered with genuine happiness, changing the gloomy atmosphere into a gleeful one.

Gule walked dazedly in the garden, the grass tickling her bare feet. She was lost in her streaming thoughts, wondering about the conversation taking place in her father's room.

The fear of getting rejected and never seeing him again led her to absentmindedly walk towards the two stair steps entrance from the lawn into the house, as she dropped down on the marble step feeling restless.

Hugging her knees, she twisted her toes downwards in the grass due to stress. Her eyes were lost in their own world, staring in the direction of the radiant sky which was slowly dulling as time passed.

She didn't realize when the tall figure of the man she'd obsessively been thinking about reached near her and settled down next to her, barely a hand's distance between them. She noticed his long legs, folded from the knees yet taking up a whole lot of space as he sat manspreading his thighs.

"What's wrong?" He had been watching her from the back for a good few minutes, lost in the view of her calm figure till he decided to become her company.

Gule looked to her side, their eyes meeting. Fiery amber ones striking with chocolate brown ones. Gule found herself falling deeper into the pits of those mysterious eyes, which narrated a billion unsaid stories of their own to her.

"What are you thinking?" He asked again, furrowing his brows at her unusual silence.

Her thoughts were a mess. The cause? Him, who was currently wondering what was she thinking. She was thinking about how she knows nothing about him to think about. He'd never talked about himself with her.

He'd lost his parents at a young age, she didn't know how. He'd survived all these years alone, she didn't know doing what. He'd found her to deceive, she still didn't know why.

So many questions, but all she knew was that she loved him. Despite all the lies, no matter the reason, whatever the consequences, she loves him. Unconditionally.

Putting all those useless lies away, she trusted the feelings she felt towards the man by her side. Believing in the fact that he would open up to her one day about all his secrets, but she'd forgotten that naked truths aren't always pretty.

"Sometimes we act like we're okay but deep down we all know how it is." She sighed looking up at the sky.

"How?" He cluelessly questioned.

"Mein kyun bataun? Tum batao?" Gule straightened up energetically, turning her upper body in his direction, fully attentive.

Shaheer's brows went up, his insides lit up seeing her back to being herself. He was busy admiring her when Gule frowned.

"Sharmao mat, khul kaye batao." She further lightened up the mood with her statement, waiting for him to speak. Although, she was dying on the inside.

If he'd rejected her, the last thing she wanted was having any sort of awkwardness between them. She'd never make him feel bad about choosing himself. She could play it cool, she lied to herself.

Shaheer continued to stare at her without uttering a word. He was someone who planned for each and everything in his life. This woman was the only unplanned happening he had never imagined to befall on him.

If she was the light, he was the shadow. But the funny thing was, the shadow needed the light to exist. Just like she had started to give him a new purpose in life. He needed her in his life to survive now.

Maybe, they both needed each other to complete each other. She was in need of someone who'd stay by her side, never betray her, never judge her for whoever she was. If he could be that someone, he'd be the luckiest man.

"Aisy qurbani ky bakry wali shakal bana kar kyun dekh rahy ho mujhy?" Gule joked with a nervous chuckle as she avoided meeting his hot unfazed gaze on her.

"Mein qurbani ka bakra banny ky liye maan gaya." He informed in a small whisper, his voice almost raspy due to the low tone.

For a minute, Gule couldn't believe her ears. It took her one long look at his unwavering expressions to realize he was being serious.

"Tum asal mein maan gaye?" She didn't hide her shock. She'd been preparing herself for something else. For her heart desires had only ever brought her misery in the end. How come he agree to become hers so easily?

"Nakli ka kesy maanty hein?" He raised a brow, answering back with another question like he always does. She forgot how to speak.

They sat there in silence as the sun sank behind the clouds, bidding farewell. The gate lamps turned on and so did the lawn light, fading darkness away. They sat under the yellow light shining on them. Gule gave in and let her eyes meet his gentle ones which were constantly on her.

He had a dazed look in his eyes as he beheld her. Her heart raced at an abnormal rate under his scrutinizing gaze. "Why..." she murmured, unable to voice out her thought.

"You remind me of my mother." He said softly and for a fleeting moment, Gule thought his eyes were almost wet. Her heart stopped and dropped to the pit of her stomach.

It took a lot in Shaheer to admit to that. Whenever he was with her, simple things she did resurfaced the memories of his mother. Her positivity, deep talks, friendly nature. Fact remains, Gule was the sweetest person. The realization had already washed over him.

"Friend-zoned tou suna tha, tum kya mother-zone kar rahy ho?" Gule made a sullen face, in a childish manner. Shaheer smiled, shaking his head.

"I'm just saying, tum mein wo sab khasoosiyat hein jo meri maa mein thi aur wo, wo aurat hai jis se mein dunya mein sab sy zyada muhabbat karta hun." He paused, regarding Gule with the most admiring look. "Aur agar wo aaj hoti, tou mujhy yakeen hai wo mery liye tumhy hi pasand kartee."

Gule had forgotten how to breathe upon hearing his words. Her heart had ruptured and she was walking on air in a different world. She bit her lower lip, placing a palm over her heart which was beating out of her chest. She was getting a heart attack for sure.

"Bass kar do yarr! Dimagh py sawaar tou pehli nazar mein hi ho gaye thy, aur dil doosri mulaqaat mein ly gaye, ab kya jaan bhi logy kya?" She cried out, literally complaining.

"Kya?" Shaheer let out an amused chuckle, as Gule grasped her words which had been an indirect confession in the spur of the moment due to the overflowing adrenaline. Her cheeks turned red in heated embarrassment.

Radwa, on the other end, arrived at Gule's place. She caught sight of a weird man trying to peer at something from over the wall of her best friend's house. His right foot was placed over the cemented area to uplift him in getting a view of the lawn.

"Oye!" She neared the creep by the gate, shouting. Hunain jerked away from the wall at the loud voice, cussing under his breath for getting caught. He stared at the familiar girl, innocently blinking. Her hair were like noodles. He loved noodles.

"Wahan latak kar kya jhaank rahy thy?" Radwa squinted her eyes under her round glasses, recognizing the man as well.

"Kuch nai!" Hunain said, irritated by her wrong timing of arrival. He was posing in a presentable position 5 minutes ago, only if she'd arrived earlier. "Billi jesi ankhein hein." He whispered to himself, but it was loud enough for Radwa to hear.

"Chimpanzee jesi shakal aur harkatein hein tumhari. Lagta hai ussi ky khandaan sy ho." She flared up in anger.

"Khandaan py mat jayein." Hunain warned in a serious tone.

"Dimag set hai tumhara? Meiny tumhy chimpanzee ky khandaan sy hony ka kaha hai, tou isska matlab tum chimpanzee huye, tumhara asli khandaan beech mein kahin nai aata." She quickly defended as her face turned red, amusing the man further.

"Kenchi ki tarah zaban chalti hai."

"Desi auntyon waly taany dety ho tum."

"Achaa, pehly chimpanzee ky khandaan wala taana kis ny diya tha? Violated my whole bloodline."

"For God's sake. That's not how I meant it. Stop putting words into my mouth."

"I can put two and two together." He took a step forward.

"You're twisting my words the wrong way." She followed his action, chin held high to glare at him from above her glasses.

"Your words are twisted just like your curls." Another step forward, leaving just a little space between them.

There was a pause as they stared at each other, eyes moving back and forth, burning as if on fire.

"Tum....UFF! Peechy hatto." She pushed past him through the unlocked gate, only to find her best friend sitting beside the man she couldn't stop talking about, freely in the garden. She stomped their way when Hunain made a "pishh," sound to call her.

"Gul, yeh badtameez aadmi yahan kya kar raha hai?" She shouted pointing at him as he had followed right behind her, trying to stop her from interrupting them.

"Sherry, mujhy bhi iss churail ky saath yahan nai rukna." He complained, offended at her offense over seeing him.

"Fitte moun." Gule muttered as the two interrupted her confession. Shaheer bent his head down, letting the corner of his lips twist upwards. They both got up from the ground.

"Han tou shakal goom karo issy pehly yeh churail tumhara moun noch ly." Radwa faced him again.

"Chalo maan liya ky churail hai." Hunain mocked.

"Ainda nazar mat aana mujhy tum!"

"Oops. Too bad. You'll have to see my handsome face next week on your friend's nikkah ceremony, unless you're not joining." Hunain folded his arms with a proud look, knowing he won with this one.

"WHAT?" Radwa screamed earning a hiss from his side as he covered his ear.

"WHEN?" Gule shouted next, shock written all over her face. "Did you say next week?" Her reaction turned Shaheer's attention her way, confused at her obliviousness. He thought she'd discussed the matter with her father.

"Yes, we just confirmed the date with uncle." Hunain stated with a wide grin. Radwa let out another gasp as Gule turned around running inside towards her father's room.

"Lagta hai sharma gai." Hunain remarked making Radwa's head snap in his direction before she punched him right in the nose real hard.

//❄︎❄︎❄︎//

/Author's Note\

RIP MY HEART 😔♥️

THEY'RE SO 🥺🥺🥺

also hunain & radwa are adorable tom & jerry duo i love them 😭

it's so funny to me bcz i NEVER plan for a second couple but it j ends up happening w the flow like ??

it's not me it's them 😚

& ship name recommendations for my best babies ? 👀

gulsha?

shale?

guleer?

shagul? 💀

( i cant come up w any non-funny ones 😭 )

they're j puma & gulunu 💗

y'all are gonna get a SHOCKING revelation in the next chap which nobody's ready for , i promise to have y'all stunned 😋

so keep ur popcorns & snacks ready sksksk although it might take me longer to update the next chap here cuz this chap took me like ages to write ITS LEGIT 20K WORDS LONG IF YOU CAN'T TELL , so yea pls bear w me & be patient :')

and yes i've given them a separate book of their own 😌 i'll update the next chapter in parts there first & then over here by joining them into one long chap , so y'all can read wherever you're comfortable 😚

( if you can't stay in suspense then read here & if you can't wait patiently then read there lmao )

and also my brain decided to come up w another plot for one of the tiny characters we met here in TOD 😳

GUESS WHO?

our very own C for compromise couple's son Waleed 😭 & among all the many plots & stories in my drafts , i couldn't stop myself from jotting it down & PUBLISHED IT so do check it out !!

ok until next time , take care <3

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