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"Laiba Fawaz Patel spotted outside the Starbucks in Jayanagar where Areeb Ghafur's car was parked. Reports say that Laiba and Areeb had patched up again in the success party of Izhaan Ali."

Laiba threw the remote across the room as sweat beads form in her body. She paced around the room with anxiety rushing in her. She wasn't scared for the media nor was she scared for the headlines that included the only daughter of the royal Patel family for the limelight but there was only two persons who scared her the most.

Her father and Areeb.

"How did this happen, Laiba?" Lyana sat win the bed with fear embedded in her face as well. "I don't know, Mom."

She shook her head sitting down besides her. "I don't even know if Areeb was there."

"What about you and him patching up again? What was that news about?"

"I bumped into him in Izhaan's party. I had no idea he was there. It was so horrible to face him, Mom. He hasn't changed a bit. He is still the some. Calm like the silence before the storm and as terrible as the thunderstorms."

Laiba's eyes grew tearful, remembering the days spent with Areeb. A toxic relationship with forced proximity of nothingness from him.

The door opened slowly. They looked up, Fawad entered. He walked towards his sister, indulging her in a hug. Laiba broke down in his arms.

"What's happening Fawad?" Lyana asked.

Fahad and Faayaq entered right after. "Mom, it wasn't Areeb. It was me. Laiba and I went to Starbucks last night but I did not find Areeb there forget about his car."

"Bhaiya, Dad hates Areeb so do I but I don't know what Dad will say because of this. The last time that scandal that broke between us made Dad so angry. Trust me, I did not patched up with him or something at Izhaan's party."

"I know you, we know you, Laiba. Don't worry, everything will be alright." Fawad tells, patting her head twice.

They were in the heat of moment when Fawaz's voice startled them. "Laiba!"

Laiba hugs Fawad tightly in the peak of fear. "Don't worry, Laiba. Dad won't do anything. He knows you. He just needs to ask you, answer him accurately and you'll be fine."

"Laiba!" She sat startled at the voice. Lyana stood up and looks down at Laiba. She cared about her.

"Was that you, Laiba?"

"Dad, it was-"

"I am asking her, Fawad. She is my daughter." Fawaz cut him off. Laiba stands up, he rolls to her side. She stares down at the floor.

"Dad, last night I was with Fawad Bhai in the Starbucks. I am not aware that Areeb's car or he himself was there."

"It's not a big issue, Fawaz. What would she do under the pressure of Areeb?" Lyana walks forward to her husband, glancing back and forth at her daughter and Fawad.

"Even I am not aware of the fact that Areeb was there, Dad." Fawad tells his father who sighs suffocated. "What about the patch up news in the success party of Izhaan Ali?"

"It's a lie, Dad. Areeb bumped into me that day. We didn't talked much with each other. Izhaan came in. I was glad I was saved because of him." She answers.

"What? Izhaan knows?" Fawaz asked shocked at her words but the words coming next will make Laiba shocked. She began, "I don't know if he does but he saved me that day by coming in between."

"Good that he knows. I don't want any filters between." Everyone stared at Fawaz, confused and baffled at his words. Filters? For what?

"Hashir Bhai asked Laiba's proposal for Izhaan."

That was enough for her to cry. She was too scared to get married.

"Everyone out!" Fawaz announces sitting in the bed. He wanted to talk with Laiba. The amount of proposals rejected by Laiba were many. Areeb was one of them but he was obsessed with her.

"Dad-" Faayaq came forward, but receiving a glare from Fawaz made him shut his mouth up. They leave the father and daughter together alone.

"Sit down, Laiba." She sits besides, gulping the pain in the throat.

"Do you ever realise why I don't get so close with you, Laiba?"

She shakes her head. Fawaz had been a great father to her, he cared about her but he was too strict for Laiba to visualise that care.

"I care for you beta. I have been more scared to let you out of the mansion after what Areeb did to you. I do not want you so broken mera bacha. I want you to grow and be strong."

She listens to his words, staring at him as he says. "I know the difference between force and pressure, Laiba."

She knew where the conversation was going. She really did. Fawaz never say with her and talked about how good she needs to be for the proposal. It was the second time. First, it was when Areeb's proposal came for Laiba.

"When it was the time of Areeb, I wanted the best for you. Areeb Ghafur was the icon people died for. I thought he was the best one for you but I was wrong."

She listens to his words. It was the very few times she saw Fawaz this way but deep down she knew he cared.

"This time. Out of all the proposals, I can assure you, Izhaan is the best for you."

I can assure you, Areeb is the best for you.

Laiba kept hearing it. She wasn't supposed to. She wanted to select a partner by herself.

"You said the same last time, Dad."

"I know but just to let you know Izhaan is nowhere near Areeb."

•

Laiba cried for a while. Her tears wouldn't stop. She didn't expect that Izhaan's father would turn up the proposal. She sighs noticing the door open. Her brother Fawaz comes in. They were alone now.

"Bhai please... Leave me alone."

"I am not here to pressurise you or force you towards this proposal, Laiba." He stopped and walks forward towards the sofa she was sitting in before the window.

"I don't want to tell that izhaan is a nice guy. I want you to know that you have my complete support. I want you to decide what you want in your life. The world is a scary place, Laiba. You need to die for yourself to live. This is how the world works if it was in my hand I would want always the best for you but right now I don't think if there is someone better than Izhaan."

She sat still. The things going on in her life had flipped over. She didn't even know that her life will become so miserable with in a day.

"I will talk with Dad. Stop worrying about the royal family rules and criteria, look up at what you want and work for it. No one is going to do that for you."

"I want to work for it Bhai. It's not like I don't care about my wishes. I really want to live a life like I am not caged in this mansion. I want to breath. I want to walk on my own without guards following me. I want to be financially independent physically and mentally. I want to know what living for yourself means I know I am being ungrateful by telling you that but this is what I want. This might look hard but this is what life is."

He sits down besides her. "Izhaan can give you that. The world didn't even knew who is Izhaan Hashir Ali was 5 years ago. But today there is no one in the world who doesn't knows Izhaan. He is a hard working man, he knows what he is doing and he knows what the opposite wants. He is aware that how he needs to treat women. He specialises in that case."

Laiba stares at her brother for a while. She knows where he was going. "He will equally respect and love you, Laiba."

"You don't know anything about him." She says looking back at the trees of the backyard outside the window.

"Izhaan loved his cousin Sahar. Sahar and Izhaan got engaged to each other. Sahar discovered her family after their engagement. Sahar and her cousin Shahveer Siddiqui fell for each other. Izhaan knew that Sahar was not happy with their alliance. He broke it just before the day of their nikah."

She couldn't hear it. It felt surreal.

"He did it just for the sake of Sahar's happiness. You do now realise how big his heart could be."

Laiba sat still. She couldn't digest the fact that Izhaan gave up his love for the sake of her happiness. Was his pain less in front of her happiness for him?

She was stunned but she knew what she wanted now not because of his big heart but because of his kindness and his aura. It all shows what heart he has.

•

"What?"

Izhaan stands up from his bed and glares at his mother, shocked. "Why would you do something like that, Mom? Without asking me once?"

"Laiba is a great girl for you, Izhaan. Sahar and I with your Dadi were discussing this from a few days. Last night Sahar came. That's the reason she came so that we could talk about it. Who told you to turn up late?"

He breaths up and down trying to focus on the better side but this was growing too worst.

"Laiba is a great girl for me? Mom please. I told you that I do not want to get married unless I find my suitable one. Let me choose what I want to do with my life, Mom."

"I know it's your life. You have complete right to decide but you can't simply postpone it for nothing, Izhaan. I know it hurts you to go on that road again but I will not let you do it this time. Fawaz Sahab told your father that he will answer within three days. If yes, I'll get you engaged within a week."

He threw the magazine in the sofa, shaking his head in dismay, "I seriously can't believe what you are doing. I am not going to do it, Mom."

He wanted to but he knew that if he did, the destiny was repeating. He knew it would break Laiba to get married to him when she's in love with Areeb.

Atleast that's what he assumed.

•

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