RAFIA KHAN 🌷

The girl who left her heart behind and flew thousands of miles away.

Beautiful, stubborn, emotional and a complete overthinker.

She can argue with anyone and everyone, but melts instantly in front of the people she loves.

Spent years loving someone in silence, believing that some feelings are meant to remain unspoken forever.

Her biggest strength? Her family.

Her biggest weakness?

Well... let's just say one certain boy whose name she pretends not to care about.

🤍 DURREZ AHMED 🤍

Calm, caring and annoyingly confident.

The kind of person who can make your heart race with a single glance and then act like nothing happened.

He rarely speaks more than necessary, but when he does, everyone listens.

His smile is dangerous. His silence is even more dangerous.

And unfortunately for Rafia...

He has a habit of appearing in every chapter of her life.

🌸 MIDHAT SHAN 🌸

Rafia's best friend and unofficial life manager.

Sweet, understanding and always ready to protect the people she loves.

The only person who can handle Rafia's drama without losing her sanity.

Her husband may be calm...

But she definitely is not.

✨ SHAN AHMED ✨

The peace-maker of the group.

The guy who fixes problems before they become disasters.

Calm, mature and endlessly patient.

Everyone trusts him.

Especially when the rest of the group is creating chaos.

💫 ANAM NAVIL 💫

Smart, fearless and impossible to fool.

She knows everyone's secrets before they even realize they have one.

Protective of her loved ones and always ready with a comeback.

The queen of knowing more than she tells.

😎 NAVIL KHAN 😎

Professional troublemaker.

Part-time friend. Full-time chaos creator.

The one person who says exactly what should not be said.

Loves teasing people, exposing secrets and creating unnecessary drama.

His life mission?

Making sure nobody in the group gets to live peacefully.

😭🍿💖🌷✨

NAH BECAUSE NAVIL'S INTRO HAD TO BE DRAMATIC. 🤣💕

The bright morning sunlight entered through the large glass window of the apartment.

For the first time in weeks, Rafia didn't have to rush anywhere.

No lectures. No assignments. No presentations.

It was finally a holiday.

Stretching lazily on her bed, she picked up her phone and checked the time.

11:07 AM.

A smile appeared on her face.

"Finally a day for myself."

She sat up and started scrolling through different places she could visit.

Maybe a café.

Maybe shopping.

Maybe just a peaceful walk.

After spending months buried under studies, she desperately needed some time to relax.

"Hmmm..." she muttered while looking at her phone.

"Where should I go? Why is choosing a place harder than studying?"

She sighed dramatically and threw herself back onto the bed.

Just then...

Her phone started ringing.

"Mumma Calling..."

A smile instantly appeared on her face.

She quickly picked up.

"Assalamualaikum Mumma!"

"Waalaikum Assalam beta."

"How are you all? How's Daddy? How's Arqam?"

There was a brief silence.

A silence that immediately made Rafia sit straight.

"Mumma?"

"Beta... tum wapas aa jao."

The smile disappeared from her face.

"What?"

"Tumhare Daddy ki tabiyat theek nahi hai."

Her heartbeat immediately dropped.

"Daddy ki tabiyat kharab hai?"

"Haan beta."

The color drained from her face.

"What happened? Why didn't anyone tell me earlier?"

"Bas beta... tum aa jao."

Her hands started shaking.

"Mumma, what happened exactly? Is Daddy okay?"

"Abhi baat karna mushkil hai beta."

"Mumma!"

"Flight kal raat ki hai."

"What?!"

Rafia stood up from the bed.

"Kal raat? Mumma, tickets itni jaldi kaise mil gayi? Aur college? Semester? Attendance?"

"Sab manage ho gaya."

"What do you mean manage ho gaya?"

"We have already talked to your director."

For a moment she was completely speechless.

"Mumma... you informed my director before informing me?"

"Haan."

"Mummaaaa!"

Despite her panic, she couldn't stop herself from saying it.

Under normal circumstances she would've argued for hours.

But right now she was too worried.

The only thing running through her mind was her father.

Finally she nodded.

"Thik hai."

"Packing kar lo beta."

The call disconnected.

The room suddenly felt empty.

Very empty.

Rafia sat down on her bed.

Her eyes fixed on the floor.

Questions.

Hundreds of questions.

What happened?

How serious was it?

Why was everyone hiding things?

She wanted someone to talk to.

Someone who would tell her everything would be okay.

Without thinking, she opened her contacts.

Midhat.

Call.

No response.

She frowned.

"Busy hogi."

Then she called Anam.

No response.

"Weird."

Another call.

Still nothing.

She put her phone aside.

Maybe they were busy.

Maybe she was overthinking.

But somehow she couldn't calm herself.

That entire day passed in packing, worrying and making silent prayers.

The next evening she stood at the airport.

People were rushing everywhere.

Announcements echoed through the terminal.

But she barely noticed anything.

Her fingers tightened around her boarding pass.

"Ya Allah..."

She whispered softly.

"Bas sab theek ho."

A few hours later...

She was sitting beside the airplane window.

Watching the city lights disappear beneath the clouds.

Completely unaware that this journey was about to change her life forever.

And not in the way she expected.

TO BE CONTINUED...

😭💖🌷

The moment the airplane landed, Rafia felt a strange sense of relief.

She didn't know why.

Maybe because she was finally back home.

Or maybe because she was about to see her family after months.

As soon as she stepped out of the airport, her eyes immediately started searching through the crowd.

And then she saw him.

Arqam.

Standing with his hands in his pockets and looking as uninterested as ever.

A small smile appeared on her face.

"Arqaaammm!"

Before he could react, she hugged him tightly.

"Apko dekh ke lag raha hai ghar mein sab theek hai."

Arqam awkwardly patted her head.

"Chalo."

Bas.

One word.

Rafia narrowed her eyes.

"Bas chalo?"

"Haan."

"Hum itne mahino baad aaye hain."

"Haan."

"Daddy kaise hain?"

"Theek."

"Mumma?"

"Theek."

"Phir humko daraaya kyun gaya?"

Arqam opened the car door.

"Baitho."

Rafia stared at him.

"Allah kasam, tumse zyada boring insaan maine aaj tak nahi dekha."

For the first time, Arqam laughed.

A very small laugh.

But it was enough.

The entire drive home was torture.

Every question she asked received the same answer.

"Haan."

"Nahi."

"Theek."

"Pata nahi."

By the time they reached home, she was ready to throw something at him.

As soon as she entered the house, her eyes searched for her parents.

The next second she froze.

Her father was sitting comfortably on the sofa drinking tea.

Healthy.

Completely healthy.

No hospital.

No medicines.

No weakness.

Nothing.

Her jaw dropped.

"DADDY?!"

Her father smiled.

"Assalamualaikum beta."

"Waalaikumassalam?!"

She walked toward him.

"What do you mean Waalaikumassalam?!"

Both her parents looked at each other.

Uh oh.

That expression.

She knew that expression.

Someone was guilty.

Very guilty.

"Mumma..."

"Ji beta."

"Daddy..."

"Haan beta."

"Kis ki tabiyat kharab thi?"

Silence.

Arqam immediately disappeared.

Traitor.

Absolute traitor.

Her mother coughed.

"Beta..."

"No."

Her father tried.

"Rafia..."

"No."

Her mother smiled nervously.

"We may have lied a little."

"A LITTLE?!"

Rafia stared at them in disbelief.

"Aap logo ne bola Daddy ki tabiyat kharab hai!"

Her father looked away.

Her mother looked away.

Even the wall looked away.

Nobody was ready to make eye contact.

Finally her father sighed.

"If we had told the truth, you wouldn't have come."

Rafia crossed her arms.

"Obviously."

"Exactly."

"DADDY!"

Her mother started laughing.

"Beta hum tumhe miss kar rahe the."

"We could've done a video call!"

"It isn't the same."

For a few seconds, Rafia tried very hard to stay angry.

Very hard.

Unfortunately...

These were her parents.

And she could never stay angry at them for long.

Finally she sighed dramatically.

"Fine."

Her mother immediately smiled.

"Good."

"But I'm still angry."

"Okay."

"Very angry."

"Okay."

"Extremely angry."

"Okay."

Now she was annoyed.

How was she supposed to fight if nobody was fighting back?

A few hours later, she finally entered her room.

Everything looked exactly the same.

The same curtains.

The same bookshelf.

The same photographs.

For the first time since returning, she felt relaxed.

She threw herself on the bed and grabbed her phone.

A smile appeared on her face.

Finally.

She could talk to her friends.

First call.

Midhat.

No answer.

"Huh."

Second call.

Still nothing.

"Weird."

Then Anam.

No answer.

Again.

No answer.

Again.

Nothing.

The smile slowly disappeared from her face.

What was happening?

Midhat never ignored her calls.

Never.

Anam wasn't answering either.

She quickly opened WhatsApp.

Last seen unavailable.

Messages unread.

Nothing.

A strange feeling settled in her chest.

Maybe they were busy.

Maybe she was overthinking.

Maybe.

But something felt wrong.

Very wrong.

Little did she know...

This was only the beginning.

TO BE CONTINUED...

😭🍿💖🌷