Believe! [Completed]

Prologue

*Flashbacks in bold*

Opening the curtains to her room's window, she allowed the rising sunlight to brighten her room. Inhaling the cooling breeze of the early morning, she heaved a blissful sigh. Her lips curled into a smile seeing the birds flying around chirping and making their presence known in the city.

Lahore brought a certain vibe with it that she found nowhere else. Not that she visited a lot of the world but the cities she had visited within Pakistan, nothing was like Lahore. The vintage town, the culture, the heritage, the market, the food or even the normal day-to-day lives people lived in one of the largest cities in Pakistan never not made her happy.

Today was so important for her. She was going to submit her application form at LUMS to study her ever so favourite subject at postgraduate level: Human rights law. Ever since she was a child, she had dreamt of becoming a human rights lawyer. The prospect of being able to speak for truth, being able to defend truth and being able to do all that was necessary to protect one's human rights was something that excited her beyond her own comprehension.

But ever since she was a child, with all her dreams and all her ambitions came two obstacles. One was her own father. The other was her own conflicted and uncertain self. She was an obedient daughter. She lived exactly as her parents expected of her, as a child and even now as an adult. But her idea of obedience had taken a different form as she grew older. She learnt to submit and obey so much that she allowed her father to restrict even her thought process. If she wished to do something and then asked her parents, her mother would always smile and just as she would be about to support her, her father would intervene in the most ruthless manner that the idea, the hope and her ambition would seek its own death and burial.

It was painful. It was discouraging, and it was also a hopeless attempt every time. Sometimes Minaal cursed herself for not speaking up, for not protesting, and for not trying twice. But a part of her always held her back. When a father was unwilling to allow the tiniest bit of confidence boost in his own daughter, how would he tolerate her protest or outburst? Deep down Minaal always hoped and prayed that she never had an outburst in front of her father, Shahnawaaz Ali.

Shaking her head, she tried pushing back such negative and hopeless thoughts off her mind. She can't give up even before trying. She had to try just like she has been trying all her life. Sometimes to her success and sometimes to her loss. Or let's say, mostly to her loss.

----------------

He pulled the blanket over his eyes for the umpteenth time to avoid contact with the scorching light of the sun from entering his room. He was never an early riser, but he would if he had to. But he hated it when someone tried forcing him to get up when he was in mood to sleep. If it was his mother, maybe he wouldn't act this gruesome, but it was his not-so-spoilt best friend who was trying to wake him up.

"Harris, let me sleep! What the heck is wrong with you?"

Aariz said gritting his teeth in annoyance.

"Pal, there is nothing wrong with me. But there is something very wrong with our exam results."

Aariz pursed his eyes and opened them with an impeccable fear and horror in them. Getting up from his bed with a jerk, he faced Harris who was calm as sea.

"Oh Shoot! Aj toh results anay thay."

"Jee bhai."