If there is someone else for you, then why do you linger here?
We've said our goodbyes but your eyes won't let me go.
Nabeeha stared at her brother who was pretending to be busy with his work.
The so called family dinner tonight was good, as what the elders thought.
Humaid, Nabeeha, Ali and Afia knew something was off. They could sense the force and reluctance in Arhaan's smile while his eyes was void of any emotions.
"Why are you doing this?", Nabeeha popped up the question as Arhaan was typing away on his MacBook.
"Because it's my work.", Arhaan monotously answered without looking up from the screen.
"I'm not talking about your work, Arhaan. I'm talking about this whole marriage thing."
Arhaan sighed as he didn't know what to reply or what to explain.
Because truly, he himself wasn't sure why he was doing this.
"What do y'all want me to do?"
Nabeeha sighed as she looked at her brother who wasn't the same she saw ten days earlier.
"We want you to be happy....", Nabeeha honestly answered and Arhaan slowly nodded.
Just then his phone vibrated and he saw Vivaan's name on the screen.
'Saved me bro!' Arhaan literally shouted in his head as he received the call and Nabeeha walked out without any answers.
.......................
Two days have passed since Anabiya accepted Omar's proposal but surprisingly or not so surprisingly, they haven't met yet.
But Rabiya wasn't the one to keep it all formal. Just as she arranged the dinner with the Saeeds for Sanaya, she arranged a meetup for Omar and Anabiya.
And here Anabiya was, standing outside her office building waiting for Omar to pick her up for the 'date'.
Anabiya was surely in no mood to go out but she knew she couldn't avoid the situation for any longer now. Her parents were happy and to be very honest, she found absolutely zero faults in Omar.
So she decided to give it a shot.
The office routine was just normal. Anabiya and Arhaan ignoring each other as much as they can and luckily none of them saw each other today.
Until now..
Omar finally arrived and Anabiya smiled as Omar came out of the car and Anabiya walked towards him.
"It's been long since we both hung out, y'know.", Omar started the conversation after exchanging the Salams and Anabiya nodded.
"Yeah... but here we are now.", Anabiya replied as she swinged on her heels and Omar chuckled.
"Thanks to our mothers. Otherwise we would've been too busy with our work!", Omar said in a mocking tone and Anabiya playfully narrowed her eyes at him.
"Did you just imitate me and was that a taunt?", she questioned and Omar shrugged.
"Maybe....", he trailed off and then he yelped as he felt a stinging pain in his arms.
"Woah you crazy human! Ow leave me!", Omar begged though he wasn't even feeling that much pain but Anabiya couldn't care less as she kept on pinching him, mercilessly.
And then finally, she left his arm and stared at him and so did he.
And then they laughed.
They bursted into fits of laughter.
After gaining their composure, they started to catch their breath.
"Feels good. Us laughing on stupid stuffs. Just like old times.", Omar said and Anabiya smiled.
"Just like old times.", she agreed.
And at that very moment, her eyes again met with the ones that captivated her heart.
The eyes that held pain in them and though she wanted to let herself drown in them, she can't.
"Anabiya?", Omar called out for her and Anabiya immediately tore her gaze from Arhaan, who was standing at a bit distance from them.
She quickly settled in the car as her heart was running with a higher pace now.
The decision of moving on was hard. Harder than she thought. She knew having feelings for a guy who is not yours to keep was nothing but a torture and a disruption of her tranquility.
And thus with a heavy heart and glossy eyes, she decided to let go of him.
Just yet?
..........................
''Hello, Sanaya.", the voice greeted and Sanaya's body froze as she immediately stood up from her bed, panicking.
"Wh-what? Why did you call? And that too with an Indian phone number?", she finally found her voice.
"Because I'm here. In Mumbai. I landed just an hour ago."
Sanaya gulped clearly annoyed and tensed with the news.
"What do you want?", she directly questioned and a part of her knew the answer.
"Anabiya."
Sanaya was in rage. Anger and frustration taking the best of her.
"Listen you creep! I swear I'll kill you-", Sanaya was cut off by Zayd's laugh.
"You're calling me a creep? Me? I'm sure when Anabiya will learn the truth about her so called bestfriend, she'll call her a creep. Because that's what you are. A psycho and a creep. Oh and how can I forget the main one? Selfish! So better watch your words, Sanaya!", he snarled.
And for the first time in a very long time, Sanaya felt scared.
"What do you want?", she questioned, almost shakingly.
"You already know."
"That's not possible. She's getting engaged to my brother!", Sanaya was clearly annoyed.
But Zayd wasn't giving up so soon. He knew a secret which no one knew. He knew how to step on the right vein.
"I don't care. I made a mistake four years back because of you. But I won't repeat it. I won't lose her now. I won't let go of her so easily like a fool.", Zayd said, his voice low.
"Please don't do this...", Sanaya almost begged.
She knew the moment Zayd will come back, not only Anabiya and Omar's relation will be at risk but also her friendship with Anabiya will be at the edge of the cliff too, which surely will collapse.
"I will not listen to you this time. Just stay out of my way. Or else you know what you will lose. And I'm sure you'll regret losing a friend like her.", Zayd ended the call after a stern warning and Sanaya quickly wiped the stray beads of sweat on her forehead.
And well do y'all remember the two famous quotes?
- what goes around, comes around.
And.....
-Karma is a b.....
................
Troubles..... everyone is facing some or other kind of trouble and struggles.
And speaking of troubles.... Arhaan couldn't get his mind off from the view of Anabiya and Omar laughing together.
He knew he had no right to to get jealous or pissed off at Omar or at Anabiya, but his unspoken feelings of love weren't helping him in this situation.
Arhaan and his friends were out, having their leisure time with food, hookah and games.
The guys were also talking about random stuffs. Football to be more precise.
Arhaan wanted to join in the conversation but his mind was already clogged.
And clogged minds with anger residing in them never helps.
But right now, with his current state of mind, Arhaan decided to move on. From Anabiya.
And thus, taking a deep breath he cleared his throat.
"Okay boys! I need to announce something!"
All the attention was now on Arhaan.
"What? You found a girl?", Reza joked as he sipped on his drink, making others laugh.
"Uhm... well.... yeah!", Arhaan confirmed and Reza choked on his drink while others stared at him, clearly shocked.
"Who's she?"
"When did this happen?"
"From our college?"
"You never mentioned any girl!"
"TRAITOR!"
The last comment was from Vivaan.
"Aww I'm sorry princess!", Arhaan made a crying face and others laughed as Vivaan huffed and cussed him.
"Weren't you the one who always taunted me for being too gay with Arhaan and being all 'princessy'?", Reza pointed out as he smirked and Vivaan grunted.
"Okay, in all seriousness, who's she? For how long has it been going on?", Ruhaan asked.
"Well, it's arranged. Her name's Sanaya. Mom and Dadi Amma met her and her family at one event.", Arhaan informed and the guys congratulated him.
Arhaan plastered a small smile, though he didn't feel even a percent of any spark or happiness.
"Sanaya? I guess I have heard this name before...", Huzaifah spoke up, as he tried to remember the source.
"Oh yes! Okay okay okay! I got it! You guys remember we saw this girl punching a guy that day on the street when we were going to a lounge to hangout?", Huzaifah asked and Vivaan nodded.
"Yeah but isn't she Arhaan's employee? We saw her at the Saeed twins' engagement party. Right?", Zuhair recalled.
"Yes. Sanaya is her bestfriend or her cousin , I don't remember clearly though. But they both are definitely related.", Huzaifah cleared up.
"How do you know her, by the way?", Arhaan questioned Huzaifah and everyone again had their attention fixated on Huzaifah.
"Well... uhm.... Sanaya and Anabiya were this best pair of bestfriends. Always together. And my cousin and our friend, Zayd, was Sanaya's friend. But well he kinda had this thing with Anabiya. I mean they were a thing. I guess they even dated. But I don't know what happened but one day suddenly they stopped talking.", Huzaifah explained and Arhaan's head was again in a mess.
And now it all made sense.
Anabiya's weird behaviour in Dubai when she saw Zayd.
Zayd asking questions about Anabiya.
"That day when we saw Anabiya after she punched the guy, I wasn't able to recall her as this happened three or four years back and at that time she was.... uhm.... heavy. I mean she had some extra pounds and she didn't use to wear hijab. But Sanaya's name just kicked all the memories in. Because as you know, she was popular. With the looks and stuff.", Huzaifah revealed more details and Arhaan couldn't help but think about the fact that Zayd and Anabiya dated.
Speaking honestly, Arhaan thought Anabiya opened up to him that night in Dubai, let all her fears, past and insecurities flow out freely to him.
But how stupid of him. How can he expect someone to open up with him just yet?
And that someone who had fought with him, or he had fought with her multiple times.
And then he even realised how he himself has not told her about Sarah because according to him, that wasn't just an important part.
Now that he learnt about Anabiya and Zayd, he couldn't help but get uncomfortable and weird about the whole situation.
And there was this question lingering around in his head.
Does Anabiya and Zayd still have those sparks between them?
He also realised that one more thing.... that Anabiya wasn't just a simple book with different chapters. She was a diary with number of emotions and unspoken thoughts and feelings. She was complex yet so simple. She had certain things inside of her which she never chose to reveal out. He knew there were certain things he needed to know.
But again the question comes.... With What Right? He had no right on her.
That's how things work, maybe. He knew he shouldn't get involved in his employee's matter, who was the bestfriend of his soon to be fiancè.
But how was he suppose to ignore the fact that the girl owns his heart.
Unknowingly, she held his heart and sanity and maybe knowingly, he kept giving more of it to her.
.........................................
Okaaayyyyyyy so here's the new chapter! Early update! Yayayayyy!
Dedicated to @ayeshat23 ♥️
And about the new story, well I've decided to keep it on hold as 'Meant To Be' still has some parts left and I actually want to focus on this.
So yeah, after maybe five more chapters, I'll update the new story.
Till then, love our Anabiya, Arhaan and other characters lmao
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