Chapter Eight

The next morning, Aarush woke up with a painful headache. "What happened?" He groaned as he got up from his bed. He looked at the time and saw that it was nine. "Shit, I'm going to be late!" He ran into the washroom and began to wash his face. "Ouch." As he touched his face with the warm water, he felt a sudden biting pain on his cheek. Looking up with his drowsy eyes, he saw a bruise on his left cheek. "Did I get into another fight?" He sighed and continued to wash his face. He quickly got his clothes on and ran downstairs. "Bali, I'm leaving, don't make food for me." He said that as he speedwalked to the exit.

"Aaru, wait!" Just as he was about to leave, Aliya's voice came from behind.

"Yeah?" He turned around and saw Aliya holding onto Noori's hand. She wore a small backpack while nibbling on a snack. Her eyes were drowsy and filled with a bit of irritation.

"Since I'm going to stay here, Noori will have to go to your school for now, alright? So take her with you and get her set up." Nodding his head, Aarush grabbed Noori's hand and slowly raced out the door.

"Alright Noori, get on." He helped Noori onto his bike with a smile on his face.

"Aaru uncle, I'm sleepy. I don't want to go." As Aarush helped her onto the bike, she pouted and complained with a sleepy expression.

"I know Noori, but if you miss school your mom will get mad." He patted her head as he got onto the bike as well. "Don't worry, I'm a teacher at the school so if someone bothers you, tell me. I'll beat them up for you, alright? Even if it's a teacher."

"Fine." She said while lazily putting her hands onto the handles. Aarush started the bike and quickly drove off.

Arriving at the school, Aarush led Noori to the principal's office first. "Mr. Yunus? What brings you here?" The principal asked with a smile on his face.

"I want to enroll my niece here temporarily. My sister is staying with me for a period of time, so my niece will be going here for a while." The principal nodded his head.

"Do you have her documents?" He asked while sitting on his chair.

"Umm." Aarush looked at Noori with a bit of confusion, but the latter just unzipped her backpack and handed Aarush a few documents.

"Mom said I will need these." Taking the pages from her, Aarush smiled and patted her head. He looked through them first and then handed the ones he needed to the principal.

"This is her transcript." He gave it to the principal who looked it over with a smile.

"Wow, a smart little girl." He smiled at Noori, but the latter didn't act prideful in any way, she just felt sleepy. "Alright, I'll get this into the system. For today, just have her join Mrs. Easha's class. That will be her home room teacher." Although Aarush taught students at Noori's age, it would be inappropriate to put her in his class.

"That's fine, I'll take her there and explain the situation." Aarush then pulled Noori out of the office with a smile. "Noori, although I'm not your teacher, if you want help or anything to eat, just come and find me, alright? Try to make friends here too. And if any of your teachers try to hit you for any reason, come and tell me right away. I don't care who it is, no teacher here is allowed to touch you, alright?"

"Yes Aaru uncle." Noori kept nodding her head. The laziness in her eyes slowly vanished as she began to look around curiously. There were various students around, most of whom kept looking in her direction.

"Also, when you make friends, you can't be friends with boys, alright? Not unless they are REALLY nice, and even then, you can only be friends. If a boy bothers you, I will beat him to a pulp." Aarush said with a serious expression, the most serious expression Noori had ever seen on his face.

"Why are you and dad always so worried about boys? I'm not going to do anything bad." She said with a pout. Her mom was happy if she made friends, boys or girls, but when it came to her dad, he was against it completely. Even Aarush was the same now, this annoyed her a little.

"You are a good girl, of course you won't do anything. But boys aren't good, they love pretty girls like you." Aarush explained with a smile.

"Aren't you a boy too?" She said with raised eyebrows.

"Yup, which is why I know more than you." Aarush then patted her head. "Alright, this will be your homeroom class, alright? Let's go inside and talk to your teacher."

As they entered the class, Noori noticed a bunch of students around. They were laughing and having fun with each other before classes started.

"Mrs. Eesha." Aarush saw a young teacher sitting behind a desk with a book in her hand. She had a pair of glasses on her beautiful face.

"Mr. Yunus?" She got up slowly and smiled back. Although Aarush was good looking, she was a married woman, so she had no interest in him. "What can I do for you?"

"This is my niece Noori." Aarush gently pushed Noori forward. "I just spoke with the principal and he should be sending you an email later about this with more detail later on, but Noori will be joining your class today."

"Hello, Mrs. Easha." Noori smiled and greeted her politely. Aarush watched this and smiled brightly.

"Hello, Noori." She smiled back. "Here, why don't you go and find a seat first, alright?" Noori nodded her head and walked away.

"Mrs. Easha, look after Noori for me. She is new here and exam's are just around the corner. I'm sure she will do fine, but I don't want anyone bullying her. If you see boys trying to pick on her, make sure to inform me, I'll beat them all. Also, if any girls try to mess with her as well, since my Noori is such a pretty girl, tell me, I'll have my siblings come and knock them out." Aarush said with a bit of anxiousness. He had never been through such a process in his life, letting a child he loved go to school for the first time. He was inexperienced, so he was deeply worried.

"Mr. Yunus, calm down. I will handle it, haha." She giggled seeing him like this. "You go ahead to your own class, I will make sure to care for her, alright?"

"Alright…" Aarush said with a bit of hesitation. "Also, go easy on her in class, if she messes up anything, just move on to someone else. I don't want her to feel embarrassed about anything, and don't hit her, or I will be seeing you later."

"Yes yes, I won't do a thing to her. Just go to your own class." Mrs. Eash felt her head begin to pound because of Aarush's overprotective actions. She only ever spoke to Aarush about school related topics, he usually kept to himself otherwise. So, seeing him like this was a first to her. It was rather funny.

Aarush was finally kicked out of the room and he hesitated before leaving reluctantly. 'Have a great day Noori.'

"Maazi, are you going off too?" Back in the house, Aliya sat with Maya and ate her breakfast. Maaz was all suited up, looking very handsome.

"Yeah, I have to start by ten today. Although the location is different, the work is still the same, so hopefully it goes well." He sighed and said. "Anyways, I will be home by six."

"No problem." Aliya said with a sweet smile. "Give me a kiss before you go." Aliya beckoned him over. Maazi annoyingly walked over and presented his cheek to her. She gave him a big kiss and then presented her own cheek. "Now me." Groaning a little, he planted a small kiss on her cheek before walking away.

"Aliya, I'm not a kid anymore." He said while fixing his watch.

"You're still my baby no matter what." Aliya said with a smile. "Alright, go off now." Maaz smiled and quickly left the house.

"Aliya, I don't know where I should apply to work. Like, I don't want to sit around at home." Maya leaned on her hand and said with a sigh.

"Well, it's your fault for choosing such a stupid degree, it's not going to be easy to find a job." Aliya had a completely different way of speaking to Maya when compared to Maaz.

"Aaru bhai also has a degree in english." She said with annoyance.

"Yeah, but even he says it's a dumb degree, unless you plan on pursueing a career in writing. For Aaru, the degree is useful, he actually writes and teaches, but you neither write nor like to teach, so what's the point in having this degree?" Aliya ruthlessly exposed her sister's stupidity. "I recommend going back to school to get a professional degree. I have a degree in engineering, so I can get a great job, I actually had a great one for a while. Maazi is in computer science so getting a job is guaranteed. Aaru is better off too, you're the only one stuck."

"Yeah, that sucks." Maya said with a sigh. "But I don't know what to do. I already paid so much for my masters since Aaru bhai wasn't around."

"Well, why don't you try for law school now? Weren't you saying you really wanted to do that? Isn't that the reason you were doing a degree in english initially?" Maya's dream was to be a judge, which was why she chose english as her major and not a professional degree like engineering.

"I want to, but the law school I got accepted into is in America. If I accept it, I have to leave Aaru bhai again." Maya said with a sigh. She was unwilling to leave Aarush so early after seeing him after such a long time.

"Maya, you can't be dumb, this is your future. Plus, it's only four years, and you can visit during your breaks. You also still have to get married. You know what happened in the past? Aaru worked so hard to get his degrees not only because he wanted to, but because of what happened with you. If you don't work hard yourself, then all his hard work would have been for nothing." Aliya said with a frown.

"I know, but…" Maya sighed. In the past, when Aarush was only in completing his bachelors, Maya was bullied by various people because of her low status. People would bully her to the point of depression, insulting her by saying her family was uneducated and poor, and other bad things. Back then, other than Aarush's father, no one had a degree, and even then, his dad was working odd jobs, never able to get a job in his own career. Maya faced bullies for many years because of this. She even switched schools since it got really bad. Aarush felt hurt because of this and worked even harder, getting into medical school quickly. Aarush also began to help others in his family get their degrees so that they wouldn't be insulted like this again. Aliya was pushed by Aarush to finish her degree earlier as well.

"Here, what's the issue with going to a law school here? Either way, you can still work as a lawyer, right?" Aliya asked with a questionsbale expression.

"Yeah, but like it isn't the same. What if I want to work in a good company back in America? It will be harder." She said with a sigh. "I don't know."

"I think you should go and just do it. It's not like Aaru is going anywhere, plus you won't have to start for another like, few months, right?" Aliya said while taking a sip of her juice.

"I'll talk to Aaru bhai. I want his opinion about it. If he says to go, I will." Maya said with her fists clenched.

"Just know this, you're twenty seven now, yet you aren't even married nor do you even have a guy. Why don't you start looking? We can get you engaged atleast, right?" Aliya wanted her to quickly settle down as well, after all, once Maya settled down with the right person, she would get more freedom.

"I'm good for now. Unlike you, I'm not into this whole marriage thing right now, if I find someone I like then great, if not, I'll just keep waiting. I'm in no rush." Out of everyone in the whole family, Maya was the only person who didn't really care about marriage, atleast not too much. She had goals that she wanted to accomplish, plus Aarush was always telling her to focus on her own likes and ignore others. She wanted to be like Aarush and his friends, successful and well educated.

Aliya smiled. "Your loss then."

"Whatever." Maya said with a bit of irritation. Sure, she was close to Aliya and stuff, but their relationship was different then the one she had with Aarush. Maya respected Aarush like an older brother, while Aliya was treated more like an equal since Aliya rarely played her older sister part. Only regarding Maaz would Aliya ever act like an older sister. "Bali." Maya called out.

"Yes." He came running over with a smile.

"When will Aaru bhai come home today?" She wanted to speak to him about this as early as possible. She had about a week left to finalize her application.

"He won't be home until midnight." Bali said with a polite smile.

"Why?" Maya asked with confusion.

"Monday through Friday, he has his clinic opened until twelve at night, so he only comes home after that." Bali replied respectfully.

"Maya, Dara told us this already, did you forget?" Aliya looked at Maya with a frown.

"Oh man." Maya groaned. "Well, since I'm here, I should find something to do."

"Why don't we go and explore the city? I haven't seen the city properly yet." Aliya suggested.

"Sure, we can go shopping, but not too far. Aaru bhai will get mad if he finds out you left the house while pregnant. You know how he is." Maya said with a smirk. Aarush was very concerned about Aliya's pregnancy.

"Then what's the point?" Aliya said with a frown. Even her husband was reluctant to let her leave his side. It was only because Aarush was finally calling them that she came. "Here, why don't we watch a movie? Oh, that new movie is probably out now, right?" Aliya said with excitement.

"Sure, but I want to order food. Let's get pizza, I'm craving some." Maya said.

"Not pizza, we are getting burgers." Without giving her any more room to talk, Aliya looked at Bali with a smile. "Bali, can you order us burgers and fries? Also, can you cut me fruits? Oh, Maya, go into my room and grab me a few chocolate bars Aarush got." As she was pregnant, her appetite was great, but she still had to eat a bit of healthy foods.

Maya got up and stomped away to do Aliya's bidding. The latter just waited with a lazy smile, feeling great about being the oldest sibling.

"Don't forget to complete this week's assignments. I will send all of your parents an email or message about it." Aarush packed up after he was done with his last class. The day went by pretty quick. He didn't have any extra classes to teach, so the next place was his clinic.

"Aaru uncle, when are you going home?" After his students left, Noori skipped into his class with a bright smile.

"I'm not going home anytime soon, I have to go to my clinic now." Aarsh walked over and kissed her cheek. "How were your classes, did you have fun?"

"Yeah, I actually made a friend today." She said with a bit of excitement. "She is in my homeroom class. Her dad is a business man too, just like my dad." Noori went on to explain everything. Aarush smiled and listened patiently. "I was wondering, can I go to her house today?"

"You have to ask your mom about this." Aarush said with a smirk. "Ask her when you get home, alright? Bali will be picking you up later, so don't go anywhere else."

"Alright." She said with a pout. "I'm hungry Aaru uncle, do you have food?"

"Didn't we just have lunch?" Aarush asked with a questionable gaze. Nooti actually joined him for lunch in his class. Aliya packed her a big meal, so he was curious why she could be hungry even now.

"We did, but I'm still hungry." She grabbed Aarush's hands and began to speak in a cute manner. "Can we get some food? Please."

"Noori, I have a few snacks here, but that's all. You still have to go to class, so just eat these for now." Aarush handed her a few chocolate bars which she grabbed with bright eyes. "Alright, go on now, you still have a class to attend. Your mom will get mad if I spoil you here as well."

"Ok, bye." She gave Aarush a hug and quickly ran off. Sighing a little, Aarush packed his things and left the school. Just like that, his days returned to their usual routine.

'A week now? I've been here for a week, living such a sad life.' Inaya sat in her barren room with a helpless expression. She looked a lot skinnier than before while also seemingly paler. 'Will I be stuck like this forever?' She sighed and got up from her bed, heading back to the kitchen to do some dishwashing. Her schedule was boring yet hard. She would wake up at seven every morning, sweeping and mopping a certain part of the school. At ten, classes would begin. She taught a total of four classes, so she was busy even then. After her last class, she was to head to the cafeteria and begin cleaning the dishes which were used during lunch time. There were hundreds upon hundreds of dishes distributed between a few teachers. It would take them atleast a few hours to get all done. Once she was done that, she would need to grade papers or mark assignments. After all that, she could get something to eat and then she could go to sleep. The same thing would repeat the next day. This was her first weekend in the school, so she had a day off to do whatever she wanted. 'What's the point of this day off? I don't even get paid so what do I do?' She laid on her bed and just looked at the grey ceiling.

Inaya became frustrated by the lifestyle, but atleast she wasn't being harassed nor beaten every day. She wasn't scared someone would sneak into her room and try to touch her. Looking around the room, she saw the book she borrowed from Aarush and suddenly smiled. The only thing that she enjoyed in this place was Aarush's book. She had finished it already, but decided to read it once more. The book was weirdly similar to her current situation, so she felt a sort of love towards the book.

"It's Saturday today, right? He is probably having his tutoring lessons right now." When she thought of Aarush, her mind couldn't help but replay the scene that happened that day.

So pretty. This phrase and the way he looked when saying it was so different that she couldn't forget it. Amin had called her pretty many times, but his face was filled with a perverted lust. Her sister in law had called her pretty, but her face was filled with jealousy and disgust. Her parents called her pretty, but they had a parental love in their manner of speech. Something about the innocence that Aarush showed made her like his words the most. She felt neither disgust nor uncomfortability from his tone.

Grabbing her phone, she saw that the battery life was at two percent. 'Is there no way to charge this?' She forgot to grab her phone charger when she left her house. Asking around, no one had a charger available for her to use, so it was difficult on her. She could neither call anyone nor surf the web. She was truly isolated by everything. 'Should I send him a message to return his book? I've had it for a week now.'

Ring Ring

Suddenly, her phone began to ring. She almost dropped it in fright. The first few days, she did get many phone calls from her brother and Amin, but she never picked up. This time though, it was from someone else, under a different name; Yunus Tutor.

'Why is he calling? Wait, Reni probably told him I went missing…' She knew that Reni was going to the lesson today, but she still didn't know why he would call her? Even if she went missing, if others couldn't reach her, why would he try? 'Should I pick up? If I do, I can maybe speak for a few minutes before my phone dies.'

Ring Ring

It rang once again. Taking a deep breath, Inaya decided to pick up. She didn't know why, but she felt like she should pick up his call. "Hello?"

"Inaya." When she heard his voice, she could hear his somewhat anxious voice.

'Why is he restless? We barely know each other.' She couldn't help but become a little intrigued, but also felt a bit warm in her heart thinking someone did care about her. "Yes, it's me."

"Reni told me you have been missing for a week now, where are you? Are you safe? Are you in trouble?" Aarush's blitzed questions caused her to be a bit tongue tied. "Look, my lessons are done and Reni went home already. If you want, I can come pick you up, we can maybe talk? How about it?" Aarush was truly concerned. He wasn't an idiot, he knew that something bad must have happened to force Inaya to run away like this. Plus, a woman living somewhere alone was not safe in his mind. If he could help her, he wanted to.

"Umm." She was surprised by his words, but was also confused. What should she say? Should she meet him? What if he exposed where she was to her brother? She couldn't go home, nor did she want to. "I'm alright here---" Before she could finish, the phone turned off. "Hello?" Inaya became even more pale as her phone died. She felt like crying, this was the first time she was actually not hating a conversation. She was happy to hear someone concerned about her, but even that short term happiness was cut short. 'He doesn't know where I am, nor do I have money to meet anyone. Why is my life so terrible?' She sat on her bed and couldn't help but cover her face with her hands.

"Aaru, who was that?" As he put the phone down with a sigh, Aarush heard his mom walk up to him from behind.

"It was a friend. I think she is in some sort of trouble, but I don't know what exactly." He sighed and explained.

"She?" His mother was a little surprised. "I didn't know you had a female friend."

"Is that something rare?" He asked with confusion.

His mom nodded her head. "Yeah, it is. You've never had a female friend, you always avoided them." She said with a smirk, but didn't say anymore. "Tell me about her."

Understanding why she was curious, Aarush smiled bitterly and shook his head. "It's nothing like you think, she is Reni's aunty. I say friend, but Inaya is more of an acquaintance." He explained casually. "Anyways, I'm going to go out for a bit, I will be back later." He then headed towards the exit, but Maaz suddenly stopped him. "What's wrong Maazi?"

"Did you say her name is Inaya?" Maaz asked with a weird expression.

"Why? Do you know her?" Aarush asked questionably, but Maaz noticed a deep concern in his eyes which he was trying to hide.

"Well, I don't know her personally. Remember when you went out that day? You know, too…" He tried to explain it without being direct since his mom was nearby.

"Yeah yeah. Go on." Aarush felt irritated by him being so indirect, even though he knew why.

"Well, that night, some woman named Inaya brought you a glass of milk and stuff. She said she knew you. I think you said something to her in that condition, and she kind of just ran away." Maaz explained casually.

"Where?" Aarush asked with a bit of anxiousness. He didn't know why he was feeling anxious, but he was.

"Umm… it was in the market nearby." He explained the general location. Aarush thought about it for a moment and suddenly a thought hit him.

He grabbed Maaz's face and planted a big kiss on his cheek. "Thanks Maazi, you did good. I'll see you later." After that, Aarush ran out of the door.

"Why does everyone keep kissing me?" Maaz wiped his cheek with an annoyed expression.

"Must be nice." Maya suddenly walked over with a frown on her face.

Seeing her like this, Maaz couldn't help but laugh. "It sucks, but you probably will never know." He walked away with a mischievous chuckle.

"You little…" She suddenly chased after him with her fist. Maaz ran from her while loudly laughing.

"So that's where she went?" Aarush knew the area well, so he knew about the girls academy as well. Although it wasn't nearby, he could get there quickly on his bike. "Inaya, hopefully you aren't doing too terribly." He drove quickly. After about twenty minutes, he arrived in front of the walled school. Getting off his bike, he walked towards the guard.

"Sir, the school is closed today, please leave." The guard got on alerta seeing Aarush. It was for good reason. Most teachers were runaways and many people came to try and take them back forcefully, so he assumed that Aarush was here to do the same.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to do anything bad. One of your teachers is named Inaya, I'm a friend. If you can, tell someone to inform her that Aarush is here to visit her. She will know who it is and will come out herself." Aarush said with confidence.

The guard hesitated before pulling out his phone and passing the message along.

Back in Inaya's room, she was laying on the bed with puffy eyes. Her hands had Aarush's book open and she read it slowly.

"Inaya, there is someone outside who wants to see you." A woman suddenly knocked on her door and said from the other side. Inaya got up in fright.

'Did they find me already? It's only been a week.' She felt worried about it. "Did they give a name?" If they didn't, she wouldn't go outside.

"Yeah, he says his name is Aarush. Should we tell him to leave?" The woman asked.

"No!" Inaya replied quickly. "I'm coming, just tell them to wait." She got up from her bed and began to pace the room. 'How did he find me so quickly? We only just spoke and he only just found out I have gone missing. How did he get here?' She was shocked to say the least. 'Alright, I have to make sure I don't look too terrible or he might get worried.' Running to the nearby washroom, she rinsed her face with water, trying to get rid of any signs of tears or alike, sadly the puffiness in her eyes wasn't going to leave as easily. 'I don't even have makeup to cover this up.'

Walking back into her room, she changed into a different outfit and headed towards the exit with a sigh.

"You see? I'm a friend. Why are you being so defensive?" Aarush leaned against the wall and smiled at the guard who kept an eye on him.

"If you worked here as long as I have, you would be worried too." The guard replied with a sigh.

Aarush sighed as well. "Well, hopefully I can help someone here, you know? People out there are animals, forcing others into such lives. It's really a shame." He sighed even more, along with the guard who agreed completely. A few minutes went by and the small door suddenly opened up. Aarush pushed against the wall and looked at the door with a bit of anxiousness.

Walking out, Inaya had a weird expression on her face. Her body was thinner and her skin paler. "Aarush, how are you?" She walked forward with a plain smile and looked at Aarush. "I'm surprised you found me here."

"I-Inaya, what happened?" Aarush felt even more terrible seeing her now. She wasn't like this before, and a week ruined her.

"Nothing, I just needed a change of pace." She replied with a plain smile.

Aarush looked at her a little more before frowning. When Inaya saw this frown, she raised her eyebrows and felt a little worried. "Did your brother do something?"

"W-what?" She was shocked by his words.

"You may not know this, but I happened to hear your brother yelling at you about something in the past. Something about forcing you to marry some guy. I'm assuming this person is Amin, right?" Aarush asked.

"T-that's none of your business." She was shocked by his accurate knowledge, but this made her angry. 'How does he know this? Not even Reni knows!'

"It isn't any of my business." Aarush nodded his head.

When she heard this, she felt a little down for some unknown reason.

"Still, I don't care if it isn't any of my business. I know you and you know me, that is good enough for me. Come." Aarush suddenly smiled at her.

"Where?" She asked with surprise.

"What do you mean? I told you I wanted to talk to you, so let's go and get some food, how about it?" His smile was soft and gentle. She felt herself feel light under it, but she still shook her head.

"I can't." She replied with a sigh.

"Why? Are you scared you will be seen by your brother or even Amin?" Aarush patted her head suddenly. "Don't worry about them, even if an army comes to take you away, I will make sure nothing happens. I give you my word." Aarush retracted his hand and waited for her answer.

"But…" She was still hesitant.

"If you don't come with me now, I might go to your brothers house and cause a big issue there. You don't know me Inaya, I'm a psycho." He laughed and said, but he wasn't lying either. To force a girl to run away from home, he would fight with anyone about this issue. Afterall, he was forced to run away from home in the past with Aliya since his parents were trying to force her to marry someone as well. He knew the feeling.

Hearing his words, she was a little tongue tied, but still nodded her head. "Alright."

Aarush smiled and got on the bike. "Get on then, we'll go to a nice place."

Looking at the spot behind him, she hesitated but still climbed on. She placed her hands on his shoulders gently.

"Hold on tightly." Aarush laughed and then took off.

The guard watched them leave and smiled. He was happy to see atleast one of the unfortunate people having some sort of good fate.

"So Inaya, where do you want to go first?" Aarush drove the bike at an average speed, not too fast, nor too slow.

"First?" She asked back with confusion.

"Yup, we are going to spend the whole day hanging out, how about it?" Aarush didn't know why he wanted to do this, but he just felt it was right.

"What? I thought you wanted to talk? So why…" She asked again.

"My talks take a while, so might as well go have fun while we're talking, right?" Aarush laughed and said. "Maybe we can go to my house too? You can meet my family, especially my niece. You would like my niece, she is the best and prettiest little girl in the world."

"Umm." She didn't know that to say.

"Just relax. Enjoy today, we're going to do everything, alright? So where to first?" He asked again.

"You can pick." Seeing that he wasn't going to change his mind, she just left it up to him.

"Alright, want to go shopping first?" He drove towards the mall's direction.

"Shopping? You don't need to go…" She became a little anxious. Why would they need to go shopping?

"Well, we have to get you a bunch of clothes and stuff, right? You probably weren't able to grab too much when you left the house, right?" He smiled and said.

"No need. You don't need to do that." She didn't feel comfortable with him getting her stuff when they barely knew too much about each other.

"Well, I'm doing it because I want to. Say no all you want, but I will just get whatever I want. Hehe." Aarush was a forceful person, he didn't care if someone wanted something from him or not, he would give if he felt like it. Sure, not his best trait, but he didn't care.

Soon enough, they arrived at the mall, the same mall Aarush took Noori too. "Aarush, thank you, but there is no need for all of this. We barely…"

"...barely know each other? Well, that's what today is all about, we will get to know one another and become proper friends. Right?" He smiled and said. Aarush was excited for the day. "Let's quickly go inside now." He began to walk and Inaya followed after a bit of hesitation.

Aftering entering the mall, Aarush looked around and found a clothing shop.

"Let's go to that one. Look's nice." He dragged her into the shop. When he grabbed her hand, not only was Inaya taken aback, even Aarush became a little embarrassed. He quickly let it go and smiled at her with a bit of embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's fine." She said with a somewhat pink face. After that, she followed him into the shop. There were various types of clothes. Shirts, salwar kameezes, suits, and much more. Both for male and females.

Aarush looked at each dress and suddenly saw one. "Hey, what do you think of this one?" It was a blue dress with white flowers on the bottom. It was a pretty dress.

"It's nice." She said with a smile, but Inaya wasn't willing to let Aarush spend any money on her, so she kept her comments to the minimum.

They walked around and Aarush noticed that Inaya wasn't really into it. He sighed, he knew that she might be uncomfortable with this, but he didn't know how else to cheer her up. He knew she was probably depressed for the past week, maybe even the past few years. He wasn't great at cheering others up. It wasn't in his skill set.

"Alright Inaya, since you don't want anything right now, let's get something to eat first." Just as she was about to nod her head, Aarush smirked and pulled a pretty salwar kameez from behind his back. "You wanted this one, right?"

"What?" She looked at him with a bit of confusion.

"I saw you look at this more than a few times. It will be my gift to you, alright? A gift, so don't reject it." Aarush quickly went to the counter and purchased it before Inaya could do anything more. "I'll hold onto it for now." He smiled and led her out of the store. Aarush had been paying attention to her the whole time, wanting to see what she could be interested in since she never said anything. "Let's get something to eat now." They walked to the food court, while Inaya's mind was in chaos. She was only looking at the dress sneakily, so how did he notice it?

"Aarush, I'm not that hungry." As they found a place to sit down, Inaya said so suddenly.

Aarush looked at her gently. Inaya was a little flustered by his expression, turning a little red. "You know Inaya, you are a lot thinner since I last saw you. Your skin isn't as rosy either, I know you aren't doing well." Aarush sighed a little. "Look, I do want to learn more about you, talk a bit about you. I want you to know more about me. Maybe we can bond a little through this. You might understand why I want to help you so bad and why your current state makes me so sad." He explained with a bitter look. "So please, eat whatever you want, if you don't have a choice, I'll just order something from every single shop and leave you with it all." He smirked.

"Alright alright." Seeing him become too persistent, she got up and led him to a shop. It sold burgers and she pointed at one of them. "I'll just get one of those. I'm really not that hungry."

"Nope, even if you aren't hungry, you will eat more." He persisted. Walking to the front he began to talk to the employee. "Hi, can get the number seven as a meal, add in an extra burger, too on the side. I also want to get a number two meal. Inaya, what drink do you want?"

"Seriously…" She felt frustrated by him. "Just get me a coke." She said with a sigh.

"Alright, we will have two cokes, upsize the fries in both, alright?" The person nodded and filled it in the machine. Aarush paid for the meal and the two waited on the side.

"Why don't you listen…" She said with a frown.

"I don't know. I'm not the nicest person, you know?" A smirk was plastered on his face, this annoyed her a little, but also made her smile. Sure, he was being pushy, but she could tell he was genuinely concerned about her.

After grabbing the tray of food, they walked back to their table. Aarush took his stuff and gave her the food he got her as well. They began to eat slowly.

"So Aarush, what exactly did you hear? You know, you said you heard my brother yelling…" She asked suddenly.

"Oh, just what I told you. He was saying something about some marriage and other really annoying things." Aarush gnashed his teeth as he spoke. "No offense, but your brother is a bastard."

She smiled bitterly and didn't say much about that comment. Her feelings for her brother weren't too great either.

"Anyways, since we're here and eating, why don't we talk a bit more?" He smiled and took a bite of his burger. "Tell, how have you been doing this past week? Don't lie to me, I know you weren't doing well, I want to know specifics."

"Why?" She asked curiously.

"I don't know." This was true, he was unsure where this concern was coming from.

"Well, I work as a teacher in that school now. I have my own room and they feed me, so it's not too bad." When she said this, she saw Aarush frown.

"Since, you don't want to say too much, let me instead tell you more about myself, alright? I won't be lying either." He began to tell her about his life. He spoke about his stressful childhood, his journey after high school, Maya's bullying, his education, and so much more. The only thing he left out for now was Aeleya. "You see, I actually ran away from home with my sister once when my parents tried to force her into a marriage. To me, I hate things like forced marriages, I hate it to the bone."

"I never knew you lived such a life…" She was shocked to say the least. His life was like a movie to say the least, chaotic movie.

"Life is life." He smiled. "Do you kind of understand why I care about your situation so much now?"

"I think so." She sighed a little, but even when compared to Aarush's life, she still felt her's wasn't easy to explain. Unlike her, Aarush had people in his life who did encourage him and did not push him down. Aarush didn't live a life of fear that he would be raped any day. He didn't have to lock his doors at night from someone who should have been his family.

"Inaya, talking helps release some of your stress. I learned that the hard way." Aarush spoke up after seeing her hesitate. "I don't even have to be the person you speak to, I just wish you would let this stress out."

She bit her lips a little, debating whether she wanted to talk about it. Of course, in her heart she had always wanted to tell the world how she felt, how much she was suffering, but there was some fear in her heart.

Seeing her struggle with this, Aarush reached out and patted her head gently. It was an old habit of his, something he could never throw away. "Just relax, alright? Let's not talk more about this, let's just enjoy the day." Inaya nodded her head with a bit of relief.

He finished his food and happily watched her finish hers right after. Inaya looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. "What is it?"

Aarush suddenly panicked a little. "N-nothing." He smiled embarrassingly and got up from his seat. "Here, since you're done, let's head to the next place." He smiled and grabbed the bag from his chair. Inaya nodded her head and got up from her seat as well. Side by side, they walked around the mall a bit more. "Hey, look." As they walked around, Aarush noticed a big ice cream shop. "Let's get some." Both of them walked in and Aarush saw a large variety of options. He got a little excited by this. "Which one do you want?"

"I'm fine." She shook her hands and said.

"You don't like ice cream?" He raised an eyebrow and asked.

"That's not it, I just don't…" She corrected him, but he smirked at her weirdly.

"If you like it, then get some. The more you eat the better." His words were weird, as if he was the witch trying to fatten up the children for later. "Excuse me, can you get me a chocolate scoop with a normal waffle cone?"

"No problem." The person behind the counter was a young lady.

"Chocolate? There are so many options though…" She looked at him with a confused expression. He looked so excited a second ago, but he chose the most plain option.

"I actually don't care too much about ice cream." He said with a laugh.

"Then why did you.." He cut her off again.

"For you of course. You like it, so why not?" A smile formed on his face as he looked at her. "So, which one?"

"I'll take this one then." She pointed at a caramel coated, vanilla ice cream.

He nodded his head with a smile. "Can I get this one as well, but make it a double scoop."

"Hey, I don't need that much." With a complaining voice, she said with a frown.

"Just take it, if you don't want it later, then just throw it out." His smirk began to look less gentle and more aggressive to Inaya. She couldn't help but giggle because of it. "What is it?" He asked with confusion.

"Nothing." Her face was more rosy then before, so she looked more attractive as well. Aarush couldn't help but fall into a small daze seeing her like this. "What?" Seeing him stand still, she asked with a smile.

"Umm, here is your ice cream." He passed her the cone with an awkward expression. 'What's going on with me? She is pretty, but so are so many other people.' His mind fell into confusion as well, somewhat of a mess. To calm his mental fortitude, he decided to change the subject. "Inaya."

"Yeah?" She said while licking her ice cream. A soft expression unknowingly came on Aarush's expression seeing her causally eat her ice cream. Inaya looked over and became slightly flustered when looking at his expression. "What? Is there something on my face?"

'Shit, I did it again!' He internally punched his own face. "No, I was just curious about something." He quickly cleared his throat and focused elsewhere.

"Go on." She also went back to her own ice cream.

"My brother told me you were there when I was drunk a while ago. Supposedly, I said something to you when I was out of it, was it anything bad? You ran away after that, if I did say anything rude, I'm sorry." He was concerned about this. Aarush was out of it and didn't remember much from that night, he didn't even remember how he got home.

So pretty. The words suddenly came across her mind once again. Her face flushed and she shook her head. "You didn't say anything, I just had to get back to my group since we were out to buy things. That's all." She quickly replied, her face still a bit scarlet.

"Oh?" He looked at her questionably, then nodded his head. "Good, I thought I might have said some dumb things. Also, whatever happened that night, ignore it. I'm usually not such a drinker." He sighed and said.

"You don't look like a drinker, it was surprising really." She also said so.

"Anyways, where do you want to go next? We still have lots of time." Crunching on the last bit of the waffle cone, he wiped his hands on a napkin which he pulled from his pocket.

"I think this is enough. You can just drop me back." She said with a plain smile. "I had fun and all…"

"No way." Aarush interjected. "Let's go to some more places. If there isn't a specific place, why don't we go to my house? I can introduce you to my family."

"Why can't I just go back?" She asked with a sigh.

"Are you not having fun?" Aarush suddenly came to this thought and asked with a bit of worry.

"No, that's not it." Seeing him suddenly become disheartened, she quickly spoke up. "From what I remember your servant Bali telling me in the past, Saturday's are your day offs, right? Why waste it on me, go spend time with your family, it's been a long time since you last saw them, right?"

"Nope, I don't want to." He shook his head in clear rejection. "If you want to go home, I will drop you off, but I will likely just sit around at home doing nothing. So, let's keep hanging out." He said with a smile. "I'm having a great time, you know?"

"If you want it so bad, then I won't say no." She said with a smile "But I really don't have any places I want to visit."

"Then let's go to my house." He said with a smile.

"That would be a little weird, wouldn't it?" She said worriedly.

"Why would that be weird?" He asked with confusion.

"I don't know, it just seems weird." Of course, she knew why it would be weird. She would be going to his house to be introduced to his family, just her. People could get the wrong idea.

"Are you worried that others would think something is up?" He asked with a smile.

She was shocked by his directness, but she still nodded her head.

"Don't worry, no one will say anything like that. My family still understands that I'm recovering from her death, so they won't think about this seriously." He smiled. "Let's go then." Both of them went back to the parking lot and got onto the bike. With her grabbing his shoulders again, Aarush drove off.

"Maazi, do you know where Aaru went?" Aliya lazily sat on a sofa and mumched on some food while Maaz and Maya played a board game with Noori.

"Not sure. He didn't say anything." He answered back, but he didn't turn around, he was focused on the game. He dropped two dice and yelled in happiness. "Haha, a six and four."

"It's his day off today. He tutored those kids already, so where would he go?" As she was speaking, the front door suddenly opened up.

"I'm back." Aarush's voice entered their ears. It seemed unusually happy.

"Aaru? Where did you go?" Aliya looked over and asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was just hanging out with a friend." He said with a smile. "Inaya, just come inside, stop worrying so much."

"Who else is there Aaru?" Aarush's mom walked down the stairs with a bowl of fruits in her hand.

Inaya walked through the door with her head facing down.

When everyone saw her, they stopped what they were doing and just stared with wide eyes. Aliya stood up from her seat and looked over with shock. "A-Aaru, you…"

'Shit, so they are overreacting.' He shot a glance at Inaya who was completely flustered. "Guys, relax, it's not what you think. Damn, she is a friend, a friend!" He shook his head. "Let's go inside Inaya." He smiled and led her in.

"Aaru, who is this?" Aliya asked with a bright smile. Aarush sighed seeing that she was still stuck in this misunderstanding.

"Aliya, this is Inaya, Reni's aunt. We became friends a while back, but because I was busy, I couldn't meet her. I was on break today, so I called her and met up." He explained casually. "Inaya, this is my older sister Aliya. That over there is Maazi, my younger brother. Maya is that one, while the little girl is my precious little niece." He began to introduce everyone. "She is my mom, while my dad is… I don't know where."

"He's taking a nap right now." His mom said while walking over. "You're Inaya? What a beautiful girl you are." His mom smiled and said.

"Agreed. Inaya, you're so pretty." Aliya also spoke up. "Noori, come here and say hello to Inaya." Aliya beckoned the little girl over. Noori came running over and looked at Inaya with a slight frown.

"Hello." She said in an aggressive manner, causing everyone to be taken aback.

"Noori? Stop being rude." Aliya glared at her daughter.

"Hmph." Noori suddenly ran to Aarush and grabbed his hand. "Aaru uncle, play the board game with us." She completely ignored Inaya's presence. Aarush became a little awkward because of this.

"Noori, you go ahead and play." Aarush planted a kiss on her head. The little girl frowned but still walked away. "Alright, let's go sit down for a bit." Aarush led his sister and mom to the sofa.

"Inaya, what do you do?" Aliya was the first to speak up and ask a question.

"Well, I was never able to work, but I have an interest in writing and plan on writing professionally if it works out." She said with a smile.

"Writing? Did you know that Aarush is also a writer?" His mom said with a bright smile.

"Mom, she knows that." Aarush massaged his head because of his family.

"How many people are there in your family?" Aliya asked with a smile.

Aarush frowned when this question was popped. He glared at Aliya who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, I only have my older brother left, while his daughter and wife, and his wife's brother, are now my family too." She said with a smile. Seeing Aarush frown and even glare at his family already made her see he cared, so she didn't mind answering the question.

"Inaya, why don't you go and explore the place with Aarush? He has this garden he won't let anyone inside of, only Noori is allowed in there, haha." Aliya could tell something was off, so she laughed it off and allowed Aarush to hang around with Inaya. Plus, seeing Aarush with a girl made her extremely happy.

Aliya walked away with her mother, of course she had to drag her mom away. When the two were finally left alone, Aarush released a deep breath. "Sorry about that, maybe I don't know the things they would say." He became slightly awkward, afterall he gave her his word.

"No problem." She smiled. "Anyways, I think I should go now." She began to walk towards the door. Seeing this, Aarush hurriedly got up and grabbed her hand.

"Wait." He didn't even notice himself doing this action. "Stay for a little longer, I'll drop you off myself, I promise."

"First let go of my hand." She said with a red face. She could see Aliya and her mom watched from afar, peeking from the wall.

"Sorry." He quickly let go and scratched the back of his head. "Come on, I'll show you around a little more." Smiling he led her up the stairs and into his garden. "Aliya talks too much nonsense, I don't restrict anyone from coming here. Rather, I just don't like people ruining this area, so I just say to be careful."

When they entered the area, Inaya was shocked by what she saw. It was a beautiful place, with lots of plants and small critters. She saw small turtles in a miniature pond and even a few fish.

"This is so beautiful." She said aloud. Aarush smiled at her reaction.

"Right?" He sat down on the grassy ground and just looked up at the leafy roof. "You know Inaya, this was the first place I made when I moved into this house. I don't have a love for plants or anything, I don't even look after them, it's Bali who comes here and feeds these animals and waters the plants."

"Then why did you make this place?" She stood on the side and asked with confusion.

"After I lost my wife, I started to look at flowers differently. Just like my wife, they bloom only for a bit and then suddenly wither away." He sighed and spoke. "Did you know that I only knew my wife for about a month before she died? More accurately, three weeks? We were married without any knowledge of one another. Funny enough, she was actually forced to marry me." Aarush sat cross legged and began to explain with a heavy heart. "For the three weeks of our marriage, I was in the hospital, working, for two of them. I really only spent about a week with her before she died." Inaya listened quietly to his sorrow filled voice. "I don't why she had to die so early, I never will understand. We planned our whole future, yet it was all just a dream. She died and I was left alone with only a week worth of memories." Aarush pulled out his phone and found a picture of Aeleya. "This is my wife, I don't have any pictures in my house displayed because of how I would feel if I saw her. This is the only picture I have of hers, I deleted the rest after my drunk incident."

Inaya took the phone and smiled when she saw the girl. "She is really pretty."

"Yeah." Aarush smiled back. "Can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" She asked with a gentle smile on her face.

"Can you delete that picture for me?" Aarush's sudden words surprised her.

"W-why? Isn't this the last picture you have? You should keep it." Inaya thought that Aarush was being dumb or making a move without thinking, but she only saw him looking at her calmly.

"I have thought about this long enough. Aeleya will remain in my heart and thoughts, that is something that will never change, but if I ever want to move on peacefully, I don't think having her pictures would help me. I would just fall into an emotional turmoil and probably go crazy over and over again." He explained with a smile. "I can't delete it because I will continue to hesitate, which is why I want you to delete it for me."

"Why me? Why not ask your siblings." She asked curiously.

"I don't know why I want you to do it. I just feel like it is better if you do it." He was confused by this, but after his drunken incident and little lecture from Noori and Aliya, he decided to let things go as they please. He was going to stick with his feelings and do whatever felt right. No more restrictions and no more hesitation. Sure, he felt hard to move on from Aeleya, but he had to. His family wanted it, her family wanted, and he truly felt alone. He felt so lonely that it was suffocating him.

Inaya looked at his phone and back at him. Seeing him nod in confirmation, she hesitated, but went ahead and deleted the photo, but one thing she did without him knowing was, she sent the picture to herself first. If he ever regretted this, she could always send it back to him. "Alright, done." She passed him his phone.

Aarush grabbed it and suddenly released a deep sigh. "I feel kind of… relieved now. As if, the pain from the last seven years is slowly turning into a distant memory, you know?" He looked at her with a smile. "Inaya, thanks."

"For what?" She asked curiously.

"No reason." He got up from the ground and patted his pants. "Want to head out now?"

"Sure." She said with a smile.

Aarush and her walked out with smiles. They headed to the door and walked out. "Let's take the car this time." She nodded her head in agreement. Aarush sat up front and she sat beside him.

He began to slowly drive back to the school, albeit with a bit of reluctance.

"Aliya, what do you think?" Both Aliya and Aarush's mom sat inside of a room with bright smiles on their faces.

"I know what you're thinking. I think Aarush may like this Inaya person. Did you see how he was acting?" Aliya was excited. Although the feeling was very small, it was still there. Unfortunately, they couldn't tell if Inaya was interested in Aarush in any way.

"We have to find a way to push this forward. We have to." Aarush's mom was the most anxious, How could she bear to see her child live a lonely life? Not many mothers could.

"Yeah. Maybe we should invite Inaya to lunch or something? We just have to find a way to keep her here more often. The more she is around Aaru, the better. It might even spark something. I know Aaru, once he knows he likes her, he won't hesitate to say it." Aliya said with a smile. "We just have to help Aaru realize it, then from there it should turn out fine."

Aarush was oblivious to the secret talk his sister and mom were having. He was currently enjoying a peaceful ride with Inaya.

"Aarush, I finished the book." She said as they drove silently.

"Really? Did you like it?" He asked with a bit of excitement. He loved the topic of his books.

"I loved it." She said with confirmation. "I was wondering if I can borrow it for a bit longer, I really like to read it when I'm feeling stressed." She said with a sigh.

"Keep it, it's yours." He said, but then he stopped the car on the side of the road.

"What's wrong?" She looked at him with confusion.

"Inaya, I was wondering…" He began to hesitate a little.

"Yeah?" She looked at him with a bit more curiosity.

"Well… if you want, should I find you another place to stay? Somewhere better?" He asked carefully. He looked at Inaya with a bit of expectation.

Hearing his question, Inaya sighed and shook her head. "That's alright. I'm happy with where I am."

"But…" This time it was Inaya who cut him off.

"I said that's alright." She frowned a little, but seeing his saddened expression, her face softened a little. "Aarush, I'm happy that you care enough to do all of this, and I'm truly happy to make a friend like you, but still… I can't take so much from you. I want to be able to stand on my own two feet, you know?"

"I understand." He sighed. "Still, I want to keep in touch with you more. We should go out like this more when you are tired or stressed. I can always make time." He said with a bit of expectation.

"No problem." She replied with a smile.

Aarush finally smiled and drove her back to the school. Both of them got out of the car and Aarush dropped her at the door. "Alright, see you later." There was a bit of reluctance in his heart which he didn't notice. Seeing her walk through the door and vanish made him sigh deeply.