THE PLAN

Good evening Leylah" Zara said smiling as she entered the house too.

Leylah shut the door and she felt uncomfortable seeing Zara here like this in her house, ' why is she here? We are not even friends?' Leylah wondered.

"Is aunt home?" Nabeela asked nervously.

"No she isn't. She went to visit a sick relative,but she'll be back tomorrow" Leylah explained.

"Oh I see". came Nabeela's reply.

Leylah's answers gave her quick a relieve. She doubt if she would have been able to carry out this plan successfully if Mrs Karina was around.

"its quite sad,I thought you came here to see me but turns out you came to see only my mum" Leylah said with much levity.

"No Leylah,I actually came to talk to you about something really important".

" Really,oh please have a seat. can I get you something to eat or drink and then we'll talk?"

"No its fine Leylah,can we talk in your room?"Nabeela asked and Leylah readily agreed.

she had thought Nabeela wanted to speak to her away from Zara but was surprised when Nabeela motioned for Zara to come along.

They got to Leylah's room and Leylah started organising her room,explaining at the same time, "I was actually in a rush before you came. I was going to meet up with Suraj and am already late,so I couldn't tidy up things here". She said picking the clothes,shoes and make up she threw all over the place.

Leylah wasn't the clumsy type but she was quite anxious about her date with Suraj that she tried out almost all her dresses that evening before she finally decided on what to wear.

"Please sit" Leylah said as she finished tidying up the place.

"I was the messy one as far as I can remember,how comes you are now like me" Nabeela joked and Leylah laughed. This was the first time after she came back, that Nabeela has talked to her in a friendly manner.

"Don't mind me. So what is it you want to talk about? Am already late and I don't want to keep your brother waiting" Leylah said smiling at Nabeela.

Zarah got really annoyed seeing Leylah smiling like that, she felt like slapping the silly smile off Leylah's face.

"Its quite about Suraj,Leylah", Nabeela said as she took a deep breath and walked to were Leylah was standing.

"I know Suraj was really hurt when you left him,we all were. He always said that he was going to take his revenge on you someday but I just thought he said that because he was hurt and didn't really mean it".

Nabeela said and looked at Zara for a while before she looked at Leylah again but this time,with tears in her eyes,she continued

"Suraj planned to make you love him again,just like you did before and then....break your heart. he said that was the only justified way to take his revenge on you".

When Leylah heard the first part she was happy but when she heard the remaining,her heart clutched in pain,she felt sad.

She told Nabeela it was fine if that's what Suraj wants before he forgives her. she was ready to let him take his revenge on her if he will forgive after that.

Seeing as Leylah wasn't upset by what she said, Nabeela thought she had to use their last option. Since Leylah wasn't convinced and when she was about saying it,Zara interrupted them,

"Nabeela can I use your phone?mines battery has run down" Zara said.

"Sure, here" Nabeela said handing Zara her phone.

"Oh no Nabeela,have you forgotten you ran out of call credit? I need to call grandma now and let her know we'll be late otherwise, she'll get worried" Zara said and Nabeela was taken aback,she was so confused. 'what drama is this one acting now?'.

Leylah was annoyed with the fact that Zara came to interrupt their conversation and she got irritated. She quickly picked her phone and handed it to zara, "here,it has enough call credit, you can use it to call your grandma" Leylah said angrily,she couldn't hide her irritation.

"Oh thank you so much Leylah,please excuse me." Zara faked and quickly left the room.

Nabeela got the idea and she quickly went back to telling Leylah the cooked up story.

"You see Leylah, Suraj is.....is already together with Zara. They love each other and he even had plans to get married to her next month. But when you showed up,he decided to halt the marriage plans and take his revenge on you" Nabeela elaborated.

"Am not very sure but am suspecting that Zara is pregnant with Suraj's child and that's why they want to get married immediately before the pregnancy becomes obvious"

"What?" Leylah shouted in disbelieve.

What is happening?am I dreaming? Or my ears are just hearing wrong?.

She grabbed Nabeela and asked,"what are you talking about?"

"Calm down Leylah"

Leylah stumbled backwards,she lost her balance and almost fell but Nabeela held her from falling and made her sit on the bed.

"I wouldn't have told you this,if I knew you would react like this" Nabeela said feeling guilty.

'What am doing? Have I gone too far? Oh Allah(Oh God),forgive me'

Zara thougt feeding Leylah with their fabricated story wouldn't be enough to keep them apart.

'what if Suraj calls and and tells her that all what Nabeela is telling her now are all lies'

'What if our plan fails and Suraj hates her for this?'

'I can't just sit and do nothing,I'll have to convince Suraj that Leylah doesn't want him too'. Zara thought. Zara was just thinking on how to go about her next plan when an idea pop up in her brain.

She thought to get a hold of Leylah's phone first, because Suraj might call any moment since Leylah is already late for their date.

She thought of how to go about getting Leylah's phone and not seem suspicious.

And fortunately for her,Leylah offered to give her phone without much hassle.

Zara glead mischievously and quickly excused her self on the pretext of making a call to her grandma.

Suraj was at the restaurant waiting patiently for Leylah to arrive,he didn't know how much time has went by, until the flower delivery guy he asked to hold on to some bouquet of flowers and bring them over as soon as Leylah arrives came,

"Excuse me sir,I have been waiting for an hour now. Your date isn't here yet. Its raining already and I need to return now. I know this wasn't the agreement but I have work sir" the flower delivery guy said.

"Its fine,I didn't know she would be this late. I guess its the traffic and probably the rain contributed too. Let me have the flowers" Suraj said and took the flowers from the guy,he tipped him and the guy thanked him and left.

"What's keeping you Leylah? You're an hour late and you haven't even called...typical" he said to himself smiling and at the same time dialed Leylah's number.

Zara was still contemplating on what to do when a call came in, it was Suraj, she hesitated for a bit then put the phone on flight mode.

She thought really hard and then started composing a text message.

Suraj thought maybe she was driving and couldn't pick the call so he texted her,

[Hey,you're an hour late already,don't you think that's very rude of you Doc. Leylah Maleek"]

When he didn't get any response,he started to get worried. He called again but it was unavailable.

then he sent again,[hey,am starting to get worried here. I can't get a hold of you,your phone is unavailable and you are no where in sight] ".

When Zara was done composing her message,she turned off the flight mode and sent the messages.

[Don't wait up for me,I won't come],she typed simply and sent it.

Suraj read the message and immediately replied

[Why? Whats wrong Leylah? did something happen?]

["Nothing happened. I've just realised that am about to make the same mistake for the second time"].

["I love my fiancé so much and I can't leave him for you. So just leave me alone"]. Zara sent again.

["Leylah what's wrong?did something happen?why are you saying all these?"]

Zara got infuriated seeing Suraj text,she deleted all the messages and put the phone on flight mode again. She then waited for a few minutes before returning to the room. She dropped the phone on the bed and assumed her previous seat.

Nabeela was trying to calm Leylah down but Leylah was crying uncontrollably and it broke her heart. She hadn't thought that this plan will hurt Leylah this much.

'She is going to get married to her fiancé soon so why is she so pained about this?' Nabeela wondered .

" Nabeela, I want to be alone,please leave".Leylah said still crying.

"Okay Leylah but you have to stop crying" Nabeela said and looked at Leylah one last time before her and Zara left.

"Zara, I think we went too far with this plan. am scared now,l don't feel comfortable leaving Leylah like this in that state" Nabeela complained when they got outside.

"Do you think I enjoy this too? I just want to protect Suraj. you know very well that she has a fiancé and they are about getting married. She is just going to play with Suraj's feelings and hurt him again. So we need to do all that is possible to save him now before it gets too late" Zara said convincingly

"Or do you want your brother to go through what he went through years ago?"

"Of course not" Nabeela said

"Then let's just stick to the plan".Zara said.