Chapter 15: Sara Ajmal

I thought I was going to die and wake up in heaven when I heard how the plan had worked. Khirad Ashar had finally left and I had Ashar to myself all over again…he didn't even mention her name again and our friendship continued as usual…I even had to give into Khizar's cheap flirtations until he got on that damned plane to America and never came back again. Ashar did occasionally shut down here and there…maybe he had one or two trips to the hospital, but now I had all the time in the world to make him fall in love with me. And how could he not, honestly? I had been his shoulder to cry on all this time, the one person he trusted in this world…I had spent every night replaying the plan that my aunt had beautifully played out in my mind in bed before I slept with a smile on my face, knowing that my Ashar would not give her a second chance. And my love was strong enough to make him forget all about her…he just didn't give me a chance before all that rubbish happened. I would even get him to calm down at work and stop being such a workaholic. Even if he didn't want to share his pain with me…he would eventually, when he was back from his long trip from England which I had no idea he was taking. I admit I did freak out about it but I guess he needed time before I could start healing him.

 …That was all until I found out about his little secret family. I felt my world crashing down around me when i had found out that he…actually lied to me about his whereabouts so he could…take this broken family of his for lunch? Who even knew if that was really his child or not? I even told him that, but instead he had the nerve to shout at me for the first time! Then I had Khizar who had actually surprisingly hadn't forgotten me all this time and kept calling me every single day for 5 years! I thought I was going to lose my mind! I couldn't believe he was actually this…obsessed with me. I was completely beside myself to the point where I freaked out over the phone to my aunt Fareeda and demanded she come back from her overseas trip, and just as I had suspected she had no idea that her so-called daughter-in-law had been living in her home for a month with her bastard child. But not even she could get rid of Khirad this time! She shouted, she cried, she screamed and schemed again…but nothing worked this time! In fact, she had turned her into a shell of her former self. I do not know how Ashar came to know everything that his mother did but he did the one thing that would kill me and he knew it- he ignored my existence completely. Every phone call, every text message, every visit was completely blocked and I found myself getting deeper and deeper into depression. there was no indication that he knew I was a part of the whole plan so why was he ignoring me? Or did he suspect something? Even my own mother had given up on me. I had screamed, shouted, cried, gotten angry at the world…but Ashar still didn't return to my side. I felt…unloved for the very first time. I felt ignored, lonely and abandoned…all of my plans, my goals, my dreams…my future had left the minute that poor girl showed up in our city. And Khizar was about to return any day for the marriage i had promised him in order to carry out my plan…and if I refused then he would blackmail all of us. Just the thought of spending my life with that cheap man who was only equal to Khirad made me physically sick every night. And when Aunt Farida came over to my home with a proposal…from Khizar instead of her own son…she was finally being blackmailed and she wanted out by getting me married to Khizar to cover her ass…Khirad finally had her revenge as we all lost to her this time. 

 So I gave up. In fact, I had my knife at the ready, as I held it closely to my wrists and did what I did before. But before I could even lay my hands onto the ground I heard a loud banging noise as I was getting more delirious. A man had come into the room to save me before anyone had the chance to say anything and I swear that for just a moment I had heard Ashar's voice…but I was very wrong.