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Original: 29th July 2020

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When I got to Elena's house, I saw Brett's car parked outside. 

I rang the doorbell and waited impatiently, confused. Brett's car was here, but Elena hadn't told me that he was back. Maybe he didn't take the car?

The door opened and Elena stood there, her hair a mess, and no makeup on. She wore pink and blue flannel pyjama trousers and a cropped tee. "Jas!" She threw her arms around me. "I'm so sorry." 

Brett appeared in the living room doorway behind her. "Yeah, you really should be."

"What's going on?" I looked at him, puzzled.

"We did have an argument." He explained. "I told her not to call you here, but she did. That was the topic of our argument."

"Can someone please explain?!" I took a step back, away from Elena.

"I could have handled it!" Brett looked irritated.

"Jeremy would have made crap up and spread it around social media!" She argued. "Whether we like it or not, he's still famous, being Jeremy Newton, son of disgraced MP Newton. Jeremy still has followers! He would have publicly humiliated Jas!" 

"Wait... is that why you called me?!" I asked, stunned. "Because Jeremy made you?!" 

"I was worried about you." Elena grabbed my hand. "I know how much your reputation is important in your culture. He would have ruined you." She paused. "Just meet Jeremy once, and then you won't ever have to again. Just talk to him, please." 

"I can't!" I cried. "I promised Fawad that I won't have any contact with him." 

"Fair enough." Brett nodded. "I'll take over from here. Sorry about the inconvenience my wife caused you, Jas." 

"But, what about..." Elena looked at him.

"I'll handle it, Len." He said, looking pointedly at her.

"What else?" I asked.

She sighed, turning back to me. "Jeremy knew that you won't agree. So he threatened to expose our family secrets, to convince you." 

I froze.

"Jas, I keep telling her. My people are working on it as we speak." Brett assured me. "You don't need to worry." 

Elena and Brett had faced their own family drama while Elena and I were at uni. Brett was the sole heir of the Bellemer Group. Brett had been the typical playboy before marriage, and his mother Sam Worthington, had set up his marriage to Elena temporarily to clear up his image. She'd actually wanted Brett to marry Brianna Connors, an heiress of another business empire. But Brett had fallen in love with Elena, and had refused to leave her. His parents had threatened to disown him until a chance meeting with a lawyer exposed the truth to Brett: his parents were just trustees and Brett was the real owner of the empire. Apparently, Brett's grandfather hadn't trusted Jack Worthington enough to let him become an actual heir. Jack had been arrested, but the real reason had been kept from the media. All people knew was that he was involved in fraud. 

"You mean, where Brett's father tried to keep him from his own property?" I asked.

Elena nodded. "And you know how much scandal can damage a business. People have already questioned Brett's ability to run an empire by himself, as well as the damage caused by his father's arrest for fraud. If this gets out, the PR advisers told Brett that it could cause serious damage." 

"Of course, Len just can't trust me." Brett shook his head.

"I can't let that happen!" I said. "You guys can't suffer for my issues." 

"Jas." Brett walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "You're like family to us. We have your back. Let this get out, if it has to."

"But..." 

"Breaking this promise can have serious repercussions to your marriage." Brett said. "Protecting our family secret is not worth destroying your marriage, is it?" 

Elena sighed. "I guess you're right, Brett." 

"Of course I am." He said. "We're not going to be selfish, Len. We already owe Jas so much, but we can't let her destroy her marriage for our sake, can we?" 

Elena looked guilty. "I'm so sorry, Jas. I did get selfish for a bit, but Brett's right; if you've made a promise to Fawad regarding Jeremy, you can't break it." 

I stared at the ground, thoughtfully.

"Forget it, babe." She said. "Don't even think about meeting him now." 

"Let me handle it, Jas." Brett said. "I have enough connections to deal with Jeremy once and for all." 

"What about Jeremy's fiancee?" I looked up. "Isn't he engaged now? Shouldn't he be concerned with his marriage now?" 

"Sophie broke it off with him." She replied. "Sophie's a feminist, and once she found out how he'd treated you, she dumped him." 

I sighed. "I'm going to my place. I have things to sort out while I'm here." 

Brett and Elena tried to convince me to stay, but I was tired and irritated at Jeremy. I had to deal with him once and for all. He couldn't go around threatening my best friend and her husband because of our past.

***

And so I messaged him, and got him to meet me in a very public place.

"I'm glad you're here." Jeremy grinned. His hair was longer and in a man bun, and he had grown a hippie beard. 

The sun was setting, and the gentle warm rays lit up his entire face, making it seem like he was glowing. His eyes sparkled with genuine happiness, and he couldn't keep them away from my face.

"What is your problem?" I asked. "Just because your own life is sinking like the bloody Titanic, doesn't give you the right to ruin ours." 

"Jas, I love you. I screwed up." He said. "But it's always been me for you. That's why you left the doctor for me!" 

"No. I screwed up then." I said. "The truth is that it's always been him and I just didn't realise it then because I was too naive." I paused. "And when you genuinely love someone, you don't choose wealth over them." 

"I know. I regret it so much now." He leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his coffee. "You're beautiful, sweet, kind and perfect. I gave up something so amazing." 

"I'm glad you did." I shrugged. "Because I found genuine love." 

Who's probably going to divorce me now.

"Jas, can I not have another chance?" He gave me the puppy dog eyes. 

"Are you insane?! I'm married, you loser!" I stood up, my voice rising. "Marriage might not mean anything to you, but it's everything to me! I'm in it for life!"

Once again, until Fawad divorces me for this.

"Just out of curiosity, does he know that you're meeting me?" He raised an eyebrow, as if he already knew the answer.

"How's that your business?" I asked. 

"I'm a guy, and I know how I would have felt if I was in his position." He said. "My wife goes to meet the ex who she previously left me for. Hmm..."

Furiously, I grabbed my glass of juice and threw it on him. "Stay out of my life. If you ever try to contact me again, I will report you to the police." 

As I walked away, I realised the severity of what I'd done. 

For this pr**k's sake, I'd put my own marriage at risk.

Fawad wasn't going to forgive me for this. 

***

Fawad's POV

"Everything okay?" I asked, entering the living room.

My parents had called me in there, and I saw that Fariha was already there, looking down at the ground as she sat facing them. Bisma Khalla was nowhere to be seen, thankfully.

"Close the door." Papa told me.

"Ali..." Ammi sighed.

"This is a family meeting, Fatima." Papa hadn't been happy with her and had barely been speaking to her. He looked at me and I noticed that he looked much older than he actually was. "Fawad, Fariha is filing for divorce." 

"I'm glad." I said, as I took a seat next to my sister, patting her head.

"Fawad, divorce is serious." Ammi glared at me. "Don't encourage her." 

"What do you want me to say?" I shrugged. "Stay married to that pr**k who's only with her for the money? Ammi, he cheats on her, he lets his f**ked up family bully his own sons, and he is nothing but horrible to my sister."

"Fariha will not stay married to him." Papa said. "We've raised our daughter better than to tolerate any form of abuse. And that environment is toxic for the kids." 

"Also, he can't just show up demanding to see the kids when he probably doesn't even know their birthdays." I added. "He has done nothing for the kids, even while they were living there." 

"Papa, contact the lawyer you were telling me about." Fariha said. "And I don't want Umair to have any sort of contact with my sons. He should only be able to see them in my presence. They will not be stepping foot in that house again." 

They began talking about the lawyer, when my phone buzzed, indicating a text message. I glanced at it and saw a message from Mina.

<Jasmina: We need to talk.>

I frowned. That was not a good sentence in a relationship. "If you guys excuse me, we'll talk more in the morning, In Sha Allah." I got up and left before anyone stopped me again. I dialled Jasmina's number as I walked up the stairs.

"Assalam Alaikum." She answered almost immediately.

"Walaikum Assalam." I replied. "Everything okay?" 

"Yes, Fawad..." She sounded worried.

"Look, Brett called me earlier." I said. "He told me about Jeremy's threat, but he said that he's going to make sure that..." 

"I met Jeremy." She interrupted me.

I stopped, just outside my room. "You what?" 

"I met him. I wanted to deal with him myself." She said.

"You promised me." I spoke quietly.

"It's not fair to drag Elena and Brett into my problem." She said. "They have a young daughter, they really don't need negative publicity now." 

I continued into the room, closing the door. I actually had no idea whether to agree with her to be angry. There seemed to be too many issues going on in my family at once. My mind was all over the place.

"Say something." Her voice was just as low. "You've been quiet for too long." 

"What can I say? You did what you felt was right." I said. "Even though you blatantly broke the promise you made to me, even when Brett told you not to worry." 

"Brett and Elena shouldn't have to get involved! This is my problem! I caused this." She sounded like she was in tears.

"Jeremy is an extremely conniving man, and you met him without regards to anything." I said. "How do you know that this wasn't just a trick or a trap?"

"I don't, but I..." She stopped short.

I sighed. "I'm coming." 

"No, Fawad. Your family needs you right now." She said. "Fariha needs you. Stay there. I'll be back in a few days. I just need to sort some things out." She spoke again after a pause. "Please don't divorce me."

I almost chuckled at the adorably innocent way she said the last sentence. "I'm not going to divorce you, but I'm disappointed, Mina. I trusted you." 

I hung up, feeling a headache build up. 

I had no idea about the storm that was rapidly brewing, and I wish I could done something to prevent it.

***

"Fawad!" Ammi banged on my door the next morning.

What the f**k?

"What's going on, Ammi?" I groaned, sleepily, raising my head up from the pillow.

"Come here." She didn't open the door, but I could tell that she was outside, as I saw her shadow under the door, moving back and forth as if she was pacing.

I got out of bed, pulled on a shirt and walked over to the door, yawning. "What's going on?" 

She looked absolutely furious as she looked at me.

"What did I do to deserve that look?" I raised an eyebrow.

She held up her phone and I blinked a few times to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. I focused on the screen with one eye, as I tried to readjust to the brightness of the hall. 

There was a photo of Jasmina, sitting across the table from Jeremy at a cafe, as he stared at her adoringly. Underneath was the caption: 'Son of disgraced MP Newton spotted with former flame, Jasmina Sheikh, on an intimate date in London'.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Ammi snapped. 

Oh, for the love of... Why is this my life?

"It's not what it looks like Ammi." I said, wearily.

"She's on a date... with that boy!" She said. "What else is this?"

"She told me about this." I scratched the back of my neck, feeling like I was a teenager getting in trouble for something that I'd done at school. 

"She told you about this?" Ammi was seriously livid. "And you're just standing here, casually, without a care in the world, while your wife is meeting her ex in London? What was the one condition that I put forward, to allow you to marry her? She needs to cut Jeremy out of her life." 

"That's what she's trying to do." I said. "She was just..." 

"She was meeting her ex while her husband is all the way across the world." Ammi said. "I knew that you marrying her wasn't a good idea. For three years, she lived in London alone, with nobody chaperoning her." 

"I trust her, Ammi." I said. "She would never cross her cultural or religious limits. She's loyal to me." 

It was only then that I noticed Bisma Khalla standing down the hall, listening in on every word spoken between me and my mother. S**t.

"She's my wife, Ammi. I trust her and that should be enough for you." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"She's a shameless, limitless girl who..." Ammi began to say.

"Stop right there, Ammi." I said from between gritted teeth. "I won't stand here and listen to you maligning my wife's character like that." I shook my head. "I have no option but to stay here until that sister of yours is here, and I'm only doing it for Fari's sake. Otherwise, I wouldn't have stayed here a moment longer after the way you just spoke about Jasmina." 

"She's not stepping back in this house." Ammi said.

I was stunned into speechlessness.

"I don't care where you take here, but she's not coming back in my house." Ammi said, firmly.

"You do realise that if she can't be here, I won't be here either?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I'd rather you don't go." She said. "But I know that you won't separate yourself from her." 

Khalla walked over. "Are you saying that his wife is a characterless girl? And you married him off to her?" 

Furiously, I went back into the room and slammed the door so hard that the windows vibrated.

What the hell have you done, Mina?

***

Jasmina's POV

My phone started ringing, causing me to jump awake.

Hoping it was Fawad, I reached for it, but then saw my mother-in-law's name on it.

Allah, what now?

"Assalam Alaikum, Aunty." I answered, nervously.

"So this is what you've been doing in London, in your husband's absence?" She asked. "Going on dates with that boy?" 

I froze. How did she know? Fawad wouldn't have told her, or anyone; he wasn't like that.

"It's all over the tabloids!" She seemed to have read my mind. "What do you want, Jasmina? Do you want to stay married to my son or not? You can't seem to make up your mind about who you want to be with!" 

Tears filled my eyes, and one rolled down my cheek. "Ammi, I wasn't on a date with him. I met him, but..." 

"Why did you meet him?" She sounded absolutely enraged. 

I got out of the bed, feeling nauseated with anxiety. "He was threatening to publicly humiliate me and my friends! I was just trying to stop him." 

"And by trying to stop him, you did exactly what he wanted!" She said. "You've publicly humiliated yourself, and our family. I've been receiving phone calls from my friends and acquaintances ever since this morning, asking about whether there's a problem in Fawad's marriage already?" 

"Ammi, I..."

"Don't call me that." She said, her voice filled with hatred. "I've told Fawad, and I'm telling you now. You're not welcome back in our family home ever again. It's his problem where he takes you, but you certainly won't be in my house."

And then she hung up.

I couldn't stop crying after the phone call. What have I done? Aunty's right; while trying to stop him, I did exactly what Jeremy had intended.

***

"Oh, babe." Elena said, sympathetically, putting her hand on mine.

I'd gone to her house because my pain was too unbearable for me, and I needed a shoulder to cry on.

Brett wasn't home, and Elena and I sat at her kitchen table, sipping hot chocolate as I told her everything that had happened.

"I should have kept my word to Fawad." I sobbed. "I should have listened to you and Brett." 

"Brett's getting his lawyers to sue the papers that have published these photos defaming you." She said. "Jeremy won't get away with this. I can bet you anything that he set up the whole thing." 

"I ruined my marriage for him! What's wrong with me?!" 

"Your heart was in the right place, Jas." She smiled, sadly. "But unfortunately, sometimes even our good intentions lead us to nothing but trouble."

"I wish Fawad was here! I wish I could talk to him in person." I rested my forehead on the table. "I've created a huge mess for myself and him." 

"He's a sensible guy. He'll come around." She said. 

"What about my mother-in-law?" I looked up at her, blinded by fresh tears.

She took a sip of hot chocolate, her eyes filled with concern. "Jas, I love you, I really do, okay? But if Brett goes and sees Brianna, I would totally have lost my mind, and I would have possibly left with Belle. So if Fawad is upset about it, he isn't wrong. Secondly, I'm a mother now, so I sort of understand where his mother is coming from. If anyone left Belle at the altar, and then they start a relationship again, I'd be wary of them as well. Dr Ali is just being an extremely overprotective mother. I know that the way she's behaving isn't right, but think of the reasoning behind it." 

I listened to her words, thoughtfully. She was absolutely right. If I put myself in my husband's or my mother-in-law's shoes, I would have been furious at myself as well. I had no valid reason to go and meet my ex. People in my culture don't do that, especially when they're happily married to someone else.

"Jas, you would do anything for me, right?" Elena asked.

"Of course." 

"Well, I would do anything for you." She said. "So please let my husband handle this situation. He told me that Jeremy won't bother you again, and if he even tries, he'll be arrested." 

"Fine." I said. "I give up anyway. He's done all the damage that he wanted to do." 

She put a hand on mine. "Fawad loves you more than anything in the universe. He'll come around. And as long as your husband's on your side, you don't need to worry about his family. You both can handle them together." 

"He trusts me, Elena." I said. "He's just disappointed that I broke the promise." 

I would be as well, if he met up with Laiba, despite promising me that he wouldn't. In fact, I would have probably thrown a fit by now if that had happened.

"I'm an awful person." I said, miserably.

***

The whole day and night I kept worrying that my mother-in-law would poison my husband's mind against me. I kept imagining scenarios from Pakistani dramas where he wouldn't let me enter the house, and then divorce me and then remarry someone else.

I woke up the next morning, feeling like an elephant had been sitting on my body the entire night. My muscles ached terribly, my head hurt, and judging from my body heat under the covers, I could tell that I had a fever even without touching my skin. I sat up, shivering, wrapping the blanket tightly around myself. 

I made myself a cup of tea and had toast with it. 

After breakfast, I lay on my sofa, watching TV.

Elena called a short while later. "So, guess what? Brett pulled some strings, and he has gotten a restraining order against Jeremy."

"Shouldn't he have committed a crime before we could get one?" I asked. "Or am I making stuff up in my mind?" 

"Well, he blackmailed us all." Elena replied. "Plus, the media bosses have revealed that Jeremy told them about your meeting with him, which led to these defaming photos. I think this was all taken into consideration." 

"Brett's a hero. You should keep him for good." I joked weakly.

"Oh really? Because I was planning on changing husbands, and would have if you hadn't told me this." 

"I sense your sarcasm strongly." I sighed. 

"Anyway, Belle's screaming. I have to go feed the kid." Elena said, and I heard the cute baby in the background. "Talk to you later, babe." 

"Bye, Elena." I hung up. 

My head hurt so badly from the fever and the lack of sleep. I closed my eyes and curled up on the sofa, slowly drifting off. 

I woke up to the sound of knocking on the front door. 

Groaning, I got up and walked to the door, shivering. I probably should have taken a paracetamol tablet. 

When I opened the door, I almost collapsed with weakness and shock. "Fawad!" 

My husband looked grim, but the moment he saw me, his expression softened in concern. "Mina, are you okay?" He instantly wrapped his arms around me.

"Fawad..." I held onto him tightly, feeling relieved. "I'm so sorry." 

He dragged his hand luggage trolley inside, before closing the door. Then, scooping me into his arms, he carried me to my room. "You're unwell. We'll talk about this later." 

"I've been worried all night." I said. "I couldn't sleep all night. I just..."

"Jaan, seriously, we'll talk when you're better." He set me down onto my bed and straightened up. "I'm going to wash my hands first, but do you have a thermometer?" 

"In the bathroom." I muttered, weakly.

He headed out and returned a moment later with an electronic no-contact thermometer, which he held inside my ear until there was a beep. "Thirty eight degrees. Did  you take any medication?" 

I shook my head.

"Mina..." He sat down on the bed facing me. "Did you at least eat something?" 

"Toast." I felt like a child as he asked me questions.

"I'm going to get you a paracetamol." He said, brushing my hair off my forehead. Embarrassingly enough, it was stuck to it with sweat. 

I reached towards the bedside table. "It's somewhere in here." 

"Let me." He searched through the drawer. I saw him grin as he pulled out a diary.

"Oh my God! Don't you dare read this." I warned him.

He chuckled. "I'll come back to it later." He winked at me, before pulling out a box of paracetamol.

Once I'd taken the medication, I lay back down and he tucked the blanket around me. 

"I'll make you some soup." He said, kissing my forehead.

"I love you." I whispered. "I'm sorry for the crap I've put you through. I'm sorry for..." I began to drift off again. I'd forgotten that this medicine made me drowsy.

"We'll get through this." I heard him say, before sleep completely overwhelmed me.

***

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