"when we go astray do we come up on the right path. when we come on the right path, do we find ourselves. and when we find ourselves, do we understand our purposes - sarah."

Derek had been reading the letter he had written for the tenth time in the last five minutes . He had been overly nervous even if that meant he was just communicating through letters . Infact , he felt like it was more tedious to write down a perfect letter according to him . As he sighed loudly and crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it on the ground , he wondered if he would be able to ever impress Sarah .

Sarah.

The girl that happened to pop up in his mind everytime anything good took place . Her name in itself carried the comfort that was needed to help him through whatever was going on . To be more precise , during the hardest battle that he fought and almost lost had it not been her name and nervous smile that had kept him going .

Somebody pushed the door open and Derek instinctively looked over his shoulder to find Gabriel walk in , taking a bite on an apple .

"Hitting on my sister eh ?" He blew an impressed whistle , unfolding one of the many crushed paper balls scattered across the floor .

Derek slumped in his seat , casting a look at Gabriel . "We decided to letter talk ?"

Gabriel's eyes shot up , "Letter talk ?"

Derek turned around , his arms on his knees . "Yeah , well , both of us basically forget how to talk out of nervousness when we're together . So she sent me this letter ." He paused to fish through his desk for that one letter he had very carefully set aside . When he did handle it to Gabriel , he seemed to look taken aback .

"It's my turn to write to her next . And I've honestly tried to write down as best as I could but some how I ju - "

"You framed this letter ?" Gabriel asked , waving the golden thick framed letter in his hand .

Derek cleared his throat and nodded a little hesitantly . "Well , I love her handwriting and want to preserve all her letters this way . Even if it means nothing is going to happen between us , I'd still have them as sweet memory of hers . Or if I do end up with her , I'd like my kids to read these letters and know of the unique way we developed our relationship ."

Gabriel stared at him open mouthed , the apple almost slipping from his grasp . Once he had regained his senses , he ran a hand through his hair and inhaled sharply .

"First , Derek I don't think you've seen a good handwriting before , because my sister's writing is like that of insects crawling . Secondly , you're one of those weird guys who are always living with unpredictable fantasies . My piece of advice to you would be to just live in the present rather than have kids in the future ."

Derek rolled his eyes , waving him off with a hand and sitting back at his desk .

"And lastly ," Gabriel sat at the edge of the bed ,"I didn't know you were equally crazy as Sarah ." He chuckled , slapping Derek's back . "Good luck anyway ."

He walked out leaving Derek with a gravely serious expression on his face . "Crazy for her ."

Shaking his head , he tried concentrating on his letter . Somehow Gabriel's quick and rather unpleasant meeting had left him with a different perspective of conveying Gus emotions . He had decided at the very last moment that going with the flow was better to develop their friendship . And that to become comfortable with each other , things that progressed slowly turned out more successful .

With a small smile , he jotted down the words that flew in his mind , keeping it causal and on point .

Until she was alright with him .

He'd wait even if it took forever .

Hafsa had been sitting at the window sill of her room , a cup of her favourite lemon mint tea as she saw the roads filled with the usual buzz .

She pondered upon the lives of her dearest ones rather than her own . It just happened like that without much thought . And over time , it became her habit to worry more than what was necessary over Inaya and Afra .

Thinking about Afra , Hafsa realized that it had been a few hours since she left . It was heart wrenching to find her leave them for a whole of three months . Without her , the house was lifeless and dull . However that wasn't something that concerned her much . What made her feel distressed was that Afra was quite broken at the time she left . Was she holding up well ? Were things alright where she was ? Was she being treated well ? Was she at peace ?

Sighing loudly she took a large sip out of her mug .

That's when Inaya's slightly coloured face made her way into her mind . Hafsa did feel a little guilty about keep some secrets from Inaya about Faaris' truth . At that time , according to Mariam , it was best to let things be kept from Inaya because she would never believe them . No matter how much they tried , she never did truly trust Faaris and that was true . Besides , Hafsa counted herself lucky that she had overheard their conversation and very unexpectedly popped into their small secretive discussion .

Things set apart , Inaya was starting to warm up to Faaris and Hafsa was very happy about it . She was certain of one thing and she was always worked up about it though . That Inaya would find it one day or the other . Having secrets was never a crime but to Hafsa they honestly made no sense . Infact , more than half of the problem would be solved and majority of the tension would be dissolved . She had tried convincing both Mariam and Faaris but apparently , they were afraid Inaya would take a massive uncalled step in her furiousness . Hafsa knew her sister did know of what exactly had taken place and that's why she behaved extremely rude and cold towards Faaris . If she becomes aware of the truth , she would only start becoming more open towards him .

Not take some uncalled step !

Shaking her head and taking another huge sip out of her cup , she broke her daze and tried to concentrate on the setting sun when a figure walked into the backyard , looking up directly at the sun with his hands thrusted deep into the pockets of his jeans .

Gabriel .

She did not want to , but somehow did end up watching every move of his . After taking a couple of steps , he slumped down against the large trunk of the only tree . His knees parted and his hands on them . She liked examining the way he was , but that was when realization dawned upon her and she hastily shuffled to her feet .

She shouldn't watch him . Its haraam .

When she did turn around to give him one last look , a small smile of excitement tugged her lips upwards . She had not noticed earlier , but he had laid a book down on his lap and from the shiny brown edge with golden calligraphy , Hafsa nearly danced with satisfaction .

It was the Holy Qur'an .