The next morning began with a phone call that Areeba had been dreading since the night before.
Her phone rang again.
The name flashing on the screen made her heart tighten.
Irwa.
For a moment, Areeba simply stared at it.
Then she answered.
"Hello…"
For a few seconds there was silence.
Then she heard something that made her chest ache.
Irwa was crying.
Not loudly.
But the kind of crying someone does when they are exhausted from holding their pain for too long.
"Areeba…" Irwa said softly.
Areeba sat up straight.
"Yes… Irwa?"
Irwa took a shaky breath.
"Noor told me what you said yesterday."
Areeba instantly understood what she meant.
The words Hary had said.
That Irwa had cheated.
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
Irwa spoke again, her voice trembling.
"Did he really say that…? That I cheated on him?"
Areeba hesitated.
But there was no point hiding it now.
"Yes," she replied quietly.
Irwa let out a bitter laugh that quickly turned back into sobbing.
"That's a lie."
The words were sharp.
"How could I cheat on him after being with him for five or six years?" she said.
Her voice carried disbelief.
Areeba felt anger rising inside her.
Irwa continued speaking.
"The real reason we broke up is something completely different."
"What?"
Irwa took a deep breath.
"My family has always trusted me," she explained.
"They never stopped me from doing anything."
"I could travel alone, go out of town, meet friends… they never questioned me."
Areeba listened silently.
"But Hary's mother didn't like that."
"She didn't like the way I dressed."
"The way I walked."
"The way I lived."
"She started saying that I was too free."
Irwa's voice carried hurt.
"And after all these years… suddenly those things became a problem."
Areeba clenched her jaw.
Irwa continued.
"If you don't believe me… I can send you screenshots of our conversations."
For a moment Areeba didn't reply.
Her mind was spinning.
Was she the reason they had broken up?
No…
She had never agreed to anything.
She had already refused Hary clearly.
But the situation still felt messy.
And unfair.
After the call ended, anger burned inside Areeba's chest.
Without thinking too much, she dialed Hary's number.
He answered quickly.
"Hello?"
Areeba didn't waste time.
"Did you tell Irwa cheated on you?"
Hary paused.
Then he replied calmly.
"She's lying."
His voice sounded confident.
"If you want to know anything, ask me directly."
"I won't lie to you."
Areeba repeated what Irwa had said.
About his mother.
About the issues with her lifestyle.
But Hary immediately dismissed it.
Then he mentioned something that made things even more confusing.
"There was another boy," he said.
"Behind my back."
He even said the boy's name.
Now Areeba felt trapped between two completely different stories.
One side said Hary was being forced by family.
The other side said everything was his own decision.
Which one was true?
Later that evening, she talked to Mili about everything.
Mili listened carefully.
Then she sighed.
"You need to be careful," she said.
"Hary might be trying to manipulate you."
Areeba frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Mili explained calmly.
"If you break the proposal first, he won't be blamed."
"And you know how Dad is now."
Her voice softened.
"His heart condition…"
The thought made Areeba fall silent.
"I will help you," Mili promised.
"But don't do anything reckless."
A few days later, Hary sent some evidence.
Messages.
Conversations.
Things that made it look like Irwa was guilty.
Then he sent another message.
"If you still don't believe me, ask Irwa to show you the screenshots."
Areeba didn't know what to think anymore.
Everything felt tangled.
Still, she told Noor about it and asked her to request screenshots from Irwa.
Later that day, Irwa called again.
Her voice sounded tired.
"It's not convenient for me to send screenshots," she said.
"Some things are personal."
For some reason, Areeba felt uncomfortable asking further.
This was someone's private relationship.
Maybe she had already crossed too many boundaries.
So she said softly,
"I'm sorry."
Irwa was surprised.
"For what?"
"For coming between you both."
There was silence on the phone.
Then Irwa replied gently.
"It's not your fault."
But Areeba still felt uneasy.
After the call ended, she sat quietly for a long time.
Something about the whole situation didn't feel right.
But she didn't know what to do.
Family was involved.
Emotions were involved.
And every decision could hurt someone.
Finally, she made a decision.
She would step back.
She would focus on her studies.
Inside her heart, one thing was already clear.
She would never marry Hary.
No matter what happened.
Hary continued texting occasionally.
Areeba replied politely but briefly.
One day he wrote,
"Take your time."
Areeba answered calmly.
"I'm not ready for anything right now."
"Please don't text me like this again. I'm not comfortable."
After that, their conversations almost stopped.
Meanwhile, Noor once told her something that stayed with Areeba for days.
"Irwa cries a lot these days," Noor said.
"She prays at night."
"She sometimes stays awake for hours."
Those words reminded Areeba of herself.
Of the nights she had cried alone.
Of the pages of her diary that held her silent pain.
Something inside her softened.
But she kept her distance.
Instead, she threw herself into her studies.
"I want a job," she told Noor one day.
"I want to stand on my own feet."
"And one thing is certain…"
She said firmly.
"I will never marry Hary."
Months passed.
Exams approached.
Areeba studied harder than ever before.
Her focus surprised even her friends.
And when the exams ended, everyone celebrated.
For the first time in months, life felt light again.
One evening, Areeba and her friends—Noor, Safa, and Wisha—sat together in Inam's car.
They had decided to go for a small trip outside the city.
Just to relax.
Just to breathe.
Inam was the only boy in their group.
And everyone knew his reputation.
He changed girlfriends almost every month.
The girls constantly teased him about it.
"A new girlfriend this week?" Safa joked.
Inam rolled his eyes.
"You people have no respect for my emotional struggles."
They all laughed.
Even Areeba smiled.
Usually she didn't join the teasing.
But recently she had become more comfortable around them.
Even she joked occasionally.
But that evening something unexpected happened.
After dropping everyone off one by one, Inam stopped the car near Areeba's street.
The atmosphere suddenly felt quiet.
Inam looked at her seriously.
"Areeba… can I say something?"
She looked at him curiously.
"Hmm?"
Then he said the words she never expected to hear.
"I like you."
Areeba froze.
Her mind went blank.
Inam continued.
"I'm serious."
Her heart started beating faster.
Inam was her friend.
Her only male friend.
And she didn't want to ruin that friendship.
But now…
She didn't know what to say.
She looked out the window for a moment.
Trying to find the right words.
Because whatever she said next…
Could change their friendship forever.