Meher •completed•

29.

Yusuf's life had been quite peaceful, he knew where it was heading till a few weeks ago. It had taken a particular female to turn his life upside down and now it resembled a tornado hit city.

His growing intense feeling for Meher was pulling him into quick sand of destruction everyday, deeper towards the end and the struggle to stay afloat was pulling him down faster.

To top all the chaos, now he had Hooriya to think about and take care of. He wanted Hooriya to live, she was his friend, his best friend's wife, he wanted her to fight her battle and survive. Was his liking towards his friends first wife the only reason for his concern for her or was it the love he felt for his friend's second.

Did he somewhere deep down wish for Hooriya to survive so that he may have a chance at a happily ever after with Nur.

The pounding headache was killing Yusuf. He shut the screen of his laptop with force and got up from his chair walking towards the door of his cabin.

It was late at night and he was still working, he loved what he did but now work was also a distraction, preventing his heart from trotting down the forbidden paths.

Yusuf made his way out to the parking lot and got into his car. Quickly strapping on the seat belt and drove out of the hospital as soon as possible. He switched on the radio to prevent his mind from functioning at all.

'Hello hello ladies and gentlemen, aaj hai 14 February, aaj pyar ka dinn hai. Pyar, kitna hassen alfaz hai ye, lekin ye nazuk se shabd ki takat pyar karne wale jaante hai, bakhubi jante hai. Pyar cancer ki tarah hota hai, bin bulaye aa jaata hai aur maarke chala jaata hai, pyar ek-."
(Today is the day of love. love it's such a beautiful word, so fragile but it had the power to break you or make you and people who have loved know it. Love is like cancer it creeps into you and kills your, love is a -.)

Yusuf switched off the the radio and continued to drive till the phone kept on the seat beside him rang. He looked at the side to see the name of that one person flash who was probably the only one who he needed the most right now his sister - Saba.

"Salam." He parked his car to the side and picked up the phone. He placed it against his ear and spoke.

"Walekum Salam meri jaan." The chirpy voice from the other end said. "Kya haal hai meri jaan ka ?" (What's going on with my darling.)

"I need you Saba, I need you so much right now." Yusuf said placing his forehead against the steering wheel.

"What is wrong Yusuf ?" She asked her voice laced with panic hearing her younger brothers distressed voice.

"I..I'm in love."

"And ?"

"She's Arham's wife."

"Hooriya ! How could -."

"No. His second wife. Mehrunisa."

"Second wife ? When ? What is going on Yusuf ?" Saba asked confused and panicked.

Yusuf took his time and opened his heart out to his sister, he wasn't ashamed to say that he loved his best friend's wife, he wasn't ashamed to admit that, yes some part of him wanted Hooriya to become fine so that he could have Meher to himself, he wasn't ashamed to cry longing for love, he want ashamed for loving.

"Yusuf, calm down." Saba said from the other end. "Calm down Yusuf." She said when she could hear the sound of his laboured breathing and sniffing.

"Mohabatt karna koi jurm nahi hai, aur aap kisse mohabatt kar sakte hai aur kisse nahi ye kahi likha nahi hai, ispar kisi ka zor nahi hai." (To love is not a sin . Whom you fall in love with,  its up to no one, there are no ground rules when you fall in love, there is nothing you can do about falling in love.)