Make Me Your Villain

Chapter One

A/N: there's a glossary at the end for any Urdu term used throughout the chapter :)

edit : some chapters from 1 to 16 were almost fully rewritten so most inline comments have disappeared. Don't let that discourage you from leaving your own comments though!

Hayat Azhar

My heart was sinking along with the sinking sun.

Empty road stretched out as far as my line of vision could reach. I had been standing in this same spot for the past half an hour, watching the occasional vehicles whizzing past me.

But none of these vehicles was meant to provide me a shelter.

Feeling more helpless by the moment, my eyes kept flickering between the vacant street and the darkening sky. As more time passed, nightfall crept over my head and the numbers of passing vehicles decreased.

Gosh, I did not expect going to my friend's get-together party would cost me this much. And that little brat! She didn't even try to play nice and offer to drop me home despite being aware of my situation and how far I had come in spite of the possible dangers of the city in the night.

Okay, focus. Worry about that traitor later. For now, I need to find a taxi or a rickshaw.

The semi-formal black shalwar kameez I had put on this morning was concealed beneath my beige chaddar and the dupatta that was covering my head.

It wasn't too cold. Yet, I couldn't stop my legs from trembling. It was less from the cold wind blowing and more out of my growing fear.

Being outside, at night, as a woman, alone - yeah, it was not a very comforting situation.

If only life was a fairytale and my beloved knight in shining armor would appear out of thin air to rescue me from this unpleasant predicament.

But life wasn't a fairytale and my knight in shining armor did not appear - although a local bus stopped at the signal of my hand.

A relieved sigh fell from my lips and I rocked on my feet, waiting for the bus to stop. I placed a firm hand on my dupatta as I climbed the bus and found a seat at the back, near the window.

It took my nerves a while to calm down as I gripped my purse tightly. Inside the purse was something very valuable - my father's pension money which I had gone to collect before the party. It wasn't just some random money, it was the key for the monthly necessities of a small family like mine.

My heartbeats gradually steadied and I relaxed in my seat, unaware of the storm that was about to strike me very soon.

The blackness of the night had enveloped everything by now. A chilly breeze blew inside from the open windows and raked against my body. There was also a small florescent lightbulb set at the front of the bus which caused a dull glow on the passengers' faces.

My lips involuntarily curled up into a shy smile when I took notice of the thin, golden band encircled around my fourth finger. It was that ring, the one that brought dreams, love and warmth and entered into peoples' lives.

I continued to stare at my ring, feeling my heart warming up in admiration when the bus abruptly screeched and came to a sudden halt, causing everyone to lurch forward in alarm. Even those passengers who were asleep were startled awake.

Confused, I looked around and saw a concerned mother holding her little boy who didn't seem any older than six years old. She gave me a slight shrug in uncertainty when the doors opened. Then, a group of tall and muscular men clad in black outfits and black boots entered, balaclava on their face and heavy guns in their hand.