Prologue

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What you grow to love might be one of life's biggest surprises. 

- Charity Shumway, The Girls to Watch

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"Zoya Farrukhi how can you be this careless? You are so late! You are so done for! Aapi is going to have you for dinner!" Zoya was obviously talking to herself as she half ran, half walked down the busy crowded street, her left hand around her precious iPad, her right hand gesturing out as she told herself off.

She finally got off of the street, stepping foot onto a dusty lane, it would only take her five more minutes from here to get to the hotel they were staying in; she'd only be twenty minutes late and if she was too late she could always just get married in her jeans and top, they were decent enough.

"Mr whatever it is Khan will just have to be content, after all he's getting married to me, not my clothes," she fumed as a gust of wind blew her hair into her face and she moved it out of the way, almost missing the large black four-by-four approaching her from the side. She half swayed, half turned to the right, only missing it by a narrow margin, kicking up dust and dirt in her efforts.

He brought the jeep to a screeching halt, his eyes already fixed on the long black hair and the side profile of an admittedly beautiful girl, yet another irritating event that just spelled the disaster that was already looming over his head.

She stormed off towards it, blowing her hair out of her face, "Allah miya what's..." Her words died on her lips as he clicked his door open and stepped out, removing his aviators to appraise her carefully. Her eyes widened and she was momentarily taken aback by the handsome man standing in front of her, his features were so sharp, so sculptured that she almost forgot to blink.

He glared back in response, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

She frowned back, she didn't like his attitude, it was his fault! "If you don't know how to drive then why do you?" She questioned, taking a step towards him as he appraised her with disbelief.

"Excuse me? If you don't know how to walk then why do you step out of your house?"

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at the audacity of this man standing in front of her. "If you don't know how to speak properly, then why don't you just keep quiet?!" She retorted back with equal intensity.

He raised an eyebrow, taking one last irritated glance at her, "I don't have time for this," he brushed off indifferently, then turning around got into his jeep.

Her eyes widened further, "excuse me?" She took further steps towards the vehicle but it was already moving away.

She stood rooted to the spot for several more minutes, her hands balled into fists at her side. "Allah Miya what's wrong with this county?! Rude, ignorant people!" She fumed then stormed off in her desired direction.

****

Asad Ahmad Khan took a deep breath in, making a last bid attempt to calm himself down. He regretted agreeing to this ordeal in the first place now, he wanted to take back his word that he had given to his mother, but he couldn't, he wouldn't. Asad was a man of few words, of principles and a life built inside the sanctuary of high walls. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine a blank, empty space, one where he didn't have to think or act. As he sat, with his legs crossed in front of him, an array of flowers hiding his face he let his vulnerable emotions flicker through his face one last time before the mask came on.

He opened his eyes slowly, as if he was coming out of deep sleep as his mothers hands caressed his and her kind brown eyes peered and smiled into his. She ran her hand over his cheek then stood up and walked away. His happiness lay in his mothers and even though that meant marrying a girl whom he had never known or spoken to before, he decided he would do it gladly.

He didn't dare turn his head however, he tried to ignore the golden, shimmering curtain, only centimeters away that separated him from the girl that he would inevitably spend the rest of his life with. He didn't think he could afford even a seconds glance.

****

Zoya placed her hand over her heart, trying to stop it from beating so loud that it drowned out the background noise, her Aapis reassurances. She was sure if it didn't end soon enough she would scream out loud, she had an image of herself just then, her hands at her ears as she screamed. That made her eyes pop open, "what's wrong with you Zoya? Calm down!" She tried to reassure herself. She tried to prevent herself from looking around through the curtain that separated them, to the side profile of the man that she would forever belong to from this day onwards. And to think that she had never heard his voice, seen his face before unnerved her.

"Aapi do you think this guy is right for me? Do you think I'm ready for marriage?" 

She remembered questioning her Aapi earlier, because her own answers to both of those questions was a big loud no, screamed out at the top of her lungs. But she would have to do this, because she could not deny her Aapi any longer and if she didn't get married to someone in Bhopal, she would never succeed in her quest to find her father.

She tried to block out the red heavily ornate dress that weighed her down, the crowd that hustled and bustled around her, the atmosphere, her life that was about to take a sharp turn, she tried to push all of it to the back of her mind.

"Zoya Farrukhi kya tumhein yeh nikha qabool hain?"

She scrunched her eyes shut and took a deep breath in, her fingers tight against each other as she held onto them as if for dear life.

"Qubool hai," she uttered, the words that would finally decide her fate and she heard her own voice as if from a distant land, the pounding of her heart too loud in her ears.

"Asad Ahmad Khan, kya tumhein yeh nikha qubool hain?"

He opened his eyes slowly, focused them straight ahead, determined to stick by what he had agreed to, sealing his destiny forever.

"Qubool hai."