*A week later

Noor's pov:

"Where are you going? It's your brother's engagement today." I question Aariz as I see him leaving the house.

"It's the last day of my shoot. I need to go darling. I promise I'll be back soon." he said after pecking my forehead.

"I'll go with you wait," I say while wearing my shoes.

"No darling. It's also your bestfriend's engagement. You don't have to come with me." he argued.

"No. I'm coming with you to make sure you come back as soon as the shoot ends." I say while giving him a glare.

"Okay," he said in defeat.

--

We reached the shooting spot and they immediately pulled him away for the shooting process, which I didn't mind.

But what made my blood boil was seeing Arshia Rashid. She was his co-actor. 

The last shoot was the ending scene of the movie, where the main leads are obviously supposed to be together. But she was standing dangerously close to him. And after each time the director shouted 'cut', she had the courage to smirk at me.

Just wait till I get my hands on you.

Thankfully, the shoot ended soon after. I walked out of the scene with Aariz when many fans started going up to him for his autograph and tried to take pictures with him. 

I tried not to but I couldn't help but feel insecure with all the female fans getting near him. Arshia did it to piss me off. But the fans are doing it because they like him. They don't care about me.

--

"Kya hua darling?" (What happened darling?) he said after we finally got inside the car after shooing all the fangirls away.

"Nothing. Let's go. We need to get home quickly." I say, trying not to sound angry.

--

I start helping Aliyah with her dress trying to forget about Aariz's encounter with his fans.

"Spill," Aliyah said without any other context.

With a sigh, I tell her everything. There is no hiding from her.

"Areh Noorie, don't waste your time thinking these thoughts. He has no one in his heart except you. These female fans just come along with his job." she said trying to comfort me. I did try to tell myself the same. But my heart just wouldn't listen.

Come on Noor. Don't ruin Aliyah's day because of this!

"You're right. Now let's get engaged shall we?" I say with a smile just as Karya and Nafisa entered the room.

The three of us help Aliyah to the stage and go sit in the corner of the room. The engagement was taking place in the mansion. The mehendi will take place here as well next week. For the wedding, they rented out a whole big centre.

As Aliyah's family has no intention of participating, there will be no haldi or dholki. Though I'm disappointed that I won't be able to drape her with turmeric as I was really wishing I could after what all three of them did to me in my haldi.

The ring exchange and the speech took place. The reporters were delighted to see the eldest son of the Raihan family finally engaged now. Some asked if they're planning to hold Azaan Raihan's engagement this year as well. To which his father said yes.

"Nafu you better hurry," I whisper to her in a teasing tone.

"Shut up!" she glared at me.

"What? Am I disrupting the delusions of our daydreamer by speaking?" I say while smirking.

"Muh band rakh teri," she said still keeping her glare. (Keep your mouth shut)

"Okay chill," I say while chuckling.

"Aliyah looks so pretty today." Karya finally speaks.

"Yes! Pink suits her." I comment.

"Look at her annoyed face while the reporters are taking their photo," Nafisa said while chuckling.

Aliyah hated following orders. And hated taking pictures. Now she had to do both to please the reporters.

Nafisa's pov:

Everyone was busy eating when Aliyah called me to the stage. I went up and also saw Azaan talking to Ahaan jiju.

"Why did you call me to third wheel between you two?" I whisper to her.

"I called you to assign some important work to you. I can't be doing much as I'll be on stage all the time during the mehendi and wedding as well. Noor is also busy with her dear husband all the time."

"How about Karya?" I ask confused. 

"It's about her. And Aryan...."

And then she breaks everything down for me. So basically they both like each other then some kind of pen incident happened because Aryan thought Karya hates him but she actually loves him.

"... and you and Azaan need to set them up."

I stare at her with wide eyes.

"Sorry, what? Where did he come from?" 

"You can't do it alone. You're not even close to Aryan. You'll need Azaan's help with that."

"Is that why Ahaan jiju is talking to him? Seriously Aloo? You know I could've done this alone!"

"I do. But if you two set them up, the proximity will set you two together.  And by the end, you two will also be together." she said and clapped her hands.

"Since when were you the delusional one?" I say while stopping myself from facepalming myself.

"Since you're trying to stop your delusions so you don't get hurt. Now come on. Meet your lover boy and plan how you'll set Karyan together."

"Karyan?" I ask even more confused.

"Areh! Karya and Aryan's ship name!"

"Oh yeah got it," I say as Aliyah pushed me off the stage like I was some unwanted rubbish.

"So, what do you plan on doing?" Azaan said after coming down from the stage. Honestly speaking, never thought I'd see Azaan Raihan playing Cupid.

"No idea right now. I need to talk to Karya first to know everything on her side. And then maybe also with Aryan to know everything from his side. And then plan a set-up."

"Okay, then. Talk to her first. I'll get him ready by then." he said and left. What? Ready? What is that supposed to mean?

I find Karya after looking around for a bit.

"What are you doing here alone?" I ask as I sit beside her.

"No one has time for me. Noor is busy with her husband, Aliyah is busy with hers. And you're busy with your lover boy. And I'm just existing in the corner." she said while trying to sound offended.

"Why? Then you should go spend time with your lover boy Aryan." she went quiet as soon as I mentioned him. "Aliyah told me what happened. I'm sure there's been some kind of misunderstanding." I continue.

"What misunderstanding Nafu? He gave me the pen back. And he clearly stated that he even wished he had given it to me earlier. Which means he probably hated me for a long time but probably felt bad for me, that's why he kept it for longer." she said while controlling her tears.

I hug her. "It's okay Karu. It'll be fine don't worry."

Karya's phone started ringing. "It's Aloo, let me go to her," she answered the phone and started walking towards the stage. 

I take my phone out and call Azaan. "He's in the balcony." he said and hung up. Okay? 

I go to the balcony and find Aryan standing there. "Bhabi, aap yaha kyu?" (Why are you here?) he said as he turned around.

"Kya (what)? Bhabi? Since when did I become your bhabi?" I ask confused.

"Azaan bhai ka lover ho na aap? Issliye." (You're Azaan's lover right? That's why.)

"No! Anyways. I'm not here to talk about me or Azaan. You tell me why you gave Karya the pen back." 

"Did she really announce it to everyone so happily?" he let out a sigh. "I gave it to her cause I hurt her, and I didn't want her to get hurt because of me anymore."

"Happily? She is anything but happy? I have no idea what you mean by 'I hurt her' but you're hurting her so much right now. Whatever you wrote in a note or whatever, it hurt her so much! Apparently, you wish you had given it back earlier? She thinks you hated her long ago but felt bad for her, that's why you kept it. And you think she is happy? Didn't Aliyah already tell you that she is hurt?"

He started at me surprised the whole time. "Her hand was burnt because of me. Her back was burnt because of me. If I had given her the pen back earlier, this all would never have happened." he said while looking down.

"Just because of this? Aryan it's not your fault that she got hurt. That was Fahad's fault! You can't blame yourself for this. And let's say okay, she did get hurt because of you. But that was just physical. What about the emotional pain you're causing her?" I ask while glaring at him. Normally I didn't glare at anyone except my friends but he needs to understand my point.

"But-"

"No buts! Tell me, don't you love her Aryan?" I ask while cutting him off.

"Yes. More than anyone else in my life."

"Then there-" I was happy he accepted it. But then we heard someone else's voice.

"What is happening?" Karya said while looking at me and Aryan.

"Maybe you should have a serious conversation with this lover of yours," I said and pushed her onto the balcony. And locked it from outside. That wasn't really what I initially planned. But it would work better I guess.

"How was that? I called her here." Azaan said while coming beside me.

"That was actually good. Didn't know you'd be such a good cupid."

"I'm good at everything jaan." his words made my heart skip a beat again.

Karya's pov:

I banged on the door but Nafisa wouldn't budge to open it. So now I have no choice but to talk to him.

What do I say? I have no words left for him right now. Why would he give me the pen back if he still loved me? And why did he say he wished he had given it to me ever earlier when he still loved me?

"I'm sorry." Aryan started talking first. "I-"

"Why?" I cut him off. "You said you love me. Then why?"

"I...I didn't want to hurt you anymore. I know it's a stupid excuse. But because of me you burnt your hand and back so badly. It was all because of me. And I thought you'd be better off if I left. And I thought you hated me. You always kept telling me that..." he went silent, like he was figuring out what to say next.

"I know. I did keep saying that. But that was mostly to myself rather than you. I thought that was what I wanted. To get the pen back. To finally be free from you. But after it did happen, I did nothing but wish it all went back." I say when the words finally started forming.

Silence filled the room. I was debating if I should say something or not when he spoke up.

"I love you Karya, more than anyone else in the entire universe. I've loved you since a long time, and I never stopped. Even after giving your pen back. I kept trying to convince myself but I could never bring myself to hate you. No matter what happens. I know I'm probably not as good as those fictional men you wrote as they are masterpieces, but I'll try my best to be your fictional man. I love you so much Karya. And I'm ready to do anything for you." 

"I...I love you too." I finally manage to say.

The door of the balcony finally opens, revealing Aliyah, Noor, Nafisa and the three Raihan brothers.

"Wow. You two did such a good job." Aliyah spoke up.

"Of course bhabi. I'm good at everything." Azaan spoke up.

"What do you mean? I should get the credits." Nafisa said to him.

"Of course jaan. All the credit goes to you." 

"Jaan?" Me and Aryan asked confused at the same time. The rest were also looking at Azaan confused, including Nafisa.

"Nothing. Anyways, since we completed the mission, bhabi you need to treat us. They got together because of us." he said while shoving the point aside.

"I'm so confused. What is seriously happening?" Aryan asks in the middle of the conversation.

"Since you were way too brave enough to talk to Karya yourself, Nafisa and Azaan set it up so you could talk" Aliyah glared at Aryan. Of course, it was all her.

"Azaan bhai playing cupid? Wah!" Aryan looked at him in disbelief.

"Aliyah, what about your engagement?" I ask when I suddenly realise. Who plays Cupid in their own engagement?

"Oh yeah, blah blah blah. You missed it all yeah. Like, no what do you mean what about my engagement? The ring exchange happened in front of you. Nothing exciting happened after. Though now it did." she said while smirking.

"What are you all doing here?" Mrs Raihan said looking at us all surprised.

"Nothing Mumma. Just discussing how excited we are for bhaiya and bhabi's wedding." Aryan replied.

"Oh. No need to discuss that outside on the balcony at this time. It's getting late, you all need to rest."

She rushed us inside and started giving out orders.

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Thank you for reading<3