Forbidden (Now Published On Amazon,Kobo, B&N and Apple Stores -FREE)

Nothing Like She Imagined.

15

It took Jasmine a whole week to come to terms with the fact that she had lost her virginity in a drunken one-night-stand scenario to a guy she'd only just met. The morning after, he had done his best to apologise and kept saying he would make it up to her but she ignored his attempts to talk and fled from his place. She didn't answer any phone calls either, pretended she wasn't home when Alex came to see her and couldn't be bothered updating her social media accounts for her fans. She simply retreated into herself, holed up in her apartment and wrote like a maniac deep into the night with nothing but Netflix shows for company.

One morning, Armaan came knocking on her door and refused to leave until she opened up and talked to him. He literally sat out in the hall for an entire hour and kept texting her until she relented. Calling security did occur to her at some point but that seemed a little over the top since she knew she had nothing to fear from him. Besides, she was starting to crave some company now after her self-imposed solitude these past several days.

He didn't smile at her once she let him in. In fact, he appeared tired and a little sad as he took his seat on the arm of her sofa and fished inside his jacket pocket for something. Silently, he held out an envelope towards her.

"This came for you."

With a puzzled frown, she took it from him and checked the address. It was totally blank. Even though this made her as suspicious as the Trojans must have been when the Greeks decided to give them something, she extracted the letter from within and skimmed through it.

Astonishment crossed her expression when she realised the letter was from Zoya. After more than a year, her former best friend had written to her, inviting Jasmine to her upcoming nuptials and asking for her support since she was all set with the elopement plan Armaan had devised but believed that having a friend on her side would lend her more courage to go through with it all.

Jasmine threw a fierce look at Armaan. "You told her where I was?" she demanded to know.

Armaan held up both his hands. "She found out somehow, probably decided to search for you online. But she didn't know how to contact you so she asked me to deliver that if I could. I didn't tell her anything about us."

Jasmine let out a scoff. "Us," she said in a mocking tone. "You can let her know I'm not coming back to Amira."

"Come on, Jasmine. She's your best friend. She needs you right now," he said pleadingly. "It's only for a week. She has so much hope that you'll be there for her on her wedding day. Don't do this."

"Armaan, I can't go," she told him in a pained tone. "You don't understand-"

"I think I do," he interrupted, getting up to come over to her. "This guy who hurt you...he lives in Amira, doesn't he? That's why you don't want to go back. You don't want to face him."

If only he knew exactly who that guy was. But she couldn't tell him or anyone else about it. Hamza had a family and a reputation there. She could never expose him like that after everything he had done for her.

"Listen to me," Armaan continued in a placating manner. "You don't have to worry about a thing. I'm going to be there as well and you're going to stay in my home as a guest. I'll make sure this guy doesn't bother you."

She fell quiet, not knowing whether to laugh at the irony of his words or rage at the skies for this cruel twist of fate after everything she had tried in order to get over the only man she had ever loved.

But Zoya needed her. She'd abandoned her childhood friend because she'd been too much of a coward to deal with her heartbreak and continue staying there. Maybe...just maybe...she could find it in herself to show some bravery this time. For the sake of friendship.