"Why are you here?", he said in an ice cold voice. "Uh... Khala... I thought..." I stammered. "I mean, as husband and wife, we... should share..." He cut me off with a curt laugh. "Why would you think we're like a 'normal couple'? After everything that's happened, do you really believe we could ever live like that?" I froze at his words, confusion and hurt swirling within me. "But... you said you didn't hate me. So, can't we start fresh?" He laughed again, a bitter sound. "Aliya Emdad, are you naive, or just pretending to be? Let me make it clear-I don't hate you. In fact, I feel nothing for you. So, don't expect anything from me." And just like that, the hope I'd clung to dissolved, leaving an aching emptiness behind. "Then why did you marry me?" My voice trembled, raw with anger and sorrow. "You could have said no..." He sighed, his tone indifferent. "You were the best option at the time." Each word was a dagger he discarded carelessly–never once thinking about how deeply it would wound me. __________________________________ Aliya Emdad and Tahmeed Ahmed were best friends once. A storm tore them apart. She had fallen for his honey-brown eyes for the first time she looked at them. While he had broken their friendship–and her heart–claiming he despised her. Years passed, and fate brought them back together through an arranged marriage. She thought destiny was correcting its mistake. But what happens when she realizes... it was never fate, only his choice? This wasn’t the fairy tale she had imagined. And when the shadows of their past creep back into their lives, will they find their way to love? Or will Aliya Emdad remain forever caged in the depths of his honey-brown eyes–broken and unloved? __________________________________ Get ready to experience the saga of friendship, love, the butterfly moment of teenage days as well as heartbreak and betrayal. _____________________________________