Mahi pointed,
"And Faha, he stood quietly by the window."
The twins exchanged a glance.
"You looked terrified of holding her."
"I was."
"She looked fragile."
"You kept saying, 'What if I drop her?'"
Faha lowered his eyes with an embarrassed smile,"...I really thought I might."
Fahan grinned.
"Meanwhile, the rest of us were arguing over who got to hold her first."
"Faha wouldn't even take one step forward and i remember placing Maya in his arms anyway."
"...I thought she was so tiny."
"You held her as though she were made of glass."
"...Then she wrapped her little fingers around mine."
Fahish laughed softly,
"After that, he refused to give her back."
"...I don't remember that."
"You absolutely do," Farhan teased.
Everyone laughed, while Faha's faint blush only made the memory more endearing.
"Fahish sat beside the cradle and sketched."
"I remember."
"Hours later, the first drawing of her existed. A memory preserved forever."
"That sounds exactly like Fahish."
Fahish shrugged gently,
"I didn't want to forget that moment."
Faha looked at his twin with quiet admiration.
"You still have that sketch, don't you?"
"I kept all of them."
"He has drawn every member of this family."
And Farhan...
"He climbed onto a chair . You looked at Maya and then you said..."
Mahi's voice softened.
"She's my sister.
Nobody is allowed to make her cry."
Farhan looked away, embarrassed.
"...I really said that?"
Naya smiled through misty eyes,
"You were so serious."
Fahan chuckled.
"You couldn't even reach the cradle without standing on a chair."
Farhan groaned.
"Did you all have to remember that part?"
"You pointed at every adult in the room and repeated it twice, just to make sure everyone understood."
Fahish looked at his younger brother.
"You've always been like that."
Farhan's ears turned pink.
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"...Well...I like her hand. It was tiny, I held one finger."
He demonstrated with his own hand.
"She grabbed it."
"You refused to move after that."
"It was the smallest hand I'd ever seen."
The conversation drifted naturally from old memories to the people who had visited the hospital after Maya's birth.
Mahi smiled faintly.
"There was one visitor your father remembers very well."
"ASIF."
Several heads turned.
"Anik's father?" Fahad asked.
"Yes."
Mahim's expression softened with nostalgia.
"We were close friends long before any of you were born."
"He arrived the same day with enough gifts to fill half the room. He stood beside Maya's cradle for nearly ten minutes without saying anything."
Mahi shook her head.
"I still remember what he said."
The room became attentive.
"He looked at Maya, then at your father, and said, 'She's going to be trouble.'"
"That part was accurate," Fahan muttered.
Maya wasn't present to hear the comment.
Fortunately.
Mahim said,
"One day, long before Maya was born, we were sitting together after a business meeting.
Asif and I had talked about everything—
business, family, our children, our plans for the future.
At some point, I joked that if I ever had a daughter, I would marry her to his son one day."
Fahan groaned, "Oh no."
Nahi covered his face.
"Never make jokes with future consequences."
"Wise advice.""
"Exactly."
Then he shook his head.
"The problem was that I was joking."
A pause.
"Asif wasn't."
"He remembered that conversation for years."
"For decades," Mahim corrected.
"He brought it up every time we met."
Mahim leaned back,"Every single time."
"'Anik and your future daughter.'"
Fahan shook his head,"That's terrifying."
"You haven't heard the worst part."
The room immediately became interested.
"What worst part?"
Mahim sighed,
" He looked at her, and said...
'There she is my future daughter-in-law. ' "
Mahim looked completely resigned.
"I spent years explaining that I had been joking."
"And?"
"And he spent years ignoring me."
Fahad rubbed his temples,
"So a casual joke became family legend."
"Exactly."
"That's ridiculous."
"It was."
Fahim rubbed his forehead.
"Years later, Asif brought up the joke again."
"It stopped being a joke?"
"Not entirely."
Mahi leaned back,"It was decided long ago..."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
" It was an understanding between families. A promise."
Fahad folded his arms,"And now?"
Mahim's answer came without hesitation.
"It wasn't meant to be questioned," Mahim replied, "It was an agreement."
Across the room, Anik's posture stiffened slightly, though his expression remained controlled.
"And now?" Fahan asked.
"Now she's here, and we just… expect her to accept it?"
"I believe she will accept it."
Fahan frowned, "You're that certain?"
Mahim met his gaze,"I know Maya."
"That doesn't mean she agrees with everything."
The lawyer in Mahi immediately noticed the wording and glanced toward him.
Fahad folded his arms,
"That's still not the same as knowing her answer."
A brief silence followed.
" Why sound so certain?" Ohi asked.
Mahim looked toward the staircase for a moment, as though expecting to see Maya appear there, "Because it is a decision. "
Anik remained thoughtful.
His eyes lingered briefly on the staircase before he looked away.
Before anyone could answer, a calm voice drifted down from the staircase.
"Who is getting married?"
Every head turned.
Maya was descending the stairs, one hand resting lightly on the railing.
A sketchbook was tucked beneath her arm, a pencil still held between her fingers.
The room fell silent.
"You..... you will Maya to Anik."
No one missed the way several family members immediately tensed.
She did not look up immediately.
She continued down the remaining steps at the same unhurried pace.
One step.
Then another.
As though the statement had been nothing more than a change in the weather.
Reaching the drawing room, she crossed to an empty sofa and sat down.
The sketchbook opened onto her lap.
Her gaze lingered on the half-finished drawing, as if completing the missing line in her mind before finally setting the pencil down.
Only then did she raise her eyes.
Fahad looked wary.
Fahim looked attentive.
Fahan looked far too interested.
Farhan looked concerned.
Anik remained outwardly composed, though the tension in his shoulders had not disappeared.
Maya's gaze moved across them briefly.
Then settled on Mahi, "Why?"
"Years ago, Asif and I spoke about it.
Our families have known each other for years."
She listened without interruption.
When Mahim finished speaking, silence settled over the room once more.
Fahan finally couldn't help himself.
"Well?"
Maya looked at him,"Well what?"
"Your reaction."
"My reaction to what?"
"To the fact that everyone just announced your future."
A pause.
She lowered her eyes to the sketchbook again. She traced the edge of the page with one finger.
Then she spoke.
"You all seem to be discussing it very seriously."
The statement was so neutral that nobody knew whether it was agreement or criticism.
Fahim hid a smile.
Fahad sighed.
Farhan looked down, already sensing where this was going.
Maya closed the sketchbook.
Even Anik seemed caught off guard.
Then—
"Sorry, But I don't want to marry."
Mahi's head snapped up.
Fahim's brows drew together immediately.
Even the servants at the far end of the room seemed to freeze where they stood.
Fahan stepped forward before anyone else could speak.
"Why not?"
Maya lowered her gaze to the sketchbook resting on her lap.
For a moment, it seemed as though she might remain silent.
Then she answered.
"Because... because I don't deserve love."
The words did not sound like doubt.
They sounded like fact.
That was what unsettled everyone.
Not the statement itself.
The certainty behind it.
The absolute conviction.
The room remained silent for a heartbeat.
Then another.
"MAYA..."
The lawyer who could dismantle arguments in court with ease suddenly found herself without words.
Across the room, Farhan stared.
His chest tightened painfully , Because he recognized that tone.
The tone of someone who had repeated the same thought so many times that it had begun to feel true.
Fahad's expression darkened.
A deep, uncomfortable concern.
"Who told you that?" he asked quietly.
Maya didn't answer.
Fahim leaned forward, his voice remained calm, "Maya."
"That isn't a fact."
"It is."
Fahan ran a hand through his hair.
For once, there was no joke,
"That doesn't even make sense."
Maya's fingers tightened around the edge of the sketchbook , "It makes sense to me."
"Wait what? "
Anik leaned forward slightly, his voice lower now," What are you saying?"
His eyes remained fixed on her.
"Why don't you want to marry?"
A pause.
Then, more directly—
"Why do you think you don't deserve love?"
For a moment—
something passed through her eyes.
A flicker of something old.
Then it settled again,
"I will not trap anyone In the shadow of what I carry."
"Shadow?"
Fahad shook his head, frustration creeping in,
"What do you even mean?"
The grandfather clock ticked softly in the corner.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Mahi's expression grew increasingly worried.
"Maya..."
"If someone stands too close to a fire, eventually they get burned."
Fahis frowned,
"You're comparing yourself to a fire?"
"No."
"I'm comparing myself to the smoke."
Anik's jaw tightened, something darker flickering beneath his calm,
"You're deciding for me now?"
Maya held his gaze, "Yes."
Fahad let out a dry, disbelieving laugh, "Unbelievable."
Maya rose from the sofa.
Her sketchbook remained tucked beneath one arm.
The pencil rested between her fingers.
She did not look at anyone.
The conversation lingered behind her like an unfinished sentence.
She turned and walked toward the doors leading outside.
No one stopped her.
Somehow, everyone sensed she needed space more than questions.
The doors opened.
A breath of cool air drifted into the room.
Then they closed softly behind her.
Click....
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then—
"What was that?"
Fahan muttered, running a hand through his hair.
Anik leaned back slightly, "She meant it."
Mahim finally spoke ,
"She doesn't speak without meaning."
"So, We just accept her rejection ?"
Mahim's gaze hardened slightly, " Yes. "
Fahan looked surprised.
"Just like that?"
Mahim turned toward him,
"If she says no, then the answer is no."
Fahim looked towards her departure,
"People don't say things like that without a reason."
"She believed it."Farhan lowered his eyes.
"As though she were stating the weather.
As though she had lived with that belief for a very long time. "
"Hmmmm, you are right. "
[10 : 36 PM ]
Outside, the estate gardens stretched beneath the night sky.
The moon hung low enough to bathe everything in silver light .
Flowers swayed gently in the breeze.
The fountains murmured in the distance.
Birdsong drifted through the trees.
A peaceful scene.
Yet she walked through it as though she barely noticed.
Her steps carried her along a stone path winding through the gardens.
Past trimmed hedges.
Past flowerbeds.
Past a small pond reflecting the sky.
Eventually she reached an old wooden bench beneath a large tree.
The branches spread overhead like a shelter.
Here, the sounds of the mansion felt distant.
Muted.
Far away.
She sat on the bench.
The bench creaked softly beneath her weight.
The breeze lifted a few strands of her hair.
She didn't brush them away.
Minutes passed.
Leaves rustled overhead.
Water trickled from the fountain.
A bird landed briefly on a nearby branch before flying away again.
The pencil moved.
The pencil touched the paper.
Scratch...
As if the world inside those pages made more sense than the one she had just walked away from.
And above her—
Butterflies began to appear.
At first there were only two, drifting lazily between the flowers.
Then three.
Then five.
Their wings caught the moonlight, flashes of silver moving through the night air.
The first to find her was Farhan.
He had not meant to.
His feet simply carried him there.
When he stepped into the garden and saw her beneath the tree, he stopped.
For a moment, he merely watched.
The girl who had pulled him from his darkest days.
The girl who had sat beside him when everyone else's words had failed.
She didn't notice him.
Or perhaps she did and simply chose not to react.
Then he quietly sat on the grass several feet away.
A silent acknowledgment.
A silent thank you.
The butterflies drifted between them.
Neither spoke.
A few minutes later, Fahish appeared.
The artist had noticed Farhan's absence.
Naturally, he had followed.
His eyes immediately found Maya beneath the tree.
Then Farhan.
Then the silence between them.
Without a word, he lowered himself onto the grass.
A sketchbook appeared from somewhere inside his jacket.
Soon another pencil joined her .
Scratch... scratch...
Scratch... scratch...
Two artists.
Two separate pages.
One shared silence.
Faha came next.
Unlike the others, he did not sit immediately.
He stood beneath the tree for a while.
Watching.
The night breeze stirred the leaves above him.
Eventually he took a seat nearby.
The next arrival was impossible to miss.
Fahan.
The moment he stepped into the garden, the peaceful atmosphere visibly braced itself.
He spotted everyone gathered beneath the tree.
His eyebrows rose.
"Seriously?
You're all doing the mysterious silent thing?"
Nobody answered.
Fahan looked personally offended.
Then, surprisingly, he approached slowly.
The usual energy seemed absent.
When he finally sat down on the grass, he didn't make a joke.
Didn't tease anyone.
Didn't complain.
He simply leaned back against the tree trunk and stared at the sky.
A short while later, Fahim arrived.
He found the scene almost absurd.
Five people.
No conversation.
No movement.
No apparent purpose.
Just existing together.
The scientist studied the gathering.
Then the butterflies circling lazily overhead.
Something softened in his expression.
Without a word, he took a seat nearby and opened a book.
The garden path crunched softly once more.
Fahad.
The eldest and the busiest.
He stood at the edge of the gathering for several moments.
His gray eyes swept across the scene.
The younger brothers.
Something almost nostalgic crossed his face.
Then he exhaled.
Slowly and sat down.
Not on the grass.
He lowered himself onto the far edge of the bench.
Maintaining his usual dignity.
The family noticed immediately.
No one commented.
Farhan sitting quietly with his thoughts.
Fahish sketching.
Faha watching the night sky .
Fahan pretending not to care.
Fahim holding an unread book.
Fahad sitting with folded arms on a nearby bench.
None of them were speaking.
Above them, dozens of butterflies drifted through the moonlight.
She turned a new page in her diary.
The paper whispered beneath her fingertips.
Then the pencil moved.
Scratch...
Scratch...
Slowly, a face began to emerge beneath the graphite.
Not Farhan.
Not Anik.
Not anyone present.
A boy who existed somewhere between memory and imagination.
The night breeze stirred the page.
A butterfly landed briefly on the corner of the sketchbook before fluttering away .
Still, she continued drawing. The face gained depth. Character.
Nearby, Farhan noticed the change in her posture.
The increased focus.
The way she seemed to forget the world whenever she drew the boy .
He glanced toward the page but was too far away to see the details.
Fahish noticed as well.
An artist recognized concentration when he saw it.
Neither interrupted.
From the drawing room window, Mahi saw the gathering beneath the old tree.
The moon light painted the garden in shades of silver and blue.
The sight stirred something deep within Mahi.
Beside her, Mahim stood quietly.
For a while, neither spoke.
"She's lonely."
The words barely rose above a whisper.
Mahim's gaze remained on the garden.
"I know."
"Not physically."
"Something inside her is lonely."
"I've noticed too."
Mahi lowered her gaze.
"When she said she didn't deserve love...
She believed it."
The pain in those words was unmistakable.
Mahim's expression hardened slightly.
"Yes."
"I've heard people say things like that before."
Mahi folded her arms.
"In court. In interviews. In victims who carried guilt that was never theirs.
But hearing it from Maya..."
Mahim understood anyway.
Mahi laughed quietly,
"Fahad pretends he doesn't worry."
"He worries constantly."
"He gets that from you."
Mahi looked scandalized,
"I do not."
"You absolutely do."
Their attention drifted toward another figure standing near a distant window.
Anik.
Watching the garden . Watching Maya.
His posture was rigid.
His hands clenched tightly.
His jaw tense.
The frustration was visible even from a distance.
Mahi's expression changed,
"He's upset."
Mahim nodded, "Yes."
"More than upset."
"She refused him and he can't accept it."
"Hid expression confirmed it completely. "
Neither spoke for a moment.
Finally, Mahi sighed, "I think, he likes her."
" I think he's more interested in her than likeing her."
"Clearly."
Mahi's eyes remained fixed on Anik,
"He looks like someone who expected an answer and didn't get the one he wanted."
Through the window, Anik stood motionless.
The garden stretched before him.
The fading blue sky.
The old tree.
The brothers gathered around and Maya herself.
The muscles in his neck grew rigid.
For years, people had listened when he spoke and agreed when he decided.
Followed when he led.
Yet Maya—
She simply looked at him and said no.
No hesitation.
No apology beyond simple courtesy.
His hands clenched at his sides.
Not enough to lose control.
But enough for his knuckles to pale.
The rejection itself wasn't what stung most.
Finally he spoke, controlled.
"She refused before even considering it."
His tone torn between desire and possessiveness,
"How dare she ignore my words! "
The night deepened, clouds rolling heavy above the mansion, their bellies swollen with rain.
And Maya —
Her pencil moved occasionally, then stopped, then moved again.
Around her, her brothers remained scattered beneath the old tree like silent sentinels.
None of them wanted to disturb the fragile peace that had settled over the garden.
It should have been peaceful.
But the sky had begun to change.
The silver light faded behind a veil of gray.
A cool breeze swept through the gardens.
Leaves rustled.
Flower petals trembled.
Overhead, dark clouds had gathered across the horizon.Rolling over one another like waves.
The butterflies vanished.
Driven away by the approaching storm.
Maya's pencil stopped.
For the first time in several minutes, she looked upward.The sight of the sky reflected faintly in her eyes.
Fahim noticed the change immediately.
"The pressure is dropping."
"You're diagnosing the weather now?" Fahan asked.
"It's called observation."
"It's called being a scientist twenty-four hours a day."
Fahim ignored him.
A stronger gust of wind swept through the garden.
Tree branches swayed overhead.
The leaves whispered against one another.
The fountain water rippled.
Farhan's smile faded slightly and glanced toward her .
She had become very still. Her eyes remained fixed on the clouds.
The sketchbook in her lap was forgotten.
Fahad noticed it too.
The sudden stillness.Something in her expression had changed.
Something wasn't right.
The wind grew stronger.
Then—
A flash of lightning split the clouds.
For a brief second, the entire garden turned white.
And immediately afterward—
CRACK.
Thunder exploded across the sky.
The sound shattered the silence.
Birds scattered from the trees.
The branches shook.
The air itself seemed to tremble.
And beneath the old tree—
Every brother's attention snapped toward Maya at once.
Maya's breath came in short, uneven bursts.
The sketchbook slipped from her lap.
Pages scattered across the damp grass.
She rose too quickly.
For a second, it looked as though she might simply walk away.
Instead, her balance faltered.
She dropped to her knees.
The impact against the wet ground made several people flinch.
Her hands pressed into the soil.
To hold on.
As if the earth beneath her was the only solid thing left.
"Maya."
Farhan was on his feet instantly.
The panic in his voice was unmistakable.
But he stopped himself before getting too close.
He remembered the command,
'Don't touch me.'
Her lips moved.
Broken whispers escaped.
Words that seemed to belong to another time.
"I never dared to run away.
Please don't..."
A breath.
"Forgive him. Please.
He will die..... "
The same words.
Again.
And again.
Repeating.
Looping.
As though she were speaking to someone who wasn't there.
Fahad felt his stomach drop.His gray eyes widened.
"What is she talking about?"
Another flash of lightning illuminated the garden.
The rain began . Cold drops striking leaves and stone.
Fahan had gone completely pale.
The joking disappeared from his face.
"She's not looking at us."
He was right.
Her gaze wasn't focused on anything in front of her . Her eyes seemed fixed on something only she could see.
Fahim moved forward carefully.
"Maya."
No response.
"Maya."
Still nothing.
Only the broken whisper.
The repeated phrase.
Faha clenched his fists.
Helplessness settled heavily across his expression . It was a feeling he hated.
Watching someone suffer while being unable to simply fix it.
Nearby, Fahish picked up the fallen sketchbook before the rain could ruin it.
The pages fluttered wildly in the wind.
His face had gone unusually serious.
Another roll of thunder crossed the sky
The sound seemed to make her flinch.
★
A servant, who had been hurrying across the veranda, saw her collapse and bolted inside, shouting breathlessly:
"It's Maya—something's wrong with her !"
The family rushed out in a storm of footsteps.
The calm of the mansion shattered instantly.
Chairs scraped against the floor.
Doors swung open.
The distant sound of thunder rolled through the estate as everyone hurried toward the garden.
Mahim was first.The moment he heard the commotion outside, he was already moving.
His expression had gone hard.
The calm patriarch vanished, replaced by a man who could sense something was terribly wrong.
"Move."
Servants immediately stepped aside.
His long strides carried him through the hallway and out into the garden.
"Maya!"
Mahi was right behind him.
The sight that greeted her stole the breath from her lungs.
Maya was on her knees beneath the tree.
Soaked by the rain.
Her fingers clawed at the grass, pulling fistfuls of damp soil as though she were drowning and the earth was the only thing she could grip.
Whispering broken fragments no one seemed to understand.
Mahi's face immediately lost color.
"Maya..."
Anik followed them outside.
The anger from earlier vanished the instant he saw her.
Every trace of frustration disappeared.
His eyes widened.
For a moment he simply stood there.
Frozen .
Watching the girl who had calmly rejected him less than an hour ago now looked utterly shattered.
His jaw tightened. Not from anger.
From shock and confusion.
From something painfully close to guilt.
Ohi emerged next.
The confident expression he usually wore disappeared immediately.
"What happened?"
No one answered.
Naya stopped dead the moment she saw Maya.The sight unsettled her instantly.
Rain fell across the garden.
Naya swallowed hard.
"What is she saying?"
Even Nahi fell silent . The usual arrogance vanished . The usual impatience vanished.
All that remained was concern.
His eyes moved from Maya to the brothers surrounding her.
Then back to Maya.Something was very wrong.
More servants gathered near the doorway.
None dared approach.
Nearby, Anik stood motionless.
The storm soaked his hair.
Rain slid down his face.
He didn't notice.
For the first time since arriving at the estate, he looked completely lost.
Because the girl before him was nothing like the distant, composed Maya he thought he knew.
This was someone carrying pain far deeper than he had ever imagined.
And suddenly, all the arguments about marriage, rejection, and pride felt small.
Meaningless.
Mahi reached out toward Maya.
Her hand extending carefully, hesitation folded into every inch of the movement .
As, she feared she would break something fragile between them.
But the moment her hand brushed against Maya's shoulder, the reaction was immediate.
Maya recoiled with startling force.
Pure, instinctive fear.
She stumbled backward across the wet grass, her breathing becoming uneven.
Then she folded in on herself.
Her arms came up around her head.
Her shoulders curled inward.
Making herself smaller.
As though she could disappear if she tried hard enough and hiding might somehow keep something terrible away.
"I am sorry . ... "
The words broke apart as they left her lips.
"It was all my fault."
Rain soaked her hair.
Her clothes. Her trembling hands.
"I am sorry. I will never do that again.
Please , don't hurt him again..... "
Again and again.
The apology seemed trapped inside her.
Repeating without end.
Mahi froze.
Her hand remained suspended in the air.
The sight before her stole every word she had.