The next day, as Mishal entered the classroom, Zaki spotted her and immediately asked, "How is she now?"
Mishal took a deep breath and replied, "Much better. But Sir didn't treat her right... I swear, I feel like shooting him."
"You want to shoot him?" Zaki said, smirking. "Well, I feel like making him suffer. I'll make sure next time he thinks a hundred times before scolding Anabiya."
Mishal folded her arms. "Wow. Feeling a bit too much for Anabiya, aren't you?"
Zaki gave her a sharp look. "Are you jealous?"
Mishal rolled her eyes. "Why would I be jealous?"
Zaki stepped closer, his voice playful. "Because I'm loyal only to you. Before I become someone else's... I'd rather die."
At the word die, Mishal's smile faltered. She turned toward him and said, "Don't joke about dying. Nothing should ever happen to you."
Zaki chuckled. "Exactly. Nothing will happen to me — because I'll always be yours."
Just then, they heard applause behind them. Urhaan and Anabiya were clapping.
"Wow," Anabiya teased. "Urhaan, look at these two — real-life Laila-Majnu!"
Mishal shot back, "Keep your Laila-Majnu comments to yourself, Anabiya!"
Urhaan laughed. "Should I tell Auntie Nurmeen?" Nurmeen was Zaki's mother.
Zaki immediately got serious. "You two hide your faces behind friendship, but clearly you're evil."
He walked off to his seat. The rest followed.
As Urhaan playfully tapped Anabiya's shoulder, he asked, "So, what about Mahir?"
Anabiya made a face and said, "Forget him."
Urhaan shrugged and sat down. Just then, Mahir entered the classroom, placed his bag on the desk, and sat on the chair.
CRACK!
The chair snapped, and Mahir fell hard to the ground. Everyone turned to look.
Anabiya barely managed to stop herself from laughing. She stood and extended her hand to help.
Mahir pushed her hand away, got up angrily, and shouted, "Don't you have any shame?! What have I even done to you since I came here? You've been after me nonstop!" How can someone so shameless?
Anabiya opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off.
"The more I ignore you, the worse your childishness gets. Is this how you get attention?"
Before she could speak, Urhaan stood and grabbed Mahir by the collar, punching him right away. Mahir wasn't one to back off — he hit back, and the fight escalated quickly.
The whole class tried to break them apart, but neither boy would stop. That's when Sir Hashim entered and separated them with great difficulty.
A moment later, Anabiya, Urhaan, and Mahir stood in front of Sir Hashim.
Sir Hashim glared at Anabiya. "Did you do this?"
Anabiya shook her head. "Sir, why would I?"
Mahir cut in, "Because since I got here, she's been messing with me!"
Urhaan jumped in. "Watch your tone. Talk properly."
As Mahir opened his mouth to speak again, Sir Hashim snapped, "Anabiya, when will you grow up? We treat you kindly, and this is how you repay us?"
Anabiya tried to argue, "Kindly, Sir? That's—"
"Enough!" Sir Hashim interrupted. "You want to dance on our heads, is that it? I'll talk to your mother tomorrow. And you both — 100 laps around the school ground!"
Anabiya immediately protested, "Sir, I swear I didn't do anything! You know Urhaan has leg pain. Let me run instead."
Sir Hashim shook his head. "You should've thought of that before."
He added coldly, "If parents don't pay attention to their children, this is what happens — they turn out useless."
Urhaan looked like he was ready to punch Sir Hashim, but Anabiya gently grabbed his hand to stop him.
Just then, the school headmaster — Urhaan's father — walked in.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
Sir Hashim stood. "Nothing serious, sir. Just a small fight among students." He explained the incident.
Anabiya, with the most innocent face she could manage, said, "I swear, Uncle — I mean, Sir — I didn't do anything. Okay, maybe we've messed with Mahir a bit before, but this time we didn't."
Haroon smiled gently. "Alright, but don't let it happen again. All three of you — clean the storeroom today."
He turned to Sir Hashim. "And sir, don't be so harsh on the kids."
Sir Hashim sighed. "As you wish, sir."
The students were sent back.
After school, the five of them were in the storeroom — even Mishal and Zaki had tagged along.
Sir Hashim looked at them. "What are you two doing here?"
Zaki replied in his usual joking tone, "Moral support, Sir."
Sir Hashim glared at him. "You have one hour. Clean up and leave."
While cleaning, no one said a word — until Mishal broke the silence.
"Mahir, we're serious. We didn't do anything to your chair."
Mahir, wiping a window, replied, "Just like you didn't do anything all the other times?"
Urhaan sighed and moved forward, but Anabiya stood between them.
"Why do you always have to jump in?" she said. "If he doesn't want to believe it, fine. Why raise your blood pressure over it?"
Mahir's eyes fell on Anabiya's hand — it was resting on Urhaan's chest. That irritated him.
He turned away and said, "Then who did it?"
Anabiya turned to him, "It's called fate, okay? And by the way — we're already in enough trouble because of you, so keep your mouth shut."
"Oh, and sorry — about the chair, which we didn't break."
"If I had done it, I'd have owned it in front of everyone. Anabiya Sikandar isn't afraid of anyone's father."
Zaki started clapping. "Wow! That's the spirit!"
Anabiya smiled and bowed. "Thank you, thank you."
Mahir thought to himself, She's... weird. It's better to stay away from her. And he went back to cleaning in silence.
After cleaning, Zaki announced, "Guys! I've got a car outside — let's go get some good food!"
Urhaan hugged him. "My brother, you're the best!"
They all left for the restaurant.
Mahir picked up his bag to leave. As he looked at the broken chair, a realization hit him:
She was right. The way the leg was broken — no one could've done that by hand.