Prologue

He was beating him violently. She had seen him in that much anger for the first time. The courtyard was filled with students, everyone was gathered there in order to see who had signed their deaths by annoying a 'devil star' of the college.

“Who is it?” asked a boy.

“It’s Atta, he is indeed getting what he deserves, he was on the radar of devil star for years,” said a girl, who had deep green eyes and had caught her hair in a high ponytail. The boy had shaken his head regretfully.

Saliha was staring at the 'devil star' beating a boy of his age, a boy who became a living hell for her for four weeks. She never knew that he would end up in the devil’s hands. The boy had made her life miserable for weeks and was harassing her, but the question is how did the 'devil star' know about it? She had never told this to anyone that she was being harassed by a pervert.

“What is happening? Who is this guy beating poor boy? We should inform the dean,” said Hania, afraid.

“Poor boy?" Saliha thought; "Only if Hania knows what this ‘poor guy’ did to me and what he was up to, she will go straight kicking his ass alongside the 'devil star'".

Zain ran through the crowd towards Roman and stopped him. He had never seen him this angry before. They have been friends since childhood, but today, he sees an alien in the place of his friend. He held him by his waist and was preventing him from beating Atta further.

“Roman, Roman calm down. You are going to kill him,” Zain was screaming. Roman stopped for a while and took a deep breath.

“If you dare to walk an inch closer to her, I will bury you alive,” he grabbed Atta's hair from the top of his forehead and forced him to look into his eyes and said while pointing a finger in front of his nose.

His blue eyes were furiously turning red due to anger.

“Who? Who is he talking about? His girlfriend?” asked a girl, muttering among confused students.

“Who knows? The Devil star has a lot of girlfriends. How can we guess who he is talking about?” said a girl who seemed bored.

Saliha turned her head to the girls instantly.

They were talking to each other but when they found her staring at them, they stopped.

“What do you want? Freak,” said a girl, but Saliha was not paying attention to her question, instead, their words were echoing in her head.

“Who knows? He has a lot of girlfriends.”

The girls were looking at her in disappointment and then they walked away.

She turned her head ahead and found him staring at her angrily. She felt an instant chill through her spine.

“How did he know that this guy was harassing me?” she thought. After an angry glare, he walked off, arrogantly. The devil star is the boy she had to avoid if she wanted to live peacefully. He was clever and he always had his knife sharp under the water. She should avoid him as much as she could, but today he beat that boy's ass just because of her and she knew what he meant by 'her'. It was her he was talking about.

Zain looked at her with pity. All she knew was that Zain was his friend as she saw him in their house.

“Who was that guy?” asked Hania.

“I don’t know,” she said, without looking at her.

His words and cold voice were still echoing in her head.

“Don’t you dare to tell anyone who you are to me, or you even know me,” he said to her on her first day here in this town.

“You don’t know him? Him?” asked a girl who was standing next to her. She seemed so disappointed, as if she was pitiful to her.

Saliha paid attention to the girl, and her friend Hania looked at the girl as well, with one eyebrow raised.

“He is the 'devil star' of this college and he is a senior known for his hotness and intelligence and he is the most popular guy in the school,” said the girl excitedly. It was obvious that she was indeed obsessed with him.

Wait, what does he study here? In senior years? This is his college? She thought, shocked. No wonder why he ‘ordered’ her not to expose her identity here. She never knew life would treat her like that. She had to live with the devil in the same house and, not only that, she had to stay away from him as much as possible.

“I, I need to go,” she said and walked away. “Okay, see you tomorrow,” said Hania.

She took a deep breath of relief that no one was going to harass her anymore.

She was walking towards the college's gates ; she knew he was very pissed off. She hid that she was being teased by a boy at college despite the fact he told her she had no right to keep a private life. The devil was indeed clever. She was walking slowly on the street when a car stopped by her.

She recognized his black brand new Camaro with the same black no-see-through window glass. He did not pull down the glass and was continuously pressing the horn. She walked towards the car and he opened the door for her. She gulped because she knew this was not good.

She got in. He was wearing vacant expressions. She was sitting quietly looking out of window, calm outside but panicked inside.. He started the car’s engine and put it on race.

She was avoiding looking at him. There was an ambient silence in between them.

“How long have you known him?” he asked, breaking the silence in a cold voice, but she could feel the ice was crushing under his teeth as he was clenching his teeth.

She felt again the same chill through her spine as she always feels when he is around. She felt her words were buried in her head and was trying to speak but it turned out she was mute suddenly. He had this control over her body.

He looked at her in anger and then he pushed the accelerator and the car’s speed increased at a dangerous rate. She gasped. He was driving while looking ahead expressionlessly. She could feel her heart palpation.

“Please stop,” she said while closing her eyes. The traffic was high and their car barely escaped an accident. She was shaking with fear. He did not stop. They were passing through the traffic, dangerously.

He did not say anything; instead, he was continuously staring at the road. It was obvious that he was an expert at it. He must be a good racer of something.

After 15 minutes of driving and giving her almost a heart attack, he stopped the car and her head hit the dashboard. She hissed with pain.

While touching her head, she looked up. Her head was throbbing. He was staring at her with anger in his blue eyes while crossing his arms around his chest. He had stopped the car somewhere in a less crowded place.

“How long have you known him?” he repeated his question in the same tone.

She looked at him with slight tears in her eyes.

"I..I don't..know him," she stammered.

He took off his seatbelt and then he moved towards her. She had gone startled. He held her shoulder harshly and looked into her eyes. All she could see was anger in his eyes. He brought his mouth near to her ear.

“You have no idea what you are playing with,” his grip on her shoulder tightened. She felt a very sharp pain.

“I have kept my eyes on you, inch by inch, place by place,” he said in a whisper, and she felt as if he threw a bucket of cold water on her head.

"Trust me, I don't know him. He was trying to..." she was about to complete her sentence when he abruptly.

“Out,” he snapped.

“What?” she asked in a whisper-like voice.

“I said get out of my car,” he ordered.

Her eyes were wide open due to shock.

“I hate repeating sentences,” he screamed. “Out now”.

"Where will I go? I don’t know this place,” she said, almost crying.

He opened the door to her side and looked at her coldly. She left with tears in her eyes and then he closed the door and started the car. In a matter of seconds, he was far away from the reach of her view.

She looked around in fear; she did not know where she was. She felt panic. She was on the beach, all alone. She sat next to a tree and started crying.

*********

Two Years Ago

(Flashback)

“Saliha, my dear child, bring a glass of water,” said Mehtaab Bano.

“Yeah, Nani (Grandma), I am coming,” she said from the kitchen. She was very young but she was an expert at kitchen routines. Her Aunt has always given her a tough time on that.

She ran towards her grandma with a glass of water.

“Here,” she said, smiling.

“Mehtaab, I will say that this little girl is very good at housekeeping,” said Muneera, the woman from the neighborhood.

She visits their house on a regular basis.

“My little moon is good at studies as well,” said Mehtaab.

“She is going to school?” asked Muneera, shocked.

“Yes, I am sending her to school on a regular basis,” said Mehtaab excitedly.

“I will become a doctor one day,” said Saliha, happily.

“Ama (Mother), I have told you so many times, stop dreaming and let her stay home. I am not a slave here, I have four children to take care of,” said her Aunt, Rukhsana, annoyed.

She looked at her aunt innocently.

“Why do you always mistreat my girl? What has she eaten of yours?” said Mehtaab, annoyed.

“You girl is the reason we are living miserably here. We cannot let her eat further here, your Junaid has a limited income,” she said, angrily.

The neighbor, Muneera, was listening to their fight as material for her gossiping around the country.

“She is not eating anything of yours'. What did you bring from your home when you came here after marriage? This house, this entire fortune, is my late husband’s. Saliha is my granddaughter and, as a daughter of my daughter, she has rights to this house and property and I will not let her suffer,” said Mehtaab, angrily.

“Maria was your daughter, not your son. Who gave property rights to daughters? It’s Saliha’s father’s responsibility to raise her but he left her here on our heads,” said Rukhsana, annoyed, and she went into the kitchen. Hearing her late daughter Maria's name made her heartache.Saliha is Maria's daughter but her grandmother raised her.

Saliha was only thirteen but she could feel her behavior.

“Okay Mehtaab, I am going, you know I have to cook food,” said Muneera.

Mehtaab took a deep breath. It happened daily because Rukhsana’s behavior towards Saliha was not good. It was Mehtaab who was sending her to school, so that she could learn a lot of things about her social lifestyle and could become independent.

“Where is Sana?” she asked Saliha, who was frowning.

“She went to school,” said Saliha, sadly.

“Why have you not gone?” asked Mehtaab.

“Aunt said, I should stay home and wash clothes,” she said, sadly.

Mehtaab took a deep breath. She was trying to raise Saliha happily.

Rukhsana’s hatred towards her increased day by day. Saliha was the daughter of her younger and only daughter, Maria. After the demise of Maria, Saliha lived and raised there. Her father, Wajhdaan Ahmer, had never asked about Saliha and his wife, neither Mehtaab wanted him to meet Saliha. They shared a very dark past.

***********

She was sitting on the couch, angrily.

“What happened? Why are you so rude today?” Junaid asks.

“Your mother is after me and my innocent children,” she said.

He blows a fuse.

“What happened now? What has Ama (mother) done now?” he asked, annoyed.

“I am telling you, she will give everything to this girl, Saliha, and our children will get nothing,” she said, annoyed.

“I will not let that happen,” he said mysteriously.

She looked at her husband and understood that something was going on in his evil, scheming brain.