Chapter 3: 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟎𝟐

BREE

I wake up on the couch, a blanket draped over me. The smell of coffee and pancakes tickling my nose.

I sit up and groan as my head pounds with pain.

Yup. That's what I get.

“Good morning,” I hear Rose say. I turn my head to find her standing by the stove, flipping a pancake.

“Morning,” I say, then get up to go wash my face, brush my teeth and change out of this dress.

I take a quick shower, fresh up and change into my black sweats and top. I throw a hoodie over me as I exit my room and make my way to the kitchen counter, taking my seat.

“I made pancakes!” Rose grins and pushes the plate of pancakes towards me and pours me some coffee.

“Thank you,” I go for the coffee first and take a sip, the warm liquid soothing my throat. I sigh and put the mug away. I’m about to take a bite of pancakes when I notice Rose looking at me, hands placed on the counter, lips pressed together. “What?” I ask.

“You tell me.” She shoots back, “what happened?”

“I walked in on Jay making out with a beautiful girl-”

“What?!” She yells.

I wince, “please don’t yell.”

“Shit- sorry,”

I sigh and take a bite of my pancake.

“What happened? You were gone for two hours, Bree.”

I swallow the bite before I answer, “I drove around the neighborhood, went to a bar, took way too many shots of tequila, got an attention of a disgusting man, tried to leave but he grabbed my wrist, got caught by Finn, he dragged the man to God knows where, led me out of the club, saw me threw up, held back my hair then drove me back home,” I finish my ramble and stuff my mouth with pancake.

Rose stares at me, lips parted. Blinks. Clears her throat then speaks, “Did Finn talk to you?”

I frown, “that’s what you’re asking from that?”

“Well, you two haven’t really been talking to each other for the past many months.” She points out.

I stay quiet. That is true. Finn has been avoiding me for months. Last night was the first time he talked to me after so long. I would have asked him why he’s talking to me now but I wasn’t really sober.

“Did you tell him what Jay did?” Rose asks.

“And let him tell my brothers? So one of them can ruin his life? No.”

I already got lucky and didn't get caught by Jack, considering he lives in the same building as us.

When Rose and I decided to move in together, Ryan told us point blank to move in the building he and Jack own.

Ryan has his own house a few blocks away from here while Jack lives on the top in his penthouse.

We didn't mind moving in this building since it has one of the best apartments.

All apartments are built with a minimalist aesthetic which gives luxurious vibes.

Our apartment consists of two bedrooms with a bathroom and walk-in closets. A huge living area with a counter kitchen attached to it. Tall windows touch the ceiling, showing the view of New Yorks busy streets.

“Can I tell them?”

“Rose!”

“What? He cheated on you! I’m not letting him get out of this!”

“Leave it. It doesn’t matter. He was having way more fun with her- and I thought you hated him.”

“That doesn’t give him the right to cheat on you!”

“Whatever.” I stuff my mouth with pancakes again, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Fine,” Rose says then pours herself coffee, “do you want to stay home, eat junk food all day and watch cheesy rom-coms?”

“Yes,”

“We could invite Arzo too- speaking of her, she must know this news.”

“But I don’t want Faizan to know. He’ll tell Ryan.” And Ryan will bombard me with questions, giving me the ‘I told you so’ look because he disapproved of Jay since day one.

“Don’t worry, Faizan wouldn’t tell anyone anything that his wife doesn’t want to.”

“True.” Faizan is the perfect man.

Rose smiles and pulls out her phone, opening the group chat we made a year ago after Faizan and Arzo had gotten married.

My phone dings with a notification, I pick it up.

Rose

ATTENTION!!!!

JAY- THE ASSHOLE- CHEATED ON BREE- OUR GORGEOUS BEAUTIFUL GIRL

Arzo’s replies comes in an instant

Arzo

WHAT?!

THAT LITTLE PIECE OF-

HOW DARE HE?!

I HOPE HE BREAKS HIS BODY PART

Rose

ME TOO

A chuckle leaves my lips. Rose and Arzo are the most dramatic people- after Jack, Finn and Farhan.

Rose

Anyways, we will decide how to punish that asshole later. Right now, we need a girl’s day

Arzo

Agreed. I’ll bring snacks.

Rose

I’ll choose a movie

Arzo

Are babies allowed?

Rose

HELLO?! BABY AS IN MAHAM?! YES!

Arzo

OKAY!

Me

Arzo, if you tell this to Faizan, please make sure he doesn’t tell my brothers. Or anyone.

Arzo

He won’t. I promise.

Me

Thank you.

Rose

Speaking of Faizan, will he mind that you’re coming over?

Arzo

He’ll be dramatic (in his own way) but he’ll be fine. Farhan will probably drag him somewhere since he recently complained that Faizan is forgetting about him.

Rose

Okay, great then! We’ll see you around 6

Arzo

You got it!

I have to go now, Maham is awake. LOVE YOU GIRLIES

AND BREE, FORGET ABOUT THAT JERK. YOU WILL GET A MAN THOUSAND TIMES BETTER THAN HIM IN SHA ALLAH

Me

Thank you, Arzo

Rose

GIVE MAHAM A KISS FROM US

Arzo

I will! Byeeee

ᯓᡣ𐭩

Arzo arrives right at six with her cute three months old baby girl who brightens everyone’s mood with her cute smile.

Rose takes Maham in her arms and forbids us to take her away from her.

Arzo puts down her snacks and removes her hijab and abaya before we start our ‘girl’s day’. The dress code for girl’s day was sweats and t-shirts. So, I put on my usual black sweats and white t-shirt, Rose wears her white sweatpants and her red top- the woman is obsessed with red- and Arzo is wearing her black sweats and a gray t-shirt- which I am pretty sure she stole from Faizan.

“It’s not stealing if he’s your husband,” she told us.

She has a point.

We start by putting on face masks while we wait for our pizza to arrive.

If we thought Maham would get scared after seeing us in face masks, we were completely wrong. She breaks into a fit of laughter when she sees us. Comfortably laying on the bed, laughing and pointing at three grown women in face masks.

“I mean, we do look funny,” Rose says.

“It’s better than her crying because of us,” I say.

Arzo chuckles, “true,”

Our pizza arrives just when we start to take off our masks. Rose is the one who answers the door.

We all settle on the couch with our pizzas, Rose keeps Maham on her lap as she plays with her toy.

The movie barely gets any attention since we talk over it, discussing everything except Jay.

“Oh, we almost forgot to discuss the most important topic,” Rose says.

“Which one?” Arzo asks.

“Guess who caught Bree at the club last night and dropped her off?”

“Who?”

“Finn,”

Arzo’s eyes widen in surprise, “really?” Rose nods then Arzo looks at me, “so, you both are talking now?”

“No,” I say at the same time Rose says, “yes,”

We both look at each other, Rose frowning at me.

“What?” She asks.

“We are not talking. He caught me at the club,”

“Yes and drove you home. Why would he do that?”

“Because he is a gentleman and I'm his best friend's sister,”

“Did he text you after?” Arzo asks me.

I stay quiet. He did text me this morning. It was a simple text asking me if I was okay but for some reason, it made my stomach flip.

It can't happen.

“He did, didn’t he?” Rose asks.

“He was being nice. Just asked me how I was doing,” I say, “and he will go back to avoiding me, especially after he saw me throw up,”

“Did he walk away?” Azro asks.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes,” Rose and Arzo say at the same time.

“No,” I answer to her question, “you both are reading too much into this,” I say and grab another slice of pizza, “I thought this was a girl’s day, no boy-talk allowed,”

“True,” Rose says, looking down at Maham as she grabs her finger, “okay, we won’t talk about boys now,”

“Thank you-”

“Finn is a man though,” Rose says, looking at me.

Arzo chuckles at Rose’s statement while I give her the ‘are you serious?’ look to which Rose grins

“No.” I say.

“Fine,” she mutters then looks back at Maham, “listen to me, Maham,” Maham looks at her, “you better not let any boy ruin your mood or walk all over you, understand?”

Maham stares at Rose for a moment then giggles. She looks away, continuing to play with her toy.

“What’s so funny about what I said?” Rose asks, frowning.

“I think that’s her way of saying that her baba would scare off every man before that happens,” I say, just then Maham giggles making all of us smile.

Faizan is so protective of her. The day she was born, Faizan warned all the guys to be careful when they held her because she was so tiny. At one point, he was starting to threaten them till Arzo calmed him down.

“Well, we won't let anyone hurt our precious girl either.” Rose says, which makes Arzo's smile widen.

We continue to talk over the movie and don't even notice when it finishes. Maham starts to drift off after Arzo feeds her and ends up sleeping with her head resting on Rose's chest.

Arzo points out that she has to leave now and picks up her phone to call Faizan. Rose starts being dramatic, telling Arzo to not snatch the beautiful baby from her arms and Arzo almost gives in but Faizan ends up picking the call and hearing Rose's speech.

“I'll be there in 10 minutes,” he says through the phone.

“No!” Rose whisper- yells, “i won't let you take her from me!”

“She's my daughter.”

“Exactly! You're always with her!-”

“I wasn't with her today,” he says, “see you in 10 minutes, amar.”

Faizan hangs up before Rose pleads her case. While we wait for Faizan, Arzo and I clean around the living area.

When Faizan arrives to pick up his wife and daughter, Farhan is with them.

“What did you guys do today?” Arzo asks, handing a sleeping Maham to Faizan.

“I challenged your husband to multiple board games,” Farhan says.

“Who won?” Rose asks.

“Faizan,” he mutters, looking annoyed.

“Ready to go?” Faizan asks. Arzo nods then shares hugs with me and Rose before they leave.

“Okay, I'm going to go and sleep now,” I tell Rose.

“Wait,” she says, looking at the clock then looks back at me, “you have to wake up at midnight,”

I frown, “why?”

She smiles, “I have a plan,”