17.

                                    

                                          
"Aese hi pack kar lein ge. Bas sab mehmaan farig ho jayein, tum Anthony se kaho se bandon ko call kar le." Umeed mumbled in Jackie's ear, who nodded and walked away. Guests had begun to leave, the night was still young but clearly everyone was in no mood for anything else. After more dances, celebrations and performances the lights were collectively switching off.
Umeed rubbed her eyes, her body aching and head feeling light. This was potentially the most active she had been for a five consecutive days since she played badminton in university. And that was over half a decade ago.
She may be twenty-five but the way her body was giving up she might as well retire. 
She saw someone in the distance and knew that she should talk to them, avoiding him on countless occasions was fun but a conversation out of courtesy and decent wouldn't hurt. To add to that, it was a great distraction to pass time until she could finally go home. 
"Sorry mein baat nahi kar payi, risk nahi lena chahti thi." Umeed walked closer and stood in front of Rayan, who turned to her and smiled, not expecting to see her.
"No it's okay, I completely understand. Risk nahi liya isi liye sab kuch itna acha ho gaya" Rayan smiled and Umeed nodded in agreement. The risk was on some other lines but she did not have to explain that to him.
Speaking of the risk, he was stood at a distance watching both of them talk, arms folded and a lip in between his teeth, controlled breathing as he observed the conversation taking place.
"Ji bilkul." Umeed smiled, feeling a stinging pain in her head and blinking to try and simmer it down and ignore it. 
"Aap yahin se hain?" Rayan asked, shifting to stand straight, maybe a centimetre closer to her - according to Farjaad's observations. It was still too much for his liking. He began rubbing his bicep.
"No I'm from Karachi, liken kaam yahan karti hoon." Umeed answered, the pain not dying down instead getting worse. Rayan's eyes lit up.
"Oh that's great! Mein bhi Karachi mein rehta hoon. Whereabouts are you from?" He asked and Umeed to a tumble at the same time, causing him to jump just a little and notice her imbalance.  "Aap theek hain?"
She reached up for her head and stroked it gently, assuring him she's fine. 
Alarm bells began ringing in Farjaad's head, she was clearly finding difficulty in maintaining herself. He began taking slow steps in their direction.
"Haan haan, I'm fine. Aap kya pooch rahe thay?" Umeed tried focusing on him, but her sight was blurry and she felt that her head was getting too heavy for her body to hold it.
"I was asking ke aap- Umeed!" Rayan's eyes widened, watching her body fall and immediately reaching out to catch it on time before it hit the ground. "Umeed?" There was panic in his voice, holding her small body which completely gave up. 
Farjaad's face went pale and heart dropped, running to them and immediately snatching Umeed from Rayan's hold and reaching out to cup her cheek. 
"Umeed?" He patted her cheek, getting no response.
"Abhi tou bilkul sahi baat kar rahi thi." Rayan spoke out of panic, Farjaad too focused on her to care about what Rayan had to say. In that moment he felt his world collapse, his heart beating out of his chest and his blood rushing through him, his body turning cold.
"Umeed. Umeed." He tried to remain patient and controlled over his emotions which were begging to burst out. He did not want to create a scene and picked her up, beginning to jog through, out to where the entrance was. 
"Farjaad." Saveira stopped him, she had taken in the whole situation the moment she saw Farjaad run over. "Doosri side se niklo. Aur chabiyan Yusuf ko do. He'll drive." Farjaad stared her.  "Chalo!"