*****

Aamir kept his hand firmly planted on her waist. He knew she was afraid. It was so very obvious with the way she was shaking life a leaf. He pressed his palm to the small of her back and rubbed a little in a soothing gesture.

"The world is about to witness what a wonderful person you are. It's time I corrected some grave misconceptions, sweetheart."

They stepped forward to the massive wooden double door entrance that was shut with two sharply dressed men flanking the sides. Aamir have them a slight nod and they moved forward and grasped the handles.

Mayra panicked and looked up at Aamir and he leaned down to kiss her cheek. He whispered in her ear, "it's Showtime!"

The doors were flung open to the enormous ballroom that had more than thousand of the city's most illustrious people staring at the couple making a grand entry. As Aamir walked Mayra down the carpet towards the stage, he beamed with pride at the expression of awe on everyone's faces as they beheld the beautiful couple. A tall, handsome and successful man with the most beautiful, elegant and suave woman on his arm.

Suddenly someone clapped, Mayra turned to see it was little Amina. She couldn't help but smile at the little doll and by the time her family had joined in, the clapping had turned into a tumultuous applause.

Aamir walked them right up to the stage and to the their table which was right in the front and seated Mayra. Walking up the stairs and on to the stage, he turned around to face the guests who were all seated on round tables with elaborate centerpieces which shone under the bright light descending from a magnificent chandelier.

It was time.

He stepped forward with the mike and instantly Mayra was hit with the realization of who was addressing the audience. It wasn't her husband, her once abusive husband who had shattered all her dreams and broken her heart too many times to count. It was not the man she shared a roof with. Not the man who she lived with day in and out.

This man standing on the stage, looking at his peers, was a confident, urbane and sophisticated man, who knew everyone, and who knew that everyone needed him for what he had made of himself in the business world. This man was as ruthless as he was charming, as leisurely as he was deadly and as carefree as he was lethal. He could switch the modes when and how he wanted.

What Mayra couldn't see was how vulnerable he was at that moment, and how humbled he was by her mere presence.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, on behalf

of Hassan Industries and on behalf of my entire family, I welcome you all this little celebration of ours - " Aamir winked as everyone chuckled at the joke, "and I wish to thank you all for gracing this occasion with your presence. I'm grateful to you all for accepting our invitation and making our night even more special.

"I'm sure there's quite some curiosity regarding the reason for this celebration tonight. Many people have asked me whether we've thrown this party to celebrate our deal with Mark International, or to celebrate our partnership with the German Manufacturing company, Lowe Motors, or is it to celebrate the record-breaking performance of our stocks this year. I assure you, it is none of these reasons.

"I'm sure you are all aware of the my temporary hiatus from the arena of our business world caused by my accident and the subsequent paralysis that resulted from it. Those were some of my darkest days where I was convinced that God hated me for some reason. I had given up on myself. I had given my dreams of leading the company to the heights even we had never imagined before and I had even given up the hope that I would ever be able to walk again. In the moments of hopelessness and despair, God showed me that he didn't hate me, for He sent and Angel who whispered to me one night, 'even the eagle that flies the highest in the sky has to descend to the earth sometime.."

Mayra's head snapped up to the stage, tears blurred her eyes but she could see Aamir looking directly at her, everyone looking at her, as he recited the words she had whispered to him one night when he was paralyzed and she had thought he had fallen asleep.

She had said those words to him, not knowing that he had been listening.

"Even the eagle that flies the highest in the sky has to descend to the earth sometime, for food for rest, for all things that necessitate survival, but it knows that when it ascends again, it has to start flying higher than ever before. I'm sure, this time when you fly, no one will be able to catch you."

She couldn't believe it. He was calling her his Angel in front of his business associates? This party was for her? The media, the celebration, the speech, all for her?

"..will be able to catch you." Aamir concluded, still looking at her. "Ladies and Gentlemen, that period was a tough phase, but the hardest was when God was about to take my Angel away from me. I'd never been so helpless before, so out of control, so desperate. I was this close to losing everything. My life was on the verge of collapse.

"I realized then what stupidity is. It is giving your professional life so much importance that you forget the people who you earn money for. It is looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking so high of yourself that you become blinded to your faults, however big they may be. Stupidity is when you have an Angel right in front of your eyes and you can't recognize her. So, before anyone has the chance of calling me stupid, I wish to correct some past wrongs and give credit where it's due.

"Therefore please allow me to confess, I am not the one who won the Mark International deal for our company. It was my Angel. I was not the one who inspired a brand new way of making presentations that secured the Partnership with Lowe Motors, it was my Angel. Lastly, I am not the one who fought for my health and won, it was my Angel. Today this party is a celebration of that Angel who has lit up my world with a million bright stars and has done for my company that which even I couldn't do, hence I announce that effective immediately, she secures fifteen percent stake in our holdings making her a member of the Board of Directors of Hassan Industries.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome on stage our company's biggest asset, our new Director and my own Angel.."

A dramatic pause ensued. Full-blown panic hit Mayra as she could feel all eyes on her yet she stared at Aamir with big, fearful eyes and found him looking right back at her with the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face.

"Mayra Aamir Hassan."

The room broke into a deafening roar of approval, clapping and hooting at the unexpected yet heartfelt announcement. Many faces registered disbelief at the turn of events. No one knew Aamir Hassan to be a man of such sentimentality. A man who would publicly call his wife an Angel and look at her the way he was looking now. No one expected a soft side in the heart of a man who could make the cruelest of decisions in the blink of an eye.

Yet here he was.

Zara nudged Mayra forcing her to stand on wobbly knees. Her high heels seemed even more deadly now. She didn't know what was happening, why it was happening, all she knew, all she could see was that Aamir was standing on the stage, waiting for her.

Each step she took in his direction caused an epiphany. Each step brought back each of those memories where she was at his feet begging for mercy. This time, however, it was different. She searched for the guilt on his face, the need for rectifying his past misdeeds, the motivation for this elaborate charade of making her feel important.

Only, there was nothing but pure joy and pride on his face. He looked so happy, so at peace that even though she desperately looked for some sign of misgiving in his demeanor, she couldn't find it. He was genuinely happy, he was genuinely proud of her, he was genuinely doing this for her. That's what propelled her forward.

Aamir stepped down and helped her up. He nodded towards the mike and she tried to communicate through her eyes that she wasn't the kind to do this. She hated publicity, she hated addressing an audience. She was a shy one. She hadn't ever done this before.

The continued applause drowned Aamir's voice as he quietly murmured to her, "you've already dealt with the media. This should be piece of cake, darling."

The applause died down and she grabbed the mike with trembling hands and blurted the first thing that came to her mind, "Now I feel stupid."

Everyone laughed at that and she could feel Aamir chuckle beside her.

"Thank you.. umm. Uh. A-Aamir. It's a huge.. um responsibility. I'll do my best. Thank you all for.. umm.. being here tonight. Uh. Thank you!"

She quickly stuffed the mike back into Aamir's hand, wanting to disappear at that miserable attempt at a speech after Aamir's spectacular opening address. The audience didn't mind as they clapped for her too.

Aamir quickly turned their attention around, "Thank you, Ladies and Gentlemen. We'll now begin the dinner."

The couple descended and reached their table. Mayra was surprised to see her parents were there too, beaming at her. Her mother was wiping away tears of joy from her cheeks. All of this was so unexpected sheets could feel her head reeling.

People were looking at her with respect! People were thinking highly of her!

Seated at the front table with Aamir to her right and Zara to her left, she had never felt so uncomfortable with all the attention being showered at her. She sat in shock and stared at the food, unable to believe, unable to eat, unable to move. Her father-in-law looked at her from across the table and smiled at her. She found it difficult to smile back and let her true emotions of fear and apprehension show on her face. He was the one person she didn't need to pretend to.

He sighed and put his fork down. "This night is for you. You know you deserve much more. Why are you afraid?"

"I don't know," she replied, her head lowered.

"Mayra," Aamir whispered. "Did I do something wrong tonight?"

She turned her face to look at him but couldn't find the words. He hadn't done anything wrong. He was being honest and truthful. Did that mean he truly wanted to live an actual life with her as a wife?

All this while, she refused to look at this possibility by claiming that all his actions were out shame and guilt. Never had she let her mind entertain the possibility that it might be out of love and concern. Now she couldn't deny it anymore.

That created more problems.

She hated it whenever Gaurav was right. "The status quo has to go," he had said and now she had to choose which way this drama was going to go.

She had no idea what to do!

Aamir fussed over her even though she never uttered a single word to him. He forced her to eat all the courses. Dinner was delicious but with a head about to explode she could barely make out the flavours.

After dinner Aamir led her through the ballroom and they mixed and met up with Aamir's associates.

"Mayra, meet Mr and Mrs Khanna. He is on of our investors. And this is my wife Mayra."

"You look so beautiful, dear!" Mrs Khanna gushed. "You remind me of my daughter. She shifted to America with her husband. I miss her so much. You look just like her!"

"Thank you," Mayra replied politely.

Aamir made her meet everyone. Even a very loud gentleman by the name of Mr Mehra, who Aamir introduced as his ruthless competitor. The man threw back his head and laughed loudly. Leaning forward, he said, "come and work for me my dear! This arrogant husband of yours doesn't need anymore help with his empire."

Aamir laughed and issued a mock challenge, "well, try and sway her loyalty, Mr Mehra. I'm afraid that feat you'll never accomplish!"

An hour later, she was exhausted. She wanted to go home, curl up in bed and sleep. She wanted to wake up in the morning and pretend that this night had never happened.

"Lets go out in the gardens for a bit," Aamir said sensing her tiredness. "We'll get a breath of fresh air."

Escaping the crowd, they slipped away to the massive lawns that had several benches sprawled about. Carefully, Mayra sat down and stiffened when Aamir sat down next to her.

The gardens were dimly lit by scattered lanterns that have a soft glow to the atmosphere. The sounds of the party grew muffled and the gurgling water in the fountain made the setup peaceful and relaxing. Mayra wanted to remove her heels and feel the soft, wet grass but her heels would take forever to put back on. So, she simply sat and looked ahead trying to draw some order out of her chaotic life."

"I'm hoping," Aamir said eventually, "for the sake of my sanity, that you had fun today."

She nodded.

"Really?"

"Yes."

A sad smile adorned his face, "then why do you look like you are about to cry?"

She blinked back her tears and looked at him. She wouldn't lie to him but she didn't know how to answer truthfully either. "Why?"

"Why what?" He asked, confused.

"All this." She waved her hands around gesturing to all the opulence.

"I wanted to," he replied simply.

"Why?" she insisted, unable to understand.

"Because," he said, looking dead straight into her eyes, "I love you."

He loved her. He truly loved her. This time, she could see it, feel it. She couldn't deny anymore.

"W..What if I.. I can't.."

Aamir smiled and looked ahead at the fountain. "What if you can't find it in your heart to love me? I will totally accept that as a punishment for all my crimes. What if you can't give me what I need from you? I've no bloody right to ask anything of you anyway. What if you can't give us another chance, our marriage another chance, and file for divorce? Then I..I.."

He broke off, looking away. Mayra turned to look at him. He was wiping away his tears and she was shocked. He was crying! For their marriage!

Suddenly he got up and sat down on his knees in front of her. Desperately clutching her hands he said, " I know I have no right to ask this of you and I'm probably the most selfish and disgusting person ever, but.. but please Mayra. Please. Don't leave me!"

He broke down into sobs and his chest heaved as he dropped his head in her lap and cried. Her own eyes watered at the sight and he kept crying and whimpering.

"Don't leave me. I'll die.. I'll die without you, sweetheart. I'll do anything for you, just please don't leave me!"

She touched his head an he looked up. His tear-stricken face hit her hard, it was all it took for her to realise that she still loved him. She wiped his tears lovingly, unable to help herself. Her heart longing for the man that her mind hated.

"What if I'm afraid? What if I'm not ready?"

Hope sparked in his chest as he too cupped her face and said, "then we'll wait. For as long as it takes. I'll wait forever. Just please don't leave me!"

Mayra nodded her head. Aamir hugged her to his chest not willing to let go.

She pulled back and hiccuped.

"I'll get you some water, love."

Mayra wiped her tears and collected herself while Aamir left to get some water. It was a huge decision but she knew it was the right one.

She knew what Aamir had done was wrong, unforgivable even, but her love for him was too strong to let her leave him. She knew she needed him just as much as he needed her and she desperately hoped that this time he would live up to the trust she was placing in him.

"Mayra!"

Mayra jumped at the sudden noise and turned to see Faiza run towards her, tears pouring down her face. She barely stood up before she was crushed into Faiza's arms.

"What happened?"

Faiza pulled back and gave Mayra her phone. Her own eyes widened as she read the text.

"15% stake makes her very wealthy. She can give me money. Make, sure she does. Im watching you. Even Now. - J"

"What do I do, Mayra? He's blackmailing me!" Faiza cried, absolutely terrified.

Mayra's own chest constricted at the implications of the message.

Aamir suddenly appeared with a glass of water held tightly in his hand, his eyes blazing fury, "Who's blackmailing you, Faiza? Jaffar?"

*****