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about her family. In short, she had opened up to him and told him everything that was there to know about her. Some months later, they had a major fight and they broke up.
    “Nobody knows the truth, but that guy started telling people that he had slept with her. Not a month had passed when her improper pictures were shown to the public.”
    “What kind of pictures were they?” I asked, totally unaware of what he was trying to imply. He cleared his throat.
    “The pictures were indecent, not for public eye.” At that, realization dawned on me and I mentally scolded myself.
    “After that I heard that this piece of information reached her family as well, she committed suicide. There are many such incidents in which girls have been forced to commit suicide because they trusted the wrong guys. I am not trying to scare you here, but I want you to understand that there are things worse than what you think you are going through.”
    My heart melted at the thought of a girl going through so much and having nobody to whom she could speak. Compared to that, my own problems looked minor and guilt washed over me. Even though I had family issues, my parents were providing for me, sending me to the best schools and getting me the best of everything.
    On the other hand, she was innocent. She just trusted the wrong guy, and it cost her life. In our society, such cases were quite common. I could understand her mental condition when she’d decided to commit suicide. She must’ve belonged to a conservative family, with firm social and moral values. She wasn’t supposed to consort with men whom she didn’t know because it was against our religion, as well as our moral values. I was aware of the fact that some conservative families murdered their own daughters for such a thing. Every other day, newspaper ran stories about honor killings. But her life was more important than society, wasn’t it? Our society tried to be liberal, but this was just the place where they stopped thinking. These kinds of situations always angered me because people knew what was happening, but nobody took notice.
    “I understand what you are trying to explain,” I said, my voice soft.
    “I hope you do. There are many females who have suffered because of men. Some people don’t even know about them. I’m telling you this story because I want you to be safe and sound from such deceiving people.”
    “I have been told that before as well.”
    “I know a lot about people here, both people who used to come here and people who came and left to live their lives.”
    I didn’t understand what he was trying to imply. His words were intimidating, and he was scaring me. Well, I knew how the people here ran after girls—men acting like dogs do, wagging their tails, their tongues hanging out.
    “Okay, so coming back to your problem. Since when have you been drinking?”
    “This was my first time.”
    “You mean to say that you’ve never been drunk before this?”
    “Yes.”
    “That means your blood is clean.”
    “Hmmm…”
    “Will you do something for me?”
    “What?”
    “Will promise me to take care and protect yourself?”
    “I promise.”
    I didn’t intend to drink again, anyway.
    He talked to me for three hours that night, telling me one story after the other about mIRC and how people had spoiled so many lives of the girls who had come here. My mind full of the new information, I finally slept.
     

Chapter 5
    The doorbell rang loudly. I ran towards the door to open it because Maheen’s impatient nature.
    “Why don’t you open the door?” she called out.
    “I’m coming,” I said, and quickly unlatched the door.
    She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
    “Where is Anisa?” she asked.
    “In mom’s bedroom. She’s sleeping.”
    “Okay.” She opened the door of Aliza’s room and entered. I followed her inside. They both rounded on me.
    “What’s the problem with you, Onaiza?” Maheen asked angrily.
    “What problem?” I