It was 3 weeks since Zainab had been rushed to hospital, 3 weeks in which their lives had become a living nightmare. The baby had come really quickly and although she got to hospital in time, the baby had been born stillborn. The family had all come in and taken turns holding the little girl they called Rayna. Syed couldn't remember ever crying as many tears as he did over his gorgeous little sister. She was so beautiful and looked so peaceful he couldn't quite believe she wouldn't come home with them.

Syed was sitting on the bench outside. He had needed to get out of the house, get some air and be away from all the sadness and relatives visiting. In the last few days his mum had started doing some things again and the only thing that was keeping her going was definitely his wedding. She was completely focussed on this and spent hours on the phone ringing around different companies organising various things. All the plans were now completely out of his and Amira's hands and he didn't feel in a position to argue as he didn't want to upset his mum. He sighed to himself, he knew what he had to do. He picked up his phone and texted Christian asking if he could come round now.

A few minutes later he rang the buzzer at Christian's flat. He heard footsteps coming down the stairs "come in Syed" smiled Christian "I've really missed you". They hadn't been able to see so much of each other recently with all that was going on. They had a quick hug.

"I can't stay too long Christian, I just needed to speak with you about something"

"Oh sounds important" joked Christian.

They both sat down on the sofa and Syed looked down at his hands. Now he was here, he didn't know how to start this conversation but knew he had to "Since what happened to our family, my mum has been desolate but just recently she had become a bit like her old self again."

"That's good news" replied Christian reaching for Syed's hand but Syed pulled back. Christian suddenly felt worried.

"Christian the only thing keeping her going right now is all the preparation for my wedding and …."

"please tell me you're not going to say what I think you are"

"Christian I can't cancel the wedding, it's all mum has to look forward to. It would kill her if I did it now, I just can't."

"And what will it do to me if you marry Amira – have you even thought of that?"

"Of course I have" said Syed his eyes filling with tears but our family is completely shell-shocked at the moment and it's not the right time"

"So you marry Amira, live a lie. I won't hang around if you do, don't expect me to wait for you anymore. I won't" said Christian bitterly.

"I'm sorry Christian but it has to be this way."

Syed got up to go "I think I should go now before we say things we will regret, please take care of yourself Christian. What we had I will never forget it or you."

Tears were falling down Syed's face and Christian stood up and hugged him

"does it have to end like this, right now?"

"I think it may be less painful all round for both of us" said Syed and the two of them looked intensely at each other for the last time. Syed stood back and walked out the door. Christian collapsed onto the sofa sobbing.