userZ99
She had already buried one marriage.
He had already watched another fall apart.
Love was the last thing either of them was looking for.
After moving from London to Dubai with her five-year-old son, Inaya Alvi wants nothing more than a quiet life and a fresh start. Her world revolves around Ayaan, her career, and the promise she made to herself never to mistake duty for love again.
Across the hall lives Zayaan Mirza, a successful businessman and single father whose life is meticulously organised, except for the little girl who desperately wants more of her father's time.
When Ayaan and Ayra become inseparable from the moment they meet, their parents find themselves thrown into each other's lives. What begins as reluctant neighbourly encounters slowly turns into shared dinners, school events, bedtime stories, and the comforting chaos of raising two children who have already decided they are family.
But when a custody battle threatens to take Ayra away, Inaya and Zayaan make an impossible decision.
They marry.
Not for love.
Not for themselves.
Only for the children.
Living under one roof is easy.
Learning to trust each other is not.
As old wounds, grief, betrayal and the ghosts of failed marriages refuse to stay buried, two broken hearts must discover that healing cannot be rushed, love cannot be forced, and sometimes the safest place to fall is into the arms of someone patient enough to wait.
Because home isn't always a place.
Sometimes...
it's the family that chooses you.
---
A slow-burn marriage-of-convenience romance featuring neighbours to lovers, single parents, found family, emotional healing, childhood friendships, domestic comfort, gentle humour, and a hero who proves that the greatest love stories aren't built through grand gestures-but through patience, respect, and choosing each other every single day.