"a few words of hope are more powerful than meaningless promises - hafsa ."
"Habibi.....she's uncontrollably crying ." Basmah shut Afra's doors behind her and broken down into heavy sobbing herself , clutching onto Sulaaymaan's arms as he hugged her and rubbed her arms up and down .
He was taken aback gravely .
Early that morning , he had been awaken by loud knocking on his door by Basmah . He witnessed that he had fallen asleep on his desk in a pretty awkward angle , resulting in a neck sprain .
However , as the day unleashed what it held for him he realized that a sprained neck and a throbbing head were the least of his concerns . Basmah had panicked saying that she didn't find Afra in the kitchen and as usual thought that she probably overslept . Sometimes she'd come down right when the breakfast would be served . But when Afra did not show up until Zuhr , she decided to check on her .
What followed next stunned her immensely . Afra was lying down on the balcony floor , cold and pale . Her hair flew with the gentle breeze and her lips were devoid of any colour .
Immediately , Basmah went to her side and gently shook her awake . Queen Basmah wasn't in the least expecting her to break down into hiccuping sobs and cling onto her . She was frightened out of her wits and no matter what Basmah did , she was not ready to quiten down .
The shock was massive .
"Mama , please , calm down . In shaa Allah , things will get better . Please calm down ." Sulaaymaan ushered her gently , as she pulled away from her son and dabbed at her eyes .
"Habibi , why ? How did this happen ? Who could have broken in ?" Basmah's eyes were still shedding tears as she shook her head sadly . "My poor darling . How badly she is shaken up Sulaaymaan ."
Sulaaymaan was told that she was attached by a stranger â a man who was clothed in black suit and a mask â and was physically assaulted . Sulaaymaan could feel his blood boil with rage and the familiar pain of his fingernails digging into his palm was only able to calm him down to the point of being able to talk to Afra later .
He â the threatener â had been quite a man because he killed his victims steadily . Slowly making them go through a whole lot of mental and emotional torture and finishing them . One thing he had learnt from his ways was that , no matter how many guards he chose to appoint , there would still be a way for him to attack them .
Apparently , he had caressed Afra's cheek and played with her hair . As far as he knew , Afra was strong and always prepared to fight the wrong , but he figured she was too horrified . She was a woman , a lady after all . It was only natural for her to feel shaken up after such a horrible encounter .
But he had to break the news to her .
He had to tell her that it was not safe anymore .
All alone .
For her .
It was going to be one nerve wrecking task . The last night had been difficult . With all the turning and tossing and haunting dreams . He did not feel like he had slept at all . He was too conscious to have been asleep . Perhaps , if he had distributed her , she wouldn't have had to go through it .
It was all his fault after all .
"Mama , do you think I could speak with Afra ?" He asked , watching his mother stare back at him a little astonished .
"Habibi , she needs time ! She's just been almost physically harassed . Do you get the situation ?" She scolded him before putting a hand at her head . "What is going on in this place ? Ya Allah , please help us ."
Sulaaymaan knew it was best to not argue with her , but it was crucial .
"Mama , can you please understand that I have some very important matters to discuss with her ? You don't get it ." Sulaaymaan's voice came out a little loud and hoarse and he winced at how rude he sounded .
While a part of him didn't want to admit it , he knew Afra had a right to know what was going on . He had already been keeping her in the dark for long enough with her patiently enduring him as well . She had gotten lucky that the guy did not kidnap or kill her right there . He needed to tell her before something worser happened .
His horrifying dreams had been a reminder that â as much as it hurt him to admit it â he had greatly failed her .
"Mr Sulaaymaan bin Aa'raaf , when I tell you it's inappropriate to talk to her at such a sensitive point , you listen to me !"
Queen Basmah's voice roared , making him cringe a little at how her tone pricked him .
"Yes , mama . I'm sorry ." He softly apologized , as Queen Basmah sighed and shut her eyes momentarily .
"Habibi ," she patted his cheek fondly ,"I know my boy wants to help her out . But to be honest , she needs to build up her strength alone . Your words or my empathy wouldn't do anything . You need to understand that she will come out of it on her own . We just need to be cautious of maintaing a stand and not getting too close to her at this emotional point . I.....can only imagine how she must be feeling and I feel just as guilty as you to not have been able to protect her ."
Sulaaymaan sighed , slowly nodding his head . Her words made sense but they didn't have time .
"Thank you mama . I'm going to just go and get the case filed for now or maybe just try to get a privately search party initiated ."
Queen Basmah frowned . "But do you think she'd want that ?"
Sulaaymaan resisted the urge to smile too much , lest he'd come off as suspicious . "I know she'll ask for it sooner or later ."
Queen Basmah nodded a little hesitantly . After which she started to cry again and excused herself quicky .
He watched her walk down the stairs , along the hallways and disappear within the doors . After waiting a couple of minutes to make sure she'd be gone far , he jogged to Afra's room and stuck his ear to her door .
A faint sniffing .
He hated himself for making her cry so much . But now was not the time to think emotionally .
"Miss Afra ?"
He knocked with his knuckles a little softly , not wanting to sound too oppressive .
The sniffing stopped . But it resumed as quickly .
"Look , Miss Afra please let me in . Or you come out yourself . We have something very very important to discuss . Matters are heading towards the worser part I was not hoping to engage in , but I was very wrong . I beg you ." Sulaaymaan softly shouted , trying to make sure he was not coming off as too desperate . That could arise unnecessary suspicions .
It took him another few agonizing minutes of shouting and begging and pleading . He was too stressed to deal patiently anymore . It was hard enough to have to work out with the threatener and now , having to take care of Afra was tolling down on him .
He had slipped down to the ground , resting his head against the doors . Even if he wanted to proceed with matters , he'd need to bring Afra out of her misery .
The sound of her moving inside kept him alerted in case she'd decide on listening to him . Despite the way things took a turn , he cared for her . And as much as it was necessary for him to have a serious conversation with her , he hoped to have a look at her and see how she was holding up .
He kept silently praying for her well being . After all , she would never tell him earnestly how she was coping .
As he had just closed his eyes to ease the burning sensation , the doors creaked and within a span of a few seconds , they were swung open with such quick response that he found himself toppling to the other side over his back and banging his head on the marble tiles .
It took him a few minutes to fully comprehend the situation .
Afra gasped , as she looked down upon him , putting a hand to her chest in surprise .
"What are you doing here ?" He spoke , trying to sit up from the awkward position he was in . He had fallen on the back of his head right at her footstep , staring at her in an upside down manner .
"What am I doing here ? What are you doing falling down from someone's door like a hidden burglar ?! God , Sulaaymaan I only had a heart attack the last night ."
He sat up on the ground , while Afra bent down on her knees to examine him as he rubbed his sore head . He smiled a little painfully and it surprised him to find her eyes crinkle with slight amusement .
"Look I know this might look very out of the ordinary but I assure you that I wasn't trying to peek.....â " he trailed off , facing the extreme puffiness and redness in her eyes . She managed to look at him for another second , before her eyes narrowed to the smallest size and her laughter echoed loudly in the room .
He stared at her in pure bewilderment , his cheeks staining with a hint of pink . If you did take into notice his behaviour , you would easily be able to figure out that he was not the guy who would blush as easily as that . As much as it embarrassed him , it was so soothing to hear her laugh that he joined in too , making it sort of like a game at who laughed more and for how long .
She was laughing too hard to keep herself composed enough by standing and just clutching her stomach . Instead , she resorted to plopping down on the edge of her bed and struggled to catch her breath once the humour died .
"Okay , okay ," she gasped aloud , throwing her head back and looking at the ceiling . "I......needed that ."
Sulaaymaan got up from the floor , dusted off his clothes with his hands and looked at Afra who was busily staring at the chandelier .
"I'm glad my embarrassment was hilarious to you ." Sulaaymaan remarked sarcastically , rolling his eyes as he ran a hand through his hair and winced at the tiny bump that ached when his fingers brushed against it .
Afra was quiet . He stood there uneasily , shifting on his feet and a moment of tensed silence passed between them .
"I thought you had brought me here to safeguard me . I don't think you're doing your job very well ."
Sulaaymaan winced . No matter how sadly embarrassing it was , he had failed her . But he was trying to make sure he didn't repeat the same mistakes again .
"I.....â ," he paused , running a hand down his face ,"I don't know what to say . I truly am ashamed ."
"You should be ." She replied , her head faced in the other direction . But still , Sulaaymaan could feel the silent tears that were wetting her niqaab .
It was a couple of seconds of still silence as Sulaaymaan stood at the floor while Afra kept peering ahead of her in the air .
"You said you had something important to discuss ."
Sulaaymaan looked up at her a little puzzled .
"Sorry ?"
She turned to face him , a severe look in her eyes . "You said you had something to talk about ?"
He cleared his throat , a little flushed that he had absolutely been zoned out .
"You can take a seat anywhere you'd like ." She motioned towards the couch and the desk chair .
He nodded and took long and quick strides towards the couch that was further away as much as one could want in a room . She did not seem concentrated enough in what he had to say but when she looked at him , fiddling nervously with his fingers , her eyes looked at him questioningly .
"Mind if I pull the blanket over me ?" Her tone was light but her eyes were red and dull . It almost felt like all that crying had gotten her sick .
He nodded . "Of course not ."
Once she had wrapped herself appropriately in her blanket , crossing her legs under her , she looked at him .
"Shall I start ?"
She nodded and resumed to focus on the desk a few steps away .
"What I'm about to tell you isn't going to be what had happened all together , but they're all bits and pieces that you'd be required to know ." Sulaaymaan spoke sincerely , watching her nod her head at him .
"Why does it feel like it's concerned with what happened yesterday night ?"
Sulaaymaan sighed , swallowing hard . "It is , Miss Afra ."
Afra shuddered inside her blanket . She was about to catch a good chill and fever . It often happened with her . Everytime she cried or worried or stressed too much , a fever always followed that stuck with her for a day or two or mostly till her mind was at ease .
"The person who encountered you yesterday is someone who's been following me for years now ." He paused , watching Afra's eyes widen .
"What do you mean ?" She asked seriously , watching him shuffle in his seat a little uncomfortably .
"What I mean is what I said . This person , I don't know who he is . But all I can tell you against him is that...
â . He stopped , looking at her a little sympathetically . "He has killed people who've always supported and helped me out . Whether it be when I went to Netherlands for a princely routine training or if I had gone to the washroom five minutes ago , nothing goes unseen by him . Incase your wondering why he does it , it's because there would be no better way to torture me beyond the limit by eliminating the people I love more than myself ."
He had spoken rather calmly for a murderer on the prowl which explained Afra's Surprise . She barely was able to inhale air and felt suffocated . She was the supposed target of an insane psychopath and was being made aware only after being attacked by him a few hours prior .
"You're not being funny if that's what you're trying to do right now ." She chuckled with disbelief as he pressed two fingers to his temples .
"Miss Afra , you actually think I could go to such extent to come to you to tell you some stupid joke when you've just been the victim of a sudden encounter and still trying to fight the memory ?"
The anger in his voice made Afra want to get swallowed up by the earth . She was mindful of the fact that no matter how rude she was with him , he had been patient and outgoing . Apart from the fact that he had shown his anger for the first time ever , Afra had not traced any hint of lurking amusement in his confession .
"Mr Sulaaymaan â ."
He nodded a little slowly . "It is just as severe as that . I can't tell mama because of a few reasons you're not known to . Other than that ,I've got a team of guards and security agents constantly on the foot to try to trace the threatenerâ as we've always addressed him ."
Afra gasped a little . Queen Basmah was ignorant of so much going around in her house . Did that make sense though ? To think that a member of the family was oblivious to the huge amount of danger lurking over them was hideous . Yet , like he had said , some things weren't disclosed to her .
"He has recently shot one of my guards....â ," he shuffled in his position , dropping his gaze on his lap ,"And he died ."
Afra gasped loud , clasping a hand over her mouth .
Sulaaymaan nodded and smiled weakly at her . "I'm messed up and I mess up others ."