Chapter 73: chapter 70: no more

"in the journey of life

you strive

i fight

you live

i might die

you change,

i could forsake.

along the way,

only those remain

who have sustained

in others' names - afra"

Afra kept staring at Sulaaymaan as he took turns in throwing each of the triplet in the air, catching them and then proceeding with the next.

Their delightful giggles were too contagious for Afra. Although she was pretty much occupied with her stressful thoughts, their excitement made her crack into loud laughter.

For two whole hours this continued. By this point, Afra was terrified that the lack of energy she could notice in Sulaaymaan's catches,  could make him drop one of the kids from that height.

Once he had managed to slip past them he collapsed to the ground, legs and hands spread out.

Afra got up from her seat, held her hands behind her back and walked up to him.

"You okay?"

He stopped heaving for a minute and flashed a smile.

"Alhumdulillah, great."

She nodded and turned around, smiling cheekily. This guy would never show his pain.

They had their lunch an hour ago and Afra was able to take out a few moments for herself. Mostly so she could sort out through whatever was going through her head lately.

Things had been progressing at a faster pace and she could say that with extreme surity. Faaris was — as much as it sucked her breath — was hurt and nothing would ever be the same for him.

That was not the only things she learnt. If he was hurt, chances were high against any and every member. Even the little ones.

And she couldn't take that big of a risk.

Something about Waasay's true colours that surfaced gave her a strong implication on what step would be the best.

She took it on to herself. Sulaaymaan was obviously way too exhausted. What made her sick with worry is that he had grown rather skinny and lost a good deal of his weight.

It was — of course — happening on a gradual level, which she only came to visualise after it came to an end. His eyes had deep circles and his cheeks were hollowed. The Queen may or may not have taken notice of her son's deteriorating condition. All Afra hoped for was that she didn't.

The last night itself, she had formed a good enough layout of her plan.

First step would be inform Aasiq and his members to be actively involved in this part. She didn't want to attack bare handed.

Second she came to a solid conclusion that it was to be kept as a secret. It'd be impossible to go about anywhere without Sulaaymaan seeing her, but she somehow desired to let that remain hidden. He could ruin what she has planned completely by interfering.

Waasay was quite a sharp minded human. Afra recalled how Inaya had kept shooting him suspicious glances the evening of Sulaaymaan's party.

Though Afra regretted not having taken Inaya's words seriously, she still did have time to mend the wrong she had committed.

Looking over her shoulder, she reached for the cordless over on the side table. After hesitating a moment, she dialed Inaya's number.

She knew it was not right to disturb her friend with her inquires but she didn't have choice.

Afra kept tapping her foot impatiently on the floor and the moment she heard a faint hello on the other end, she jumped to her feet and jogged away from the hall. She rested in the hallway and quickly began speaking in the phone.

"Hel —"

"Assalaamualaikum. Inaya it's me."

Afra sadly sighed at how raspy Inaya's voice became. She had been crying non stop and Afra was aware that it must not have stopped until now.

"Afra? Oh my god, why do you sound....um, so hushed and terrified?"

"Oh no no, I'm fine. I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure."

Afra took a sharp breath.

"Inaya, remember you were very hesitant about Waasay, Sulaaymaan's cousin during his birthday celebrations."

Inaya hummed a reply.

"Don't even remind me Afra."

"Inaya, please. Can you tell me why were you terrified of him? You never told me anything about him after that. Did you perhaps recall anything that may shed light over this matter?"

Inaya didn't speak for a few seconds but her heavy breathing indicated that she was frightened.

"Inaya please. I need to find out something."

She took another minute to probably prepare herself before replying.

"Afra, you see Waasay was actually the man who Gabriel took notice of. The first time it was when we went to the mall and this Waasay guy had come up to help you out?"

Afra frowned. And as the much familiar memories rushed through her head she gasped.

Of course she knew Waasay.

He was there to help her out at the mall with the bags.

"Ya Allah! Inaya.... —"

She trialed off with a heavy burden pressurising her mind. How did she forget that?

She knew Waasay.

"Are you okay love?"

Afra just nodded before proceeding with the information.

"Inaya don't worry. Please continue."

"He....was very suspicious to Gabriel. And you know the guy right? He may kill us but he wouldn't ever let others being harm upon us."

Afra smiled. He was one good source of entertainment.

"Things never seemed bizzare until he told that he had found Waasay following you all along the mall. And because I wasn't believing his paranoid stupidness, he described to me an experiment. That is where the museum came in. You were unaware of your surroundings and hence  didn't take notice. But when he pointed out to me a certain figure dressed in woman's abaya with a ring in his finger —"

"Did you say ring?"

"Yeah, he always has this ring on during both the times as per Gabriel's words."

Afra bit her lower lip thoughtfully. She didn't see any ring on Waasay's hand.

"Inaya what did the ring look like?"

"I am not sure. But it was this regular thick gold one I suppose."

Afra still couldn't understand anything.

"It's okay Inaya. Just continue with whatever you were saying."

"Okay. So like I was saying, Gabriel was right after all. I mean, I didn't think somebody would be so jobless. But after that, we couldn't do more checking. You went to live with Prince Sulaaymaan and things went back to normal I suppose."

Afra was engaged in her thoughts that she had barely listened to Inaya.

"Thank you so much Inaya. Jazak'Allahu Qairan Katheeran for your time."

"Wa Antum Fa Jazak'Allahu Qairan Katheeran. Anytime for you."

She quickly hung up and kept playing with the phone as she tried to fit all the pieces together. It was a tricky case.

Waasay had been following her because he was asked to. That Afra knew for sure. Because the guy was very scared at the mall and he met up with another main hooded guy.

The ring  — however — signified some peculiarity. She now was informed that Waasay had worn it for both the times when he was keeping an eye on her.

She sighed.

Two possibilities came up for now. Either Waasay had worn it just coincidentally.

or.

Or he was being kept in touch with the main hooded guy. It could be that Waasay was ordered to wear that ring. And in that ring, there could be a tracking device installed.

Was she being ridiculous with her thoughts?

Sulaaymaan adjusted the duvet on his legs, lay against the headboard and flipped open a book.

For a few months now, he had been reading the book. However due to the change in recent events he had been unable to focus on the words. Abadoning it had been the biggest mistake he had made in a few weeks.

It wasn't like any other book out there. He had learnt a lot on how to understand his thoughts, break away from the prisonment of the Shaitaan, learn to accept oneself the way Allah moulded and to understand the basis and sentiments of Islam.

His eyes skimmed through the pages. For five minutes, he struggled to keep himself focused but he knew he was just wasting his time. Shutting the book, he placed it down on the side table and sat staring into the air.

The facts dawning over him were very bizzare.

Afra had been acting very sweetly with him. She didn't keep her distance, didn't refrain from slapping his arm occasionally while laughing, made sure to serve him with her hands, massaged his head for him, smiled warmly whenever his gaze fell on her and even offered to help him with dishes.

He was very glad that she was opening up to him.

But he couldn't point out why he had a bad feeling about it.

The door of the bathroom opened and she walked out with her pajamas on and hair pleated.

She smiled and moved in beside him, fixing the duvet till over her stomach. Once she had lain back against the headboard, she took him by surprise.

She took her arm, held it over his head, snuggled into his chest and rested his arm over her shoulders.

Her heart racing against his very own made him want to jump away from the intimacy. Although this was his dream, to hold her within his arms, it was all too sudden.

"Sulaaymaan."

She mumbled and he nodded back.

"Can I tell you something?"

He nodded, his cheek pressed against her head.

"Will you use whatever I say now to taunt me later?"

Sulaaymaan frowned before he realised what she was trying to tell.

"No Afra. I wouldn't do that."

He laughed and she looked at him by tilting her neck up.

"Why do I feel like you're lying?"

Sulaaymaan rolled his eyes.

"Afra, I'm not. What more can I do to sound convincing enough?"

She looked at him in the eyes for a minute before resting her head over his chest again.

"I think you're saying the truth. But if you ever do that, you're dead."

He chuckled and she pulled the duvet higher till her chest.

"You know, I think it's time I tell you certain thoughts of mine."

He didn't interrupt but the few strands of hair falling right against her cheeks kept distracting him. With a finger, he gently swiped them away and rested them over his shirt.

She didn't seem to mind that.

"For a long while — for an extremely long time — you came off to me as a rich, spoilt brat. The kind who are rude, ruthless, bad, womaniser kind."

Sulaaymaan gave her a half smile.

"You really thought that low of me?"

She shrugged.

"I mean, majority of the rich people are like that. I didn't think exceptions existed in this case."

He nodded and she looked up at him with the cheekiest grin she'd ever given him.

"So, I absolutely loathed your presence. It made me sick to the stomach. And the fact that you weren't telling me what you were protecting me from was making me even more uncomfortable around you."

Sulaaymaan was only able to smile. He wasn't given much access to her thoughts and to think that she was blabbering for a few minutes made him want to scream with esctacy.

"But then steadily, your secrets opened up. Your real behaviour came to surface, I saw you helping out your mother everywhere, making your sisters happy and running errands while protecting everyone. At the end of the day, you barely managed to have time for anything else."

Sulaaymaan was surprised.

"You noticed all that?"

She simply nodded.

"Yeah I did. Because I wanted to understand what sort of a person you were. I made it a motive of mine to follow your routine for the next few days until I was thoroughly convinced that you were a good boy and ruled out the bad boy image."

He gave a short laugh and pulled her closer to him.

"You're so cute."

She didn't seem to hear that.

"But by then, we were already planning our wedding. Although I was not very hesitant in accepting your proposal, I still didn't know if I saw a husband in you."

He hummed in response.

"Things happened and we got married. I did pray istiqaara and it didn't show any signs of denial. Which I took as a good decision and decided to give you my word."

Sulaaymaan focused his gaze on her eyes that were wandering around and her hands flying about. He smiled happily at her.

"So you actually did pray the istiqaara?"

"Of course I did."

He nodded.

"Now, at this point, I've just seen so much that you do and keep up with that it makes me feel like a horrible person. I might still be a little shaky in your presence but you need to know that I'm trying my best."

He bent down a little and gently kissed her forehead. She didn't move but he could feel her smile a little.

"And such gestures. The way you hold my hand. The way your eyes twinkle when you look at me. The way you seem to feel secure in my presence. The way you care for your family. The way you love me. The way you've never hesitated in making me feel comfortable. The way you occasionally lay down kisses on my head."

She stopped and pulled away from his embrace. He didn't hold on to her and sat up just as she did. A moment later she turned to face him with a sad little smile.

"I'm trying to love you back too Sulaaymaan. You're too good of a human to be left alone. But the only problem was I didn't know what love felt like. What it felt like to feel yourself in someone else. Gabriel and Hafsa love each other. Inaya and Faaris do. And so is the case with Derek and Sarah as well. When I asked all of them, their definitions were too deep and hard to perceive. I guess it was only meant to be understood by people who actually know about it."

Sulaaymaan didn't answer back. She looked like she had more to say. Taking a sharp breath, she looked up again but this time she had a very welcoming smile.

But he didn't overlook her tears.

"Sulaaymaan, I may sound weird but this has to be said. Now or never. I don't know how much life we are meant to experience and when my time could be up. I just don't want to leave — if at all that is — without telling you back what you've shown me all along."

He didn't protest. Although in his head, flashbacks of Yusra's memories made him feel stuck. Death was inevitable. It had to come and it was meant to. And he was learning to accept that law of nature.

"My heart doesn't necessarily race when I'm around you. I don't feel my stomach flutter with an entire zoo. I even don't feel my heart get stuck in my throat. Infact when you're around me, I.....feel safe and secure. Happy and content. Mischievous and grateful. After I heard what true love was like, I had given up thinking that if wasn't made for me."

A tear fell on her cheek and slipped past her lips.

"I had this vague image of love from what others had told. And mine just wasn't meeting that criteria. So it was making things extremely hard to analyze. But then I thought that maybe mine was just meant to be unique....different......special."

Sulaaymaan didn't move an inch. Truth be told, he wasn't expecting whatever she had told. She had put in a large amount of effort and he could tell that by the way her eyes held a faint glimmer.

"What made me understand my love for you was I didn't like it when you were away from me. Although I attempted to keep myself occupied, I'd still end up worrying about you. Until you were back with me. That is when I knew that I....really did love you after all."

She stopped and her lips pursed together in a tight smile.

"I hope I'm not too late in expressing this to you."

He reached forward and pulled her into his arms.

"True love never has an end Afra. You'd never have been late. Love will never end."

« Assalaamualaikum Princesses ❤

YAAAAYYYY, another chapter. There might be a heck lot of mistakes so please overlook those. ❤

And to all of you who were very kind in reading my interview and showing me your love through comments I just wanted to say that I'm very grateful. That was a very important day for me and I'm thankful that you all could be a part of it.  ❤❤❤

*Throws confetti on all of you*

You all are the real Queens SERIOUSLY!

Jazak'ALLAHU QAIRAN KATHEERAN for all the things you do to make me happy.

❤❤❤

May ALLAH SWT bless you all abundantly.

Take care loves

Much love,

Yasmeen ;) »