Last Tears

Chapter 26

Akram walked into the room and said nothing. He grabbed a t-shirt and three quarter shorts and walked into the bathroom appearing few minutes later having changed into them. He walked over and grabbed my hand. "Let's go"

I said nothing as he led me out into the living room upstairs and across it to the balcony attached to it which in my opinion had the greatest view in the house. I then noticed sleeping arrangements had been made and there was now a mattress set down; fully covered with sheets and a single pillow resting there.

Without hesitation he pulled me to the mattress and sat me down before taking a spot next to me. "You shouldn't worry about what people like Nabeela say about us" he said

"Even her name's annoying" I muttered but he heard me so he laughed.

"I love you" he said after the brief moment of silence. "And no matter how hard people try" he said avoiding her name. "What I think about you won't change. So you really have nothing to lose"

And just like that my mood took a U-turn. It felt really good to be reminded that I meant a lot to him; because he meant everything to me. I was reminded of one of the reasons I thanked Allah countless times every day.

"I love you too" I smiled honestly. Something I had forgotten how to do in the presence of our guests I remembered bitterly.

He grinned then remembered something, "I have something for you"

"What is it?"

"First promise to not kill me"

"I promise to not kill you" I laughed.

"Okay" he slid his hand in his trouser pocket and brought out something which once he held it out to me I realized was my missing ring.

"Alhamdulillah" I sighed in relief then took it from him. "Why would I want to kill you; you found my ring" I smiled at him. "Thank you"

"That's because I took it"

"Why...?" I narrowed my eyes at him

"So I could get you this" he brought out a long jewelry case from under the pillow and opened it to reveal two shiny silver charm bracelets, one longer than the other.

As he raised one I noticed something and said; "They match the ring" I said in awe

"Yeah they do" he grinned proud of himself. He took the ring from my hand and slid it back in its position on my right ring finger. He then put the smaller chain around my wrist. He gently lifted my right foot and placed it on his thigh; then took the longer chain and clasped it around my ankle. "So what if my sister gets to decorate your finger; I get to adorn the rest of you"

I grinned right back "I love it. Thank you. Although...you didn't have to"

"I wanted to"

I smiled. "Now what's this all about?" I pointed at the whole mattress set up.

"We're sleeping here obviously" he said falling back into the mattress.

"We have neighbors. Who might begin to call us crazy" I deadpanned

"The next house is unoccupied. Remember?"

"Someone might still see us..." I said unsure

"We'll get back in when we wake up for dawn prayers" he declared. "Now stop worrying and praise my excellent romantic gesture" he grinned

"I would..." I said lying down next to him, "But the mosquitoes take all the romance out of it"

"That's why I got this" he said bringing out a mosquito repellant cream from under the pillow.