Strings Attached

~Chapter 16~

"You know what, Daniyal? If you were even half a man... or even slightly Muslim like your name, you would have never behaved with me like that." Something pricks me hard at that. She looks at me pitifully after delivering her statement as her eyes fiercely blink back tears that blind them. Why do I feel worth a little less?

Hidayah, as I know her, wouldn't have shown this side of herself to me so easily, if she was her own self. But she isn't. And now that I look at her closely, she seems in a bad shape. Her eyes have bags underneath them, she looks weak, and broken really badly. She's still trying to hide it, but I can guess that she can't go on anymore at this rate.

Something has happened to her. And maybe having her purse stolen was the last straw.

But before I can decide on how to console her, Seth comes jogging back to where we're standing, panting slightly, with a wary expression painted on his face. I mouth to him if he got the purse or not, and he shakes his head, his forehead crinkled in despair.

"Sh*t!" I exclaim a tad too loud and Hidayah's eyes instantly fall on Seth. "Did you get my purse?" she asks him expectantly and he looks at me for help. "No, ma'am." He probably hasn't realised he's talking to Hidayah, hence the formality.

"I'm sorry I couldn't catch him," he tells her in a low voice, running his hands across his face. And after hearing him, Hidayah falls to the pavement and nearly breaks down, sobbing without inhibitions into her hands and deeply gasping for air in between.

Something drops into my stomach, seeing her cry like that and I crouch in front of her. Prying her hands off her face as she pushes me away, I tell her it'll be fine, but I think I sound stupid to her because she lets out something close to a snort. And then she begins to weep more profoundly.

"Hey, hey, please don't cry, okay?" My voice isn't as soft as I wanted it to be, and it comes out a little frustrated, somehow. And maybe that's what makes her tone cold as she utters her next words. Or maybe she simply realises that I've been touching her all this while, without her giving me any right to do so.

"Hands, off me, Daniyal!" Her tone is sterner than I've ever heard her, but I know she's hurting real bad, so I don't retaliate.

"She knows you??" Seth whispers to me, surprised after he's crouched down beside me. "It's her," I point to her with my eyes and whisper back to him. And his own set widens in incredulity. "That Ali girl?!" he asks and I nod back in answer. He looks at me suggestively, all the while grinning like a Cheshire Cat, that solemn expression from not so long ago all but forgotten.

"A real piece of luck, if you ask me," the idiot says into my ear and I'm forced to roll my eyes. I drill holes on his face with my eyes to get him to shut up. Which he does, thankfully.

"H..Hidayah, should I call someone for you?" I ask her, this time in a convincingly soft voice. But she shakes her head. "I have my phone with me. I kept it in my pocket." And saying this, she pushes her hand into the right side of her robe, and fishes out the device. Needless to say, we're both impressed.

That's one useful robe, I must say.

We give her some privacy to talk to her friend and from what it seems, it would take at least fifteen minutes for her to reach to her assistance. So we wait with her for a while, at some distance. Seth keeps giving me suggestive looks all of that time, and I feel like bashing his head in with something, he's bugging me so much.