Forcefully Yours (Mafia Love Story)

2M Gift For The Fam (Bonus Chapter)

She knows what I've been doing for the past one month now. The cuts I hide under my feet. The scars on my arms and head. The slices, pricks, and burns that are covered under my boxers until they heal and then I do it all over again. I'd gotten creative in hiding the shit I did to release pain.

Malika was a few months younger to me but she had a body and desires of a woman. I'd been trying to avoid all her seductive advances usually but during times like these, it was impossible. She was always there watching me cut myself with the blade but never trying to stop me. It was why I'd grown attached to her in the first place and never asked her to leave whenever I had a breakdown. It was an unspoken law in between us to never mention the night of the accident. Ever.

She didn't judge me for what I was doing. For many days I cried to ALLAH, begging him to do something, anything to erase the pain, the guilt, the thoughts and memories that were wrecking my sanity but slowly and eventually I kept on detaching from Islam, from prayer, from everything halal to everything haram.

The guilt was soon washed away and in no time I was knee deep in a pool of sin, my sins.

"I have huge respect for my late brother and I'd do anything to protect his family, my family. If she doesn't mind it, I'd like to marry her. I will only take on the business till Humza is ready." I clench my teeth hard, to avoid the pain of betrayal that spread within.

Motherfucker

Silence befell in the hall as my father's younger brother proposed marriage to my mother. He was a few years younger to my mother but still unmarried and no matter how much Baba asked him to settle down, he didn't. Now I knew why!

"I think this would be best for everyone." Huzaifa's mother suggests.

Like hell it would be!

By the moment more people expressed their views, I was raging like a bull and all I wanted to do was forget the hurt.

I pulled back my hand from Malika's grip and walked towards the nightstand where I'd placed the blade. My breathing was rugged and all I could think of was that this was all happening because of me.

I killed my father.

I was the one to be blamed for my misery. Malika knew better than to say something but I knew she saw how restless I became.

I stared at the blade a little longer, remembering what Malika had told me a month ago.

Your body can only feel one pain at a time. It meant I could choose the kind of pain I could endure, It meant that I could distract myself with something more physically painful because honestly I could endure the physical pain but not the mental breakdown.

Trees rose above and all around me in the quiet, dark room, lit only by the moonlight pouring in through the windows overhead. I inhaled the sweet smell of the palms, orchids, lilies, violets, and hibiscus, reminding me of my father's closet and all the perfumes from his coats and shirts blending together in one space. His memories were everywhere, in everything.

The sharp edge of the blade called out to me but I opened the drawer instead, fetching a pack of cigarette.

I unwrapped the pack and stuck a cigarette in my mouth, lighting the end, offering the rest of the pack to Malika who took it happily.

I sucked on the cigarette, filling my lungs with the sweet sting and tipping my head back to blow it back out in a stream above my head.

I forced myself to feel better, usually it worked but not today.

My mother would say no.

She had to.

But she hadn't said a word, which meant she was willing to marry that sick man.