12 k special ❤️ hope you all enjoy!!
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"F..Faris?", she breathed out shakily.
Faris smiled at her in response, giving her the assurance she needed, telling her he was finally here to save, protect and provide for her. Serina's eyes widened but she didn't smile back. "Faris?", she asked again and this time Faris nodded. Serina didn't smile back, nor did she wear an impressed look on the change of events.
Her eyes held a different kind of emotion... something that was difficult for him to decipher, something very foreign to what he thought he would see. She looked as if, she wasn't expecting him, and now she didn't know what to do with him.. she almost looked... afraid?
Serina instantly snapped her head to the side declining to make eye contact and a frown marred Faris' face. He pinched her chin and forced her to look at him. "Serina, I am here. Here to save you", he whispered. There was a new erupted ruckus behind him, but Faris didn't care, all he cared for was Serina, and he was working on that. "What does that mean?", she looked at him with an impassive look. Faris was bewildered at her reaction. It was juxtaposing what he had originally planned out completely. Suddenly the doors behind her opened and out came a man with a few guards. Faris instantly became alert, not knowing how to react to the situation.
He extracted his gun once again and pointed it at the guards.
"Young man, do not touch her, or your end will not be nice", the man uttered, quite slyly. Faris looked at him confused, what did that mean. Without another thought, Faris pointed his gun at the man who had just addressed him, hoping for some kind of reaction, for some kind of fear, but all he saw was nonchalance. The man was fearless and instead rose his brows in mockery. "I said, do not touch her", he repeated slowly, and his venomous voice enraged Faris even more than when he had seen Serina's reaction. What was wrong with everybody here? "Guards... you know what to do", and the next second two sets of bulky men made their way towards him, and held each of his forearms.
"Leave me.", Faris said loud enough. By now the room had gone quite although some chatter could still be heard. He struggled against their vice grip but their combined strength was inevitably more than his singular. The guards peeled his gun out of his hand, and threw it to the floor. At this point Faris wasn't scared, he was merely confused at the turn of events. He hadn't known them to be so well equipped in their security aspect. It made him delirious. In what world do brothels hold such immaculate security forces? He thought to himself. "Leave me I said", he repeated himself, struggling against them. His baritone voice low yet vibrating across the walls of the hall. The man who had addressed him before chuckled before replying. "How dare you create ruckus on my property? You shall see the end of this, young man", and with that he left. The guards held Faris and were about to leave the room, when suddenly he made eye contact with Serina. She looked at him, eyes wide, and the same expression adorning her face, but maybe the reason was different now.
Or so he hoped.
Without another moment to waste, the guards took him forcefully down some corridors and brought him infront of a secluded room. It was tacky and very old, just from the outside. It had a huge gold lock on it, and the guard opened the lock with his key. Faris quickly made note of what key and from where it was being extracted. The door opened with loud creak, and before Faris knew anything he was pushed inside.
Inside was dimly lit, and he noticed a lady sitting in the corner of the room, disheveled and clear signs of abuse on her body and face. Her hair was a mess and her clothes torn apart. Her head was resting against the wall and her eyes appeared to be closed. Upon the sound of the ruckus she opened her eyes lightly and gave Faris a good look. The guards behind him closed the door shut, and Faris could hear them locking it.
"Who are you?", the lady asked. Her voice was meek and low, she sounded weak. "I'm Faris soltani, I came to save my...well... friend", he sounded weird to himself. His relationship status with Serina was weird and well, did she even think they were friends? He didn't know. "Who's your friend?", the lady now looked at him with full attention, and a certain look had taken over her eyes. As if she had recognised him. "Why should I tell you that?", Faris needed to keep his stance up, trusting somebody in this hell hole would be the biggest mistake of his life. "Ah, don't worry son, I feel like I have an inkling as to whom your friend might be", a slight smile creaked up on her lips. "Yeah? Who is my friend then?", he challenged. "Serina.", the lady replied with a smirk. This caught Faris off guard and he took a few steps back.
"Who are you?", he was hesitant, ofcourse he was, after all this woman had identified him in the span of seconds. "You really want to know who I am?", she asked.. and he nodded. "Yes, i want to know about the lady who knows about me and Serina and why. Does she know about the circumstances?" He questioned. "My name, is Nazish" her reply was slow, low and very inaudible. But Faris still go the gist of it. "Nazish?", he questioned. He raked his brains for some kind of recognition, for some kind of familiarity with the name. "I.. I don't know who you are", he replied in all honesty. The woman chuckled and sat up straight. "Don't worry, I know who you are, and that's all that matters", her eyes wrinkled from the sides... she looked old, but at the same time youthful. As if youthful for an old woman. "It does matter, everything that concerns me or Serina matters", he was still standing before her, but this stance had weakened. His defensive mode was nearly switched off. "Oooh, seems like you have a liking towards the girl", she stated mischievously. Faris couldn't help but ponder on her words. "It's nothing like that", he rejected the notion in an instance.
"I am merely her protector, trusted by her parents and I believe that I need to fulfil my duty to her deceased parents", he lied. If she caught his lie, than surely it is someone who knows deeper than this and is in closer relation to Serina.. but if not.. well then, she's bluff.
"Oh so are you the son of Asad?", she said the name very ordinarily. Like she had close acquaintances with him. "Indeed I am... how do you know though?", he asked. Genuinely curious this time. A smile creeped up onto the lady's face. She shook her head and closed her eyes, as if something sweet had happened. "I hope your family is well" she whispered, and closed her eyes. "They are.. thanks To the almighty, but how do you know them?", the lady remained silent, with her eyes shut, not answering. Her expressions were like she had remembered a fond memory. "I have past affiliations with your family", she reasoned after a long pause. This surprised him, at the same time it didn't. How did a woman locked up in a room in a brothel, have close contact with his family? To the point she knew his name, Serina's name, and more so, his father's name. "What do you mean? Could you be more specific?", Faris grew agitated. He always got agitated on the littlest of things, and everybody who knew him, knew this about him. "Don't sweat yourself over me. I've been a bystander in the events of your life. I know of you and your family, but that doesn't mean that your family and you know me", she replied, easing the atmosphere. Her short replies had ended as she gave some sort of explanation. "Ah, so you know Serina's mother then? And she told you about us?", Faris blurted out the first thought that came to his mind. How else could this woman know so much? "You could say so", her smile dropped and she had a meaningful look on her face. "What kind of relation? And how close were you?", he was wary of her to say the least. She was confusing. "Would sister be counted as close?", the lady opened her eyes to Faris' very shocked face.
"Excuse me?", he took a step forward and sat down. "Are you Serina's aunt?", his voice had become softer. "Yes, I am", the revelation hit Faris like a truck. Ofcourse this lady was Serina's aunt. In fact she had even mention something along the lines before. How could he have not remembered. Faris mentally smacked himself on the forehead for his temporary ignorance. "Oh, well, I'm sorry for not recognising you earlier. It was my stupidity.", a respectful look had graced his features and he looked down as he spoke to the lady. "No, it's not your fault at all. I wouldn't expect you to know me", she waved her hand, dismissing the insignificant mistake the young man had done infront of her. "But, sincerely, could I ask if you wouldn't mind?",, he replied. "Yes go on.", ..... "what are you doing here?", Faris asked hesitating.
"The same reason you are here", the lady responded. "What do you mean?", the lady was confusing for Faris. He hadn't met many people like her, who'd talk in riddles and be discreet. Usually people would want to make their presence known to him first and foremost and would jump at any given opportunity. But this lady was different. She was concealing her identity. "Well, haven't you come to 'save' Serina?", she rose an eye brow. "Well yes, but..", "Same here, she came to seek refuge with me and I simultaneously was trying to save her from the devils that dwell in this place. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful and they caught me and locked me in here. God knows what they are doing to my princess out there". The lady agonisingly voiced, and the blurred picture became clear.
She was forced into it, by those infidels definitely, and now was she had no choice but to abide, Faris was deep in thought when the lady clicked her fingers to grab his attention. "Don't worry, we'll find a way out. Well at least you will", she sounded assured, and certain that Faris will find a way out, and will save Serina from this hell hole. "But how? I don't understand. We are locked here, and believe it or not, Serina doesn't want to go with me!", Faris revealed to the lady the ordeal which had taken place right before his capture. "What? She didn't want to go with you? Why is that?", a suspicious look had graced her face. She was getting wary of Faris. "She ran away from our house. For some reason I don't know... but she did. And now, I think she thinks I'm a part of everyone back home... she wasn't treated well let me just tell you that", Faris momentarily closed his eyes, as if it pained him to think of everything Serina had gone through. "What do you mean? She wasn't treated well?? What did you do to her?",
"No it wasn't me, it was her own house. She ran away from there and I gave her protection in mine. Unfortunately though, something happened there too probably which I'm not aware of, and she left my house too. The only thing which is confusing me, is what happened?", Faris opened his eyes, and came face to face with the lady who now looked as if realisation had dawned on her. "Maybe...maybe, she's the issue? She's the problem? It can not be that everywhere she goes, she faces problems. Tell me? How has she been as a human, how is her character?",
Faris was enraged when he heard this. He couldn't even think in his wildest dreams to put the blame of anything Serina had to endure on Serina. She was a victim of this society, whether it be at the hands of Dawar, Arez Daudzai, or whoever. She couldn't be blamed. "I'd liked if you'd go into more detail about what you're insinuating? Because I fail to understand how Serina being in this hell hole is Serina's fault?", the lady was taken a back by Faris' sudden outburst. "No, please try and understand. I know her nature. I might not know her character, but I know how she might be innately because this is how her mother was. She'd run away from her hardships instead of facing them. That's how she got killed. That's how everything happened. She abandoned Serina as a baby, and came running back to this brothel, which she had already ran away from with Serina's father. What I'm saying is that, yes Serina being in this hell hole is entirely her fault, because she came here willingly remember?", Faris was shocked at the revelations. He admitted he wasn't too aware of the Daudzai family drama, but this was a shocker. He always thought of Serina's mother to be innocent and also a victim of the society and her husband's family. He never could have thought that maybe she had a role to play in her misery. "But... I..uh.. I fail to grasp all of this", he had no words to express himself. "I understand, I know it might be hard to fathom someone's innate disposition, and how they are wired to be, but that's just how Serina's mother was and how she is now.. and with that I won't hesitate to say, that she might be different because circumstances and surroundings play a big role, and maybe the hardships she faced at the hands of her family might be the cause for how she is today, but again, we can't just blame her family and surroundings. Maybe it's her too!",
Faris held his head in his hands. He recalled the few times Serina had acted selfishly but without fail he had as well. If Serina had acted weird then so had he. There was nobody to blame distinctly in those situations. But maybe this lady is right. Maybe Serina is the issue. "Then, what shall I do? Have I wasted my time over a girl who doesn't even want to be with me?", he threw his hands in the air as if giving up. "No, don't be so gullible. You should save her, at the same time, try and make her understand what is right and wrong for her. The problem with Serina; just like her mother- is that she's not Sharp, she's dumb. She's naive and she may think she knows what she's doing but that's the last thing she knows. What you need to do is explain to her how life works and that she needs to stop doing whatever she is". Nazish stopped. Studied Faris' expressions and began again. "I know how we can take her from here", Faris looked at her expectantly.
"And how's that?
"Abduct her!"
//
Sorry for not updating for so long.
This chapter is a bit short, but
Free Palestine.
And next chapter coming soon. Xx
Nooreh.