Author's POV
The alley was silent, save for the pantings by the two who were fated by the universe for togetherness. Running a long distance from the northern market to a further north direction towards the city walls... It was justified to at least wait a moment to catch their breath. But neither of them had enough patience for that.
"Caught you." Aayan panted, a small victorious smirk curling up on his face nonetheless, as a sense of accomplishment grew in him at successfully running a marathon and catching his soulmate. But she didn't reply, and instead just stared at him with her siren eyes wide with shock and surprise that had yet to subside, her chest heaving from the large gulps of air she was taking in from behind her niqab. Some stray hair had fallen out of her neat updo and onto her face due to all that running, and Aayan was tempted to just tuck it behind her ears, not let it hinder the sight of his soulmate. But then he faltered... he thought about how his new mate had run such a long distance, away from him, leaving him. So he refrained himself.
"You... We're... soulmates." He managed to utter through his breaths after a moment, remaining mindful of using formal speech. His tone was quite soft, and Yasmin was greatly affected by his gentle voice.
"...yes..." She breathed, after a moment, and let her eyes move down towards the ground and let them rest there.
"Then... Then why? Why didn't you let us complete the bond?" Aayan questioned with a whisper, partly afraid of the possible prospect that she might not want a soulmate, or maybe that she just didn't like him. His tone seemed so fragile, so scared, that Yasmin couldn't help but turn her eyes back towards him, and gaze at his knitted brows and quivering lips. She was quick to realise what was going on in his mind, so she hastily tried to explain.
"No... It's not like what you're thinking, I assure you. I want you. I really do. I've dreamt of this moment my whole life. To meet my soulmate... My other half." She clarified gently, and she could see that her words had an effect, as some of the tenseness left his body and he visibly relaxed.
"I... Just... something happened. I had to leave that place." She added in whisper, yet he heard her perfectly well. From her mannerisms, he understood that she didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to know what it was that made her run away, but he decided to let go of that, albeit a bit unwillingly.
"So... Shall we bond?" He changed the topic and asked with his eyes filled with hope. She felt overjoyed listening to this, her soulmate was eager too. Eager to be bound by that special connection, that was so revered and cherished by all.
She was about to nod, agree to this sweet request of his and be bound to him for eternity, when she halted for a while. Her mind, though yearning for that bond with an aching intensity, distinctly whispered that something was amiss. Her soulmate, her destined partner, was right in front of her, yet her eyes darted around in search of something. But she didn't know what. Her mind filled with confusion and haziness, and then abruptly, she felt a small discomfort in her body. It kept growing and gnawing at her, as she clutched at her chest feeling unsettled. A second later, with her face twisting with agony, the discomfort was now beginning to feel like a burning sensation inside her, intense and extreme. The excruciating pain hit her all over her body with a renewed vigor which left her breathless. There seemed to be no specific point where she was hurting, and yet it was immensely painful, stabbing at her.
What...? This is so similar to that pain last time!
"What's wrong?" His concerned voice seemed like a distant whisper to her, so close yet far away. A ringing echo resonated in her ears as she found herself losing her balance. Her hands reached to her soulmate in a desperate attempt to stabilize herself, and he too wasted no moment to anchor her. Panic contoured his face and he wrapped his arms around her, trying to understand what was causing his precious mate such an agony.
"Hey, hey! Are you okay? What's happening?" He questioned,
'...yan! ...AAYAN!" All of a sudden he heard a voice calling out to him, a voice he'd recognise anywhere. The voice of his beloved, Javed.
'Javed!' He replied back in an anguished voice, not knowing what to do. His mate lied helpless in his arms, rapidly losing consciousness with each passing second. Her fully covered body prevented them from bonding, and for once he was thankful that it was so. Bonding in such a situation would only cause her more strain and discomfort.
'Aayan! Finally! I've been trying to talk to you since ages! And why does your voice sound so...' Javed enthusiastically started questioning Aayan, eager to tell him to come back so that they could meet their last mate. However Aayan interrupted him midway, and told him about all that happened, and how he doesn't know what to do. Hearing his devastated voice frightened Javed. His breathing increased due alarm and nervousness, yet, the first thing he was to tell them to immediately come back home.
'Home... yes. Samir's here with us. Everything would be alright. Yes.
...It'll be fine.' He told himself.
Javed's POV
Tahir's shocking revelation left us all feeling extremely eager and delighted. To finally have our last soulmate... It was music to my ears. To all of our ears.
Not knowing what to do, we just hurried inside our home and waited impatiently. It seemed to me as if the yearning increased with every passing minute, and this was much more intense than anything we've felt up till now just by the knowledge that our mate was nearby. We knew that Some of us paced around in anticipation, while others just simply couldn't stop smiling.
Though his unusual silence confused us at first, Aayan was probably under the effect of the half bond - feeling disoriented and unable to think clearly. Still, I kept trying to reach him with the help of my talent, hoping to at least know where the both of them were. I saw the others around me also feeling jittery and excited, unable to contain their happiness and anticipation...
I smiled. I felt that way too.
But I knew that more than any of us Tahir was the most nervous, since our last mate held such importance to him. She was not just his soulmate but also his Talented, she was something that he thought he was deprived of. She was something that he longed for.
Time passed by painstakingly slowly, and just when I was about to complain loudly, I felt the connection between me and Aayan re-establishing. I felt it become as strong as it used to be, and without any delay I called out to Aayan multiple times. But hearing the distraught voice of my mate was something I didn't imagine would happen when he finally answered my voice.
With his voice breaking and panicking, he told me that something was wrong and that our mate was losing consciousness. He told me that she wasn't able to stand up on her own and that he didn't know what to do. And with such a sudden situation thrown abruptly at me, I told him to come back home - the only thing I could think of.
"Javed? What's wrong?" Tahir asked, and the others gathered around me too, rushing to ask, noticing the very apparent shift in mine and Aayan's feelings through the bond. Unable to conceal any emotion, I told them everything.
[...]
Some time passed. We all anxiously waited for Aayan to arrive, the earlier excitement and joy immediately turning into worry for our newest mate. After hearing what I had to say, Samir quickly took to work and started preparing some herbal medicine for her to take, and had me consult Aayan for her symptoms again, carefully this time. Hasan and Junaid decided to put together a cot and spread a clean cloth upon it so that she could lie down, while the rest of us just silently stood by and panicked. Tahir could hardly breathe with his anxiety and worry, and ended up pacing to and fro around the whole house. He was really worried, just like the rest of us.
But finally, our patience was rewarded as we heard the door creak and footsteps approach us. I held my breath and turned my head to look at the door, just like the others did. And the sight that greeted me was of Aayan holding our last mate in his hands, a sight that would have otherwise been a beautiful and lovely one, had it not have been for the fact that our mate lay unmoving and still, and had Aayan's face not been streaming with tears.
Upon noticing their arrival, the others around me reacted faster than I did and gathered around them, guiding Aayan to put our mate onto the bed and then helping him sit down too. It took me a while to come to my senses, but then I immediately brought forth a glass of water for Aayan to drink, whose throat I'm sure would've been parched and aching with all that crying.
"Oh..." I heard someone say behind me, and I knew from his voice that it was Tahir. I turned around to look at him, and found that all of the others including him were curiously gazing at our newest mate. I spun around, wanting to take a good look at her too. However I soon discovered that due to her niqab, I was denied the experience of staring at her full face. Her closed eyelids were the only things we could see, yet even the way her eyelashes fell upon her cheeks seemed to be the most beautiful things in the world.
Samir was the first one to break out of the trance that our little mate was unconsciously putting us under, and he hurriedly reached over to get the bowl that contained the medicine he brewed. He closed his eyes, and infused some of healing magic in it through his Talent so that she could feel better when she drank it. We collectively decided that we'll give it to her after she woke up, and not try to broach unset boundaries by taking off her niqab to feed it to her without her permission. We had not even half bonded with her, and it was only the right thing to do.
"Samir... What happened to her? Why did she...?" Aayan slowly rised from his resting place and asked him. He was probably much more clueless than we were, and perhaps even more terrified.
"Let me tell you, Qalbi." Irfan decided answering instead, adding a term of endearment to soothe some worries from Aayan's mind. The word meant 'my heart', and due to the loving way in which he said it, Aayan responded positively and leaned his head against the mates closest to him -- which happened to be me and Hasan. We readily indulged him, not hesitating to pat him and give small pecks on his cheeks and neck, wanting to see our mate free of worry.
"We all, the eight of us, are destined to be together. This is the way our souls are aching and yearning to be, in close proximity to each other and be a complete octet. However, our newest soulmate here took much too long to get to us, and when she finally did come near us, she wasn't given the immediate chance to bond with all seven of us, but instead just one. That prolonged separation and the imbalance in bonding probably caused her a strain and she lost consciousness. But it's nothing to worry about, she'll wake up soon since she's had Samir's help." Irfan explained calmly and slowly, letting his words sink in and allowing Aayan and the others to understand.
"I had no idea about it..." Aayan uttered, shocked at not knowing such a thing.
"It's not common, that's probably why you didn't know. Not many people have multiple amazing partners to spend their life with." Junaid smiled, and his sweet comment invited a grin upon all of our faces too.
"Oh, do you think she's feeling hot? Should I fan her?" Tahir fretted, nervously asking us.
"That'll be great." I said, knowing that this will help him calm down by keeping him busy and allow him to feel slightly at ease... Hearing my response, he hastily nodded and sat down with our hand fan, waving it continually at her and occasionally towards us too.
Time passed by slowly, and only when it was minutes before sundown did our newest mate flutter open her eyes, and, though it took her sometime to properly open them, looked around astoundingly after finding herself in unknown surroundings.
"Oh! She's up!" I noticed, and informed the others who were all sitting just here and there, talking to Aayan and trying to wheedle out information about what happened from the moment he left us back at the market, with him dramatically explaining it in detail.
"Huh..." She exclaimed in a whisper, voice barely managing to reach us. Her hands trembled ever so slightly, yet she tried to use its support to sit up on the cot. She was surprisingly successful at this, though all of us were ready to run to her aid.
Then her gaze finally landed on us, and even though her face was hidden due to the niqab, we could see it from her eyes that she was quite shocked. None of us said anything for a long while, and as she looked at each of us one by one, we half-bonded.
However, before she could say anything, Samir beat her to it.
"You're shining..." He said quietly observing, lost in the sight that lay before his eyes. Because in that moment, the last of the sun's rays managed to seep in through the window and gently fall upon her, casting such a radiant and dazzling golden glow surrounded her... She remained the only luminous thing in the otherwise dark room.
She was shining, indeed.
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(A/N)~
Words :- 2408
Date :- 4th of April, 2024