<<<<< I avoid updating new chapters but I have only Ramadan off and after that uni will start with its hectic routine. Then the updates will be once in a week. Sigh. You're free to come back and enjoy the chapters after Eid.>>>>
[[[Dedicated to @lostinthelight12 Haaapppy Birthday Love. Hope you have an amazing life ahead. May Allah keep you happy and blessed. ❤ #22June #EarlyPresentForYou]]]]
Chapter Sixteen
Behind Closed Door
(Aayan Aslam)
23rd January.
The next day, -- no, wait, scratch that -- four hours later, a very high on weeds kind of person bangs the door of my room with all their fours, I suppose because the pounding is too damn loud. I dig my head deeper into my pillow, waiting for the Miss Mental to dawdle away.
"Aayaaaaaan," She sings my name. How lame?
"Destiny, shut the hell up and go away."
"No, I won't, until YOU RISE AND SHINEEEEE!" She shouts literally through the door and it pierces right through my skull and maybe knocks some chunks of my brain out onto the floor (invisible, of course.)
I toss the blanket to the floor and pull the door open to find her leaned against the door-frame, filing her nails.
"What the fu.....flippin' hell Destiny? Get away, I'm awake now."
"Well, thank God! Hurry up, Mr. Aslam you've got a school to attend." She straightens up and veers in closer and tugs a strand of my hair. "You badly need a shower. Hurry. "
I slam the door shut on her face. I almost have an urge to call Mr. Brackson to show him some sense of what he had put me through by sending them (lunatics. No offense to Fakhir and Fadiya!) to live with me. I abandon the thought as my gaze falls on the time: 7:15 AM.
After shower I put on a (really annoying) disguise of a mustache and (really old) glasses and dress pants with a grey shirt and bow; I go downstairs. On my left to the living room, Ian is on the couch and Aaron is sprawled on the floor. Both of them, I may add are snoring.
To my right, Fadiya, Destiny, Fakhir and Jarred are hurdled around the table sipping their cups of coffee/tea. Fadiya is the first one to notice me.
She smiles and gets up from her chair. "Sit down, Aayan. I'll get you coffee." As she gets the mug, she says, "You need grocery shopping. There is not one edible stuff in your kitchen. The leftovers are rotten. Tea, coffee, snacks nothing. How do you even live? Destiny and I spend the entire night cleaning this house. Might I say, there were insects crawling around." She shudders.
I glance at Fakhir to find him looking at her with a sad, forlorn smile and I know exactly that second what is going on in his mind. Mum used to fuss just the same as her whenever she used to come at my place(s) during tours.
She sits down and pushes the mug towards me. "Here,"
"Aayan, you need to know few things," Fakhir, ever-the-serious-one begins.
I nod, sipping my tea.
"For starters we cannot call Maahirah-Maahirah over phone because there are chances that our calls are being traced."
"So, we call her Diamond?" I mock.
My brother thwacks me on my back. "Behave. Anyways, besides that, be cautious. We'll be making plans while you attend school. Keep your eyes open for any suspicious activity. I'm afraid to say the Wiltonians might have access to school too."
************************
At 8:45 AM when I enter senior year class, I'm surprised to find Ellie sitting next to some blonde which means one thing, Maahirah isn't at school. God, okay.
After the class, I call Fakhir. "She isn't at school today."
"What? She ditched it?"
"Perhaps yes."
"Okay. That's good. She's safe at her house."
"Hmm, I'll talk to you later."
*********************
At 12:35 PM, I get a text message when I'm sitting in my office sipping coffee (again).
'Iva lookalike is here.'
The three words don't surprise me as much as the sender does. My mobile buzzes again.
'Along with some weird looking guy.'
This sends me to panic mood. Weird looking guy? Who is he?
'Two, actually,'
I frown at this.
'Don't do anything stupid. I'm coming.' I text her back.
I leave the school with an excuse that my mother is admitted in the hospital. The receptionist doesn't question much after that saying she is sorry for that and hope that my mother recovers soon.
I almost scoff at that. Yeah, right. My mother is all better now in a better place.
The ride to Maahirah's house is over 80 mph which can be considered a worthy of ticket. I pull off the mustache and the stupid glasses and that damn as I take the intersection to her street. Parallel parking the car at her driveway, I rush to her door, frantically pressing the doorbell.
"Oh, my God, I wonder who that is." Overly excited, highly chirped voice of Maahirah speaks from the inside.
I put my thumb on the bell again, and push it as far as I can. The chime goes on followed by the scream of a girl and a slamming of a body against the wall next to the door. Before I can react, the door pulls open by a girl. For a second I pause. My mind rushing with names, trying to put a name to her.
Iva is dead. This is Iris. Her step-sister.
"Hey Aayan. Long time no see." She says, her voice vibrates and the hand holding the door knob visibly trembles. Her light brown eyes refuse to meet mine. She has her hair in a bob cut, which doesn't much help in hiding the shock on her face.
A hand reaches out and hauls me in. The door bangs behind me as an arm pushes me against it. "Hey Aayan, so you did reach out to her text. Bring her out." Sebastian points his gun at my temple. He side-steps from me.
A guy holding a knife to Maahirah's throat drags her into the hallway. Tears are gleaming in her eyes and she struggles against his arm.
I take a step towards her.
"Uh-huh, not so fast Aayan." Sebastian draws his hand in front of me.
"Let. Her. Go." I pull his hand which knocks him off his feet, and punch him in the gut. He hisses a curse, and bends over. And, exactly that second, Maahirah screeches as the Guy holding her pushes her down and pierces the knife along the length of her upper arm.
Again, I'm about to rush towards her, but Iris shouts. "FOR GOD'S SAKE LISTEN TO WHAT HE HAS TO SAY BEFORE YOU END UP HURTING HER MORE."
I stop. "What do you want, Sebastian?"
"That's like a good boy." He laughs. "Maahirah has been a good host to her. She entertained us with good food and love. Though, I'm surprised you didn't mention anything about me to her. That's a huge drawback. I cornered Iris because she was the best bait and I was sure that Maahirah will let her in thinking it's Iva and so I was 80% sure that she would allow me in too without any doubt and she did."
I look at Iris, feeling my blood run cold. She doesn't meet my gaze.
"Get to the damn point." I grit my teeth and curl my fists, suppressing the strength that is taking over me to wrap my hands around his throat – and cut his airways.
"Oh, no. I just came to visit and to show you guys who the boss is. Be careful, Aayan. Very careful." He breathes into my face.
I feel the urge to knock him down but I hold myself back with the fear that he would hurt Maahirah again. "Get out,"
He gives me a sinister laugh and exits the house with that Guy. Maahirah rises from the ground and hobbles to the door, bolting it with chains.
I turn to her, "How the shit did you let them in Maahirah? This was an outrageous violation of each and everything I ever said to you."
She flinches at my hard tone. Leaned against the door, she is holding her arm with her other hand. "I'm sorry." Her voice drops. "I didn't think straight."
"A sorry isn't going to fix anything." I say bitterly. Just as I turn away from her, a rap is heard on the door. Maahirah jumps away from it.
Four continuous knocks, followed by a single tap and then two loud bangs.
Fakhir. I unlock the door. Behind me Maahirah protests. I ignore her as the entire gang rushes in loaded with weapons and hand machines.
"What the hell, Aayan? You rushed in without any sort of ammunition. Are you out of your freakin' mind?" Fakhir jabs me with the bottom of his gun.
"Who called you?" I ask instead. Aaron and Ian are running around the house with Detectors in their hands for any sort of bomb or listening bugs.
"Iris."
"Iris? She was the one who invited them, in the first place."
"I can explain..." She begins weeping again. I gag at the sight. Pathetic.
"We can talk about this calmly. For now, we've to make sure that the house is free from any kind of implanting and also we need to take.....oh, my God, Maahirah are you bleeding?" Destiny gapes at her when her eyes fall on her. "What the fuck, Aayan? You started yelling at her without paying heed to her wound."
I murmur a curse in my mind. "Well, she was at fault." I pause. "It slipped my mind. You take control here. I'll tend to it. The first-aid kit is in the downstairs bathroom?" I ask Maahirah.
She avoids an eye-contact as she guides me. I make her sit on the counter, and pull open the cabinet above her head. I hear a loud intake of breath from her side. I peek at her to find her cheeks flushing red. I smirk.
I grab a pair of scissors and cut off the sleeves of her shirt from the center up till her shoulder. I bite my tongue at the sight of her wound. The incision is seven inches long and the blood is still peeping out from it.
I take a clean cloth from the kit and run it under the cold water. I enclose my hand around her arm and press the cloth on the wound, cleaning the crusted blood and the debris. She closes her eyes. Next, I peel open the alcohol pad and look at her.
"This might hurt, okay?"
She nods.
I run it over the length of the cut. She hisses and in reflex grabs onto my shirt and tightens her fists around the material. My fingers stop the moment when tears spill out of her eyes. I sigh but continue again.
When I'm sure enough enough alcohol has sterilized the area, I squeeze the tube of Bacitracin on my finger and rub it over the cut. Again, she flinches. With this, I wrap the white gauze bandage over her arm.
"You might need to clean your wound daily to avoid bacterial infection." I say.
"Aayan," Her voice is dripping slow, like she is in pain. "Do you think it needs stitches?"
"No," I answer as I close the box and place it back in the counter.
"Do you hate me? You won't look at me."
I close the cabinet and glance at her. "You think I hate you?"
"I've been very obnoxious, I admit," She hangs her head.
"Well," I doff the hoodie and put it on her shoulders. She gazes at me and I can't help but wonder how beautiful she looks. Her cheeks stained red. Eyes brimming with tears. On the verge of breakdown and yet, she is the most precious possession of mine.
It's a sad reality she has no idea that my heart has been captivated by her. She has no idea how deeply I've fallen for her. She has no idea that I'll do anything just to see her smile again.
"Maahirah, I don't hate you. I might be mad at you but I would never hate you. I'm hating myself though. I rushed in on your text without thinking. I leaped. A completely foolish thing to do. I didn't even have a gun on me and I was ready to save you."
She smiles ever so lightly. "Yeah, that was not a wise thing to do."
I chuckle. "I agree."
"AAYAN CAN YOU HURRY. WE NEED TO DISCUSS OUR NEXT MOVE. ASAP."
I frown at the door. "Stupid Destiny. Does she have to yell this loud?"
She giggles. "I'm so happy they all are back."
"She is a nuisance." I shake my head.
Maahirah jumps down the counter. "Thank you, Aayan. For. Everything."
I place my hands on her shoulders and give them a squeeze. "My Dearest Love, you should know this that the danger hasn't passed at all. In fact, the reason everyone is here is that the Wiltonians have somehow made their way here. Today Sebastian ambushed you at your home and I have no idea what other plans they might have. We've to be careful."
She sighs. "I know. Things are bad. But I thought maybe ignoring them or pretending that they don't exist was going to help me but instead it made things worst. I'm sorry, Aayan but I promise to listen what ever you have to offer."
I smile. "That's like a good girl." I pat her head. "Right now, you need to go meet your best friend."
Her eyes widen. "Oh, my God, Fadiya is here. Oh shoot, how is she? I never called her after I left. I'm such a bad friend."
I put my finger under her chin and lift it up. "There is no use of bringing up past. Okay? Don't be so hard on yourself always Maahirah."
She nods.
"Let's go and talk it through."
****************
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