Shan

Nothing seemed to rest my racing thoughts about the concerning events which recently took place. Truth to be told, I was on the verge of taking extreme measures to protect people I cared for. My parents, Mujeeb and... Daneen.

Where does her name come from? Out of all the better people in this village, I have to think of HER.

Frankly speaking, I wasn't too sure why her name popped up while listing the individuals. I should be pissed with her for being so irrational and stubborn, but here I was, planning on protecting her. Probably, my fatigued mind playing dirty tricks up there. 

I drifted away from the group of individuals I was helping out to establish any sort of communication with the right people. All of a sudden, Daneen's supervisors were making diligent efforts to flee from this cursed land at the earliest presenting opportunity.

Being an IT student, a good one actually, it wasn't too demanding for me to assist them with the matter. The Transceiver I owned, came in handy in that moment. I just had to place an electron tube to amplify the signal range and enhance the functioning of frequency conversion and detection and voilà!

Have I already mentioned how good I am at this technology thing? I think I have.

"No No No! I can't wait for two more days. I've students here to protect. One of our guard is dead! Do you understand? DEAD! Do something quick!"

The lady supervisor, the one with an oversized spectacles on her slender face, was having a vehement conversation with someone about the safety of her students while the other one stood there motionless, like a twin brother of some Greek statue, his hands crossed behind. Speaking of students, I wondered where Daneen would be.

Most likely up for another silly adventure.

A corner of my mouth quirked up with the thought of that. The last time I saw her was about half an hour ago when, displeased with all the attention, she took her leave to hit the sack.

I should probably check on her and maybe... apologise for my earlier behavior. Maybe.

I departed without waiting to hear the outcome of all the protest and contention, if there was any. When I reached the tent she was staying in, loud snores coming from inside reflected that she was probably fast asleep already.

As I turned on my heels to leave, few faint noises hit my ear drums, pulling my strings to cease the moving feet. It didn't feel like coming from a far. Following the noises led me to Daneen, who was talking to a guy. She looked enraged and confused, but again, doesn't she always look like that? In short, she appeared to be her usual self.

Who is she talking to this late at night? This person definitely look like a guy. Why's she talking to a guy and more importantly, what is the topic in discussion?

Curiosity kicked in but I told myself that of all the surfacing queries, none of them is my business. When, where and to whom she talk to, it shouldn't concern me. But for some very strange reason, it did! In fact, I was more than concerned. I was... agitated.

Sometimes I really hated it when, on much rare occasions, the idle part of my mind doesn't listen to the insightful one, and this was one of those rare occasion.

It's not right to listen to people's conversation. I don't have to do this. Just turn around... Turn around and leave.

Insightful-me gave a very last warning to idle-me but the latter one seemed content on showing some extraordinary resistance tonight. Carefully taking cover behind a big rock, I leaned in closer to earwig on the important exchange of dialogues.

"What do you mean by that?" Daneen asked, her one hand held out with something tiny, glowing on the face of her palm.

The guy, who's back was facing the direction I was at, took a step forward towards her. "Your Munshi Uncle! Mr. Latif. He sent you here. To get rid of you. Just like he got rid of your father."

Even from this far, I could appreciate her face getting pale, and the horror creeping up in those trembling legs. She barely managed a muffled what.

"Yes. He has imprisoned your father God knows where. I got this ring from Mr. Tabreez about six months back. He told me to warn you about your uncle since Mr. Latif has taken over the operation of all your father's mines and businesses." He further explained.

Hearing about the imprisonment, and not the worse she had probably anticipated, Daneen swallowed the lump stuck in the back of her throat. A ray of hope sparkled in those gorgeous raven black eyes. Waking from the momentary daze, she drew back her extended arm to slip the glowy thing inside her pocket and stepped ahead to close the gap between them.

"Please tell me he's fine." She pleaded, her eyes glued on him.

I don't understand, after everything she told me about her father, she still care for him.

"I'm sorry I can't. I don't know where he is or how he is. All I know about is that he's in trouble and we can help him, only if... you want to. Do you want to help your father?" He asked politely.

"You're accusing my uncle of imprisoning my father, the only two people I can call family. You're charging him with treason and transgression..." She shook her head in disbelief. "and you want me to believe it just like that?" The disgust was obvious in her tone.

"You have to. You don't have a choice." He stated as a matter of fact.

There was an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach, as if something is not right. He was trying to be too... convincing. But again, the matter he was presenting was hard to believe in, even for an unrelated individual like myself. He could probably use a little convincing to explain it to Daneen.

Before I could waste another second on dwelling about him being convincing, my attention drew back to the pair when the guy, who took Daneen's silence as a hint that she's accordant so far, reached for his pocket to take out a piece of paper. He then, offered it to Daneen and said,

"This is a bus ticket. We'll be leaving this place tomorrow night. We're no good to the cause of - saving your father - if we're dead long before reaching the city. First we need to leave this land to somewhere safe."

Wait a minute! Is he trying to abduct her?

This was the first thought that crossed my mind and all of a sudden, the feeling of congestion in the pit of my stomach was transformed into fire burning beneath my chest. I rose to my feet with an intention to march up to that guy, grab him by the scruff of his neck, shove him from the nearest edge of the cliff and tell him to piss off while gravity pulls him to hit the bottom but technically speaking, that cumbersome process would eventually be filed under murder, which unfortunately is a crime.

I need to calm down. What if she knows the guy and trust him. She definitely won't like intrusion in her private matters. Especially from someone like me.

The idea stopped me from doing something embarrassing. I took my place once again to continue with eavesdropping.

At first, she seemed hesitant to reach out for the ticket. A million questions flashed behind those beautiful lenses as she took in the gravity of situation she was in. Doubts as evident as the rising sun. Putting all aside, she took it anyway, stared down at the piece of paper in her hand for a minute too long and raised her head to meet the gaze of that guy.

"Why should I trust you? Why should I trust any of it? Who are you?" She asked in a demanding tone.

I knew it! She doesn't know who he is. Abduction is imminent now.

I held my ground firmly once again. Dancing up to them to beat the shit out of that guy didn't sound reasonable.

"It doesn't matter who I am. Right now, I don't want you to trust me. I just want you to take a decision. We've less than ninghteen hours window to escape from this disputed territory. You're in or not?" He asked.

"Disputed territory? I don't understand." She sounded confused to which he tried to deliver a detailed explanation.

"Well... given the geographic location of this place, mining engineers believe that this particular mountain upon which Nalwari is colonized, has much valuable minerals to offer... like gold or maybe something more rewarding. Corporations like K.K coal mines or Raw-Rocks, tycoons in the field of mining, are trying to take a hold of this place. You know... owning a much profitable piece of land sounds profitable. But people here, who are in the dark about the whole valuable mineral thing, refused to leave this place, despite being offered a considerable money for doing so, which is causing a great pain to giant corporates."

In response to an exhaustive explanation, she just stared at him. A silent, cold stare. He probably would've picked up the hint that she was dumbfounded by this conspiracy theory, so he said.

"I know it's a lot to process and you've a long list of Ifs and Buts on your mind but trust me, we don't have time for this."

After glancing a couple of times between the piece of paper in her hand and the guy in front, she gave a weak nod in agreement.

"Good. I should probably get going to make the arrangements." He was about to leave but Daneen stopped him.

"Wait! Just one last thing. Is it true that this place is possessed by a demon named Maloon? I've heard stories..."

"Come on miss Daneen! I think you're smarter than that. Do you really believe in such implausible speculations? They're nothing but fiction." He cut her short and asked with a sarcastic smirk.

Implausible speculations! Only if his smartass was there the other night. Then we'll see how fictional it looked.

Out of embarrassment, Daneen stared down at her feet. "Well I don't but some speculations are pretty convincing, no matter how ridiculous they sound. And you don't know a thing about me, so I suggest you to refrain from passing such sly remarks." It was more of a statement than a simple counterargument.

He silently gave her a cold shrug as in like whatever and nodded. With that, he took off to leave Daneen behind. Only when he turned around then I saw his face.

Wait a minute... He is... But she claimed that she doesn't know him. Well apparently, after hearing their conversation, she actually don't. Is he stalking her? I need to find out more about that guy.

As I was planning on how to dig into his personal record, I heard Daneen asking for his name. He turned around and took a few seconds pause before he bluntly uttered.

"Huzaifa Pasha"

And with that, he left.

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