~ THE NIGHT OF MURDER (4 ½ YEARS EARLIER) ~

Saad threw the glass on the wall and watched it shatter into a thousand pieces. He was no mathematician but he knew the number of pieces it broke into was somehow less than what his heart was in. He wanted to kill Yusuf for taking Kubra away from him.

He knew somewhere the fault laid within him. Why did he let cowardice rule his mind and let fear decide whether he could risk her friendship or not? He should’ve just said ‘fuck it all’ and poured his heart out in front of her, left it bare for her to do whatever she wanted with it. Instead he had smiled at her while bleeding from within, and congratulated her for finding the love of her life.

What a fucking idiot!

He pulled his hair, enjoying the pain that he inflicted upon himself as he sat on the edge of his bed and screamed. He cursed Yusuf for beating him in the matter of her heart. Never had he been able to defeat Saad and the only time he had to beat him was when he whisked the ruler of his heart away. He couldn’t bear imagining how wonderful she must be looking in that gorgeous white dress, making all lovey-dovey eyes at that bastard.

He hated another person along with Yusuf that night. He hated his sister. He hated Huma for sending him Kubra’s beautiful pictures. He hated her for saying all those true yet hurtful things to him before leaving for her best friend’s engagement.

‘If you didn’t have the guts to confess to her about your love, don’t pull out your bravery from the hat now by hurting her. She’ll be devastated when she comes to know that her favorite human isn’t going to be there for her.’

‘You’ll rather that I die seeing her becoming someone else’s?’

‘No! I’ll rather see my best friend and my brother together, happy and so madly in love, I’ll want to puke seeing them. Since that can’t happen because of your cowardice, I’ll rather at least one of you being happy!’

‘I’m sorry, but I’ll prefer to be selfish just this once.’

And with that Huma had left, shutting the door at his face, leaving him to drown himself in his sorrow.

The sound of phone pulled him back into the reality. Picking up the phone, he cut it once he saw it was Huma. But the girl had been born with the genes of two of the most persistent lawyers in the world, she called again.

Before he could say anything, she ordered, “Bhai. Come to Yusuf Bhai’s place this instant!”

“Huma, I told you I’m not-”

“This is not the time to act like a bratty child who got his toy snatched from him!”

Any other time, had his little sister talked to him such insolently, he would’ve given her a piece of his mind. However, she did what he rarely heard Huma do. She sniffed. His little sister rarely cried! In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he had heard her do so except when she was seven.

“Something terrible happened, Bhai.” There was that sniff again. He was up at once, putting on his shoes and grabbing his car keys. “Wali Bhai . . . Bhai, he’s dead.” His foot stopped midair.

“What?” So many questions swirled in his mind at once, wanting to be asked but he couldn’t grasp any of them and throw it at Huma.

“He is murdered.” There has to be some mistake surely. They had gone to an engagement party not a fucking massacre! “Kubra . . .”

“What happened to Kubra?!”

He was out of his bedroom, down the stairs, out the main door, into his car and on the road before Huma even started explaining what had happened to Kubra.

“Bhai, it looks like she’s done it.”

*~*~*~*

Saad hadn’t even known his car had the ability to move this fast. He was literally in Yusuf’s house in less than five minutes where it usually took him fifteen. He was sure he had several tickets to his name by now but he couldn’t care less. He rushed to the house just as the police stopped its van outside Wali’s house, the red and blue light filling the air.

Saad was met by Yusuf at the door. He was the only one outside his house who was not amongst the crowd gathered outside Wali’s house and instead was standing stone-faced in front of his own house. But that crumbled as soon as he saw Saad. He looked as if he was a drowning man who just caught a straw, as if he was certain that he and Saad together could solve anything, as if he didn’t need to worry now.

Yusuf clutched his best friend in a tight hug as if his life depended on it. “Yusuf please tell me this isn’t true.”

“Trust me, brother. I need the same affirmation.”

Saad broke the hug after rubbing Yusuf’s back and asked, “Kubra? Where’s she?”

Saad watched Yusuf become stoic again. And Saad realized one thing. Yusuf Bukhari didn’t deserve Kubra Shahbaz, for he was starting to distrust her at the first bump in the road.

“She’s upstairs in the guest bedroom with Huma, hiding away.”

He didn’t bother with a reply, simply filled his expression with so much disgust that he didn’t need to grace him with a reply.

He ran upstairs, not caring about his parents or Kubra’s or Yusuf’s sitting there with their heads in their hands, and stopped only when he found the door closed. He knocked on the door and answered, “It’s me, Saad,” when Huma questioned who it was.

He couldn’t even step in once it was opened. Instead he found himself maintaining his balance when Kubra jumped up on him and began muttering in gratefulness, hiding her face in his chest.

“Superman, thank god you’re here. They’re not believing me . . . I- I swear I didn’t do it. When- when I woke up, he was there. He- he was- he was lying just there in all that . . . blood and- and- I didn’t do it. You believe me, right?” she broke away from him and looked into his eyes, trying to find the confirmation she desperately needed. And confirmation she got. He knew what it was she sought. He looked at her with nothing but trust and concern.

He caressed her face, trying to calm her down. “I know, love. I know. You don’t need to tell me. I know you didn’t do it. And everyone else will too.”

She sniffed and he wrapped his arms around her again. He looked behind and met his sister’s teary gaze. She had trouble believing it, he could tell. But he also was certain that she would never leave Kubra’s side, no matter what the accusation on her is and however true that would be.

He took a step to lead them in the room but felt Kubra getting heavier. He looked down and found her cries ceased and eyes closed. Had she simply fallen asleep or passed out from the exhaustion, he couldn’t tell. He knew he shouldn’t keep her here.

He scooped her up in his arms and climbed down the stairs. Thankfully, no one stopped to question him as to where he was taking her for they were all busy either crying or playing detectives.

He was about to put her in the backseat of his car with Huma when Yusuf called out, “Where are you taking her?”

Heartbroken or not, no one talks about Kubra in such a demeaning manner in front of Saad and gets away with it.

He banged the door shut and glared at him. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, getting in his face.

His eyes were fixed on the car as Yusuf answered, “I’m just saying that no one should leave the premises until they’re cleared. Besides, we don’t even know if she actually ki-”

“Stop right there!” Saad yelled, but then took a step back and took in a deep breath, a desperate attempt to calm down. “Yusuf, I know what’s happened is terrible . . . but from what I can see, Kubra is hurt too. And that’s all I care about now, something you should be doing. She’s your fiancée.”

“Of not more than but a few days . . . whereas Wali has been my brother for ten years. Our brother!” Saad could tell that Yusuf was disappointed at him for choosing her over Wali, for not asking to see the departed soul, for not taking on the case and finding the murderer at once.

Well, that makes the two of them. He was more angry than disappointed at Yusuf for not making sure Kubra was unhurt and mentally stable before accusing her of something so vile and inhumane.

“Yes, and I’m crushed about it. But I can’t neglect the ones I hold above life itself. I can’t see Kubra’s distress and do nothing about it!” Had the situation not been so cruelly heartbreaking, it might have been seen as a challenge. But Saad had no interest in challenging a man he now was certain didn’t deserve Kubra.
If they didn’t have trust, they had nothing. If the sliver of trust he had in her wavered at every setting sun, he didn’t deserve to see her shine illuminating the world at every sunrise.

He put a hand on Yusuf’s shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. “I’ve never left you alone, Bhai. I wouldn’t leave you to do this alone as well. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Just let me first make sure that she’s okay.”

*~*~*

Saad had never wanted a dead man to live again this bad. And that too, just so he could kill him with his bare hands again. No! Killing him with his bare hands would be so easy a death for him. He wanted to practice every cruel form of torture he kept seeking justice for, on a man he once believed a brother to him.

He had only ever read or heard that people’s blood boiled when they were angry. But not him. Not ever before. Saad was always calm and cool and collected. Always made decisions with a collected mind. But right now he wanted to throw the voice of reason out of his mind, drive back to Yusuf’s house and punch the dead man until no recognition technology could tell it was Wali Bajwa.

How dare he try to lay his hands on someone so pure and innocent and so not his! How dare he even think of touching Kubra in that sense!

“Superman, please sit here. Calm down.”

He looked up and begged for some sanity. Even now, after everything, she was worried about everything but herself. With his clogged voice, watery eyes, stuffed nose, blotched face, she was mourning over the death of the man who had tried to rape her not moments before his death.

“Bhai, for the love of God, just sit down!”

“DO NOT SAY A WORD!” he yelled at Huma, feeling all the more bad momentarily when both the ladies in the room flinched. And why wouldn’t they? They had never seen Saad act like this before. “You were there to make sure she was okay! I forced you to go without me to make sure nothing or no one disturbed her. And now she was almost raped and is accused of fucking murder! How can you both tell me to calm the fuck down?!”

He looked at Kubra and found recognition on her face. The recognition he would’ve killed to get just a few hours earlier. But her naivety or ignorance, he didn’t know what it was, and his cowardice have led them to where they were that day.

He knew that she now knew how crazy he was for her.

But Alas! None of them could do anything with that knowledge for a few people were let inside the house by the guard with his father’s permission.

“You can go through, officer.”

His head snapped at the door to his room on his father’s voice, followed by some footsteps up the stairs.

“Do NOT come outside unless I tell you to!” with that, he went out and shut the door, standing as an oblivious guard in front of his room.

“Dad, what’s happening?” he asked his father who seemed weary of having to do this.

“Saad, step aside and let them take her.” Shams Mirza was in no mood for jest. Unlucky for him, neither was he.

“I’m not going to let her be put behind bars just to entertain this accusation of theirs that a girl who can’t even kill an ant has killed a grown man, that too her friend.”

“Mr. Mirza, it would be better for you to not come in our way. She is our prime suspect in Wali Bajwa’s murder. Unless proven innocent, she is guilt-” “Hold your tongue, officer!” Saad stopped him. “Instead of finding the murderer, maybe you should look into who really is the victim here! That fucking son of a bitch tried to rape her!”

“We know what happened.” Another voice cut in their “conversation” and that voice turned out to be of the fiancée of the guilty. Yusuf looked like a man who had made his opinion and was a hundred percent certain in it “You are welcome to see what happened too.” Yusuf forwarded a USB towards him. “At least a part of it.”

“What do you mean a part of it?” he took the USB, rather confused.

“You’ll see. In the meanwhile, let them do their work. Officer?”

The officer hadn’t even taken half a step when Saad snapped, “DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER STEP!”

“Mr. Mirza, let us do our job lest we take you for a detour to the police station as well!” He was a government servant, after all. No matter how many money they accepted as bribes, they were always entitled to do whatever they wanted.

“Saad, get out of the way. My patience is running thin as it is.” His father rubbed his temples.

“AND MINE HAS ALREADY RUN OUT!” Saad couldn’t remember what happened to that USB. He knew he never watched that copy. Either he smashed it in the rage or gave it to Yusuf to stick it up where the sun doesn’t shine. Either way, he never saw that shiny USB again.

“Constable, arrest this hero as well,” the officer ordered.

“No, wait!” Yusuf stepped in. “Let me talk to him.” He put a hand on Saad’s shoulder and said in a leveled voice, “Saad, listen to me. I know how much she means to you.” She should mean a lot more to you! She trusted you with her heart! “But the man who has left us today? He was our brother. We have shared the good times and the bad with him. We owe him justice, at the very least. We may be wrong. I may be wrong. Maybe you’re right. He didn’t die at her hands. Maybe . . . But with the evidence we have on our hand, she is the prime suspect. So let them take her, and if you’re right, she would be home in no time.”

Did he really think he could coax Saad into sending Kubra to jail?

“YUSUF, TU PAGAL TO NAI HO GAYA? KYA BAKWAS KAR RAHA HAI? US NE JAB YE KIYA HE NAI HAI TO WO JAIL KIUN JAYE GI?” Any other girl, and he would have recommended going to the police station to prove her innocence, even if he had been perfectly convinced of her innocence. But he knew how his sick society worked. One step into the police station, be it for any reason, and the girl’s reputation will be tarnished forever. And he couldn’t let Kubra be the subject of that cruelty.

Following events were also a bit of a blur. But he knew that despite his protests and even attacking one of the policemen didn’t stop them from Kubra being taken to the jail. If anything, he ended up in those cold cells too, albeit for just a night.

And that was the time she stepped into that wretched place only to step out after almost five years, just the trial taking more than half a year.

*~*~*~*

~PRESENT DAY~

Saad kissed her forehead as Huma packed her things, ready to leave Kubra alone once again. But this time, none of them were crying or felt sad about it. They were all brimming with hope and excitement that this will be the last time she would be left alone.

Just one more hearing and she would be out. He wouldn’t accept any other outcome. If by chance, that doesn’t happen to be the case, then he’s going to burn his degree and resort to criminal methods to get her out himself.

But that’s not going to happen. He could already smell the sweet scent of victory. He had always heard the fruit of patience was sweeter. He was gonna taste it soon as well. They all would.

But how does one turn the time back on a rotten fruit?

*~*~*~*

Assalam o alaikum everyone!
How are you all?💞
Ramadan Mubarak to all Muslims✨
May this month heal us all and lift all our sorrows and be a source of peace for our troubled souls.🤍
This one is going to be a tough one for my family as we lost the three eldest people of our family who were our backbone in the span of just two months. I hope it isn’t the same for everyone. May this month be a month of joy and happiness and forgiveness and mercy and Barakah and so much more.💝

That being said, how was the chapter? 👉👈 I know all of you want Saad for yourselves but calm your hormones😁, our girl Kubra deserves him the most, even if she didn’t see  his love earlier on.

If you liked it, please vote⭐, comment🖋️ and follow and share📨 this story with your friends and fellows.

That’s all. 🤍🤍🤍
Lots of love.❤️❤️❤️
Javeria.