~One Year After the Trial~

Saad hit the bed after almost thirty-six hours and instantly closed his eyes. His phone lit up on the side table, the notification bell going off. He ignored it. It lit up again, the ‘ping’ interrupting his sleep. He ignored it again. The third time it lit up, it wasn’t a message but a call. He sat up reluctantly and picked up the call from Zameer, his gym mate and a great friend who was turning out to be a great detective. He knew everything about the Kubra situation and helped him with everything. But unfortunately, that wasn’t much.

“Hi, Zameer. What’s up?”

“Saad, have you read the news?"

"No, why?" He furrowed his brows.

"Jamal Bajwa has been elected as the member of the National Assembly and nominated as the part leader!”

Now he was wide awake. Saad had found it odd that the father who had lost his son so brutally would do something so insensitive as to use his name in dirty politics. But he’d dismissed that idea knowing that was the rule of politics that ran our system.

He had told his doubt to Zameer and he had agreed that he found it odd it. But they had nothing to prove it or even to waste their time going after him. But now that he was an MNA, Saad had a gut feeling that he was right to doubt him.

“Zameer, can you do me a personal favor?”

“Of course, what do you need?”

“A private and secret investigation.”

*~*

~Four Years Later~

Huma threw his best black suit on his face, startling him and clapped once. “Come on Romeo, clean up. We’re going to get her out.”

If someone from four years ago saw Saad like this, they wouldn’t be able to tell it was him except for his eyes. His hair was overgrown put in a bun because he hadn’t bothered to cut them. His beard was overgrown. His skin was paler than any albino. He was probably only holding up because his family shoved nutrients down his throat three times a day. No, he hadn’t resorted to drugs or alcohol, but he might as well do that with the way he was lost in his work.

“What? How? Did you find it?”

“Of course, I did.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder sassily. “Zameer was a great help. The Bajwa’s are going behind bars, I’m afraid. If I could help it, Yusuf would too, but the rest are definitely paying for what they did.”

“Where is it?” Saad leaned forward in his chair, excitedly, the glint in his eyes reflecting on the hint of her brother which she knew was still there, just lost. And she was dead sure he would resurface once Kubra was with him.

“Better question, where is he?” On his raised eyebrows, she continued, “We found the hit-man…..along with all the real proof. The one which wasn’t tampered.”

He cheered, hugging his sister. Finally, they had proof of her innocence. It had taken them four years to get hand on it. But with Saad’s intelligence, Huma’s resilience and a couple others’ help, they finally had it.

“Bhai, I want to ask you something.” Huma said, breaking away from him.

“Anything!”

“I want to represent her. Please give me this case.” She waited for his reply with a bated breath.

She was asking a lot. She knew that. She was asking him of giving up one chance to remake the moments from four years ago but with better outcomes. But for all the right reasons, she wanted to be the one to get her out. If this still doesn’t go as planned, she can’t bear to see her brother taking the guilt of failing twice. And if does goes well, then it was case that would give her career the impactful shove it needed in the start.

Besides, she had put her ass on the line several times to obtain these evidences. It wasn’t that unfair to ask him that.

Saad stared at her for a good few moments. And then he said, “Fine, you can get her out. But I’ll be your legal consultant.”

“Deal,” they shook hands with fake formality but then she screamed in victory and hugged him again.

“Now show me the bastard.”

“Show me my brother and we’ll go take a detour to our favorite man.”

He agreed at once.

Freaking finally!

*~*

“Saddy, do you know how the last dinosaur died?” KB asked them.

“No, how did he die?” Saddy replied, putting down her paintbrush and laying down the canvass that always remained half-empty. No matter how months or years Saddy spent working on it, it always remained incomplete. That was the last painting of hers that she had invested her time in before she had decided to take her life. The beautiful grey eyes of the man she loved. Since then, she couldn’t paint anything without making the stroke look like it had an actual stroke.

She had tried painting with her right hand but she couldn’t. Not even to save her life.

“Well, she died waiting for her lover. He had gone to find a way they could both survive but he never returned. And she died alone, waiting for him. But she didn’t die at once. Oh no! She first went crazy, hallucinating that her family was with her, praying for her to be okay as she slowly withered away.”

“That’s awful,” Saddy was already on the brink of tears.

“Isn’t that how our lovely friend is going to die?” KB continued, directing her nasty glare at her.

“Hush! Don’t say that. We’re going to get out of here, right Kubra?”

Kubra had always been aware that she was the weirdest person she knew. But these alter egos of hers which she was vaguely aware were mere figments of her imaginations were on a whole other level. Their black and white natures drove her closer to insanity every day and Kubra wondered where the road would end.

But maybe she had already reached the black hole and was now just going around in circles. If that were the case, at least she knew that she was crazy. That way she can mask it in front of the normal folks.

But oh wait! There aren’t any normal folks here! And I am not getting out of here ever!

The thought made her burst out laughing. Or was it a thought? She honestly couldn’t remember but the way KB was looking at her with disgust, she felt as if she was the one unreal and not real.

That thought made her stop.

Was she the unreal one? Was she the one making real Kubra crazy?

“Which one of us is real Kubra?”

“Oh! For God’s sake!” KB exasperated.

“Hey! Don’t be mean!” Saddy countered rather politely.

But then they both disappeared as the door banged open, revealing a police officer who looked as if he had swallowed a lemon, leaving her all alone. Kubra looked at where her cell mates had been not a moment ago. Cowards!

“Your lawyer is here.”

She stood up at once, full aware who was here. The sentence he had used to announce Saad felt weird to her ears though. Every time, the sentence was same, ‘You have a visitor.’ But she didn’t think much to it.

Another weird thing was when he divulged from the usual path to the visitor’s room.

She frowned as he made her go into an empty room with a square table in the center and four wooden chairs around it. “Sit.” She did and he handcuffed her. Hello, old friends. Long time. Then he left the room and she stood up again, assessing her surroundings.

Not a moment later, the duo she never stopped longing to see came in. She couldn’t believe it. They were her imagination as well because no way they were here with her without the glass barrier between them.

The tremor in her right hand worsened as Huma closed the distance between them; her hands bound in front of her, not letting her greet her with open arms. Just as the tall woman clad in a purple business suit made contact with her, a wave of nausea hit her, bile rising up in her mouth as the disgusting feeling of being touched crept up her spine like a million ants.

She took in a deep breath as Huma broke away. She finally let herself smile and say, “You’re really here.” Her eyes found the grey ones behind Huma. He didn’t make any attempt to hold her. Was she glad? She wasn’t sure.

“I’m very late, aren’t I?” He asked tentatively.

She nodded. “A bit.” She had only two hours every six months and those sixteen hours in the last four years were always taken up by her mother. The friend who used to do favors for Saad had also been transferred, so he hadn’t been able to see her in almost two and a half years. “But it’s okay. You were always here.”

“That’s relieving to know.” He showed her a smile she loved. “But my darling, it’s time you say goodbye to this place.”

Her lips turned down at the corners. “What?”

“Let’s sit.” They all sat down and Huma started, excitement radiating off her, “This all is going to come to an end, Kubra. The suffering, the separation, the punishment ___ everything. We’re getting you out.”

Kubra shook her head, not understanding what she was hearing. “What are you talking about? H-how?”

“We’ve found the killer of Wali,” Saad explained.

“But- But I’m the killer of him. Yes. I killed him. That night, the day of… day of mine and Yusuf’s engagement…. Yeah, I killed him.”

Saad and Huma both looked at each other. What the hell was she on about? They had no idea.

“No, KB! You didn’t.” Huma began but Kubra cut her off.

“She isn’t here. A coward, that one.”

Saad frowned. “Kubra, look at me! I promised I would get you out. And I know I’m very late but I’m here. You’re getting out of this shithole in a very short time.”

“

Lies,” KB hissed at her, suddenly materializing behind Saad. “He’s giving you false hope again. Don’t give in again. You killed him yourself, remember? You deserve this punishment.”

Yes, I deserve it. She nodded and looked at both of them. “I remember now what happened that night. I was the one who killed him. There was so much blood and….and he fell down and…..and I ran and….and then the police came. Yes. Yes. That’s what happened. He died because of me.” She clutched her forehead, a sheering pain splitting her head open.

“Kubra, are you okay?” Huma asked.

“No! Are you deaf? I killed him! I remember it now!”

““Kubra, you didn’t kill him. Listen to me. Let me prove it to you first that you’re getting out.” Huma tried to make her see reason while Saad stood up and ran his fingers through his neatly cut hair.

“No-”

Saad was in front of her in a flash and he held her forearms. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” he said caringly, forcing her to look at nothing but his eyes. “But snap out of it please. You didn’t kill him and you know it. Never once did I ever doubt you. Don’t you dare do it to yourself. You hear me?” She nodded. “Good. Now breathe in.” She kept her focus only on the grey of his eyes and allowed herself to ease into the rhythm he was leading her with. “You okay?” She nodded yet again. He took her hands in his, hating how bony and dry they were. Just a few days more and then she’ll be with him. He nodded at Huma to continue, this time keeping her hands in his.

“For the past four years, we’d been looking for a pin in a haystack. A loop that Bhai found. I didn’t think it was possible but we entertained his idea because we had no other clue, until he realized that Jamal Bajwa had become a member of National Assembly with the support he gained from the public after losing his son. That’s when we started looking into him. And after painfully long wait of almost three years, we found out the dirty secrets he’d been keeping.”

“What are you saying? Jamal Uncle? What?”

“First hear it all,” Saad drew circles on the back of her hand absentmindedly.

They had been tailing Jamal Bajwa for more than three years now, getting hints that the big politician was involved in not so humble businesses. Saad had pieced two and two together knowing that it was the lion protecting his territory by killing his cub. This shouldn’t be humanly possible, a father killing his own son but such men weren’t humans. And hence, they didn’t deserve to be treated like one.

And now they had proof of it all. They had the murderer, the master and the motive.

“Jamal Bajwa is involved in money laundering, smuggling, drug trafficking and many more crimes. Six years ago, he ordered the killing of his brother-in-law because he double crossed him. And two years later, when Wali came to know of it, that sick bastard ordered his son to be killed as well.”

She remembered how weird Wali was behaving that night, how out he was of his zone. Can what they telling her be true? Can a father really be this cruel?

“We came to know of it only because Jamal Bajwa realized we were after him. And that’s where he made a mistake. He decided to wipe off the key witness. The one who had stabbed his son. The hit-man. Turns out, he is a smart guy. He went into hiding. Lucky for us, our detective, Zameer was smarter. He hunted him down and the guy turned himself in.”

“He had kept all the evidence because he’d known how his boss operated. And now we’re going to use all this against Jamal Bajwa and to get you out.” Saad gave her that hopeful smile again.

“Really?” And damn! The hope rekindled.

“Really.”

“Kubra, just to be clear, I want you repeat that night’s events. We can’t have you saying what you said now in the court. Please,” Huma said.

“Do I have to?” She couldn’t repeat it again.

“I know it hurts. But it’s the last time you,” Saad assured her.

She sighed, tears brimming in her eyes as she recalled the events from that horrible night…..

•~•

Assalamualaikum!
How are you all?
Yes, another cliffhanger. I'm getting good at those. Or bad......depends if you like them.

Did you like the chapter? The time lapse is finally here. That means she's coming out. But she's gone crazy as well....soo....👉👈🙈

Anyhooooooo

I know it's a dry chapter. But it's the calm before the storm, that i can assure you. You can finally know what the fuck happened in the next chapter so stay tuned.

But please let me know before going if this one was worth your time by voting and commenting. And if you know anyone who might be interested in stories like this, share this with them.

Totally random, but does any of my readers like PSL? If you don't know what it is, ignore it😂

That's all.
Lots of love ♥️♥️♥️
Javeria.