'Baba?' I went to my father who was sitting in his office. I knocked but he didn't answer so I entered anyway. He was sitting behind his desk, a sad expression on his face and his dark eyes stared into space.

'Baba?' I waved my hand in front of his face. He blinked and flinched a bit.

'Hmm?' He looked at me with a small yet sad smile.

'What's wrong Baba?' I inquired. He leaned back into his chair and looked at the ceiling.

'I just received word that your cousin, Waqas embraced shahadat in wazistan today.' He sighed.

'Oh,' I managed in a hushed whisper. 'May Allah grant him peace and a reward him a place in Jannah.' I wished. This was a sad moment and I felt very sad that my cousin died so young. But that was about it. When I looked at Baba, he was clearly grieving but their was a proud glint in his eyes. I didn't understand.

'You don't look so sad, Baba?' I asked. He turned to me and smiled at me but I could see that it was a sad smile.

'That's because it's not a sad moment.'

I got confused. Why would he say that? My cousin just died. Isn't it a sad moment? He must've seen my confusion because he gestured for me to come to him. So I went to him and he patted my head tenderly as he took me and sat me on his knee.

'You won't understand now bachay because you are very young. But the life of a soldier is short because when we donne our uniform, we know that we will be racing against the clock and all we pray for is a good death. And do you know what kind of death we wish for?'

I shook my head. He smiled, his eyes shinning.

'A noble one. A one in which we go down fighting. And the beauty of it is, that, it's the most greatest death that anyone can ask for.'

'A noble death? What do you mean by that Baba?'

'No death is greater then the one gained from fighting for two things. And do you know what those two things are?'

Again, I shook my head.

'They are for the sake of Allah and your motherland.'

I frowned in confusion. How could a death like that mean so much? I don't understand.

Sadia woke up with a jerk but moaned in discomfort when she felt the gauze over her right eye. She wanted to rub it to relieve the unease and drowsiness but couldn't. Her head was spinning but she tried her best to stay conscious. Her good eye looked up at the bright ceiling and Sadia knew that she was still in the infirmary. Her arm felt heavy and that's when she realised that she had left it stretched out for the IV line. Sadia tried to get up but her head wouldn't stop spinning so she remained lying down.

Why did I dream of that memory? She thought to herself. But it started to run the wheels in her head.

What had her life come to?

Just the other day, she was a celebrity doctor on her way towards a blossoming career and a good obedient child to her father and now......she was being held as hostage and being used as collateral against her father and the Pak army.

And that dream? Why did she dream of that childhood memory?

**********

"It's been twenty four hours." Shehryaar said as he viewed his men. Qadeem stepped forward while Zameer made no such move to reply.

"Almost boss. We still haven't received any word from the intelligence yet."

Shehryaar's cold eyes landed on Zameer as he observed him silently. Zameer matched his cold stare, looking his at Saeen right in the eye. Qadeem really envied Zameer: even though he wasn't the second in command anymore yet he still held a position of power where he could look at the Saeen right in the eye.

"It appears that your plan isn't working." Shehryaar commented, his tone provocatively cold. Zameer inhaled sharply. He didn't see this coming himself. Why was the intelligence stalling? They should've surrendered to their terms by now. Technically though, they still had five hours until the whole twenty four hours were done but Zameer had expected an early response.

"It will work-"

"Maybe we need to make more of an impression." Shehryaar cut in. "I'm surprised that she doesn't have a bruise on her." Shehryaar's fist banged loudly on the desk and that made Zameer frown with worry. He shouldv'e known that a sadist and ruthless tormentor like his boss would notice something like that. And even though he had given his word to the young doctor that she wouldn't be harmed but he failed at it. "How the fuck do you expect them to take this seriously? It's the fucking military we are dealing with this time!" He roared furiously.

Zameer swallowed hard and Qadeem shook in fright.

"Bring her in!" He ordered and Zameer immediately complied as he ran out of the room, the only thoughts in his mind were to calm Shehryaar down: he was already disturbed because of Anissa and now this situation wasn't helping him either. His only chance to win back Shehryaar's trust was beginning to back fire on him.

So, he wasn't about to take anymore chances. He was going to succeed no matter what. He wanted to gain back what he had lost and he would be damned if he didn't get what was rightfully his. He as Zameer Sheikh and he knew how to get what he wanted, always.

She's the enemy's daughter. Remember that! He reprimanded himself.

With that steeled resolved, he marched to the infirmary.

Sadia was lying conscious. She had never thought that she would be in such a position. Thinking so much about her current situation was causing her head to spin but she tried to focus more on getting out of the bed.

She tried to get up but her body was aching badly so it proved to be a little difficult but she succeeded nonetheless as she sat with her legs hanging at the edge of the bed as she adjusted her scarf properly upon her hair, effectively maintaining her hijab. However, she almost fell down when she got startled by the door barging open. Sadia's breath hitched when she saw Zameer enter the room and approach her with quick and fast steps.

"Wha-"

Zameer didn't give her a chance to speak as he caught her by the arms and pinned down on the bed. Sadia's eyes widened in shock and her heart sped fast in fear when she saw the terrifying look on Zameer's face.

Zameer's eyes viewed the look of utter fear and shock on Sadia's innocent face but he didn't let that tether him from his motive. He kept a good distance but he could easily feel her warmth and despite the circumstances, her scent was faintly present. Her scarf was almost undone and he could see a little of her dark hair. He had always wondered what her hair looked like because it was always hidden under her scarf. But these distracting thoughts weren't much of a help so he immediately focused on her face. He didn't want to harm her but if harming her himself saved her from Shehryaar's wrath then he would have to do it no matter how much he would later despise himself for it. It was a job after all. Even if he hated being abusive or violent towards women, his job required for him to make some exceptions. His dark eyes scanned her face. He almost smirked when he noticed the color come on Sadia's pale cheek .

"Time to do your job, Doctor." He muttered, resisting the urge to touch her skin. Sadia's brow frowned in confusion when she saw Zameer's hand proceed towards her face. "Wa-it, Mi-mis-ter Sh-Sheikh-"

She couldn't speak for a scream ripped through her throat when she felt something hard, cold yet blunt tear open her poorly healed cut on her bottom lip. Before she could know what else was happening, Zameer had pulled out a blade and lightly traced the sharp end on her left cheek so quickly that Sadia has no time to react, she was just shocked into place at what was happening.

"Wh-wha-what? Wh-why? pl-pl-please-" Sadia choked in utter confusion as her left eye leaked with fresh tears. Zameer got off of her and took out a handkerchief from his pocket as he wiped the small amount of blood on his blade. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious." Zameer made no effort to explain why he did what he did. She's better off not knowing.

"Now," Zameer bent down and started to smudge the blood from her cheek to her dirtied white scarf, causing Sadia to wince in pain as she clenched her teeth together and slapped Zameer's hand away. "You better cooperate with me, doctor or trust me, I'll be doing worse then what I did just now."

Sadia hissed in pain. First being hit in the face and now being cut. What else was next? Because of her Diabetic condition, Sadia had poor healing and her wounds were at risk of getting infected easily. But that was the least of her worries for the time being. She had bigger things to worry about and Sadia shuddered to think about it. Using her scarf, she pressed it on her cheek but Zameer quickly removed her hand. "Do not touch it!" He growled as he smudged the fresh oozing blood again. He was surprised that she was bleeding so much from such a superficial cut but that was good, it would prove as a good cover and with this, Zameer knew that Shehryaar wouldn't object. Unlike his saeen, Zameer would never raise his hand on a woman or be violent towards them but he could easily manipulate the situation by fabricating some evidence of having beaten his prisoner. "Wh-why di-d you d-do this t-to m-me?" Sadia stammered in a sob.

"If it's not me, it'll surely be someone else and trust me, they are worse then me and you wouldn't want that, would you?" Zameer stated as he looked at Sadia, his voice so cold that it froze the blood in Sadia's veins. Her fear skyrocketed and she nodded even though she didn't understand why he cut her like that.

Zameer nodded stiffly and got away from her. Sadia had barely gotten a hold of her bearings as she sat up when Zameer began to drag her out of the infirmary and Sadia silently followed, as if she had much of a choice.

Zameer took Sadia to the control room. He stopped outside the door and released Sadia's arm, much to her relief. "You will not speak or move unless told to, is that understood?"Zameer commanded. Sadia couldn't do anything other then nod her head. He pulled out a black mask from his pocket and quickly donned it, effectively hiding his face. Sadia didn't know why he did that but when she entered the room that he took her in, her silent inquiry was answered and she froze when she saw another masked man live on a video feed with Gen. Bajwa and Sadia knew the General all too well.

"We need more time." The General said, his voice full of venom as he viewed man standing in front of him.

"Un-cle Ba-jwa?" Sadia mumbled in shock, her voice loud enough to be heard. Her confused and boggled mind failed to heed Zameer's instructions. The men in the room looked in her direction. Even the General's eyes fell on Sadia who was now standing behind the man and his voice got caught in his throat as his small eyes widened under his bushy eyebrows.

"S-Sadia? Bachay?" He muttered in complete shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing: the poor child was wounded and injured, a bloodied bandaged gauze covering her right eye while her whole face was bloody and looked beaten with cuts everywhere.

"You bastards-" before the General could say further, Sadia noticed some movement and in the next second, she saw her Father's face on the large screen.

"Sadia! Mera bacha!" He exclaimed in panic.

Sadia was so paralysed in fear that what happened next, she could've never known or anticipated as it all happened so fast.

"AHHHHH!"

A stinging burning pain ripped her skin and a scream rolled out of Sadia's throat as she clutched the side of left leg as she fell behind on the cold dirty ground.

Zameer froze in place. He couldn't believe what just took place.

"Let this be a warning!" A loud voice came from the shadows and Zameer had recognized it all too well and narrowed his glaring dark eyes on his Saeen as he walked out of the shadows enough for Sadia to see who it was that shot her.

Sadia's cries wouldn't cease but the terror that she felt had increased tenfold when she saw her ex-boss look down at her, his dark eyes blank and void of any humanly emotions. In her fearful state, she tried to focus her attention on the screen where she saw her father gawk at her in utter shock and helpless agony.

"Baba! Baba!" She cried loudly.

"If our demands are not met by daybreak, we won't be having another chat. The next bullet will be between her eyes and you'll find her corpse dumped in a river!" The cold menacing voice declared.

"This is not a negotiation!"

With that said, the video was cut off and room was engulfed in darkness. Only the soft sobs of the poor captive girl could be heard.

Shehryaar was the first to move as made his way to leave. "You know what to do Zameer." He said, his back facing Zameer who was still frozen in place.

"If they don't vacate the northern front by day break, then there's no room for anything other then straight action." He said and then his eyes fell on the young lady who was sobbing on the ground as she clutched her injured leg.

"Nothing personal. Although I appreciate all that you were able to do for my wife, but know this, if your father doesn't agree to my demands, this might as well be your last night alive." He declared. Sadia could only sob more heavily.

When the room became empty until only Sadia and Zameer were left behind, a void grew; of desolate darkness and despair.

Zameer could do next to nothing as he stood rooted in his place, watching the poor girl cry, her sobs filled with pain and anguish. And it melted Zameer's heart. And Zameer always thought that his empty and dark heart couldn't feel. But it was feeling. And it felt more then just pity, guilt and anger right now. It was something akin to pain.

Pain at Sadia's pain.

And that left him shellshocked.

The only woman to ever melt his stone cold heart was Anissa. Only her pain and her sorrow had managed to creep into his empty heart and stroke it to feel.

And this feeling rose something so strange within him that urged him to go to Sadia.

He wanted to move to her. Take her in his arms and comfort her.

And this time, he didn't stop himself from wondering how and where these thoughts came from. However, his guilt shot him down from thinking too much about it.

And it didn't allow him to have such thoughts any further. Why should he offer her comfort when he's the one responsible for her suffering in the first place?

He was every bit of scum as the Generals had called him.

"I'm sorry."

Zameer was surprised when he found those words roll out of his tongue for he knew nothing else to do.

**********

Shahadat; martyrdom

Bachay; child

Saeen; boss (suh-ee) 

CHAPTER 12 HAS BEEN UPDATED ON INKITT