"each night his soul wailed to the lord and every morning, his lord helped him smile - gabriel"

Sulaaymaan shut the door to Afra's room as she walked out after him .

"I was wondering if you could tell me why Jazz hates me ?"

They were headed towards the garden . His theory was right . If a voice hearing machine was embedded deep into her bed , chances were that there were several hundred others placed along the whole mansion in places unimaginable .

Sulaaymaan had given it his best shot before collapsing on the floor a few hours later . His fingers were red and the flesh had almost sunken in . It was a somewhat daring instrument and while he was much acquainted with devices such as that , he still couldn't get to the depth .

They had even run out of topics of discussion towards the end . Very unbelievably , she had grown more curious of his personality as time ticked by . Talking to him had pulled the curtain off a variety of her doubtful enquiries but at the same time , had made him more mysterious than ever .

That was astonishing .

"Jazz hates you ? What makes you say that ?"

Afra shrugged , crossing her arms over her chest .

"I don't know . She just doesn't welcome me much around her ."

Sulaaymaan turned to face her , a small emphatic smile brightening up his tensed features .

"She's always been... let's say a little sensitive and careful around strangers ."

Afra frowned .

"Why is that ? No , I mean her sisters are very outgoing and friendly . I was just hoping that she would be the same too ."

Sulaaymaan stayed silent , clasping his hands behind his back as they neared the staircase .

"She had been like them too . Certain incidents can leave a lasting impact ."

Afra had only began to discern his words when he started to move down the stairs in a rather hurried motion .

What could have happened to a seven year old child ?

It was decided between them that the matter regarding the hearing object would be best discussed outside the royal vicinity .

The perfect place to hide the hearing object was in his car showroom , was what he had messaged her . 

And for their personal safeguarding — just in case wouldn't scurry along in time —  he was going to carry along a gun .

The mansion wasn't safe any longer so Afra sort of visioned the consequences they could be forced to face without carrying anything for their defence .

It didn't give her a good feel .

"Where are you both going ?"

Afra whirled around to find Queen Basmah beeming at them , while patting her hands dry on a small towel .

"Oh we're just heading out for a walk ."

Sulaaymaan smiled at her and pointed his thumb towards the doors .

"Oh , that's great . Be home soon okay ?"

"Of course Queen Basmah ."

Afra couldn't keep her smile in . No matter what the occasion , the Queen's smile lasted persistently .

Her smile was infectious and Afra couldn't keep hers in when the Queen faced her .

The enigmatic part , however , was that her eyes were lifeless and melancholy .

Her smile chanted an encouraging tale while her eyes narrated the happenings of what made her loose her spirit .

But she was too confused to study them .

They sometimes twinkled — and made Afra's heart flutter with joy — but for the most part , they lacked the essence .

The hardest part to believe was , the souls with the deepest cuts best perceived the beauty of smiling . Perhaps that's why their laughs created a new place in everyone's hearts .

"See you soon Queen Basmah ."

Afra waved her hand gleefully while Queen Basmah returned the wave .

"Come home soon Habibti . I made something special for you ."

She winked and shot Afra a thumbs up .

"Aw c'mon ! Why did you have to tell me ? Now I can't wait ."

The Queen laughed and waved a hand around airily .

"Don't be so dramatic Habibti . Go and enjoy your walk now ."

Afra slumped her shoulders and walked away with Sulaaymaan behind her .

Both of them santered side by side across the door , past the large gate guarding them where Sulaaymaan took a few minutes and had a fairly detailed conversation . A few minutes later , they strolled across the vast fields of green .

"Who's your favourite celebrity ?"

He shrugged nonchalantly , his eyes fixed on their path .

"I'm not sure . Never really was interested in watching movies or television in general ."

Afra stared firmly with her eyes scrutinizing him a little before she threw her hands up in the air , shaking her head .

"You're weird !"

He laughed softly and then motioned with his hands to follow him .

"What about you ?"

Afra took in a deep breath and huffed her chest out .

"I like Brad Pitt , Angelina Jolie , Natalie Portman , Tom Hanks , Tom Cruise , Vin Diesel , Richard Gere , Roger Federer , Emma Watson , Selena Gomez , Ed Sheeran , Nancy Ajram , Sami Yusuf  — "

"Woah , okay okay ! Let's just presume those people are it !"

Sulaaymaan held a hand and Afra innocently shrugged .

"As you wish ."

He then proceeded to move along with Afra by his side . The large number of equally spaced square boxed buildings two each on their either sides aroused Afra's interest . However she didn't have the audacity to question him at the moment .

"These — " He stretched his arms pointing towards the buildings ," — are our own personal buildings . They range from shoe collections to grocery stores to clothing houses . We cannot risk going shopping all the time with how we cannot conceal much . So for our convenience , I had these mini stores built ."

She twirled around while walking and he smiled .

"Woah...ma Shaa Allah , that's amazing !"

She shrieked and pushed her head higher to visualise the buildings as they passed . Large boards hung down the ceilings and the crème coloured walls glistened under the sun .

Sulaaymaan stopped at the second last row and stepped towards the left hand cornered building .

"What are your views on marriage ?"

Afra turned to look at him . That question was out of the blue .

For a few seconds , she focused her meticulous gaze on him but when his gaze was just as firmly fixed on her , she turned away .

"Why do you want to know ?"

"Just asking . You are quite different so I was sort of wondering what would your views be ."

Her eyes flickered with suspicion and she clicked her fingers .

"You are very weird ."

Sulaaymaan shrugged .

"Fine . I'll tell you . Most girls my age have this ridiculous ideology of a happy ending and the prince charming riding over a horse to rescue them from a so called dragon . To be frankly honest , I've been the kind that would be the dragon and eat both the prince and his lover . "

Sulaaymaan burst out into laughter and positioned his hands over his waist .

Afra's heart stopped beating as she ogled at him . He never had laughed as heartily before .

"You're such a savage beast ."

When his words made sense to her , she dropped her mouth open with scepticism .

The next thing he knew , a rock was thrown over his head . He winced and immediately rubbed the sore spot . His gaze dropped to the ground to find a small pebble lying at his feet .

When he did manage to look up , Afra was glaring hard at him .

"Oops , sorry . Just savage you know ."

He sighed and shook his head .

He loved her personality . She was savage .

"I'd like to have a normal person as a husband . No one too overly dramatic or poorly constructed . Just a religious man whose duty would be to guide the revert that I am ."

He smiled .

"You're very true in that though . Real person , real relationship ."

With Afra behind him , he unlocked ta large rusted door and slid it open to reveal a widely spaced area filled with cars .

Each car was in a mini shed with wooden latched doors .

The room shone brightly with large tubelights lined against the roof .

"What about you ?"

She knew they were supposed to not give any institution that something else was going on whilst they were walking .

But she was so desperate in that moment to question him about his life .

According to his plan , they were going to drop it inside one of his cars and head back to the mansion .

Of course that would alert the threatener a lot more since he'd not be able to make out any distinct voices or conversations . But Sulaaymaan thought that'd be for the best until he brought in professional help .

"I have always loved the idea of marriage . Again , real marriage you know ."

He specifically pressed on the word 'real' and found Afra rolled her eyes .

"You might have already guessed that I've been the most liked male of the country for years now . Everytime I'm called on live shows , the amount of fans I have to satisfy is horrifying . It's exhausting. Besides we do know that it's haraam to go about giving autographs and clicking selfies with the opposite sex . But it's not discouraged ."

He paused and sighed loudly , running a hand across his face . Afra strolled across the place , her fingers brushing against the bonnets of the colourful cars lined side by side .

"I'm sorry 'bout that ."

Afra empathetically smiled at him and walked beside him . She interlocked her fingers in front of her .

"It's horrible right ?"

Sulaaymaan walked ahead of her and stopped at the last car in the row . A Burgundy shaded Mercedes , she guessed .

"Yup , extremely ."

He started to unlock the car and Afra quickly walked to his side , closely  watching him . However , nothing extraordinary took place according to her wish and she slumped in disappointment .

"You still didn't tell me what you love about Marriage ."

It was recommended to let the conversation going and Pretty loudly at that in order to drown the voices in the background . She had thought to ask something else but at the nick of time , nervousness was gnawing hard on her . She couldn't focus properly and ended up bringing up the topic of marriage .

"I think it's a very heavenly and pure bond . Imagine two souls being bound by Allah's mercy and grace . Two souls united as one . It is something I wish I could be a part of . I do not wish to have an exceptionally beautiful Cinderella as my wife . All I want is a woman of manners and wisdom . Somebody who'd be able to correct my wrong and give me a shoulder to cry on during times that could weaken me . And lead me to Jannah of course ."

She felt weirdly interested in marriage too . She'd love to have a partner like that . A partner who'd pull her closer to Allah .

Even then , his words were out of the blue . His eyes were filled with warmth and she could make out the few tears that were gathered in them . What could have gotten him that emotional she didn't know , but he held something different . Something unearthly . Something like love .

Afra and Sulaaymaan had walked home quietly . Neither of them knew what to speak about or how to strike up a conversation . The earlier talk on Marriage had lead them off to misleading angles and while Afra hadn't felt much at that time , she could definitely taste the bitterness once everything was over .

"Um....we have coming over guests ."

Sulaaymaan spoke in hushed tones , while pushing the doors to their mansion open .

Afra frowned and he realized his mistake .

"Oh sorry , no ! I mean we have guests coming over ."

She couldn't risk meeting his gaze again and simply hummed in response . She did not even understand why she felt so shy or why her heart was racing or why she was blushing .

"They're some important people and we'll be checking the entire house . Would you like to come along ?"

Afra blinked and faced him . He gave her a small smile and danced on his toes , waiting for a reply .

"Er....um.....would it be alright for me to join ?"

Sulaaymaan's face instantly lit up .

"Of course it'd be ! Infact , it will be for the best . You can have an idea of the mansion's layout and how you'll be able to operate the functions of the systems under any unfortunate situation ."

Afra nodded thoughtfully . That could actually be good . She could have an idea of how to be of use if at all they would have an emergency situation at hand . Also it could be best for her own personal safety since she was the main target after all .

"Okay , then um , I'll go ahead and get refreshed ."

With that , she nodded meekly at him and abruptly turned around to escape him . After a few hasty steps , she stopped in the middle of the living room and turned around .

Something was odd and left her fazed . It was unexplainable and was making her undeniably worried over nothing . From the start of the day , there was an unmistakably dark gut feeling pressing down on her heart .

For the most part , it intensified when she was around Sulaaymaan .

Sulaaymaan .

"Why am I feeling so weird around him ?"

She muttered cautiously to herself as Sulaaymaan happily held onto his sisters . Those girls sure were a handful with their loud chattering and giggling . Though they were only three , it felt like the mansion was filled to the brim with children who were constantly lightening up the environment .

She started to walk back with steady and vigilant steps . Her heart was racing badly and it was difficult to focus with her uneven breathing .

"AFRA !"

Somebody shouted so loudly that Afra shuddered in her place before turning around .

Sulaaymaan's eyes were so widely open that Afra didn't know what had caused that . Before she could figure out what was happening , Sulaaymaan had pushed the Triplets to the farthest corner and had shot forward in large jumps .

He grabbed Afra by her shoulders and pushed her forcefully , making her fall hard on the floor .

When she turned around with shock , the action had long since taken place , leaving behind a weird feeling .

« Assalaamualaikum Princesses ❤ .

Sorry darlings for the late update . I was going through wordie block and it was terrrible . I'm extremely sorry .

But Alhumdulillah , I'm back now .

Jazak'ALLAHU QAIRAN KATHEERAN for all your ever lasting support . ❤❤❤❤ .

And if you all didn't figure this out yet , this book is unedited . In Shaa Allah , once I'm done with it , I'll start editing it out .

If you ever will plan on rereading it , in Shaa ALLAH , it'll be perfect then . ❤❤❤❤ .

Ilysm !!!! Literally , I love you guys truly with all my being .

Please be happy and safe always . I'm here for anyone out there okay ? ❤❤❤ .

Lots and lots of love ,
Me ;) »