"his life thrived within the depths of her heart- inaya."

The moment Afra stepped inside the house , she was met with shiny and clear floor devoid of the evidence of anything that had happened a few hours prior .

"UKHTI !"

She stumbled backwards on her feet as two tiny tiny figures wrapped their arms around her legs , restricting her movement .

"Hello my loves ."

Afra held each of their hands and was walking ahead with them when her gaze fell on Jazz . She kept staring at her in a cold manner and stomped off just when Afra was about to call out to her .

"What happened to Jazz ?"

Kat and Dandelion shrugged and began dramatically emphasizing each detail of what had happened .

She could feel their hands tremble in hers and it was very clear that the girls were horribly shaken up . The chandelier had been about fifteen metres wide with additional delicate , glass danglers . It had been quite a scene . She could only think of the image that could've been stuck in their minds .

When they had walked uptil the kitchen , she found the Queen near the stove . Afra squinted to make out a few bandaged stuck to her arms and one to right temple .

"Assalaamualaikum ."

Afra cooed and the Queen looked up to face her .

"Walaikumusslaaam Habibti . Get seated . The soup's ready and you're not leaving without having any ."

She left the stove , held Afra's shoulders and pushed her gently in the direction of the table . When she was about to settle down , her eyes fell upon a figure huddled at the farthest end .

She gasped and almost shot back up on her feet when her eyes found him frowing with worry .

"Are you okay Miss Afra ?"

He stood up from his seat and leaned over a little .

Afra blinked once and settled down comfortably , not quite sure as to why she jumpy . She looked at him and showed up a hand .

"Sorry , I just didn't see you ."

Queen Basmah soon came humming loudly and placed the dish in the middle . She requested Afra to get seated beside her since she was settled afar from them all .

It was a relief to find Queen Basmah come through as a distraction with all her loud chanting and jokes that she cracked . Afra could still make out the Prince's searing gaze piercing into her side and she worked hard at ignoring it .

"Can we sit beside ukhti mama ?"

Queens Basmah regarded the girls with a soft look and shook her head .

"She's hurt and sick girls . How about you help her to her room later instead ? Maybe get her all ready for some rest ?"

The girls looked at Afra sadly from over the table and edged closer on their seats .

"Why is ukhti hurt ? Both her and silk are hurt ."

Afra smiled and patted the seats beside her . She reassuringly looked at Queen Basmah who was giving her a hard stare with a spatula in her hand and called for the girls to get seated beside her .

They slowly dropped low from their chairs , trudged along with downcast faces and silently climbed onto their seats .

"Ukhti will be alright soon okay ? Don't worry and pray for me and silk instead . Both of us are strong and we'll be alright in no time !"

She tickled their stomachs gently and once they'd started to break into a giggles , she let them be and volunteered to serve the food only to duck lower into her chair under Queen Basmah's intimidating scowl .

She was served an extra large bowl of soup . Her eyes helplessly travelled to Sulaaymaan who was staring hard at his own helping . She truly loved soups and appetizers but it was impossible to finish it if it were served in a large mixing bowl .

When Queen Basmah hurriedly went to fetch some spoons which she had forgotten , Afra softly whispered to Sulaaymaan.

"How are we to finish this ?"

Sulaaymaan smiled weakly and gulped hard .

"All I can say is she's going to be scary if we'll try to pull out anything in this matter ."

She bit her lip hard and heard Queen Basmah shuffle down into her seat a few minutes later . She handed each one their spoon and everyone chanted a prayer loudly before digging into the food .

Afra was positive she couldn't finish it . But until the second the liquid caressed the insides of her parched mouth , she hadn't taken notice of the empty feeling in her stomach which growled hard and created some odd sounds and feel .

The aroma hit her nose a little later and she had never been more blown away by seeing and smelling delicious warm and homecooked food .

A few minutes passed by as everyone ate in silence . However she in particular hadn't even realized when her own bowl had been finished more than half within mere moments .

Her mind drifted apart to the several hungry children suffering around the world . Irrespective of their religions , gender , age , status , positions and nationality , they were humans .

Like her .

And they had the same senses as her.

What could they do in times of hunger ?

Vivid images of children with their skins sunken in and the emphasised bones underneath played like a movie in her head .

And in that moment , her hand shook and the spoon clattered to the table .

All eyes lifted up from their bowls to her .

She blinked away the tears that had unknowingly gathered in her eyes . When she did look up to face Queen Basmah , she tried to smile the widest.

"Are you alright Habibti ?"

"I...um , I just feel very sick all of a sudden - "

Her eyes very casually diverted to Sulaaymaan whose skin had grown paler and his eyes were laced with such profound worry that she was forced to hold up her hands to reassure him .

"No no no no ! I'm very fine Alhumdulillah , just extremely shaken up and I don't think I have that much of an appetite ."

She smiled at both of them whose faces didn't seem to buy her story . When their eyes did turn away a few minutes after examining her , she relaxed a little .

"Habibti , are you - "

Afra felt horrible that they were dwelling on it to such an extent that their faces were drained of any colour .

"Please do take care . Afra you better not hesitate to ask us for help if you'd need any ."

She nodded and smiled , watching as the Queen's eyes rested on her for another few seconds after which she shifted her gaze .

"Please take care . We'll see you later alright ?"

Sulaaymaan smiled , albeit without meeting her gaze . She found him play around with his food and grudgingly swallow a spoonful of it .

She wiped a tear that had been stuck to her eyelashes .

Sulaaymaan could bet that something had gone disastrously wrong during lunch . For the most part Afra had been - very happy and jolly - until about lunch .

What had triggered her unhappiness he obviously didn't know but he had not missed the tears that were lingering around her lower lash line .

And for that exact reason , he didn't know if he should go ahead and knock on her door to let her know of the guests who had come or just let it slide off .

He groaned and hung his head low .

"Should I or not ?"

"What if I'm disturbing her ?"

He raked a hand through his hair and regretted not washing it that morning like he was supposed to . Atleast he could have had cleaner hair for a few days . It was going to be miserably excruciating with a full injured arm .

With a few minutes of composing himself , he knocked two times on her door . The tension was irrevocably making his head spin . Especially since he hadn't had the time to be precise .

When the lock clicked open , he jolted straighter and held his other hand carefully .

"Sorry for the delay . I was - "

She sounded weak and sickly . It looked like she was hardly able to carry herself on her legs .

"No no ! That's no problem at all ."

His observant eyes couldn't miss how her abaya was soaked at her abdomen and the puffiness that had wearied her eyes .

"I....they've arrived you know . Remember those people I talked to you about ?"

At first she searched him for a more accurate answer but her eyes widened a few seconds as she recalled .

"Oh , okay . They're already here ? Thank you so much for letting me know . "

She babbled , the excitement in her voice very strained but still present .

"But , are you sure you want to come along ?"

She glimpsed at him and found him looking down upon her for an answer .

"Yeah of course ! I wouldn't miss out on cool technical stuff ."

Sulaaymaan eyes gazed in mere confusion for less than a second before breaking into a large smile .

"That's very nice of you . You're very brave ma shaa Allah ."

She didn't look at him but mumbled a soft reply .

"Jazak'Allahu Qairan Katheeran ."

As they walked along , silence fell upon them . He didn't know what else to talk about . Besides walking around with an injury was already using up most of her energy . He didn't want to waste anything else that was left .

He loved moments like those . The times when she would let him humbly walk by her side and grace his life with her marvellous presence . He cherished the silence that held more conversation between them than when they would engage in talking .

Her graceful personality enlightened his path and the silence that she normally resorted to told more about her than when she talked .

She was a unique gem .

A gem Allah had very unbelievably blessed him with .

Even if she would never accept him as her life partner , he knew she would always live in his heart . So he wouldn't mind it if she wouldn't like him by her side .

Because in the end , what mattered was the memories they'd created . And along the way — much to his surprise — they had lived through a lot of incidents .

But for the most part , they'd been together through thick and thin .

And she didn't seem to mind that he was by her side. 

Protecting her was his only concern .

When they walked into the living room , a small group of men were chatting formally and studying the place whist being seated .

They were working on different plans that could go in accordance with the place .

When Sulaaymaan became visible , with Afra a few steps behind , everyone stood to their feet and bowed their heads slightly .

Sulaaymaan waited patiently until Afra scurried to his side and looked up at the men .

"Gentlemen meet Miss Afra . She's a guest here and quite interestingly she would love to accompany us all ."

Afra's eyes skimmed through the men standing erect with their hands behind their backs smiling at her .

She was about to greet them all with a small bow of her head when her eyes fell upon somebody staring at her peculiarly .

"Faaris !"

Afra could not believe her sight .

Of all the people she could have seen , it was Faaris . The occurrences that had taken place in the last few weeks were too burdening . She had yearned for her family , Inaya and Hafsa and her cousins . Several times she had sat down with her phone only to have it thrown back into the cupboard .

She wanted to let go of all of this and cry in someone's arms .

It was all too painful to take along any longer .

Hot tears collected into her eyes and streamed down her face as Faaris jogged closer to her .

"Afra ?"

His concerned voice made her cup her mouth from over her niqaab and shudder with muffled cries .

"Afra....— "

He rubbed her back as she lent into his shoulder and cried loudly .

Faaris wasn't her mahram . Neither was she his . But he was the only family member who had walked into the premises without her consent .

She had been trying hard . So hard to not let her family get to her by cutting contact with them . She knew she wouldn't be able to control her cries  if her family's voice rang in her ears .

"Shhhhh..... Habibti , it's alright ."

He kept comforting her , ignorant to the stares from everyone who were quite weirded out to have been a part of an emotional reunion . Nevertheless , they remained silent and respected the two . 

"Habibti , it's all going to work out . I don't know what you've been going though , but you'll be alright . You're strong . You're brave . And that's the reason Allah put you to the test you're going through ."

She nodded and stepped away , keeping her head down as she wiped her tears away .

They stood silently with Faaris peering down at her with admiration while she sniffed and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief he handed her .

"Faaris , what........are you doing here ?"

He shrugged .

"We've been called here for some inspection to be done ."

She blinked in his direction , her eyes moving across the members who had welcoming smiles on their faces as her eyes skimmed through them .

Wrapping the shawl around her tighter , she stepped aside and shifted her gaze to her feet .

The environment in the room had suddenly drifted from comfortable to weird as everyone stayed silent .

After a few agonizing minutes , Sulaaymaan stepped forward and looked at Afra sadly .

"Hmm..are you alright Miss Afra ? Would you like to go take rest ?"

She took a deep breath and looked at them all , before fixing her eyes back on Sulaaymaan .

"I'm alright . Let's proceed please ."

She spoke quietly , not meeting his gaze .

Sulaaymaan inspected her for a second longer and turned around .

"Very well then . Let's start off ."

One of the men — with dark eyes and a crooked smile
—  held out his hand and ushered everyone to take a seat .

Afra hesitantly clambered on to the couch , feeling a dull ache in the back of her head .

"I'm Aasiq and the head of this team ."

He paused and slightly bowed his head . Afra noticed Sulaaymaan look at her every moment from her peripheral vision . It was getting her nervous and anxious for no reason and once she mistakenly gazed right into his eyes and was so shocked that she thought her heart had stopped beating .

But he still wouldn't keep sneaking glimpses at her .

"As per the incidents mentioned to us , I'd like to point out that this house has been most probably under strict surveillance . Also , we did shut down the PD-1 in case you were wondering what had happened of that ."

He spoke loudly , waving his hand around while walking up and down the hall .

Afra recalled the instrument . She did not think they'd have already dealt with that object as well . The name for a hearing instrument was strange though .

"With that out of the way , I won't be discussing any plans openly . Just follow the members of my team and me . We'll explain things on the way in shaa Allah ."

She diverted her gaze through Sulaaymaan and everyone else .

For some odd reason , she wanted to actually learn more about Sulaaymaan .  It was so heart clenching to see that the man who had been trying so hard to protect her against all wrong had himself been the victim of a gruesome crime .

She was sure about her assumptions regarding him .

She still didn't know much about him . But she bet that there were multiple underlying layers of torment he was concealing .

All she had witnessed were a few accidents . From being molested to being pierced by a glass shred , she had seen only a fraction of the real crimes .

She shook her head to clear it out of her mind , not wanting to open herself to that pain again .

As she did that , her eyes squinted at the plaster that ran along the entire length of Sulaaymaan's arms .

"— and we might need to make sure we have ourselves armed . Of course , with vases and knives if possible . We can't say when we might be attacked from the back. "

Afra froze as Sulaaymaan's eyes caught hers as she was about to divert her focus . He gazed for a few seconds into her eyes and his lips cracked into a gentle smile .

She nodded her head curtly and attempted to smile , but all her lips did were quiver .

"Shall we get moving then ?"

Afra turned her gaze at the man as he scurried past the couches towards the hallway leading to the kitchen .

The other men took to their mission and rummaged in huge black bags , pulling out outrageous equipments and setting them on the ground .

She stood up slowly in , knowing that it would take her a few struggled seconds before the piercing pain would subside and she could walk around .

As Sulaaymaan walked to her side , she wrapped her arms across her abdomen .

"Are you alright ?"

She forced a smile and kept examining the men as they worked around without a stop .

When she did look up to face him in the eye , she could make out that he would take nothing except the truth as an answer .

"Why do you care so much Sulaaymaan ? Just take care of yourself . I'll be fine ."

She let down her arms and wriggled her fingers , moving her head around and trying to lookout for a distraction .

When she didn't get an answer from him but instead felt his gaze piercing into her side , she turned over cautiously and peeked a glance through her lashes .

"If only you knew how much you mean to me ."

His voice was slow and his gaze lay fixed into her eyes , until she herself turned around , unable to control the erratic beating of her heart .

« Assalaamualaikum Princesses ❤ .

I'm so very sorry for the late update . ❤ . Please forgive me .

And I hope you're all doing well .

I love you all a lot . I genuinely do ! ❤ . Hopefully you're all enjoying the book up to this point because things are about to take a turn for the worst now . ;) .

❤ .

I literally love you all so so much . I don't know where I'd be without each and everyone of you . ❤.

Take care darlings .

Loads of love ,
Me ;) »