Deceptive Glitters ✅

Chapter 46: Panic Attack

I just couldn't wait till morning, who's awake?

Fahad walked into the Shaheed’s dim lit apartment, the occupant was asleep if the pin drop silence meant anything, he didn’t bother turning any lights on as he slowly walked to the bedroom opposite Shaheed’s own, he was exhausted and sleep was what he needed.

He tossed the tie that he carelessly threw around his neck when he returned from the hospital, he proceeded to remove the suit jacket he’d almost forgotten in the car then walked to the bathroom for a much needed hot shower, though scorching hot showers weren’t his thing, he found he needed a skin numbing bath to be able to sleep.

He changed into a pair of sweats and a light t-shirt then settled in the king sized bed, he wasn’t a fan of large things but having grown up with everything big, he’d gotten used to it. His phone has been blinking with incoming messages and missed calls, he hadn’t bothered to check most of them, only opening work related ones, besides most of them just wanted gossip and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with humans, much less nosy ones.

Their family PR relations manager asked if they were going to make a comment on the rumors of Huda being rushed to the hospital because they were live on instagram when she had the attack, he replied with no. He didn’t want to expose her to that much publicity. That was a part of living in Australia that he definitely hadn’t miss, the media and tabloids would drive a person to suicide.

He replied to some of the people he thought were important enough and wouldn’t go running to the press with news, when a text at the bottom caught his eyes, he scrolled and tapped the name, his lips involuntarily curved at the sides, it was nothing special just a straight forward message, even if he hadn’t seen the name he would’ve been able to tell who it was. It read;

Hey, hope Huda is fine now, may Allah grant her quick shifa.

He checked the time, half past two, if it was Layla he would’ve called, she rarely slept at night, after deliberating for a minute he replied with a simple, are you awake?

He didn’t know why but since he couldn't sleep he realized it was better than being left to his thoughts, they were threading on dangerous grounds, instead of a reply his phone rang which shocked him a bit, but she was Layla’s friend and they had to have things in common right, she has been surprising him the past week if he was being honest with himself, spending time with her, he’d seen a glimpse of the person he’d heard about before whatever it was that happened to her and he decided he liked the sassy sarcastic one more over the rigid always looking over my shoulder (literally) one he’d met in Abuja.

“Are you awake?” her voice came, soft and firm with a tinge of a smile.

“Yes.” It came out throaty which, he cleared his throat and tried again, it sounded more like him.

“How is Huda?”

“She is fine, probably binge watching the originals.”

“In the hospital?” he heard the surprise in her voice.

“No, she was discharged.” She replied with o, after a minute of awkward silence he called her name, “Can you tell me about your sisters?” he told himself it was a perfectly normal question, he couldn’t sleep and what better way to distract himself than by having someone tell him a story, he would’ve asked anybody, if it was Shaheed he would’ve asked the same, he nodded to himself, perfectly normal.