"He's literally perfect, he's steadfast on his deen, has a good relationship with Allah swt, he takes care of his family and parents, he's God-fearing, good-looking, self aware and whatnot what else does one want, Aiman" She squealed with excitement...
"Nothing is hidden from Allah, on Earth or in the heaven" -Al Qur'an, Surah no. 3, verse no. 5
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This was the place, where he had invited me to discuss about the latest deal between our companies. The sun was setting, It was a little past Maghrib time. Mr. Muraad had told me that he couldn't wait for me as he had some stuff to do, but this deal could wait, Maghrib time would be over soon, so I decided to just offer the Fardh (obligatory prayer) right now.
I managed to reach in time. Our company has been trying to get this deal for the last two months and now was the day where he would hand me the papers. This is the first time I'm meeting him directly, I've only seen him in some group meetings with the heads of different companies. I wasn't there when the meetings to plan, convince the projects, or even agree to the deal, happened, I gave this deal to a trusted manager who had been working under me for quite long now, but Mr. Muraad wanted to meet me personally to hand me the papers.
We have never really had a conversation, except a formal hello and how are you. He looked a little evil to me, his face, his smile. The one from the movies, the wicked villains that I hated the most.
None of those stories had a hero that i personally liked. Weren't heroes supposed to be likeable, perfect? I do believe nobody is perfect, but movies weren't reality. They were movies, atleast the heroes should be the best, so that kids would try to be like them. They might not reach the whole, but they will reach some, they will know that reaching a certain level shouldn't bring any arrogance, because at whatever height a person is, he is helpless in front of its Creator and His decisions, and no matter what height one reaches, there's always people who are better. I didn't see any, who were like that. They were all arrogant, although it wasn't as obvious. It could still be seen it. They had a sense of pride in themselves. I never saw them being grateful. Maybe I was observing them too much.
Well, there I saw him sitting on the last table of the restaurant. He looked at me and waved his hand. I felt a little stupid to wave there. So I just smiled, and walked towards his table.
"Hello Mr. Aariz, how have you been?" Mr Muraad greeted, standing from his chair, as soon as I reached his table, I took a seat after shaking his hand that he held out after seeing me.
"Assalamu'alaikum Mr. Muraad, Alhumdulillah, I've been great. What about you? I've heard something bad happened to one of your projects?" I shared the news that reached me this morning.
"Ah yes, Mr Aariz, you know we shouldn't trust others with our work. Nobody is trust-worthy enough for projects like that. Which is why I wanted to hand you these papers directly."
"Hmm, good idea, disasters like this teach us big lessons" I said, as I understood he didn't want to share more about the bad thing that happened, trying to help him end it there.
"Well, what would you like for drinks? Whiskey or beer?" He asked. I let out a little breath "Sorry I don't drink" he looked surprised.
We chatted about our deal and things related to the projects, he soon brought out a contract for us to sign, but one thing caught my attention in the pre-agreed terms and conditions, it stated that Mr. Muraad will share the authority over my companies and property. My face turned into a frown as I looked at him, pointing towards the line that stated that, it wasn't under my knowledge, but had my manager's signs on it. "Excuse me Mr. Muraad, when did this condition get accepted?" I asked.
"Oh, this one, it was proposed in the last meeting. My manager told your men to ask for your consent on this, your side's head of the meeting said you agreed". I let out an audible sigh, now this is too much. I picked my phone up, to call the manager when Mr Muraad said "don't worry Mr Aariz, we can always negotiate, let's not waste this beautiful night in these shitty contracts, if you don't agree with this condition, we can remove it" Mr Muraad said before getting up from his seat, his wine glass was empty now, he told the server to fill it up again. I was sure now this place wouldn't be bearable for me. I took my leave and brought the papers with me. I was kind of shook and angry at that manager, how could he agree to a condition regarding my property and companies without my consent, without even telling me.
Well, I was completely lost in my thoughts, to say the least. And walked out of the restaurant, having no idea where I had parked my car, I looked around for a second having no thoughts in my head. Then I saw it, it was parked across the road.
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My mind was blank when I crossed the road and when I realized it, I was standing right between the road, with two cars coming at me with full speed, side by side, they were so close to just crush my body into unrecognizable bits, they were so close that I could just stretch my hand and touch their headlights.
I had only one thought what should I think of right now?
With so many thoughts my head still felt empty, like something was missing. My brain was running at a very high speed, faster than any of the vehicles around me but it still lacked something and the next second...
