Operation: Dard and Devotion

23 | Ludicrous & Languish

"This is the stupidest idea I've ever agreed to do in my entire life."

Ahsan grunted as I pulled down the ends of the abaya on him. It was nearly the crack of dawn and he made sure the other militants were sound asleep. Ahsan insisted upon wearing his militant clothing underneath the abaya no matter how much I implored that he shouldn't.

"Considering there is no other alternative," I said, struggling with trying to tug the abaya down until it touched the floor. "Deal with it."

Furthermore, he refused to pull off his balaclava and actually brought in a black khimar and a niqab to conceal his identity even further.

"Ahsan, do you have any idea how hot it will be for you if you're wearing so many layers?"

"What do you care? I'm the one wearing all this, not you," he snapped, already looking rather uncomfortable.

"Fine, whatever. Have it your way." I rolled my eyes, shrugging. After I adjusted the khimar under his chin, I grabbed the ends of the niqab, tied it at the back of his head, over his balaclava, so that only his eyes were shown, and took a few steps back to inspect the newfound masterpiece. Saad curiously gazed at the new stranger in the room.

"What the hell are you staring at?" He growled, glaring at Saad and I both.

"You, obviously." I eyed him up and down, and grinned at Saad, who seemed to understand my amusement. "You know, I have an unbelievably strong urge to call you Ahsana."

"Really?" Ahsana's eyes went cold. "That's funny because I have an unbelievably strong desire to cancel this trip altogether."

"What!" I paused, expecting to see his frigid expression transform, but he was being serious. "No, no," I pleaded. "Gosh, fine. I'll stop teasing you." Under my breath, I added, "Freaking drama queen."

"I heard that."

"Glad to know that your ears are functioning properly," I said, plastering a fake smile on my face. Rolling my eyes, I scooped up Saad. "Okay, can we go now?"

"With him? Nope."

"Are you serious?" I stared at him in disbelief. "Why don't you ever let me take him anywhere?"

"Because he only brings trouble," Ahsan hissed. "If we can't control him if he decides to cry, people are gonna come up to us to see what's going on and then they'll find out something is suspicious because a man's voice is coming from beneath an abaya!"

"Or, you can let me do the talking - that is, if anyone even approaches us - and you can pretend to be mute." My eyebrows rose. "You really thought way too far ahead."

"You can never be too careful."

"I see what you mean, but we can't leave him here either." I gazed at Saad sadly as he calmly rested his head under my chin.

"Yes, we can. Follow me." He abruptly turned on his heel. Before I could warn him that he stepped on the bottom edge of the abaya, he tripped directly into the door and grabbed the knob, holding on for dear life.

I suppressed my chuckles. "You alright there?"

"Shut up." He slammed the door open, silently demanding that I follow him.

Ahsan remembered to be more careful and picked up the ends of the abaya while he walked as a female would. I trailed behind him, grateful that I could laugh without being caught. After a few minutes and a number of passageways, he stopped in front of a discretely hidden door that blended with the rest of the wall. Ahsan sharply rapped his knuckles against the door three times when someone opened it, cautiously poking their head through.