My dark soul✨

Chapter-38 THE FLIGHT BACK

Saud's POV – The Flight Back

The airport was bustling with movement, but Saud barely registered the noise around him. His mind was elsewhere, tangled in the mess he was returning to.

He had barely packed—just threw a few things into his bag, booked the earliest flight, and left. He didn't care about anything else. Right now, all that mattered was getting back.

As he handed over his passport at the check-in counter, his phone buzzed again. Uzair.

For a moment, he considered ignoring it. But then, with a clenched jaw, he answered.

"Saud—"

"Why didn't you stop her?" His voice was dangerously low, his patience threadbare.

Uzair sighed. "You think she listened to anyone? She thinks this is the only way."

Saud let out a sharp breath, frustration clawing at his chest. "And you just let her believe that?"

"You weren't here," Uzair shot back. "I tried! We all did. She didn't want to risk losing everything. She thought she had no choice."

Saud closed his eyes for a brief second. "She always has a choice."

"Maybe she would have waited if you had told her something—anything," Uzair muttered.

That made Saud pause.

Something tightened in his chest. What was he supposed to tell her? That he would've stopped her? That he wouldn't have let her marry Ahad? That—what?

That he wanted her for himself?

He forced the thought away.

"I'm on my way," he said instead, voice hard.

"Saud—"

"I'll fix this."

And with that, he cut the call, stuffing his phone into his pocket as he grabbed his boarding pass.

He was going home.

And this time, he wouldn't be too late.
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Amirah's POV – A Decision Made

Amirah sat on the edge of her bed, staring at her trembling hands. The weight of her decision settled deep in her chest, suffocating, but she forced herself to breathe.

It's done.

She had said yes.

There was no turning back now.

The room was quiet, but inside her head, everything was loud—rushing thoughts, whispered regrets, unspoken words she could never take back.

She had waited. Hoped.

Maybe, just maybe, he would come. That he would stop this, tell her she wasn't alone, that she had another way.

But Saud wasn't coming.

She let out a shaky breath, blinking rapidly. She should have known better. Saud never saw her the way she saw him. He was always distant, always pulling away before she could get close enough to understand what he truly felt.

And now? Now he was in another country, living his life, while hers was being decided for her.

This is for the best.

She told herself that, over and over. Ahad was helping her. She wouldn't have to leave. She wouldn't have to go back to India, to the life she barely escaped.

Then why did it feel like she was suffocating?

A knock on the door startled her. Kashish peeked in, her eyes soft with something that looked a lot like concern.

"Amirah... it's almost time."

Amirah swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. "I'll be ready."

As Kashish left, she turned back to the mirror, forcing herself to look at the girl staring back at her.

This was reality.

By tonight, she would no longer be just Amirah.

She would be someone's wife.