Once Upon A Lifetime

Chapter Twenty-five ~ Returns and Bad News

Misha's POV~

I pinned my pink and orange ombre hijab into place and looked at myself one more time in the mirror. I was wearing a light pink maxi dress with a white cardigan. Taalia and Aleena had bought this dress for me before my wedding and insisted that I wore it in Brazil. I still couldn't believe it, even though it had been almost two weeks. I was MARRIED to SAQIB and I was in BRAZIL. Things could not get better! When Saqib had showed me the tickets to Rio, I had screamed in joy. I knew it was all Taalia's doing. After all, Brazil was one of our favourite countries ever! I couldn't wait until Taalia got married to Aasim (wink wink) and go to Argentina (another one of our favourite countries). But that all depended on when the doofus named Aasim would at least propose to Taali.

Just then, I heard the door open and turned to find Saqib coming in. I smiled and he smiled back, coming close to me and wrapping his arms around my waist from behind me.

"Morning, hubb (love)." He said, kissing my neck and sending a billion tingles down my body.

"Good morning. Were you able to sort everything out?" I asked. He shook his head and frowned.

"No. Turns out we're leaving a week early." I frowned too. There was going to be a big storm in Rio some time next week and weather alerts were saying it would be too risky to send any planes out. So Saqib and I had to switch our flights back home a week early which I was very disappointed about.

"Oh. Well at least we'll be going back home!" I said trying to lighten the mood. "Oh and don't call your parents or Aasim or anything. I want to surprise them." I grinned. He chuckled.

"Whatever you say. But I probably wouldn't be able to reach Aasim anyway. He's in London, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

After checking out of the beautiful hotel room (I was really going to miss it), we put all of our suitcases in the rental car and head out to enjoy our last day in Rio before going back to our sweet Canada.

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Taalia's POV~

It had been four days since... the incident. Things weren't going so well around here. His parents and brothers were completely heartbroken. My sisters hadn't taken the news so well and Raza was devastated. Misha and Saqib's parents and Misha's brother and sister had at first refused to believe anything we said but soon accepted the sad truth. I had been cooped up in my room ever since. Luckily, a bathroom was connected to my room so I didn't have to go out and face anyone. The only time I got out of bed was to use the bathroom or pray. Other than that, I lay in bed all day staring out my window. I didn't eat anything because nothing was ever appetizing enough for me. My head and chest were always hurting but I didn't do anything about it. It was just so hard to try.

Saqib and Misha would be coming back next week and they would too find out about... him. I know that neither of them would take it well. The four of us grew up together for goodness sake!

I turned to lay on my back and stared up at the ceiling. I looked at the star stickers up there and felt tears in my eyes. He was the one who first showed me those glow in the dark stars. I turned onto my side. But my gaze fell upon the box with his things. I tried to look at something else but instead found the story "Carry Me In Your Arms" lying on the floor. Everything I saw reminded me of him. He was always there but now he was gone. To say I was devastated was an understatement. My whole world was crumbling right before me while I watched the whole thing, not being able to do anything. It was unfair.

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Misha's POV~

I sat beside Saqib on the plane. It was almost midnight and we had just boarded for our flight back to Toronto. I couldn't wait to see Taalia. She was probably going mad without me. I got comfortable in my seat and leaned my head on Saqib's shoulder.

"Had fun, hubb?" Saqib asked. I blushed. It was going to take a while until I got used to him calling me that.

"Yes, a lot Alhamdulillah!" I said. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For giving me the opportunity to come here! And to be with you." He chuckled and kissed my forehead. The flight attendant spoke into a talker at the front of the plane and her voice was heard from the overhead speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to ask you to now fasten your seatbelts, we will be taking off shortly."

Almost eleven hours later we finally landed. I had slept on Saqib's shoulder for most of the ride for which I was guilty for but he insisted it was okay.

After getting off the plane and picking up our baggage, Saqib called for a taxi.

"Do you want to go to your parents place first or mine?" He asked as he and the taxi driver put all of our things in the trunk.

"Can we go to Taalia's house? I have a feeling that they would all be there. It is Friday after all." On Friday's, all of our families would go to Taalia's house so that the men would go to Jumu'a prayer together and all the women would pray Zuhr at Taalia's house. Well, not all Fridays but most.

Saqib nodded and when he put the final bag in, we got into the cab and head for Scarborough.

When Taalia's mom opened the door and found us standing there, she cried out in joy and gave us hugs. She asked why we were home so early and after telling her everything, she lead us to the living room. Sure enough, everyone was there expect for the males. They were all surprised to see us there and they all gave us hugs and kisses, welcoming us back. But there was something off with the atmosphere in the room but I shrugged it off. It was probably nothing.

"Where is Taalia?" I asked her mom. She told me that she was in her room and I hurried up the stairs. "TAALIIIII!" I cried out and bust open her door. She was lying on her bed and when she saw me, her eyes widened.

"What are you doing home so early?" She asked.

"I'll explain later just put on your hijab, Saqib is here too." I grinned. She nodded slightly and moved over to her dresser slowly and wrapped a hijab around her head after tying up her hair. "Umm, Taali? Everything okay?" I asked, moving closer to her. She didn't look at me. I scrunched my eyebrows together and turned her to face me. I noticed that she had grown thinner. Her once full cheeks and sunken in a bit and there were dark circles under her eyes. "Taali? What's wrong?" All of a sudden, she burst into tears and gripped onto me tightly. I kneeled down to the floor with her. "Taalia?! What happened?!" I asked, trying to calm her down.

"A-Aasim-" She sobbed again, not being able to finish her sentence.

"What? What about Aasim?" I asked, panicking.

"He-he's dead!" She cried. I froze, staring at her with wide eyes.

"W-what?" I asked.

"Hi-his plane c-cr-crashed into th-the oc-ean and... and he was on th-that plane and no one... survived!" She sobbed into my chest and I sat there, unable to move.

Aasim... he is... dead?

I felt someone watching us and I turned to the door to find Saqib staring at us with a look that broke my heart. I saw the tears in his eyes slowly slide down his cheeks and watched him collapse to the ground onto his knees. I started crying all together as Taalia pulled away from me, curling up into a ball in the corner of her room and crying. I watched as Saqib gripped his head in his hands and fall to the ground, sobbing quietly. I put my face in my hands and tried to calm down but I couldn't. A million thoughts whirred around my head, causing a headache to arise.

Aasim.

Plane.

Crash.

Ocean.

Dead.

This can't be happening.

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AN: Asalamu Alaikum, everyone! JazakAllah Khayr for reading! I've been doing pretty well with my updates, haven't I? ;) Remember to vote and comment if you likey! ♡♡♡