When Fire Meets Ice - Completed.

95. E L A T I O N

A H A D

FLASHBACK - Five days ago, the phone call

Just as Kaif was about to exit, my phone buzzed from the table. He halted with a small chuckle, turning to me with brows raised in question.

I looked at the phone, reading the caller ID out, "Asim."

"I'll have to stay then," he said, walking back to sit back in front of me.

Receiving the phone, the silence felt unexpectedly heavy as Asim didn't start speaking. My heart picked an abnormal rhythm as I started, "Hello?"

"Bhai, where are you?"

That urgency alarmed me more than I cared to admit. Swallowing, my gaze met Kaif's equally concerned one briefly as I replied, "At the farmhouse, why?"

"Bhabhi?" He then asked, making me frown further. I replied, "In the room."

"I wanted to tell you something. We have found someone in one of Haamid's houses in the outskirts."

"Who?" I asked, my mind rushing to think of possibilities, but failing.

There was a beat of silence before his voice came through, "Samra aunty."

Samra aunty? I blanked out for a good whole minute.

Who- Oh shit.

My breath caught in my throat and I looked up instantly at Kaif. He was just as stunned, my eyes wide as the revelation refused to settle in.

"What are you even saying?" My voice was a breathless whisper, disbelief lacing my tone.

Asim sighed under his breath, then explained, "We don't know anything more. The men found her and informed us, and when I saw, I didn't recognize her for a moment... but then I understood."

Ya Allah.

When I stayed quiet, utterly speechless, he added, "See if you can prepone your arrival here, this is messed up."

And as his words settled in slowly, it felt like the floor had been snatched from beneath my feet. My head snapped up, eyes wide as I found Kaif already clutching his hair, curses slipping past his lips.

This wasn't possible.

"I'll send you the details, tell me when you decide to leave."

.

.

PRESENT DAY, morning 8:29 a.m.

"You haven't told Bhabhi yet?" Asim asked as we got into the car and started the engine.

The car moved swiftly, my gaze fixed on the dashboard. "Not yet."

"But it's confirmed," he added, my head moving in a nod before I replied, "Yes, but we'll need Mumma here before I tell her. Can't make her go through the same shock twice."

"It'll be hard for her."

I exhaled heavier than usual, nodding tightly. "Very hard."

And she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve mourning for her mother for years, only to know she had been alive all along.

"How did it happen? Was she under Haamid's captivity?"

Asim took a turn into narrower roads now as he began explaining everything to me. "Her condition is weak, and when we found her, she was alone in that place which was locked from the outside. When we looked more into it, we found out that Haamid had kept her there with a caretaker. We looked for the caretaker, but I think she fled when she found out that Haamid was ambushed."