Dark Secrets ✔️

Chapter 14

Afrah's POV

"You should eat." Junaid tells me since I was just sat down and looking at him, ignoring the plate of food right in front of me.

"What's this place? Why are we here?...Don't you think I deserve some answers? This is not part of the contract anymore so you have to tell me what's going on, " I ask him once again and he just sighs without saying a word.

"She's right. She deserves answers." Marcus says, appearing in the kitchen, "This is my house. There was an incident at the hotel and I decided we should move in here." Marcus explains.

"What incident?"

"Thieves invaded the place and murdered the receptionist when she refused to cooperate." Marcus answers and I look at him wide-eyed.

"Marcus that's enough." Junaid stops him.

"She said she wanted to know." Marcus says looking at me. " If she can't understand that certain things are better to be left unknown, we should teach her." Marcus says and I see the same arrogant and heartless Marcus that I had seen on my interview day.
"But yes, I think it is enough. We're lucky we weren't there at the time."

"Lucky? Do you call that luck? I feel bad for all those people." I put my hand on my chest imagining how devastated their family members might be feeling. Just like when I lost my parents unexpectedly.

Disaster after disaster. What is going on? Wherever I am, something bad happens to someone. Although it has nothing to do with me, it still scares me.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you." Junaid looks at me.

That's when I remember the car that I saw before entering Junaid's car. The black Civic Honda with the tinted windows. The car was right behind us and started driving the moment Junaid started as well. I thought it was a coincidence but now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't.

"Is that why the car was following us? I saw it when we were leaving and he started his car as soon as we left. He was following us because we came from the hotel right? That's why you were accelerating." I think out loud, sharing my thoughts with Junaid.

"You guys were followed?!!" Marcus asks in a surprised tone.

"It was a coincidence, I'm sure they weren't following us." Junaid tells me.

"I know you felt it too. You kept looking at the rearview mirror as you accelerated. The only car close behind was the black Civic Honda. Whenever you accelerated, he accelerated too."

"This is more dangerous than we thought." Marcus says to Junaid, "Did he follow you guys here too?"

"No. I managed to lose him." Junaid answers.

"This is a safe house. We can't afford to let them know where we are." Marcus continues, his voice almost shaking.

"They don't know where we are. Now both of you need to calm down." Junaid gets up and walks out of the kitchen.

"Do you know the man who was following us?" I ask Marcus, "You said 'he', and you also said 'they'. Who are the people that are behind us? Are they that dangerous that we need to stay in a 'safe house'?" My questions were too many but I stopped there because he didn't seem like he was willing to answer any one of them.

"Just eat. Your things are already upstairs, third room to your left." He informs and leaves the kitchen.

These people are so arrogant. I was beginning to like Marcus, but he now seems as annoying as Junaid. No wonder they're friends. In fact, they seem closer than friends.

And one thing is completely off about this whole story. Marcus never told me he was Canadian, yet he's got a full house in here. I wanted to go behind either one of them and get my answers but I was too hungry to do that. It's not as if they would answer my questions anyways.

After I was done eating, I go to the room that Marcus indicated me to and do my wudhu to pray Maghrib salah. At least in between all this mess that is my life, there's still prayer to make me forget all my problems for a couple of minutes.

I haven't spoken to my brother since last night. He hasn't called me either. He never stays a day without calling me. Why is he taking too long today?

I grab my phone and call him, but as I expected he did not answer. He was at work right now. I didn't want to disturb Aidah, making her think that me and my brother were in bad terms again. I didn't agree to live with him and his wife to cause them trouble. So I should just let her be and keep my business and my brother's between us only.

I am only waiting for Isha salah to then throw myself in bed and have a rest after this tiring day. While I wait, I decide to read some Qur'an on my phone since I didn't bring a Qur'an with me. My brother made sure I never deviated from the path of Allah, no matter how difficult it was for him, himself. He knew my parents would want me to keep my faith, and that's what my brother did. While teaching himself, he taught me too. I only started wearing the hijab after my parents passed away. He did not force me, he only encouraged me.

Once it was time to pray Isha, I performed the prayer and wore my pyjamas to then lay on the bed and finally have some sleep. The flight would be at 9 am tomorrow. I am glad that Junaid allowed us a day off for the day we arrive. So tomorrow I would go straight home after reaching London.

My phone beeps and it was a message from Saniya. She was asking about my trip. I don't remember telling her, but I guess my brother did.

Why can't I sleep? I have been sleepy the whole day and now that I am ready to sleep, I can't sleep. How frustrating.

I remember the time I was in the car with Junaid and I had a flashback of a little girl in a car with three other people. She was afraid because they were being followed. Am I really imaging things, or are these flashbacks of things that happened to me in the past? Then if they are really real flashbacks, why do I keep seeing the same girl in every one of them? Is that girl me? Why can I not even remember myself? I was ten years old, it's not like I was a little kid back then. Why am I so clueless about these memories? I am tired of always being the one with the questions unanswered. I should just forget every weird encounter and ignore all flashbacks from now on.