Her Vocation

26. Mirage

I woke up with a groan to a shooting headache numbing my senses. For a long while, I laid flat on my bed, trying to soothe the hangover, I had gotten from heavy drinking last night after returning from the Nikah ceremony.

I kept drinking through the night and some time after the sun came up, I had dozed off.

Just as my senses started functioning, the first thought that flashed across my mind was of her. Immediately sitting up, I rummaged through the sheets for my phone. As expected, she had not bothered to return any of my calls, but I wasn't going for that. Going through the GPS tracking device, I checked her live location on her phone which showed that she was still home. Feeling reassured, I dropped the phone to my side on the bed only getting up to pop a tylenol into my mouth.

'I'll go apologise to her, tomorrow. Her anger will calm down by then. She must've said all that talk about leaving me in the heat of the moment. I wonder who told her about those killings? Maybe, her Dad? Yeah—must've been him. But I'll clear up the misunderstanding. I'll tell her that I didn't know about it, until afterwards. And if she really was going to leave me then why would she wait until after the nikah to say anything. I know Aasiya. She will forgive me. Just like that time—in the last year of her A-levels.'

"How dare you beat up Huzaifa!! He had only asked to copy my notes—!" She barged into my room, screaming.

"—he deserved it." I returned unfazed without missing a beat. My eyes glued to my phone, the whole while.

"Who the hell gives you the right to interfere in my business—!" She pulled away the phone from my hand and held it away from me. Fuming with suppressed rage, I quirked a brow at her antics and it took me all the self-control to not strangle her.

Saad's younger brother knew people in Huzaifa's friend circle. He had let us know about Huzaifa's bet with some guy; which involved getting Aasiya in his bed before the end of the year—If Saad hadn't managed to restrain me because that shit bag came from a family of means, I would have gladly bashed his head then and there.

"If you think I am going to take your 'sound advice' on dealing with matters like these—then best get rid of that misunderstanding immediately—or I'll have to do it myself—" Seething through clenched teeth, I snatched my phone and got up to walk a few steps away from her. It was becoming harder to deal with Aasiya, these days. Sometimes, I really couldn't make out what went on in that stupid head of hers.

"Hah! I am sure you mean to tell me how bad he is for me—because according to you, Mr. Naveed Suleiman, everyone besides you is an idiot and solely YOU have the toughest job to protect everyone—-but I don't give a damn! Can't you get it through your thickhead that your presence in my life isn't appreciated—?! I can protect myself—without—" She would've kept going on, if I didn't roughly push her down on the bed while coming down on top of her. Propping my one knee between her flailing legs, I singlehandedly restrained her both wrists above her head. Unperturbed by her cries, I tightened my grip on her wrists while she screamed at me to let go.

"Now. Come on—Protect yourself."

My words seemed to paralyse her and immediately she abandoned all attempts to fight back. Her eyes widening in horror as she trembled beneath me; crippling with fear as to how far would I go to prove my point.

"—Navi—p—pl—pleas-e—" She begged through trembling lips, while I looked down at her with contempt. In that moment, I hated her. For making me stoop so low, I could've killed her then and there with my bare hands.