Chapter 51 #8
Every few minutes, her eyes drifted towards the window, searching the darkness outside as though she could somehow see him returning.
She didn't know why she was waiting. Perhaps she simply needed to know that he was home. Then her phone lit up.
A single message appeared on the screen.
~ Will be late.
It was from Zaviyar.
Safiya stared at the words for a few seconds before letting out a quiet sigh. She placed the phone beside her and returned to her work, opening her files once again.
Sleep wasn't coming anytime soon. Not after everything that had happened. Not after seeing what Zaviyar was capable of.
And certainly not while he was still somewhere out there, carrying a gun and walking willingly into danger.
Safiya jolted awake, her eyes immediately sweeping across the room as she pushed herself upright.
She had fallen asleep on the bed without even realizing it, exhaustion finally catching up with her in the middle of her work.
Her laptop still lay open beside her, the files scattered around it exactly as she had left them.
Yet, despite the heavy sleep that had dragged her under, something felt wrong. There was a strange tightness settling into her muscles, an instinctive unease she couldn't quite put a name to.
She reached for her phone and checked the time. Almost two in the morning. Her throat felt painfully dry, and when she reached for the jug beside the bed, she found it empty.
" They gave me juice but forgot to give me water. ", she rolled her eyes.
With a quiet sigh, she slipped out of bed and walked towards the door, deciding to get some water downstairs.
She descended the staircase slowly, her attention only half on where she was going as she aimlessly scrolled through her phone.
The house was unusually silent at this hour, every faint sound seeming louder in the stillness.
Then she heard a voice. Safiya slowed.
It was Waqas. He was stepping out of the storeroom while speaking on the phone, his back turned towards her. Her brows furrowed slightly. She hadn't expected anyone to be awake, let alone Waqas. What was he even doing herw. She was about to call out to him when another figure approached him.
Shabana.
"Ma'am so gayi hain ab. Jaldi uthengi bhi nahi." , Safiya stopped dead.
(Ma'am is asleep now. She won't wake up anytime soon.)
Her eyes narrowed when she saw Shabana slip a medicine strip into Waqas's hand. Waqas glanced at it before giving a small nod.
"Ma'am ke kamre ke bahar rehna. Zaviyar Sir ne kaha hai unka theek se khayal rakha jaye.", Shabana nodded quickly before hurrying away.
(Stay outside ma'am's room. Zaviyar Sir wants her to be taken care of properly.)
Safiya immediately stepped back into the shadows of the hallway, pressing herself against the wall as she watched them. Her pulse had begun to quicken.
A moment later, another man approached.
"Waqas bhai, Sir bula rahe hain.", Waqas nodded, then casually handed the medicine strip to the man.
(Brother Waqas, Sir is calling you.)
" Get rid of it. ", The man barely looked at it before tossing the strip towards the pile of discarded things near the storeroom.
Safiya's stomach twisted.
For a few seconds, she remained frozen, her mind desperately trying to convince her that she had misunderstood what she had seen.
But the uneasiness in her chest only grew stronger. She glanced around the empty hallway before slowly making her way towards the discarded strip.
She bent down and picked it up. Her fingers tightened around it.
Then, after one last glance over her shoulder, she carefully pushed open the storeroom door.
Darkness greeted her.
Safiya swallowed hard as she stepped inside.
The room smelled of old wood and dust, and the darkness seemed to stretch far deeper than it should have.
For one irrational moment, she half expected a ghost to emerge from somewhere in the shadows.
She almost laughed at herself, but the sound of Waqas's voice from somewhere nearby instantly killed the thought.
She froze. Footsteps approached.
Safiya quickly ducked behind an old sofa, crouching low as she held her breath. Through the narrow gap beneath it, she watched Waqas emerge from another doorway.
Another doorway. Her eyes widened. She had never seen it before.
The realization struck her a second later. The large almirah that stood against the wall had always concealed that particular section of the room. She had never once suspected there was a door hidden behind it.
Safiya waited until Waqas disappeared through the storeroom entrance. The moment she was certain he was gone, she cautiously pulled out her phone and searched the name printed on the medicine strip.
The page loaded painfully slowly. Her heart pounded harder with every passing second as the internet connection weakened. She glanced towards the door.
Nothing.
The search still hadn't fully loaded. With no time to waste, she slipped the phone and medicine strip into her pocket before lowering herself onto her hands and knees.
She began crawling towards the exit from behind the sofa, keeping herself as low as possible so that anyone entering the room wouldn't be able to spot her. She was almost there when footsteps sounded again.
Waqas.
Safiya's blood ran cold.
She immediately ducked her head and rolled beneath the sofa, biting back a gasp as dust and dirt coated her clothes.
She squeezed herself into the cramped space, trying not to breathe too loudly.
Her only concern now was avoiding the very real possibility of finding a cockroach or spider crawling beside her.
Waqas walked back into the room.Safiya stayed perfectly still.
She could hear his footsteps, each one seeming impossibly loud in the silence. She waited until the sound gradually faded, and only then did she slowly crawl out from beneath the sofa.
Her hands trembled as she followed the same path Waqas had taken. The hidden doorway stood before her.
Safiya hesitated for only a moment before stepping through it.
A long, narrow passage stretched ahead of her, swallowed almost entirely by darkness. She moved carefully, her hands held close to herself as she walked deeper inside, every instinct screaming at her to turn back.
Then she saw it. A thin sliver of light escaped from beneath a door farther down the passage. Safiya stopped.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Someone was inside.
She stood outside the door, frozen in place, while the narrow gap between the broken wooden panels gave her an unobstructed view of the room beyond.
Several men were kneeling on the floor, their heads hanging low, their bodies battered so badly that some could barely keep themselves upright.
The dim light caught the dark stains spread across the floor beneath them, and Safiya's stomach twisted at the sight. Her eyes slowly travelled further into the room until they stopped on Waqas, whose broad back concealed someone standing behind him.
Something in her chest tightened. She didn't need to see his face to know-zaviyar.
Yet the man she was looking at felt nothing like the man she had fallen in love with.
" Sir, madam is sleeping peacefully. We can start now. ", Waqas stepped aside after Zaviyar gave a silent nod.
"Bring the doctor forward.", His voice was low and gruff, stripped of the warmth Safiya had grown accustomed to hearing whenever he spoke to her. It was the voice of a stranger.
"Monitor my wife's vitals. The dose of medicine you prescribed, how long will the effect last?"
"Sir, ma'am ko dawa ke asar ka bilkul pata nahi chalega. Subah tak woh bilkul theek aur taaza mehsoos kareingi.", Zaviyar nodded before lowering himself onto a wooden chair. He looked almost unnervingly calm as he motioned for the guards to bring one of the men forward.
(Sir, madam will not even know about the medicine's effects. By morning, she will feel completely fine and refreshed.)
"You were supposed to make sure the route was clear-"
"S-sir, th-they-"
The crack of the gunshot cut through the room before the man could finish.
His body fell backwards, lifeless.
Safiya's hand flew to her mouth.
"Traitors don't get to speak.", Zaviyar's gun shifted towards the next man with terrifying ease.
"Why was my wife's side left unguarded?"
The man barely had time to lift his head before a machete was thrown across the room.
'a freaking machete'
Safiya stumbled backwards, her entire body trembling as she stared at the bloodied scene before her. Her breathing became shallow, her heart pounding violently against her ribs.
No. This couldn't be him.
This couldn't be the same man who had held her when she cried. The same man whose presence had once made her feel safe. The same man she had, despite every reason not to, fallen hopelessly in love with.