Not All Weddings Turn into Fairytales.

Chapter 14

Rameen

I heard the voices around me before I opened my eyes. There were more than two people, and I could not understand what they were speaking. I tried opening my eyes, but my eyelids felt heavy.

"I think she is gaining consciousness," a female voice spoke.

I tried again and opened my eyes after trying a little harder and came face to face with Rushna leaning over me.

"Mia, are you okay?" She asked, looking at me with concern.

I gave her a lazy smile and tried to understand what was happening. I looked around the room in search of Waleed, and my eyes landed on the man standing leaning against the wall.

Leonardo.

His eyes were fixed on me, and the moment they met mine, I felt a shiver run down my spine. His obsidian orbs were regarding me with terrifying intensity. His brows were furrowed, and his jaw was clenched. I tried diverting my eyes from his, but his intense gaze held me.

We kept looking at each other as the other people in the room fussed around me. A few more silent moments passed between us, with our eyes locked. My mind was completely wiped out, and I was still trying to remember what had happened, but Leonardo's gaze stopped me from thinking anything else.

I couldn't understand what it was in his gaze that I felt a connection to him at that moment. The revelation shocked me, but I couldn't deny that I was not unaffected by his piercing gaze. It was like he was seeing through me and was opening up a part of him to me.

"Did any of you reach Waleed?" I heard Rushna's voice.

The moment I heard Waleed's name, I snapped out of the trance that Leonardo had put me into. I remembered the events before I had passed out with a flash of lightning in my mind.

Waleed was in our hotel, Sapphire Bay, in Singapore, where the bomb blast had occurred. I felt a sudden constriction in my chest.

"Is there any news about him?" I asked Shahwar, standing at the foot of the bed with one of the guests.

"We are trying, but his cell isn't reachable at the moment," Shahwar replied.

I sat on the bed with a jerk and looked around for my phone. Rushna understood what I was looking for and handed me my cell. I searched for the number of the hotel in my contact list and dialed it. The call didn't go through. Maybe the blast had affected the telecom services.

Next, I dialed Waleed's cell, which showed out of network. My heart sank. Why was his cell coming out of the coverage area? I didn't want to imagine anything beyond it.

"Can you turn on the television?" I asked Rushna, she nodded and did as I had asked her.

Shahwar and the other men were busy calling their contacts in Singapore to get any first-hand information. Rushna and the two other ladies, along with her, started comforting me, asking me to keep faith in Allah. I started praying for Waleed, trying to call a few other hotel employees whose numbers I had in my cell.

The bedroom door opened, and Ahad and Abeer walked in along with Maria, who was holding Abdullah in her arms. The moment my eyes fell on my kids, my resolve broke. They were too young, and they needed Waleed. They would need their father in every step of their life. Fate can't be so cruel to them. It can't take away their father from them.

I spread my arms, and they both ran and slipped into mine. I held them tightly in my arms, trying to stop my tears. How much Waleed loved them, he had even planned out their whole lives. My tears slipped out of my eyes and traveled down my cheeks, and got absorbed into Ahad and Abeer's hair. They both hugged me from each side.