Love for Rent

x Police x

I didn't realize when I fell asleep in Shahzaib's arms. I felt his chest rising and falling slowly under my head. I tried to slightly lift up my head to look at him, but the slightest moment alerted him. He opened his eyes and looked at me to check if I was okay.

'I am fine,' I said before he could even ask. I moved away and checked my phone to look at the time. It was getting late, and I had to talk to Qazi before he did something. I knew a person like him wouldn't keep quiet now that he had seen me.

'I have to go' I hurried to get my bag when suddenly Shahzaib grabbed my wrist and made me turn to face him.

'You can't leave like this. You almost fainted' He secured his hands on my shoulders and made me sit down again. He went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, cookies, and a sandwich.

'Here' He made me eat like I was a kid.

'I can eat' I laughed at him when he cupped my face and made me drink water.

'Seher, I know you can take care of yourself but let me do this,' He said like he was offended.

'Why are you upset?' I touched his hand when he brought the sandwich close to my mouth.

'You know Qazi' He asked me straightforwardly, and I met his eyes that only had concern for me. Did he need to know this? Was I ready to tell him about him? Was this the right time? There was no such time as the right time. I was not ashamed to say to him about most things, so why did I have to keep this a secret?

I nodded. I remember I was young, desperate, and confused. I was blamed and no one believed me. The day that incident happened with Qazi played like a repeat cassette in my head.

I started crying before the words could come out of my mouth.

'What did he do?' Shahzaib leaned towards me and wiped the tears from my face, making me look at him.

'He blackmailed me...' I started. I told him about the video. I told him everything that happened and what my teacher and Qazi had done.

'I didn't know he was like that. I didn't think I'd see him today' I tried to hold back my tears, knowing that person Qazi and others like him didn't deserve these tears. These tears were too precious to waste on worthless people like him, but my heart was hurting. It was becoming hard to keep it all together.

I stared at Shahzaib to see his reaction, I thought he would be upset or get angry, but he was quiet like he was thinking about something.

'Shahzaib?' I said his name, and he finally snapped out of his thoughts and blinked at me.

'You trust me?' He asked me instead, and I gave him a confused glance. What was he talking about?

I nodded regardless, I wasn't sure why he asked me this suddenly.

'Come' He got up from the chair and offered me his hand to take and led me outside. We got inside the car, and he told me everything will be fine. His behavior was strange. I didn't think he'd react like this after I told him.

'You can't do this' I panicked when I saw him stopping right in front of Qazi's studio.

'Wait here,' Shahzaib said in a narrative tone and left me in the car, and he went inside the studio. Of course, I wouldn't listen to him, so I went after him.

'Shahzaib, Shahzaib' I was horrified when I reached inside the studio and saw the whole place was turned upside down, and in the corner, Shahzaib had Qazi by the collar. He was hitting him without realizing that Qazi was already too beaten up to fight him back. Shahzaib was bigger in Qazi, and his hits kept going one after another. No matter how hard I yelled, he didn't stop.

'You are going to kill him,' I touched his shoulder to make him stop.

'I don't care. He deserves to die' He yelled angrily and pushed him to the floor. I looked at Qazi, who wasn't even in the condition to stand by himself.

'Let the police decide that,' I told him and looked around the place, searching for evidence that would put Qazi behind bars. It wasn't just about me but also about other girls he took advantage of. After getting a password out of Qazi's computer forcefully, we found hundreds of images of young girls and boys that he was using to blackmail them and their families. We waited no time and called the police right away.

After speaking with the police and recording our statements, we left the police station. Shahzaib was warned not to take the law into his hands, or he could be arrested for it in the future if he hit someone like this. Little did they know Qazi was not the only one who had such experience with Shahzaib.

'You're okay?' Shahzaib asked me as we walked out of the police station and got inside the car.

'Yeah' I took a deep breath. I didn't think this day would unfold like this. I thought today I would take him on a date and have time to talk to each other. We always had problems half of the time we were together, and today was no different. Are we ever going to have that, or would our lives keep being like this, one problem after another?

'Seher' I felt a touch on my shoulder, and I looked at Shahzaib, who was staring at me.

'Ice cream?' He asked me.

'Right now? I checked the time, and it was almost midnight. I was away from home for too long. I knew it would take a long line in the police station, so I called Ma and told her I was with Jaan and Mona.

'It will be a new day tomorrow,' He said to me, and I remembered that it was his birthday tomorrow. His birthday had less than fifteen minutes left.

'No cake?' I smiled at him.

'We can have it tomorrow' He smiled back and stopped by an ice cream shop that was still open. Five more minutes left.

'Do you still want me to book the tickets?' Shahzaib mentioned to me when he brought us some ice cream and drove to the far side of the road where there was no one but us.

'Yes, I will, Ma, that I will have to leave...you can book the tickets,' I replied. I didn't feel like leaving Ma, but we had to go for a while before coming back to her for good, staying with her during her surgery, and taking care of her afterward.

'If you don't want to come with me and stay with Ma, then it's okay,' He told me like he got a sense of what I was thinking.

'I want to come with you,' I assured him and checked the time. One minute until his birthday.

'Close your eyes,' I told him, and he gave me a puzzling look.

'Do it,' I instructed him, and he listened to me.

'Happy birthday,' I whispered to him with a smile as I leaned close to him when the clock hit twelve, and he opened his eyes and looked at me.

'Thank you' He smiled when I kissed both his cheeks.

'I love you,' I told him and kissed his mouth. Shahzaib leaned in incredibly close, his forearm muscles flexing as he bent his elbow to get closer to me. I shivered as his mouth lingered on mine, tugging my lower lip.

'Shahzaib,' I said as my breathing got uneven when he pulled back and looked at me dangerously like he was holding himself back.

'You're mine all day tomorrow, okay?' He said,and I agreed in a heartbeat. 

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