Dancing to his tunes

24|Dread

It's been a week since Rahim had been discharged from the hospital. He had gained consciousness the next day of his hospitalization after the effects of sedation had waned off. The police had come by to ask for his statement and he had narrated the story briefed by his family's lawyer to get them off his back since his father wanted to handle things his way.

This was not the first time Rahim was kidnapped by his father's rival and he knew that this would definitely not be the last time. Back when they were young, he and Daniyal were kidnapped by one of the political party's goons to use as leverage against his father. After rescuing them beaten and bruised, his father in the name of self defense had put them through vigorous training. Had their mother not intervened, his father would have gone to an extent of training them to become cold blooded murderers.

There have been countless threats and near miss kidnappings while he was still in Pakistan but once he had left Pakistan to pursue medicine instead of politics, he was no longer the target. Soniya however had been the target because she decided to follow in their father's footsteps. What befuddled Rahim was why now after all these years was he kidnapped? What could possibly be achieved by kidnapping him? His memory was still hazy because of the concussion but he felt like he was kidnapped twice by two different set of people. Rahim was hellbent on finding out who it was that kidnapped him the second time. He hated how he couldn't recall every little detail of the kidnapping and there were broken pieces of his memories flashing back to him. He knew it will take some time before he recalls every minute detail about his kidnapping but he was frustrated because its been a week and yet he wasn't able to recall everything.

He remembered being drugged, he remembered being assaulted, he remembered kissing a girl and he remembered waking up in bed with her. Immense dread settled in the pit of his stomach thinking about how he cheated on Bia. Rahim slid down the wall as he tried to remember what more had he done. He was petrified of facing Bia, he didn't know how he will even explain it to her if she ever finds it out. He dreaded remembering the memories of his kidnapping, of finding out to what extent had he gone, to what extent they had gone. Even though, he knew Bia deserves to know what he did, he prayed for her to never find out. She would be distraught if she finds out that he, like her ex husband cheated on her.

Rahim was mentally and physically exhausted. He knew this was the price he had to pay for being his father's son.  Even if he wasn't a politician, his dad and sister were. But in all this fiasco he didn't think that Bia could get hurt again emotionally. Walking up to the dresser Rahim picked up his phone and called Ahmed up. Ahmed was one of the people he became friends with after Daniyal had died as they both were going through a rough phase at the time and connected because of it. Ahmed Raza was a great model and an even better hacker. He was one of the best hackers Pakistan had, however only a few people knew about his hacking skills. He was someone who had connections with the dark side of the town. He didn't know to what extent Ahmed was involved but he was the only person Rahim knew who could find out who was involved.

Since Rahim didn't want his father to find out about the other party who briefly kidnapped him, he discussed the details of what he could remember to Ahmed since he could look for these people using his extensive connections. Once he was done talking to Ahmed he checked his inbox to find another text from Bia asking about his health.

Though in this entire week, she hadn't come in person to meet him, she had videocalled him countless times to ask about his health. They have talked more often in this one week than they did since meeting after 10 years. He didn't know how he felt seeing Bia look so miserable and exhausted on video call. She already was burdened by her responsibilities and guilt and the constant pressure to prove herself.  He was scared for Bia's mental and physical health now. Earlier he had thought that since he wasn't in politics, he was not a target and that he could live peacefully but after what happened to him, he was worried for Bia's safety. He didn't want her life to be in constant danger just because she married a politician's son. She already had gone through a lot in life and he didn't want her to be harmed because of him. He knew she didn't trust him, and what he had done he knew it'll take him more than a lifetime to earn that trust, to rid her of the paranoia, to make her realize that he genuinely cared for her. That he didn't deliberately hurt her or wanted to hurt her. She was his childhood crush, someone he respected and admired even more after knowing her story. Even though as a psychiatrist he was trained not to form preconceived judgements before listening to the other side of the story he couldn't help but hate her ex-husband for the trauma that he put her through. But now he was scared of the betrayal she will feel if she finds out what he did. Rahim knew he didn't love her nor did she love him but he cared for her immensely, wanted to help her heal, and had a strong urge to protect her. Maybe it was because he owed that to Yilmaz at the very least.

Rahim had texted back to Bia assuring her that he was doing well and had even cracked a lame joke just so that she didn't worry much about his health. He wanted to help her but he didn't know how to. He felt useless because he knew nothing about business so he couldn't share her work. Moreover, he could only help her with her mental health only if she allowed and when she opened up to him. He couldn't push her because that would only worsen her progress. So he resorted to doing what he could do best, which was staying patient with her. Patience was the only virtue he was glad his father had inculcated in him.

Rahim couldn't help but think about Aaron's reasons. He wanted to know his side of the story, his reasons for cheating and swindling Bia. He wanted to know if greed was the sole reason behind that well thought out a ploy and betrayal.  He didn't think something that huge would have such a simple explanation to it because human minds worked in complex ways, decisions aren't just based on options and circumstances, there are far more variables that dictate those actions.

So instead of patiently waiting,  Rahim got down to taking action. Even though, he knew what he was doing was wrong, he couldn't help but text Ahmed to find out about Bia's ex husband. He wanted to know who he truly was and what his reasons were. For Bia he was willing to go to any lengths.

**

Aaron had ensured that Bia was completely surrounded by work so that she didn't have time to think about her fiance let alone meet him. It's been a month since Rahim had healed. He hated doing that to her, he didn't like seeing the dark circles she covered with that layer of makeup caking her face, he didn't like being the reason of her misery and he hated seeing the blank look in her eyes everytime she would look at him. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms and kiss her worries and pain away. He wanted her to shout at him for burdening her with work, he wanted her to resist and speak up for herself, he wanted her to cuss him out. Her silence killed him and his resolve everyday. He thought keeping her close was going to help him and even her but it only damaged her. He was only killing her slowly day by day and that realization alone shook his entire core.

The more he thought about what he was doing the more guilt ridden he was getting. If there was someone in this world that he truly loved even if it was in a totally fucked up, and warped way it was Bia. Every single day when he saw the light dim in her eyes, he truly questioned if it was love or mere obsession or stubbornness. He could no longer justify what he was doing and that thought rattled him.

He remembered how she looked happy when she was with Rafael. She even didn't look half as bad as she did now when she had come back from Pakistan after her engagement. He hated that day when he came to know that she had moved on but she looked less miserable. Aaron didn't want to admit that he was the sole reason of Bia's misery. He remembered as clear as day what he did to her after knowing about his cancer. How he planned everything to make her learn about the brutality and unfairness of this world. He knew there were other ways that he could have or rather should have resorted to in his quest to get her to leave him but he didn't opt for them. He chose the most ruthless of the option.

Aaron's head had started to throb due to these thoughts, so he excused himself to take a puff of cigarette outside the conference hall. Since there were another 5 minutes before the start of the next presentation, he had walked further out towards the printing room but before he could round the corner he faintly heard Bia talking on the phone and he stopped midway to listen in on.

"...Dad don't you think it's too soon to get married to Rahim, he has barely recovered from his injuries..."

Before Aaron could hear the remaining conversation, Bia's voice has faded out as she had walked further away. Aaron itched to follow Bia towards the elevator to eavesdrop on her conversation with her dad, but he couldn't do that without risking her finding out. Dread started pooling in the pit of his stomach thinking about Bia's impending marriage. He knew she will eventually get married but he didn't fathom, it to be so soon. Bia had only gotten engaged to Rahim, the thought of his nightmare becoming a reality so soon had Aaron losing his mind. He didn't know when his Bia was going to get married and the thought of her getting married as silently as she had gotten engaged drove him crazy. He didn't know what exactly he was feeling for there was an onslaught of emotions, however, he knew one thing for sure and that was that he was not willing to lose her just yet.

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