Chapter 4

30 1 0
                                    

THE MANIPULATOR
_____________________

Ihurried back to Taleem Ghar. I needed to buy things for them or else how they're gonna survive? In this situation, most people are hopeless. By their way of wearing attires, I do not think they're rich. Most of them have their dresses ripped and torn shoes.
Also, if they were rich, they would’ve been protected by guards or soldiers.
Whether they're rich or not, it doesn't matter to me. I will help everyone in need. They're all in distress. I pity them nonetheless.
I will return to that abandoned house and give them food and clothes. But isn't that weird? A large and immeasurable house that was it. It looks burnt from the outside but the inside looks fine. It has many rooms, thanks to fate. I can give them shelter.
To ensure their well-being, I have to spend a lot of money on them. It's good that I do have the money for it. I have some gold bars in my closet. It is hidden. There is a hidden door behind it. Well, that's gold. One gold cost a lot. I can't afford to lose it.

I closed the door of my room, to open the closet. I can't let others know I have gold bars.  Looking through the room I realized that the closet door was open. I left it open, dumb me.
I open the doors wider then, open the hidden door. There were 17 golden bars, so I took one. A gold bar has a high price in the market. Of course, one is enough for it.
I was leaving, then I remembered that I needed a bag to store coins with it. And a bag was lying right next to me. I took it and left.
While I was heading for a pawn shop where I can sell it, I saw Aladdin and Ginu talking with Baari-Ustaad. She looks angry there. I ponder why, then I remember how Aladdin was absent as well as Ginu. Look at how enraged she is, she was awfully worried. For her, we are her responsibility, her priorities.
I sometimes felt bad for her. Sultan Zafar is pushing her through hell. Like you're angry but you can't take that to other people.
I watch them being dragged by her. I didn't bother to know where they headed. But the way she acted, Aladdin and Ginu will be punished.
Well, that's not my problem. I need to go to a pawn shop right now. I hurried to the market. I asked the surroundings if they knew a good pawn shop. After asking the people, I decided to go to a man’s pawn shop who exchanges stuff at a good price.
His shop is on the left beside a grocer shop. I turned left and the way they told me it was true. His shop was indeed to the left and there was a grocer shop beside the pawn shop.
The pawn shop’s door was half open and half closed. There are a lot of ancient stuff as well as current elements. The pawn shop speaks richness. The owner of the shop was an old man named Frauq. Don't ask how I know his name. It was written in the shop’s name on the board. I guessed he is Faruq because these things took a lot of time to gather.
Behind him was a young man. His skin is light-brown and somehow he has the perfect shade in it. He wears a black leather shirt and pants that are darker than the night. He wears Kohl in his eyes and his hand has two black rings. And most of it looks good on him in spite of having brown skin. He looks majestic and his style caught my eyes. But if he was my type, I wish, I wish that I could say those words.
Meet me in whatever place it is.

I shake my head thinking What I was thinking. There are people dying through hunger and I am crushing over a guy I never met. So stupid of me.
I need to focus.
“ Can we exchange coins with it? ” I said.
“ Of course, ” He said.
Then he told me to wait. He looked Backwards and tried to find something there. He came back and then came with some instruments. He started to examine the gold bar. He looked at it carefully whether it was real or fake. After examining it, it turned out to be real. Now as he knows that the gold bar is real, he told me the price. “ Young lady, i would give it- ”
I bargained the price a little bit higher. He tried to refuse it but in the end, he had to listen to me. And in the process, I also increased the price more. Then he took the gold bar and in exchange he gave me loads of coins. I put that in my bag and left the shop peacefully.
I then went to a restaurant. It was filled with people. A small kid came towards me and asked me to sit down to eat. “ Can I meet your owner? ”
He looked right at my eyes and said, “ Yeah, let me call him here. ” He went to a man. He looks like in his 40s. He has bread, he is dressed modestly and a nice smile when he talks. He looks at me when the child points at me. He came up to me and asked, “ Yes, young lady. What can I do for you? ”

“ I have people in my possession right now. I needed to feed them. They're 47 people. So, is it possible to get food in 2 hours for that amount of people? ” I said with no breath. I was nervous after all. I wish I could’ve said that in a better way. It sounds like slavery.
He thought for a moment. He asked me what I would like to have for them. I told him the portion that should be ready in the amount of time I have given. “ Okay. But would you like to have it here or should I pack it? ”
I thought if I should stay here but then, I felt like it would be risky for them to be in public. They could get abducted. I believe that Mucchar’s people are everywhere. They might be watching me right now. “ No, not here. I would like to deliver it. ”

He nodded. I take my leave. Now I need a physician who could heal them. I talk to the physician too. Then he went to the abandoned place and helped them heal their wounds. In that process, food arrived. I hired 12 people to bring them. Still it needed to go the third time.
After they finish eating, I bring clothes for them and they help me clean the house together so they can live here.
In all that, I become busy and night falls down. They went to sleep. I felt drowsy and didn't want to walk through Taleem Ghar but I had to. I was just leaving from there when I noticed a book lying there. I didn't see that there. When it came here. Well, I do not want to do anything with it. Then I stopped. I think I read something.
The title.
It was something like ‘Sultan Sa..’
Or
Something like Sultane Baghdad Sultan Sa..
Sultane Baghdad?
I realized. It was a book of a previous Badhshah. And his name started with S. That means not Sultan Zafar but another sultan of Baghdad.
I rushed to that book. I needed to find out about it. He might be Sultan Zafar’s father or grandfather or forefathers. It does not matter how old it is. What matters is that I found one. I picked up the book and read the title.
Sultane Baghdad Sultan Shahnawaz

What if Yasmine got her memories before Aladdin?Where stories live. Discover now