The Billionaire's Final Victim | ✓

[11] Odd One.

"Bukhari? Adam? What's going on?" He looks at her with genuine concern.

Adam's attention turns towards Barqat and Dunia takes this chance to bite into his hand hard enough, "OW, YOU LITTLE–", he jumps out of her way.

Unintentionally, Dunia runs right into Barqat's arms, bursting into loud sobs. Her fingers tightly gripping onto his shirt as if letting him go will lead her back to Adam.

"Adam– he tried to... I was stuck... I couldn't..." Dunia couldn't finish her sentence without sobbing.

Barqat understood the situation. He looks down to see that Dunia is shaking from fear. Her uncontrollable tears are staining his shirt, proving further that she is scared to her core. Seeing her in such a state pulled at his heart strings for some odd reason. He couldn't exactly point out how it was making him feel, but he didn't like it.

Barqat wraps his arms around Dunia, protectively, pulling her deeper into his chest. It is almost a automatic gesture. "Adam, what the fuck are you thinking? What the fuck did she do to you?" His tone rising with anger.

Adam scoffs, "Why do you care? It's not like you two are a thing. You two aren't even on good terms."

Barqat lets go of Dunia, pushing her slowly behind him. He charges towards Adam, grips Adam's collar and smashes Adam's back onto the wall all in one swift motion. "Why do I fucking care? This woman is covered from head to toe; her appearance screams respect! How fucking dare you touch her like that?! You don't have a shred of self-respect, you pig!"

Barqat's fist smashes across Adam's cheek. Adam screams out in extreme pain. It was a hard blow because Dunia swears she heard something crack. She covers her mouth and gasps as she clenches eyes shut to not see the aftermath of the punch.

"If I see you fuck around with any girls without their permission one more time, your face isn't the only thing I'll break, you bastard!" Barqat lets go of Adam.

Barqat, then, grabs Dunia's wrist and pulls her away from the kitchen. He keeps a firm grip on her wrist until they reach his car.

Dunia suddenly snaps back into reality and quickly shrugs off his hold from her. She wipes her tears and looks down on the floor. She takes a few steps back, increasing the space between them, "T-thank y-y-you... I d-don't know what w-w-would have h-happened if you hadn't s-showed up on time..." Dunia's words came out as a stutter because the shock of the event hasn't worn off yet.

Barqat clears his throat, "Yeah, don't worry. I only came to check what all the screaming was about..." Dunia can tell he was trying to play it off cool. "I have a question, how did Adam manage to trap a girl like you? You seem way too persistent and conservative to go alone with him."

Dunia begins feeling really embarrassed for the reason she actually went with him. Her expression made Barqat raise his brow in confusion, "Well?"

"I-- HeSaidHeHadAHiddenSnackPlace..." Dunia said in almost lightning speed.

"He-- What? I didn't understand a goddamn word."

"HeSaidHeHadAHiddenSnackPlace..."

"You- if you don't say it properly, Bukhari, I swear-"

"Okay, okay, gosh... He said he had a hidden snack place in the kitchen..."

"He said what?" Barqat almost couldn't believe his ears.

"You know what I said!" Dunia is clearly embarrassed as her face is turning a light shade of pink.

Barqat throws his head back as bursts into laughter. His laugh shocks Dunia once more because his genuine laughter is so rare. She's almost drawn to the sound of his laughter. Have you ever heard of a laugh that sounds almost attractive? Almost as if you heard that laughter, you'd fall in the love with the sound of it? That's what his laughter sounded like to Dunia. The sound, itself, filled Dunia with joy, spreading over his infectious laugh to her.

He leans on his car for support because of how weak he got from laughing so hard, "My God, you really are a little loose in the head sometimes, aren't you?"

"I am not loose in the head! Hidden food in the kitchen is a tempting offer!" Dunia pouts. "Okay, I'm not even going to lie, when it comes to food, my brain stops working. I'm a slave for food." She starts laughing.

"You're an odd one, Bukhari." He opens the car door for her so she can sit inside, to her surprise.

"That, I am, Mr. Sheikh." She sits inside and he closes the door for her. She smiles to herself as she thinks about how he might not be as bad of a person as he portrays himself.

• • •

When both of them returned back to the event, both of them had pretty jolly expressions on their faces.

Barqat's father, Mr. Sheikh, is pleasantly surprised at how much Barqat has eased up towards Dunia.

Almost everyone from both sides of the family notices Barqat and Dunia throwing each other glances from across the room throughout the whole party.

"What's up with you two? " Eliza asks Dunia, sounding a little irritated. Her expression changes to a smirk, "You two almost look smitten with each other..."

"Yes, we want to know what happened at the office to make you two look at each other so much?" Maheen asks with a sly look on her face.

"Ya Allah, it's not anything you two harami kids are thinking! There's nothing going on!" Dunia says almost defensively with a quiet voice.

"So, I'm guessing we're on our way to becoming related soon?" Maheen says to Eliza, trying to control her laughter.

"Yes, I see you're going to be a Nanad (Husband's sister) to my sister soon?" Eliza winks at Maheen.

"Ugh! You two! There's nothing going on! I'm going to be no one's Nanad (Husband's sister) soon!" Dunia says with a blush creeping up to her cheeks.

The two teens burst into laughter as Dunia hides her face from embarrassment.

• • •

After coming home, and getting teased by Eliza the whole car ride back home, Dunia changed out of her clothes, washed up and read her evening prayers.

She, then, plops down on her bed and stares at the ceiling. She replays the scene of Barqat from the kitchen over and over again in her head:

"Why do you care? It's not like you two are a thing. You two aren't even on good terms."

"Why do I fucking care? This woman is covered from head to toe; her appearance screams respect! How fucking dare you touch her like that?! You don't have a shred of self-respect, you pig!"

"He isn't as bad as everyone thinks he is. Maybe he just never has the time to relax..." She says out loud to herself. "He should really smile or laugh more often, it suits him. His blue eyes seriously pop so much more when he smiles!"

"Ya Allah! Dunia, stop thinking about him! Jeez, you can't be one of those girls who literally fall head-over-heels because a goddamn man was nice to you." Dunia scolds herself.

Scolding herself didn't work much as while she was falling asleep, she thought about him and even had a dream or two about him. At this point, this was driving her nuts.

- - -

A/N: 😏😏😏

Please vote and comment and let me know how y'all feel!!