Bint of Gilgit ~ Pakistani Love Story ~ ONGOING ~

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Lighting a cigarette on top of the rooftop of their humble sized home, Imad breathed a sigh of relief. Strange as it was, him being an important member of the Black Panther Mafias, he still never got accustomed to the lifestyle of lavishes and luxuries. True peace as it came for him was found on a shabby old rooftop while his older brother slumbered off the side. 

Arriving home to a drunken father and a handful of unknown women had stopped surprising him. Despite being the brother of Sikandar Khan, their father, Fareed Khan had squandered all his wealth on alcohol and hiring cheap local women for petty sex. In the end, their mansion had to be sold and so Fahad and Imad had been made an offer by their cousin Asadullah. And naturally being penniless and destitute at the tender age of fifteen, the twins had no option, but to accept their seventeen-year-old cousin's offer. 

Allahu Akbar!

Allahu Akbar!

Imad relished in the peacefulness of the call to prayer by closing his heavy eyes. Once upon a time, he and his brother were proactive and consistent visitors of the local mosque alongside their mother. Despite their father's regular abuse, Imad had never lost faith in Allah and had never relied on anything other than Allah to change his circumstances. One day his perception changed when he woke up to find a badly handwritten goodbye note. His mother had left them at the mercy of their father. She had chosen to seek help with another man to change her circumstances rather than Allah. And so, Imad did the same when he joined hands with Asadullah. 

But despite everything he had done and everything that had happened to him, he still would keep an ear out for the call to prayer. Especially during these quiet starry nights where his heart was restless and baffled . . . 

"Hm? You're still awake, man?" Fahad grumbled from the straw bed that they had pulled out from the rooftop room. "Do you ever fucking sleep?" 

"Quiet!" Imad responded, irritated when the last crescendo of the adhaan drifted into nothingness. 

Fahad rolled his brown eyes. "Don't worry, bro. One ends, another starts. It never stops!" 

And true to his statement, another call to prayer started in the far distance. Once again, Imad inhaled deeply suddenly overcome with a feeling of being embraced. Allah's embrace. 

"What the hell are you doing here, Immy?" There was a seriousness in his brother's heavy voice - something that was as uncommon as seeing Asadullah with a smile on his face. "From the start, you and I both know you were never cut out for this life. You want that life!" He flung a wild hand towards the direction of the minaret that glowed like a star in the darkness of their life. 

Imad said nothing. In the past, he had wanted many things, but had only received beatings and rejections from all those around him. But unlike Fahad, his heart had not turned to a stone - it remained ever compliant and merciful. His mother had instilled this within him and he was unable to rid himself of it. 

"I see the longing in your eyes, bro. I know how badly you wanna go in a mosque and just cry your heart out!" 

"You know damn well nothing, Fahad." He growled, taking a long inhale while swirling the smoke in his mouth before letting it out. It contaminated the fresh air just the way he would contaminate a pure place like a mosque or . . . a pure green eyed girl. "Stop making me out to be some helpless schoolboy. I can leave now if I want to, but I choose to stay." 

"Fuck you, Im! I know why you choose to stay!" His brother's identical eyes like his own shimmered with frustration and pent up anger. "You stay because you're so fucking scared that one day I'll go and get myself killed. I don't need you to be a fucking bodyguard for me, don't you get it?"