With souls, Paired

Chapter 23

Salam 🥳
Anyways I feel a little sick but I'm good enough to type so here's to chapter 23🔥

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Karim slowed down the car as he got closer downtown. The whole place was too quiet. California was mostly active and having a place like this in California was weird but having it so quiet was even weirder.

The idea was to quickly find out if Basmah was around and if she hadn't been caught yet. Karim hoped desperately that she hadn't been caught because then everything would go sideways. He didn't want to get involved with the cartel by any means. If he did and Allah forbid he was caught too, his family would eventually find a way out for him, that's if he wasn't killed on spot but his dad would be so pissed.

'Don't get yourself into anything big'

His dad warned. And here he was looking for a stubborn girl who wouldn't get over a stupid crush.

He didn't exactly know how to handle people who liked him up close. In school, Shamsiya would tell him all the girls who had a crush on him so he'd talk to them but he didn't. Never did. And no one dared to come up to him especially when you'd have to be an authorized friend. He had guards in school. Just in the background. He didn't like it but he was crown prince and not everyone liked him. It was for his own sake so he didn't mind.

Karim parked his car in between two cars. He was just going to casually walk around and see if any particular house looked suspicious. The movies made everything look easy.

He sighed and placed his head on the steering wheel. This was dumb. He could get killed for all he knew and then what? He didn't even have a bulletproof vest or a gun. Which he never actually had used before. His dad decided not to teach him that. Just how to fight, particularly fight to escape.
He was over protected a lot by his parents. All his siblings were. But his was different a little. Maybe because some people wanted the crown prince dead or maybe his parents didn't want him to not feel safe ever again in his life after the occurrences in his childhood.

Karim said a dua for protection and picked up a cap from the backseat. He looked outside. No one. It was a given though. Given the time. He exhaled and stepped outside the car. He pulled the cap down to cover his face a little and walked slowly away from his car.

He walked by the street for a while and he could swear he felt like people were watching him from the windows of their houses but he didn't turn to look. He just walked ahead.

After a few minutes he saw a group of children with their bikes up ahead and literally almost ran to them but kept his cool. They were kids. Which meant they couldn't be involved in the cartel, right?

Anyways Karim still walked up to them.
The boys quickly noticed him.

"Yo guys, it's a new blood. We be getting those a lot these days. What's the occasion?" One dark boy smirked.

New blood? As in someone new? A lot of them? It means they'd seen Basmah.

"I need information." Karim simply said.

"You all need information don't ya?" Another boy added and rode his bike around Karim. He didn't falter a bit.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Him too? I see..." A bigger boy said from the back as he played with his bike's bell.

"I'm looking for a girl. She might have been here a few days ago or less. I can't really tell."

"There are a lot of girls here. We ain't the FBI to guess." The rest of the boys chuckled at the not so funny statement.

"Well. I have no idea what she was wearing but I'm sure she wore a scarf around her head. She's not white. Arab? Short?"