To The End And Beyond ***ON HOLD***

~ Chapter #4 ~

RECAP

Zain loosened his grip and spoke in a low voice. "You come near her again and you'll face the consequences. Leave her alone. She'll decide, with the help of her family, what's best for her. I hope you understand me well. And one more thing, if you're involved in any other shady business, any whatsoever, forget about Aqsa forever. Is that clear?"

The colour drained from Salman's face. He couldn't meet Zain's eyes. The guilt was written all over his face.

Zain let go of him with force, causing him to stumble back. He gave him one last glare before turning to Aqsa.

"Let's go."

Aqsa knew better than to disobey. She stole one last glance at Salman, then walked towards Zain. Samara and Daniel followed suit.

Salman looked at their retreating figures, oblivious to everything but the feel of his heart shattering into a million pieces.

2 weeks had passed since Salman's confession. Everyone else around her went on with life, but for Aqsa, everything was far from normal. She knew she wasn't supposed to, but she couldn't stop seeing Salman's downcast and regretful face flash before her eyes whenever she was not busy doing something. Which wasn't most of the time, since Zain had taken it onto himself to occupy her with something or the other, using his sisters, Maariyah and Maryam as alliances. It seemed ironical that her sworn enemy was now protecting her against getting hurt by another person! Though her heart didn't want to accept that Salman was capable of being involved in the worst, she couldn't forget the guilty look on his face when Zain had warned him.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you, and you're nicely relaxing here in the garden." Aqsa turned around to greet Maariyah with a smile. She preferred her the most from the 3 siblings, and though she would never admit it to anyone, these holidays had been a joy and not so lonely, since she now had 3 step siblings. It had been all the more comforting to have them when she learnt Ahaan would be going for a trip to Dubai with his friends for 2 weeks of the holidays. He was supposed to return in 2 days In Shaa Allah (God-willing). Samara was spending the holidays with her own family. She had invited Aqsa over a few times to spend a few days together, but the thought of running into Salman there freaked her out, so she had always made up some excuse to get out of it. Samara knew her well by now, and she told her she understood why she kept declining.

"Did you need me for something?"

Maariyah gave an exaggerated sigh. "Could you explain to my brother that I'm not so little anymore? He doesn't trust me with anything! He thinks I have a boyfriend! Astaghfirullah!" (I seek forgiveness in God).

Aqsa shook her head. Sometimes, Zain was too over-protective for words. Forget sometimes, he was always over-protective! She wondered if he had time to do anything else apart from stress continuously about his family.

"I would think you have a boyfriend if you whispered on your phone, calling the person on the other end sweetheart!" Zain walked past Aqsa and swapped Maariyah lightly on the head.

"Hey!"

"Now do you want to tell me about the so-called sweetheart or do I have to use other ways to find out the truth?" He cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"Not that you scare me in any way, or look even the least bit villainous when doing that, but just to save you some time, I'll do you the favour of telling you that Rania and I call each other sweetheart sometimes. Before you ask, I'm perfectly straight thank you, with no interest in girls. We say it only out of affection. And as far as the whispering goes, we were talking about a guy, and I didn't want Mother to hear me." She stuck out her tongue at Zain, waved at Aqsa and disappeared into the house before Zain had a chance to ask her anything else.

Zain looked slightly embarrassed. Rania was Maariyah's inseparable, childhood buddy. They were almost always glued together. Since they were not meeting much during the holidays, they were almost always on the phone with each other.

Aqsa had a small smile playing on her lips, but she figured he had done himself enough damage, so she decided not to rub it in.

The blaring ringtone of her phone saved them both the trouble of saying anything.

Aqsa's face lit up as she saw Ahaan's name on the display screen and she eagerly picked the call.

"Assalamualaikum!"

"Aqsa... Aqsa...I...can you...I...hear me..."

Aqsa's throat tightened. Ahaan did not sound his normal self. He sounded as if he was in pain. Terror gripped her.

"Ahaan! What's wrong? Are you ok?"

Zain stiffened next to her as she looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"Aqsa...I don't....have much time...I just wanted...you to know...I....please..."

"Ahaan! Just tell me where you are! Are you still in Dubai? What happened? Why are you speaking like this?"

"I'm in....Dubai....Dad...please...Dad...tell him...he has to be careful...tell him...they won't...leave him....they...got...me....my friends...they're ruthless....terrorists..."

Aqsa was sobbing uncontrollably. Zain took the phone from her and put it on speaker, while dialling the emergency number of a Dubai hospital on his phone.

"Ahaan, please tell me your location. Just tell me where you are. Don't speak anymore about anything else, you need to save your breath. I'm sending an ambulance immediately."

"I don't...don't...have...time...painful...was shot...need...say...Shahada...outside....city mall...Shahada..."

Shahada is said by Muslims when reverting to Islam or on their deathbed - "I bear witness that there is no God except Allah (God) and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah (God.)"

Zain quickly spoke to the hospital emergency, giving them the location of City Mall. He urged them to hurry, saying lives were in danger.

"Aqsa...Aqsa..."

"Ahaan, please don't talk, please Ahaan...Ya Allah..." Aqsa was crying so much, she couldn't even speak herself.

Zain had called up Amir, who was at work, and was talking to him in a low tone, explaining what had happened. He took a totally fazed Aqsa by the elbow and rushed into the house with her. He ran to inform his mother and try to contact his friends in Dubai to reach the Mall as soon as they could, while he booked the first flight to Dubai for him, Amir and Aqsa.

Aqsa was still holding the phone, hearing her brother's rapid breath and his voice deteriorating, all the while shaking with sobs herself. She heard him recite the Shahada in gasping bits. Then he said:

"Aqsa..I...love...you...I...always..."

And the line went dead.

WRITER'S NOTE

😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

Ahaan is one of my favourite characters from the start. In fact, I would say my absolute favourite. His charisma, funny retorts, love for family, intelligence, everything added up to an almost perfect guy. I had a really, really hard time doing this, but for the story to move forward, it was inevitable.

Please let me know your thoughts ❤️❤️❤️

And oh don't chase me with sticks and stones please! 🙈