Kismat aur Hum

26.

- Malik -
It's been two weeks since we arrived home. Haniya's was much better now. At first, she would need help, and I didn't mind. I spent every second helping her, being with her.

The first week she was back, Bijan and Fuq also came back, while Haniya's siblings went back to her parents' house. They had spent a day here, as Haniya's mom was worried about her, but after Haniya convinced them she was fine, and she had my help, they had agreed to go home. At one point, they wanted to take Haniya with them, but I managed to keep her here. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't know where Haniya was.

I was mad at Umar, and he knows that, too. He had avoided me as much as possible in the two weeks, and he was right to do that.

I woke up at half 8, as my alarm rang, turning off my alarm, I reached out my arm on the bed, only to notice Haniya wasn't in bed. I opened my eyes to see, she wasn't here, her bed was empty. I got up, walking to the bathroom. It was empty. Was she downstairs ? I quickly brushed my teeth and washed my face. Running down the stairs, I heard some rumbling in the kitchen.

I walked in to see her standing there, her back facing me. She had a loose top on and baggy pants. I walked up behind her, gently wrapping my arms around her small waist, which caused her to gasp before she relaxed into my back. "What are you doing?" I asked her, nuzzling my nose into her back. "Im making breakfast, Bijan and Dua aren't home." "Btoh of them?" I asked back. "Yea, and jt gives me the perfect opportunity to make something for you after so long." She replied. She turned, putting two plates in front of me, telling me to put them on the table.

After breakfast, I helped wash the dishes when Haniya asked something. "Malik, it's Dua's 18th birthday soon, and I want to do something special for it." "Sure love, but it's in a month." She happily sighed, sitting in front of me, "I love celebrating events. it's so fun and joyful." "Okay Mrs. Malik. For now, let's talk about something else." She shrugged and started a random topic about food, it want random, considering it came from her.

- evening -
Later in the evening, I was working in my office, when my phone rang. *unknown number*
Curious, I picked up the phone but stayed quiet. "Just because your wife and family is safe thtis time, doesn't that mean that they'll always be safe. I'm going to take away all your happiness,  like you took away mine." The phone was cut. I looked at my now blank screen, so the attack was planned.

I was still thinking when there was a knock. I thought it was Haniya and said, "Come in," smiling so she doesn't worry seeing me. The door slowly opened, and seeing Umar stand in front of me, my smile dropped. "Hey, bhai." He slowly said, slipping in and waving to me from the door. I huff looking at my table, "bhai, don't be mad at me, for real you haven't heard my part." I looked up at him, "Fine, but only because you're my sister's husband, and are my third in command. You have 5 minutes to explain yourself."

Umar took that opportunity, explaining everything in detail, maybe some parts in too much detail. I understood this. Someone had purposely done this to have Umar out of the house, too. I explained to Umar my situation too, how all the events unfolded for me. "Bhai, I think the men that were locked in the saceplace have also something with this. But overall, their aim is to hurt you by hurting your close ones." He said, looking past me. Something clicked in me as he said that he must be right. Umar didn't know he had given me the answer to why they were hurting my loved ones. I just needed to do something to keep them safe.

"Is Mehr here?" I asked, changing the topic. "No. She spent last week with Haniya, so she had missed some of her uni work. She said she'll be over on the weekend." I nodded. "Haniya told me." I said back. After a while, Umar said he needed to head home since Umar and Mehr had to go somewhere. I excused myself too and went to check up on Haniya.

I entered the room since that was the last place I saw her. As I opened the door, she spun around, seeing me. I looked at her. She was standing in front of the mirror. "Everything okay, love?" I said, looking at her. She nodded. "Is Umar gone?" "Yea, he just left a few minutes ago." I answered as I sat on the sofa, facing her. She nodded. She looked hesitant, like she wanted to sleep something.

She continued to stand there, like she was lost in thought. "Love, do you want to ask something?" She stopped for a minute before she nodded and walked towards me. "Malik, what do you think of this?" "Of what?" I asked back. She slowly picked up a corner of her shirt, showing the side of her stomach where there was her scar. "I heard a lot of men find these ugly." I said, looking down at my feet.

Her stitches had been removed a week ago, but her scar was still there. I looked at her in awe. I pulled her by her hand, bringing her closer to me, making her sit in my lap, "Listen, love, this scar is nothing, but only shows hw brave and a beautiful human you are. You saved your siblings, dua, and my sister before saving yourself. Only this makes you more beautiful for me." I told her, wrapping my arms around her waist.

She smiled, listening to me. "Let me tell you a little secret. We're also matching." I told her, slowly touching her scar, to which she looked confused. "What do you mean?" "I have a scar there too." she looked astonished, knowing that. I unbottened my shirt, taking it off. I pointed to one of my scars to place where she also has a scar. But after she looked there, she looked at the other scars on my upper body. Tracing it with her soft fingers. "Malik." She whispered, looking at the scars, her eyes slowly tears forming.

"How?" She asked, "Over years, but most of them are from when I went on my first mission, " I told her. "The one before your parents died?" I nodded, "yea. It was when I was 19..." I took a deep breath. "You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable." "No love, don't worry. It was a month after my 19th birthday. Abbu had just told me I had to go to the warehouse since they had seized weapons from a gang a while ago." She nodded, "we had just arrived at the warehouse. A few of the men lead me inside. My job was to make sure all the weapons were securely packed and stored away. The men were doing that when there were loud shooting noises from outside. A few men and I ran out. The gang we had recently stopped had found our area and were fighting back. We had to stop them, or else they would get the weapons, and it wouldn't end well." I took another deep sigh. "That night, a lot of the young men and new recruites died. The only reason I survived was thanks to Bijan's son, who helped me escape." She sighed listening. "I was bleeding from multiple areas, but I had to find Ali uncle. He was our family driver and the one who drove me everywhere. But I was late, he had died in the car, since the gang attacked the car first."

Haniya held my hand, sensing my emotions. "That night was a nightmare. Everything had been lost. I was upset about Ali uncle,  since he was just like a father figure, he drove me places all growing up. He knew everything about me. I didn't know why and what happened, but after that day, i started losing everyone, soon my parents. I felt I had to distance myself from whoever was left. Like Mehr, but I just wanted to keep her safe." "Malik. You've been through a lot, but distancing yourself isn't the solution. Not only did you go through the punishment of not being able to talk to your sister for so long, but she also suffered. She also lost close people near her. But -" She sat up, looking right at me, "I promise I'll stay by your side. Maybe I'll try saving you someday." She winked before hugging me. "The best way you can protect me is by staying by my side." I answered engulfed in her warm scent.