Can't Let Go

eight

The Baig family were an intimidating lot. Malaika would give them that. She smiled at Arsalaan's grandmother Urwa, who seemed lovely. Apparently, she was the only one who was happy about this marriage. She did not waste any time in engulfing her into a bone-crushing hug, Maalika was taken aback but she smiled in between the hug. Urwa had a vibe which said; as-long-as-you-keep-my-boy-happy-I'm-okay-with-you.

"This is Rahila, Arsalaan's phupho's daughter. She will take you to his room." Urwa smiled at Rahila, who nodded uninterestedly.

Arsalaan had no parents but an uncle and aunt, his uncle; his father's younger brother lived with Arsalaan and he had two kids; Ayan and Sharik. And his aunt; father's younger sister, lived a little afar from the Baig villa and she had three kids; Rahila, Salmaan and Kabir. And none of them seemed to like Malaika. Not even one bit. She couldn't care less.

"Let's go. You look very tired." Rahila faked a smile and Malaika nodded whilst walking ahead; her fists lifted up the lehenga, which was a bit long and her heart was thumping way too fast with each step they took for she was going to enter the lion's den.

"Wait, let me clear some things for you." Rahila stopped her midway and pulled Malaika into a room, which surely wasn't Arsalaan's. She raised her brows in confusion while the girl just had a smug look on her face.

"What do you want?" Malaika asked, irritably. The girl smirked at her impatience.

"I'll tell this to you and try to remember it always. Arsalaan is mine. Don't even dream of a happy life with him, because there will not be any. And just so you know, he got married to you only because of that brat." this made Malaika roll her eyes as if she didn't know any of these already.

"You must have lost your mind, if you think I'll be dying to have my happily ever after with him." she made a disgusting face but Rahila only smirked.

"Arsalaan is a charmer. I don't trust you one bit. Oh, and have you ever thought of how your parents agreed to this good for nothing marriage so easily?" this made Malaika look at the girl eagerly because her family has refused to tell her the reason.

"Let me tell you then, Arsalaan himself went and demanded that if they don't accept that brat then he'd abandon you, he also made it clear that he will never divorce you. Which left them with no choice but to do as he wished, I won't lie he's pretty cunning." Rahila's voice was bitter as she disclosed the last part.

And now it made sense to Malaika, her eyes widened in shock. This man has practically threatened her family with their weakness and they had no way but to give in. Which parents like their daughter to be the laughing stock of the society? Hers did not. They knew that if they didn't agree to what he wanted, then she'd be the one to suffer the most. How long will a girl stay in her parents home anyway? And all of this realization made her blood boil.

Rahila had a smug smile on her face the whole time as she said, "so yeah. Don't forget these things. He's a monster. But my monster. Don't ever think of getting close to him. You'll have to face my wrath otherwise."

It was official, this girl had no brains.

"His room is right next to this one, by the way." batting her eyes lashes, innocently, Rahila left the room leaving behind a fuming Malaika.

Taking long strides to the next room, Malaika spotted Arsalaan in a shirtless state; as she stepped into his bedroom. She hadn't seen a shirtless man live before, movies and Instagram didn't count anyway. He was mouth watering-ly handsome, there were no doubts. But behind that handsome face and drool-worthy body, there with this ugly character which made her feel so disgusted to be in his presence.

Arsalaan eyed her confusedly as he wore his nightshirt. She scowled at him whilst coming close to him. He raised his brows, wondering as to what she was going to say but what followed next has surely made him speechless. His cheeks burned with the sensation of her palms. He couldn't believe himself, but she has slapped him across the cheeks.

She freaking slapped him.

"You disgust me so much. How can you stoop so low and threaten my family?" Malaika spat angrily and his widened in surprise, didn't she know already? He thought with confusion.

"Anything else?" he asked as though this conversation was the most stupid thing he's ever had and that made her angrier.

"I hate you, I hate you so much. I'm not going to stay here any more minute. You got your wish fulfilled. Great. But I'm not going to give you any more satisfaction of winning me over so easily. I hate you so much, Arsalaan Baig." one minute she was slapping him and the next she was yelling at him and now, she was running away from there. Running away from everything or so she hoped.

But the next moment, she tripped on her long dress and fell off the stairs; rolling from the first floor to the ground.

It all happened so quickly that nobody could process anything, they just heard the loud shriek of Malaika and gaped at her unconscious self. There was lots of blood and her head was severely injured.

"Get out of my way..." Arsalaan snapped at his family as he held her petite figure in his arms and ran to the porch. His brothers, for once were sensible enough to grab a key quickly and ran behind him. Along with a cotton cloth, to tie it on her head; hoping to stop the bleeding somehow.

All the way to the hospital Arsalaan had only one thing running in his mind; please don't let anything happen to her, Allah! Please!

Yes, he was one of those guys who stopped believing in Him years ago, and then she came into his life like a ray of hope and said, "have trust and faith in Allah" her words from that day still rings like a bell in his ears.

And today she was facing a life or death situation only because of him. He could only hope for the best. If anything will happen to her then he'd never forgive himself. He really hoped that she'd be safe and fine. That thought has made him drive to the hospital faster while she continued to bleed. They had tied cotton cloth across her head but she wouldn't stop bleeding.

He could only hope for the best.

***

Malaika was taken into the ICU while Arsalaan stayed out, worryingly. He still couldn't figure out how the hell all of this has happened. But the sight of her, lying unconscious in a pool of blood was making him go crazy. It pained him to know that he was the reason she is suffering this all.

What have I done?

Tears strained down his eyes as the doctors operated on her. He hadn't informed her family yet, Arsalaan wasn't sure what their reaction would be. But they're going to hate him more from now on. That was for sure.

Nine hours has passed, Malaika's head was treated properly and she was still unconscious. Arsalaan was panicking with every passing second. The nurse suddenly called him in, which made him heave a sigh of relief.

Her hands were moving slowly, so was her legs. She slowly blinked open her eyes whilst wincing in pain.

The doctor was checking over her all the while.

"Where am I? Who are you all?" was the first thing she asked. Her voice was full of panic and worry. She struggled to sit up straightly.

"Relax, Mrs Baig. Relax. You're safe here. We mean no harm." the doctors tried to calm her down whilst making her lie down back, but she stared at them in utter confusion.

"Am I married?" she asked blankly shocking everyone present in the ward. Arsalaan's eyes widened at that. He became numb as the doctor checked her further.

"Do you remember your name? Anything at all?" the doctor asked, while she shut her eyes and tried to recollect anything, something. But nothing came into her mind. It was blank. Everything was blank. Which made her shake in no.

"What is my name?" Malaika was almost in tears as she questioned them. Her body ached everywhere and to top of it all, she doesn't even know who she was. Life couldn't get any better.