Match Made In Moonlight ✓

<2>

She was horrified. Her stepfather lay there with his head injured and the blood coloring her white floor. He was holding his temples between his palms as moans of pain were escaping his mouth.

Ishmal had no awareness of anything. She did just one thing; she ran towards her mother's room. Without wasting a minute, she went inside. Farah was sleeping on her bed. Ishmal started shaking her arm.

"Ammi....Ammi...please wake up." A terrified call for help exited her quivering lips.

She was breathing so heavily that words weren't forming from her. Farah flinched in her place and then lazily opened her eyes. A few moments took her to get her senses back and when it happened, she jerked to sit up to see the pale face of her daughter with tears on it.

"What happened, Ishmal?" She asked, caressing her cheek.

"Ammi...that...he...un---"

"AssalamoAlaikum...Farah, are you feeling well?"

Ishmal was stunned to find her stepfather standing there, with his office bag in his left hand. The injury was skillfully hidden making it seem like he came from the office right now.

His cunning eyes then settled on her. So much slyness was present in them that she gasped. "Ishmal, dear what's wrong? You seem lost."

"Ammi...he..."

"Did you have a nightmare?" Abid walked up to her and gave her a warning look.

He then touched her arm and firmly squeezed it. Ishmal gulped hard at this other threat.  She was a frightened and naive girl so it caused her to become mute here.

"Ishmal, did you have a bad dream, child?" Farah coaxed her.

She couldn't help but nod. "I got scared due to a nightmare."

"Aww you are my brave girl." Abid brushed her wet cheeks with his fingers.

Ishmal felt disgusting. She wanted to tell the truth but the panic had taken over her every sense.

"I think you should let her sleep with you today," Abid offered to his wife to prove himself a nice father to her daughter.

Even for all those reasons, Farah considered him a really good man who was taking care of her daughter as his own child. But who knew the reality?

"What about dinner?" Farah implored, snuggling her closer to her chest.

Abid shook his head. "I already ate in the office. I am full now." His eyes were on Ishmal when he said it.

When she came back to her room, she quickly locked her door and then fell on the bed, sobbing hard at her bad fate.

     

       

                  ___________________
    

It was a week after that incident when Ishmal was in the kitchen, making tea. After that day, Abid never tried to do anything with her. But perhaps his precaution and patience ended today.

"So you also got wings, huh? You were going to complain to your mother about me?" Abid snarled stepping closer to her.

Ishmal's breath hitched in her throat and she just kept her focus on the teapot, though her body was slightly shivering.

"Just get it into your small brain that if you try to say anything, then I will disgrace your character in front of everyone. I will tell your mother that you have ill intentions for me because I am a perfect father for you in her dictionary. You know the teenager hormones and getting smitten by the opposite gender," he chuckled evilly in the end.