I never had it easy.
From watching my parents succumb to the horrors of a car accident to craving the healing presence of the man I love-my entire life-I had navigated through this messy maze I call my life with a shard of hope in my heart.
Every da...
I originally merged this chapter and the previous one into one BIG chapter, but then realized this one deserved its own spotlight. It's quite short as well, probably the shortest I've written xD
Chapter 17 | False Judgement
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Aren't they four of the most discreet people the world has every put forth?" Aaryan questioned, as the two of them kept their gazes trained on the backs of the three women and one man who continued glancing back at them from time to time.
Mubaraka rubbed her arm. "That's what I'm wondering."
"I could see the lightbulbs popping over their heads. Plus that shared look of mischief. You could tell they had something up their sleeve."
"Should've stopped them then."
Mubaraka turned to look up at Aaryan, but he didn't mimic the action. Why wasn't he looking at her like he usually did?
"Let them have their way, Mubaraka. We've already had ours."
Aaryan turned around and melted into the ever-enlargening crowd, prompting Mubaraka to follow him into the cluster of bodies. The baby hair she had around her hairline had slipped out of her headscarf and were practically plastered to her forehead with the humidity. It was getting harder and harder to keep track of Aaryan as he'd seamlessly woven himself into the crowd. The extremely narrowed down pathway didn't make it any easier, either.
The seeds of panic begun to sprout in her chest before she spotted a mop of brown wavy hair, and pushed through a couple of women before she fast-paced towards him and tapped his shoulder with her phone.
"I can't keep up with you," she breathed, panting.
Aaryan looked around. "We can't slow down."
Mubaraka tilted her head. Bright yellow lights overhead fell over him. "Why not?"
"There's a shop that sells quality bangles quite some distance from here, deeper into the bazaar. We need to make it before the owner closes it down."
"Why would he close the shop down so early? It's not even one in the morning yet."
Aaryan glanced at her. "He has a family."
"Why don't we just shop around here? I'm not picky."
"You wouldn't be able to choose with a million woman behind you screaming to let them have their turn. Unless you actually could?"
How was this man so capable of watering the dead flowers in her heart?
"I can't keep up with you if we're going that far. I'll get lost."
The ghost of a smile lingered across Aaryan's lips, the first one Mubaraka was fortunate enough to view that night. His had the power to lighten up a room.
