T w e n t y  f o u r
This one is for aftabkandrickar
:)

إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعون
Junaid Jamshed passed away today.

Mashal

Amidst the air of congratulations and a new found happiness, I saw the men laughing and walking out of the masjid.
"What are they going to do?" I asked the lady who was hugging me.

She chuckled and said, "Dabke."
Before I could ask anything or even understand what she meant, the sound of traditional wedding songs filled the place like smoke.

Astonished, I watched in confusion as the crowd melted away from the masjid and walked out in one of the Alnihayya coridoors.
"Come on!" I heard a girl say, as she grabbed my arm and dragged me out where everyone else was going.

Once outside, the sound of laughter and claps made it clear what was happening.
The men stood in a line, holding hands. As the beat of the music changed, they stomped their feet together in a rythm.

The women formed a circle around the men, laughing and cheering while the men crossed one foot over the other, hand in hand and then repeated the steps.

It was when my eyes met Zeyara's that I actually began to enjoy the dance.
He was in the middle of the line and was easily distinguishable from the others because he was wearing a tailored fit blue suit over a white shirt. He even had a grey tie to top it off.

He was the groom and he made sure, he looked the part.

There was a sudden pause in his expression when he saw me and I felt myself gasp in awe.

I had never seen Zeyara in a suit before. I had never even seen him so directly before without the fear of sinning.
You could say he was handsome, but when I glanced inside through his eyes, he was beautiful.

A blush crept on my cheeks as his lips formed a weak smile.
The kind of smile, poets write poems about.

His warm brown eyes shone in the yellow light of the bulbs, from under his dark eyebrows and thick lashes.

Honestly, his eyelashes looked as if he had a thousand coats of mascara on them.
I was just not ready to look away from him. I kept on staring, taking in every feature of him from his strong arms to his tanned skin and his thin frizzy beard over his well defined cheek bones.
The muscles on his neck and shoulders flexed gracefully as he moved along with the beat.

I knew I was blushing openly but I couldn't care less.
He was mine.

Everyone was so absorbed in their own world. Dancing, cheering and laughing their heads off when I saw Zeyara break away from the chain of dancers and walk up to me with slow, unhurried steps.

I gaped as he moved through the oblivious crowd and in a matter of seconds, stood right in front of me.

I was still lost in his eyes, not knowing what was happening. He grabbed my hand quickly and pulled me out of the noisy, excited crowd. I felt frozen by his touch. My breath was stuck in my throat and it won't be a lie when I say I had never experienced that feeling before.

It was not until Zeyara stopped walking and I heard the click of a shutting door, that my senses returned back to me.
Zeyara had brought us out of the crowd, through the empty coridoors and into the silence of his room. The thought of being alone with him, scared me. I swallowed the lump in my throat as he stared at me intently.

He moved in close, causing me to step back a bit. I kept telling myself that it was Zeyara and I had no reason to be scared but I couldn't help it.
I guess that happens naturally when your whole life you save yourself.

I watched as Zeyara's face fell. He looked disturbed as he broke the silence. "Why are you scared of me?"

"I- I don't know." I stuttered, feeling like a jelly under his gaze.

"Don't be." He said softly, taking another step forward. I felt myslef stiffen but I didn't move back this time.

His hands moved up to the hem of my veil, searching for the pin that kept it intact. He was about to un-pin my veil but I moved back frantically.

I was so unsure of it now. I know I was over excited before but now I was feeling a strange kind of fear.
I didn't want Zeyara to see my face and realise that I am not the beautiful girl he might have imagined me to be.

What if he doesn't like me at all?
What if he has high expectations of my beauty and I don't pass those expectations?
A million thoughts were running through my mind and I wanted to run away from there.

"Do I not deserve to see my wife?" Zeyara whispered.

I bit my lip, looking away from his questioning eyes. "Before you see me, I need you to know that I'm not pretty.
My complexion is not that fair, my hair is not silky smooth and long. My lips are not full like those models and I am not like Minahil-"

"I know you're not like Minahil. You're not like any other girl out there." He murmured, interrupting me. "I also know that you're beautiful and no matter what you say, it's not going to change that."

This time I didn't feel butterflies in my stomach, I felt the whole zoo.
I closed my eyes as he moved closer once again and slowly took my veil off.

I kept my eyes shut tight, too scared to open them and see Zeyara's expression. I was still afraid that he might not like me.

"You are-" I heard him whisper as he took another step towards me.

His incomplete sentence was haunting me. "I am what?" I asked, gulping as I opened my eyes slowly to see that his face was edged so close to mine. I could actually feel his warm breath on my face.

"Beautiful."

He raised his hand up to my face and brushed my cheeks with his thumb as if checking whether I was real or not.

The whole time, I felt my body shivering and my heart thumping. My knees were wobbling and I think I was experiencing what is normally known as falling in love.

I felt his hands move up to my head as he fumbled, trying to take my hijab off but couldn't figure out how to do it. Even in that trance, I laughed inwardly and help him to take it off.

His eyes glittered as my hijab came off, revealing my black locks, like a little boy unwrapping his birthday gift. Zeyara stared in awe as my scarf fell to the floor and I ran my fingers through the ends of my hair.

Time stopped for us as he stared at me, taking in every feature just like I had done a while before.

The air of the room was replaced by his scent and I took deep breaths to engulf it in. He didn't have any perfume on, it was just his presence, just him, that made me want to suffocate myself in his scent.

His thumb moved to my lips, caressing them slightly which made me gasp. He had no idea what he was doing to me.

"Tell me again" He whispered in my hair as he curled the strands around his finger, "would it be illegal to kiss you?"

"I'd be willing to break all the rules for you." The words escaped my mouth before I could even think what they meant.

Zeyara stared at me startled for a second before he let out a throaty laugh and shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I can touch you! You're mine."

Those were the last words I heard before his lips met mine and the rest of the world blurred away.

♡

"We were all dancing like brainless people, celebrating your wedding when you two weren't even there!" Ibrahim snarled, with his arms crossed in front of him.

"Hey it's not my fault! Zeyara dragged me away." I complained after sipping my coffee.

The three of us were sitting in the mess, having our breakfast while Ibrahim constantly complained of how we rudely left the others dancing and went to our rooms last night.

Apparently he thinks we went to separate rooms.

Zeyara nagged me with his foot from under the table, reminding me that we had to pretend we were innocent creatures.
"Yeah because you were feeling sleepy and I walked you up to your room." Zeyara fake smiled at me, while I tried my best to control my laughter and play along.

"Yeah. That's it." I shrugged.

Ibrahim stared at us with narrow eyes and an arched brow "So you both felt sleepy at only 7 o' clock? Even before praying isha?"

I looked away from his eyes shyly. I never knew it would be too embarrassing.

"Yeah mate we prayed in our room..." Zeyara replied hesitantly, "-our separate rooms I mean."

Face palm.

"Oh." Ibrahim muttered, "So you just took Mashal from the masjid to her room and then you left?"

"Yeah!" Zeyara exclaimed, "Exactly that. Nothing else."

"I see...." He trailed off.

I didn't look up and even Zeyara hid his face in the tea cup. We were both flushed red with shame.

"By the way, Zeyara why were you taking a shower at 3 o' clock in the morning?"

Zeyara choked on his tea, shocked by Ibrahim's question, causing a fountain of tea to form from his mouth.

"I uh-" he stuttered, trying to think of a modest answer. He even glanced at me for help but I was too ashamed myself. "It was too hot last night and I was sweating so-"

"You were sweating in January?" Ibrahim raised his brow playfully.

Zeyara opened his mouth to say something to embarrass us even more, but was interrupted by a loud explosion which caused everything in the headquarters to vibrate.

I glanced around in confusion as the sounds of alarms and buzzers filled Alnihayya. Ibrahim and Zeyara gave each other fearful, knowing glances as they got up hurriedly.

"What's happening?" I asked with fear eating me up.

Zeyara grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him, forcing me to stand up. I could see fear in his eyes as he spoke, "Terrorists."

I gasped, but I wasn't too afraid. I knew everything would be alright. I had Allah with me and Zeyara as well.

"Ibrahim rush to squadron number two immediately! I want you to command them. Evacuate the women out through the back doors and don't care to fight back. Just run away and save your lives." Zeyara yelled at Ibrahim who took in each word carefully before glancing at me.

"What about you and Mashal?" He asked, worried.

"They are here for Mashal. I'm going to take squadron one and we'll protect her. We will go opposite ways. They'll get confused and not know which group to follow." Zeyara said quickly, as the noise of breaking glass, howling people and rushing men filled the environment.

"Go now! May you remain in Allah's protection." Zeyara screamed, loud enough to overcome the constant background noise.

"You too. And Mashal know that you're the best sister anyone could ask for." Ibrahim huffed, before rushing off in the opposite direction.

He didn't even wait for my reply. If he had waited, I would've said the same thing for him.

As soon as Ibrahim left, Zeyara took out a little device from the pocket of his black secret agent pant, which seemed a lot like a walkie talkie. I watched as he pressed a few buttons and scremed through the device, "Hamid! I want squadron one lined up near the front doors. I'm coming."

"They are here for the password! We can't let them get that." The reply came, in an urgent tone.

"She's with me. They won't even be able to touch her!" Zeyara said through gritted teeth. His fists clenched tight in anger, so tight that I could see them turning red.

He hurriedly put the device back into a pocket and faced me. Worry and tension was spread all across his beautiful face.

"Mashal know that I love you." He said, placing his hands on either side of my face which caused weird tingles inside me. "I won't let anything happen to you."

I felt a sob escape my lips. I was trying my best to be strong but I wasn't. The sound of explosions and gun shots made me want to bury my head in Zeyara's chest and never look up again. I had already seen Ibrahim and Sanan's blood and I was not ready to see any more of it.

I threw my arms around his neck and took a sniff of his scent. I could feel his heartbeat. Even in this tension, it was calm and even. "It's just the first day of our marriage." I whispered against his chest. My voice contained all the remorse that I felt. How I wished we could be just a normal couple with a happy ending.

"I'm sorry." He replied in his husky voice, looking right through my eyes. "But don't you dare cry. Everything is going to be alright. I'll take you out of this mess and then we'll have a dinner in an expensive restaurant just like you wanted."

The last part caused me to laugh a bit and I nodded at him, smiling. I loved him so much, I had no idea.

Zeyara broke the hug, pulling me off him as we heard footsteps coming to our side of the base.
The footsteps were heavy and quick and they made my heart pump faster. It could either be a terrorist or an Alnihayya member.

Zeyara, however, seemed to figure out that it was a terrorist because he pulled me under the table we were having breakfast on.
I was breathing heavily and was sobbing. I was too scared. Zeyara pulled me closer to him and put a hand over my mouth to muffle out my sobs.

Soon we could see someone's legs from under the table. He wasn't wearing the Alnihayya uniform so it was clear he was a terrorist. If Zeyara had not covered my mouth with his hands, he would've heard my sobs and killed us at that very instant.

But thankfully he didn't see under the table and left, thinking that no one was there.

Zeyara took his hand off my mouth and held my face in his hands. "Mashal you are my wife! You can't be that weak. Your father was the bravest. You are too."

I didn't reply and buried my head in his chest again. I didn't want to move from there.
Zeyara ran his hand up and down my back, trying to calm me. "We need to leave. We won't be this lucky next time." He murmured before kissing my head.

I nodded and fixed my veil while Zeyara took out a gun from his pocket. He grabbed my hand and we dashed out from under the table.

Zeyara rushed us out of the mess and through the coridoors, hiding behind doors and rooms whenever he heard footsteps. The whole time I didn't leave his hand.

We took a turn and kept running when suddenly we came face to face with a terrorist. He had his klashinkov pointed right at Zeyara and he grinned at us, revealing his unclean teeth.
Before he could do anything, Zeyara fired at him, the bullet going right through his chest.
The terrorist fell down to the ground with a thud and I felt a shiver ran down my spine.

More blood.

I was paralysed by this scene but Zeyara grabbed my hand again and kept dragging me with him. We rushed through a few more coridoors and then finally reached the area where squadron one was assembled with heavy weapons in their hands.

As soon as they saw Zeyara, they began talking to him in official language, making out plans informing each other of the situation.
I stood away from them with my palms sweating. All I wanted was to go away to a safe place with Zeyara.

"Okay then. Move everybody!" Zeyara ordered and they all began to rush in one direction. Zeyara grabbed my arm again and pulled me alongside.

The whole squad moved together, shooting every terrorist they saw on the way. They kept on advancing till they reached the front gate.

That was when the real deal started. The front was crowded with terrorists. There were almost fifty of them. But still I was patient because the Alnihayya men were still greater in number than those terrorists.

Zeyara and I were at the back of the rest of the squad. They were continuously firing at the terrorists and the terrorists were firing back. The gun shots echoed throughout Alnihayya along with the screams of the men who received bullets in their chests and fell to the ground.

I thought we would win until one of the terrorist threw a grenade at the squad and it exploded injuring most of the men, making them unable to fight.

Then another grenade and then another. I covered my ears with my hands to block out the screming men as they fell.
Until only the final row of men were left, the row which included Zeyara.

The line of terrorists in front of them laughed devilishly. One of them saw me hiding behind Zeyara and pointed at me. "Hey! Aren't you the girl I was making love with, when that bloody Sanan interrupted us."

I froze at his words and looked at him more carefully. That's when I recognised his greasy smile. He was that terrorist who was going to-

"You bastard! She's my wife." Zeyara growled like a wounded lion and leapt at him.

"No Zeyara!" I pleaded but in vain. That's the thing about men. Their wife is their form of ego and they can't bear a blow to their ego.

He threw his gun away and punched the terrorist so hard, he fell to the floor. Zeyara kept on punching, drunk on anger. He almost deformed the terrorist's face. He kept on hitting even after the terrorist had died, bleeding from every corner.

Zeyara was too absorbed in that one terrorist that he totally forgot there were others around as well.

Someone shot him and I cried in anguish as he fell to the floor.

"No!" I screamed running up to him but someone grabbed me pulling me away.
I tried my best to fight him off, but the terrorist smacked me on my head, making me go dizzy.

☆

Did I not tell you to stop thinking everything is going to be good and happy? 😂

You're welcome.

-Muskaan.