Hello lovely readers!

Thanks for reading/voting/commenting! I was on top 10!! #9 in spiritual! That could happen only because of you amazing readers! It means the world to me, here you go another chapter with Shawn and Sana :D

This chapter, actually the whole book, is dedicated to SmilingHearts my first and nr1 supporter! This girl here is amazing and her book My Silver Lining got me hocked to Wattpad in the beginning of my journey. Now I am a officially a Conner fan :$ So do check her story out! Thank you for just being the great you! <3

This rather fast update is for the sake of the sweet MehakMushahid , this chapter is not that brilliant or action packed or funny but I hope you like it :) Thanks for reading and liking :D <3

------------

No love between two souls is greater than what is between the spouses.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

-------------

It is said that to run away from your problems is not the solution. Which I agreed to until now. Running away from Uncle Osman, his two sons and their two giant friends is defiantly the solution right now! How can someone even be that huge? I mean they look like bears! We have lost them now or they have lost us now but I don't understand how.

Panting and with sour muscles I run for my dear life with Shawn, hand in hand. Who could have imagined that my kidnapper would be the same guy trying to save my life? Actually ours but still, he hasn't at least abandoned me to rot somewhere.

When jumping out of the washroom window in the motel I didn't realize that we would need to run, run like there's no tomorrow. The car was parked at the front side of the motel and we jumped out at the backside. We could not run to Shawns car as Osmans car were parked beside his.

So instead we run into the small city or town, I am not sure where we are. "Shawn, we can't run forever." I hyperventilate.

He looks towards me and I see sweat beads on his forehead. I guess I am not the only one sweating and being drained out of energy. "You don't say?" I roll my eyes at his sarcasm.

We continue running with the wind whipping our hair and passing by all kinds of people, stores and vehicles. I mumble out sorries then and now when hitting on to people accidentally. Feeling really bad as I hit an elderly lady in a red coat a bit too hard. "OMG so sorry!" I blurt out while passing her, fortunately she doesn't fall and is thanks to Allah strong.

Shawn glances back regularly to check if the Osman clan are following us. "I don't understand, they should be close after us." Shawn says between his breaths with furrowed eyebrows.

The sun is shining quite brightly making his, and I assume my own, face glow. "What if they went back to get their car?" I ask him the first thing coming to my mind and he halts making me run straight into him. "Ouch!" I lose my balance but Shawn steadies me by grabbing my arm and I cling on to his arm. "What happened?" I question confused and breathe heavily.

"Crap! I didn't even think about that." He utters and looks behind me at the road. "They're surely on their way with their car." He looks around and his gaze halts on a bus stop in front of a cafeteria named Café Sigtuna.

OMG, we're in Sigtuna? That's not far away from home, when I say not far away I mean approximately one hour or two hours away. My family usually comes here during the summer for picnic and summer activities. There's a beautiful lake nearby.

Shawn pulls me out of my thoughts when pulling my arm. Surprised I gasp at the impact as we start to run again. However, we don't run that far as he halts in front of the café. To be honest I am really hungry. Yes, I do think about food even when crazy people are running after my life. Yes, that makes me crazy.

A bus halts and Shawn walks up to it dragging me behind him. Having no idea what's going on right now I just follow his lead. We wait behind a pregnant lady with long wavy hair and two bags of grocery to get up on the bus. Taking in her posture and strength I actually admire how strong she is physically and emotionally, in her state I am sure I would just end up being a giant mess. "Can you see the black Range Rover? Furthest behind the road? That's Osmans car." Shawn enlightens me in a hush-hush tone leaning so he can talk to me in a lower voice, snapping me out of my space out.

My eyes search for a black Range Rover and I do find one far behind the road, maybe they haven't noticed us yet as slow as they're driving? "Then isn't it stupid to get on a bus?" I question him perplexed while holding my hair in one hand as the wind has a mission to tangle it. "If they see us jumping on a bus it will make it easier for them to have an eye on us." I enlighten Shawn while he is concentrated on the car.

Shawn straighten his posture and walks in the bus with me close behind him. "Well, the idea right now is to be seen." He says positively which surprises me.

Before I can question him about that we face another problem. We stand beside the bus driver and Shawn starts to look for something in his pockets making me raise an eyebrow. "Sana, do you have the tickets?" My eyes widens. What? Has he lost his mind? What ticket? "I gave it to you didn't I?" He questions with a wink, which surprise me even more.

The bus driver starts to drive not even waiting for my reply.

Is that a cue for playing along? "Umm, the tickets? OMG the tickets?" Ok, I have no idea what I am up to and this is making me cold sweat. Do I look like an actress?

Shawn glares at me, ok this isn't going any well. "Yes Sana the tickets." I blink my eyes several time as if not comprehending his simple words.

"I think." Please brain help me. "I think I left them in the motel." Grimacing confused I blurt out.

"You can't ride along without tickets." The tired bus driver in his fifties says nonchalantly. "I'll have to ask you to get down at the next stop."

"Yeah that's alright, we need to get back to the motel anyway." Shawn says and I nod along not knowing what else to do.

Shawn holds my hand again and I inhale a deep breath as it has become a cue that we will need to run. At the next stop we run straight not looking left or right. Shawn halts in a narrow alley between two buildings and gently pushes me to the right brick wall. My heart is drumming in my chest at the anticipation, are we or are we not being followed?

Resting my back at the wall while Shawn keeps an eye on the road starts to calm me down. Suddenly he places himself in front of me with his hands on the wall either side of me. His eyes are still on the road and I stand there as a statue looking away from him, waiting for whatever he is waiting for. The alley is long and is leading to a garbage house it seems, I am not sure. It surely stinks in here.

"Bingo!" He suddenly exclaim and I look up at him a bit startled. His victorious grin surprises me. "They're following the bus." He explains with a light smile.

"How come they didn't notice us run out?" I ask completely confused.

"Because there was a signal at the corner which I assumed they wouldn't make it through." He claims proudly and takes a step back from me.

That makes me grin back at him. "Perfect!" I exclaim and raise my hand for a high five as a sheer reflect.

He looks up at it surprised for a moment to then high fives it. Thank God he didn't ditch me, that would have bruised my ego. He shakes his head a bit with an amused smile. "You're special."

"I know, I am awesome." I boost with a confident look and straighten my back.

Shawn rolls his eyes. "Sure, whatever you say." He passes. "Hurry now. We need to get back to the car before they realize we're not in the bus." Shawn orders and we start to run back to the motel again.

Ones back in the car and on the road I relax a bit. "How did they even find us?" I ask Shawn as it doesn't make sense to me, he even threw his SIM card away.

Shawn shrugs. "I guess by using tracer devices as I have gps system in my car. Not sure to be honest, I'll ask Zaki to fix it. He is a car and gadget freak."

Zaki, I am not sure if Zaki is the guy who shot Javed or not? Ok, that's not something important to dwell over now as I'll get plenty of time to figure that one out. "What's the plan now?" I ask Shawn and my stomach decides to roar, clutching on to it as if it will shut up Shawn starts to laugh. "Shut up." This is so embarrassing.

"The plan is to first satisfy your hunger." He says amused which makes me very happy, as I am starving.

He drives in to a drive through at Burger King and orders us two Fish meals. Shawn multitasks as he eats while he drives.

My stomach is to be honest very happy with all the greasy food it is being fed by. Ok, that just made me feel a bit sick or more specific a wave of nausea hit me. Wiping my hands in a tissue I toss the brown bag to the back seat. "Shawn, why are we being chased? And why are we running?" My mind suddenly questions.

Shawn looks at me and gives me the are you serious look. "Because Osman isn't playing around, he is going to kill us off. There's no way that he'll just let us go for hurting his son." He says in a duh tone. "And because I know too much." He adds more quietly.

"This is absurd, I want to go home. You can free me now, right?" Suddenly I feel homesick and miss my family.

Shawn turns rigid and has a unreadable expression on him. "Sana, call your parents and check if they're ok." That makes me furrow my eyebrows, why wouldn't they be?

"What do you mean?" With a drumming heart I question.

"Just do as I say." He opens the small reservoir in front of me and points at my phone.

I hesitantly bring it out carefully and do my best to not touch the gun beside it, closing the lid I start my phone. I have thousands of messages and missed calls, I ignore them to dial home.

The signal goes but no one is answering. They might be at work, but I have this uneasy feeling and my heart is drumming dramatically. "No answer, I call on my moms mobile instead." I mumble as I dial.

She is not answering, ok now I am panicking. I search for my dads number and that's when my mother decides to call back, Allhamdullillah! "Sana! Sana?! Is that you?" My mother cries and my heart clenches in pain.

"Salammalaykum mom! How are you?" I manage to utter with a shaky voice.

"Oh Allah, Sana! Where are you? How are you? We have been worried sick and I was getting afraid that Allah wouldn't accept my prayers." My eyes well up hearing that.

She sobs which makes me go all emotional. "Mom, stop crying. I am alright, don't worry. I just needed to check on you, I will be back home before you know it. Stop worrying, Allah is with me." I try to console her but her sobs turns deeper.

"When are you coming home? Where are you? What happened?" She inquires between her sobs.

"Ask her if she has noticed anything unusual." Shawn tells me and I look up at him confused. "Like anything, fishy new neighbors or just something." He adds seeing my confusion, I nod.

"Who was that?" My mother questions worried.

I swallow hard to stop my own voice from breaking. "That's." What do I tell her? My kidnapper or my friend? I glance at Shawn who's busy driving. "That's Shawn." I introduce oddly.

"Who is he?" She pushes alert.

"Mom, I will tell you everything when I get back home ok? Just listen to me now, I need to know if you have noticed something different in the neighborhood?" I inquire quite unsure of where this is going.

Mom thinks for a moment and I turn on the speaker. "No not really. The police has been patrolling here since the incident to protect us, that's the only difference." She says warily, Shawn grimaces and his grip on the steering wheel turns harder. "Why?" My mom asks and I look at Shawn who doesn't acknowledge me.

I push him with my elbow which makes him look at me dazzled. "What?" He questions perplexed, I point at my phone. "Say you just needed to know if they were protected." We hear my mom clear her throat and look at the mobile in my hand.

"I can hear you." She says perplexed. "What's going on?" I sigh and roll my eyes, way to go. "Is that your kidnapper Sana? Should I inform the police?" Hearing her worried pinches my heart.

Biting my lips I decide to tell an alternative truth. "No mom don't contact anyone, that's my friend." The word friend leaves my mouth a bit drily as I feel Shawns gaze on me. "He is trying to keep us both safe." I continue to assure keeping a straight face while looking at the road in front of me.

My mom goes quiet and I fear the line has been disconnected when my mama decides to speak again. "Sana tell me honestly now. That's not your boyfriend who has rescued you or you have eloped with? Or something like that, is it?" My eyes widens at her words and I keep my hand on my forehead embarrassed, I even mentally face palm myself.

"What?! Mom are you kidding me?" She saw me being kidnapped on national television and she still assumes I have time with rendezvous or boyfriends? Which is clearly Haram, an Arabic word for forbidden or sinful. "Boyfriends are haram!" Snapping in a hush hush tone I tuck away a strand of hair, which ends up with Shawn rolling his eyes.

"Women." He comments under his breath tilting his head and I glare at him.

"Just checking." Mom mutters under her breath.

Shawn snatches the phone from me. "Hi Aunty. Just don't tell anyone that Sana has called you. Not even the police as there are some insiders who are looking for us." Shawn explains straight to the point and my mother agrees.

That's when it hits me. Osman uncle is a police officer! If I return home, he will get the information. Crap.

Ending my call with my worried mom I feel a bit closer to home. Even though I am annoyed at the fact that I am running around like a criminal. "Will I ever be able to go home?" I question Shawn.

"I don't know. Try to be cooperate Sana, Osman won't sit around quietly." He tells me with seriousness. "This is not a silly game."

I know that but still. This way of life is not something I prefer even though it is a bit fascinating. This kind of life was totally fiction for me until now.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence Shawn clears his throat. "Why is a boyfriend haram? I mean you don't eat a boyfriend, you date him." His hesitant question make me want to chuckle but I bite the inside of my lip to suffocate it.

With the most plain expression I can gather I turn my gaze to him and say. "What do you mean? We do have to taste a piece of our husbands flesh after our marriage, that's a ritual." Shawns crystal blue eyes widens a bit while his brows gets a bit closer but he keeps quite.

After a few seconds of pondering he gives out a humorless and mocking laugh. "Very funny." He finally replies and I burst out laughing. "I am not that unfamiliar to Islam to not know that you don't perform cannibalism." He adds drily.

"Sorry, sorry, I just had to try to pull your leg." I apologize and wipe the corner of my eye to compose myself. "Anyway, as you might have noticed or maybe know a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship is forbidden in Islam." He nods while I slowly rant. "In Islam the belief is in marriages. That is because Islam regards the family life as a essential part of life and society. To secure a life long relationship with your partner marriages are regarded as necessary." I explain to him a bit funkily.

He furrows his eyebrows. "But why can't you date? I mean you can't just marry someone without knowing them?" He questions as I can assure you that this is totally absurd for Shawn.

To be honest I don't know how to explain this to him and just rely on the flow of my mind. "Dating might seem necessary to know your partner but Islam says that you can get to know your partner after marriage." Shawns mouth starts to open to contradict but I continue to speak before a sound can leave his mouth.

"It doesn't mean that you get married off to anyone. You obviously try to know about the person who you are interested in by the help of friends and family. You are permitted to meet the person in the presence of family members to get to know a bit about the persons character, personality and obviously appearance. That way you can decide if you can work it out together with the certain person in the long run. That if it feels right and you both seem to have the same goals. It is said that it is a different feeling to be able to court your partner after marriage." I enlighten Shawn quite rushingly and end it with a unsure smile.

Shawn isn't convicted, he has this expression on his face indicating that he isn't satisfied. "But isn't it easier to date and know the person better so you both can mutually decide if you want to spend the rest of your life together or not? What if you later realize that you both aren't compatible." He pushes.

I sigh, how do I explain this rationally? "There are other reasons too and that's for example that Islam want to make sure that a child is not born out of wedlock so it can get the nurture of both parents and a upbringing in a united home. Another reason is that the more partners you have the more risk is it that you are capable of spreading a disease to more than one person, for example AIDS. That's two of the reasons why intercourse is forbidden before marriages and because Islam believes in modesty and chastity for both the genders." I try to make sense. "It is said that good woman is for good man and good man is for good woman." I add for effect, not because I believe that a person is bad just because they live their life differently and as they want it to.

"But that's insane, I mean you can't just forbid people from loving each other or having intercourse." He says frustrated.

"They aren't forbidding anything! The word Nikah, used for marriage, literally means intercourse. That means Islam do encourage love in every form, but just the love should be between a man and woman after holy matrimony. It is like you regard it as a proof that you two belong together if you have made it to marriage, and you have found your soulmate." My sudden high pitch voice tries to explain.

"But to achieve the perfect relationship you need to know your partner." He doesn't budge.

I shake my head amused, poor thing. Does he believe in Fairytales? "Shawn, there is no such a thing as a perfect relationship so it is futile to try to find the perfect one. What matters is if two individuals are ready to strive for a perfect relationship, together." This time he do seem a bit speechless. "Furthermore this way the respective spouse gets the highest respectful title of them all and who doesn't want to be introduced as his wife or her husband?" I question him just for the sake of it and he just give me a sideway glance.

"What if it really doesn't work?" He further inquires.

I lean my head against the cold window. "Then you can try relationship counseling, therapy and all." Before he can further question I quickly add. "And if it really isn't working then the last resort is a separation, meaning divorce." The last part comes out a bit harsher than intended.

He turns a bit rigid. "That's all?" He retorts with his eyes fixed on the road.

My eyes darts up to his profile. Really? I gave him a full on lengthy lecture and he is still not satisfied? I blink my eyes a few times and tilt my head. "There are many other reasons but the most and important factor is just because we believe in our Lord and our Lord has commanded it. It is mentioned that when you get married half of your deen, meaning worship, is completed by your spouse." Lastly I add and shrug.

He just nods while tapping his fingers on the steering. Waiting for another set of inquiry in silence I realize that there aren't coming any. I really want to move my body to any beats right now and do a victory dance or lap. Thank you Allah! To be honest, that's all the knowledge I have. I take a glance at Shawn, he seem a bit lost in thoughts, as if something is bothering him.

"Hey, Islam isn't allowed to be forced on someone so take a chill pill. It is only those who want to follow Islam who follows the rules, for the sake of their belief. Why are you so worried?" I add making sure that he knows that everyone has their own will and paths in life.

His ocean blue eyes darts towards me surprised at my comment. "I know that and am not worried, I was just curious." He assures looking back distantly at the road.

Shrugging I make myself comfortable.

After a few hours of driving, note that I can't keep track that well and actually slept most of the journey, we finally pull over and park in front of a huge building.

"Who's apartment is it?" I ask tiredly referring to the place we are going to take shelter under.

"This is given by the U.S. Army, this place is our refugee." Shawn informs me vaguely.

I am just glad that we are not staying at some place in the middle of the forest, who only terrorists have access to.

Following Shawn we end up in the elevator. He presses the button indicating that our destination is at the 7th floor. Feeling tired and really in need of some decent hours of sleep I sigh heavily with a hand covering my mouth. We turn right at the 7th floor and knock at the last door.

Standing behind Shawn my eyes finds their way through the window in the corner with an amazing view of the setting reddish sun while waiting for the door to open.

When the door finally opens and I hear the voice greeting Shawn my heart skips a beat in panic. Shawn greets back and the name I hear from his mouth makes me feel suffocated, it can't be? To confirm I look over his shoulder and take a step back astonished.