"Junnah..."

On the eastern section of Masjidur-Rahmân roof, was a young boy in a black hood.

He looked ahead of him in unparalleled focus. Even as his eyes narrowed at whatever he was looking at, a figure appeared behind him on the terrace.

"Shad.."

He turned back quickly to see the aged figure towering behind him in complete white. With an exceedingly white long beard, he had the look as if he were angry without being angry.

Anyone who meets him for the first time would without an exception, be intimidated by him.

"White Patriarch.."

"I see you've been following the young lad of late.."

He looked at the boy he just referred to as Shad with knowing eyes,"You think he's the one.."

Shad's eyes lowered in consent.

"I see.. He's the boy Hilya met in the forest the last time..

But it seems you're not the first of us to have had approached him.."

Shad:"..."

"White patriarch(you) remembers Junnah?..."

A look of shock appeared on the aged man's face.

"It was him.."Shad said lightly."In more ways than one, we're alike..

We both fell for people we couldn't have. We both had forbidden passions."

The White Patriarch kept silent at this, no one would know what he was thinking. After a long while, he sighed,

"He mustn't have remembered everything. For him to survive such a predicament.. from Junnah.."

"He might not be able to handle it if he remembers.."Shad agreed, his brows knitted in sobriety.

"All this time, ..he never knew the truth in whole."

"Wait here.."The white-robbed figure said as he turned back, blending in the wind.

...

Within a short passing of a moment, the white-robbed Patriarch was standing in the western prayer hall, behind Ukashah.

It didn't take long for him to reappear behind Shad again.

"White Patriarch?.."Shad looked at the old man in askance. Even the old man had a look of shock on his face when he reappeared.

"Even we, the believing jinn can't get close.."

"The Qur'an recitation?.." Shad asked in disbelief. As believing jinn, they loved to hear the Qur'an, so he couldn't understand why it would repel them.

"No.. I entered the prayer hall. Both boys have a strong resistance to possession.. Its almost as if they're both immune to any amongst our kind..

If it was the one reading the Qur'an, I would understand, but.. the green-eyed boy too?"

"White Patriarch, he once had a connection with the jinn world to the point of possession. His mental barrier should thus be weak.

How's it possible that the jinn can't approach even him?"

"The jinn can approach him. Only, ..they can't interfere with him. He's immune to them in someway.."

After thinking a while, Shad realized something."The scholar.. "

"Indeed. In the past when he was entangled with Junnah, it was he who did the ruqyah.. At that time he must have done something else..

That's the only one explanation we have..." Even as he told Shad this, he remembered a man in white with a verdant kaftan.

Couldn't be him, could it?

Shad looked out to where both boys were in the western prayer hall on different floors.

Hilya also had a barrier as strong as that.. He thought.

It takes strong faith and connection with Allah to obtain that..

The white-robbed figure furrowed his eyebrows thinking aloud,

"The green-eyed boy in particular..

His mental barrier is particularly strong against our kind.. even though both have it.. We can't interfere, even if it's to help him.

Their fate is with Ar-Rabb.

No one can interfere to help him.."

He thought about how he was going to entangle with the dreams of the green-eyed boy, and mix up his memories to prevent him from recalling past events.

Even though she was young, Junnah was indeed a powerful jinn.. Singlehandedly, she had turned the lives of people upside down in this isle town.. all to attain her goal.

Only that scholar was able to stop her, and save both their lives, - the girl and the boy..

The scholar prepared the boy for any more future confrontation with our kind.

Though..
He knows what will happen if the boy remembers..

Just what is he playing at?? Can he bear the truth?..

His eyes suddenly brimmed with excitement,"It's getting more interesting than I thought.. "

•••

Arkaan's POV

When I didn't notice her for a couple of days, I decided I would go and check.

Somehow, I felt ungrateful if something did happen to her and I didn't know, especially when the sisters of the alley had looked after me.

As soon as I had knocked on their door, one of the women came out. I recognized her, - Aileen. She was the one who had said I'd always be welcome here.

It was almost as if she were at the door waiting.. for me.

"Well, if it's not the uncompassionate Arkaan?"Her eyes beamed with mischievousness.

Shock literally passed through me when she turned back abruptly, shouting into the house,"I told you he'd come!"

At this, all the women flocked out in gasps and excitement till I was utterly inundated.

I was pulled into the house amidst jovial exhilarations.

Inasmuch as I was confused, I still couldn't stop what was going on.

A little later after they had sat me down, they told me that it was all a ploy to see if I cared about their little sister.

I said Esmeralda was a friend to me, and so I had to be worried about her wellbeing.

Even as I sat there, the green-eyed girl came out, shyly looking at me.

The girls told me that their younger sister cared a lot about me, but didn't know how I felt about her. So they decided to make a wager. If I were to come looking for her once she stopped her stalking for a period of three days, then it meant I'd feel something for her.

"Well, it took you long enough."One woman smiled. Among them, I could only lower my head.

Though they were covered, it wasn't enough from the ethics my mother had once taught me about.

"So.., do you?"

"Do I what?"I snapped back, I couldn't contain my steadily rising anger again. It was partly because I had been tricked like that.

"Suddenly, he bites!"One of the ladies laughed.

"Be calm with him, you know he's only a child.

All these things are new to him.."The eldest among them said, passing an imperceptible signal to the sisters. But I wasn't one to be oblivious of such things. My perception of very minute details was very keen.

Something was up, but I couldn't point my finger on what.. After all, they only knew me as the poor boy they found on the street. And perhaps, that I went to school, from Esmeralda..

In a short moment of silence, within which was a tension and covert communication I couldn't really understand, Aileen called out,

"Why don't you go out and play with him Esme? Seems Arkaan doesn't trust us.. yet."

"Arkaan, let's go and play.."Esmeralda said cheerfully as she held my hand, pulling me out of the house on the alley. Everything was happening so fast for me to take control of even myself.

The neighbourhood was just like any ordinary house..

At that time, in my innocence, I could barely tell what was going on, but I would soon know that this was a place I was not supposed to be.. in all definitions of the term.

I allowed the girl to pull me around, and I didn't know why. That day, I remember we'd roamed almost everywhere on the Chinese market, which was amazing. We also went to the Honey Fields landmass.

Finally, Esme took me to a place I was unfamiliar with, - a bridge leading into the Southeast region.

I'd never come here before because I'd never had to.

Even as we stood by the bridge wall overlooking the calm river, she turned to me shyly.

"Arkaan, I've a gift for you.."

She looked down from my eyes to my lips, for some reason, looking into her orbs, I felt some form of compulsion to reach down..

Even as I halted midair, I felt something soft upon my lips. It was light as the breeze, and as swiftly too, it faded away.

She had reached up to me before I could make my retreat, I somehow knew what had just happened to me without my consent.

But out of the line of my sight, I saw her.. the kind girl on the bridge..

Subconsciously, I moved aside and ran to her, completely forgetting Esme.

Since she did not follow me, I never knew what Esme had been going through. However, the beautiful girl looked at me in distrust, turned ..and left.
And so did Esme..

I didn't even know the kind girl's name.

Wanting an explanation from Esme, I returned to her place, but their door was locked.

I knew it was intentional. The lights went off the moment I reached their doorstep.

Their message was clear..

...

Every night I'll return there, hoping to meet with her. But the sisters wouldn't just let me in.

When I thought of the girl on the bridge, I realized I didn't know anything about her. Neither her name, nor where she lived.

I knew only that she passed the particular bridge I sat on, usually to school with her siblings.

I tried sitting there every morning waiting for her.

But from that time, she was never alone again. She was always with her brothers, or she never passed here.

She'd pass by, like she never knew me. I'd wanted an opportunity to explain to her if she were to pass here alone one day.

It soon became a habit to wait at the bridge by mornings, and at the sisters' alley by night.

One particular night, as I was loitering about the sisters' alley, I met them.

"Well well well! What do we have here?!

You're the young lad always stopping by the sisters' house.."One guy teased.

"Such shamelessness.."Another looked at me with some curiosity, but it something different than what I'd seen in Esme's eyes.

Even as they talked in such demeaning ways, the boys surrounded me..

...

Even as Ukashah was reciting the Qur'an, he heard it, - a loud shout, one that spoke of terrible psychological pain..

He stopped, and looked up.

At the eastern section roof, two figures were present, one in complete white, and the younger, - in complete black.

"It seems he has reached the crux in his recalling.."The old man said, a strange light shining in his eyes.

"If he doesn't stop now, there's no going back. To remember everything at once wouldn't really help. That scholar.."

Even as the white patriarch said this, Ukashah was left in a state of not knowing what to do. In his worry and confusion, all ideas seemed to have fled him, and he wavered..