Chapter 14
A tall dark figure stood in his spot while wiping a leather belt in his hand. A young boy stood in front of him, praying silently not to get hit by the stone like belt.
The boy pleaded his hands together to stop the torture, but the man showed no signs of emotions or compassion toward the kid.
Tears stung in his eyes and tried hard not to scream out in pain. He gritted his teeth while shutting his eyes and his hands turned into fists but it was no use. The pain was far too great to handle.
The tall man kept repeating the same words of discipline and disrespect
The young boy screamed as each time the belt came in contact with his fragile like body. He could already feel his back burning from the hits and feel a tickle of blood run down from the many wounds.
What had he done to deserve this? Had he been bad? But he had apologized repeatedly but nothing made the man move an inch from his spot.
The kid screamed out in pain which echoed in the dark empty halls.
"NOO!!"
Aahil shot awake, feeling his heart pound in his chest and a cold sweat covered his forehead. He sat up on the bed trying to take a few calm breaths to assure that it was only a dream.
It was not reality, but just a dream.
The same old memory' he whispered once taking his face in his hands.
How he just wished he had fought back whenever he raised a hand on him. How much he just wanted to grab that leather belt and swing it at the other end.
But he couldn't.
He wasn't strong enough.
Aahil took a quick look around in the dark room and noticed that he wasn't alone. He took a glance down beside him and saw Sanam sleeping peacefully. He reached out and covered her up with the sheets.
He decided to get up as he didn't feel like getting back to sleep after what he had seen.
He sighed heavily knowing the constant nightmares would never leave him alone. They were a part of him now.
He stood up from the bed, only wearing a pair of black boxer shorts and a black undershirt. He made it toward the window.
He stood leaning slightly upon the window with one hand as he took a look outside. It was dark, making the moon only source of light he saw.
Sanam slowly opened her eyes and noticed the warmth from the other side was gone. She began to sit up and wondered if he was met with another nightmare.
Her eyes fell on a lone figure leaning against the window of their room, too focused on the darkness outside. Part of her couldn't stop but admire him for a second.
Her brown orbs went to what he was wearing which caused a slight shiver run down her body.
She would never get used to seeing him in just that. It would always cause a tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach no matter what and her cheeks would heat up.
Sanam removed the sheets around her and walked quietly toward him. She instantly noticed how tense his back muscles were. However she came to stand beside him and tried to see what was so interesting to stand here rather to be in bed at this hour.
"What are we looking at?" she asked causing him to break free from his heavy thoughts.
Aahil looked at her with concern. "What are you doing up?"
"What are you doing?"
He tried his best to avoid her eyes. "I needed fresh air."
She raised an eyebrow. "The window is closed" she stated.
"Sanam.."
"You can tell me, you know" she said softly trying to read his dark eyes.
Yet, he decided to remain silent. He wasn't ready to let her know about his hurtful past. It would only cause pain to her and honestly, he wasn't ready to see her reaction.
After studying him for a long time, Sanam took a step back.
She raised her hand and took a breath.
"Knock knock" she said making the gesture with her hand.
He took a small glance at her with a confused expression written across his face.
"Knock knock" she repeated once again.
"What are you doing?" he said staring at her like she had gone crazy.
"I'm trying to get to the other side of the door."
"What door? Are you sure you're feeling alright? Wait a minute are you sleepwalking?"
Sanam rolled her eyes and made the same gesture again.
He sighed. "Sanam, I don't have the patience to play this weird game with you."
"Knock knock. Open the door." She said ignoring his answer.
He stood utterly confused by her behavior.
He rolled his eyes as he finally reached out and opened the imaginary door while his expression told her that he wasn't part of this crazy game of hers.
She took a step forward indicating that she had come inside.
"Opening that door wasn't hard was it?"
She reached out and cupped his face. "So why wouldn't you let me inside the same way?"
Aahil understood what she was trying to prove to him.
"Let me inside" she pleaded to him.
Before he could lose himself in her pleading gaze, he tore his eyes away.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it."
She placed her hands on her hips.
"Don't be mean now that I've been nice. Don't go back to you Jallad Jinn mode."
He looked down at her, smirking slightly. "But a good looking one, right?"
Trust him to go back to his typical ARI way.
Sanam shrugged her shoulders, "not sure."
She took a step back toward the bed. "I'm going to go back to sleeping."
He stood back following her with his eyes. "Not sure if you've fallen for the right one? Now, that's not what I recall last time?"
"You must have lost the touch" she said. She didn't notice his arm wrapping around her waist and pinning her against his chest.
"You sure about that?" he whispered huskily into her ear. Oh, he had defiantly not lost anything.'
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The next day, Sanam went out as she needed a few things from the market. Aahil had decided to go with her so she didn't have to go alone.
He stood patiently waiting by the car waiting for her to finish her shopping.
Suddenly a small kid had bumped into Aahil and fell down on the ground along with her ball.
Aahil tore his thoughts away and into the small kid.
She stood up meeting the tall man's eyes.
"Sorry sir" she said in a small child like voice.
His face broke into a gentle smile. "Hey, it's okay," he quickly approached her.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded as Aahil reached for the ball and gave it back to her.
"Here you go."
She gave him one last smile and ran toward to the other side where her parents stood waiting.
A man, who looked like her father, picked her up as he laughed heartily.
Aahil stood watching the father interact with his daughter. Such normal thing to do, but he had never felt any kind of love from his parents. He wondered how it was to experience that.
Painful memories began to invade his mind even though he tried to suppress them.
Suddenly a hand touched his shoulder jerking him awake as he violently took a step back.
Sanam furrowed his brows by the unfamiliar sight in front of her. She had never seen the change in him.
"Come on, let's get going!" he said roughly once opening the car door and climbed in.
Sanam almost couldn't recognize the change in him. Nevertheless she did what he had asked and silently climbed into the car.
She couldn't help but feel a bit of uneasy as she kept taking small glances at him.
He wore a slight scowl on his face while driving through the streets. He clenched his jaw as he reached out to change the gar of the car.
She noticed how he had picked up speed and was going far too fast than what he was allowed to do.
"You okay?" She asked.
No reply was heard from him.
"Aahil, what happened out there?"
"Nothing."
"Aahil.."
"I said nothing, alright. I don't want to discuss this!" He snapped at her.
Sanam tried her best to control the feelings she was having.
Soon enough, they reached home and came inside the Ibrahim Mansion.
Sanam was not ready to let go of the matter anytime soon. "I deserve to know."
"No you don't," he said coldly trying to brush it away.
"Yes I do," she said following him inside the bedroom.
"No!" he stared down at her.
"Now, you're going to do what I tell you to do, understand?"
"In case you have forgotten.." She placed her hands firmly on her hips as she climbed the bed and stared down at him.
"I'm Sanam Ahmed Ibrahim. Now you tell me what I need to know."
Aahil pushed her down the bed and leaned over her.
"What is it you need, miss Dhabawaali?" he whispered.
At that point she had lost all ability to speak. The voice of his did things to her.
"Go on," he encouraged knowing well enough what effect he had on her.
He silently placed a kiss on her neck.
Sanam bit her lip trying hard not to give in with her senses. But she quickly regained them.
"No!" she said pushing him off of her and got back on her feet.
"You cannot change the topic!"
Aahil buried her face into the bed and groaned. Damn it!'
He stood up from the bed, hoping she wouldn't bring the matter up again.
"You have to tell -"
He grabbed her in a quick movement. "Enough!"
Rage was burning through his eyes as he stared at her. "Enough, Sanam! When I tell you to stop - you stop!"
She had the same kind of rage burning through her - the stubbornness never really left her eyes.
"Sorry Mr. Ibrahim, I cannot do that."
"When you're done with your act you come and talk to me - not before"
With that he left her alone with her thoughts.
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The matter between the couple was unsettled for hours. Aahil genuinely felt bad for lashing out on her like this.
But why couldn't she just understand what he was telling her. He couldn't open up about his past. He didn't know how to open up to her.
Whenever Aahil Raza Ibrahim said something, everyone would fall on his feet and follow his orders - so why, didn't she do as he told her?
Was it because she was stubborn? Or the fact that she cared about him to find the real reason?
Aahil stood up from the bench outside and made it inside. He stood by the door and watched her folding a few clothes together and placing it inside the cabin.
"Sanam." He said once entering.
The young woman ignored his soft voice even though she found it hard to do so. She closed the cabin and was about to walk pass him - but he didn't let her.
"Move away, I need to go to the other room."
"We need to talk" he said.
She raised her gaze. "Heh, well, I don't want to talk right now, so.."
"I wouldn't let the matter be." He told her.
She wouldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oh you wouldn't? What about the time when I asked you? Why can't you just tell me?"
He didn't say anything; instead he tried to let his gaze roam around in the room.
"I'm your wife, damn it. I have the right to know."
He raised his gaze and into hers. "You have the right, but not on this topic."
"God, why can't you just tell me?"
"Stop it, Sanam!" he said glaring at her.
"You have every right on me, but not this."
He took a step back. "Not on this" he whispered, leaving the room once again.
Sanam was left with a helpless look on her face.
"Why wouldn't you share it with me, Aahil?" she whispered knowing well enough he did not hear her.
Almost every night she would witness his pained voice while battling with a nightmare.
"Please! Stop, Abbu, please stop. It hurts. I-I promise I'll be good. Don't hit me. Please." He cried out in his sleep.
Sanam immediately woke up and wrapped her arms around him and tried her best to calm him down. She would run her fingers through his hair and whisper words of comfort.
"Sshh, it's okay! You're safe, no one will hurt you."
Of course the first few times had startled her and wondered what might have happened. Whenever she approached him, he would always brush it off - as if it wasn't important matter to discuss.
She had noticed whenever she brought it up; his hands would shake and often break into a cold sweat. It worried her deeply.
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Sanam was making her way through the hallway, when her eyes caught Rehaan leaving the house.
"Rehaan?" she called stopping him for a brief moment.
He turned to look at her with a smile.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure."
She really didn't know how to ask him what was on her mind. "I actually had a question I wanted to ask."
"Is everything alright?" he asked concerned about her.
Sanam placed her hand on his arm assuring him that nothing was wrong.
"There were just a few things my mind was occupied with lately - mainly with Aahil."
She told him about the incident which happened at downtown.
"It was like he zooned out and then he didn't want to talk about it."
Rehaan knew how hard it was for her to not being able to do anything to help his Aahil Bhai. Even he had been at the same situation a few times.
"I'm sorry, Sanam. I can't tell you. I feel Aahil Bhai should be the one to do so. And I know he will, just give it some time."
She nodded simply and respected his answer.
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Chapter Fifteen: https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/qubool-hai/4093730/sahil-ff-mohabbat-toh-ek-javeda-zindagi-hai-completed-awarded Edited by mahwash22 - 10 years ago
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