We're in a meeting to discuss the whole police captivating us scenario. basically our next hiest. What effects our business is that rookie with a badge stomping in our town, without leaving a single hint of their presence behind.
I swear, whoever this lady is, fishing for attention, calling the cops of the upper city here? She's a maniac. Investigaters of Mapleton city always stalked us, it led way before I even was born. From our acient Rulders, till this day. Though Brookvill is all under our control. Including the police,
Our cops are bought, bribed, and on our side. They work for us. They keep us in, but Mapleton cops are sharp, ahead of their times. Our parsona keeps us safe.
All the accessories go through us before actually to the citizens. Around 35 to 50 thousand civilians live in brookvilla and for 100 years this tradition is passed. Each Ruler by doing so, serves our people.
After Faisal, someone who he beseats his loyal associate will take over. Members die and slaughter over this seat, this position, this rank. For example, Victor is close to being announced the associate. No one else has been Mr Faisal's reliable alley for this long. Not until I became a member. I'm not very present in today's meeting. I always am but not today, what Mr Faisal said the other day is still barking inside my head. Those two investigaters were Sneaky, they knew where our cameras were, they highJacked them, went in our town, got what they needed. It fills me with such questions—How long have they been onto us? What more do they know? I should talk to Ifan. He's the one who lives there, he should be more careful. All this dumped on us, and I can't do anything but to wonder. Maybe I'm mad at Mr Faisal for keeping a huge part of my life away from me. I feel pathetic, dumb. He shouldn't have done that. My diverted body moment and lack of interest get to Mr Faisal. I think He noticed how disheartened and passive aggressive I've been lately. Good. He should. I am mad. I'm so distracted, ever since I got here after spending my time with them in that arcade.
Gosh, my head is spinning.
"You don't think I don't want to-" Ayat takes a step closer to me.
"I don't know, you tell me." I too take a step closer to her.
"I want you as much as you want me." She whispers.
"What was that?" I raise a brow. Pretending to not being able to hear her properly.
"I want you." She repeats herself.
"Say that again-" I bend a bit down to match her height.
"Samiullah Sarfaraz Ahmed, I want you, I want all of you and I'm not ashamed."
My lips part a slight.
"Then let me in. Let me breath inside your soul- let me have you, all of you." I whisper desperately.
"You're already in. I'm yours."
I watch as her lips parted in hopes I will combine mine with her, I lean in, our eyes touched, my hand grasps her waist closer, her breath hits my nose as I kiss her, she closes her eyes. "Ayat sweetheart?
"Yes?"
"Are you sure you're not going to regret this?" I say under my breath.
"Even if I do- What's a life without a little regret?" Her fingers lingered, tracing the curve of my cheek. My heart skipped a beat. I've never been treated this gently. My gaze turns tender as I brush a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Warm sunlight casts a golden glow around us, reflecting her soft smile. "I like you Sam." Her voice barely above a whisper. "Yeah?" I ask, she laughs. I never thought I'd had a moment like this in my life. A moment so beautiful, I don't even remember who I am anymore. I kiss her lips and her eyes fluttered close, savouring our intimacy. My hand drifted to her waist pulling her closer. Time seemed to have been slowed down as we stood there nose to nose.
"Sam"
"Yes?" I'm melting.
"Sam?" Mr Faisal taps the table to gather my attention. I flinch and suddenly I'm back in the meeting room.
OH MY GOD!
Is that what I'm so distracted by!? Oh my God! was I day dreaming about KISSING Ayat!? OUR AYAT!? The mean kid who's always teasing me!? What the absolute hell! I can't stop thinking about her. I should not think about her, I've never thought of her that way, that sort of way, I should not be thinking about her. Ifan and I already have too many conflicts distancing us. He'd murder me if he found out. What's happening to me?! What the fuck was that dream about? All this because of those stupid texts she send me. I thought to myself, she must not be in her senses, drunk perhaps, but damn.
"Yes sir." I straight my posture. I still can't believe it. It's shameful, I should be respectful about her, and here I am, fucking day dreaming about her!?
"Where's your focus divided?" Mr Faisal seems upset. Well guess what, I'm more upset at him than he is at me.
"Apologies sir." I cut eye contact, I'm disappointed. As the meeting gets dismissed. I quickly grab my stuff to leave in a hurry. I don't want to face him right now. I'm panicking for everything that's happening to me.
"Sam, sit back down." But Mr Faisal has other offers I guess.
"I'm busy." Avoiding eye contact won't get you anywhere Sam. Face him. I planned on asking him all these questions but whenever I look at him, all that fades away, leaves me with feeling desperation.
"Even for me?" He asks as if I could ever be busy enough for him. He's the closest to being a family after Ifan and Ayat.
"I don't know Sir, do you think you're ready to tell me everything?" I say.
"I was ready that day, too. You're the one who left." God damnit, him with his logical attitude.
"I needed some time." I rub my neck.
"I gave you that, but I feel like you're distant with me, don't do that to me son." He's worried I'll leave.
"I'll murder whoever did that to my father." Aggression makes my jaw clench.
"Then I shall tell you everything about your father's past."
"I don't know if you will. Weren't the last seven years good at you for pretending to not know about me?" I smack my lips. "Sir I don't think you understand. Now that I know the truth, whenever I look at you, all I feel is disgust, as if I'm someone stupid, someone who in your eyes couldn't fit the description of being brave enough to handle the truth. It makes my skin crawl with pitness, as if all that I've worked so hard for was for nothing, was pointless, was overlooked. I got accepted not for my bravery but because I was related to you? That's harsh on me. All I have is courage and audacity. It's like now I don't even have that. I'm left empty, hallow, fucked up." I sigh, clenching my fists, looking straight at Mr Faisal. "Imainge the one thing you describe yourself as, now imagine that being taken away from you in a minute. Wouldn't that shatter you? Wouldn't that be cruel to your growth, wouldn't that damage your self?"
"Sam."
"I don't mean anything to you. So let's cut the crap." Before leaving I sigh "I'm sorry if I'm being rude but being rude is the least I have left." I thunder across the room. Slamming the door behind me. My head is throbbing, I need to lay down. Gosh damnnit, weakness. That's all that he's becoming. My weakness. I need to get to Ifan. To talk about everything, I'm too alone here. I need to share something to someone! I have to get to Ifan. Let him know about everything in person.
On my way to my car, I text him.
"I'll be there in three hours. Meet with me then."
I know he set those boundaries between us, and I don't plan on crossing those boundaries. All I want is him to know about everything that is going on. He desveres to get informed. In two to three hours, I reach at a gas station in Silvan's haven city. I share my location with Ifan to let him know, I'm here. I parked outside the station.
The police has a lead on us, they must have something which they're following, maybe Ifan knows. I'm in my car, the only safe place where no one would hear us.
That sounded way threatening than it should've- I meant where we can be aware of the secrets going around us. Someone knocks on my mirror, I see, It's Ifan. He sits and shuts the passenger side's door, and guilt spreads in my chest. I don't like Ayat like that. I know I don't, I know what I feel.
That'd be so wrong. It'd be me betraying Ifan's trust, but damn, Ayat—she's so smart, and pretty, always teasing me, which I come to realise, is the habit I like the most about her, the way she calls me names. She was right under my nose this entire time and I couldn't see the wonderful woman she is.
"So?"
I break out of my fantasy.
"No hi no hello?" I clear my throat.
"Get to the point Sam, I'm very busy." He acts nonchalant.
Oh fuck him for real.
"I'm more bussier than you, yet here I am, making time to inform you."
"I know, the whole police thing, right?"
"Yes, they've aressted the kid for now, what happens next may cause damage but we're ready to face it."
"I'll be contacting you if I find something odd." He says. "Though I have a question to ask. How did you exactly catch them?"
"The Cameras we've set around the town were hijacked, we couldn't see who got in nor who got out, we've only heard from people who saw police vans outside of our town, they didn't cross the boundary, so they weren't in our territory, smart move but why at that hour? How long has it been since their investigation's start on us, what information they could have on us, who is selling us? These things are yet to be known, though yes, the guy we sent is currently in the upper city station. He said he saw a man and a woman, in Sally's house. She's silent, she isn't speaking, but we'll take care of her." I tell.
"Things don't look good." Ifan sighs.
"Do you have any idea what they might have that led them to us?" I ask.
"How would I know?" He gets slightly irriated.
"Uhm because you live in the city? And the police of Silvan's haven are after us, obviously." I release a taunting breath.
"I have no idea, no police has ever showed up to my or Ayat's house. We're unknown, no one really knows us here expect for Faiza and Zaid, and they most probably have zero clue on how a hub or a dectective works." He says.
"Who's Zaid?" The only question I ask.
"Ayat's friend."
What? A strike of annoyance hit me. Who the hell is Zaid?
"Are they close?"
"Yes, dearly." He says. Oh my God. Random wave of spiral crawls down my sleeves.
"Anyone else you're suspicious of? I think—Someone is outing us. I just don't know who." I say, changing the subject.
"Sam, we don't have much close friends to get suspicious on."
"I know. I wanted you to be careful of everyone and tell Ayat as well, to be careful. Someone's selling us to the police, otherwise no police has ever gotten a lead on us. Not as far as I know."
"I'll pay attention." He says.
"I know it might affect your relationship with Faiza, If you're starting one." I ask because I want to know if they are. It's been weeks since we shared anything about our personal life. I miss that.
"What? No, we're not. There's nothing."
"So you're telling me there's nothing going on between you two?"
"I mean, I don't even know if she likes me."
"Then how come you looked in the mood when I called last night?"
"Its none of your business."
"You were watching something on the television, weren't you?" I teasingly lift a brow.
"Once again, none of your business."
"Since when do you watch sex?" I ask, teasing him.
"What? When did I say that?"
"Ew! You're touching yourself?" I laugh, trying to act normal.
Am I crossings his boundaries? I just want us to go back to normal. Sometimes I feel like, he really cut me off.
"Shut up" He annoyingly roll his eyes.
I laugh, and I can see he's smiling, too. He's just bad at hiding his emotions. Looking at him, I see he's the same boy, maybe I changed. The corners of my lipwards, and my eyes slightly squinting.
I don't care, anyway. I start my car, we move around the city, stopping at a red signal.
A Banger car stops near us.
"Banger car." I say through the window, rolling it half way down.
"What transmission you installed?" I ask, because I'm a friendly dude. My sunglasses perched on my forehead.
"It's more than you can afford." The man shouts over at us as him, his friend is laughing. Why is he being mean?
Ifan looks at me, raising his eyebrow. Why was that, hands down, the most petty I've ever felt for anyone.
"You wanna put our conflict aside for now?" I say to Ifan, he smacks his lips and a sudden sly smile appears on his face,
And I know exactly what that means.
Those other guys drop their glasses on their nose. I gear and release smoke which left them shocked.
"You got DCT?" The man's eyes widens. This baby have it all.
"It's a real game-changer buddy." I push my sunglasses up my nose. They kept staring, so did we. Close eye on the red light— it turns green.
My engine roars, a deafening sound that vibrates through the air. My tires screeched, smoking as they struggle to maintain traction on the asphalt. They with all the speed they've got, move pass us, but I've got my baby. As our car approaches the turn, it seem to lean into the curve, it's body tilting precariously to one side. With fierce determination etching on my face, I grip the steering wheel tightly, my eyes fixed intensetly on the highway ahead. We cross their car. Ifan rolls down his window.
"You should've told us the transmission!" Ifan teases them. My car hurtles through the turn, it's speed seemingly impossible. Then, in an instant, we vanished into the distance.
"Woah hoo oh! Did you see that?" I ask Ifan.
"That was brilliant! The way we shifted gears, it was like damn a perfectly choreographed dance!" Ifan says in a very hyped up tone. He always did loved cars, he always knew so much details of internal car function. It's heart warming to see his inner child excited again.
"I mean, you feel the rush of adrenaline as you floor it, and the DCT kicks in, shifting gears in the blink of an eye!" He chatters. "It's like a hot knife through butter bro, seamless, and ridiculously fast." He's still on about it. "And the best part is, It's not just about the speed, it's as if having your own personal pit crew." I sigh, matching his tone, dropping my head back in exhaustion. I've had this car for a while now, but every time I get behind the wheel, I still get blown away.
The sun is setting.
"Yeah, you're right." He smiles. "Now that it's over—" He clears his throat.
"Yeah, yeah." I say, completely lifting my energy down. Forgot that for a second, that we aren't like how we were before.
"Shall I drop you to your apartment?—" We both get interrupted by sirens of a police car, loudly pounding behind our car.
"Oh dammit." I forgot we weren't in our hometown. "No wonder why those dudes laid back." I grin embarrassingly. One of the officers, walk to our car, standing beside my door.
"Oh hey officer." I say, awkwardly grinning.
He drops me down, pushing me against his car as he cuffs my wrists behind my back. "Okay! Okay! Can't you be a bit gentle?" I say, while my face is being pushed against their cop car. He's towered over me, a sterm expression on his face. I can see, Ifan's standing there, his hands cuffed behind his back, they're making him sit in, Ifan's shirt showcasing his chiseled physique. Despite the handcuffs and the police officer's stern demeanor, Ifan and I exude an air of rebellion, as if we'd been caught red-handed doing something we knew we shouldn't be doing.
.
.
"Mr Faisal we may have gotten into a teeny tiny trouble." I say in the telephone at the station. We got far away from the main city while racing, this station is bearly for the city people. There's more of— outsiders here, rather than the classic city livers. Nothing we haven't seen before. But damm we won. "Sam this isn't Troyvil, I don't hold Dominance over that territory. Regarding this event, No matter what happens, do not let them get a hint about your connection with the underworld. They will shoot you right then and there. Fear not son, I'm immediately sending my Lawyers, they will get you out." There's a dot of actual worry in his voice. Does he really sees me as his own son?
"But how?"
"They will do it neatly. Don't you worry about that."
I know what he's referring to. It's called bribery.
After hours they finally let us go. Our lawyer walks us out. "Thankyou man, I don't know what we would've done without you." My energy is oddly high.
"It's my job. I get paid for it, I didn't do you a favour." Laywer said. Rough, man
"Still." I smile.
"Listen kid. I have just been informed by Mr Faisal, how the certain action you and your friend took today, have potentially severe repercussions. You have no idea kid, the amount of dangerous unpacking we had to do for what you did today, and what more it can lead us into. As your counsel, it is my duty to advise you that your decisions have crossed established boundaries and may lead to serious consequences. So I strongly recommend you take immediate action to rectify the situation and mitigate any further damage. Forbid my mouth for saying this, it's a matter of time the investigators find a leap on you. The lack of matureity you've shown today is disappointing, thus the leakage can come out as cruel." He said one setting.
He's threatening me?
"Hold on man." I say. I did not understand a word he said. "I have my fraudulent Id card, passport, licence and everything with me. Don't worry I'll be fine." I say, flaring my hand up on his face.
"Hopefully." He walked himself out.
"He bribed the officers, didn't he?" Ifan's standing behind me. I turn around to see him in literal torn up condition.
"It's not like that's the first time." I say, brushing dust off of my shoulders.
"It isn't about how many times we've done it. It's still wrong."
"They're the one taking the money, not us." I say.
"You're the one blackmailing them into taking it."
"As charity." I say. "Besides, you've grown up like this with me, you can't be the one to judge puffs." I casually ich my neck.
"I never liked any of this."
"Not my fault." I defend myself. The night is too long.
"I'm trying to become a better person." He says.
"No Ifan. You're just trying to find invalid reasons to cut off with me." I say. "And that is the bitter truth you don't have the courage to admit." My tone turned harsh.
"You're right." He's shocked. "I don't even have the energy to explain myself to you so I'll get going."
"Go ahead, fuck off!" I raise my middle fingers up in the sky for him to see. "You can't guilt trip me into leaving my world behind!" I yell behind him. He's already gone. And he's yet to find I dreamt about his sister like actually, genuinely, and literally.
"Son of a bitch" I kick a trashbin near me, biting back a shout.
Anger is bad luck, anger is bad luck.
I inhale a sharp breath in. It's time to get answers out of Mr Faisal. No matter how bitter the reality is. It's time to swallow it with pride and move the fuck on. Find hints, kill the person! Whatever comes after that, I don't care. I just need to murder that son of bitch with my own bear hands. That is the only light I can see in my life. I'm sorry Ifan, I'm sorry Ayat, but no amount of love can ever pull me out of here. I need to silent the screaming of my mother and wipe the blood of my father, off of my goddammit chest!
I can not live with this burden.
I walk inside our mansion, I can't seem to get my head straight, my thoughts are wondering everywhere except where they actually should be. On the target, on the murderer. But all I keep end up thinking about is how Ifan has changed, which in my opinion is stupid.
I don't think I was ever rude to him, we both shared the same tone, we both were angry at each other, it wasn't one sided but for some fucked up reason he's making it seem like only I'm in the wrong. Ugh. I keep thinking about Ayat. I keep thinking about, why Mr Faisal would lie to me for this long. So yes, I drank, a little more than usual, and I'm not in a good shape to be seen right now. I just want to vanish in my sheets, and never talk to anyone. I walk upstairs. On my way to my room, I see my door already unlocked. What the hell? I get Cautious, slowly stepping inside. I slide open my door gently.
"Sam."
"Mr Faisal?" I rub my eyes to see if I'm day dreaming again. I'm not. My room is empty, the voice came from behind me, I turn around to see, Mr Faisal walking upto me. He really is here. Why? He never enters in the staff house, or stays awake for this long. Especially not infront of our rooms. That's the least expected place for him to wonder around. "Where have you been?" He asks. Why do you care?
"Why? are you going to ground me or what?" I'm drunk.
"I had to go through several procedures to get you out of that station, I stayed awake for you to come back safely, I hired the most expensive laywer, I kept waiting for you to arrive at time, all that effort gone to waste because how I get to see you? Soaking in alcohol?" His voice raised in disappointment.
"Wait—let me guess. You didn't expect this from me?" I drunkenly take a step closer to him.
"Never in a thousand years." He's standing straight.
"Well guess what Sir? Me neither." I grow clumsy, and I start to laugh. "Me neither." I repeat but this time, my voice didn't shiver.
"Is this your way of punishing me?" His brows furrowed as he squints his eyes.
"This is how you chose to exact your retribution upon me?" He said in a nonplusive tone. He's right, thus I don't reply quickly. I take a minute or two to answer him.
"Why wouldn't I? You left me no choice." I point finger at him in drowsiness.
"I've told you why I kept it away from you, but if you can't handle a mature, responsible decision than it is not my fault." Somehow he's always right.
"But now I can't trust you!" My voice breaks.
"You shouldn't have risked your parsona, for your want to make me suffer." He raised his voice at me.
"And you shouldn't have kept me in the dark." I get closer. "Sir you don't understand, now that you've done that, I feel empty, I feel fooled, I feel naive that I've been blind for this long? I feel uneducated now more than ever, it's like a part of me got stolen on purpose, intending to hurt me for what fucking reason!? For a dead person's promise? You made me look everywhere, whilst I was hurting for a promise for a person who doesn't even exist anymore? It's foolish, it's hurtful. You don't understand, the realisation that crawls underneath my heart is that how much time I've lost. I've lost years of progress, years worth of effort. I've lost so much, just because you had to keep a slight promise!? I don't have much time!" I stop to realise, I was yelling. Infront of Mr Faisal. I've never done that before. I respect him immensely, and.. he isn't saying anything, he's just standing still.
"Sam. You never once mentioned what you were looking for." His voice is calm.
"Because I never knew you were involved!" I yell.
"We're both equally valid." He said and I guess he's right.
"No" I try to stand still. "I mean nothing to you." I say. "And that is the truth we've been looking for. You don't care. No one does." I walk inside my room, and disrespectfully closed my door on Mr Faisal's face. I'll regret being brutal to him. I know I will,
But for now—I don't, not even for a second.