4

AL-AMIN QURAISHI ABBADI

It was almost four in the afternoon which meant it was about time for Asri prayers. He entered his praying room with his "Tashbih" in his hand.

"BISMIL LAAHIR RAHMAANIR RAHEEM,AL HAMDU LILLAHI RABBIL 'AALAMEEN, AR RAHMAANIR RAHEEM,MAALIKI YAWMID DEEN,EYYAAKA NA'BUDU, WA EYYAAKA NASTA'EEN,EH'DENAS SIRAATAL MUSTAQEEM, SIRAATAL LAZINA AN'AMTA 'ALAYHIM; GHAYRIL

MAGHDOOBI 'ALAYHIM WALADDAALEEN" AMIN.

He said a short prayer: BISMIL LAAHIR RAHMAANIR RAHEEM

Qul huwa Allahu ahad

Allahu assamad

Lam yalid wa lam yoolad

Wa lam yakul-lahu kufuwan ahad. Amin. 

When he was done praying, he called for one of his servants' to serve him some fruits including his favorite, water melon. 

Taking a seat by the oval- like egg shaped pool, he silently listened to the bubbling water that coordinated a perfect song to his hearing. He heard footsteps clamoring behind him and didn’t bother raising his head to look who it was. He already knew who it was. 

“Hi papa.” She greeted cheerily.

(Jumana) 

“Jumana.” He called her name in a sing song manner. 

“How are you papa?”

“As you can see I am well.” He smiled. “And yourself?” 

“I’m fine papa.” She answered. “I came into town yesterday to get my inks done.” She removed her jacket to show off her tattooed arms. 

“I see you have added more inks to your body Jum Jum.” 

“Papa!” she whined. “I'm not a baby anymore, stop calling me Jum Jum.” 

Al-Amin bursted into a fit of laughter. 

“Where’s mama?” She asked. 

“She’s somewhere shopping and riding’ a young blood cock and having the fun of her life.” He answered, the bitterness in his voice surpassing the nonchalant tone he tried to view.

“That woman never cease to surprise me.” She sighed. “How bout you papa, aren’t you supposed to be having fun too?”

“I have a business party tonight, I’ll probably catch a fish tonight.” 

“You must catch a fish.” 

He chuckled. “Have you heard from my sister, Ameerat?"

“Yes, she’s doing fine. She moved in already.”

"That's good." He smiled.

“But papa, what if she falls in love with him and fails or what if the truth eventually comes out?”

“Nonsense.” He flared. “ 'Anaha laysat ghabia (she’s not stupid) He hurt me and became an enemy. He stepped on a cobra’s tail and so he must be bitten.” 

“Papa...” 

“Enough Jumana!” He hissed. 

“I'm sorry papa.” 

“I just came to check up on you. I have to get back to California but first not until I return mama's private plane before she arrived." She kissed his cheek and turned to leave. 

“I will send a plane by tomorrow for you, your own plane.”

She squealed happily. “Thank you papa, tell whoever will design it to make my name bold on it! 'Jumana’s plane'." She gesticulated and spoke too quickly for her father to understand. 

“You’re speaking gibberish, you should run along." 

“I love you papa." 

“I love you too.”

KNOX

Raspberry's. It filtered the immediate and surrounding air and was always the first thing that woke him up, every morning-- five years ago. 

It was still a shocker to know that he actually loved. He gave his dark voluminous heart to a person, he allowed his soul to be entwined and consumed by another's touch, skin, heart, and being. Love they say, is a complex emotion, a feeling that comprises of many, but to Knox, it had no meaning, no definition. He just knew it was there-- He knew he loved her with every fibre of his being, with every breath he took, with every emotion that streamed out his being. 

He loved. Knox loved another. 

She wasn't a streak of sunlight that lit his darkness. She was the comfort in the dark, the little bright stars that complemented the night. Her smile would leave his mind buzzing, his lips aching to feel her skin. 

That familiar cheesy sentence, 'You're everything to me' He hated it, despised it but when it first left her lips, he gained a new rebirth. Once she said 'I love you' Never could he have imagined that would leave such a deep, intense, everlasting imprint on his bloody heart. 

Knox didn't do girlfriends but she-- when he first saw her, such a beauty, getting lost amongst the familiar, unfamiliar faces of people, he changed his mind. He had to have her, dominance, and he did. He did have her. 

Aeesha. That was her name. Aeesha. When it first left her lips, then his, he knew he had to say it again, and again. 

More. He wanted more of her, and it that same desire to have more that led him to the forbidden; the alter. 

She wasn't warmth that calmed his burning, hard, touch, she was ice. Unmelting ice. 

Knox wasn't one that snuggled but the effect of her skin, touch drove him to want her with him, always. He truly became a married man. Before, he'd mock the likes of one but after she came, after Aeesha; the little rain that sizzled his destroying flames, he truly realized the effect, the meaning. 

Every morning, he'd wake up to meet her up early, cooking what was always sumptuous and raveling for more. Sometimes, he'd wake early himself, wanting just to surprise his dear wife, to see her smile. 

She was truly a masterpiece. His masterpiece. 

Knox wanted a happy ever after, he wanted eternity with Aeesha-- but that didn't happen. 

Aeesha was his world. To an extent, she became the sole reason of his breaths, apart from his wealth and siblings, she became important, too important, that she slowly, became his happiness, she sucked that from him. She became a world, his own world he couldn't live without. His own internal oxygen. 

For six years, his internal oxygen, she remained with him, gave him two kids, kids he would forever adore, love. Abdul and Haleemat. A boy and a girl. A complete, happy family. 

The day he got that dreadful call, the call that heightened the peak of his flames, the flames that burned him whole. That day he surrendered to death, just like his own family. 

Knox could remember standing, unmoving and speechless. Never in his life could he imagine pain could this crippling. Pain became the beast that slept with him at night, the beast he slowly became. 

They were gone. Aeesha and his two children had become victims of a fatal accident. Worse, their bodies were never found, nothing to give him peace, nothing to soothe the beast that tore him away. Nothing. Not even the alcohol seemed to drain his sorrows, it heightened it. 

There was a time he wanted, needed to seize living but something, something still kept him here, fighting with several monsters. Was it hope? He didn't really know but it was there, slowly beating, with life just like the heart. 

He hated life, hated memories. Knox hated it all and just reminiscing brought about the rage he stored within his broken soul.