Chapter 12 8: B

"Alhaji is there a problem?" Mujaheed asked with an alarmed tone and Alhaji smiled. "Nothing, but Fareeda is out of the house now, she told me that she s going to the hut but I don t believe her. Can you please check if she s there?" Mujaheed was silent for a while before he nodded his head as though Alhaji was standing in front of him, "I will, Alhaji. Good night." Mujaheed stood up and turned to the police officers that had duty here today, "Alhaji assigned me to do something, I ll leave." They all answered him before he left and directly walked to where the resting huts were, a few feet away from the garden. One would think it was a mini-park if they came there in the evening, it had an amazing view together with the swimming pool to complete the look. Even though he could count the number of times he was there, he could always tell how beautiful the place was. He heard her crying tone before he reached the huts, she was crying silently with a painful timbre. From where he stood, he could see her body shaking with her cries and the way she kept palming her face and if it surged so hard at her heart, she would remove her palms and cry even more. He had always thought that something was off with her but seeing how she was crying today, Mujaheed had confirmed his guess even though he wasn t sure about what was wrong with her. "It s so painful!" She whimpered and fondled the surface enclosing her heart. Once in a while when she had buckled up too much in her heart, she came down here at night and cry to her heart's satisfaction. Because no one would ever hear her from the main building of the house, and even if someone did, no one would ever come here to console her. Because none of them cared about. Everything came back clogging her heart, the painful memories, the moments she wished she could forever erase in her heart, everything. And Fareeda was thankful that she had left her glasses because while having a reminiscent of her life, she hated everything and everyone, herself included. She kept crying so hard, her breathing coming out in hiccups as she fought so hard from being suffocated by her tears. Mujaheed found himself slowly walking to the hut and she didn t know he was there until he sat down opposite her, looking at the way she hugged her knees to her rest, rested her head on the knees and cried so hard. She would sit up for a bit to liberate her choked break and would softly fondle her heart. He softly moved and she stopped right in track, "Who s there?" She asked, and when she turned her head toward his direction, he noticed she didn t have glass on her face. "It s me, Fareeda." He had never felt bad seeing someone cry as much as he did today. "What are you doing here? I…" she let her words trailed off as she quickly began to clear off her tears. "You don t have to worry about me, cry as much as you want, I won t say anything. You must have had a lot of things buckled up in your mind." She had, he was right, tons and tons of memories she would love to have erased from her heart. "You can t stare at me while I m crying. Will you please just leave?" she croaked, more tears getting accumulated in her eyes. She might not see him, but she knew he was looking at her. He leaned forward and turned off the light in the hut, "I ve turned the light off, I won t stare at you. And also, it s more painful when you cry alone, so I ll stay with you." How nice must it have felt for to have someone to lean onto his shoulder and cry? She had never had a feeling of how it must ve felt. And right now that he said this, even though she wasn t going to lean her head on his shoulder, she felt somewhat relieved and more tears made their ways to her cheeks. The light went off in a flash and Mujaheed quickly turned his eyes, what happened? Maybe the generator had gone out of gas? He wondered. She was still crying, which was evident to him that she didn t notice about the power out. "The light has goes off, I ll go and turn the generator, will you be okay alone?" He asked with a soft voice, the bright moon illuminating its light through the hut and when she looked up at him with wet cheeks, the moon glowed on her face. "I m afraid, what s wrong with the light?" She was suddenly back into her senses, looking around, even though she couldn t see, she would have seen the light bulbs illumination in her eyes. "I can even see where you re seated at, Mujaheed." Her voice quivered as she spoke and brought her legs down, she was afraid. "I m sitting opposite you, Fareeda, where s your glass so you can go back to your room? I need to go and check, maybe the generator went out of gas, probably." He said as she stood up, turning the flashlight of his phone and she caught a blurry vision of it. "I ve left it in my room." She said sadly and clenched her fist, afraid of what might happen to her if she wanted to go back to her room now. And for him to leave her here alone was out of it, because there was no way she would ve stayed. "How did you come here without your glass? Someone brought you?" She closed her eyes and sighed. How would she begin to explain it to him? "You see, I can get blurry visions without my glass, especially light bulbs, so I found my way here because I ve known the way with my heart. But going back while the lights are off, I can t do that." She really can t, and there was no point arguing to that. "Then can you wait for me here to go and turn it back on?" He asked, staring at the way her body softly shook with her fear. She didn t have to tell him that she was afraid to be left alone for him to understand, he had seen that on her facial expression. "Or maybe I can take you back to your room, if you can t stay here alone." She quickly nodded her head. "Yes, that will be it. Shall we go?" She asked while her eyes blindly turned to look at him even though all she could see was pitch darkness. "Can you walk out of the hut? Can you walk around without some help?" He tenderly asked, he didn t know why it always touched him whenever he saw her battling so hard to see what was right in front of her. She looked so innocent for someone that seemed to be in so much pain like she did, it made him feel bad and so sorry for what she was silently going through. "Yes, I can." She said out of feign bravado and walked a few feet toward the place her heart was telling her had the exit of the hut but before she moved further, she left as Mujaheed quickly pulled her aside. "That s not the way, Fareeda, you re going to hurt yourself." He said calmly and held her wrist, "Can I take you to your room? If not, you might kill yourself before we reach there." He knew holding her this way wasn t right, but this was a matter of her health, she might be hurt if she walked alone without any support. "Why do you have to make it sound as if I m totally blind? Yes, I know…" he didn t wait for her to finish her sentence when he started walking with his hand firmly holding her right wrist. Fareeda went mute and meticulously walked behind him. She would nearly stumble on something and without turning his head, he would speak. "Be careful, I m taking the safest way for you." Fareeda scrunched up her face and groaned, "You re walking so fast, Mujaheed! I can t keep up with your pace without stumbling on my feet. Can you walk slower?" When he turned to look at her, she had a pout on her lips and her now bloodshot eyes were involuntarily giving him a puppy expression even though she didn t know where he was standing. She looked cute, with the moon casting its beauty on her and the edges of her hair slightly wet with due to the tears she had shed. Her lips looked slightly plump while she pouted then and her eyes even though a little shade of red, looked so innocent and beautiful. Mujaheed quickly turned his eyes away from her and he slowed his pace. "If we walk at this pace we can t reach there as fast as we should, Fareeda. I need to check up the generator." "But it s so fast for me, Mujaheed." She whined and nearly choked herself to death after realizing how babyish her voice had sounded. Mujaheed smiled without knowing he did and stood in front of her, a few inches away from her. "Do you want me to carry you up there?" He asked, his eyes looking up at the building. "What are you talking about, Mujaheed? Let s just walk there, on a slower pace please." She rolled her eyes at the direction she thought he was, which was unfortunately not where he was. She was aware of how he had tightened his hold on her wrist and wanted nothing but to get to her room, away from these hands that didn t feel anything like that of a gateman s hands. Without a word, Mujaheed kept walking while she silently walked behind him until they reached the main door. "Can you get in from here?" She softly shook her head, wishing she hadn t left her glass in her room, if not, she wouldn t have humiliated herself this much. "Let s get in then," he said and turned the doorknob. She walked silently behind him, telling him where he should go because this was the first time he had ever come into the main building of the mansion. "Which stairs do I need to take?" He slowly turned to look at her, and she turned her face around as if to feel the spot they were standing at. "Where are we? Can you see a painting of the sunset on the left side of the wall?" She asked, picturing how the downstairs living room looked through her mind. Mujaheed flashed the light around the left wall and saw the painting she asked him about. How her brain worked would forever remain a mystery to him. "Yes, where do I need to go from here?" "Take this stairs we re standing close to…" she told him all the ways to her room and they walked in silence, only talking when she asked him if he had seen a decor or a painting or simply a flower vase along there way to make sure they were on the right track. Mujaheed stood in front of her and reluctantly released her hand, immediately feeling her absence when he did.