CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8 : Veiled Intentions

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"That's something I should ask you miss" Rudhra's deep voice caught her off guard . She never expected him to have such a deep raspy voice .

"Erm-I don't remember harming any single person so far . So-so I wonder-what-what brought you here" She couldn't form words due to the fear of the person in front of her .

She knew , if she uttered any single word which would displease him , he won't hesitate to slaughter her whole family in front of her.

"Well you didn't harmed someone , but you surely lied little Miss" He scanned her and then looked at her feet.

"Who is there Safia ?!" Her mother yelled from inside.

"The milk man ! I remember ordering it , but he doesn't have the change .Be inside , I will come there after sorting it out" Safia lied with a gulp . Her eyes still stared at Rudhra with fear .

He cocked his eyebrow at the lie.

"Please... Whatever the matter is let's sort it outside" She whispered .

"Sure "

Safia closed the door and looked at Rudhra . The fear was still inside her heart.

"How...How can I help you?" She asked.

"Come with me . My boss wants to see you" Rudhra ordered.

"Boss ? Who ? Fawad ?" She inquired with surprise.

Rudhra hummed in response . He put a hand in his pocket and brought a cigar which he balanced between his fingers . With another hand he lit it using a lighter . It was a black lighter box with a metallic skull pattern on it.

He started to smoke in front of her. Safia scrunched her nose at this in disbelief , but didn't dared to say anything . Instead she continued her questions.

"Why does he want to see me ? I helped him afterall . What does he want from me ?"

"You ask way too many questions" He still had the cigar in his mouth and he took another breath mixed the posionous smoke . Tasting the smoke on his tongue and throat .

"Follow me" He said and started to walk .

"Okay . Give me a minute" Safia quickly went inside and saw her mother being irritated as she made her way towards her daughter.

"There is change "she put some money in Safia's palm.

"I don't I need it anymore . My boss came and he paid it" Safia lied again .

"Oh-your boss is here?"

"Yes . I will be going with him too . Please be safe here and if anyone comes don't open the door" she told her mother , being a bit emotional . She didn't know what could happen to her.

She got a smack on her head.

"I am your mother . I know all of that ! But why is he taking you with him?" She inquired.

"There is some urgent work which came up . A group of teenagers broke into the shop and destroyed a few stuffs as an attempt to steal the cash . We gotta fix it now" Safia said .

"Oh-These boys have no shame . Come fast and don't get too involved in the police inquiry if it happens okay?" Her mother told her and she hummed while grabbing her tote bag from the side.

She was about to close the door and head out when she heard her mother's words "When you come back , we will continue our discussion on Murad ! I will give you 2000 reasons why you should marry him"

Safia just closed the door with a sigh .

'When I come back' she thought and then her eyes fell on Rudhra.

"I don't like to keep on waiting little Miss" Rudhra removed the cigar from his mouth and held Safia's wrist tightly , making her try to take pull her hand back . But he didn't let it go , instead he put the burning side of cigar on her wrist burning it , making it wince.

He then let her wrist go.

"Take that as a reminder to be punctual and not keep others waiting" He started to walk away . Safia's eyes got teary and for a moment she wished that she should have let that Fawad die . She rubbed the area , making it pain more and appear more reddish.

She followed him and there was an Aston Martin DB11 standing there . The glasses were black so she couldn't see who was inside.

Rudhra walked towards the car and opened the door , while sitting on the seat next to the driver .

She followed him , but stood outside the car waiting for the next order .

"Sit inside. Are you dumb or something?" Rudhra asked her . He couldn't believe a girl could be as stupid as her . He asked her to follow him , so if he sits in the car doesn't that mean she should do that too ?

' I am not dumb , it's just I am going through a test of life . And in it , I am afraid of even taking one step wrong , because it could totally end up in me getting into another worse thing . Hope it happens to you too and then I will call you dumb' She thought and sat inside the car while looking outside in irritation.

"Don't be rude Rudhra. Be kind . In this long run of life , the most deadliest weapon is kindness" Seth said , making Rudhra chuckle lightly.

"You can't say this after killing a darn family 30 minutes ago" Rudhra's words made Safia look at Seth in horror.

"C'mon . I do have kindness . I just put it on the side while handling my business and in my defense . I was about to leave them , but then my eyes on the girl who was on the side , she was abused and drugged clearly . Now you can't expect me to leave such monsters " Seth smiled while saying this.

Seth was surely religious and didn't like to handle the dirty business, but being a buisness man comes with its own disadvantage .

"Is that girl fine?" Safia asked letting curiousity take the best of her . She was a curious soul and Seth shook his head while driving the car away.

"She isn't. Maybe she can be after some treatments, but not for now" Seth said.

"Oh-is there any family member of her?" She asked.

"It's difficult to say . It's just been half an hour since I rescued her. I don't know what will I do when no one will come forward , can't actually send her to those govt institutions too . They are practically useless most of the time neglecting basic needs of the people there" Seth said and soon Safia started to feel comfortable talking with Seth.

He seemed friendly , quite the opposite of Rudhra.

"If you don't find anyone , you can send her to me" Safia told him making Rudhra laugh who was silent the whole time.

"How can you take care of someone while you yourself are struggling to meet everydays basic needs?" Rudhra said.

"Who said that?" Safia frowned and Rudhra turned around throwing a file across her lap , with her whole biodata and information in it . It even had the names of everyone who was close with her and the transactions to hospital for her father's medical bills.

"Wait-how is this even possible?" Safia was beyond surprise. In the 10 pages of the file was her whole 23 years of life .

"Everything is possible with internet miss" Rudhra said.

Safia took the chance and quickly threw the papers out of the window .

"Now say !! Now all the information is gone !!" Safia let her intrusive thoughts win for a second and Rudhra stared at her as if she was an idiot.

"It was a photocopy . The real one is at the mansion and what makes you think we can't get all the information again?" Rudhra asked . He wanted to burn her hand again , or even worse but he couldn't do it this time . Not after knowing how stupid she actually was .

"HAHAHA I WAS JOKING ! Won't I know that you all are super intelligent? I was joking ! J O K I N G" she broke down the letters spelling each other out , and laughed trying to hide her embarrassment, but the damage was done .

Seth laughed at it.

"I think you should crack some of these jokes in front of my dear cousin too . He rarely laughs " Seth said.

"Ofcourse Ofcourse" She lied and slapped her head form the side of being this stupid .

The car stopped and she looked outside , to check if they have reached. A guard came quickly towards the car's door.

"Open the gate" Rudra ordered while lowering the glass window and even the guard was pale with fear at the sight of him and quickly rushed to open the door .

Seth drived the car inside.

The curvy driveway led up to it, lined with pretty gardens. Big steps led to the front door, which was held up by giant pillars.

The mansion was covered in fancy decorations, with lots of detailed designs all over it. It had balconies with gold railings and plants growing on them. Big windows reflected the last sunlight of the day, making the mansion look warm and inviting.

"Let's go" Seth came outside and opened the door for Safia and she stepped out nervously .

She could almost cry seeing her own dress . Even the guards standing outside had a better dress than her.

"Don't be scared. Let's go inside " Seth smiled and comforted her and walked inside with the tasbeeh still around his wrist as he kept on reciting it.

Safia noticed Rudhra coming from behind so she quickly rushed behind Seth to follow him up.

"Master has been waiting for your arrival" The maid told her . She was dressed up in a beautiful pastel pink saree and her hair was tied in a clean bun.  She had a pearl looking necklace around her neck.

"Oh-Okay ma'am" Safia quickly said .

"She will guide you from here . Niya , take good care of Miss Safia" Seth told her and Niya smiled. Her eyes crinkled turning it into an eye smile and it made Safia's heart feel a bit at comfort.

"I will surely. Please follow me Miss" Niya requested and Safia followed her.

The whole place was filled with luxurious items . Even the fruit bowl on the side was a bowl made of porcelain with golden lining on the side.

'If I steal a bowl , my whole life will be fixed' Safia thought . 'No no , bad Safia !' She quickly fought her intrusive thoughts and followed Niya . They were now in an hallway filled with modern art making Safia's face scrunch.

There were few paintings by Picasso too .

'I could make a better painting when I was in middle school' Safia thought . She always thought that in once a person becomes rich , they loose all the good taste they once had and just spend their money to buy expensive stuffs rather than good ones.

"He is there in the room. Go inside and good luck !" Niya gave her a thumbs up and she gave a nod .

Safia took a deep breath and opened the door of the room . There was a shelf of books on the side and a chair with table . Near the window , he stood looking outside .

Hearing the voice of the door opening . Fawad turned around and stared at her.  He had worn a grey coat over white shirt , paired with grey pants and black shoes. His forehead had some medicine over it with a cotton with tape placed over to secure it.

This was the first time he could see her face properly . He studied her face and kept looking at it . She wasn't dressed up and Fawad could tell that the trials of life have been hard on her. Her lips were chapped , with dark circles under her eyes . She had some weak and inexpensive watch on her wrist and her kurta had a small patch on the side.

Fawad had this habit of studying everything in detail.

Safia awkwardly tugged her hair behind her ears to fix them a bit out of the awkward air surrounding the room .

"You are pretty late . I have been waiting for you since morning " Fawad told her while looking at his watch ignoring the observations he had just made.

To be continued...

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Another update because I love y'all MUAWH ! ♥️

That's exactly what happened with me (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠) I thought I will sleep at 3 am , but ended up staying up till 5:30 (mind y'all I had college at 8:30) I was so much sleep deprived, but I ended up watching the drama in the break I got in college too .

Do I feel bad ? Yes . Do I regret it ? No !! 🤭

Khairr please vote and comment if you all liked it , bcz it's what motivates me to update 😄♥️