Chapter Twenty – Middle of darkness

“Salaam.” Raphael had answered the phone as he parked the car on the side of the road. Stopping the car was the last thing he wanted to do especially when he had Alaya with him. But he knew he had to because he knew the caller way too well. And the superiority he had over him.

“Salaam or Wassalaam just tell me this! Is Alaya Mahmood with you?” the caller had asked. Raphael’s eyebrows crossed when he heard the question. Why did his caller want to know about Alaya? How does he know about Alaya anyway? As Raphael was thinking, he heard the voice again.

“Answer me cowboy is she with you?!” he asked.

“Yes, why do you want to know about her?” Raphael said.

“I need to know because she ran away a day before her engagement and her whole extended family is searching for her!” he said with a rage building up. Raphael’s eyes widened because of what he heard. He could not believe his ears. Has Alaya really run away from home? He had an idea that she was somewhat immature but he did not expect her to be at this level. To be so out of line to betray her own family.

“Sh…She ran away?” Raphael asked that in disbelief.

“Yes I think that’s what I said! Now if she is with you let her go this instant. I know that she is with you in Boston. I’m going to pick her up from wherever she is since I am her fiance’!” Raphael’s heart sank as he heard the last words. He remembered how he heard from a neighbor of Alaya’s that she was happy about the engagement. As a pain began to emerge in his chest, the caller spoke again.

“Are you just ignoring what I’m saying or not hearing on purpose? I do know that you have a thing for Alaya so no need to hide it. But if you don’t let go off her at this moment on that street, you know what’s going to happen to your father. And not just your father…..the more you try to hold her for yourself, the more I’ll make sure that she suffers on my hands. And you know clearly what I am capable of…her dignity would be ruined within less than a day. So do it. Do it….right..now!” he said.

“I’ll call you back in a while.” Raphael said and clicked the phone as he found himself in a dilemma. An image of his sick father who was going through his third chemotherapy came to his mind. His weakened thin body and his sad eyes. Raphael closed his eyes thinking of his strange circumstance. He had all the money and luxury in the world. But right now, he had them at a cost. His hard-earned money was now only half his, because of the plot of some people. That caller had the power over him as he said. He can do anything to Raphael or his father. And there is nothing that Raphael could do about it. As he thought of what he must do to get out of the fear of that threat, his heart stopped. How could he leave Alaya like that? All alone on the street? He could not even see a car parked anywhere near that area. Was the caller acting like he knew? If he was he wouldn’t know if he leaves Alaya or not. But what if he did know? What if he does get his hands on Alaya some other day other than this night? What would he do to her just to get his revenge out on Raphael?

No! Raphael thought. If anything wrong happened to Alaya because of him, he would never be able to forgive himself. Perhaps the caller only told him to leave Alaya so that he could pick her up and take her to her family. Or even to her fiancé. As Raphael thought of Alaya’s fiance’ he was reminded of what he heard from Alaya’s neighbor.

“Alaya is getting married you know? To Dr. Layaan Ahmed.” the woman had said. Raphael’s breath paused as he remembered that name. His brain worked to connect that memory to his present and all of a sudden, he gave a quick look to his phone. Within an instant, he spoke.

“Get off this car Alaya…” he said, closing his eyes once again as though he did not want to face reality.

“Wha…What do you mean?” he heard Alaya asking in a tensed voice. A pain began to emerge in his chest with his love for her. How he did not want her to be worried even in the tiniest bit.

“It doesn’t have to be explained. Just get off this car and don’t come back.” Raphael said, trying to strengthen his voice and hoping Alaya would not say anything more. But she did.

“But why would I do that? Where will I go? We are so far away from home.” Alaya’s words made Raphael weaker. ‘Home’ is exactly what he didn’t have. And it only felt like it ever existed when he was with her. If she only knew.

“You aren’t going back to that house.” Raphael said, with tears welling up in his eyes.

“But why? I have nowhere else to go to. I’m sorry if I did something wrong. Yes I did run away from my family because they were forcing me to marry someone I didn’t love.” Raphael heard the pain in Alaya’s voice as she ended the last sentence. It was hard for Raphael to breath when he comprehended what she just said. Being forced to marry? Someone she didn’t love? This was all news to Raphael. At once he wanted to face Alaya and talk to her. To go near her, hold her tight and comfort her by saying that she did not have to marry someone she did not love. At the same time he wanted to tell her that she shouldn’t have run away from home. That she should have talked it through with her family. And that he would help her do so and perhaps they might even get together.

Just as Raphael had that thought, he saw a car parking right behind his car through the rear view mirror. He knew exactly whose Mercedes it was as he’d memorized the number on the plate. At once, he spoke again.

“Now Alaya! Go!” Raphael said but only this time, he heard his voice fading with pain in his chest building up. For the moment, he hated how those emotions were taking a hold of them. He knew that if Alaya said a single word more, he would spill all the beans and it wouldn’t be good. So his voice rose.

“RIGHT NOW!” he said that in a voice he had never used in his entire life. His heart broke into a million pieces, as he saw the love of his life shudder because of his voice. His eyes blurred with tears, as he saw her rushing out of the car in fear of him. That was the last thing he wanted her to be. But there she was, being fearful all because of him. He hated himself for doing so. He didn’t deserve to be with Alaya, he thought as she closed the door with a loud sound. At once he started the car and went onto the road caring little about the vehicles in front of him.

Alaya’s POV

Alaya stood still on the side of the street for minutes. She kept thinking back about the conversation she had with Raphael in the car. She still couldn’t believe that it was Raphael who was being that harsh with her. Did she mistake that man to be someone she loved before? Or has he truly changed that much? She kept on thinking but was too mentally exhausted to reach a conclusion.

As she stood by, a car came along and stopped in front of her. The window was pulled down and she saw a young Indian driver.

“Please get in ma’am. Layaan sir sent me to pick you up.” the driver said. Alaya looked at him for a moment and then looked down with a sigh. This was the fate that she was running away from. Now she was pulled right back into it. She would go home to her ‘psycho’ family and get married to his cousin spoilt brat to have kids in order to extend her father’s family even further. She got in the car with a sunken heart trying not to think about it. She looked out the window as the car drove forward, trying to accept her fate. She had a clear picture of what will happen within a few moments. She would meet her family and Layaan in some hotel and they would go back to New York with the earliest flight possible. But little had Alaya known that she got herself into a devious plan against her.

Her journey went smooth for almost 15 minutes. Within those few minutes, the driver had taken her on a lonely highway where one could hardly see any vehicles or people. A few minutes after reaching the highway, the car came to a rough halt. Alaya looked at the driver.

“I think we are out of fuel ma’am. Better get out of the car to get some.” the driver said in his accent and got out of the car. Alaya looked at him as he stood in front of the car looking side to side. Alaya sighed and looked at her wrist watch. It was beyond 10 o’clock. No wonder she was feeling sleepy. Through her sleepy eyes, she looked at the driver again. To her disbelief, she saw the driver getting in a car that was passing by, and driving away. As the car drove past the car she was in, she got out from it.

“Hey!!!” Alaya called out as loud as she could but the car disappeared in lightening speed. A fear crept into Alaya’s heart, as she realized that she was the only living being standing in the middle of that darkness.