The wind blew causing Azaan to shiver. He had forgotten to bring the coat and the sunlight provided little heat which instead caused him to shiver even more. Clearly, the sun was reneging on its deal, he thought.
"Thank you, big brother. Allah Hafiz."
"Hey hey, what 'thank you' what 'Allah Hafiz'. Here is the great me, acting as a mere driver and you won't even invite me in."
Ishmael said pompously as he quickly got out of the car and threw the keys at a confused guard.
"Park it."
"But.."
"What?"
"Ok."
Ishmael quickly ran after Azaan and grabbed his arm. He made it seem as if he was being dragged by Azaan prompting nearby kids to laugh. This seemed to encourage him even more.
"Please have some self-respect, big brother."
"Respect? Can I eat it?"
Ishmael stated while posing dramatically. He waved at the kids as both of them entered the lift and quickly pressed the floor number.
"How did you know?"
"You have to ask?"
He smiled.
"We can't have our chick out in the wilds, without any protection."
"Thank you."
"And here I thought you would blow up, but now that would be strange instead."
Azaan opened the apartment and both went inside. He shivered even more and quickly turned the heater on.
"Very minimal."
"Tea or coffee?"
"Tea. So, you aren't dining outside right. Remember to keep your health in check."
"I will be fine, big brother."
"Should I tell mom and dad that?"
Azaan shook his head and started preparing the tea. When it was ready, Ishmael sat on the chair while he was on the mattress. Ishmael stood up and walked towards the refrigerator.
"Got some sweets?"
"I made some pastries."
"Goodman."
He extended his hand towards it when his phone started ringing. He took a sip of tea and took the call.
"Yes."
"Well, you know how my dear little bro looks up to me. He was so grateful that I drove him that he invited me in for tea."
"Whaaat, you don't believe me."
He took two pastries and gave one to Azaan and went back to the char.
"How can you know me so well?"
"Okok, you get ready I am gonna be there quick."
"Allah hafiz."
He quickly ate the pastry and drank the tea.
"I would have liked to spend more time, but I have a date to catch up to."
"With the sister-in-law?"
"Hey hey, phrase it like that in front of her and"
Ishmael slammed his fists together and glared at Azaan.
"Understand."
He stopped him when Ishmael was going out.
"Big brother, do you know any slingshot or archery range?"
"I will message you after checking around, for now, Allah Hafiz."
Ishmael ran out without waiting for him to say anything. The room slowly returned to its previous dead state, losing the energy that had been brought by his brother. He just sat at his bed as he slowly ate the pastry and drank the tea and watched the moon.
It took some effort to get out of the bed, but he had the dishes to clean and a bath to take. After doing the dishes he took a quick cold bath and quickly ran into the bed after wearing sleeping clothes.
He just laid on his bed, waiting for the sleep to take him but as his mind was free, it threatened to wander over to the white space. Usually, he kept himself overloaded with work so he did not have to think about it but whenever he was free his mind forcefully repeated the event.
As his body started trembling he tried to concentrate on zikr. Slowly, taking in deep breaths and then releasing it. It took a long while for him to stabilize. He kept doing it even after he was okay and nodded off into sleep.
-----
Ting ting ting
He turned off the alarm and got up from the bed, shivering. It was still dark outside. He quickly took a bath, prayed, and ate breakfast. Seeing that he still had time before the gym he did zikr until the alarm rang.
Taking his gym wear with him he left the apartment and went towards the parking area. As always, he had just greeted the guard and was going to leave when the old man with a greyish beard stopped him. He spoke slowly.
"Sir, excuse me. Can you return this to your friend from last night?"
In his hand was an orange-colored currency note.
"He gave it?"
"Yes, but…"
"Then please keep it."
He tried to say something but Azaan had already walked away causing him to return to his position.
He quickly drove towards the gym and parked the car. He quickly greeted the attendant and walked in. As he crossed the glass door, he noticed that there were very few people here today. The coach was with Khalid and both of them were exercising.
He approached them and started performing the stretches that the coach had taught him last week. Both of them were done by the time he was completed with his stretches. It was still difficult but as bad as last week.
"Yo, as punctual as ever."
Khalid just nodded his head.
"Fuuuuu… Assalamu alaikum."
"Walikum Assalam."
"Let's get going then."
Khalid just waited and rested at the side while Aasir started instructing him. By the time the session ended, he was half dead, not even able to stand up.
"Hahaha, that's the spirit. Now just eat lots and you will be fit in no time."
He just stared at the ceiling, unable to get up. After some time, as the energy returned to him, he drank some water and rested a bit more. He got up and was going to leave when he heard the voice of his brother. The coach waved towards him.
"Assalamu alaikum people and look who's here. Little bro, I sent you some of the ranges though there is nothing related to slingshot."
"Thank you. I will be going then, Allah Hafiz."
"And I had just arrived, you hate me so much, little bro."
Azaan ignored the dramatics of Ishmael as nodded to Khalid as he left.
"Such a tsundere. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh."
-----
As he drove home, he started feeling refreshed. This feeling had made him somewhat addicted. He felt he understood why his brother was such a fanatic now.
By the time he returned to his apartment the sun was already up. He quickly took a shower and changed his clothes.
"Wonderful."
It felt as if all the exhaustion from the exercise was a lie. He quickly ate another breakfast and started working.
Azaan: Let's finish the remaining work in 2 weeks.
Nasir: Consider it done, boss.
Arslan: Keep the promise I demand holi-days.
Imran: That will be too fast.
Azaan: @Imran all the major ones are completed and the remaining ones are mainly the concern of the other two.
Imran: That is true.
They spent all of the day resolving the bugs only taking short lunch or prayer breaks. Most of the smaller bugs were either animation or sound-related and required Arslan and Nasir to do the heavy lifting. Azaan and Imran focused upon the remaining fixes required in the code. The start of the week was a promising one. They were able to go beyond their goal.
By the time they were done, the moon was already up. He had already checked the ranges that his brother had sent him. There was one that opened in the morning at 5 am, that was where he had selected to go. He had already contacted the owner and paid the fees, now he just had to go there.
After completing the routine tasks, he went to sleep. Today he did had a peaceful sleep after a long time.
-----
"Dear, how is Azaan doing?"
"Good at the moment mom."
"He isn't eating out?"
"He only did so three to four times in total which I think is manageable."
"That much his body can handle, and the money, does he have any problem there."
"Don't worry mom, he has more than enough for now."
"In the bank?"
"Yes in the bank, he isn't so naive mom."
"I still worry…"
"Where's dad."
"Something came up and he will be busy elsewhere for some days."
"He knows?"
Ishmael took a bite from the roasted lamb after dipping it in the sauce. His mother nodded at his question. He thought about how they would diffuse the situation once his father comes home. His brother had really created a lot of problems.
Now that the position of his brother was empty a lot of flies in the family were trying to come closer. Though they would not be able to cause any harm, the time he had to waste on them was already a headache for him.
"Why not ask him to return. It's not like he has to make the games by himself, he can just hire people."
He shook his head when his wife said that.
"It not the problem of the games nor of money, unfortunately."
Seeing her confused look his mother explained.
"He has been undergoing strict medication since he was young. It is only in the last few years that he has been able to even go outside the house. At first, it was ok but seeing his brothers being allowed to go while he could not even eat what he wanted was depressing. Even though it was for his good but the result was that he started to slowly drift away from everyone. Unfortunately, we noticed it a bit late, and even though tried our best but still."
"Basically."
Ishmael said after chewing the food.
"He wants freedom. I asked him once when he was still a cute boy, you know. These days he … wah wah wahahah. Ouch!"
He tries to fall over at his wife but she just pinches him.
"Please be serious."
"Mom, defend your precious son."
His mother just sighs in return.
-----
It was still dark as he drove towards the archery range. It opened at 5:30 Am, and was the only one that did so. The instructor was the only Olympics gold medalist so it was probably going to be on the expense side.
The archery range, he noticed, had a Japanese feel to it. The entrance was unlocked and as he entered through the door a chime announced his arrival. He removed his shoes and placed his feet on the frozen floor.
"Mr. Azaan?"
"Assalamu alikum, Mr. Zeeshan?"
"Yes, how do you do."
"I am fine, thank you. How about you?"
"I am also fine."
As he started walking inside, Zeeshan pointed at the rack.
"It is cold, please you a pair from the rack."
"Thank you."
"You stated last night that you do not have any prior experience with archery."
"Yes."
"Then I will have one of my students teach you the basics. You can of course come to me if you have any questions but I will only instruct you directly after you have reached a certain level of skill."
"Okay."
He followed Zeeshan towards the inside.
Shaaaah
Shaaaah
Shaaaah
Shaaaah
Shaaaah
Five arrows left the bows as they entered the room; three were girls and 2 boys. He stood alongside the instructor as he was l. After a quick introduction, Zeeshan called the tall, short-haired boy.
"Usman, he will be under your care."
"Yes, teacher."
-----
Between the gym, archery, and his work the time flew by. Including the prayers, zikr, and other things, his schedule was so packed that by the time he got to bed he immediately nodded off to sleep. The short winter nights made it seem even tighter. The only benefit that this routine had was the fact that his mind did not have any time to wander off. This resulted in him not experiencing the episodic bouts of fear that he had been undergoing last week.
At the gym, the coach had started his training program. It was a strength training program, according to him. He taught him bodyweight and weight exercises. At the start, they were nearly impossible for him as he could not even perform a single push-up. Still though, as he continued to go there result, though small, started to show up. By the end of the 19 days, he was capable of doing eight push-ups, albite with much difficulty.
At the archery, he had been given what Usman called a recurve bow. After almost two weeks of training, he was able to consistently shoot the targets at the 10-meter range but when he tried more than, either the arrows were off the mark or he could not produce enough strength for them to reach all the way. Due to this, he mostly practiced in the 10-meter range and tried to go for the bullseye. He also had another reason to do so, if he would be sent to the forest again this time then he would not have any visibility to shoot even at the 10-meter range, so he planned to increase his accuracy at close range as much as he could.
The game that his team had been working on was also completed. All of the bugs that had been reported had been fixed. He had announced month days of holiday, coinciding with the days he would go to the dungeon. They had been working on this project for a year and a half, without any breaks except the necessary one so he wanted everyone to be fresh when they started their new project.