It's been three days since David left home that morning. I was getting anxious as the time passed. I wasn't able to reach him, his phone was still turned off.
He couldn't have been in any danger? Or could he? He was a famous personality and there could be enemies hiding in the list of followers too.
My body trembled as I imagined him being in some kind of heinous situation.
He must have gotten an emergency call in the morning for him to leave so suddenly. Otherwise, he would have never left without telling me since we were getting married that morning, he knew how important it was to me.
He must be in some kind of danger and I have to do something. Fast.
I was pacing in the living room when I heard the front door click open. I released a sigh of relief and dashed towards the door only to be bombarded by a few strangers.
"W-who are you guys?! Where is David?!" I stuttered as my heart sank to find it wasn't David at the door.
They looked at me up and down as if I wasn't human. They seemed to be some handymen dressed in a labor uniform. They looked at each other and back at me.
"We were told the house is empty. Who are you, Miss?" One of the handymen steps forward.
"I live here, what else would be the reason for me to be here? And what business do you have here? This is David's place!" I yell.
"We're here to renovate this place. This penthouse has been rented to a new owner and we are ordered to evacuate all the things before we start our work."
"No, you can't. This is my and David's place. I won't allow this!" I spread my hands to block their path as I protest.
One of the workers had already gone to grab a coffee table in the corner and held it in the air.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" I called to stop him, sensing my distraction the other workers had spread along the room and were already equipped with other things in their arms.
"I said stop!" No one budged on my orders and continued to take the things out of the apartment one by one.
I finally blocked one of the labor's paths as he was coming back in through the entrance. "Who ordered you to do this? I want his name!" I shriek.
"I'm sorry ma'am but I can't disclose the information to you unless I know who you are." The man was apologetic and I quickly fished my phone out of my jeans back pocket.
I showed him my TikTok account and scrolled through the videos. "Do you know who I am? Now tell me!"
He didn't seem to be the least bit convinced by what I just showed him as proof. "It doesn't mean I can trust you with the information ma'am. You have to leave this place before we make you do it." He threatened me.
I inhale a long breath to calm my overwhelming nerves. I needed to treat them better to get information out of them, if they threw me out where else would I go and… How would I find David?
"Look, I know it's just regular work for you but to me… My life depends upon it. Can you at least ask your owner to wait for a few more days until I sort out my situation? Or let me just have a word with him? Please." I begged him and he seemed to be somewhat convinced.
He looked at his other colleagues before nodding his head. "I'll talk to him but then you have to agree to whatever he says." I nod my head fervently and he retrieves his phone before making a call.
I looked at him impatiently as he waited for the person to pick up the call. "Hello, sir." The other party seemed to finally pick up his call as he spoke. "We weren't told that there's already a girl living in the penthouse. She is asking to delay the job for a few days before she's able to leave the house."
"She is a TikToker named Aisha Khan…. Yes… Alright, sir… Yes, just as you wish." He hung up the call and turned to me with an apologetic smile. "He doesn't know you and wants us to continue the work just how it was planned. I'm sorry ma'am I'd have to ask you to leave."
It was as if someone had thrown a dagger to my heart and I wasn't able to breathe for a few seconds.
Where would I go? What would I do? And most of all where was David? My heart clenched at his thought and I took weak steps towards David's room to retrieve my bag that I had brought when I left home.
I had shifted this bag from the guest room to David's room since we were going to start living as a married couple. I had wanted to place all my things into David's wardrobe but never got the chance to do it after the morning he left home.
My hand reached out to the photo frame kept on the dressing table. It was David's monochrome portrait, his alluring self that looked back at the camera dressed in a suit.
"Ma'am you can't take anything from the penthouse and it was an order." My head whipped towards the same handyman standing in the doorway of the room as he observed me.
"Please. I can't leave, I have nowhere to go." I pleaded but it didn't seem to have any effect on the man. He trudges in my direction, holds me by the arm, and drags me out of the apartment.
"Please, don't do this to me! Please, I beg you!" My voice rose as I cried to beg for mercy but he kept on dragging me until I was standing outside with my bag in hand and he shuts the door in my face.
I let the pool of tears flow out ferociously as I drop to the floor with my heart throbbing painfully in my chest.
Why me?
Why did it happen to me?!
I cried clutching my bag in my arms as it soaked my remorseful tears.
"Hey, you." A voice had me turning my face and it was the same woman I encountered in the lobby of the apartment building after my run a few days ago.
I stayed silent and looked at her with teary-soaked eyes. "Want to talk over a cup of coffee?"
~~~
I was holding a hot steaming mug of coffee in my hands as I sat on a large turquoise L-shaped sofa in a foreign apartment with the same woman sitting opposite me in an antique rocking chair.
"I warned you David wasn't someone to be trusted." She gushed over the sip of her coffee.
"No, it isn't him. He must be in some kind of situation for this to be happening." I mewled as the thought of him gnawed at my heart.
"Who else would be able to put the penthouse on rent? Some blackmailer forced him to? What a silly girl." She scoffed at my words and shook her head. "You were just a toy for him to play around for a while. He has what he wanted from you and now you're useless to him. Accept that."
"No, he wasn't toying! He was going to marry me!"
"Well, did he now?" She arched up an eyebrow, accusingly, and my lips were shut tight with no answer. "Did you try contacting his office number?"
I shook my head. "He's very peculiar about his image. Once I called his office number to know about his whereabouts. He was very furious since his staff had started gossiping about us and there's always a threat of them leaking the news to the paparazzi. It will eventually get harder for us to hang out so he was strictly against it. Once we got married he would have enclosed the news himself to prevent rumors."
"And you believed that?"
"Why wouldn't I? It was the very reason he has so many unjustified articles about him having affairs circulating on the internet. It ruined his image had he not been cautious with his coworkers from the start. Of course, I understand his job requires him to be around different women, I'm not one of those nosy girlfriends."
"Wow, he told you that?" I nodded weakly and she facepalmed. "That was a red flag, to begin with, you dumb girl!"
The thought of David deceiving me had never occurred to me, even the thought felt foreign and unbelievable right now.
Neither did I want to accept it, I wanted to believe that he was stuck in some problem and a few days later he'd be back and ask me to marry him. He'll be angry for doubting him. And once we have sorted out everything… We'll be back to our old free selves. He'll wake me up with a tray of breakfast and I'll cook him his favorite food for dinner.
If only… He is true to me.
~~~
With a very heavy heart, I'm uploading this chapter after the war that broke out on the people of Palestine.
Muslim Ummah is going through a very tough phase, may Allah forgive our sins and liberate Palestinians of the oppressors.
Please take out some time to do dikhr, and astaghfar, make donations to authentic sources, and pray for Gaza. Just imagine your family being slaughtered, would you still stay quiet? Our brothers and sisters in Palestine need our support and you can help them by voicing their concerns, spreading awareness or even opting for any one option stated above.
So when we face Allah, we can answer him proudly that we did what we could do in our power when we saw the genocide.
I stand with Palestine! Do you?
#IStandWithPalestine