"What?" She reprimanded, a look of indignation lucid in her eyes as she bore into his convolute ones.

Her punishment was to stand on the rooftop and get drenched in the freezing rain for two hours.

"Yes, Ms. Hayat," he said, stressing on 'Hayat.' He abhorred how she was so full of Hayat (life) and so sucking it away from her was the only nexus of his traumatic life. He loathed how she chose 'Safa' as her first name when see was no way near to purity.

He just hated it all.

But most importantly, he hated her.

"No... I-I... can't," she stammered as drops of sweat rolled on her forehead.

She was clearly terrified and he was loving it. And why wouldn't she be? Rain and her! The ferocious combination ever.

"And why is that so? It's just rain." He shrugged. "Nothing to be afraid of," he said nonchalantly betraying the snigger in his diabolical eyes.

"I... I'm not scared." She squeezed her shoulders as she flinched with the ring on her finger.

"Why saying no then?" He furrowed his brows.

"Because it's... uh... it's wet," she chirped and could bet her life that a trace, just a minor trace, of smile graced across his lips at the humorlessly humorous jibe but soon vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Well, Ms. Hayat, I guess it's time to get a bit wet then."

******

"I'm sorry sir but as it turns out, you actually are a bit lose on top department of your head. A lot actually," Asmara yelped in the living room as Azlan told him about Safa. "Now give me the keys to the terrace door. It's so cold out there," her face blushed crimson as she placed her hand in front of him for the keys.

"Alright! First of all, tone down your voice. And secondly, she's not a kid. I'm sure she can handle this much cold. Two hours are nothing." His voice held authority.

"But she's afraid of rain. She doesn't tell me but I know," she protested.

"I don't care." He grinned. "Come to me at sharp 10 o'clock to retrieve the keys. I'll be waiting here in the living room till then or else your precious friend will have to spend her entire night there," he commanded.

"I'm just on the verge of drifting off to sleep. Today was an exhausting day and I don't even have anti-sleeping pills. So please..."

"Not my problem." He said as he fumbled down on the couch and turned his laptop on while she looked at him with disdain.

"What?" He questioned as he caught her still standing there, her hands in taut fists, nails digging the hearts of her rogue palms. "You can go now." He waved his hand towards the corridor.

******

The cumulonimbus clouds roared against the tumultuous wind as the heavy rain pattered against her holy skin in staccatos which felt no less than a knell of doom. Her trembling knees crashed on the wet floor as she fell down and her crimson eyes raked with overabundance of salty tears like an old broken faucet.

Her dupatta had swayed away from her head revealing thick locks of her long obsdian hair as they drenched under the somber rivulets of rain, cascading down on her and tearing her already slackened soul apart. Agony pierced through every bone in her body like a contagious plague as she clawed at her hair.

The ravaging memories of her ordeal past she had been running away from for years rushed back to her as sobs racked her lifeless body and she screamed as loud as she could under the deafening sound of thunder and rain.

She wanted to die right there. In that moment. So that the anguish could finally end. But she guessed she wasn't lucky enough to even taste the bitterness of death. Not a single day had passed by when she hadn't wished upon her death but she assumed she wasn't worthy enough to even have that contentment.

There had always been a vociferous storm raging inside her fragile body that no one around her ever knew about. That's how strong she was. Her own savior.

Azlan thought she was full of life. Little did he know it was all just a façade. A coping mechanism to stifle up all the pain and misery.

******

Alright, here's a fun question! Who do you imagine as Azlan and Safa?

Vote and Comment <3.