******

Someone twirled around as musical anklets chimed to the rhythmic tune of the classical ballad while people around hooted at the sight. The room reeked of alcohol and cigarettes with disposable boxes of food strewn hither and thither while the person dancing tried stifling their avalanche of tears and failing every time. But no one seemed to care about that. No one ever did. They only knew one thing. And that was to quench their thirst. The thirst of lust.

Suddenly, Azlan's eyes flew opened as he gasped with incoherent breaths, his face scraped with sweat, eyes racking crimson. His heart was palpitating so hard that he felt it was going to protrude out of his chest.

Shooting up on his feet, he headed towards the counter to pour himself some water. As he was chugging it down, his gaze fell on the clock hanging on the opposite wall. The glass suddenly slipped through his hands and broke into sharp fragments as it hit the floor.

3 o'clock. In the morning.

His eyes swerved towards the keys in panic laying on the coffee table as they dilated to full extent. Within a flick he grabbed them and sprinted towards the rooftop.

Unlocking the door open, he stepped inside the terrace. It had stopped raining. He surveyed the premises until his smoldering eyes settled on the figure crashed on the wet floor.

He ran out of breath as adrenaline flushed though his body and his knees rammed on the ground in front of her. He pushed her damped hair away from her icy face and stroke her cheek.

"Ms. Hayat!" He tried waking her up but in vain. His heart clenched as it sent a silent prayer to Almighty while he checked her pulse.

She was still breathing.

Propping her in his arms, he stood up as her face rested against his stiffened chest, his heart beat irrationally fast.

"Ms. Asmara Sikander!" He shouted as he drummed the door of Asmara and Safa's door with full force with the help of his foot and didn't stop until she had opened it up.

It took her a few seconds to register her surroundings, her drowsy eyes yearning for sleep.

"Oh God!" She gasped on seeing Safa's lifeless body in his arms.

Once he had put her down on the bed, he sprinkled a few drops of water on her pale face but to no avail.

"She's not waking up." He panicked as he turned his head towards Asmara. "What should we do?"

"Well, the first thing I'd suggest is for you to get the hell out of this room and let me manage the situation myself," she chided, her teeth gnashed.

Taken aback by her unexpected behavior, he opened his mouth to say something but she didn't let him.

"PLEASE!" She stressed. "I know a little about medicine. I can take care of it. Besides, I need to change her clothes and I'm definitely not gonna do it in front of you."

Reluctantly, he obliged.

******

It had been a few minutes since he was pacing around the lounge with his clasped hands pressed against his lips when the door of the room opened and came out Asmara.

"How's she?" He inquired, his eyes glinting.

"She's awake now, Alhamdulillah!" She divulged and he let out a sigh of relief. "Changing her into warm clothes and rubbing her feet and hands really helped. Caught a fever, though. Will take her to the hospital the first thing in the morning."

He nodded in understanding before succumbing back to his rude-self. "Why the hell didn't you come and take the keys from me, may I ask?"

"I'm really sorry. It's all my mistake." She wavered as she flinched with her ring. "I was up till 9:30. I don't know how I fell asleep."

"Exactly!" He rebuked. "This is all your mistake."

"Excuse me?" She arched her eyebrow up in indignation.

"Yes." His nostrils flared. "Hadn't it been for your inconsiderate behavior..."

"Wait. Lemme rephrase that." Cutting him off, she folded her hands on her chest. "Hadn't it been for your unprofessionalism and elephantine ego, none of this would have happened." Even though, she didn't do it, it wasn't hidden that she was just this close to punching him in the face.

"She deserved that punishment, alright?" His hands clenched into fists as his jaws hardened.

"What kind of a punishment was that? Besides, she didn't even do anything wrong." She slumped her shoulders as her voice rose above a notch.

"She went against me. My rules."

"No she didn't."

"Yes, she did."

"No, she..."

"You better stop defending her or I'll..." He yelled but she cut her off.

"Or do what? Throw me in the fire?" She jibed with scornful expressions. "In all honesty, I don't know what is your problem with her. We've been working as a team for years and you've never behaved this way with anyone. I remember the time Khadija (another colleague of hers) spilled tea all over your important documents but you didn't even say a single hurtful thing to her. Rather, you consoled her when she was sobbing for the damaged she had done, and told her it was all just a mistake." She pushed the strand of her hair behind her ear as she convulsed her head. "This is not you. You are not you. Something's up. Something's wrong. And I might not know what it is but I'm warning you if you ever try to hurt my Safa again because of your personal problems, I won't spare you. I seriously won't."

Not being able to hold in her tears anymore, she clamped her mouth and ran off to the room, unbeknownst to the imaginary honed knife she had stabbed his heart with while he stood there in speechlessness.

Was it really him?

******

Apologies for any grammatical error.