❝Cold as ice,

but in the right hands,

she melts❞

__________________

Cold enveloped my body despite running towards the Mukhtars home.

I made sure to lock the door behind me. Still not satisfied I double checked that it was locked before running upstairs. Auntie and uncles car wasn't in the driveway, so I'm guessing they went out.

Opening Lameesas' door in a hurry, she sat up from the loud bang of the door. Worry immediately paged her face.

"What happened Laila? What's wrong" she moved towards me, helping me towards the bed. I knew I should have done a better job at convincing Lameesa to take a taxi back home that night. If only-

"Laila. You're worrying me. Tell me what's wrong ahora" Lameesa said, her spanish accent getting heavier. This happens to her when she's worried or angry.

"Misa. You remember when we stumbled on those men talking with a child in their arms?" She nodded hurriedly. Still not understanding what I was hinting at.

"Well today I was stood in front of the bus stop, and from the corner of my eyes, I saw this man wearing all black. I turned to look back at him but he'd vanished. But that's not the worst part Misa. When I sat in the bus I saw him, stood opposite the bus stand, waving at me" I worriedly let out. My eyes wandering all over her tanned face.

Lameesa gasped, sitting back on her bed.

"Did you see his face Laila? Anything?"

Shaking my head no, she quickly stood up, seemingly connecting the dots.

"Laila. It must've been one of those guys. It's not just a coincedance the man showed up the day after we witnessed what happened last night. And you're a stranger, so why would he come to you out of all the people In Madrid" she said gulping.

"I need water" I quickly took out my bottle from my backpack and gave it her. She was intaking more than what she could handle, and ended up choking.

"Girl I've already got one problem. I don't need you to die on me" I said, trying to ease the tension, but obviously it didn't work.

Soon she was breathing back to normal and sat on the bed. I waited for her to say anything. Absolutely anything to ease my tension.

One minute.

Three minutes.

Five minutes later she decided to speak up.

"We can't tell the police anything"

"What? why Misa? Those guys must be after us. You know what, I shouldn't have come to your house. They'll follow me and end up killing everyhone here. If only I hadn't let us see those men. For our safety ya Allah please help us ou-"

"Laila"

"Laila! I need you to calm down. It was my fault too. Don't blame everything on your self niña. And as for not telling anyone, it's best we don't. Because, say if they are those men then they will know when you go to the police, and trust me, If there's anything gangs around here do, they kill their enemies and especially those who run their tongue to the police. "

I knew exactly where lameesa was coming from, but I was not yet ready to accept this without being protected by the police. What If those guys were planning on killing me? What if they were a group of psychopaths.

"Look Laila. Right now, all we can do is pray to Allah to help us in this situation. Don't tell anyone In this house or anyone else about what we saw or heard that night. Mama and baba would be too scared" I nodded, finally coming to terms with my situation.

"You're right Lameesa. I just need to calm down, pray to God and hope that everything goes back to normal for us" I let out sighing in defeat. Soon I joined lameesa on the bed, sitting side by side.

I'm pretty sure she was stressed about this too, but was better at hiding her emotions unlike me. I was like an open book, waiting to be read.

Deciding that a good nights sleep was in preparation, lameesa suggested we sleep together. I didn't say no, due to the fear. We made sure we prayed Isha together before falling in a deep slumber.

Five days had passed by. The second day of work was frightening to say the least. I couldn't make myself go to bus stop at all, so lameesa made sure to wait for me once my hospital shift was over and we both took the bus home.

Lameesa attended university not too far away from me, in her fourth year of medicine, so I was glad she was able to come pick me up. Alhamdulillah.

That unfortunate night was placed at the back of my mind, and soon I had convinced myself that the stranger at the bus stop was just my imagination. Yes. That's exacrly what he or it was. I was just being paranoid and had a tiring day at the hospital. I must've made Lameesa worried for no reason.

At least that's what I kept convincing myself to believe.

But of course no matter how much convincing I did, that night was as real as my faith in Allah. But I still kept that event in the back of my mind. It's been five days. I'm sure if they wanted to harm me or anyone that I know, they would've by now.

At the end of the day, I was grateful. Extremely grateful that nothing happened yet. And continued to pray to Allah that nothing would happen.

But of course, Allah knows what's felt between my chest. He knows how scared I am for myself and the Mukhtars.

I made sure to make my readable facial expressions less readable, which wasn't easy like I said before. I didn't want to make auntie and uncle worried or suspicious. The twins were too engrossed in their studies to realise anything. Which I was very thankful for, because they are very smart, and could practically read peoples minds.

It had been around a week now here in Madrid. My stress was increasing much more but that's what salah is for. Also, I'm working with wonderful kids at the hospital who are full of joy and wonder. I don't want to make their time suck more than it already does at the hospital with my stress and worry.

At the end of each day, I made sure to call Ammi g and Abu g. Being alone without my family, despite the Mukhtars never making me feel anything else, was upsetting. I felt like I needed that small moral compass of normality back into my life, because as soon as my shift ended, I felt entrapped in my thoughts and the scare of tomorrow. That's why I made it compulsory to call back home despite how tired I would get and lack energy.

And of course like always, they would answer my call to which I imagined a bright smile lightening up their face. Full of pride and nothing less. For this sole reason, among many others, I decided to leave my worries to Allah, and focus on my time here in Madrid and enjoy it from now on;

Because of course,

“How foolish is a man! He ruins the present while worrying about the future, but weeps in the future by recalling his path”

Ali Ibn Abu Talib.

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Don't be a silent reader and let me know what you think so far of this story.

In sha Allah: If Allah wills. When Intending to do something in the rememberance of Allah.

Alhamdulillah: (All) praise be to God. When being thankful of a situation.

Mashallah: God willing/God has willed. Normally said when praising something or someone.

Subhanallah: Glory to God. When praising the goodness of god.

Next update will be in four days.