Chapter 4

Khadija POV

I looked over Khalil in surprise as he claimed he wanted to marry me. My eyes were teary and cracked as I leaned into Khalil for comfort. He gladly accepted and kissed my forehead, I guess I had a fiance now? For the next few days, life went back to normal, Khalil and I were attending university together and were enjoying each other's company. I learned that Khalil was already quite wealthy through his investments and had earned every penny he had through work. Honestly, I was so content and happy with my life. For once in my life, I had a genuine smile on my face, instead of a fake one.

I decided to walk home the next day as Khalil had plans. I walked down the familiar path when I heard screams. It was an awful shrieking sound. I saw a drunk man attempting to take advantage of a girl who looked strangely familiar to me. To my surprise, It was...Alisha. Suddenly, all I saw was RED. I looked over in surprise to see my fist had collided with the attacker's face. He repeatedly cursed me and my father, which to me was perfectly fine,( I had cursed him too). The fact of the matter was that there was never any excuse for raping anyone, it is one of the most inhumane things you could do. I had quickly realised I had broken the pigs nose. I smirked proudly, I still had it. I grabbed hold of Lisha's hand and scurried off in a rush, Alisha had makeup smeared all over her face, with her red lipstick smudged at the corner of her lips which made my stomach churn in abhorrence.

I took a deep breath and took Lisha to Khalil's apartment and gave her clothes to clean herself up. I am so grateful that I managed to stop everything before he had managed to hurt her. The fire in my soul was ignited and there was no use attempting to put it out. Inhale, exhale, out of sight, out of mind.

KHALIL'S POV

At the end of a long day, I was incredibly tired with eyes as black as a raccoon, I got up quickly and drove home. To my surprise, I saw beauty dressing wounds on her fists. I grabbed her hand with anger present on my face. "What happened?" I gritted out with my piercing green eyes and white knuckles.

KHADIJA POV

Sighing deeply, I proceeded to tell Khalil what happened, immediately his eyes softened and said I should've called him. I proceeded to tell him the same response I always had, I save myself, always. Of course, I trust him, but I can never let someone else attempt to defend me, with trust comes betrayal, ultimately the only person who I can wholeheartedly trust is myself. Once again, I practised the breathing technique that was always apparent in situations similar to this one. I decided to go to my room and lock the door.

Hours earlier...

Lisha cried in my arms with her eyes bloodshot red and claimed she didn't know what to do. The man had almost stolen her innocence, her pride, her respect. These were things that once lost, were difficult to get back. Lisha decided to go back to her house and tell her mother what had happened. Mrs Ahmed deserved to know what happened.

Present time

KHALIL POV

Sighing deeply, I knew I had messed up, once again she didn't want to see me. I don't understand why she cannot trust me. I have done everything I possibly could to try and help her. The intensity of what we have was so powerful that it could create something beautiful, or destroy both of us in the process. I knocked on the door lightly, when I looked up in surprise I saw her exhausted face looking at me in expectancy of a response. I proceeded to apologise profusely and paused when I saw the state of her room. She had her bags packed as if she was going to leave. Khadija's eyes followed mine and began to say," Khalil don't take this personally, I just need to go away for a while, I will be staying with a friend." She proceeded to take her ring off and leave it in my hands. I was in shock, my hand trembled when I saw her tear-filled eyes. So when she walked out of the room, bags in her hand, she didn't look back. I was simply speechless. Just in a blink of an eye, I had lost one of the most precious people in my life. She was gone.