You and I

Chapter 2: Back to safety

Liyla’s hands were shaking, but she still managed to block the blood pooling out of the wound quickly with the help of gauze and pressed hard on it. Jimmy helped her with bandaging the wound.

“What’s your name?” asked the boss.

“Liyla,” she replied, “and yours?”

“Sulman,” said the boss while opening his eyes and gazing intensely into Liyla’s eyes.

She diverted her gaze and said, “There! Now I’ll grab some warm water to clean up the blood. Jimmy, could you wipe off the blood from Sulman? I need to clean the floor.”

Jimmy took the water and a clean cloth to help Sulman and Liyla started mopping the floor.

“Jimmy, when is Ralf coming to pick us up?” asked Sulman.

“He said he would be here in five minutes,” replied Jimmy.

“Go and help Liyla. It’s getting late. She probably needs to go home by now,” Said Sulman, nodding towards Liyla.

Jimmy helped Liyla with cleaning up while Sulman sat on the chair clutching his hand. He saw another piece of gauze lying on the table and took it to make a support for his arm. Suddenly a sound came from outside. It sounded like someone was pulling up a car. Then came a banging sound on the door. Liyla jumped, Jimmy clutched his gun and Sulman held on to the table to stand up. A man’s voice came from outside the door.

“Relax and open the door. Ralf is here,” said Sulman.

Jimmy ran towards the door and yanked it open. Ralf was standing there. A black BMW was parked behind him. He looked at Jimmy once and came in. He saw Sulman covered in dried blood, dirt, cuts and bruises, and saw a terrifying young woman standing at the corner of the kitchen.

“We need to go now,” Ralf was saying to Sulman.

“It’s getting late. Liyla needs to go too. She helped us, so we need to make sure she leaves safely.” Said Sulman, then he looked at Liyla and asked, “Can you return home from here safely at this hour?”

“Yes, I can. I just need to turn right from the intersection, and it will be alright,” explained Liyla.

“That’s assuring. Jimmy, help me take Sulman into the car. Liyla, lock the doors and windows. We will leave together. Don’t worry, we are not going to follow you. Our route is different.” Ralf explained the plan.

They all hurried up according to Ralf’s plan. Liyla had already cleaned up and was closing her tea shop. Jimmy supported Sulman and Ralf started the car. Liyla followed them and locked the back door. Jimmy settled Sulman in the back seat and tried to close the door when Sulman stopped him.

“Where’s your car?” asked Sulman to Liyla.

“Under that tree.” She pointed.

“You go first. We’ll watch over you,” Said Sulman.

Liyla walked hurriedly towards her car, yanked the driver's seat door open and sat down while starting her car. She looked around and closed her door. For her safety, she locked her car instantly. Sulman nodded to Jimmy and he also shut his door. He ran to the other passenger side door and sat in the car. Liyla drove out of the parking area to the road and Ralf followed her.

Liyla turned left towards the intersection and when Ralf tried to turn right, Sulman stopped him.

“Wait, let her cross the intersection first.”

They waited for five minutes until Liyla turned right from the intersection and merged with the heavy traffic.

“Go!” said Sulman and Ralf turned right towards the farm house.

“Ralf, we need to hurry. Sulman is losing too much blood,” Said Jimmy urgently.

“Call the family doctor and tell him to come to the farm house as soon as possible. Explain Sulman’s condition, so he can bring all the necessary aid. Also, call Uncle Salah and tell him to bring more security to the farm house.” Ralf told Jimmy, and then he said, “Sulman, don’t worry. I’ve already arranged security for our car. Look outside the window and see for yourself.”

Sulman was slumped on the seat. His breath was ragged. He lifted his head a bit and looked outside. Ralf was telling the truth. There were four motorcycles with two riders each. One was on the left side of the car and one was on the right, and two were following behind them.

“Good job!” said Sulman.

Sulman leaned back and rested his head on the headset. He was looking outside the window. The sun was setting in the vast horizon. The sky was full of colours. An orange and pink glow was emitting from the dusky sun. Even though the road was narrow, the land was huge. Both sides were covered with huge farmlands and somewhere far away he could see forests in small chunks.

His eyes were getting heavy due to blood loss. Jimmy looked at him worriedly.

“Boss, don’t sleep, otherwise it will be dangerous,” he said to Sulman.

“Jimmy, talk to him about anything to keep him awake,” Said Ralf.

Jimmy nodded, and an idea clicked in his brain.

“Hey Boss, I never saw you interacting with any women. Even when our business partners come with their ladies, you never look at them. They’ve tried to impress you many times, but you never mention anything about a lady. Tell me something, boss. What kind of lady do you like?”

Sulman thought about it seriously this time. He had never been interested in women before. What kind of woman does he want? It sounded like a silly question, but when Jimmy asked him, only one name popped into his mind; Liyla.

Before he could stop himself, his whispered, “Liyla" He felt that the name itself sounded sweet just like orange candy.

Jimmy and Ralf were stunned with his answer. They never thought of him falling for a girl who was just trying to show some humanity while saving their lives.

“So… you like your savour then…” asked Ralf.

Sulman’s mouth lifted from one corner and he smiled.

“Boss, stop scaring me. You never smiled, but you have already smiled many times in the last two hours,” Jimmy said with some fear in his voice.

Sulman lazily looked at him, smile vanishing from his lips and sarcasm settled in his demeanor.

“Oh really! You think I’m a robot or something,” said Sulman.

“Oh no, no, absolutely not. We think you are a heartless machine in a human form,” explained Jimmy without thinking.

Sulman’s face darkened, and he said, “Ralf, remember to cut half of his pay for this month and no bonus.”

Ralf chuckled, “Sure thing.”

Jimmy was stunned, eyes wide opened and mouth hanging. He was closing and opening his mouth like a fish but nothing came out. Then he whimpered a bit and said in a small voice, “Can we not talk about cutting my salary half? Just punish me with no bonus this month. You know, I have lots of expenses. I’m sorry, I’ll put a zipper on my mouth next time.”

Sulman didn’t say anything. He just looked at him. In the meantime, Ralf was bitting his hand to stop laughing out loud. He knew Sulman was just bluffing.

In few minutes they’d arrived at the farm house. Extra security was already there. Uncle Salah was passing in front of the door impatiently and the medical team was standing behind him. As soon as the car stopped, the medical team ran towards the car. They took out Sulman carefully and put him on a stretcher. Then they took him inside the house and into his room. Uncle Salah gave some orders to security. Two people stood outside Sulman’s room.

“Sir, please wait here while we start the treatment. Once Sulman is stable, I’ll let you know about the initial report instantly,” the doctor said to Uncle Salah.

“Alright then. Ralf and Jimmy, come with me to the study.” Said Uncle, and walked towards the study. Ralf and Jimmy followed him. As soon as they entered the study, they saw Ahmad standing beside the table.

Ahmad was Uncle Salah’s foster child. Though Ahmad was a few years older than Sulman, he was Sulman’s best friend, and he grew up in the hands of Uncle as a son, and was as close to him as his own nephew, Sulman.

Uncle pointed them all towards the sofas, and they all sat down.

“Now, tell me what happened exactly,” asked Uncle with a sharp gaze.