After Midnight

chapter FOUR

I brace myself for what’s next to happen. Harry, effortlessly ducks underneath the windshield and when he is inside, at his full height, I am unable to kill the butterflies in my stomach. I hate that feeling yet love it at the same time.

“Hi.”

He smiles. No—he grins that knowing grin and chuckles with midnight laughter. “Hey. You look ready.” His eyes notice the bag resting on the bed and my Nike trainers ready to be worn. I rock back and forth on my heels.

Nerves.

“I guess so.” I shrug coolly. Shrugging is basically the only thing I can do without an effort in front of him.

He took a few steps into the room. Closer to me. His eyes are warm and welcoming, when he says, “Do you trust me?”

I snort. Do I trust him? “Understatement.”

A spark lit his eyes. “You know what could be more than an understatement?”

“What?”

“Wanting you.”

I chuckle, my attempt to hide the blush covering my cheeks. “Okayyy. Where are we going?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” he says instead, dodging my question.

“You didn’t ask me anything.”

He flops on my bed and gazes at me with curiosity. “I did. Do you like henna?”

Oh. Right. I never replied to that because I was too busy smiling.

“That depends,” I walk towards the dresser and lean against it. Avoiding his eyes as well.

“On what?”

“My mood.”

He laughs, his head rolling back and his eyes closing shut. But the smile still lingers on his lips as if he is content. As if today is the best day of his life. He draws in a long breath through his nose. “Your room smells amazing.” He peeks open one eye. “Just like you. It smells just like you.”

But now there’s a faint scent of his cologne in the air. “Okay. Hey, did I pack that bag for a reason or is it just a prank on me?”

He tilts his head to look at me. It’s a wonder how he can manage to slay even at this hour of the night. I think it is always going to be a wonder. A suggestive smile creeps up on his face. “Come on, then. Someone’s pretty eager.”

That doesn’t even do justice to my eagerness. I want to know what he has in store for me. And more importantly, if I am going to love it.

“Someone’s been kind of getting frustrated from the too long wait,” I toss back with a grin on my face.

I think he knows that I know what is going to happen. Because I see it in his eyes.

He gets up. Faces me completely. “This might make you awkward, but is there something specific you wanted to do for your husband?”

I freeze.

He just indirectly told me he was going to propose me.

“Um.”

He rolls his eyes playfully. “Stop. We’re mature now. If you need to do something, or put something else, do it. We’re leaving.”

I have everything packed. I point a thumb in the bag’s direction. “Everything I could possibly need is in that. Where are we going?”

“Can you jump and manage not to break a bone?” he walks over to the window, once again dodging my question. Why won’t he tell me where we are headed to?

“Hopefully.” A sudden rush of adrenaline makes my feet weigh almost  too heavy to move forward. Harry glances over his shoulder and notices this. His features soften in a second. Not that they were hard before.

“Are you having second thoughts?” he asks in a sweet tone. “If you don’t want—“

“I want to,” I cut him off, taking in a shaky breath. “I want to. Are you holding my bag or I am?”

A ghost of a smile touches his lips. “Did you even have to ask that?” He does a quick work of grabbing my bag and opening the window—for me, I notice. I take tentative steps towards it, the cold midnight wind snaking around me and making goosebumps break out on my flesh. I feel Harry’s intense gaze on me when I peek outside the window and kind of have a panic attack at how low the ground is.

I almost change my decision.

But then I remember why I am doing this. My parents won’t let me live a life I always wanted to live. They want me to cut all ties with Harry, but they don’t know that ship sailed long ago. Some might say Harry has got his hooks so deep in me—and I wouldn’t disagree with them. the thought of even marrying someone other than him makes me want to weep. It squeezes my chest and clenches my heart to the point where it gets hard to breathe.

I remind myself, that I am doing this because I am strong. I am doing this, because the world is cruel and I cannot let it toy with me. I am going to be a strong woman. I will stand up to my step-Mom. I will fight for my rights. I will come back as a wife of a boy who would love and cherish me forever.

“Aabi.”

His soft whisper of my name gives me a boost of courage. I nod, closing my eyes and letting the cool wind touch my face with it’s cool hand—caressing me. I swing one leg outside the window whilst gripping it tightly. Shoot. This is not at all easy. Why did I think that even for a second? I am no Four from Divergent.

“Don’t look too much. Just do it. It won’t hurt too bad. Trust me.” Harry, God bless him.

With a silent prayer, I put my trust in Allah and jump. I don’t know how, but I am able to surpass my scream that was aching to burst out. I snap my eyes shut—waiting—waiting to collide on the ground. The pain never comes. I am no longer in the air. Instead, something soft and cushiony is beneath me. Relief floods me all over. I chuckle when the realization dawns on me that I fell on the what could be called the most softest mattress ever.

Seconds later, Harry is beside me.

“Of course. How did I not see that coming?” I shake my head on a smile, getting up and running a hand down the front of my dress.

He shrugs his shoulders. Shoulders, that look too broad all of a sudden. Has he been hitting the gym lately? “I like surprising you.”

“Who is there?”

Cold sweat breaks out on my skin at the voice of my step-mother. Dread fills my heart. No way. There’s no way she can see us. She can’t see us! I would be thrown in my room and locked there for days—and—and—

“Sssh,” Harry held up a finger to his lips. His eyes didn’t give away the fear like mine probably did. He gestures to me to follow him behind the bushes lines across the garden. From behind them, I see my step mom suspiciously looking around the garden in her pink night gown—gag—and it takes her a solid few minutes before she gives up and goes back inside.

I release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

“She’s gone.”

“Yeah,” I whisper in the dark. Why aren’t the garden lights on? Harry must’ve done something.

“Come on. We have to get the heck out of here before anyone sees us.”

He is right.

Half an hour later, we are parked outside a house in the middle of the woods that I have never seen before. I didn’t even notice where we were going because my parents were constantly bugging my head, and every possible outcome of them not finding me in my room was swimming in my head. I was too much engrossed in my own little bubble that I didn’t realize Harry was standing outside, holding the door open for me.

What a gentleman.

“Is this where you kill all the girls merely by a loop sided grin?” I blurt before I even think it over. I kind of freeze and blush uncontrollably as Harry throws his head back and laughs out loud. The sound warms my insides.

I hop out from the jeep and assume he thinks the color to my cheeks is because of the light breeze. Though I know he is not dumb.

“Ah, and is that what you think of me? That I am handsome?” he quirks a brow at me.

I snort (giggle on the inside). “You give yourself way too much credit.”

“Can’t argue on that one,” he teases.

I observe my surroundings. Huge, tall trees line either side of the road that goes on forever. The moon hangs in the sky alone, no stars to give it company. To my right is a house. Well, that’s a pretty weird spot to make a house.

The door slams shut to the passenger seat. Harry steps up close and follows my line of sight.

“Mom had that house prepared in a couple of months,” he tells me. I furrow my brows because why would she get a house here? So when Harry enlightens me some more, my bafflement soon dissolves to nothingness and shock takes control of me.

“She made it for us. You. Me. Us.”

My heartbeat is hummingbird quick while I wait for his words to make sense and reality to finally kick in. I don’t know why I am acting like this when I knew what was going to happen. Maybe the fact that there’s a house in the middle of nowhere in which we could live is too much to soak in.

Harry continues. “She said knowing your family, they’d immediately come to our house to know about your whereabouts, so she said in the middle of nowhere would be our safest option. This property was my grandfather’s and no I don’t know why he would buy it here. Anyway, we have a crowd waiting for us inside . . . so. After you.”

Hands shaking, body shivering, I kick my feet into walking up to the wooden door of the house, not knowing whether to knock or do what exactly. Adrenaline was having the best of me right now. And if it weren’t for Harry by my side, I might have fainted out of shock and fear.

We were doing this together. We could do this together. I am strong. I am strong. I am strong.

He slid a key inside the little key hole, turns it, and the door opens. What could be called the most amazing scent I have ever smelled—invaded my nose, calming me down a bit. I wipe my sweaty palms across my front and attempt for a smile.

Harry frowns. “Don’t ever pretend in front of me. I know what you are doing takes courage. You are the most bravest person I have ever met, Aabirah Aadil. Don’t ever try to hide your true feelings from me.”

Somewhat dazed, I follow him inside the warm, welcoming house that instantly feels like home. We walk a narrow corridor that opens into a huge lounge where Harry’s family is seated. They all stop with their conversations and bright smiles light up their faces when they spot me.