“Let all that water out, yes that’s it. If you can talk, it means you okay.” A soft voice reached my ears and having no other choice, I went along and stopped struggling against his hold.
The coughing gradually receded but my throat felt as if it were on fire. I felt a water bottle against my lips and drank gratefully before finally, those hands let me go and I lay down in the sand, curling up into a small ball, I was exhausted, my whole body felt drained and for some reason, I felt like crying. I curled up tighter, hugging my knees to my chest, my head buried in between them.
I felt someone holding my hand and then Saadiqah spoke, “Are you okay? I’m so so sorry. Haalah?”
Having no energy to speak, I simply nodded.
As I recovered and my heartbeat returned to normal, I began registering what had happened.
First Saadiqah had pulled me into the water… Then I’d come up and was angry with her… Then I choked, probably due to the seawater… Then…
I frowned, struggling to remember. I remembered Saadiqah tapping my back and… Saadiqah screaming….
And then someone pushing my head down between my legs and then carrying me out-of the water and forcing me onto my stomach…. And coughing… And coughing…. And more violent coughing…. And then it all stopped.
Somebody helped me, I realised. I need to thank her/him. With much effort, I lifted my head upwards and saw three sets of eyes staring at me. Awkward!
“See something y’all like,” I croaked out, trying to break the awkwardness. “I sure do!” The guy on the right with black eyes and very curly hair, murmured.
My eyes widened. I’d almost died and this idiot was trying to flirt?
“Who’s the one who… You know… Helped me?” I asked, scratching the back of my head hesitantly.
“He,” Saadiqah spoke, poking her finger at the curly haired guy.
Lucky me! Other people get knights in shining armour who save them… But I get an idiot who doesn’t know when it’s inappropriate to flirt. Okay, maybe I’m being harsh but… First impressions are lasting.
“Thank you. I’m really grateful that you helped me.” I looked up at the guy again and my brow furrowed. He looks familiar.
“You should be,” he says fiercely. He turns to the boy next to him and speaks, “Trespassers Naf, what are we going to do with them?”
Naf taps his head thoughtfully and I frown. What are they up to? I don’t have energy for any problems right now.
“Well, we could do a lot with them,” Naf speaks. “For starters, we could report them, then we could get dad to press charges. Or.. We could go the easier route and say that they…”
My pounding head drowns them out. I seriously don’t have the energy for this. I glance upwards and notice the two boys staring at us expectantly. Saadiqah is just staring wide-eyed at them, unsure of what to do.
“We haven’t done anything wrong,” I mutter.
“No,” he agrees, “the only thing you’ve done is trespass, which,” he narrows his eyes, “is a crime.”
I shake my head recognising the look in his eyes. I’ve seen the look enough times to know what it means. Ulterior motives. He wants something. “What do you want?” I ask, a tired sigh escaping my lips.
“We’re deciding. So, what do you say Naf? What do we want from these two awesome girls?”
I cringed at the amount of sarcasm dripping from his words. Dread fills me as we wait for Naf to answer.
“Doesn’t bother me. You decide.”
Curly-haired guy catches my gaze, “I think, if you guys don’t want us to report y’all, then y’all have to accompany us for two days. So, do we have a deal?”
“No! Stop it. That’s so stupid. Stop trying to threaten us. You probably can’t even do anything. I mean, where’s proof that we were trespassing before opening times,” Saadiqah argued. “The gate’s already open, there’s already people around. Plus you guys are with us. So technically, y’all are also trespassing.” Saadiqah ended her rant with a dark scowl.
“My father own 59 percent share in this property, sweetheart,” he spoke in a patronising tone. “Believe me, if I report someone trespassing, they’ll believe me.”
Saadiqah’s eyes looked at me pleading and panicked all at once. I shrugged, there was nothing I could do here, and I had no energy to negotiate with him. It was her idea afterall, so this ome was on her.
“Why would you even want that? Unless… Your company is so despicable that you have to threaten people to spend time with you?” Saadiqah taunted.
He laughed, “No, we’re just bored. You girls look interesting.”
“No, we won’t do it,” Saadiqah said, determinedly shaking her head.
Curly-haired boy shrugged, seemingly unbothered. “It’s your choice. Now… Let me just phone my father.”
He took out his phone and dialled, not hiding his movements in the least. Saadiqah and I both saw the caller ID showing ‘Calling Dad.
I closed my eyes, suddenly exhausted. I could hear him talking to his dad in the background, the tone strangely relaxing, almost lulling me off to sleep when a loud outburst jerked me back into wakefulness.
“No! Fine! We’ll do it.”
He tossed the phone to Naf, and turned to Saadiqah with a smirk. “I knew you’d give in eventually.
AssalaamuAlaykum wa Rahmatullahi. How are all you guys. Sorry for being so inconsistent recently. I’m just… Starting to dislike this story
