Chapter 85: Hide & Seek

"Pray, Sheharzaad, my eyes won’t settle on you before the date changes," he straightened

himself, not before giving a peck on her forehead.

"Will you stand by your words?" she asked. "Will you let me go if you aren’t able to catch

me?"

"I will," he replied and took off his wristwatch before passing it to her.

"You will need it. Now start your hunt," he said and left.

...

There was this wristwatch on which she had her eyes since the moment she came into her

hiding place. Just an hour was left for the clock to turn to 12. The place which the guard had

told her about—she had been hiding there. The hotel was so big that it would take almost a

week to search through each and every nook of it. And no signs of anyone finding her had

appeared until now. An hour was left—for her freedom.

Every minute was agonizing, mentally torturing her. Every breath, which she so laboriously

took, made her feel he was around her, watching her. The ambiguity of the situation was a

pain to her heart and mental health. She didn’t know what she was waiting for.

Was it her freedom?

Or was it her doom?

Would he find her?

Or would he not?

She felt like, on purpose, he gave her a time limit to torture her—mentally and emotionally,

each and every minute.

To make sure every breath she took would be filled with uncertainty. She would live with

hope and die with dread every elapsing second. And she knew, as if he was aware, that

when the time would come close, how her limbs would itch, how her breaths would

quicken, how the sweat of terror would trickle down her body, and how painfully she would

wait for the ordeal to come to an end. That might be the reason he had let her go in that

lobby despite catching her. To teach her a lesson, to carve this into her mind that even if she

was far away from him, he would be the center of her every thought. He would be the one

possessing control over her mind.

A complete, utter control.

And he was successful in his mission.

The bead of sweat popped on her temple and traveled all the way down to her throat. She

heard voices. Footsteps. Coming near her. Slow and assured.

Striking boots that she was habituated to hearing.

The door of the room opened, and her breath hitched.

A whistle was what she heard then in the eerie silence that was killing her.

Him.

It was him.

No doubt it was him.

"Come out, little lady. Time to come face to face."

Her hands clasped against her mouth to shut every kind of voice. Her teeth were about to

clatter when she fastened her hand under her chin and shut her mouth up to suppress every

type of sound.

"Oh, so you want to play hide and seek?"

All for nothing?

All for nothing!

All for nothing!!

Every fear-filled moment she spent here—it was all for nothing!

"Come out, come out," his voice was playful as his footsteps receded from where she sat.

"If I find you on my own, then..." he let the warning hang in thin air. She peeked through the

tiny space between the two boxes and found his back turned towards her. Next, her eyes

saw the wide-open door.

Abruptly, she stood up, making him turn towards her.

They both stared at each other. There was an evil smirk on his face. His face was calm and

relaxed, depicting victory. While hers exhibited her fear—the terror of being caught. She

clasped her mouth shut with her hands, trying to restrain any whimpers that tended to

come out of her mouth. But her body shook with unvoiced sobs. Her eyes cried.

She saw him stepping closer to her. This made her take multiple steps away from him until

her back touched the wall. Her whole form shook with terror and sobs. But this did not

make him stop. Rather, he kept on coming closer. Closer and closer. She felt her doom

approaching her.

"How did you... find me?" she whispered her question. He stood a few inches away from her,

his cologne invading her senses. The perfume screamed money, but it never brought the

pleasant feeling of inhaling a good scent. Rather, it filled her with anxiousness. Just by

inhaling his scent, her anxiety had doubled.

Shehryaar let his forefinger trace the side of her face. "Every step you take away from me

will bring you closer to me," he paused, staring into her tear-filled eyes, "Stop running,

Sheharzaad."

"I will run. I will keep on running from you," her voice wasn’t above a whisper. Fear was

evident, but still, she did not hesitate from voicing out her disdain for him and her protest.

"Then run. Because if you end up breaking your bones, the fault won’t be mine," he

responded, and Sheharzaad looked at him with a confused expression. The confusion

further increased when she saw him take a step away from her, giving her the space to run.

Sheharzaad looked at him and then at the door. There was not sufficient space between

them. She was scared he might catch her if she aimed directly for the door. Somehow, she

had to make him stand further away so he wouldn’t be able to catch her when she ran for

that door.

"What? You don’t trust me?" he questioned. Suddenly, she felt he had ulterior motives, as if

he wanted her to run. She was really scared. But in that moment, all she could think of was

to run away from him. As far as she could.

She took a step away from the wall before looking at the door. And in the next moment, she

pushed him, which did absolutely nothing to his balance, and she dashed out of the room.

And already, she felt him following her.