Chapter 84: Chapter Eighty-Five

“So…this is what it has come to?” Rafiq’s jolted in his seat at his brother’s voice, causing him to spill some of his drink all over his beard. With an annoyed grunt, he wiped at the drops that trickled all the way down to his bare chest.

How had he gotten into his study? The door was locked. Rafiq silently glared as Hassan’s teasing voice ate away at his nerves like piranha teeth to flesh.

“At last the Great Rafiq has fallen, and on his rear end might I add.” He muttered.

“Get out Hassan.” He grumbled in his glass and knocked back the cold liquor in one go. As was the new routine, Rafiq promptly top up his drink, adding another cube of ice before kicking back in his chair and sipping.

It was some days after Ziza's departure—Rafiq wasn't sure how many—and he didn’t care. He’d sat in his study, doing nothing but staring at the walls and brooding. Reiterating everything with Aziza through his mind from beginning to end, just unwinding it all like thread on a spindle.