Radical

by Sijal Aziz

  Her father boomed back, “What do you know about love? You have known him for a few days. He will leave you just like he has left countless women before you. You are stupid. If you leave this house, you can never come back here again”

  “I never want to come back here, if you cannot accept Alexander”

  Jasmine turned around with tears in her eyes and went out of her house. She walked to the closest road and hailed a taxi and went straight to Alexander’s hotel.

  Jasmine’s father fumed in the house for the next couple of hours and then wondered whether he had handled the situation wrong.

  Jasmine was his only child and he wanted her to be happy. He also knew that women were stupid, and they always fell for scoundrels like Alexander. He wished the press didn’t get a wind of this otherwise he would be the laughing stock of the whole of Iraq.

  Alexander was patiently waiting for a call from Jasmine to know how it had gone with her father. He did not want to call because he did not know how the situation would have been like between Jasmine and her father.

  He took his cellphone out of his pocket and was about to call Jasmine when he heard a faint knock at the door. He opened the door and was Jasmine standing there with tears streaming down her eyes.

  Alexander took her into his arms and brought her inside the room. Jasmine started sobbing. Alexander did not know what to do. He knew that she was hurt, he wanted to do something to make her feel better, so he held her protectively in his arms until the sobs subsided. He did not ask her anything, he knew she will tell him everything once she was ready.

  Jasmine then broke free from his arms and held his face with her hands, “You know I have just left my father for you. I do not think I can live without you. I hope you feel the same way”

  Alexander kissed her forehead with all the tenderness in him, “I feel the same way, I have been feeling the same way since the second I saw you. You are my life, my heart and my soul. I cannot even think of what my life will be like without you. Leave alone think about living without you. I am sorry about your father. But I am happy that you have chosen me. I am guessing you haven’t had lunch. Let me order some lunch for both us. With a hectic night and a hectic morning, I am sure you are as hungry as I am”

  Jasmine nodded.

  Alexander ordered lunch in the room and they talked for the next couple of hours.

  They were together from then onwards till the next two months. They both explored each other and Iraq together and talked about everything. They were like two people crazy in love and they seemed to enjoy everything together.

  They could not keep their hands off each other and both of them were inseparable. Alexander hadn’t worked in the two months they had known each other, and Jasmine never once thought about her father.

  She had missed her periods twice and something in her told her that she was pregnant. She went to the hotel’s pharmacy and bought a pregnancy test kit. She checked and she was pregnant. She did not know how Alexander would take the news of her pregnancy but the moment she saw those two lines appear on the test kit, she knew that she wanted to have his child.

  CHAPTER 16

  She put on her most beautiful dress while Alexander was out doing groceries. When he came back, he just stood in the doorway taking in all the beauty that Jasmine offered.

  The grocery bags fell from his hands and he went over to Jasmine and they made sweet love for the next hour.

  Once they were both worn out and Jasmine was lying down in Alexander’s arms she said, “I don’t know how you will react to this, but I am pregnant and if you don’t want to live with me anymore, I will understand. But I will not get an abortion”

  Alexander was very still for a few moments, his arms that were tightly wrapped around Jasmine a few moments ago seemed to have become loosened somehow.

  Jasmine could hear him breathing hard. She did not have the courage to look at his face, so she kept her eyes away from him, waiting for him to react. She did not want to leave him, but she also did not want to kill her child no matter what.

  Finally, Alexander said, “I never thought I would get so lucky. First you and now this. I hope it is a daughter. She would be as beautiful as you and I will be happiest father on the face of the earth”

  “Whatever it will be, it will be our child and we will love it with all our hearts”, Jasmine said with a sigh of relief.

  She put her hand on Alexander’s hand and felt that it was cold to touch. She asked him worried, “Are you feeling alright?”

  Alexander turned around and looked into Jasmine’s eyes and Jasmine could see love pouring out of them, “I have never had so much love. I love you so much and now you are giving me this wonderful gift. I am overwhelmed!”

  Jasmine smiled and wrapped her arms around Alexander and kissed him tenderly. Then she held him in her arms until they both went to a peaceful sleep with smiles on their faces.

  In the morning they both made love and when Jasmine was about to get off the bed, Alexander held her hand and sat her down on the bed. He then walked around the bed and sat on the ground in front of her. He was trying to say something, but it was obvious that he was too overcome with emotions.

  Jasmine was worried that something was wrong, “Is everything alright Alexander?”

  Alexander nodded, “Jasmine, my life was incomplete before you walked into it. Now my life has found a new meaning. For the first time in my life, I understand what love is and what longing is. You can find love anywhere and any man will be lucky to have you in his life. But you are the only one for me. I can never imagine my life without you. So Jasmine Al Abdali, would you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?”

  Jasmine got on the floor, in front of him, kissed him and said, “Yes”

  Alexander became happy as happy as a child. It was as if someone had granted him, the most important wish in his life, “I want us to get married right away. Let’s go out and get married right now”

  “Anything you want, but shouldn’t we make some arrangements first?”, Jasmine asked.

  “Of course! I have to go out and do something important for now. I want you stay here until I come back and then we will go out together to make the arrangements. Ok?”

  “Ok”

  Alexander kissed Jasmine on the forehead and went out.

  Jasmine was wondering what was so important that it could not have waited until after the wedding arrangements.

  Alexander sat down in his car and headed straight to Jasmine’s father’s house. It hurt him that Jasmine will not have her father present at her marriage, and he wanted to set things straight for her.

  He rang the front doorbell, once he reached the minister’s house. The door was opened by the butler who looked a little surprised to see Alexander.

  “Is the minister home?”

  “Let me check sir, meanwhile please be seated in the lounge”

  Alexander waited for a couple minutes in the lounge when he saw the Iraqi minister walk in. He looked old and it was obvious that he was missing his daughter.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I understand sir, that you are angry with me”

  “Angry at you? Angry at you? I want to kill you right away, for taking my daughter away from me”

  “Sir, I understand your feelings but please understand that my intentions with your daughter are honorable and with your permission, I would like to marry her”

  Iraqi minister was taken a back. Until this very moment he had thought that Alexander was just having an affair with his daughter. But this was different. He had never expected Alexander to marry her.

  Alexander continued, “I love her sir and I want her to be my wife. I will honor her and love her for the rest of my life. I assure you that I will cater to her every need and keep her every wish and whim as my top most priority”

  Iraqi minister seemed to have cooled down a little bit. He walked over to the sofa and sat opposite to Alexander.

  “I d
o not approve of the way you did this Alexander”

  “I understand that sir, but we are very much in love and if you love your daughter as much as I think you do, I am sure that you will honor her wishes”

  “I love my daughter more than anything in the world”

  “Then you will be happy to know that you are about to become a grandfather”

  “A grandfather?”

  “Yes sir, Jasmine is pregnant”

  The Iraqi minister was quiet for a few minutes as if digesting the news and then his face broke into the brightest smile Alexander had ever seen, “I bet it’s a grandson. I would love to teach him things that I could not teach Jasmine, because she was a girl. Where is Jasmine?”

  “She is back at the hotel. I came here to talk to you first. She loves you and it would mean a lot to her if you are with her on the day of her marriage”

  “When are you planning on getting married?”

  “Today”

  “Don’t be a fool, the daughter of Khalid Al Abdali will not get married in seclusion.

  Give me a couple of days to arrange everything and invite my close friends and relatives and then you can get married. You only shop for your dresses and then come back here. I do not want you two staying at the hotel”

  “Yes sir, I better go and tell Jasmine”

  “And Alexander”

  “Yes sir”

  “Thank you”

  “My pleasure, sir”

  Alexander drove back to the hotel with a smile on his face. When he broke the news to Jasmine about her father. Jasmine hugged him and said, “I never thought I would ever find a man like you. I fall in love with you more with every second I spend with you”

  They went out and shopped for each other’s dresses and headed straight to Iraqi minister’s house.

  The minister opened the door himself and immediately hugged Jasmine. They both stood there for some time with tears in their eyes. Alexander was happy that he had brought them together. He wanted to do everything to make Jasmine happy. Her happiness was the only goal in his life now.

  They got married after two days. Although it was on a short notice but there were well over four hundred guests present during the marriage ceremony along with the media.

  The Iraqi minister then threw a party in the honor of bride and groom at his house. After the guests had left and they were in Jasmine’s room, they made love to each other and Alexander asked, “Where would you like to go on a honeymoon, Mrs. Cooper?”

  “Where ever you prefer, Mr. Cooper. But it better not be one of those places where you have taken your other women”

  Alexander thought he heard a hint of jealousy in Jasmine’s voice.

  “Jasmine you know with all those other women, I never felt anything. It was just sex. I have never loved anyone in my life other than you”

  Jasmine could not think of Alexander with another woman leave alone imagine him having sex, but she knew it was in the past and she should not have brought it up. She smiled and kissed Alexander and said, “I know, darling!”

  “Let’s go to a quiet island retreat in Bora Bora and from then onwards go where ever we please. I want to make love to you every day, in all your favorite places”, Alexander said.

  “And all I want to do is to be with you every second of everyday”

  They decided to go out the next day and have lunch on the bank of Euphrates river.

  As Alexander was driving by a local park. Jasmine suddenly said, “Can you please slow the car down Alexander?”

  Alexander slowed the car down, “Everything alright?”

  Jasmine was looking at a bunch of kids in the park. There were some suspicious looking cars parked near them and there were around 12 to 15 men near the kids.

  “Please stop”

  “Is everything alright Jasmine?”, Alexander asked bringing the car to a complete halt.

  “I don’t know, I know these kids. They come over to the house once in a while and we play together”, Jasmine said looking at the kids.

  “So?”

  “I have never seen these cars here before. Look at those men, they look dangerous”

  Alexander looked at the men. They had unkept beards, long hair and it looked as if they hadn’t bathed in a while. Their cars however looked shiny and new with black tinted windows.

  Alexander was immediately concerned about Jasmine’s safety, “Let’s get out of here and call the police. They will know what to do”

  Jasmine was looking at the kids and then something made her look ahead in the sky.

  “No”

  “What?”

  Jasmine opened the door and started running towards the kids. Alexander hurried behind her.

  Jasmine started shouting “Najaf, waer bo ere, waer bo ere.”

  One of the kids turned around and waived at Jasmine. She shouted louder looking above at something in the sky

  Alexander looked where Jasmine was looking, and he saw a small plane heading towards them.

  The men looked at the plane too and started scrambling to their cars.

  Jasmine started running towards the kids. Alexander was still looking at the plane. When it was close enough Alexander could see that it was a drone.

  “We need to get out of here”, Alexander said without looking at Jasmine. When he didn’t get any reply, he looked around for her and saw her talking to the kids and dragging them away from the cars.

  She was 15 feet away from Alexander. What happened next only took a few seconds. The drone approached with the sound like a swarm of bees. It dropped a couple of bombs at the vehicles and then disappeared. Alexander was blown away by the explosion. When he came to, he had trouble getting up, his ears were bleeding and every part of his body was aching. He made his way to where he had seen Jasmine, crying all the way.

  Jasmine was lying on the ground. Her body was covered in dirt. There were dead bodies of kids around her, whom she was trying to save.

  Alexander looked at her and put her head in his lap.

  “Jasmine”, he said crying.

  She opened her eyes and there was blood in them. She tried to move her arm to hold him, but she couldn’t. She mustered up every last bit of her strength and said, “I love you Alexander”

  “I love you too. You are going to the ok. I will take you to the hospital. Everything is going to be alright”

  Jasmine closed her eyes and her body went into a spasm. She died right there, in Alexander’s arms.

  Alexander started crying hysterically, “Everything will be alright. Somebody help! Call the police!”

  CHAPTER 17

  When he woke up, he was in a hospital. His head was bandaged, and his arm was in a cast. He could not move. Then the pain of what had happened to Jasmine hit him. He started shouting for a nurse. But only a croak came out as his mouth. His mouth was as dry as a bone. He looked around for a bell and found one beside his bed. He rang it.

  A nurse came in.

  “How are we feeling? You know you were very lucky to survive. You were very close to the bombs. Do you need anything?”

  “Jasmine, um, my wife was with me. How is she?”

  “I don’t know, we have only received you here. The American embassy got involved and had you transferred here. This hospital only caters to American citizens”

  “Please I need to know. Her name is Jasmine. She is the daughter of Iraqi minister for science and technology. Please can you find out and let me know. It is very important”

  “I can try but I don’t promise as I am an American citizen working here too and don’t know who to contact to get in contact with to get that kind of information”

  The nurse disappeared. Alexander closed his eyes and started praying for Jasmine. He felt so helpless. Tears started streaming from his eyes

  The nurse went back to her station to talk to the head nurse.

  “Our drone strike patient says that his wife was with him during the strike. Her name is Jasmine, and he says she is the daught
er of the Iraqi minister for science and technology.

  He wants to know if she is still alive. I told him that I don’t have access to that kind of information, but I will see what I can find out. What do you want me to do about it? The guy looks pretty desperate”

  “Well, there is nothing we can do. I will forward his request to the embassy”, the head nurse said.

  The nurse went back to Alexander’s room. As she reached the door, she heard heart wrenching cries as if someone was in terrible pain. She burst the door open and saw Alexander crying and hitting himself. She looked around and saw the news of drone strike playing on TV. The subtitles said that the daughter of the Iraqi minister was one of the unfortunate casualties of the drone strike and showed her photograph.

  The nurse called for help. Two other male nurses came in the room and tried to restrain Alexander. When they couldn’t, they injected him with a sedative and held his arms. Alexander tried to resist for a few minutes then went into a deep sleep.

  When he woke up, he saw that his arms had been restrained to the sides of the bed and there was a nurse stationed next to his bed.

  He started crying again and then suddenly just stopped, regained his composure and asked the nurse for water.

  She brought him water and unrestrained one of his hands. Alexander drank the water and asked for some food.

  Alexander stayed in the hospital for another two weeks before he was released.

  After his release he went to his hotel, packed his bag and boarded the next flight back to Washington DC.

  He robotically made his way to his plane and sat down. Everything around him felt unreal, he felt as if he was in a dream.

  He felt this immense pain that would not go away. He did not know when the flight landed or how he got back to his apartment. But once inside, he started screaming and crying. He tore at his clothes. He punched the wall until his hands were bleeding and he could not punch it anymore. He cursed god for taking the love of his life away from him. Then he slept straight for 24 hours.

  When he woke up, he was hit by a feeling of self-pity like he had never felt before. God had made sure he had a lousy childhood. First, he took his mother away and now Jasmine and his child.