Slow music and loud clapping were heard in the background as Colonel Khan announced the great deeds of one of the youngest military officers among them and congratulated him for completing his three years of military training smoothly and with tremendous success.

"Now, I would like to call that skillful officer on stage, who never failed to make us proud with his amazing physical and mental skills-Officer Fahmid Bilal," the Colonel announced as everyone clapped for the young officer.

The young officer was not only talented but also very handsome; his visuals and physique were something anyone could die for: sharp yet round doe eyes, his sharp jawline, and cute button nose, his crescent moon-like smile, and the mole above his upper lip made him even more attractive to others. He had a well-built, strong, and healthy body. He was wearing a white shirt with a black suit and pants. His shining black hair added more to his charms.

He was very polite and kind-hearted too. Each of the peers, juniors, and seniors admired him, and the juniors often looked up to him. He was a great inspiration for the young generation. He was a bubbly and outgoing person. He would easily make friends, and even enemies could not resist his friendly attitude and personality.

As Fahmid reached the stage, everyone started to cheer for him. The black-haired male could not help but smile at their actions. He cleared his throat and took the mic before starting his speech, "I really can't believe that I am saying this, but I really enjoyed my time here. I still remember that awful day when I decided to come for training even when I didn't want to, and I was crying my eyes out like a kid. But I came to this place, which now became the sweetest memory of my life.

"I am really grateful for my seniors who tolerated my childish nature but still guided me to become the man I am today. Special thanks to my friends, with whom even the scariest nights became the funniest. I learned a lot from everyone, and I hope I made everyone a tad bit satisfied with my work. Once again, thank you so much, everyone. This is officer Fahmid Bilal signing off." With that, he bowed, and everyone cheered, clapped, and at the same time felt emotional as it was the other's last night with them.

Slow rhythms and chattering of different groups on each table were heard in the background as table number five's members were spending the last few hours with their soon-to-be ex-member. Yes, the table was occupied by Fahmid and his batchmates and other senior juniors. They were eating, drinking, bickering, and gossiping about their lives, whereas the young soldier was just listening to their talks, speaking, or laughing once or twice in between.

"Dude, Fahmid, you are going to leave tomorrow morning. Now at least, tell us about your secret lover." One of his batchmates, Bashir, with jet black hair, almost pleaded, making Fahmid lowly chuckle at his request.

"Yes, Fahmid, you always say you have your heart already locked for someone and reject all our proposals. So, now tell us who that lucky person is." One of the young female soldiers, Humaira, with short brown hair, asked.

Fahmid was about to deny their request, but soon each of the members started to pester him, and he gave up while saying, "Okay, fine! But for that, I have to start everything from the beginning. Think about it. Do you have enough patience to know about it all?" He asked with a teasing smile, thinking they would back away. But he was proved wrong the very moment they all cheered and said they were willing to pull off a nighter and get scolded in the morning for being late if that was needed. But they were not going to let go of the golden chance to know about Fahmid Bilal's love story.

Fahmid sighed before speaking again, "Alright, let's go to October 12th, 2004, Lifecare Hospital, **Shanganj." With that being said, he went down memory lane.

... 12th October, 2004.

A man in his mid-twenties, Ashraf Hadid, was being comforted by his best friend, Hamza Bilal, and his wife, Sabrina Bilal, in front of the emergency ward of the hospital. Inside was the wife of Ashraf, Yasmin Hadid, who was nine months pregnant and going through labor pain.

The man was being impatient and worried for his wife and unborn baby. His friends were trying their best to calm the male, but the said male was not having it. His heartbeat increased with each scream of his wife, who was feeling nothing but pain. "Ashraf, calm down. Yasmin is a strong woman; she would be alright. Even our little princess would be fine. Please, control yourself. They both will be fine, hmm?" Hamza tried his best to calm the panicking male.

Away from them was standing a little boy of three years with a bunny plushie in his hand, watching his mom and dad trying to calm his neighbor uncle, with his big doe eyes. He went towards his mom and nudged her dress while asking, "Mommy, why is Uncle Ashraf crying?" The three-year-old boy asked with his big, curious eyes, not liking the fact his favorite uncle was crying.

The lady looked at her side only to see her son's eyes getting teary while looking at Ashraf. She immediately knelt at the boy's level and held his small hands while asking, "Baby, why are you crying, sweetie? Is something wrong? Tell mommy, sweetie."

"Uncle Ashraf is crying. Why? And what happened to Aunt Yasmin?" The little one asked.

"Oh baby, don't worry, your Uncle Ashraf is fine, just worried for your Aunt Yasmin; she is in pain to bring our little princess to us, that's why, bubba. You don't cry; you are Mommy's strong boy, hm?" Sabrina wiped his tears, which his precious eyes shed, and explained the situation.

Fahmid pouted an angry pout and uttered, "I don't like this little princess. She is giving pain to Uncle and Aunt." With that, he crossed his arms, and Sabrina's eyes widened.

"Aish, no. Bub, don't say that! She is a blessing to your uncle and aunt, you know. And for us as well. She is an angel for us. And we should not say something like that. When she would come, you would get a friend to play with and love and care for. You always wanted one friend, right?" Sabrina asked, to which the boy nodded.

"So, you would always love her and care for her. You would protect and always be there with her, no matter what. You would do that, right? You would become a great friend for her, right?" Sabrina explained to her son, who then had a determined look on his face.

"Yes, Mommy. I will always protect and love our little princess. I will become the best friend for her. I promise!" The three-year-old promised his mother with a proud smile.

Sabrina smiled fondly at him and ruffled his hair, "Yes! That's like my son!" Right then, they heard a loud cry of a baby from the ward. Without wasting any more time, everyone went towards the ward and soon saw a nurse come out with a beautiful baby girl in her arms.

The nurse gave the baby to Ashraf, who cried out of happiness and asked about his wife and was relieved when he learned the mother of the baby was alright. Soon everyone went inside the ward, witnessing a tired Yasmin, who had a weak smile on her face and made grabby hands for her newborn angel.

Ashraf took the baby towards her and showed their angel to her while saying, "See, Yasmin, our princess looks so small and adorable."

Yasmin smiled with tears in her eyes and cried out, "Yes, our girl looks like a miracle." Hearing her, Ashraf could not help but kiss her forehead lovingly and then did the same with his baby girl.

"Thank you, my love. Thank you so much for bringing such a wonderful gift into my life." Ashraf was very happy. No one could describe how delightful he was. Soon, the Bilal couple went toward them and asked for the baby. They also praised the newborn's cute and small features.

However, the younger figure present there felt extremely left out and irritated; he wanted to see and meet his new friend as well, or else how would they bond? Thus, he just yelled out in a whiny voice, "I want to meet little princess as well!"

However, for the newborn's sensitive ears, it was too much noise, and the baby started to cry out loud, making little Fahmid's eyes wide, and everyone else was panicking. Sabrina and Hamza started to rebuke the three-year-old as they handed over the crying baby to her mother.

"Fahmid Bilal, what type of behavior is this? See, you made the baby cry," his father sternly said, making Fahmid's head go down and his eyes glossy.

As Hamza continued scolding Fahmid, the baby started to cry even louder, making everyone look at it. Fahmid, who had tears in his doe eyes, also curiously looked at the baby. As the older stopped scolding, the baby also stopped crying. It seemed the baby could not bear the three-year-old getting scolded and his tears.

Everyone was quite shocked; Fahmid got a little courage and slowly went toward the baby, his eyes still glistening with tears. As he went toward the baby, she stared at him with wide eyes, which the little boy found very fascinating. Fahmid just kept staring at the baby, observing her face while the only word that came out of his lips was, "Angel!"

The baby seemed to like the name and started to move her eyes, forehead, and mouth in different ways, indicating she was happy. And seeing the baby being happy, Fahmid also got happy as he giggled. "Little princess liked this name? Angel?" And the baby again showed those expressions, making the three-year-old giggle yet again.

Fahmid again called out the name and softly bopped the baby's nose, who immediately caught, or tried to catch, the older's hands, more like just happened to touch the little boy's bunny plushie that the other was holding.

"You like Mister Bunny? Okay, I will give you this, I don't share my toys, but you are my little angel. So, I will give you this." With that, Fahmid handed his favorite plushie to his angel, who became even more favorite to him from that day.

The couples who were silent the entire time and were shocked at the little ones' interaction could not help but feel immense happiness to witness them interacting so cutely. As Fahmid was handing the plushie to the baby, Hamza held his hand, preventing him from doing so. "Don't give the baby that; it might have dirt and germs on it. What if the baby gets infected, huh?" Hamza opposed, thinking about the well-being of the baby.

But oh boy! Did it make the baby angry? She again let out a loud cry, deafening their ears, making Hamza immediately leave Fahmid's hand and look at the baby with scared eyes, "Okay, lil one, okay. I will not say anything to your friend. I am sorry. Please, don't cry."

Seeing the older Bilal being a scaredy-cat in front of an infant, everyone laughed while Yasmin said, "Be careful, Hamza *¹bhaiya. Now you can't always scold our Fahmid, because it seems like he got a new savior for himself." And everyone yet again laughed, while the two babies completely ignored them and were getting bonded within themselves.

"Okay, whatever, don't mock me, y'all! So what name did you think of for the baby?" Hamza asked while the Hadid couple looked at each other before saying the name they decided beforehand.

"Afreen! Afreen Hadid!" They announced the name, and soon cheers were heard in the ward.

Fahmid also heard the name and turned to the baby, "Okay, angel, you got your name, but you would still be my little angel. Oops! I did not say my name. Hello, Afreen Angel, I am F-Fahmid B-bilal. You can call me Fahmid as well!" The little one struggled a bit but still was successful in introducing himself to his new friend, who was again looking at him with her cute little eyes.

And it was just the beginning of a hell of a friendship, my dear. Since that day began the miseries of both the Bilal and Hadid households. As years passed, the miseries for the couples, especially for the fathers, just increased. The Hadids would never be able to say a single thing to Afreen because she had her universal weapon named Fahmid Bilal, or should we say, Afreen's Lion. Fahmid would always protect the girl from getting scolded or punished.

While the same thing would happen in the Bilal household as well, the difference was that Afreen would not only save her friend from getting scolded but also would give Hamza a good hearing. Hamza, the great strict CEO, would always get scared of that angry human lioness. Nevertheless, both the families loved and adored the kids to the moon and beyond.

TRANSLATIONS / MEANINGS:

1* bhaiya — brother, used to address men who are older in age than you.

Assalamu Alaikum, Moongems. Finally, the first chapter is up! Hope you enjoy, love and support me. Though it is not a new plotline for most of you. But I am going to modify certain things and might add new things too. Thus, do read, vote, and comment your suggestions. I will be back with a new chapter soon. Till then stay safe and sound. Have a great day ahead. Take care. Allah Hafeez. Fi'amanillah.

── Author Ezzie.