Besabriyan

29|TWENTY NINE

Maheen curled up in the small one seater in the balcony- basking in the cold breeze that harmoniously played with the leaves. She had started to feel much lighter after the walk with him from the Ahmed residence and the distance between them had somewhat diminished if not more. He smiled and smiled more often in the last four hours and so did she. Maybe this was what the love brought along- the cure and the serenity. The stars were hardly uncountable and she had already counted thirty eight of them repeatedly like a broken record. She was too jittery to fall asleep and too lost in doing anything else.

A sudden urge surged in her to pen down what she felt and this was one of those times where words flowed out without any hinderance. Maheen wrote best whenever she was happy and at peace or anguished and disturbed, it was the moments where the emotions had control on her and not the other way around because they were the only time she let them be in control. The last time she wrote was two nights before the nikah when she was at her lowest and contemplated the decision and to prevent herself from doing anything that she could have regretted later, she opted for an escape- her work in progress.

Maheen flinched when something hot touched her cheeks and looked up to find him with a glass mug, the man had changed into night clothes and his sleeves rolled up till his elbows. Pushing her aside a little, he took a seat on the hand rest. Suddenly engulfed by his scent, she attempted to move away from him- her eyes the size of the mug's rim only to be blocked by the wall on the other side. She could hear her heart leap in her chest since the emptiness didn't feel so heavy anymore. He didn't seem to notice her as his eyes were etched on a bird's nest.

"Breath, eshgham." Zaviyar placed a hand on her other shoulder, drawing her closer before he leaned in and said something in farsi. Maheen blinked once and twice, trying to catch on what he was meaning to say and failing profusely. Though the plush red on her cheeks wouldn't go unnoticed, not even in the night's darkness. She wouldn't lie but the sudden proximity was overwhelming and throwing her off but worthy if it was going to heal the both of them.

"I didn't realize I married a breathing Google translator." She uttered carelessly only to realize her words a little later and threw a hand over her mouth, her eyes still gazing at the milk mug in his hand.

He blinked because this was the woman he was used to before their world was shaken upside down, this was the woman who bore almost everything naked to him, this was the woman who joked around and this was the woman who constantly nagged at him for being mean and so he smiled- the corners of his mouth pulling up as his heart was starting to feel at rest and warmth flushing over his body. He wasn't sure how long it would last before he flipped and the other side of the monster came back, he wasn't sure how long it would take to tame it down, he would wait and he would have patience this time, "Oh please, that thing is the most crappiest piece of junk." He attempted at a joke with a horrified expression, hopeful to bring a smile like that of his own on her face.

"And you haven't realized so many things just yet." He hushed- his voice deep and dark, matching the color of his dress and the sky and in no minutes, he hurdled over to her- his eyes darkening as he inched closer to her with a smile so huge that it made her heart shudder. This was new. The closeness was new but the love she had for him was there since the very beginning.

But then, even in the midst of closeness, a rich fog clouded her mind; stripping the small smile that birthed slowly after letting him hover over her space. A sharp pang that stung right where it hurt the most. She had dreams of so many things but having pain or to fear of ending up like her mother was definitely not from them. She would give and she would trade anything to have her fate rewritten once again- to have it written with the man who married her when Rayyan's betrayal came to light.