Till Death Do Us Part | ON-HOLD

Chapter 54 : Sharaab

here's another 28k+ words of my great writing, you're welcome - please i have no idea what i'm doing with this kind of word count lmao 😭😭 anyway, it's a great way to start off my birthday month & i hope you enjoy the chapter <3

also, this chapter is supposed to have a flashback scene (as every alternative chap in Act3 does) but it's already too long so i didn't include it. I'll find another way to incorporate it into the story xx

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【 54.

Fifty-four

Sharaab 】

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[ Sharaab • wine ]

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      ROSE TENTATIVELY STEPS out of the attached washroom, her eyes sweeping over the spacious guest bedroom she spent last night in.

One hand holds the toothbrush she just used—it was easy to find; there was a set of them, brand-new and packeted, inside a ceramic cup mounted above the rectangular sink—and her other hand self-consciously reaches for the collar of the pyjama top. Rose curls her fist around it, bunching the material together and pulling it closer around her neck, desperate to cover up the love bites Zach so generously left on her skin.

Those completely slipped her mind, of course—until she was freshening up in the bathroom and her eyes landed on her reflection. Thank heavens. It'd have been absolutely mortifying to greet the rest of the household with the evidence of what Zach and her were up to last night being put on naked display.

What is she supposed to do now? Go down and greet Mehreen in her pyjamas? Rose has very rarely lingered around her own parents and housekeeper in night clothes, always having preferred to go down and grace everyone with her presence after she's all cleaned up and dressed.

And now she's stuck like this in a house she's not familiar with, along with people she doesn't know all that well.

It's a little embarrassing, and Lord knows Rose isn't about to go down there and ask for a change of clothes while fumbling around with her top to keep those hickeys hidden.

The reminder of last night's activities make her lips twitch, and she walks over to the bedside table where her phone is, wanting to drop a Good Morning text to Zach.

Instead, she finds a handwritten post-it tucked under her phone, reminding her instantly of the time she woke up in the VIP quarters of his company and found a note left for her. It warms the inside of her chest.

She picks up the note and unfolds it;

Morning, my Rashk-e-Qamar,

A large smile splits across her face, so big and wide that her cheeks hurt. Her chest is positively glowing with warmth at this point.

I just finished my morning jog. And seeing how heavily asleep you are, I doubt you'll be up before I leave for work. I hate that you'll wake up to an empty spot beside you on the bed after sharing one for the first time, but duty calls.

Rose sighs softly, that tight grip on her pyjama's collar loosening.

You'll find spare toothbrushes in the washroom. I'll ask Mother to lend you her clothes and leave it for you in the room itself. I figured you'd be more comfortable that way?