HIS INNOCENT BRIDE

TWENTY-THREE

“He cooks!”

“It’s so cute.”

“It’s hot.”

“He indeed is a multi-tasker.”

I regretted the moment when I opened my mouth and detailed every feature of him, I came across with two nights before. They came last night after their small trip to the farmhouse. They showed me the pictures while I showed them how my tongue worked.

“He is so arrogant. He just wanted to prove that he could win every challenge.” I made a sour face as I told them that I won the challenge by not giving him anything and they still were swooning over the part that he cooked for me.

“But still…” Areej rolled her eyes. “He cooked. That’s what I need. If he had ever cooked for me, I would have married him the very next second.” She added the last part with enthusiasm.

You wouldn’t if you ever come across that dark side of him.

I just thought about that as he was scary and they all knew about that. But they were scared of his rage and anger and I feared more about the darkness that his eyes consumed. As if the forest was drowned in the darkness of the night without any light of the moon and the dawn was nowhere to see. It was stuck in that darkness and I was scared that he would consume me in that darkness too. But you know the frightening part, it was that I wanted to see what was in that deadly silence of the forest.

It's not that I would cure him. I wasn’t a doctor nor a therapist. People can’t cure people. Doctor just prescribes medicine but we have to take them on our own. Therapy can’t be helpful unless you force yourself to admit that you need therapy and act upon the ways to cure it.

“I would ask Muzamil Bhai to cook for you so that you can marry him.” I cohered mischievously.

“Yeah, you both are annoying.” Suzi gave me her support as we both hid our smiles when Areej’s face turned the light shade of crimson. She felt cute at that time as she was dumbfounded for a moment.

“He is more annoying than me.” Areej rolled her eyes as she put one of the fries in her mouth. It was evening as the sun had almost given the chance to the moon to lighten the earth while we were sitting around the kitchen table eating fries with mayo and ketchup. I loved everything that I could eat with ketchup so basically everything that people say isn’t good for health.

“Yeah, you know better. You both went to the same college.” Suzi intervened as she was acting like a newscaster.

“I didn’t even look at him in college. He was four years senior than me and he was the playboy in college.” Areej gave the explanation as I hummed at the new information.

We seated like that as we had nothing else to do. It also made my mind to roan around other things but not him. That night when he wiped my chin with the tissue, I knew it wasn’t a good feeling to be dependent on someone like that but he made me feel like a baby who didn’t have any tension of the world and I could just swim in the lullaby of his groans and touch but it soon evaporated when wiping my chin his dark side came again. He remembered something as I could tick on Jameel because he was cold and distant again as he just ordered me to come towards the car. The rest of the ride back home was silent and uncomfortable with his dark aura invading the leather scent inside the car.

He dropped me off at the mansion and stormed his car away leaving me alone in the mansion without anyone to talk to. This could be his punishment to make me stay away from his family. But I was glad I didn’t have to see him after that as I couldn’t focus on anything else when he was near at the distance of even hundred meters.