FORTY-TWO

It was also night when we started our journey back towards home. After picking up all the flowers and seeds I wanted we sat and had lunch during which he spent most of his time on phone much to my relief because I got to have a prolonged conversation with Saad. It turned out he was in high school and his school fees was paid by him who was busy in his phone with a frown which was a unique feature to the normal people but for him it was constant part of his life. Despite the time when he saw me the way that could make me feel my stomach fluttering in response.

“What do you want?” The ride back was home was silent until he asked me the question.

“What?” I looked at him with dumbfounded expressions as his eyes were set on the road with shades on them. It was injustice to the beautiful green eyes which had all the emotions hidden under that stone one.

“To eat.” He looked down at me as he tilted his head towards the road to let me know we were on a food street which was guarded by food stalls, KFC, and multiple restaurants.

“Oh!” I looked at the road as it was my first time on any food street so I couldn’t acknowledge that.

“Get down and we’ll see.” Before I could say anything, he parked the car and got down to open the car door for me. I was getting down when he grabbed my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine as if they were meant to fit together.

My heart skipped a beat as he closed the door behind me and started taking slow steps in order to catch mine as his one long stride would be enough to make me run in order to walk beside him but I thought he already knew that.

Maybe he wanted to walk beside me.

Maybe he wanted to be with me.

I fluttered my eyelashes several times with little shaking of head as absurd thoughts were coming into my mind which didn’t make any sense.

Don’t think of him as your husband. An inner voice spoke for my emotional safety as I marked check on that. I should obey to that voice.

The street was filled with crowd of people as I was shocked that he brought me in a place like this. He was more like a five-star type of guy but if he could cook in a desi Dhaba then he could enjoy life in the food street too. But the thing that he couldn’t bare was also invasion of privacy the foot street also lacked that. Beggars were roaming around; people were walking touching you and bumping into you.

“That looks fine.” As I suspected he chose the more prestigious restaurant on the food street as we entered inside and as soon as the door closed, we were met with the serene environment of a restaurant without any noise of the street.

A waitress approached us with dark lipstick and bright smile and the way she was wearing tight clothes didn’t irk my nerves but the fact that she completely ignored my presence and went directly to him surely did. What was she luring customers so that they could come again and again?

She guided us towards the table for two as she gestured him towards the chair but he moved towards me and took my coat before dragging the chair for me. I suppressed my smile as I saw the smile on the waitress dimming up but still present there which screamed professionalism.

“Thank you.” I mumbled as I looked above at him who was placing my coat on his chair’s headrest and sat before smirkingly saying. “Always at your service ma’am.” He smirked and I blessed him with a smile which I regrated because the intensity in his eyes made its place which could make my palm sweaty.

“Not always.” I mumbled in a complaining manner.

“When did you ask for a service? Ask for it and I’ll never let you down.” He said as he passed me the menu card which I didn’t touch.

“I did. I asked you to not marry Areej.” I knew she depressed about forcefully getting married to him as she hadn’t come to mansion for even once after that but I called her on the phone and she pretended to look fine as she said she was born to make sacrifices for the business of her father. I knew it was sarcasm as she was hurt inside and this stone hearted man wasn’t even getting what she was going through.

“I acknowledged that. But with a condition.” He rested his back against the head rest of the chair as if he was enjoying the conversation with a slight smirk on his face.

I tried to go deep into the conversation and suddenly I remembered his conditions which were to stay close to him which included the shifting in his room. If he wanted, he could have forcefully made me share room with him but he wasn’t doing that. It was either he was playing with me or he actually wanted me to decide whether I wanted to share room with him according to my own will.

“Slave doesn’t share rooms with master.” I mumbled as I looked down while playing with the corner of the menu card. I didn’t expect a response from him but he did.

“Masters also don’t marry their slaves.” My movements stopped as I looked above at him to come in direct contact with his forest green eyes. The shades weren’t the barrier anymore.

“But slaves are forced to marry.” I cohered back as the small smile appearing on his face disappeared as before I could notice any emotion on his face his masked his face with those stern expressions.

In that instant the same waitress came and guided the waiter to put the starters in a way. The waiter went after completing his chore followed by her as she deliberately caressed her hand with his bicep making my whole mood sour even more. He didn’t pay attention to it I guess as he was looking everywhere but me.

“You must be used to it.” I tried to change the subject as he already knew I was talking about that waitress.

“Slaves doesn’t get jealous.” He glanced at me with a small smirk on his face but there was still no emotion in his eyes.

“I am not.” I straightened up as I wanted to look confident while saying that. “You can do whatever you want with other women. I won’t say anything. It doesn’t affect me at all.”

“Because?” He said with his scrutinized gaze on me.

“Because I am just your slave.” I wanted to shake him and make him realize he was the one who said those words to me and now he couldn’t just back off and start everything all over.

“Just a slave.” He repeated my words more to himself as he shook his head. The air around us at that time was far more different than the one when we entered the restaurant. The environment wasn’t serene anymore.

“Order butterfly.” He rasped directly looking into my eyes before glancing at his phone. I looked at the menu card as nothing made sense. I never ordered food and I didn’t know what to eat because the dishes name was totally different. The only thing I knew were loaded fries because I used to make them at my aunt house because of Beela. She really liked fast food.

“I don’t know. I’ll eat anything. You can do it.” I said as I glided the menu card towards him. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow as he paused before saying.

“Just order your favorite.” He said with a narrowed gaze.

“I don’t know any of the dishes.” It was basically normal dishes but the restaurant gave it their own name to make it look fancier. Heat erupted on my neck and reached the cheeks because of the embarrassment but I decided to be honest before I could order something which could be barely edible for me.

“You haven’t come here before?” He asked as I couldn’t look into his eyes but I could feel his jaw muscle tensed.

“No, I never ate outside.” My first time eating outside was when he cooked pasta for me in the kitchen of a Dhaba.

“Really?” The muscle in his jaw popped up as he clenched it.

“One thing…” He leaned in as if he was trying to control his anger but I could see how he gritted his teeth before growling in a low whisper. “…I hate is lie.”

He said and with that he exited the restaurant leaving me there dumbfounded. The waitress looked at me and then at him who stormed out before she tried to suppress her smile.

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