SEVENTEEN

❝Tumhara lehnga acha lag raha tha❞

Ifrah stared at the waterfall from where her head was placed on Aayan's chest, his slow and steady breaths making it move with each rise and fall. He hadn't moved from his position all night (well, he never does, to be honest), and his right arm which was supporting her head was keeping her locked to his side.

She wasn't going to lie and say that it was uncomfortable, because it really wasn't. In fact, she felt content. Ifrah could stay there in his arms for the whole day but...

Her mind was whirling.

Last night there were a lot of emotions for her to handle and she didn't prode him much about the cigarettes. He had said that he didn't smoke but was that really true?

What if he only said it to make her feel okay?

But his eyes... they told her that he was being genuine; eyes never lie.

Ifrah couldn't shrug off the uneasy feeling, she wanted to know the reason for that pack so bad. She inhaled a deep breath as her hand bunched up his shirt—

Wait a second.

Her hazel eyes went round and she picked up her head, careful not to wake him up, and blinked a few times to focus on what he was wearing and her mouth went ajar when she saw that he was only in his vest. Memories from last night appeared before her eyes and she realized that he was not wearing a shirt all along.

Oh God.

She put her head back on his chest, ever so slowly with a pained expression before closing her eyes and counting to ten.

Why was he such a gadha?

Aayan stirred lightly and her eyes flew open. Was he awake? When she didn't feel him move again, she pulled her head back once again to stare up at his face and her breath hitched.

Okay, so what if he was good looking? He was still a namoona.

Her heart made a protesting skip at the thought and she frowned.

Stupid organ.

His face was all scruffy now, but it didn't look bad. If anything; he looked handsome than before.

Oye chup kar pagal!

(Shut up, stupid!)

She thought annoyingly while her eyes focused on the hair on his forehead and she suddenly got this urge to move them away. Ifrah slowly moved her hand to do the deed but a surprised yelp escaped her lips when Aayan's hand shot up to grab hers and his eyes flew open.

A second passed before a lazy smile stretched across his face and he said; “Zamana he nahi raha achai ka, ab log sotay huay banday ka bhi faida uthaty hain.” (There is no good left in this world, now people even take advantage of sleeping persons.)

Ifrah's face flushed and she tried to free her hand from his grip so that she can get up, but her husband didn't let her, and placed her hand over his heart, still having a tight grip on it.

Butterflies were fluttering their wings in her stomach by now.

“Let go, I have to get up.” she tried to sound strict but failed. Her hazel eyes were focused on his caramel ones as they both gazed at each other in a trance.

“What's the hurry? You don't have any chores, do you?” he asked.

“No, but... ” she trailed off when his eyes darted to her mouth and her throat went dry.

What the eff were they doing?!

“Aayan,” she said before gulping.

“Yeah?” his focus was solely on her lips and everything else had melted away.

If he could just—

“You stink.”

His unmentionable thoughts came to an abrupt halt and he blinked before looking at her eyes again.

“What?” he asked in a confused tone. Ifrah bit her lip from smiling (she'd been successful in diverting his attention), and said;

“You smell, idiot. Let me go!”

Poor man was left blinking as his wife got out of his hold and stood up. Aayan caught the smile on her face just as she turned on her feet to go to the lake and he scowled before sitting up straight.

“That was a low move!” he yelled. Ifrah didn't look back and he kept glaring at her back.

He was so close to—

His eyes widened.

Oh fück. Was he actually going to...?

He hastily shook his head to get rid of the image that appeared in his mind and rubbed a hand over his face with a deep inhale.

Satak gya hun mein.

(I've gone crazy.)

Aayan patted his face a few times before standing up from his spot and making his way to the lake. Ifrah was returning when he reached there and he blocked her way. His wife gave him a straight face.

“Now what?” she asked. He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer.

“Why did you say that I stink?”

“I only stated the truth.”

He shook his head with mock disbelief. “Your condition is same but did I make a comment like that?”

Ifrah turned red.

She'd just said that to get away from him, he wasn't actually stinking. But he didn't know that, and he said that her condition was same.

So, that means she really smelled bad right now?

Aayan cocked a brow when he watched her face crunching up like she was about to cry and rolled his eyes before ruffling up his hair.

“You don't stink, okay? Don't start crying now.” he told her. Ifrah looked at him with teary eyes and his heart flipped.

“I know I do. I had some idea, I mean it's been a week since we got stuck here. But you just confirmed it.”

Ya Allah!

He cursed when the first tear slipped down her eye and he grabbed her hands to pull her closer. Aayan narrowed his eyes when she ducked her head and forced her face back to him with one hand before wiping her cheeks.

“Oye tum satki hui ho kya? Kal se bss roye ja rahi ho. It's not that of a big deal.” (Are you mental? You've been crying since yesterday.) he tried to console her.

Ifrah only cried harder.

“Tum jhoot bol rahy ho, it is a big deal. I wanna go home, Aayan!” (You're lying,) she wailed in the end and he immediately pulled her into a hug and she wept into his chest.

Maybe she was just done with it all, but it still hurt him to see her like that. Aayan knew that she was stronger than this, but the recent events had washed away her resolve and she was left feeling helpless.

He knew because his condition was quite similar. The only difference was that he had told himself to keep his head straight.

Aayan kept patting her head in a soft manner before an idea hit him and he moved his face to whisper in her right ear.

“Tumhara lehnga acha lag raha tha.” he murmured.

“W-what?” she sniffled.

“Wo jo nikah pe pehna tha... white wala.” (The one you wore on the nikah... the white one.)

Ifrah's brows crunched up and she pulled back to stare at his face. “You remember what color it was?” her voice was thick due to crying.

Aayan made a face. “What's that supposed to mean? Of course I remember. You were my bride, weren't you?”

Her cheeks reddened and she avoided his gaze before clearing her throat to answer. “Yeah.... I thought you didn't care that much. Your eyes were focused on Sarah all the time.”

Just saying her name left a bitter taste in the chestnut haired girl's mouth.

She didn't like that woman.

Meanwhile, Aayan was looking at her with his eyes wide. “What— no! How did you come up with that insane notion?”

Ifrah looked at him with a straight face. “I saw you, alright. You were constantly staring at her through the whole event.”

His jaw went slack as he tried to grasp whatever nonsense she was uttering and he remembered something all of a sudden.

Of course she'd think that!

Aayan gave out a sigh before squeezing her hands and looked her straight in the eyes.

“I was staring at you, idiot.” he told her, making her widen her eyes. “I just didn't want you to notice so I always diverted my gaze, and it happened to land on Sarah every single time. It wasn't intentional.”

He watched as her cheeks flamed red and chuckled, bringing her out of a daze. Ifrah couldn't help the shy smile from blooming on her face and ducked her head in embarrassment.

Aayan's heart was on fücking fire and he mentally kicked himself for not telling her this before.

If he'd known that she'd smile like that, he'd have told her this right after their nikah instead of avoiding each other like a plague.

“Uff, ye qatilana muskurahat!” (This killer smile!) he exclaimed while shaking her hands left and right. “Banda mar jaye ga aj.” (This man will die today.)

“Stop it!” she laughed out and he joined her before bringing her hands to his face. Ifrah's heart leapt to her throat when he kept his eyes focused on hers and kissed the knuckles on both hands one by one before moving them down.

“I'll freshen up now, and then we'll go look for a way out. Just promise me something.” he spoke softly.

“What?”

“That we won't argue anymore— I mean it this time. And solely focus on getting out of here because I can't handle your crying again.”

Ifrah frowned at his last sentence but when she saw the look in his eyes, she nodded her head. Aayan passed her one last smile before letting go of her hands and going to the lake.

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They were both trecking along the woods and Aayan was hanging the signs as usual; he had made some more. Ifrah was following him from not too far while making sure that her injured wrist didn't move much.

She was in a good mood after a long time.

Aayan's compliment about her lehnga had completely took her by surprise, but the confession that he was staring at her had made her mind go blank.

Though it was a good blank.

She smiled to herself while thinking about the scenario from not too while ago; how he held her hands and hugged her. And that kiss on the knuckles? She quickly shook her head.

Astagfirullah for the thoughts appearing in her mind right now.

Aayan's voice from front made her snap back to reality.

“Those who smile to themselves without any apparent reason are considered mental, you know!” he said out loud, making her glare at his back.

“I'm not smiling, bewakoof insaan!” she shot back.

The raven haired guy swirled on his feet and started walking backwards. He passed her a grin while she narrowed her eyes.

“Now, don't lie, babe. I know— ”

His words suddenly cut off when he let out a yell of shock as the ground beneath his feet disappeared and he fell down. Ifrah's eyes went wide as saucers and she ran over to the place he was standing at a few seconds ago.

“Aayan?!” she called out his name while stopping abruptly when she saw the giant hole. Her hands flew up to her mouth when she caught him lying on the ground, his face twisted in pain.

The hole was quite deep.

“Are you okay?” she asked frantically while hunching down to sit on her knees.

Aayan's body was hurting like hell. He had fell right on his back and there was an intense pain in the lower region of his backbone. For a moment, he couldn't make sense of what had happened but Ifrah's worried cries reached his ears and he looked up.

Oh shït.

Seems like he had fell into a big trouble this time, quite literally.

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N O T E

Author after giving you guys a heart attack:

Hope you're all doing great :)

Have a nice day ❤