SEVEN

❝It's called water! Yay!❞

They have been trecking along the trees for quite some while now, and Ifrah was barely standing on her two feet. Her legs were hurting like someone had bashed them with a hammer but she couldn't even complain. Because her stupid husband was practically gliding across the path and she could only hope for him to take a break, otherwise she'd have to continue on with this death walk, for asking him to stop would give away her tiredness, and that would give him a chance to make fun of her.

Which she clearly didn't want.

Her face lit up when she caught Aayan stopping all of a sudden and she quickly walked forward to see what made him pause. Ifrah came to stand beside him and Aayan turned to face her.

“Do you smell it?” he asked.

The chestnut haired girl raised a brow. “What am I supposed to smell?”

“My socks.” Aayan deadpanned, making her give him a disgusted look before he rolled his eyes and said; “Just forget it. I shouldn't have expected much from you.”

Ifrah glared at him before crossing her arms over her chest. “Oh, don't act all smart now! Just because you have some experience with wild life doesn't mean that you're better than me.”

“I am.” he replied before stepping towards a tree and hanging the ring. He then started to walk to the right side instead of continuing straight and Ifrah groaned.

“I'm dying over here!” she muttered to herself before reluctantly following her husband and moved to the right.

What she saw next made her mouth drop open in awe and she asked;

“What is this?”

Aayan was admiring the view while internally patting himself on the back because his hunch was correct, but his wife's annoying voice ruined the moment and he swiveled on his feet to give her a poker face before throwing his arms wide and exclaiming sarcastically;

“It's called water! Yay!”

He was back to his straight expression when Ifrah snapped out of her amazement and glared at him.

“I know that, dumb-head! I was just surprised to find a stream so beautiful!”

“Lame excuse.” Aayan stated before turning around and walking over to the small river in the middle of the forest, leaving a fuming Ifrah behind. There was a small cliff over the river which made a miniature waterfall and Aayan let out a low whistle of approval when he saw the small clearing in a distance.

Well, looks like they found theirselves a camping spot.

The raven haired guy stepped forward and caught sight of the familiar tree and his whole face lit up before he swirled around and said out loud;

“Look what I found!”

Ifrah was still annoyed with his attitude but came to see what he had found, none the less. And she was surprised when she looked at the sixteen feet banana tree.

“This is what I was talking about when I asked you if you could smell something.” Aayan informed her while staring up at the bananas hanging in a bunch at the top. “Scent of fresh, natural bananas.”

The girl could only huff in irritation, because he was actually proving to be very useful in this forest.

How could she not detect the smell?!

Aayan was completely unaware of his wife's scowling expression and clapped his hands once before sighing.

“Now, the question is; how do we get them down?”

Ifrah matched his stance; hands on hips and pondered over it for a while. She was close to fainting with the way her stomach was growling and now when they had finally found something to eat, it was on top of a freaking tree. She rolled her eyes and glanced at her husband who was thinking hard and something clicked in her mind.

“Why don't you climb up there?”

Aayan's thoughts screeched to a halt and he turned his head in her direction ever so slowly before asking; “What?”

“Climb up there.” she shrugged.

“Tumhy kya mein bandar nazar aata hun?” (Do I look like a monkey to you?) he asked with a glare and Ifrah nodded, making him clench his jaw.

“Since birth.” she remarked casually, and Aayan scoffed at her.

“You're stupid beyond words,” he stated while pointing at the tree. “How am I supposed to climb a tree which has no branches?”

Ifrah matched his expression before saying; “Just as you smelled these bananas from miles away. I think you've proved that you're jangli enough by doing that, so why not make it official?”

He was an arm's length away from strangling her, but controlled himself and took a deep breath. Ifrah was enjoying his irritation to the fullest and chuckled. Aayan threw her a stern look for laughing but she just grinned in return.

“I knew you secretly loved Tarzan.”

That did it.

The guy's patience snapped at her remark because she was well aware of the fact that he despised the character she just mentioned. Aayan didn't like Tarzan because during the four years of his childhood, Ifrah had made him wear that stupid underwear without any other clothing and made him play with her. Her obsession with the stupid character started right after they watched the movie, and despite Aayan's protests, she was successful in making him her victim by crying in front of his mother which forced him to comply.

He could still remember his friends laughing at his horrendous costume (which was only a very fancy underwear) and he ground his teeth.

An idea struck him out of the blue and he internally rubbed his hands while thinking of the revenge. He knew she was waiting for an annoyed reaction from him, so he quickly masked his expression to one of an indifference before casually taking a step towards her, and a small smirk appeared on his lips when he caught her eyebrows creasing together in confusion.

Ifrah was on alert immediately when she saw him slowly taking steps in her direction and subtly moved back.

What the eff is he trying to do?!

She was so lost in her thoughts that a shocked yelp escaped her lips when Aayan's hand shot out towards her and in the next moment, she was flushed against his front with her hands landing on his chest in closed fists. Her eyes went wide when he moved his head closer and said lowly;

“Well, you did have a crush on him.”

Ifrah was lost in her caramel brown eyes which were so close that she forgot to breathe for a second and muttered whatever her ill-functioning brain came up with.

“I-I didn't... ”

Oh God!

She sounded so pathetic!

Meanwhile, Aayan was enjoying her flustered condition so much that he decided to turn the game up a bit and rested his forehead against hers and hummed softly.

“Hmm? I didn't quite catch that, mind repeating yourself?”

“I said... ” she was going to reply in the same hazy tone but snapped out of it and glared at him before pulling her face away from his and pushing on his chest, but he didn't budge. Instead, his other arm also came around to wrap around her waist and she turned red.

“Let go of me, you buffoon!” she exclaimed loudly while trying to escape out of his hold but in vain.

“What's the hurry? I'm enjoying this discussion and the proximity.” he teased while locking her hands which were slapping him on the chest in his grasp and the other stayed on her waist. Ifrah threw him a look which could be enough to dig his grave before saying;

“There is no discussion whatsoever! And let me go this instance!”

“What if I don't?”

This gadha!

“Then I'll slap you so hard that your next seven generations would feel the impact!”

Aayan burst out laughing at her statement while his wife turned beet red with embarrassment. She had just made a fool out of herself and wanted the ground to swallow her alive. When he was sobered up from it after some seconds, he smirked at her before moving closer to her ear and whispered; the action catching Ifrah completely off guard and her breath hitched as tingles shot up her arms.

“I just wanted to say that you are... ”

A beat of silence passed before his husky voice sounded again.

“A churail.”

He was standing a good three feet away from her in the next moment and it took her some seconds to blink out of the haze and make sense of his last words. And when they did, she gritted her teeth while clenching her fists at her sides. Aayan looked at her with a smug expression and passed her one of his usual winks before saying;

“Don't mess with me, babe. We both know who's going to end up in the humiliating spot.”

He swiveled on his feet and started walking towards the river before throwing off his shoulder; “Now, hurry up and start collecting some branches! We're going to make a house!”

Ifrah's heart constricted painfully at his nonchalant attitude. Here she was, with a wildly beating heart and face turned red with that small stunt of his while he was back to normal in a matter of seconds.

As if it were just a regular entertainment for him.

Which it actually was, Ifrah realized. How could he get bothered by something like that when it was a common thing for him to play with girls' emotions. Aayan Abdullah was a pro when it comes to the charm game and Ifrah Raheem had been once again, played with.

She didn't know tears have gathered in her eyes while remembering the night from all those years ago, and she quickly wiped them away with a scowl.

Get yourself together!

She chastised herself. She was not sixteen anymore, and she was not going to cry over some pathetic crush on this stupid man who was an insult to the other male population. Maintaining a distance from him was her top priority now, and she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he could mess with her head and emotions.

With that thought in mind, she turned around and marched into the forest to collect the branches.

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N O T E

Welp! Here goes that spicy moment;

(P.s Mr. Bean's expression totally explain you guys lol)

So, Ifrah had a crush on that stupid man? 🤔

Or koi nai mila isko? (¬_¬)