Bahadur (Watties 2022)

Chapter 42

Vladimir left the room quickly, as if he regretted his actions.

Ya Allah I'm so confused what is going on with him, more importantly what's going on with me!

Why am I wanting to be intimate with him. He did so much to me yet here I am wanting to be close.

Stockholm syndrome, I'm going to call it that, there's nothing else I can say.

Fixing my scarf once more I headed towards the living room calmly, pretend like nothing happened Inaya, nothing at all. You kissed, you didn't have sex, you didn't do anything else.

I entered the main room to see Vladimir taking a seat and placing Khawlah on his lap. Vadim sat opposite and his  uncle sat at the head of the table.

Just as I took a seat beside Vladimir a few women placed dishes on the table. The smell off herbs and spices instantly invaded my nostrils.

Wow.

Before I could dig in a thought hit me.

"Is there any meat in the dishes?" I questioned nervously, I don't want to come across rude but at the same time I'm not willing to eat haram meat. (Forbidden)

Forbidden meat tastes different and I can't explain how, it makes me sick to my stomach and usually ill.

Vadim cursed under his breath
"Shit I'm so sorry I forgot to tell the chef"

"Darling I am so sorry I'll have him make something for you right away" his uncle said motioning for the woman to come back.

"No sir it's ok, If you can have them show me the kitchen I can quickly make something" I quickly said, Vadim and his dad are too nice but I don't want anyone to do extra work for me.

"Maria have the chef make a vegan dish" Vladimir ordered placing his hand on my thigh, my body slightly froze.

Ya Allah, grabbing his hand I tried to pry it of but he just squeezed it tighter ignoring my struggle.

"So Inaya tell us about yourself" his uncle asked cutting through the pastry.

"I used to live in the UK with my aunt, I studied law in university and came back to help my dad take care of his land"

Everyone seemed a little surprised by my answer, what I don't look like I know law?

Not going to lie my brain is a little fuzzy and I can't even tell you which university I graduated from but I know I did. It just seems so far away for me, almost like a past life.

Vadim placed his knife and fork down as he leant forward intrigued.
"Why didn't you become a lawyer?"

"Dad needed me, my dreams could wait" I mumbled glancing at my fingers, Vladimir's hand began gently rubbing my thigh in almost pity.

Inciting unwanted feelings in my body, no ya Allah. Quickly grabbing his hand I threw it off and glanced back at his uncle. Before he could ask another question the same woman came back with a steaming plate of soup.

Thanking her quietly I dug in. I hate having attention on me.

This is so good, the herbs and spices are perfectly distributed. I absolutely love how the consistency of it. Reminds me of lassi ni curry (yoghurt curry)

After we finished dinner Vladimir stood up and exited the room with Khawlah, I quickly followed behind.

His uncle and Vadim are really nice but I'm still not comfortable being alone with them.

Vladimir grabbed a large puffer coat from the closet and began wrapping Khawlah in it.

"Why does she need a coat?" I asked standing beside him.