FROM NEVER TO HAPPILY EVER!

8.

Hooriya.

"Asad, beta you need rest. You cant work right now. Let Saif handle the business for now, if things go south I am always there. Now be a good boy and hand over the laptop to Hooriya. She will make sure you don't get it until you are fine again. I should see you resting the next time I come to meet you. " Abbaji speaks sternly, in a no nonsense tone. I am glad there is someone who can command my beast of a husband. Like, who works just five days after getting into a fatal accident.

Apparently, Asad Raheem Khan can do that without a hitch. I shake my head, stepping ahead to take the laptop after Abbaji goes out, albeit he isn't going to hand it over easily.

Of course, he wouldn't be Asad if he ever made things easy for me. He harshly glares at me, as if I am about to take his heart out of his chest. He pulls his laptop on his chest enclosing it in his arms, as much as he can fold the right arm.

" What are you doing? You will injure the arm more. Don't fold it." I say concerned. Is he a kid? Why can't he be responsible for once?

"Stay away from my laptop", he mutters under his breath. What the hell? This bloody laptop.

"No, give it to me. I follow only Abbaji's orders" I say firmly now getting annoyed at the amount of possessiveness he is portraying for that thing.

"No way. " That's it. I grip his neck, taking him by surprise as I place my lips on his earlobe. He is shocked to say the least if the hitch of his breath is anything to go by. I bite his lobe, soothing the burn with my tongue. I kiss him below his ear and he groans, his composure slipping. I can feel his hands leave the laptop and come to my waist to position me. His fingers rub the skin under my kurti on my waist at a tortorously slow pace, as I place kisses on his neck. Before his fingers wander unchartered territory, I get up quickly with the laptop in hand and run out with a triumphant smile.

"Shit. She plays dirty." I hear his voice before leaving. Once I reach a safer place, I can feel my heart hammering against my chest. What did I just do? Oh no. When on earth did I become that bold? I am never going before him again. Damn, he makes me lose control. I quickly hide the laptop somewhere and go to my safe haven, the kitchen.

Once the food is prepared, I take it into his room pretending like nothing happened. When I come, his left hand is across his forehead. He is bored out of his mind in this house arrest as he liked to put it. I place the plate beside his with a slight bang so we wakes up but he won't budge. I frown, he would usually wakes up after I place the food and stuffs whatever he could with his left hand since his right is injured.

Did he get a fever again? Because he got it the day before yesterday. I slowly remove his left hand placing it on his stomach, I check his forehead for fever, his temperature seems slightly higher. Oh God! That means his leg must be paining. Damn it. I need to feed him and give him an antipyretic.

"Asad ji. Uthiye. Aapka khana." I shake him slightly but he doesn't open his eyes. Ya  Allah. I shake him a little more. He groans slightly, blinking his eyes. He looks up at me and his jaw clenches, he looks away.

"Asad ji. Khana khalijiye. Aap ko bukhaar hai" I say softly. He shakes his head, annoyance clear on his face.

"Just leave me alone, will you? I don't need your food, just let me be." his voice sounds painful, of course his leg is paining. That's why he got the fever, but he wouldn't admit it before me.

"Stop being childish. Eat your food fast, I need to give you antipyretics."

"I am not your servant to follow your orders. And I don't for a second there trust you with my medicines, who knows if you will give me poison instead. You know, to kill me like your people killed my brother." He snarls at me. I look up in his eyes, to see if he is joking. But no, this man has vowed to break me into innumerable pieces. I swallow hard, trying to hold my tears from flowing.

I get up hurriedly, unable to take anymore shit from him. I run out of the room fast like the crybaby I am. I walk towards the garden, hoping I don't meet anyone in the path.

He is still not over it, is he? Can I blame him? He lost his brother. But I didn't kill him, nor was part of the plan. Then why can't he see that I am not his culprit. Just because I am from Sarjung, he is going to treat me like trash?

I can't take it anymore. I feel like I am trapped, under his hateful glances and disgusting sneers. The way he steers clear of anything that has to do with me. I have tried every bit of my patience left in me, I am exhausted now. How long will this go on? How long will this tattered relationship exist? This has to end, someday.

"What is it that can leave the only daughter in law of the Khan haveli in tears?" Saif.

I wipe my tears hastily, turning to smile at him.
"Salam Saif. How are you?"
He just nods settling down beside me on the grass looking up the sky.
"Life is weird right, how to the world you look like a regal princess that cannot be harmed and how in reality I am just another broken soul, trying to fix what remains of my destiny" I say in deep thoughts.

"It's the perception. If you perceive yourself as the regal princess, you will be one. What are humans but broken pieces of dreams, expectations and plans. But the twist in the tale is they can be joined back to perfection, with deep rooted love. " He muses, as if he is a philosopher from another century.

I snort at his words, "Deep rooted love? Here I am not even asking anything more than respect. Care. As a partner"

"He does more than care for you Mrs.Khan. If he didn't, he wouldn't be standing near his window with a broken leg might I add, watching over you for the past half hour. If this is not love, what is?"

And it becomes difficult to breathe, difficult for the blood to continue flowing in my veins, difficult to process my surroundings and sure as hell difficult to not turn around.

I want to turn around, so badly. And be my own witness to the words Saif uttered. But I don't. Because reality can be a horrendous bitch. The kind that you cannot tolerate.

So I sit back, just relishing in my world where I imagine him staring at me from afar. Oh, dear life.