Love for Rent

x House Arrest x

I woke up startled after losing control over my body. The last memory I had was hearing Shahzaib saying that he would drag me back to him. I was in his bed, alone, except I was wearing men's clothes. His clothes. I jumped out of bed, grabbed my bag resting on the chair in front of me, and ran out towards the door to get out of here before I ran into him again.

'I wouldn't go out if I were you?' I heard Shahzaib's deep voice coming from behind me. I turned around and saw him coming out of the living room to meet me at the door I was about to exit from.

'Why not?' I asked, taking in his appearance. He was dressed in dark brown loungewear and had slightly wet hair, looking polished and giving an impression of a model off duty.

'No, thank you? Shame.' He said sarcastically, with an undertone of edginess. He strolled towards the kitchen and popped a pod of dark roast coffee on his coffee machine.

'Your clothes are in the dryer' He added as I waited for him to answer.

'You changed my clothes?' I stared at him.

'Who else is here?' He replied flatly.

'Why?' I asked.

'Yours was covered in vomit' He finally broke his gaze from the coffee machine and looked at me to see how I would react. I wasn't mad. Maybe in other times, I would have, but I was bothered.

'Do you always change people's clothes who vomit on themselves?' I said before I could stop myself. Instead of answering my question, he marched towards me and stopped close enough that I could feel the warmth of his skin and smell him, like a fresh morning scent, crisp and clean. Maybe it was my hormones or something chemically wrong with me, but I felt like wrapping my arms around him and closing the gap between us, which was bothering me, but I didn't. This was dangerous. Being more attracted to your future ex-husband was not a good idea.

'What do you think?' He cleared his throat, but his voice still came out rasping, and my stomach flipped. Not just flipped but also growled. I closed my eyes in embarrassment.

'You didn't answer my question' His following comment is out from a much closer distance. I opened my eyes and saw him directly in front of me. His face was too close to the point that our noses were almost touching. I was about to step back, but he grabbed my waist and pulled me against him.

'I do, in fact, change everyone's clothes when they puke on themselves...you're the first on my list,' He said smoothly. I couldn't tell if it was intended to make me special or stupid.

'What are we doing?' I whispered because I was too weak to deny my feeling for him again and again. Pushing him away before was hard enough already. I couldn't keep doing it.

'You can't leave' His grasp around me grew tighter when I tried to leave.

'I am leaving,' I told him firmly.

'The weather would disagree' He shrugged his shoulders and released a hold on me, and returned to the kitchen to fetch a cup of coffee that was now ready. The weather? I looked around and noticed all the windows were covered by curtains. I pushed away from the curtain and saw the mess outside. There was a flood due to rain. I checked my phone and noticed all that was happening around the city. Power cuts, streets under water, and cellphone outages caused by heavy rain. We were in a house arrest.

I quickly called Ma to check on her.

'Hello Ma,' I said when she picked up my call, but my phone was snatched away from me by the obvious.

'You are with Jaan and Mona,' He mouthed and returned the phone to me.

'Hello, are you there?' I heard Ma's voice.

'Yes, I am...sorry bad connection, how are you? Do you have electricity over there?' I first asked her if the call drops due to a bad connection.

'Yes, for now, I saved some water in the buckets in the case, and there is enough food. Suraiya is actually here too. She was here when it started, then it got worse, so I asked her to stay...how are you with Jaan and Mona?' She checked.

'I am fine. I'll be there as soon it gets better,' I told her.

'They said it will take a few days, don't worry about it. Look after yourself. You looked very pale when you left this morning. How are you feeling?' She asked me.

'I am fine. Do you have all your medicines?' I inquired.

'Yes, I have enough. You always keep a stock of things in the house these days,' She told me. I smiled.

'I will call you later, keep everything charged if there is a power outage, and there are some candles in my room too in the dresser,' I mentioned to her before ending the call. When I shifted my attention, I found Shahzaib staring at me with a faint smile on his face.

'What?' I walked up to him and stood near a kitchen island where he was standing.

'It's nice to see you so human with others, so the toughness is just for me? Do I bother you that much?' He kept pushing.

'You do,' I admitted and took a sip of his coffee. It was disgusting.

'Since when do you take it all black?' I eyed him.

'Since you decided to leave me, I wanted to change my routine because of you.' He said without any hesitation, and I felt my nausea coming back. My stomach growled again.

'I'll make you something, sit,' He commanded.

'No, I'll make something.' I was about to reach for the fridge when he pulled me back.

'Let's skip your world-famous fried rice for today' He really blew low with this one.

'Wow,' I could only say, but it did make him smile. I saw him putting the rice, lentils, vegetables, and spices in an instant pot to make a hearty rice dish.

'How come you are fully stocked when you were about to leave for Islamabad today?' After a few moments of silence, I brought up the question as he cleaned around the kitchen countertop.

'I picked it on the way when we were coming here,' He explained. Smart.

'Thank you,' I said before he turned. Telling it to his back was easier. He just nodded, but no words followed. After a few minutes, the food was cooked, and he served it to me with a glass of orange juice. The more I thought to part with this man, the more I was brought closer to him.

'Where are you going?' I asked when I saw him leaving to go to the living room with his food. I thought we were going to eat together.

'Think again what we are, Seher, I am giving youan hour, and then you need to answer me' He delivered an order like it was the final word and disappeared in another room, leaving me with an empty stomach and disorientationin my heart. Except I was not taking his order so I went after him.

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