“Come on, let’s go.” Saad held out both his hands in front of her. She was sitting on the floor cross-legged with half-eaten plate of macaroni in front of her. It was her second serving.
“Where?” She asked, as she put her hands in his and let him pull her to her feet. He grabbed a stray strand of hair, rolled it between his two fingers and then put it behind her ear, letting his palm rest on her cheek. She nuzzled into it and sighed.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “Somewhere, wherever you want?”
“But I don’t want to go anywhere. I’m perfectly happy where I am right now.” She entwined her fingers behind his neck and he automatically entwined his behind her waist.
“And where that might be?”
“With you, in your home, with nothing or no one around to get on our nerves. This is my safe place.”
He kissed her forehead, leaving his lips there for a few moments and sighed. “Why do have to test my patience?” His voice was quiet, but she heard it loud and clear. It set her blood aflame and warmed her skin, the heat of which didn’t go unfelt by the man who had his cheek pressed against her forehead and eyes closed.
She felt his lips turn up in a smile.
She cleared her throat and leaned away from him.
“No, no, we better leave, love. Let’s go shopping.”
She whined. “But there will be too many people there!”
He nodded. “Let’s skip that trip for now then. I’m not gonna let you hide for long, I hope you know that.”
“How can I not?” She raised her brows and smiled.
“A day in a salon sounds good, right?” he suggested.
“Way to make a girl feel beautiful. You need to go to a salon.” She clicked her tongue. “No, thank you.”
He kissed her cheek and then a little closer to her lips. Her breath hitched. “You know you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, don’t you?”
“I don’t know. Do I know that?” she closed her eyes as he let his lips touched her earlobe in the lightest of kisses.
“If you don’t, you better believe it right now. Because there’s no woman in the world I would rather let my eyes stay on.” He kissed her below the ear, just where her jaw met her neck. “There’s no other woman who I would like here in my arms.” He glided his lips down her neck, making her go crazy with the heat of his breath. “There’s no woman who can make my heartbeat go this wild.” He kissed her collarbone and then straightened. He looked right into her eyes when he said, “There’s no woman in the world who can make a man love her more than you make me love you.”
Before he could lean down to kiss her, she stood on her tiptoes, pulled his neck down and joined their lips. She put all the love she felt for this man into that kiss as she moved her lips against his. There was no sense of time in that moment. No fear, no grief, no anger. Just pure happiness, bliss, gratefulness and love.
He held her tight against him as he pulled away and rested his forehead on hers. She removed one hand from his neck and put it on his cheek, her thumb rubbing his beard back and forth.
“I love you,” she breathed out. His breath left him in a rush and sagged against her, as if his legs had stopped supporting his weight. “You deserve so much more than a just simple declaration of these three words. You deserve sonnets written in your name for how sincere and pure your love is for me. You deserve your name written in the stars, so that everyone knows and learns what the true meaning of love is. You deserve the world, Saad.” She pulled back to look at his face. Her heart swelled seeing the tears disappearing into his beard and the happiest smile she had ever seen on his face.
YOU ARE READING
Life Sentence
Short StoryKubra Shahbaaz, an arts student, was convicted of murder of Wali Bajwa when she was twenty-one and was sentenced to a life imprisonment. She pleaded innocence until the last second, but the man she loved was the one who'd fought to put her behind ba...
