A Piece Of His Heart

Seventeen

Eliza

My eyes flew open when I felt cold air on my face and I jerked with a gasp, my gaze clashing with Waleed who seemed to be holding in a laugh.

"Did you just blow on my face?" I spoke groggily and rubbed my hand down my face, too tired to even be angry at him.

"It's time to wake up, sleepy head." I flopped down on the bed, looking far too chirpy to be his usual self. I was the cheery one and he was the broody one. What alternate universe had I woken up in?

"Who are you, and what have you done to Waleed?" I narrowed my eyes at him and raised my hand to his forehead. Completely okay. What had possessed him?

His nose crinkled. "Tum kisi haal mein khush hosakti ho?"

*"Can you ever be happy?"

"Well, actually, it's very easy to make me happy. For starters, you can let me sleep." I tried to pull the comforter and lay back but he was quick to pull it toward him, tugging it inch by inch toward him until I barely had a centimeter of the blanket in my hands. He grinned when I scowled and whined, 'yaar' under my breath.

"Kya chahiye aapko mujhse?" To play along with his plan would be the only way to live through the day, I suppose.

*"What do you want from me?"

"First of all, thank you for the respect." Then he leaned in, his eyes twinkling. "Aur mein soch raha tha ke apni begum ko shopping pe le jaoon."

*"And I was thinking to take my wife for shopping."

I couldn't help but blush at his use of begum and ducked my head to hide it. "Now... I can't say no to shopping when you're asking so sweetly, can I?" I wiggled my brows and threw the blanket back which he'd already pulled off me anyway and rushed to the bathroom to freshen up and then change so we could go out.

I found Waleed leaning against the table behind the door, playing with the keys. He held out his arm when I reached, his eyes running over me appreciatively and I closed my eyes when he kissed the top of my head before leading us out of the cottage, locking the door behind us.

"So, what made you think that it was a good idea to let me empty your credit card today?" After spending six days in Naran, we'd gotten a hang of the ways and chose to walk to the market and enjoy the beauty around us.

"You underestimate my credit card, sweetheart. You could buy out the whole market and it still wouldn't run out."

"Alhamdulillah," I added, squinting my eyes.

He grinned. "Yes, Alhamdulillah. And it's our second last day here so I thought I'd be kind." I hummed, stopping in front of a small shop with sunglasses on the counter. "Oh, and I might have come across a waterfall, too." I stopped moving, the sunglasses hanging in mid-air as I looked at him in shock.

"You what?!"

He just chuckled and took the sunglasses from my hand and put them on my face. "A waterfall."

"Then what the hell are we doing in a damn market when we could be by a waterfall?"

He laughed louder, throwing his arm around my shoulders and leading us away from the shop after paying for the sunglasses I now wore. "Hold your horses, Eliza. We can shop first and drop the bags at the cottage before heading to the waterfall, alright?"