Hoorain was dressed in a beautiful peach pink lehenga glittering with gold and sky blue embroidery. The light shade of blue was standing out on the faint pink fabric. She was sitting in Shahmir's bedroom with a red veil covering her face. It seemed odd to see a bride wearing pink with a red veil, but Hoorain could care less about her attire when her husband was holding grudge against her for keeping her past from him.
The door opened and Shahmir entered the room with a permanent expression of indifference on his face. He wore a white Sherwani with floral patterns all over the fabric.
Hoorain pulled up her veil when he entered the room. She stood up from the bed and managed to walk his way while struggling with the heavy skirt.
“Shahmir-” Before she could began he cut her off by raising his palm as a warning for her to stop.
“I think you have forgotten what I told you that day.”
She kept quiet and stared at his frowning face. Immediately his words from that day played in her mind.
“You had affair with a married man, Hoorain. Do you know how I feel to be engaged to a homewrecker? Just remember that our marriage will never be normal. Now it's just a business merger for me, nothing more than that.”
He had run a background check on her with the help of a renowned detective. And unfortunately, that detective dug out something that she had kept to herself for last five years. Something that she never dared to tell anyone. That five years ago, she had affair with a married man with two kids.
Shahmir walked away from her and entered the closet. Hoorain wiped away her fresh tears and followed him inside. He was unbuttoning his uncomfortable Sherwani when she stood behind him. He could see her reflection in the mirror and for the first time he absorbed her look. The red veil seemed off with the peach lehenga. But the pink blush on her face was something ethereal. However, he couldn't be sure if it was makeup or she had done that to herself from crying.
“When he had proposed me I didn't know he was married.” She finally tried to put forth her side of the story.
Something changed in his eyes, it softened a bit. The hard expression grew soft even if only a little but it relieved her.
“When did you find out about his marriage?” He asked while removing the Sherwani and putting it away. He began removing the white kurta he had to wear underneath the Sherwani unwillingly and stood bare chest in front of the mirror.
“After six months of relationship.”
“And what did you do after you got to know about his marriage?” He got rid of the kurta and threw it away. The glare he passed her was enough to understand that he knew her answer. She didn't dare reply and felt ashamed on her past actions.
Shahmir finally turned around to look at her teary face,“You have no answer, Hoorain. Hmm?”
“I... I was naive, Shahmir.” She sobbed helplessly.
He held her arms gently and looked into her eyes,“Hoorain, I will let it go if you answer my one question,” She kept staring at him in curiousity and he continued,l“Were you planning to tell me about it ever?”
Again, she had no answer to his question. He let go of her arms and walked away.
Tears fell from her eyes uncontrollably. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and threw away the red veil. She sighed helplessly before she began removing her heavy jewellery. Her ears were hurting because she wasn't used to wearing earrings. The passa adorned on the side of her forehead was stubbornly stuck to her hair. In her frustration she angrily pulled the passa and hurt her head in the process. She threw the passa on the floor and moved to remove hair pins from her bun. But there were many of them securing the bun. She was requesting the hair stylist to not use so many pins. She knew she will face difficulty in removing them later. However, the stylist dismissed her request by saying that her husband would be more than willing to help her with the bun. But here she was, crying in helplessness and trying hard to control her frustration over the heavy jewellery and bridal attire. Undoing her bun all by herself was pretty difficult so she began removing her bangles. But the emotional burden was tiring her. She felt so tired and weak that her head began spinning. She took the support of mirror and sat down on the marble floor. Hoorain sighed before closing her eyes and lying on the floor lifelessly. It was uncomfortable. But she got a moment of peace. That's all she desired to have at that time.
✨✨✨
It was past midnight when Shahmir blinked open his eyes. Hoorain was out of sight. He got up from the bed and went to the closet where he found Hoorain lying on the floor.
He sighed regretfully and bend down to look at her. He put his palm on her forehead. She was burning with fever. She was still wearing the bridal attire and her makeup was smudged from crying. He caressed her forehead before beginning to undo her bun. He did it very gently to not disturb her sleep. When her hair came undone, he proceeded to unzip her blouse. His ears turned red when he realised she wasn't wearing a regular bra, but lingerie. He remove the blouse and put it away. His eyes trailed over her chest. Her head was resting on his lap as his fingers trailed down her neck and reached the valley between her breasts. He sighed inwardly before retreating his hand and began untying the knot of her skirt. She was wearing a thong. The red fabric of her bra and panty was made of sheer fabric. It did nothing to hide her assets. As if they were worn only to tease him. He let her body rest on the floor and brought wet towel to wipe her makeup. When her face was void of any makeup, he put the towel away and picked her up in his arms. His one hand was around her arms and another around her thighs. As he put her down on the bed, the sight was inviting him to indulge in pleasure. But earlier he had himself made it clear that it was pure business for him from now on. He rubbed his forehead to suppress the approaching headache and moved to sleep on the other side of the bed. After long moments of restless thoughts, sleep embraced his eyes.
✨✨✨
Hoorain woke up around seven in the morning as a part of her routine. She yawned and looked around the room to realise that she wasn't at her home anymore. Her sleepiness flew out of window and she quickly moved into a sitting position only to realise that she was wearing her clothes. She was in a red lingerie set that her cousins made her wear when Hooriya was laughing in a corner.
But then she gasped,“Who undressed me?”
Her eyes again wandered around the room but Shahmir was nowhere to be seen. But surprisingly a glass of mango smoothie and a pill was placed on bedside table. That mango smoothie was the enough clue for her to guess that Shahmir had helped her out of her clothes.
Her lips curved into a smile and left the bed. She entered the closet only to realise that her suitcase was not present in there. Her bridal attire and jewellery were recklessly thrown here and there since last night. She decided to put them somewhere securely. It was a task in itself to hang the heavily embroidered skirt in a hanger but she did it after lots of efforts and then put the blouse and dupatta beside it in the cupboard. She put her jewellery in a random drawer and was about to take one of Shahmir's t-shirts when he entered the closet with her luggage.
Her eyes widened in surprise but he behaved normal as if her half-naked body didn't bother him. Oh, of course, he had seen her half-naked last night.
“Your luggage.” He put her suitcase at a side and was about to leave when she stopped him,“Shahmir.”
He looked back. He didn't seem angry anymore. Or maybe the anger was still there but he was tired of being angry at her.
“Thanks for the smoothie.” She wanted to say more. She wanted to ask if he was still angry at her. She wanted to snap at him for judging her for her past mistakes. She wanted to be strong, but she was emotional. More than she wanted to admit.
But the way she kept staring at him was enough to make him understand what she wanted to say.
He looked around and then glanced back at her, not quite sure if he should say what he was about to say but said it nonetheless,“I am sorry, Hoorain. I overreacted.”
Tears brimmed her eyes again but she nodded in understanding. Only if he had said that last night. At least, she could start her married life without any emotional burden.
•••
Thoughts 💭
I am thinking how to deal with silent readers. Stop reading if you can't appreciate someone's efforts. I'm on my periods and homesick as hell and I literally want to murder you for making it worse for me.
