Hoorain wore an orange suit palazzo after taking a bath and exited the closet. Her eyes fell on the glass of mango smoothie that Shahmir had brought for her. With a smile highlighting the dimples on her cheeks, she drank the smoothie and also took the pill placed beside it.
A knock was heard on the door and Ramsha, her sister-in-law, entered the room with a tray of food.
“Good morning, Bhabhi. Bhai told us that you are sick so here's your breakfast in bed. Reception is a week later so you have plenty of time to rest. And don't worry, you won't be forced to meet any relatives.”
“Thank you, Ramsha. The thought of facing so many relatives was making me nauseous.”
“I can understand. When I met my husband's army of relatives, I literally fainted in his arms.” She told her with a laugh, making Hoorain chuckle as well.
Ramsha put the tray on the coffee table and left with a smile.
Hoorain sighed in relief and first changed into her comfortable pajamas before eating breakfast. She was halfway done eating the toast when Shahmir entered the bedroom. His eyes fell on her who was about to eat her last toast but stopped midway when he entered the room. She resembled a deer caught in headlights, totally off-guard.
“Continue, please. I'm not going to snatch away your breakfast. I had mine already.” He said with a hint of mischief in his brown eyes.
Hoorain finally took a bite of the crunchy toast, but her mood was soured. He was behaving as if they were a normal newly married couple. But they weren't normal. Her past and his reaction to her past, both did a great job of ruining her most memorable days.
Shahmir entered the closet and returned after five minutes. He had changed into a normal t-shirt and sweatpants from the white kurta he was wearing earlier. She was expecting him to leave the room immediately or avoid her but he did the very opposite by sitting beside her on the couch. The surprise was clear on her face.
“Hoorain, we need to talk.” He sighed before uttering the sentence.
Hoorain stopped eating and turned to face him.
“What are we supposed to talk about? Things got disclosed, in an ugly way. And it ruined the foundation of our marriage.”
“Don't you have anything to explain? What's your side of the story?”
“Shahmir, I was young and naive. I made a mistake, realized it too late, and in the end, I chose my dignity over love. That's my side of the story. When he proposed to me, I didn't know he was married. When I finally found it, he easily manipulated me saying he'd divorce his wife. But a few months later I realized we had no future together. So I ended our relationship and invested my energy in my career instead.”
“No one in your family knows about it?”
“I was afraid of telling them that I'm with a married man. I had decided that I'll introduce Areeb to them after his divorce. But it never happened. So I never told them about him.”
“Would you have kept it from me forever?”
“Yes. Looking at your reaction to it, I think I would have been right to do so.” Guilt made his chest heavy and made him feel sorry for his actions.
“I am sorry. I should have taken it maturely.” He apologized. Because he realized that it was wrong of him to judge her for something that was in her past.
“Yeah, but what hurts more is the fact that you still chose to marry me because you wanted my father's company.” It made her feel as if she was a liability for him to get the company and she didn't matter to him at all. His decision to still marry her made her feel worthless.
