Missed Flights And First Times

Chapter 6

She stood in front of the mirror, brushing her hair straight. Izhaan sat on the edge of the bed, rocking his legs back and forth while he watched her and those straight, silky tresses falling down her back. Warisha's vision obstructed as she combed her bangs, and he took it as an immediate opportunity to sneak up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder that startled her.

Startled her but she did not jump, not in place nor away from him. She stood there like she had gotten used to him now. He smiled involuntarily.

"So..." He spoke, twisting a lock around his finger like he'd dreamed to do last night, and he wasn't holding back now. "We're calling this Make-Warisha-comfortable-with-Izhaan Mission right?" He asked, his voice a pinch huskier than it usual was.

She blinked, then met his eyes in the mirror after she'd moved aside her bangs. "I mean... Whatever you want to call it, I guess." She shrugged nonchalantly and grabbed her hair tie, sliding it on her wrist to tie her hair with.

Now his hand crept up, just barely brushing the skin of her neck and sending a shiver down both their spines, before his fingers slid into her hair, feeling the soft strands slipping from his fingers like sand and smoke. "Then the first thing you need to get used to is me playing with your hair because I plan to do it a lot," he whispered in her ear.

Warisha wondered where this Izhaan had come from. She was barely getting used to his usual self, and he's just pulled out another character on her. Her head lowered as her face flushed, looking away from his gaze in the mirror.

Izhaan swiftly, gently caught her chin between his fingers, tilting her head to where it had been before. Pulling her back flush against his front, he wrapped an arm around her waist and settled her head on his shoulder, peering down at her in the mirror.

Her entire being trembled in his arms as his breath fanned across her ear. "You'll have to get used to me staring at you too." His eyes roved over her face, taking in her hazel eyes that averted his dark ones shyly. His gaze dropped lower, traveling down her form encased in his arms. Oh, how he'd yearned to hug her and hold her like this, more so than ever when he'd seen her hugging her brothers right in front of him. Izhaan was almost scared he'd never get his fill of her, that all the time he spent with her wouldn't ever be enough for him.

With a kiss to the side of her forehead, he let her go reluctantly an stepped back, thrusting his hands into his pockets. As if in a trance, he watched her coil her hair into a bun with shaky fingers and tie the knot with her black hair tie. Though he'd just asked her to get used to his staring, she couldn't quite yet handle the intensity in his gaze. As if her doing mundane tasks were the world's most fascinating thing to watch for him.

"Staring at you has become my new hobby," he disclosed his thoughts shamelessly and came to her side, making her heart stutter in its tune once again. Izhaan simply grabbed the perfume bottle he'd left there earlier and sprayed it on, while Warisha was the one to watch him this time. He was so good looking, it was so hard to look away from him. Then she didn:t realize how it happened but she was suddenly overcome with this urge to hold his face in her hands and stare at him all day, committing him to memory.

Insane. She had gone insane due to the wreck her life had been since yesterday.

Izhaan looked at her after he'd brushed his hair and she'd hid her hair behind her blush pink hijab. He smiled, a little crooked, as he took her hand and her fingers easily curled back around his hand. The two of them took the elevator to the lobby, and while Izhaan asked Warisha to grab them a table at the breakfast point, he extended their stay at the hotel for two more nights, slightly bouncing on his feet as he did so.

She waited for him at the table and, together, they got their plates and headed for the complementary breakfast buffet. Then it was a quiet affair as Izhaan silently asked Warisha her preference through raised eyebrows and filled her plate with whatever she'd asked for, her hands not getting a chance to touch the serving spoon or the tongs even once...until they reached the fruits section.

"Which one?" He asked, nodding at the variety of cut fruits in front of them. She pointed at the sweet melon, holding her plate out for him to drop the melon into. He reached for the slice with the tongs in his hands, yet the stubborn melon seemed to keep slipping out of his reach every time. Annoyed, his eyebrow furrowed.

"What is wrong with this melon?!" He exclaimed, now seemingly at war with the little slice. Funny was that he wasn't even trying to reach for another slice and kept fighting against the same one. Warisha giggled at his futile attempts.

"Give it to me," she offered and took the tongs out of his hand, then easily grabbed that same slice and plopped it down in her plate, all the while Izhaan gaped at her.

"What the actual heck?" He asked, offended, talking to the melon instead of her, making her chuckle once again. "That is very unfair!"

She patted his shoulder sympathetically, petting his bruised ego as she moved along the aisle and left him to follow along. Serving the fruits had become Warisha's job as she filled both of their plates with their desired fruits, before heading to their table.

At the table, Izhaan poked his fork through a strawberry and brought it to her lips, holding it in front of her to eat. She paused, looking between him and the strawberry, then ate it off the fork. She watched him use the same fork to eat another slice for himself, and something about that was so intimate that Warisha felt warm all over.

"Mujhe nahi khe layengi?" He asked while he casually sipped from his glass of orange juice. Her head snapped up, round eyes meeting his mirthful ones.

*"Won't you feed me?"

"I..." Her words died in her throat and she tossed them away altogether, slowly reaching for a sausage on her plate with the fork. She held that fork to his mouth, burning red as he ate it, keeping his eyes locked with her the whole time. This man... she thought with a shake of her head.

"What do you want to do today?"

Warisha pondered over his question for two seconds before shrugging. "Whatever you want to."

Izhaan stared at her with a blank expression. "I asked because I wanted you to choose."

"Seriously, Izhaan, I have no idea."

"Shopping?" He blurted out the first thing in his mind, the only thing he could think of that Warisha would enjoy.

"No," she immediately refused. "I don't want to spend so much money." And not at all after the things he'd gotten her from the duty free shop, the ring he'd proposed to her with, and the money he'd spent on the hotel bookings.

Just because she'd said no, Izhaan was determined to do exactly that, especially because her reason barely made any sense to her. "We're going shopping then." He announced to her, focusing back on his breakfast again.

"Izhaan, no." She tried to firmly deny him. "And if you do take me, I won't buy anything." She threatened in a way that made him grin.

"Fine," he said, giving her a moment's worth of relief before he continued, "If you won't buy anything than I will. For you. You can wear your husband's choice but I can't guarantee that my fashion sense is all that great."

"Is that why you wear flannels all the time?" She let out suddenly, shocking both of them.

Izhaan blinked at her in surprise before bursting out into a full-blown grin. "I didn't know you noticed so much about me." He teased, though realistically even a blind person would notice his obsession with flannels since it was all he'd been wearing when with her.

"You wish." The words slipped out in the heat of the moment, taking Izhaan by surprise once again. Sarcastic Warisha. New personality unlocked. He inwardly did a little cheer for his triumph.

"So...shopping?" He spoke after a moment.

"Fine."

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