ishq lost & found

20; Surprise

Racing home, Saad decided to wash off the day's stress and sweat, hoping a brighter appearance would somehow subconsciously change his wife's opinion of him. Brushing through his wet hair, he threw on a white shirt and some grey sweats, his boring and simple, but favourite outfit when lounging about.

Putting on his glasses, regretting the decision to not dry his hair properly when droplets of water began ruining his field of vision, he threw them to the side as he began to prepare the dinner he had set on making for the two of them.

During that thoughtful drive home, he had realized that so far, he had not cooked for Ranya once. Ashamed at his lack of attention to detail and his evident carelessness for her, he understood where she might've been coming from the other night. But today he was set on changing her views on him, even if it made the slightest difference.

The first day back at work had treated Ranya well for the most part, she had somehow escaped all the difficult questions her coworkers had prepared for her under the guise of stressing over completing report cards with the deadline date looming over her head. With just a month left in the school year, it was a believable excuse.

One arm holding onto the numerous loads of work meant for marking, she left the other vacant to unlock the door, the sweet scent of roasted tomatoes and garlic greeting her. Brows furrowed, unable to recall when she would've had the time to cook this morning, she placed her students work down and made her way to the kitchen, a quiet but audible gasp leaving her lips at the sight.

There stood Saad, his back facing her as the sizzling of the pan filled the room. It wasn't the fact that he was cooking, that was the bare minimum, a skill she believed everyone should possess, men included. It was his appearance that left her speechless, her legs feeling like jelly as her adolescent crush seemed to be creeping back up.

Staring at this profile for a moment, her eyes noticing the muscles that dawned his build peeking through the tight shirt, she cleared her throat, breaking herself out of her trance. "What are you doing here?" she asked, taking off her jacket as she walked towards the island.

Saad looked over at her for a second, Ranya finally getting a good look at those familiar eyes he hid behind some lenses, "I decided to come home earlier." he replied, turning back to his work as he added in some other ingredients.

"Why?" she asked, confused as he was always so focused on his job, whatever it entailed. The morning after their wedding night his eyes were glued to his laptop, then his phone, even as they shopped. She found it unfathomable that Saad could suddenly abandon his work.

"I can't cook for my wife?" he asked, back still towards her, his acknowledgment of their relationship sparking a smile she bit back. This was weird.

"Can you cook at all?" Ranya teased, confused with the atmosphere of the conversation, the butterflies she felt in the pit of her stomach, and the tension in the air. She walked over to him, standing by as she watched him stir what looked like a stew.

Saad let out a short laugh, taking Ranya by complete surprise. First he leaves work to cook for them, now he laughs? She was definitely lost, but this was a nice change compared to the past few days.

"You can be the judge of that when it's ready. Why don't you go freshen up?" Saad offered instead, surprised his estimate wasn't correct as he was sure she would have arrived closer to when he had already prepared their dinner.

Relenting, although somewhat hesitant and worried that his mood would change, Ranya agreed, tired from her long day. She had forgotten how tiring it was, especially since most of her students were 8, having energy almost all day. Taking a quick shower herself, hoping the bags under her eyes would evaporate with the help of hot water, she quickly made her way back down to the kitchen after finishing up.