The Stake.

30

"Ibaad, did you supervise the arrangements yourself?" Rehaan had asked him for the millionth time and Ibaad had never seen his boss so nervous about anything in his life. Nervousness wasn't made for Rehaan Kazmi. He had never been uncertain, unsure or anxious his whole life.

"Yes sir. I have. You don't have to worry about anything." He tried assuring him.

"Right." He cleared his throat and then opened the small velvet box for which he had been making everyone's life hell for since last two weeks. There laid a huge round cut diamond ring he'd got made for his wife after a massive purchase from a Bulgarian diamond dealer. His own company could get any diamond he wanted but for Shahwar he wanted what his shops didn't have for others to buy.

He loved her. He loved her beyond his own existence. He loved her ever since she'd walked into his life and made cheesecakes for him. Rehaan had realized how much he loved her and that was when he'd woken up at the guest house right after the first night they'd spent there and his eyes opened to the empty bed on her side. It had made him run through the entire house at five in the morning till he saw her in the kitchen. He knew then, it was her whom he belonged to. His heart, his body and soul.

So, he wanted to make it grand for her to remember when he'd tell her. He hadn't given her anything at their wedding. There was nothing that was specifically done for her to please her and to fulfill her wishes. He wanted to do something only for her. His wife deserved everything that he could do for her and more.

When she'd kissed him earlier that morning he thought she hadn't seen anyone in that area of the house other than the two of them. He knew how shy his wife was to intimacy. She wouldn't even show her feelings openly when they were inside their bedroom, he thought if she would see others witnessing her kissing him she'd start feeling worse. Rehaan had never tried to push her sensitivity towards her expression of physical affection and desires. If she was comfortable with how they were, then he was too. Though he at times wanted to kiss her not caring about anything or anyone around them but then was there anything more important than his wife to him? No.

The only thing he liked hearing was her voice and his favorite was when she'd say that she loved him. He was almost home now and when he went inside Isabel told him that Shahwar had come from work in the middle of the day and hadn't come out of the bedroom ever since.

Rehaan walked up and saw Shahwar sitting in front of the tv screen that had some news channel on. His wife never liked watching tv or news and this was something unlike her. "Shahwar?" He went towards her.

She didn't notice his voice or him, her mind had delved into another direction. "Shahwar, jaan, is everything alright?" This wasn't like her. She turned her face and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" He could sense something was bothering her more than necessary.

"Nothing." She touched his face and breathed in trying to feel like her normal self.

"What's wrong sweetheart? What's the matter?" His brows knotted together at her distraught expression.

"Nothing." She repeated and then put her hands around his waist resting her head on his chest with her eyes closed.

"Are you sure? Did someone at work say something to you?" He kissed her head and gently ran his hand through her hair.

"I was just missing you." She lied. But she knew her thoughts were just an illusion. She had to suppress them.

"You should've just called me my jaan." He started showering light kisses all over her face bending a little. 

"I didn't want to disturb you." Rehaan felt alarmed for a moment at that, he had made sure she'd never felt hesitant to make a call when it came to him then why did she not call him.

"Shahwar. Look at me." She looked up at his face from his chest, "You can't do that again. Please. It does not matter what, why, where, when. You are the most important person in my life. The most. There's nothing about you that can disturb me. It's simply the work disturbing me by not letting me talk to my wife at the office." She finally smiled at little at his words.

"I love you Rehaan. A lot." Her voice slithered down at the end. Even if he didn't say it, he did love her, he had to, right?

"Then you'll call me. At once, next time." She nodded and gave him a small tired smile that she could manage. "I'll ask them to send the dinner here." He got up and left to tell Isabel about their dinner being served to their bedroom.

At night Shahwar woke up feeling like she had an upset stomach and wanted to throw up, Rehaan wasn't in the room when she had made her run to the bathroom and had vomited out everything she'd eaten. Not finding Rehaan inside the room at that time of the night she went out and checked all the rooms first at her own floor then the second floor. She came down to the ground floor and heard his voice from the library. Shahwar went towards the library where the door was halfway open, "I don't want to compromise, because it's about love Beena."

Shahwar thought she misheard her husband and stopped before the door as Rehaan continued to talk, "I want to do everything I can Beena, I'm just glad I realized my mistakes sooner." Shahwar's heart sank deep deep down and she walked away from there running back to the bedroom.

Her husband was talking to Beena over the phone at this time of the night. She started to feel pain all over her body and tried to breathe. Why was she never enough for him? Why could he not see her pain? How could he do that to her? What mistakes was he talking about? Was she a mistake for him? What were the compromises? Her?

💔
It's a lot of pain and hurt coming up.