I sat poking at my plate of cake with my fork, taking tiny sips of my coffee trying to seem interested in the conversation taking place. It was late, people were leaving. There was just one other table next to ours occupied, two men murmured while cigarette smoke clouded the table. The one facing me was a thin lanky boy wearing specs, his face was in the dark, I couldn't place his age but he seemed to be in his teens. The one with his back turned towards me was broad, almost muscular, his huge head had a closely cropped haircut, and he sat slouched laughing a thick throaty chuckle. A moment later, I heard the broad one calling the waiter for a check, I knew that voice. As they both turned around to leave. My heart skipped a beat as I took a fleeting look at the broad tall one, I couldn't look away...his hair was much shorter than I remembered and he'd grown an untidy stubble...but there was no mistaking who it was. The dark eyes shining with mirth behind thick bushy brows, the wide forehead; perfect olive skin and dimpled cheeks; my heart thumped. I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to squeal? Yell? Jump? The joy I felt was hard to express by any feat that came to my mind, I awkwardly got up and ran towards the exit, with my voice stuck behind a lump in my throat. He was almost near the exit when I screamed his name, my voice breaking off in the middle...

"You are not--and never will be--my wife." Salim Meer. He smokes, he drinks, he parties, and he couldn't care less about his religion. He struggles to keep his painful past that way--in the past--and often turns to violence and danger to keep his mind from revisiting it. Sabah Ibrahim. She's never smoked or had alcohol, never been to a party, and is extremely devout and conservative. She volunteers at the community center, helps out at her local mosque, and reads in her free time. They never thought polar opposites like them could meet. Or worse... When Salim comes home one day to find a random girl in his living room, he has no idea what to do except what he does best. Get angry and throw a fit. Especially when he finds out that this stranger is his so-called "wife." Unable to get rid of her, Salim must learn to cope with this annoying, childish, and sickeningly innocent girl he is suddenly responsible for. She irritates him to no end, pushes his buttons, and forces him to acknowledge his past. Yet, no matter how hard he tries to ignore her, he simply can't. Slowly, Sabah begins to make a place for herself in his well-guarded heart. Around her, his vicious, fiercely protective side begins to surface, eventually leading to something that threatens to steal from him the one thing he thought he resented but now realizes he can't live without. His Sabah.

He was famous for something no one should ever be famous for. He protects the people in his country, therefore they protect him. Guards, security, personal assistants, paparazzi at his heels 24/7. He had everything he could ever want---fame, fortune, and above all, women, all of them falling to his feet, all of them wishing they could be with him--if only just for one night. He never needed just one, never needed to "settle down." He didn't want to. Until her. She was a sweet, innocent, unsuspecting girl, destined to be tied to his name, his wealth, his fame, his fortune. Without realizing when or how, she quickly rises from her middle-class title to become the wife of the most well-known, most handsome, and most eligible bachelor in the country. And yet, she could not be more unhappy, even when the world loves her and all the women desire to be her. How could she, when the only man that should love her, doesn't?

After battling with a life threatening disease, Stephanie finally got the all clear on her health. She was free to live her life. She is starting a new school at the start of the year, planning to just finish high school with no problems. But then a certain asshole and his friends come barging into her life and she is thrown into a world of chaos. *Added to @humour's 'Young.Dumb.Full Of Fun!' reading list 8/8/2018* * Reached #1 on Humor's official hot list 1/1/2020*