Saqoon-e-Qalb

Marwa retreated instinctively, her breath catching in her chest. She stumbled back one more step, her back coming up against the cold rough paint of the stairwell wall.

There was nowhere left to go. He leaned in, placing a hand on the wall right beside her head, caging her in as his gaze dropped to her lips. The scent of his cologne, clean and masculine, mingled with the dusty air of the stairwell, flooding her senses.

His body was a warm, solid line of heat just inches from hers, and she could feel the sheer power in his stillness. Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat in the sudden, thick silence.

I opened my mouth to speak, to ask what he was doing, but the words never came. He leaned in the final inch and pressed his lips against hers.

Oh, I see.

It wasn't a deep, passionate kiss. It wasn't a request. It was a small, firm peck. A punctuation mark that shut me up quick.

The faint rasp of his stubble against her soft lip, the warm pressure, the absolute finality of it-it was a command to be silent. It shut her up more effectively than any words could have. He pulled back just as quickly, his hazel eyes unreadable, holding her gaze for a single, electrified second.

"You don't need to worry about the money," he murmured. Then, without a word, he straightened up, turned, and bent down.

✶

Tropes:

Opposites Attract ✶ Rich girl x Middle Class boy ✶ Slow Burn ✶ Star Crossed Lovers ✶ Forced Marriage ✶ She fell first, he fell harder ✶ Grumpy x Sunshine ✶ Brother's Best Friend ✶