Chapter 58

Saad's pov:

"Your tea." A soft and sweet voice brought me out of my 'all over the place' thoughts.

"Jazak Allahu Khairan." I mumbled as I opened my eyes and sat up straight before picking the mug from the tray.

"Wa Antum Fa Jazak Allahu Khairan." She replied while taking a seat beside me. I could smell the strong aroma of coffee wafting from her mug.

"You are having coffee. This late?" I asked her incredulously while raising a brow.

"Yeah, why?" She furrowed her brows at me in confusion.

"You are crazy." I shook my head while muttering, a smile escaping my lips.

"Really?" She said, keeping her mug on the tray kept in front of us, on the bed.

"Yeah!" I replied, knowing full well that she might start arguing again. I rubbed two fingers on my forehead, feeling the headache growing.

"But I don't think so." She retorted before looking at me, concern swirling in her chocolate orbs. "Do you have a headache?" Her question caught me off guard.

I stared at her for a while before nodding my head and taking a sip of the tea. "Yeah, I guess."

"What is there to guess in this?" Rolling her eyes, she questioned before getting up and heading towards the dressing table.

I chuckled before taking another sip and turning my attention back at my laptop. The presentation was left open on the screen but my mind wasn't working. I stared at it blankly for a while before rubbing my hand on my face and sighing tiredly. This was getting harder than I thought. Why couldn't these thoughts leave me alone for a while?

"Uh... Mai aapka sar daba du?" Now this question really did caught me off guard and brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up at her in disbelief to see if she was kidding but she wasn't. She was staring down, a bottle of oil in her hands as she played with its cap. Nervousness was visible in her actions, which made my lips tug up in a small smile.

(Should I massage your head?)

"I guess..." I muttered, still unsure about it.

She shook her head while glancing at me. A look of disbelief crossing her features as she gestured for me to sit down. "Isme bhi I guess?! Niche baith jaiye." She murmured before sitting on the couch and waiting for me to sit down on the floor.

(Seriously I guess?! Sit down.)

Smiling slightly, I slammed my laptop shut, regretting it as soon as I did that. Glancing at her, I saw her looking at me in astonishment. "Sorry." I mumbled sheepishly before keeping the laptop between us and sitting down in front of her legs.

Leaning my head back on her knees and closing my eyes, I tried to relax myself but it seemed impossible. The fact that she was literally sitting behind me, going to massage my head was too much to digest. I could feel her delicate fingers working on my head, going through my hair, which kind of relaxed me a bit.

"I kind of heard a bit of your conversation with your parents. I wasn't eavesdropping, just passing by and heard it." I heard her say, making me tense again. What did she hear? How much did she hear?

"What did you hear?" I questioned, my voice coming off rough, which was definitely not my plan.

"Just their banter part. It reminded me of ammi and abbu. Even they used to argue like that at times." She replied, before adding quickly. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing other than that?" I asked her, this time controlling my tongue and tone, just to make sure. So she was the one whose glimpse I caught when I was talking to mama? It seemed like that.

"No." She replied cautiously as she stopped to pour some oil in her hands.

"Hmm..." Humming in reply, I let myself relax once again. "I was thinking about them. You know, how they might react to all this and stuff." I heard myself murmur as she started working on my head once again. This was weird. I was starting to surprise myself too.

"You didn't tell them yet? Why?" Unlike what I expected, her voice was soft when she asked me. As if this was a delicate case and if handled roughly, it might break. Maybe it actually was a delicate case.

"No. And I was thinking how I would break this news to them." I replied, suddenly feeling sleepy. I could also feel the headache reducing.

"Hmm. Why didn't you call them for the nikkah?" I could hear the curiosity in her whisper. Could she get any cuter? Wait what?

"If I would have called them then there would have been a nice show, a very dramatic one at that." I mumbled back with a chuckle.

"So they wouldn't have approved of this marriage?" Worry seeped in her voice as she asked me further, making me kind of regret my decision of telling her. Now even she would start worrying about this.

"They will. But what is a desi life and family without drama?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood. She chuckled at that, making my mission accomplished. "Anyways, tell me who taught you how to massage this good?" I asked her, opening my eyes while taking her hands and bringing them to my lips, pecking them. I could feel her stiffen at my action, which in turn made me realise what I just did. I froze, waiting for her reaction. Woah, sleepiness actually did mess up my mind too much! What was I even doing?!

I waited for her to withdraw her hands from me, pull her hands away, tell me off or something but when she didn't do any of it, I relaxed a bit before daring to glance in her way. She was looking down in her lap, her face was pink and her eyes squeezed shut. Amused, I kept staring at her, squeezing her hands lightly, waiting for her to open her eyes.

When she finally did open them, she caught my gaze before looking away quickly, her face turning more bright if that was even possible. She pulled her hands, trying to free them from my grasp and I, sadly, had to let go before she could start one of her arguments again.

"Ammi? I mean, I- I used to do it for abbu all the time since ammi taught me. But it has been a while since I last did it." She stuttered, looking down again as she turned my face away from her and started massaging again. I wanted to chuckle at her actions but I held myself back.

"Huh?" But I was lost, what was she talking about, again?

Maybe she heard my confusion because I heard her next moment. "You asked me who taught me how to massage..."

"Oh yeah." I remembered. "So the real owner of those kisses is ammi." I stated, teasingly.

"Shut up and go to sleep." She mumbled as she tried to get up, but failed miserably as I was sitting in front of her legs, blocking her way.

"Geez. I can't even express myself." I mumbled, getting up. The smile never left my lips.

Glaring at me for a while, she stood up. "You can but not now. It's late already, so go and sleep."

"Okay, okay, I'm going. No need to threaten me." I replied as I finished the remaining tea before keeping it on the tray.

"When did I threaten you?" She inquired while making her way towards the dressing table.

"Okay, you didn't. I surrender." I muttered before picking up the laptop and keeping it on the table, deciding to sleep on the couch once again.

I was picking up a pillow from the bed when she returned to stand at her old place before giving me a sharp look. "What are you doing?"

"Going to sleep, obviously." I replied while shaking my head at her silly question.

"Then sleep on the bed." She ordered me before plopping down on the couch and grabbing the tray from the bed. Taking her mug, she sipped her coffee while looking at me, waiting for me to obey her order.

Not wanting to argue when I was already feeling this sleepy and relaxed, I gave up. "Okay!" I surrendered, raising my hands and keeping the pillow back. She chuckled, making me smile. "But please don't do anything crazy like that day." I pleaded before laying down and covering myself with the comforter.

"That was a one time thing!" She replied, frustrated. "But okay, don't worry, it won't happen again." I heard her mumble.

"Good night, Allah hafiz." I mumbled, unable to keep my eyes open as I started drifting off to my dreamland.

"Good night, Allah hafiz." It was the last thing which I heard before reciting my duas and surrendering myself to the abyss of slumber.

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▪ Which is your favorite scene from this book until now?

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