CHAPTER 37
AHAD POV:
Waking up, I looked around to find myself drenched in sweat like someone had thrown a bucket of icy cold water on me. I felt myself out of breath, finding myself in a foreign room.
I tried to think, taking deep breaths and calming myself down, and I again looked around to find myself in my hotel room… Hotel room!?
I thought to myself and felt chills run down my body. All that I saw was a dream… Nah… not a dream… a nightmare… horrible nightmare.
I got up from my bed and found that I had a lot of missed calls from Hayat. Glancing at the clock, I found it was 5:30 a.m., and I had almost missed my Salah; it had to be 2:30 in Pakistan.
I took my phone and called Hayat to look at her… to see her all okay… to see her smile.
Picking up the call, I saw her driving the car, somewhere, or maybe she was going home, or for a long drive now, "Where are you going, Jaan?" I asked as I studied her face… memorizing it in my heart.
"Bubba, I'm going home now. I had a lot of fun with everyone. They were going for cars drifting and freestyle, so I decided to leave," said Hayat as she stopped her car at the traffic signal.
"Okay, for now, focus on driving the car while I go pray, don't cut the call, hmm," I stood up and moved towards the washroom.
"Ahad, I didn't cut the call that time, too. My phone battery died, so I had to come to the car to charge it." She turned the car to her right side, with one hand holding the steering wheel.
My heart can't take so much attraction... shrugging my thoughts off, "Oh, so that's why you decided to leave early, hmm?" I questioned in a teasing tone, catching her off guard, and lying to me.
"I won't lie, yeah, kind of. I left because the call was cut, but I also wanted to leave, okay," she said, not looking at me. I laughed the matter off as my phone was in the room, on the study table, from where she could easily see my whole room.
After praying, I made dua and got up, looking at my wife, who was now running inside the house, turning the lights on as she made her way to the kitchen, put some things inside the fridge, took out the bottle of water, and then ran towards the room again.
"Bubba, I'm going to change; you need to do something?" She asked as she set her phone on the side table.
"Yeah, I have a meeting at 7:30, so I'm going to look at the project material," nodding, she went away, as I started to think about the dream… Nah… nightmare… I prayed to Allah to keep this nightmare away from my beautiful reality. I thanked Allah for everything that he has given me.
Opening my laptop, I started to work on my project file. Looking at the flights which were available for Pakistan today... I booked the flight for the evening, distributed my work, and attended the meetings that were important today. I'll leave for Karachi, while my assistant will take care of other matters here before coming back to Karachi.
I looked at my wife as she came out of the washroom, wearing her plaid printed white night suit. She came towards the camera with her moisturizer and serums, plopping on the bed with them. She set her phone a little up and started using her skin care products.
"So, you know I got this last week when I went to shop with Ammi and Chachi, it's a couple set," she said, whispering the last part.
"So, where's mine? You didn't show me what you brought this time, like before." I wanted to see if she got the PJs for me, too.
"Wait, I'll come with the bags to show you," she got up, ditching her skin care in the middle.
"You haven't unpacked them?" I questioned a little louder so she'd be able to hear me inside the closet.
"Nope, I didn't, I wanted to show you before setting them up," She came with a lot of bags in her hand, some were dropped on the ground as she kicked them towards the bed with her left foot.
"Aren't you a little crazy, my dear?" I teased her a little, she continued to kick the shopping bag towards the bed as she sassily replied, "Still, I'm the only one you will ever get, so shut up."
She gave me a tour of her purchases, a lot of which were clothes for her, me, Ashar, and our parents. One of her dresses caught my eye. It was a saree, a black saree.
"Can you wear it for me and show me how it looks on you?" I asked as she gave me her beautiful, hazel, innocent eyes. She thought for some time.
"Come home, back you us, and… uh, me, and I'll show you how it looks on me then."
Her eyes showed such emotions that I wouldn't have known if not for her looking at me like that; her eyes were filled with desperation to have me there with her… Her eyes showed the love that she doesn't say out loud, but her actions speak it… Her eyes showed a longing to see me near her.
I wanted to tell her about my return to Pakistan at night, but no, I can't say it right now, not wanting to spoil the surprise, and such beautiful moments, I told her to sleep. Getting inside the cover, setting her phone with a pillow on her back, she looked at me. No words were said; the comfortable silence was all we both felt.
"Don't look at me like that, Bubba," she said, hiding her face with a pillow. I smiled, wanting to caress her cheeks and hold her near me.
"Why not? I'm looking at my legally wedded wife, whom I belong to, only," I stared at her face. My hands were itching to pull her towards me to tell her how much I love her.
"Do your work, Ahad, I'm sleeping now," I replied with a hmm, and did my work while glancing at her from time to time I whispered, "Wait for me, my dear" as she fell asleep.
"Please deliver this on 19 June by evening. Make sure not to get it damaged, please." I said as the dealer looked at me while shaking my hand.
"No problem, sir, it'll be done as per your request." The meetings were hectic. I walked inside my room, took a shower, and wore a black shalwar kameez that I packed accidentally, like it was destined to happen. I wore it with a watch in hand, setting my hair up… I suddenly remembered the memory…
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"Ahad Ammi is calling you downstairs," I heard Hayat say as she came inside the room and stood with her hands on her back.
"I'm coming in five minutes, jaan," I said as I tried to dry my hair with the towel that was in my hand.
"What are you doing, Bubba?" Hayat asked, looking at me with stern eyes.
"Drying my hair?" I said more like questioned her.
"I mean, why with your face towel, instead of the ones that are in the washroom cabinet for your hair drying?" I looked at the towel and realized that was why my towel felt so short and thin.
Suddenly, the towel was taken from me as Hayat forced me onto the bed, just to stand in front of me. She started to dry my hair with the towel, and then used a hair dryer on it.
I looked at her the entire time; it looked like her hands did something to my head, and I started to feel relaxed and sleepy.
"I'm sleepy," I grumbled, looking at her as she looked down at me, muffling her laugh. She shook her head and replied, "You can't sleep right now; you need to go with Ammi to pick Khala up from the airport." (Khala: maternal aunt)
I held her waist and tried hiding my face in her stomach as she laughed, "It tickles Ahad. Let me style your hair so you can leave." nodding my head, I still held her to myself. She styled my hair, pecking my head, she continued, "Come back soon with everyone safely."
I stood up, holding her hand in mine and taking her downstairs with me… the memory made me suddenly miss her more than I did. Is this how marriage works? Is this how falling in love feels? Is this how you remember memories of your lover when you do something?
I sat on my seat while waiting for the plane to take off, as it was 7:25 in the evening here, I could roughly guess it would be 4:25 pm, so she might have come back from the university by now, and she'd be worried when I won't attend her calls for hours, the flight from China to Pakistan takes more like 6 hours and if I roughly guess the time then I would be at my house with Hayat in my arms by 2 am… My home… in my arms.