"—And Hadeed beta? Are you taking proper care of my precious Hoor?" I sneaked a sideways glance at him whose whole attention was concentrated on Papa.

"I am trying my best Uncle—but I think Hoor is the one who can judge best." He returned politely with a small smile. My brows shot up at his amazing acting skills and I couldn't help but mentally laud him while sitting there on the stage.

"Very well said, son! You have never fell short of my expectations but always exceeded them. I knew, I was right about you—!" Papa exclaimed energetically and I turned away with an exhausted sigh and roll of eyes.

'I am the only idiot, then—who can see the real intentions behind those fake smiles—' I thought with a deepening frown while turning my gaze to the Hall in front of me and returning Raabi and Saani's teasing smirks with a shake of head.

"Well? What do you think?" I heard his voice besides me a while after Dad had left the stage. For a moment, I sat still in my place; caught off guard by that remark and even more so, the source behind it.

"About?" I slightly turned to him with a stunned expression and even without giving him a proper glance, I looked away immediately.

"Am I taking proper care of you?" His words were more than enough to shake the earth beneath my feet and I even turned to him with widening eyes, wondering if there was something wrong with my hearing, or did he really ask me what I think he did.

"Well, I do agree it is pretty soon to judge since it's barely been a day—" He continued, unfazed by my shocked expression but by now he had managed to capture my full attention.

"Excuse me? Are you for real? You are actually asking me this? Did you hit your head somewhere—?" I questioned dumbfounded at which he watched me blankly, but before I could get my answer, some friend of his had come up to congratulate us with his wife and kids.

"Why? What's wrong with my question?" He added innocently while we posed for the photographs with them. I gulped down my thoughts and tried to focus my energy on keeping up that smile for the camera.

"You—Have you lost your mind? Did you somehow forget the fact that I hate you?!" I whispered through clenched teeth and looked away from him to smile and greet some people coming up from his side of the family.

"You're still hung up on that? Hoor—look, let's try to be mature for a second. I know I have said and done some things in the past that went against this whole relationship but—that was the past. And there's no point to linger on it anymore—We can't continue fighting for the rest of our lives—" He continued softly and I pretended to listen until the guests left to cut him off.

"Excuse me—rest of OUR lives?! Whatever made you think that I am going to spend the rest of my life with a liar and cheat like you—!" I turned to exclaim through clenched teeth while keeping my tone and expressions in check, since we were under constant scrutiny at the moment. Yet, I felt myself freezing at the sudden coldness of his eyes.

"You have every right to mistrust me and my intentions but this is the last time that I listen to you calling me names which you've no proof of—" Even after trying very hard, I couldn't stop myself to not feel any fear by the threat in his voice—I gulped unintentionally, unable to release the breath that I was holding in. He looked away from me that moment but my eyes remained fixated on the muscles in his neck clenching and unclenching with restrained anger.

"—Whether you care to believe it or not but I didn't wish for things to happen this way, either—And if this is how you wish to proceed then go ahead, by all means—I was only going to try so much—" He ended sharply before getting up and stepping down from the stage. Leaving me to stare after him in merry conversation with his work friends.

——————————

"Who—Hoor—? Our Hoor—?" I stopped in my tracks with my hand hovering on the door knob at Salman bhai's voice. The Mehndi event was still going on in the hall but I had come to get some stuff from the dressing room that we had left behind for Mehndi Rasam. I didn't want to eavesdrop, but hearing my own name made me halt in my steps.

"Yeah—Your wife's sister. I don't see anything particularly noteworthy about her that could tempt me into taking such a drastic measure as marriage—" My face flushed on the other person's comments and I had to gulp down the building humiliation.

"Are you nuts, Hadeed? What does Hoor lack—" My lips quivered at Salman bhai's comments and I stepped away clenching my teeth, not willing to spend a second, bothering about a cold jerk's unimportant words.

"I don't know about that—What I do know is that her most remarkable asset is her father's big bucks—" Unable to hear his hurtful remarks for another second, I ran away clutching the sides of my dress in bundles.

While staring outside the car window, I thought about my first memory of him. It happened before Papa and Mama officially introduced us at the Baraat, 2 days later. But by then I had already developed deep rooted hatred for him.

'After all that prejudice, he dare asks me how could I judge him without proof? He is a most incorrigible jerk, I've had the misfortune to come across. From the very beginning—the very first moment, I have found him to be full of arrogance. His conceit might stem from his elite background or good looks—Maybe, even his high quality education and work. And I have no doubts that he must've put in great efforts to get this far, too. However, he isn't the first man and neither will be the last man to do so.'

It's true that I might not have been good enough for him—but if I fell so short of his expectations then he should've had just stayed away without getting tempted by my father's money.

I didn't know anything anymore. After all that I said about not marrying him even if he were the last man on planet—I ended up falling right into his arms when things turned bleak. I didn't want to think that I really might've to spend the rest of my life indebted to HIM out of all the people in this world. It wouldn't have hurt my pride so much if it were anyone else. Anyone but him—!

Besides me, he was quietly driving the car and giving me the silent treatment. I could sense the angry vibes emanating from him.

'I could have had easily forgiven his pride, if he hadn't mortified mine—'

'I am not going to make it easy on you, Hadeed. You might've got an early lead on me but I am not going to back out so easily. Just you wait. I'll show you that I don't need your pity. I might've ended up in this relationship to save Papa's honour but that doesn't mean that I have forgotten what your real intentions are.'

"You can use this room." He remarked blankly after leaving me outside one of the rooms of his house and went into the room next door.

I watched the closed door for a moment before getting into MY room, where all of my stuff had already arrived.

Sigh. What a great start to a brand new chapter of life.

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"You came alone? Hadeed didn't come with you?" Papa inquired when I slumped down on the couch. I had come home for Muqlawa and since I didn't want to get involved with him any more than I needed to, I used the staff car that he had left for me to get here.

"Uh, no. He was busy—" I lied easily with a smile and turned my attention to Mama who was asking me questions about EVERYTHING.

"But he'll come to pick you up, right? Tell him to come here directly after work—" Papa added impatiently and I would've been more worried about what they wanted to talk about, if I didn't mull over the tell him part.

'How do I tell him that I don't have his contact number?' Before I could say anymore, Papa  left to take a call. I stared behind him, wondering how to get over this situation, now.

"—how is the house—" Turning my attention back to Mama, I tried to shrug away the new mess.

'Welp. Guess, we can't do anything anymore but wait and hope for the best. If trouble ensues then I'll just have to cross that bridge when I arrive there—Just like, how I deal with almost every other situation in my life.'

———————————

What in the hell.

"Assalamualaikum, Uncle. Sorry, I am late." I gawked him from my seat on the dining table where we had just sat down for dinner.

He was now turning towards Mama, who had got up to hug him. Barely missing a beat, he joined us for dinner, pulling out the empty seat beside me.

I gulped, feeling an unknown emotion tingling in my heart. It felt weirdly warm and fuzzy to watch him interact so nicely with my parents and treat them with so much respect.

The whole time, he didn't once acknowledge me, but he didn't make it seem obvious either. On the contrary, he kept on casually bringing me up in his conversations as if it was the most natural thing. Even without meeting my gaze, he would keep on bringing the dishes closer for me to take from.

I don't know why, but I felt unnaturally happy. It didn't make any sense, why. But I could weep with happiness. Maybe it was the glimmer of pride and contentment in Papa and Mama's eyes, on watching him treat them and me so well.

For the first time, I felt something other than hate for him. I felt a little grateful to him for giving this happiness to my parents, even if it were just for a show.

"You couldn't be bothered to tell me? Now I am going to learn about the going ins of my house from my staff—" He began coldly, after I brought him to my room on Mama's nagging to freshen up. At his words, I turned my gaze from the towel in his hand to his face.

"I—Why do I have to tell you—" My voice trailed off towards the end as I turned away from his piercing gaze with growing irritation.

I take it back—He is a complete and impossible jerk!

"I am sure you think you've got everything figured out by yourself—but I would prefer to take things that concern me, in my own hands." He warned pointedly and turned away fuming after throwing the towel on the bed beside me. For a few painfully long moments, I sat in my place, breathing heavily to control my rage. I opened and closed my mouth several times before mustering the strength to say what I wanted to say.

"I—Nothing related to me has got anything to do with you—" My voice quivered with the intensity of impact of his prior words and their harshness. With my gaze fixated to the marble floor, I didn't see him stopping in his tracks.

"Oh, I assure you that even though it is most unfortunate for me to have anything to do with you—It is sadly how things will have to proceed from here on. And please Hoor—do us both a favour and maybe think about someone else's position besides yourself for a change—!" He remarked coldly before striding out of the room.

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