Another chapter. Around 3k words. I kind of like it..make sure to vote and comment, tell me what you think.

Also, I'm thinking about doing a golden week. Like 7 days and 7 chapters but it's kinda hard so idk.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Wajeeh.

I had spent hours torturing Russian bastards for information on the recent attacks back home, had spent hours in being brutal and cruel with them and had spent another hour in putting fucking makeup on my face to hide the bruise that was now covered enough to not be soon under my eye.

It wasn't easy, ofcourse. It wasn't easy because when I inflicted violence, I wanted to do more, I wanted to cause more pain, I wanted to be the reason of someone's screams, I wanted to hurt people to the point where they begged for death, but I wouldn't kill them, not untill they attacked me first.

The two Russians I had tortured tonight begged me to kill them, begged me to stop this crazy shit, begged me to just finish their life but they were loyal enough to not spit out a word about the attacks. That, or maybe they just didn't know. Maybe, their bosses didn't trust them enough.

I had left them in the basement of their own freaking quarter, bruised, hurt and tied up. If they had any balls, they would make it through the next few days. If not, they'd probably die.

I didn't exactly care.

I had far better things to worry about. Things like the Maliks threatening my father, my family. They were bastards but they had more political support than us and it wasn't a good thing right now.

My father was trying to find a way to stop this shit without any violence but the Maliks were too fond of violence to give a fuck.

They simply wanted what was promised to them. They wanted me.

In our works, Promises and loyalty couldn't be compromised. I had promised Mannat that I wouldn't break her heart, then how could I marry another and do exactly that?

Sighing, I put my very best charming smile on my face and entered the living room of my future wife's house. Mannat wasn't home, she was at the gym. This was the main reason why I had chosen to come in specifically at this time.

Aunty Ayesha walked down the stairs with such a smile on her face, as if she hadn't been responsible for the murder of countless people in the village, as if she hadn't been the reason our villages had burned and been destroyed.

Yet, here she was.

Sometimes, I felt zero pity for the woman.

"Wajeeh, what a surprise. Mannat isn't home though." She greeted me and asked me to leave in the very same sentence.

Pathetic.

"That's okay, aunty. I'm here to talk to you." I replied, just as sweet as the Wajeeh she knew, as the Wajeeh she had almost raised, as the Wajeeh who was dating her daughter.

She probably thought I was here to make sure she was comfortable with Mannat and I dating.

"Ofcourse, come on." She led me to the very same living room that I had lounged in for years now, I had sat in this room and laughed with them, I had watched movies with them, I had even slept here at times.

"How are you feeling?" I questioned as soon as I sat down.

"I'm happy to see you." She replied.

If she really knew who I was, who I had become, she wouldn't be so happy to see me.

"Mannat told you we were together."

I stated as a matter of fact and she straightened, she shook her head in disapproval and I didn't understand how a woman who was raised among monsters could not approve a man like me, a man who had done nothing wrong in her eyes but cheated on her daughter, a man who hadn't killed or hurt anyone in her eyes, a man who was so different from his own kin in her eyes.

"She did."

"You don't approve?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I think you might hurt her." She started off. "I think you're not good for her emotional stability, her health, her soul."

She said it out loud like she was being blunt and honest with me, like I would kneel in front of her and tell her that I loved her daughter and I wouldn't hurt her.

I was getting really fucking tired of people telling me that I'd hurt Mannat. Ofcourse, I knew I'd eventually hurt her but I knew that I'd also try my best not to, I also knew that I'd protect her from the evils of our world, even if I was a part of that evil.

It angered me. I leaned back in my seat.

"You were always good at lying, I guess I understand why." I started off, her face twisted in confusion and eyes sunk back in.

She was still mourning the loss of a loved one, it was honestly stupid. I was sure she didn't even love that man, she had just wanted companionship and he was dead because of her sins. It was just the guilt making her mourn, nothing else.

"It's in your blood. You lie through your teeth and don't give a fuck." I didn't care if she knew my truth, I had come here for this very reason.

"Wajeeh." She gulped, continuing.

"Are you okay, son? You're acting unlike yourself." She pointed out.

I had been acting unlike myself since I turned thirteen. She just didn't know who the real me was.

Now, she would.

I pulled out the gun from my back and placed it on the table in front of her. I had killed three men with this very gun and had shot at several others.

It was my favourite toy.

For a moment, the woman didn't speak up. For someone who had been born in the middle of guns and violence, she seemed shocked. Her eyes were widened, her lips parted as if she had just let out a gasp and she was clutching her thigh in a tight grip.

Didn't her husband put a gun under his pillow every single night? Didn't Mannat's father killed seven people in a day just to protect this woman? Didn't Chaudhry Ajmal teach her how to kill with a gun? He did.

"You know." She whispered but it was audible to me.

She looked up at me and for the first time, I saw fear in them. She was afraid of me. She feared me.

"How long have you known for?" She enquired, staring at me with those fearful eyes that resembled Mannat's.

"Since I was thirteen." I replied, looking at the gun and then back at her.

"Have you killed?" She asked me a question that she already knew the answer to.

What did she think I did with this gun?

"What do you think?"

She nodded, once again. She knew that I knew her truth, she knew that I could tell Mannat all the secrets that she had kept from her daughter and snatch her away. She knew what I could do now.

"Stay away from Mannat." She said it with such an angry, firm tone that I couldn't help but laugh.

I laughed because it was just as amusing as it was angering.

"You know she's the pawn because of you. I can't stay away from her because of you." I pointed, she swallowed.

"You ran off and Malik Ibrar waged war against our families. The only way to peace was to merge through blood. Mannat and I were used as bargaining chips to stops years of killings and violence because you had left." I accused, she deserved it.

I understood that she had to live a life, that she had to run away for her own good, that she had to marry the man that she loved. But she never even looked back, she didn't care about the war or the killings. She lived a happy life here while her husband's village got burned by the Maliks. It took years of hard work and support from my grandfather that the Chaudhrys could stand back on their feet again.

"Mannat will never go there."

"You think she will have a choice? No one has come for her because I have assured them that she is in the hands of Shah Wajeeh. She is with me." I told her, she started to cry.

"She's too innocent to pay for my sins. I paid for what I did. I lost the man I loved and then the Russians killed my second husband because of the mistakes I'd done years ago. She doesn't deserve this, Wajeeh."

She didn't deserve to be a part of any game, yes. She didn't deserve to be with a killer, yes. She deserved to be with a man who loved her, yes. But I was a man who loved her and that was all that mattered to me right now.

"If I don't marry Mannat, she will have to marry Malik Balaaj. He's your nephew, I'm sure you've heard stories about him."

Malik Balaaj was a cruel man. He had fucked up morals. He was a monster, even I was a monster but this bastard liked to hurt the people that he loved. He was into some weird shit and his first wife had died because of it.

For revenge and peace, The Maliks had already offered to pair Mannat with Balaaj and stop any more revolt.

Thankfully, my father cared about Mannat and told them she was already promised to me.

"She lives here. She is a citizen. No one can touch her." I heard Aunty Ayesha murmur next.

Both her husbands were citizens of America too, had she forgot about that?

"They're all in our pockets and you know that. Who do you think covered up the deaths of your husbands? Don't act dumb."

I hadn't talked to her in a disrespectful manner before so my words got to her more than the usual.

"What do you want from me?" She tried to calm herself down, she looked like she knew she couldn't save Mannat from our world and now she was looking of ways to protect her.

She didn't trust me anymore. She didn't trust me because I wasn't the same Wajeeh that she knew.

She probably thought I was faking love for Mannat. I wasn't. It was the only honest thing in my life right now.

"I want you to prepare her, tell her that I'm the best man for her and I'll make her happy. Stop putting any ideas in her head, stop making her insecure."

"You do make her happy, Wajeeh. Do you love her? Or is it because of the lands that she doesn't even know she has? Or the promises she doesn't even know about?" She questioned, I couldn't help but chuckle and put the gun back in it's place.

I stood up. She looked at me.

"Behind all that darkness, I do see love Wajeeh." She pointed it out like I wasn't accepting my love for Mannat, like I didn't know I loved her.

I wouldn't accept it in front of the people of our world because they'd consider it a weakness, they'd use her to get to me.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with my feelings." I stated, continuing.

"I am just here to tell you that I am going to marry your daughter and I am going to kill your brother."

Her eyes widened. Why was there worry? If anything, she should be happy about it. Her brother had made her life miserable.

"Don't kill him, Wajeeh. Don't." She pleaded.

Fucking weak.

The man had got both her husbands killed and yet here she was, begging for me to not kill him.

"You'd rather have your daughter sacrificed than the man who got your husband killed?" I questioned, cocking my head towards her.

She didn't say anything and I didn't need her permission to kill her brother. He was a hurdle and I had to remove him.

I walked towards the exit, feeling satisfied that Mannat's mother now knew the truth and wouldn't let her daughter get conflicted. Mannat always though about her self preservation and I didn't want her to question our relationship and fall back merely because I was absent.

"Don't make him suffer." Aunty Ayesha called after me as I reached the exit of her mansion, referring to her brother.

Oh, I was going to make him suffer.

"Goodbye, Aunty Ayesha."

Mannat.

My morning had been a little sullen today, more than sullen actually. I knew it was just because we were at a certain start of a relationship and things were going really well for us, I had just got used to his presence as my boyfriend and now he was leaving for a few weeks.

Wajeeh had took me to dinner last night, we had gone to his place and spend the night together. He had said goodbye to me in the morning and dropped me back to my place.

I missed his presence the moment that he had left. He hadn't exactly told me the time of his flight so I wasn't sure if I could call him right now or not.

I sat on my chair, sulking and already being upset to a point where I wanted to cancel all of my meetings.

I was still leaning against my chair and looking out the window when I heard Wajeeh's voice and I turned around, surprised.

I stood up from my chair, finding Wajeeh coming towsrds me already.

He embraced me in a way that I practically saw him launching himself at me.

I hugged him back, smiling into his neck as his grip on my waist remained. I felt so wanted in his embrace that I didn't even want to let go.

Still, I did so I could look at his face.

"I thought you had already left." I murmured, confused that he wasn't already at the airport.

Wajeeh shrugged.

"My flight's in two hours so I just thought I'd meet you and leave." He replied, making me nod at him.

There was this longing in his eyes that made me aware, even a little cautious.

"We already said goodbye in the morning, remember?" I reminded him, he shot me a lazy smile and nodded.

It looked like be hadn't been fast asleep in my arms last night, like he hadn't snored under my chin and slept like a baby.

"Haan, yaad hai."

He responded in Urdu, something that he had been doing quite alot lately. I liked it.

"You okay?" I asked him again, finding him too silent and even confused.

His eyes felt like pools of darkness and I didn't know why I could see the heaviness and the pressure in them even though he didn't really have any pressure on him. Maybe he was really worried about his uncle? Even though he had repeatedly said that he didn't really care.

"Haan," He answered, telling me that he was okay as he continued speaking.

"I am just thinking about how less time we have spent together after we started dating and now that I am leaving for a few weeks, you'll have more time to think. I don't want you to think too much while I'm away and then just let it screw with your head,"

I stared at him, wondering whether he was right or not. I already had lunch planned with Melody for tomorrow and I knew that Wajeeh would definitely be the topic of our discussion.

I trusted him though. After the way he had repeatedly assured me about himself and his love for me, I had no reason to doubt him or even feel insecure.

I wanted to be in this relationship without any fear and even though a part of me would always remain that way, scared that something bad might happen, I also knew that I was now one hundred percent into this and I wouldn't let my mind or other people's opinions get to me.

"I'm not going to do that." I told him with a reassuring smile, understanding that he needed the confirmation too, he needed me to trust him and love him with all my being without any worry or concerns.

"Good, you shouldn't." He mumbled, relaxing under my touch.

I sighed and stared at him as he spoke. I didn't know why he had suddenly come here to see me or why he was being so vocally affectionate but I liked it, I loved it.

I loved everything that Wajeeh said.

"Kyun ke main saath hoon tumhare, okay? Main fuck around nahi kar raha Mannat. Tumhain pata hain na Yeh?" (I'm with you, okay? I'm not fucking around. You know that.)

I was coming to terms with this truth of his and believing it after a few hard weeks. I nodded.

"Pata hai, Wajeeh. Tumhari aankhein parh sakti hoon main." (I know, Wajeeh. I can read your eyes.)

"Okay,"

He kissed the side of my head, inhaling me like I was some sort of drug.

"I'll pick you up when you return." I said to him, he hummed against my head.

"You better,"

"I got something for you," He took a step back, I bit my lip.

He pulled out a velvet box from his pocket and I wanted to freak out.

God, let it be a necklace.

No, God, let it be a ring.

Okay.

The alarmed expression on my face was enough for him to chuckle at my reaction as he pulled me near to him with his left hand. He turned me around and put his head on my shoulder, opening the velvet box in front of me.

A ring.

What the fuck?

A ring?!

It was a very simple ring, nothing extra ordinary but so so beautiful.

"Wajeeh," I whispered his name, in awe, in shock, in fear.

"Don't freak out, think of it as whatever you want to think." He whispered against my ear, taking it out of the box.

I stared at the ring as he spoke, his breath fanning against my hair.

"I mean, you can think of it as a promise ring or as a gift or as a ring that's meant to tell you that I'll marry you one day, just," He took my hand and brought it to his lips, first.

He kissed my hand, I wanted to cry. What the hell?

"Just wear it, I want you to wear it and remember that this is my promise to you." He slipped the ring into my finger, my heart beat so fast.

"My promise to you is,"

"Har mausam main, har ghari main, har pal main, main saath hoon tumhare. Main kahin nahi ja raha Mannat, kabhi bhi nahin."

(I'm with you in every season, every moment. I won't ever go away.)

He had been making so many promises lately, the thought of him breaking them was heart breaking enough.

"You're worth more than the freedom I craved, worth more than any feeling I've ever felt, worth more than any thought I've ever had, worth more than a man who has hurt you but it doesn't matter. Because I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." I turned around in his embrace, looking at him like he was my entire world.

He probably was.

I stared at the ring, I stared at him. It all seemed surreal, too surreal.

"You told me that you're afraid I'll break you, I promise that I will never do that." He promised me yet again, I swallowed.

"Wajeeh,"

"God, Wajeeh.." I let my head fall against his chest, breathing.

"I don't know what to say," I murmured against his chest.

He wrapped his arms around my waist even more tight.

"Say something that will make me smile through the entire flight." He replied, I looked up at him.

My hands reaches out to cup his face as I put my lips on his, drinking him in, feeling the warmth, feeling the love.

"Wajeeh Masroor, you have been in my heart for as long as I can remember."

"The love that I have for you, I haven't felt this way about anyone else." I told him, he kissed the side of my mouth.

"Tell me you love me." He stated.

"I just told you." I whispered, he shook his head.

"Say it clearly."

"I'll say it when you come back home." I told him.

"To you?" He asked with a smile.

"Yes. To me."

I affirmed.

And for the first time, I felt like this man was mine.

----

Thoughts?