Salaam guys, so here's the new chapter, I hope you'll like it and yeah...it is dedicated to @nina_ricci .
I am truly inspired by her stories too.

On the side, it's Zeeshan.
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"Maryam?....Mano....get up honey it's late for Fajar" Someone repeated the hundredth time in a soft voice.

"Ummmm...Go away mama!...let me sleep" I mumbled and turned over. 

"Mano please....I'm getting late too, wake up" The voice repeated

"mmm....you know I love you, I love you so sooooooo....." I sat up with a jerk, what did I say, I thought Mom was waking me up, And there HE sat looking at me astonished, I prayed with the depth of my heart that he had not heard what I said but His expression said that He did.

"I...I thought Mom was waking me up" I tried my best to get my words out of his head, He would think now that I love him and that was the last thing I would ever want.

He smirked, "Come on now, get up" He finally said holding out a hand, "One day you'll say that to me proudly" He mumbled, "what?" I could not understand him properly

"Nothing, come on now, we're late" He replied quickly

"for what?" I asked, why did he woke me  at this hour of night I wondered.

He stared me with surprise for some time and then instead of answering, he asked "Maryam, do you pray?...."

"Ofcourse I pray, You're not the only Muslim here" i cut him off with a hint of anger in my voice.

"Regular?" He continued after I had completed.

"well.... (don't lie about prayers Mayram, it's double sin: my inner person warned) Not very regular" I squeaked." I felt so ashamed of myself that time, why didn't I just say yes, He wasn't going to check my past was he? My thought flooded my mind and I held my head in my hands, I did this whenever I was tensed.

Zeeshan sighed, "come on" He said taking my hand and slightly pulling me up. I hate him.

"I will pray with you from now on..." he said with a half smile after we both had made ablution (separately ofcourse)

Oh wow! Thanks I was dying for that I thought angrily, Even if I have to pray, He'll always be there to command me, to tell me that all of my actions are wrong, I've never hated him more.

"I know how to pray" I said expressionless.

"Thank God!" he said laughing with sarcasm and then went to fetch the prayer mats.

I quickly put a hijab on so that he would not do that also, I mean he also insisted to do ablution together but I denied.

He came back by then and started spreading the mats, after that, he turned around and walked towards me, I stiffened, Did I again do something wrong?

He gently tucked a small hair curl which was left outside my hijab in it. He held my hand and walked towards the mats. When I stepped on my mat, I felt tingles in my body, I had not prayed for a very long time, How would I face my Lord, I know I am a very weak Muslim but My faith was still alive.

Zeeshan had started his prayer and so did I, When I just said ALLAH-O-AKBAR, a shiver traveled throughout my body, When I was 16, Mom and I used to go to a Quran translation class, I still remembered some of the translation so I could understand what I was praying, I was saying  ALLAH IS THE GREATEST.  Tears welled up in my eyes, My heart trembled with fear, I always tried to run away from Islam and Allah: The most powerful, The greatest authority, stuck me with Islam forever, stuck me with Zeeshan. Zeeshan was a pure Muslim from heart, but he was also nice and polite.

I started sobbing and trembled vigorously but I was still praying. Zeeshan had completed his prayer, He was looking at me with a mixed expression of confusion and horror. I took 15 minutes to complete my prayer, As soon as I said Aslam-O-Alaikum wa rehmat-u- allah, He held my face in both of his hands, He was wiping all the tears from my face, He didn't say anything. I still didn't stop crying so he hugged me, and surprisingly I cried my heart out...on his shoulder.

We both stayed in that position for long and then finally he parted

 " We should make dua now...Look Maryam...I don't know what caused you to cry this much, if it's the fear of god, then I'm proud of you but if its not, then I'll pray for whatever can make you happy. We,...Muslims, pray, but we do not pray because God needs our prayers, we pray for our own benefits, we pray so that we can be closer to god, we can be more special to god, so that god would listen to our wishes, so that god would forgive our sins and love us, so that god would give us whatever we want,...you know a person who prays but does not make dua is equal to that person who never prayed, when you pray, you praise god and then god becomes happy like a great King and then you ask for something and he awards you with it because he likes your praising and your affection towards him, Its just natural King-like behavior, the only change is that He is the KING OF ALL KINGS, so make dua now, ask for WHATEVER you want, whatever you've always wanted, because I know god is happy with you because you just prayed truly, You ask for your wish and I'll pray that God gives you whatever you want" He at last completed with a smile.

I put my hands together for dua as he did and closed my eyes, what should I ask for,.....whatever I'm gonna ask for, he'll pray in my favor too. I want..........I don't know what I want, sometimes I hate Zeeshan, actually most of the time I hate him but other times, like just some moments ago, I felt secure in his arms, I cried all the load out of my heart, I liked his caressing while I was crying, I liked his attempt to sooth me, to extract all the pain from my heart, I liked how much he cared for me. Oh my Allah, was I falling for him?

Allah is the greatest, right? so He must know what I actually needed. I cannot figure it out but He must know so I just simply prayed that Give me What I really need. Ameen.

I opened my eyes, Zeeshan was looking at me lovingly, I blushed and then stood up gathering the mats. "You can cry again if you want...on my shoulder" Zeeshan said almost whispering the last part.

"No I don't think so I would have to cry again" I replied brushing away from him as he was blocking me from all of the sides.

"But I really loved it!" He made puppy-eyes.

"me crying?" I asked shocked

"No...I meant..you ...my shoulder..."He got so confused that I misunderstood him. I laughed out aloud, He was looking so funny, confused and helpless.

He changed his expression and again started staring me with love. Aaaaargh! stop that stare, I'm starting to fall for it. I looked away.

"That's the first time I've seen you laughing, you look beautiful and your voice,..it's lovely" Zeeshan said walking towards me trapping me by the wall.

what! oh no, I couldn't run to anywhere and he had me trapped, I tried to push him away but his grip tightened in a lovely manner. The last thing I could think of was to scream but it seemed like He had read my thoughts, he put a finger on his lips and shook his head trying to warn me.

He was looking so....attractive but I had never been in such a situation before, It felt so awkward yet so right. I struggled a lot to free my self but each time I moved , he tightened his grip some more. He was cautious not to give me any pain but I sensed that if I moved once more, He's really gonna use force then.

He was looking at me THAT way, I felt butterflies in my stomach. I closed my eyes and wished that this was a dream, If it really would be a dream, it would be such a nice dream. But It was not a dream and I knew that.

"Are you really that scared of me?" He said with a  husky voice.

I opened my eyes, Oh my Allah, His eyes showed love, love and love...there was no end to it. I gulped, how could I resist him, but I had to.

He lost his grip on me but I didn't dare to move because The room was locked and I was not fast enough to unlock it and run out down the stairs.

He unpinned my hijab with gentle hands and shoved it away. The butterflies in my stomach were dancing up and down tickling me. He then untied my hair and set them free, He was stroking the hair and then suddenly pulled me into a tight hug, I could not breath for a second but then his grip loosened A LITTLE (for me to breath). He was playing with my  hair and breathing in their scent still hugging me tight.

I could not move because of two reasons, number one I was shocked and number two, his grip was too tight. My legs were becoming wobbly and weak, soon I started shaking and shivering, how was he doing this to me. Suddenly his phone rang, he was shocked for a moment and then quickly letting go of me, kissing my forehead, he said "To be continued, my love" and then he picked up his phone and when out of the room.

I just stood there stunned on what just happened between us, even though I didn't make a move but I liked it secretly. OH...oh OH MY GOD, HE KISSED ME, HE JUST KISSED ME, Oh it felt wonderful My inner person was hopping up and down screaming with excitement, I smiled, He wasn't after all that bad. I picked up my hijab from the bed and put it in my closet. All of my clothes were well organized already. Maybe aunty or Aminah organized them.

I took out a casual tea pink maxi dress and a matching jacket with it as the dress was sleeveless. It wasn't necessary to wear a hijab because there were only girls in the house apart from my husband. Zeeshan's dad stayed abroad in Dubai because his business was there. He mostly stayed there and visited on Eid holidays etc. He went back to Dubai yesterday after attending our function.

After gathering all my necessities, I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, I have to get ready so I wouldn't be late for the breakfast, It wouldn't leave a good impression, the bride arriving late for breakfast.

When I came out from the bathroom, showered and dressed, I was astonished to see Zeeshan sleeping soundly. Why was he sleeping? it was late...we had to join everyone on breakfast, Should I wake him? no ofcourse not but...Alright I'll wake him after completely getting ready so I went to the dressing table and brushed my hair. I wore some jewelry and light makeup.

Now I was completely ready and 15 minutes were left to breakfast, The question was...How to wake him up? So after a lot of thinking, I decided that I'll start with a call and if he doesn't wake up then i'll put some tune on his phone.

"Z....Zeeshan?" I started,

no response.

"Zeeshan? please wake up we're late for breakfast" I tried again

Still no response. After trying many times and equally getting no responses from him, I picked his phone up but immediately put it back, It's not good to touch his phone or he'll start doing the same. 

"Zeeshan! if your'e not waking up , then I'm going, and I'll tell aunty that your son is a SLEEPING SLOTH!" I said angrily.

And to my surprise, he burst into laughter,

"sl...sleeping...sll.....sloth?" He repeated between giggles.

"couldn't you use anything else?" He asked still laughing uncontrollable.

I turned around with anger to walk away when He held my wrist,

"Alright...alright I'm sorry, the sloth won't sleep again" He said again bursting into laughter.

I was red with anger, how dare he fool me, I thought he was sleeping but he was....ugh!

"Wait here, I'll be right back" He said standing up from the bed. I looked at him from head to toe, man he was pretty...or handsome if it is for boys :)

"sleeping sloth!" He mumbled on his way.

"Why did you sleep anyways?" I asked to get that thing out of his head.

Suddenly his expression changed to a worried one, like he was hiding something

"I...had a headache" He replied briefly but still stood there facing me.

I gave him a questioning look so he added details,

" The phone call....it was....business matters, so dealing with them is difficult you know" He seemed satisfied by his answer.

"Do you still have it?...I mean headache" I said directing the conversation to an end.

"No, I'm better now, I took pills" He smiled and then went to the bathroom. 

Meanwhile I organized the room a bit and drew up the curtains. It was a lovely day, I mean the weather was lovely.

Why was Zeeshan so worried when I asked him that question, what happened, Was he hiding something? I was again lost in my pool of thoughts.

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SALAAM SISTERS AND BROTHERS, SO THIS IS THE NEW PART. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT AND THE REAL STORY START FROM HERE. ENJOY!

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