"Finally our sleepyhead has bothered to show up" Mrs Malik, Afiya's mother-in-law teasingly said.

Mrs Malik was cutting the vegetables, to prepare for lunch along with her two other daughters-in-law. Afiya is not a morning person since childhood and now her in-laws, very well know her routine and laziness. Being the only child to Afiya's parents she indeed was a spoiled lazy brat. So her in-laws allowed her to sleep till noon and never allowed her to take kitchen chores. She was treated no less than a princess over there. That's how Mrs Malik is showering love and blessings to everyone. Despite being rich, they never bragged about it neither did they spend money recklessly.

Even after getting all these special treatments and love from Afiya's new family, she never felt the fulfilment of content happiness in her heart. This is her new home still, she wasn't feeling like one.

"Hey... anyone missed me? Sorry, I was a little bit late." Shanaya barged in the kitchen, breaking Afiya's chain of thoughts.

"You need to be punished, girl! Just look at the time, you are so late." Safa, the elder daughter-in-law of the house complained.

"Yes Safa, she deserves it. Taking advantage of the freedom we have given" Mirza the other daughter-in-law said, agreeing with Safa.

Afiya laughed seeing this and decided to speak up,

"Leave the poor girl alone. She must have been caught up with some other works," she said favouring Shanaya.

"A servant should know her place and act upon that," this time it was Mrs Malik who spoke teasingly.

"Okay, fine!" Shanaya announced making the situation so serious and went to grab some vegetables from the fridge to prepare for lunch.

Everyone burst out laughing when she went.

Shanaya was an orphan Pakistani girl, who was recommended to Malik's house by the old maid. She is 22-years-old, one year younger than Afiya, so, she was treated as one among them and not as a typical maid.

The Men in the house returns only after 6:30 pm so usually, the whole house is for the four girls(Safa, Mirza, Afiya & Shanaya) to chill and have fun.

All of them went to rest after helping in the kitchen, even Afiya tried helping with some chores after her protests. Everyone was leaving to their rooms to take rest that's when Mrs Malik stopped Afiya by saying,

" Afiya dear I know this marriage is not perfect for you as my son is busy and rarely home since your marriage. It's because of his new business which is making him busy with responsibilities. I heard from his father that he will be free from his hectic work within one or two weeks. So smile beta, better days are coming."

"Jee Mma..."Afiya said with a genuine smile on her face and she went to the library in their house. The only place in the house where she felt so serene and appeased.

She took out a notepad from one of the shelves and started to note down the points on what she knows about her Husband by her observation and by what she heard from her in-laws

1. His name...well I don't know yet. But everyone calls him Chottu. So I'll call him Mr Chottu? :P

2. As per my theory, he loves his work.

3. He started his own business and is the owner of so many chains of restaurants around the world.

4. He doesn't like sleep that much, unlike me.

5. Mr Malik and his elder son reach home at 6:30 pm(They both work in the Malik Co.), the other son (who works as a lecturer)reach around 8 pm. The part I loved about this family that they don't have to work in their family business and can do anything which they love.

6. Mr Chottu comes home late and also leaves early. Wakes up for Thahjud before me, leaves to the mosque and then directly goes for jogging after that. Strange Man!

I guess I should draft about me also to prepare the conclusion and solution for this situation. Okay about me,

1. I wake up around noontime, chitchat with Bhabhi's and Shanaya.
2. Roam around the house all day, spending more time reading books in the library, swimming pool, watching TV and balcony.
3. Sleep around 11-11:30 pm.

Staring at the paper she wrote down the points she mumbled to herself, "Woah I'm so unproductive"

"Okay, so my conclusion is, I should sleep less and wait for him. He may be reaching home around midnight I guess. Okay, Afiya you can do it. Mission one, stay up all night." saying this to the paper she was holding, she grabbed a mystery thriller book from the racks to read at night, so that she won't fall asleep.

*****

Afiya was reading, The Murderer on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, a thrilling detective novel. She was so caught up in her reading world that she didn't notice that the time was quarter past 11.

*ding*ding*

She got startled by her alarm. The time was 11:45 pm now. Few more minutes and he will be here soon she thought.

"You will be caught from your hide and seek Mr Chottu hehee" she giggled.

*****

Ali opened the door with his keys, as usual, the house was dark and silent where only a small light from the hall was illuminating. He was exhausted from his hectic work schedule. Being the owner of a restaurant and managing three places at a time was tiring for him. But he never took a break from his work, even on Sunday's cause he loved his work that much, which was his dream since childhood.

He was extremely tired so, he hastily went to his room to rest but the sight which he saw made him smile and all his hastiness and drained out mood vanished off.

Afiya was resting her head in her shoulder, leaning in the headboard of the bed and sleeping in an abrupt position. He went near her and took the book from her hand which she was holding, kept it on a small table near their bed. He slowly although carefully tried to place his arms around her and made her lay on the bed. Smiling widely he swiftly left to freshen up.

Coming back to rest, he gazed at her face and he thought,

Whenever I look at her she is sleeping, since day one from our marriage. She is such a strange girl.

He then thought of the day when they got married unexpectedly and when he first understood that sleep matters the most to her.

Flashback.

Ali unexpectedly got married the day when he was planning to leave for London after his business. He somehow managed to grab tickets for her also so that she can come along with him. But unfortunately, there were no tickets for business class and got a ticket in economy class. He tried to cancel his ticket and take economy class ticket but guess luck was not on his side, only one ticket was available at the last moment.

He was extremely agitated to face her due to some unknown reason so to avoid an encounter he promptly sat on the front seat while going to the airport. From the rearview mirror, he saw her mumbling something. Nervously and a bit hesitantly he said to her,

"Here are your tickets. Sorry, the economy class only were available."

"It's Okay" she replied.

The ride after that was silent. After Half and an hour passed, he was feeling hungry so thought to ask her also,

"Would you like to grab something to eat?"

He didn't get a response for two minutes so he turned to look back.

There, she was sleeping so peacefully like a girl with no problems at all. He was shocked to see her sleep like that even after going through so many twists and turns in her life just a few hours ago. He smiled staring at her and mumbled, "She is a strong girl".

When they reached the airport he had to go through some formalities because of the ticket he took at the last moment. So he requested his driver to wake her up and he went inside without waiting for her. He was glad that his driver was also accompanying them to London and also in economy class. From the counter, he saw both of them coming towards the waiting area and taking their seats. He waved at his driver and called him over there.

"I will be leaving now since my seats are in Business class. You both can come after 10 or 15 minutes." Saying so he left. His driver was like a father figure to him, who is in his mid-fifties. He didn't want to leave her like that without speaking to her. But his actions are even unknown to him.

Even after reaching London, they didn't have any encounter cause he walked in front of her and like previously sat in the front seat. Also, she was sound asleep in the car again. Due to an urgent emergency in his restaurant, he had to stop by so didn't go to his house with her. He felt really bad for his behaviour, leaving her all alone to her new life and new home.

End of Flashback

Staring her closely he whispered,"I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it."

"I guess she was sleeping beauty in her previous life" he chuckled and said.

*ding*

Her alarm abruptly started buzzing, he quickly grabbed the phone from the nightstand and turned it off. There was a reminder written in her alarm,

"Concentrate on your Mission!"

Huh... Mission? What Mission, he thought.

ASSALAMU ALAIKUM

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