Haider thought what Ishmal said that day after their argument was just for the sake of it and she didn't really mean it but he was wrong. The next morning, over the breakfast table, as they all were seated, Mr. Tashfeen started which made him confused.

"Ishmal Beti is a very good painter and Hiba struggles in her art class and she and many of her friends don't like their art teacher so Ishmal had said that she would help all of them in their art subject by joining their school temporarily till Hiba is in eight grade. And I very much like this idea. It will help Ishmal to live her dream of being a painter and help the kids as well."

{A/N: Beti: Daughter}

Haider was stunned hearing this. Where did this come from? His eyes went towards Ishmal who was looking at her plate while sluggishly moving the fork into it. Perhaps she had felt the heat of his gaze on her as she lifted her head and met his gaze in which initial surprise got replaced by irritation. Ishmal gulped swiftly.

However it was true if he hadn't have told her to not work like an order, she maybe wouldn't have done this. She needed a job but somehow she wouldn't have done it like this by involving his parents. But Ishmal was so fed up with Haider treating her like some culprit.

Haider couldn't say no in front of his parents. It now included Hiba as well who really wanted to pass her art subject and she only wanted Ishmal to teach and assist her.

There was no anger. There was no hatred. Haider couldn't understand what he was feeling right now. This girl was stubborn and constantly doing everything opposite to what he said. Why couldn't he get bitter with her? There was a curiosity. A feeling of not being able to claim something after owning it.

She was indeed not his real wife. It was a contract marriage between them. And she was right that she would be left empty-handed after it would get over and he was no one to assert any right over her. At first when it never bothered Haider that she was just here because of that agreement, now it did. His heart and mind weren't ready to accept the word fake with her. She was his wife and whenever she mentioned that she was just bearing with his marriage as a drama, it aggravated him.

Haider couldn't understand the sudden change in his notion of Ishmal and their marriage. She was also a woman and she would also ditch him someday yet he made his ego to hate women tumble down by accepting her as his wife.

These days Haider couldn't focus on anything. Ishmal remained on his mind every time. He wanted to mark her as his own. But it was wrong; he couldn't give a woman a sense of feeling special. He believed they didn't deserve it. But why was it changing when it came to Ishmal?

Possibly that was the reason why he didn't like the idea when Ishmal said she wanted to find a job. He never wanted his wife to do it when he was here for the same purpose. Maintaining a household was a duty of a man, not a woman and that was what he always had crafted in himself. Even he had no intention of it when he was fine and was engaged to Nisha.

Nevertheless, Ishmal wishing for a job shouldn't have provoked him because she wasn't his responsibility. She could have done anything she wanted. But Haider got furious when she said it.

Right now, Haider was in the shower to calm himself down. As he was applying shampoo to his hair, he wondered why there was no hate. Why did everything become smooth and soft just like the lather on his hair was forming? That was not what he anticipated. The egoistic and wounded man in him would never wanted to find any charm from the woman but here it was happening.

He wanted to feel anger toward Ishmal. The way she was blatantly ignoring him and wasn't showing any reaction to him was annoying Haider. She was not abiding by him as he initially wanted was something which should make him repulsive of her but instead, Haider was getting more drawn towards her. His desire was increasing more and more for her.

The bath did nothing extraordinary for him other than making him feel light-headed after a hectic day. But what he wanted to go never lessened down. Ishmal was making him go crazy and he despite wanting her, could never do that because he knew he would hurt her and she would never forgive him. Not that she found him any good at the moment as well but as soon as his dark soul would get revealed to her, she would hate him.

Haider came out in only his sweatpants and a towel on his shoulder. The first thing his eyes found was Ishmal pressing her dress. She was so much focused on it that she never seemed to get distracted when Haider had clicked the door of the bathroom more hardly. Every time she didn't seem to be affected by him, it caused a hit to his manly ego. Why did this girl never react like every other woman in his sight?

Ishmal's hair was tied in a braid while the dupatta was loosely placed on her right shoulder, a bit of her soft skin was showing from the corner where the dupatta wasn't covering her.

Haider rubbed his hair with a towel while he took in the sight of her. "That was a very bad idea to use my parents for what you wanted."

Ishmal's hands got stilled and she remained stayed in her position for a moment before turning around. Seeing him once again like this made her timid and she looked away.

"I never use anyone. I just voiced my wish to find something to keep me busy in front of them and they listened," Ishmal replied.

It was half truth and half lie. Yes in front of Haider's family, it was also a bit of Ishmal's personal preference to use her talent to get herself occupied. But what happened in reality and proved to be in her favor was Hiba's difficulty in understanding art and her hobby of painting got revealed in front of her. Ishmal even helped her with one of the pictures she got as homework. Hiba quickly said that she wanted Ishmal to become her teacher now.

"When I said no then anyone else shouldn't have mattered for you, Ishmal," he said, the matter of factly.

Suddenly a corner of Ishmal's lip curled up in a smirk. "For me, even you don't matter Mr. Haider. Remember we had no such obligation to abide by each other."

Haider's jaw clenched and he approached her. His gaze fell on her lips before flitting back into her brown eyes. He walked a step in her direction while Ishmal unknowingly took a stride back.  

"I am your husband," he whispered. "No matter what but that's the reality so you should keep it in your mind."

He went more near to her while Ishmal's eyes popped out in shock. Her back hit the table of the place where the clothes were used to iron. Haider was so big and strong that she only could see him all around her. His gaze fell on the mole on her neck before moving towards her arm and then slim fingers. He raised his hand and she gasped, unknown to the fact that what he was going to do.

"Be more careful. Your dress would have burned if I hadn't seen it," he murmured, bringing Ishmal back to the present.

When he came here and started talking to her, Ishmal got so startled that she forgot to remove the iron away from her dress. Now Haider had separated it and he already maintained a distance from her. Ishmal moved towards the table with a swift step and took a deep breath of relief to find her clothes still fine. She had to go to Hiba's school for an interview tomorrow and she didn't want that her first day would get messed up.

Haider just did to tease her but he didn't know that it would impact him this much. He felt there was a trance that pulled him towards her. How her mesmerizing fragrance and the sight of her plump lips had again made him almost lose his control.

But soon he pulled himself back. He never wanted him to get knocked over by the same thing again. He would never do that. One time was enough and he wouldn't allow it again. These all women first used the spell of their beauty on men and when they found someone better, they went after him. Ishmal was nothing to him. Just a fake wife and someone whom he needed temporarily for his own motives and nothing else. Perhaps that was also the reason why he didn't object when his parents agreed to Ishmal doing this job. He wanted to get her out of his mind and remind himself that she meant nothing to him.

A wife but not real. A marriage but was based on a contract.

But his heart knew how it defied everything he thought because it wanted to make her his actual wife and this marriage real beyond any contract.

               
                 ____________________

AssalamoAlaikum/ Hi guys!

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Here's a new chapter.

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Till then, Allah Hafiz/ Bye. ❤❤❤