A few days later.

That feeling of contentment when Ibrahim realized there's someone else apart from him, to love his family and to take care of them, warmed his heart. He couldn't describe that feeling in words. He has always been a busy child, first with studies and now with his job. It has been a difficult task for him to spare extra time for his family. Even now, he was running late for an important meeting while his mother was sick and asleep in her room.

To Ibrahim's utmost shock, Mawra suggested that she'd take a day off and look after his mother. He can never describe how thankful he was to hear those words. Salika was having a mild fever for the past few days and had a doctors checkup today, to which she agreed only after a lot of persuasion from everyone.

"She will be fine, Insha Allah, I'll message you as soon as I leave the doctor's cabin. Stop worrying." Mawra mumbled softly, as she looked up at him. He nodded hopefully, with a small smile on his lips. His hands rested on her waist as she tied his tie.

"I'm really thankful that you're staying with mom, you know right... How tight my schedule is these days." he muttered dejectedly, to which she frowned in return, "first of all, you're not allowed to say thanks. She's been a great mother in law to me and I owe her this and so much more, you don't worry about her health. She's fine, its just the seasonal fever as she said. I'll take care of her anyway."

"Rock this meeting! May Allah bless you with lots of success and protect you from evil eyes, Aameen." after tightening his tie, Mawra placed a lingering kiss on his cheeks and smiled at him.

He grinned at her and placed a kiss on her forehead, "I'll call you later. I need to go now." It felt weird to go to the office without her. But he was glad that she's staying back for his mother's sake. Mawra is one of those staffs, who never took any holiday and worked sincerely. The only time she took holidays was during their wedding and good god, he missed her assistance terribly at that time. How he's going to survive another day without her is a big question mark now.

"I'll miss you..." Ibrahim trailed off sceptically as she walked him to the porch.

Intertwining their fingers together, Mawra smiled at him, "I will miss you too, come home soon." Lately, he's been so busy and was coming home at odd hours, she never once complained considering she was his assistant and knows how hard-working her husband was. But still, she missed spending some alone with him.

"Did you plan something or what?" Ibrahim raised his brows, curiously as he noticed her hidden blush. He has learned so much about her till this date of their marriage and this is one of those moments where she wants to hide something badly but her expressions give it away easily like every other time.

"How? Oh, never mind. Just come home soon, I miss spending alone time with you, I am going to cook dinner for you. Specially trained by your mother, so don't worry." Rolling her eyes, she continued, "I hope you'll be home soon." This way, they can be at home and still enjoy each other's company. It was supposed to be a stress buster for Ibrahim.

"Oh shoot! I totally forgot that its our date night." Ibrahim groaned in annoyance. They both switch turns on planning dates every week. The last week Mawra has taken him to a beach resort and they thought of spending the whole weekend there, which sadly was cut short into a single night due to his work. She didn't complain though.

"Its okay, Ibrahim. I know how busy you are. I planned it instead of you this week. Weren't you the one who said, we are going to be equals in this marriage?" She raised her brows with a playful grin and he gazed at her amusingly.

"Doesn't matters who plan it, we're both going to enjoy that anyway." She squeezed his hands tightly, making him smile at her thoughtfulness.

"Alright, I'm looking forward to the dinner. I'll come soon, Insha Allah." a sad smile formed on his lips as he unlocked his car, he didn't want to eat breakfast that day and Mawra didn't force him knowing how stubborn he gets at times.

"Its not like you're going away for months." shaking her head with a laugh, she said, "its just the office and you will see me in the evening. Go now."

"Its weird without you." Ibrahim pouted and she pecked his pout with a small smile, which he turned into a demanding kiss and she gave in shyly, "you'll get used to it, Go soon now. You're running late." Mawra literally had to push him into the car and he sat in reluctantly and started the car as she waved at him.

"Allah Hafiz!" both mumbled at the same time. And Mawra stood at the porch until his car was not visible to her eyes. Grinning excitedly, she walked back into the house and goes to check up on her mother in law, to see if she was ready or not. They had the appointment at ten.

***

"I told you, I was fine," Salika complained for the tenth time that day as they drove back home. Mawra chuckled at her, as she looked out of the window.

"I'm not eating these yucky tablets. I'm absolutely fine anyway." She continued her rant, "auntie... I'm going to cook Ibrahim's favourite dishes tonight." Mawra cut her off in the middle to distract her mind, which worked as a big wide grin was formed on Salika's face.

"That's amazing, want any help?" to which she shook her head in negative.

"I want to try this on my own. especially for him." a shy smile formed on her lips as her mother in law gave her a knowing look.

"You guys remind me so much of myself and Usmaan, ours was a love marriage though." Salika smiled dreamily making Mawra gape at her.

"Wow? Love marriage?"

"Yes, yes. Love. Your uncle, my senior in college was crazily in love with me and used to pester me every single day to marry him, he wanted it to be halal it seems." rolling her eyes, she continued, "I told him to ask my parents' permission when I realized how serious he was. My parents didn't agree sadly, but in all the pestering, I was mesmerized at his efforts and fell in love with him unknowingly. When my parents planned my marriage with someone else, Usmaan asked me if I wanted to marry him for the one last time and I know, it was now or never. I said yes. We eloped. Been living the life of my dreams ever since." Mawra was in awe of their love story.

"We patched up with my parents after Ameen's birth, so it's all fine now. Alhamdulillah!" Salika grinned happily. 

Mawra was amused. Her parents in law sure had a thrilling love story.

"I used to cook all his favourite dishes every day, just for him. Seeing you learn and cook for my son, reminded me of the good old days. May Allah bless you both, Aameen." Salika caressed her cheeks lovingly.

"Aameen!" Mawra smiled fondly at her.

***

The rest of the day went on with Mawra being excited for tonight and preparing the epic dinner and checking upon Salika for every half an hour. The dinner turned out pretty well, that's what Ameen said. She gave him some for taste testing and he enjoyed every bit of it and asked for more. Of course, she didn't give him.

"Thanks! It looks good now." Ameen also helped her fix the fairy lights on their garden's trees, under which she has planned the special dinner. Only after endless teasing, he agreed to help her out, her cheeks pained from smiling so much.

"Keep the leftover for me, bhabhi." he sighed as Mawra sets the bowls on the picnic table and then lightened the candles one by one.

"I will." she grinned.

"You can go now." Mawra clapped her hands excitedly, as she took a final look at the outcome of her efforts and sighed in contentment.

Ameen left while muttering something like lucky bhai.

Waiting for you, Mr CEO <3.

She sent him a text at nine p.m. and paced on the garden whilst wearing a blue coloured saree paired with diamond earrings, a gift from her mother in law. Salika said that she looked so mouth-watering and then winked at her, which got her blushing for solid five minutes straight. Her mother in law was too blunt sometimes.

Mawra was excited yet slightly annoyed, with every passing minute the annoyance only has increased and she lost her cool at ten p.m. and dialled his number but he did not pick her calls.

Ten turned into eleven and eleven turned into twelve, and twelve turned into one, but Ibrahim never came. Mawra gave up the hopes of him ever coming and asked the maid's help to take back the food to the refrigerator. She felt bad for waking her up at twelve, but there were lots of food. And she needed help in taking them back into the house.

"Thank you," she smiled gratefully at the lady and ran to her room, with tears in her eyes.

Throwing her earrings on her way, Mawra jumped on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to calm down a little bit, but couldn't stop herself from feeling disappointed. Tears welled up in her eyes, which she wiped off and yelled into the pillow letting out all her frustrations.

***

Ibrahim pulled into the garage and parked his car exhaustedly. He was done for the day, it was freaking two in the night. The stupid accounting staffs screwed things up and created problems during the unannounced audit. He was naturally held answerable for their mistakes and had to stay back to solve the issue. Thankfully, it was cleared but took a lot of time. He made sure to fire every single one of them after the auditing was done.

His eyes widened in realization as he walked past the garden. The fairy lights were still on and the table was yet to be removed. He checked his phone to see fifty missed calls from his wife.

"What have I done?" he groaned whilst running his hands through his hair.

Walking into his room, Ibrahim found her asleep. Tear marks were still fresh on her face and he couldn't help but feel like the worst husband ever.

His heart pricked to know that he was the reason behind her tears and she had to wait until late at night only to be disappointed. Not having the energy to change into something else, he removed his blazer and fell asleep on the office attire only. Even Marwa hasn't removed her saree. It hurt him a lot more knowing she has taken so many efforts and he has left down.

Mawra was deeply asleep by the time he came, for which he was glad somehow.

***

The next day arrived, and a yawn left her mouth as she woke up reluctantly and was shocked to find a huge teddy bear instead of her stupid husband on the bed.

The teddy looked so cute though.

A smile formed on her lips, but she wiped it off with a shake of her head and took the card which was attached to the bear with a frown, which automatically appeared as the events of last night played in her mind.

I'm sorry! :(

That's all, nothing else was written. It was like, he didn't make any efforts at all. Which made her angrier, that she crushed his card and threw it on the floor where her earrings and bangles were still lying.

Her eyes fell on the white box, filled with lots of chocolates, placed on the dressing table. She walked up to it with a small frown and rolled her eyes at another sorry note. After crushing that note and eating one chocolate, she looked around the room hoping to find something more. Something interesting.

Just as she searched, Mawra's eyes fell on a red envelope under the chocolate box, which she noticed only now. Curiously, she picked it up and her eyes widened as she opened it and read what it was.

I know you are still mad. Nothing can justify my actions of spoiling our date yesterday. I hope this can compensate somehow. We can go on so many dates here if you want that is. I hope you will forgive me :(

It said, along with was two tickets to Hawaii.

Mawra couldn't help but smile at the end. She knew what it was.

It was tickets to their pending honeymoon and the thought left her like a blushing mess when she was supposed to be mad at certain someone.

A gasp left her mouth as he sneaked from behind and back hugged her, placing his chin on her right shoulders. Mawra glared at him through the mirror as he muttered, "I'm sorry."

"You're not forgiven. But how long are we staying there?" the excitement was blatantly visible in her voice, which made Ibrahim smile in relief. He was happy that she's at least not sad over yesterday.

"Three weeks." Technically it was less, but for them, it was more than just enough. She tried to wriggle out of his arms, but he held her tightly.

"There was a problem during auditing," Ibrahim muttered apologetically and sensed her face change at its mention.

"Unannounced auditing?" she asked with surprise and he hummed in response, "I know, it still doesn't give me any permission to do what I did yesterday. I should have called and informed you. I'm sorry, Mawra. I will try and not repeat this again." Ibrahim eyed her through her mirror with his puppy eyes.

"You better don't." Mawra turned to face him, who was drowning in guilt. She knew he was sorry and didn't mean what he did. Her heart melted instantly.

"I forgive you, Ibrahim. I understand your situation. But please don't repeat it again." she asked with hopeful eyes and he nodded his head vigorously. Ibrahim didn't know that getting her forgiveness could be so easy.

"BUT" of course! He knew getting forgiven so easily was too good to be true.

"As a punishment to you, Ameen gets to eat all of my super delicious dishes today, I'll reheat it for him. You're not getting anything, not even a plate." She smiled evilly. Mawra has improved a lot with her cooking skills, thanks to Salika. And just the thought of missing out on her food, made him sulk.

"Really?" Ibrahim pouted sadly.

"You deserve it. I'm not giving you." Mawra grinned evilly as she ate another bar of chocolate, and he continued to sulk.

"Hey, brush your teeth first." he grabbed the half-eaten chocolate and threw it in his mouth to annoy her a little bit, which made her glare at him angrily.

"How dare you!" grabbing his face angrily, she came as though she'd snatch it from his mouth. Mawra did exactly that, but with the help of her mouth when he expected it to be her hands. Ibrahim's eyes widened in shock as she kissed him furiously whilst tasting all the chocolate inside and he kissed her back as passionately.

"You look good in this saree." He kissed her shoulders making her smile in between, "it's all messed up now." She replied with a small frown as he continued showering kisses near her neck.

"You're still not getting that food," Mawra muttered whilst panting softly, as her heart began to thump rapidly at an uneven pace.

"I'm sorry, Mawra." Ibrahim groaned, but she decided to be heartless for a day. He deserved it anyway.

But keeping everything aside, Mawra was so excited about this whole honeymoon trip. She remembered telling him about her lists of places, that she wanted to visit and Hawaii was one of them. She literally couldn't wait for it, and so was his case.

***

*An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon" It also attempts to ensure that the books of accounts are properly maintained by the concern as required by law. Auditing has become such a ubiquitous phenomenon in the corporate and the public sector that academics have started identifying an "Audit Society"

Auditors perceive and recognize the propositions before them examination, obtain evidence, evaluate the same and formulate an opinion on the basis of their judgement which is communicated through their auditing report.

Google to know more in detail, lol.