The whispers and murmuring stopped at once as a slap landed on someone's cheek. Gasps and shock filled the room as they all stared at Mawra with wide eyes.

"How dare you!" the woman growled at Mawra, with venom-filled eyes but was silenced with another hard slap.

"How much did I charge for a night huh?" Mawra clenched her fist tightly, stopping herself from not hitting this vile woman again. She never raised her hands on someone throughout her twenty-four years of life but the woman in front of her has provoked her in the worst way possible.

The freaking irony was, the lady who used religion card for accusing her of adultery was the one who used such disgusting words. Talk about double standards.

"Aren't you ashamed? Being a Muslim and judging someone without knowing anything?" Mawra spat with rage-filled eyes. The woman had no answer to that, as she rubbed her burning cheeks with tearful eyes. The slap was painful, no jokes.

There was only a pin drop of silence as everyone looked on, eyeing each other and then at her. She was glaring at all those commenters, with a clenched jaw.

"You bastard! I can't believe I was ever friends with you. I can't believe you've stooped so low. When did I ever say that I liked you, huh?" a punch was landed on Adnan's face as he stumbled back on his foot with wide eyes. For a girl, she punches damn hard.

"Be a man and learn to face rejection, Adnan. I was never interested in you. Neither in the past nor will I ever be. You know what... I'm going to teach you a freaking lesson. A good lesson which you'll never forget. You're fired! Get out of my sight." Mawra muttered with furious eyes, making his eyes go wide in shock because only he knew what power she actually held in this office.

Adnan never thought she'd go this far, all he expected was for her to break down. He intentionally said so many things to Zara knowing the news will definitely pass, hoping that it will break her down, it will cause her humiliation just like he faced that day. Not this punching and firing shit.

"The mistress gets the power to fire also, huh. Interesting." Zara rolled her eyes in disbelief, and now Mawra turned to her.

"Oh, Zara Khan. I'm firing your sorry a** for disrespecting your boss' wife and for trash talking about her."

Zara's face paled at the insult, she came forward to hit her angrily but was stopped, "I wouldn't do that If I were you. You're fired. Just leave before I do something worse." Mawra snapped at her whilst twisting her hands and pushing her away, which landed her on the floor with force.

Zara has never been so insulted before. What goes around, comes around after all.

The staffs were too shocked by hearing the word boss' wife to help Zara stand up. While she got up with a huff and threw daggers at Mawra.

"Boss' wife?" murmurs and whispers increased as everyone passed each other with curious, shocked looks.

"Yes! The CEO's wife, that's who I am." Mawra rolled her eyes as she declared her relationship with Ibrahim loudly, for everyone to hear.

She should have done this a long time ago. But learned her lesson in the hard way possible. This is going to be one of those incidents which Mawra will be regretting all her life. You learn from your mistakes and Mawra vowed to never let her fears get into her again. Because all of this was caused ultimately due to her fear of being subjected to office gossips.

Zara and everyone else except Adnan was left speechless for a second as they tried to process everything. 

"Why should we believe you?" a guy raised his brows with a smug look on his face.

Mawra glared at him, "Don't believe me then. But you're fired too." The guy could only gape.

"The reason why I never wanted to disclose this was because of the exact same reason. Just because you all have a mouth, you can't talk trash all the time. Sometimes do consider what the other person might be feeling. There's a limit for everything but you all," pointing to ones who have commented on her character, Mawra continued, "have crossed it today. I'm firing you, all the fifteen of you."

"Anyone else who will talk about my relationship with Ibrahim will also be facing the same situation. It will be good if you guys can mind your own damn business for once in your life."

"I want you people to leave in fifteen minutes or else the security will be dragging you all outside." Mawra eyed them hatefully and walked away from there only to get bumped on that familiar figure, whose arms caught her safely.

That familiar scent almost left her in tears.

The moment she landed in his arms, all the feelings and hurt which she has suppressed within herself were beginning to break down. All those disgusting words and judging eyes were beginning to haunt her. She felt suffocated and worn out.

"Ibrahim..." she called his name in a whisper, as she looked up at him, with hurt filled eyes.

The house documents required her signatures for formality sake and Ibrahim had to come back in midway. He thought of surprising her when the whole process was done but the formalities flopped his plan, which got him pretty annoyed.

But what surprised him most was the sight in front of him. He has never seen his wife so broken before. She cried at times, but this was something beyond those tears. The way she's looking at him with those hurt filled eyes and shaking hands, Ibrahim was scared.

"What happened?" he demanded her worryingly. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

The strong demeanour which Mawra put in front of everyone was replaced with her broken self because now she knows her husband is going to be there for her. She need not have to fight them alone, but their hurtful words stung her heart and she bursts out crying in his arms, hugging him tightly, in front of all those staffs.

Feeling helpless and worried, Ibrahim looked at his staffs, who were watching the scene with wide curious eyes, "Will anyone tell me what happened? Why's my wife crying like this?"

Hearing the word wife, everyone gasped. Some of them who didn't believe Mawra before had to accept the fact their boss was married to his assistant. Fear overtook their emotions as they eyed their colleagues for help, "sir... this guy and that lady." pointing towards Adnan and Zara, a manager confessed, "spread a rumour that Mawra madam is having an affair with you and few commented nasty things about her character." It took him a lot of courage to utter those words and gulped when his boss' eyes turned red. Anger clearly visible in them.

Mawra couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes at the sudden respect she's getting just because of her newfound status. It was why she wanted to hide their marriage in the first place, while Ibrahim's blood boiled with rage as soon as the words left his mouth, "how...

His words were cut short by his wife, who whispered, "I fired them. 15 of them" He looked down at her with amusement, as she continued hugging him tightly. Her tears stopped slowly, which was a little relief.

But did he hear it right or was he hallucinating? Ibrahim was not sure, although he felt so damn proud of her for showing those idiots their right places. He knew how she was so against his habit of firing staffs unwantedly and can see how far things have gone which made him feel terrible for not being there for her and protect her.

"Great... Whoever was fired can leave this building in five minutes or I'll make sure that you'll never find another job in this country." they all sprinted out as soon as he uttered those words.

Zara and Adnan passed each other deathly glares as they walked out of the canteen, blaming one another for the happenings but it was their behaviour that resulted in their downfall. Ibrahim gave them a pointed look and made a mental note to not let them live in peace at least for some more months.

Nobody hurts his wife and gets away with it.

"The rest of you... Go and have your lunch. This should be the last time something like this is happening in my office. Leave." he dispersed them with a shake of his hand and broke the hug, staring down at her, "let's go up to my cabin." she nodded her head slowly and walked along with him as he held her hands in his.

With him, Mawra felt protected and safe. She has nothing to worry about for he's always going to be there for her. She placed her head on his shoulders as soon as they entered his special elevator without caring about what others in the office will think for the first time and it felt so good.

"I'm so proud of you." Ibrahim cupped her face as he made her sit on his chair, a small smile formed on his lips.

"You stood up for yourself and taught them a great lesson." he kissed her forehead lovingly, as she shut her eyes and a drop of tear rolled down her cheeks, which he kissed away softly.

"They don't deserve your tears. Now I know why you wanted to hide our marriage. People are so annoying." Ibrahim scoffed in displeasure as he leaned on the computer table, facing her. She raised her head to gaze at him, with a blank look.

"They'd have talked, either way, it was my mistake. I should have listened to you." Mawra whispered sadly, but he shook his head.

"I  was going to announce it this Saturday, but never mind. Forget it ever happened. We just had a nice break, and I don't want you to spoil your mood for those irrelevant people. Cheer up. Let's go out and have a quick lunch." the way he said, there was no room left for arguments and she got up reluctantly.

Maybe going out for some time can be helpful. Mawra thought with a sigh and followed him behind, who held her hands tightly once again; as though she'd be lost if he left them for even a second.

It was his habit, which he developed during their Hawaii trip. Ibrahim said, if he'd let her go, she might get lost somewhere as it was a new place. At first, she just laughed thinking he was only joking but he stood by his words and he proved her wrong.

It was so annoying yet so damn cute.

Her poor heart couldn't handle his sweetness. He was too good to be true, just like those heroes of her books. Mawra's heart skipped a beat at that thought.

"What are you thinking?" Ibrahim's words snapped her back to reality and she looked around and smiled at him shyly, "wait... let me guess. With that smile on your face, I bet you were thinking about me."

"Don't be so full of yourself."

Mawra's face turned crimson as she tried opening the car door, but he opened it for her instead. It felt good to openly be affectionate on the office premises.

They came in the same car all these days, she didn't ask him to drop her few blocks away like promised. Which was another big reason for the rumour of their said affair to spread widely. Mawra was too busy with her work to observe that in the beginning, with Adnan passing her weird glances, she stopped visiting the canteen most of the time and she hardly interacts with any other staff after that day, her work hours were confined to Ibrahim only. Their absence of three continuous weeks has created so much more drama.

Somewhere deep down she knew it was bound to happen. Ibrahim was anyways going to announce their wedding after the honeymoon trip this week. But the damage was caused already and Mawra had no one but herself to blame for all of this. They were glad to put a complete full stop to it though.

Ibrahim placed a kiss on her cheeks as he leaned in and tied her seat belt, making her blush deep red. His actions made sure that she forgets the previous incident and she did.

***

"I don't want, Ibrahim... Please, I'm not hungry." Mawra whined as he stopped in front of a restaurant but she was adamant about not having anything. It actually shocked him when she agreed to go out so easily after the chaos in the office.

Ibrahim sighed knowing it was useless arguing with her and said, "at least have a cup of coffee. You'll love it here." his eyes were hopeful and she didn't feel like letting him down, so nodded her head making him grin.

They bought the coffee and came to the park opposite the restaurant, Mawra looked at her surroundings keenly; few happy couples, friends, families, older people, kids... So many were busy in their own world, while she was lost in her thoughts.

Their hands were intertwined tightly as they sat on an empty bench. The coffee was placed in between their legs.

"You're overthinking. Drink this. It will cheer you up, hopefully." Ibrahim lifted her cup and fed her slowly with his other hand, which she sipped with a small smile on her lips.

"You're being too sweet." She took the mug in her hands and started drinking it herself with a shake of her head.

Ibrahim winked at her, "Only to my family, and from them ever since the day I signed the nikah nama, you're a vital part of it."

She was his family now and he felt the need to remind her every now and then.

Mawra's heart fluttered at his words as she stared at him with dreamy eyes, "stop looking at me like that, biwi. I don't promise to control myself." he added cheekily, which caused her to blush.

There was a comfortable silence as they sat relaxed-ly and enjoyed the coffee, Mawra placed her head on his shoulders when she was done and watched children play around the park.

After their conversation, she wasn't hating children so much anymore, surprisingly. A smile formed on her lips at that thought. Maybe she was just being unreasonably stupid all along.

"Mawra...Isn't that your sister?"

"What is she doing here, alone with your brother?"

They stared at each other wide-eyed, and then at their siblings only to be shocked. It wasn't imagination after all.