The sound of alarm ringing for Fajr, pulled me out of my deep slumber. Slowly and carefully, I loosened my hold on her and switched off the alarm. After turning on the lamp, I went back to face her. Her hair was covering half of her face, while she let out short and even breaths.

'Even in sleep, she looks like an angel.' I thought, my eyes wandering to her hand clutching at the front of my shirt, absentmindedly in sleep. For the past month, we had been sleeping together in my room; eversince the last time she had come here to sleep.

I knew that she still didn't fully trust me, but it was comforting to know that she was willing to give us a shot and was gradually letting me in through the barriers of her heart.

Peering down at her face, I couldn't help but smile. My one arm was wrapped around the small of her back, so I brought my free hand to brush away the hair falling on her face. This made her quiver and a slight frown appeared between her eyes. These days even her slightest actions seemed to amuse me. The more I found out about her quirks, the deeper I fell in love with her. It made me feel like the luckiest man to have her in my life. I hoped I could try and appreciate her more.

Before realising it, I had bent down to place a soft lingering kiss on her cheek. Yet, it was only enough to get a moan out of her. Despite myself, I chuckled. Still not willing to give up, I continued trailing soft kisses on her temple, eyes and nose. But before I could reach lower, she woke up with a sigh; only to close her eyes with a slight groan.

"Wake up, sweetheart—" I murmured against her ear and brushed a kiss on her neck; earning a moan in response.

"Zai—wake up, my fair love—" I moved away to tug a stray strand behind her ear, only for her to snuggle closer and hide her face in my chest. Smiling at her cuteness, I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes with my chin resting on top of her head.

"Zaira—honey, sweet darling—Please wake up? It's time for Fajr." I returned softly, placing a kiss on her hair. For a moment, I could only inhale in her fragrance, until she finally pulled away and cracked her eyes to meet my gaze. There was nothing but sleep etched on her face, yet, she managed a small smile and nodded at me, before letting go of my sweater.

Placing a final kiss on her forehead, I let her go.

———————————

After coming back from jog that I would go for right after praying, I would buy her a rose from the shop next to our house. It was a daily routine that I had picked up from Gramps. Mum mentioned once that Dad used to do the same for her. I guess he got it from Gramps as well.

"Zai—I am leaving." I called out while putting on my shoes and caught her coming towards me with my lunch. I never thought I needed lunches, until she started packing me some. Don't think I have ever liked any food more than this, before. Mum would usually be too busy to pack me lunch. So, I had always unconsciously envied the kids who brought lunches to school. It might not feel like a big deal but I appreciated and liked it more than anything.

"I'll pick you after Academy, today." I continued while getting up; taking the brown paper bag from her hand and stuffing it in my bag. Her response came in confused raised brows.

"But you get off later than me—" Her voice trailing as she followed me to the door.

"No court today, thankfully. Also, since it's friday, I thought we could hang out later." I shot her a grin, while slinging my bag over my shoulder. Her response came in a shy smile, and she averted her gaze towards her hands which were clutching at the hem of her shirt, nervously. I had by now picked up on most of her habits. One of them was this and the other was chewing on her lower lips when at a loss of words.

"My goodbye kiss?" I began with a teasing smile and clutched her hands in mine, tugging her towards me. Immediately, her eyes shot up to mine, widened in surprise. I shot her a sly grin and bent down to her face. Pretending not to notice the blush creeping up her cheeks, I continued my torture. It baffled and all the same, pleased me immensely; watching her burn with shyness, despite the consistency of my gestures.

'Really—how could any man not fall in love with this beautiful woman standing right here in front of me.'

Still not willing to meet my eyes, she bit on her lips one final time, before standing up on her tiptoes. With a gulp, she placed a peck on my cheek and immediately pulled away to stare into my eyes, embarrassed. Chuckling at her never changing response, I brought up her hands in my grasp and placed a light kiss on top of her fingers; finally willing to bid her goodbye.

——————————-

I was waiting for her outside her academy, where she was going since the last few weeks in preparation of her medical licensing exam. That's when my gaze caught a limping Zaira coming out with support of a girl. Immediately, I got out of the car and dashed towards her.

"Zaira—! What—" I began to panic after pulling her towards my self, supporting her with my arms wrapped around her protectively. Her face flushed at this, who looked away from me to catch the snickers of her friends.

"I—Rayyan—it's fine—I am not—" She said slowly while pulling away from my clutches only for me to pull her against myself again. Taking her face in my hands, I gave her a one over; with my gaze finally landing on her bandaged, shoeless foot. Before, I could continue my inquiry, some guy ran up to her and interrupted.

"I am so sorry, Zaira—Really, I didn't mean to drop those books—" He addressed her with a panicked look on his face. My expressions hardened and I almost let go of Zaira to land a punch on his face but stopped when I saw the horrified look on her face, who was now gaping from me to him.

"Stop it Mehrab—! I have told you it wasn't your fault. Rayyan, it's nothing, really—I am fine. Everyone's just making a big deal—I wasn't looking where I was going—You know, how absentminded I can be, right—" She rambled on with quivering lips, eyes darting between me and that guy, as she clutched at my wrists—practically begging me to not create a scene, here. Barely able to gulp down my anger, I picked her in my arms; earning a shriek from her and a squeal from her friends. Not caring to look back, until I had finally seated her in the car and drove away.

"Rayyan—Are you very mad at me?" I heard her ask in a small and quivering voice. Feeling my grasp tightening on the steering wheel, I turned to her with a hard face.

"I am not mad at you, sweetheart. I am sorry you felt that I were—" My voice trailed off towards the end, while I returned my attention to the road. Few moments passed before she finally said another word.

"But—you're angry." As the signal turned red, I turned to find her looking downcast with tears in her eyes. With a sigh, I wiped away the tears streaking her cheeks. She looked up with those wide, hopeful eyes and I felt my anger dissipating.

"Only because you look like such an easy person to fool. You're too kind for your own good—" I couldn't complete my sentence because the light turned green and I had to pull away, but also because she cut me off.

"That's not true—! I got the highest marks in mock test even today! You're the only one who thinks that I am dumb—!" She grumbled with a pout, folding her hands on her chest and I couldn't help but smile at this.

"I didn't mean—" I tried clarifying but she didn't allow me to; gaining some confidence that I had calmed down.

"You really over reacted, you know. Scared poor Mehrab. Everyone must be thinking you're so scary now—scared me too—" She added the last part in a small voice.

"I am very sorry for scaring you. I really didn't mean to, love. But that guy is not poor, in any regard—" I felt the muscles of my neck tightening once again.

"It really was an honest mistake—Even I could've done it, Rayyan—" She tried to reason, but I didn't let her finish.

"I don't mean just this incident. Ever since you've joined the academy, he keeps calling and trying to make a move on you. If you didn't stop me, I would've bashed—" I almost swore when a car came in from the wrong side.

"Oh please Rayyan. Now you're just getting wild. It's because I am Pakistani too and the smartest, obviously. You're feeling jealous for no reason. I am married and he knows—" Before she could complete, I turned to glare at her sharply, which made her clamp her mouth shut.

"You are too naive. You don't know how men think—" I remarked coldly and earned a groan from her.

"Okay. Now you're just making things up, Rayyan." She returned tired with a shake of head, turning away from me to face the window.

I didn't know how to explain it to her. As far as I knew Zaira, she would never believe something if she didn't want to. No one could make her change her mind. Not easily, atleast. But surely enough, I knew how to work around that.

"Alright. I won't say anymore but just for my peace of mind, can you please limit interactions with him? Please, Zai? I love you?" I gave her my most doe-eyed look. If there was one way to make her listen to anything—literally anything, it was emotional blackmailing. Zaira wasn't aware but it was very easy to make her do something. It was my trump card and I would never use it if it didn't involve her own well being.

Surely enough, her features softened and she relented with a soft sigh.

"Fine. I won't. I already don't talk to him, unless he comes to me with some query. But from now on I'll tell him to stop doing that too. Since you don't like it—" she returned to pouting and I could almost kiss her at her naiveness.

Really, she is such an easy person to fool.

——————————————

I was in the kitchen preparing hot cocoa for her, when I heard her get up from the couch and come behind me.

"Stay seated. Your foot still hurts." I called out, glancing at her from the corner of my eyes. For one second only, guilt dawned on her face and she moved away towards the dining table, pulling out a chair to sit.

"Since I am sick—Do I get extra choco?" I heard her call out from behind me and almost chuckled out loud. Few moments later, I heard the chair sliding and her unbalanced steps. Sneakily, she moved towards the counter. I had no idea why, but she thought it was a bright idea to sit up on the counter top, in her state.

With an exhausted sigh, I turned around to catch a sheepish grin on her face.

"You are all trouble." I remarked with a shake of head, picking her up easily enough and putting her down on the marble stone. My hands were still holding onto her waist whilst she clutched at my shoulders in support. But gazing into her eyes, I couldn't help but wonder.

I love her so much that it scares the hell out of me. Yet, calms my soul at the same time. Is  this what love is? A total contradiction that somehow balances out—?

And before I could come up with an answer, my lips had pressed against hers in a willing kiss, as her arms came up to wrap around my neck.

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