I was just getting ready to go downstairs for breakfast, when Rayyan came in. He had left somewhere after waking me up and I assumed he had went down before me. However, seeing the bouquet of roses in his one hand and a paper bag in the other, made me realize my mistake.

"Rayyan—" I couldn't finish while taking the flowers from his hand. He didn't say anything but sat down on the bed with a small smile.

"14 roses for the 14 days, I have been apart from you—" He began softly, gazing at me lovingly while I could only gawk him abashed through heat creeping up my cheeks and an uneven heartbeat.

'Ya Allah—! This man is such a natural Casanova—He doesn't even realise the effect his irresponsible actions have on poor, weak hearted girls like me—'

"What's in that—-?" I said instead with a gulp; reaching for the confectionary bag that was sitting idly besides him on the bed. However, before I could get my hands on it, he pulled it away from my reach.

"—You're not having this, until you eat a proper breakfast and drink your date milkshake—" He remarked easily with a reproving look which caused a displeased frown to form between my eyes.

Slowly, I began to shrink away from him and just when he seemed to have bought my act, I lunged for it; only to have him pull it away from my reach.

"Rayyan—! I don't like eating that—It makes me nauseous—!" I remarked exasperated, once again attempting in vain to reach for the bag, which he had shifted far away from my reach, on other end of the bed.

"Zai. It's either choco or me—" He warned in a matter of fact tone and with a gasp, I jerked away from him in shock.

"Rayyan—! You can't make me choose between you two!" I exclaimed horrified but my outburst seemed to amuse him, as he tried to stifle his smile, before gently taking my hands in his warm hold.

"Zai, sweetheart—It really shouldn't be that much of a hard pick—" He cooed softly, while tugging back a stray strand of hair behind my ear. I glared at him through this with a pout, which quickly changed into a sheepish grin, when I began to pull away from his grasp. His mouth fell open at my choice and for a moment, he could only gape at me speechless.

"You—you chose—choco over me??" He inquired shocked but I didn't say anything to that; instead crept around the bed to pick up my bag.

"It's your fault—You shouldn't have made me choose—" I remarked with a shrug while holding up the bag to my chest before turning to watch him sitting slumped on the edge of the bed, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.

"I can't believe I lost to chocolate—" I heard him mutter under his breath which caused me to bite down on my lips to stop my smile. Ditching the bag, I went over to him and still beaming, I sat down on his lap before throwing my arms around his neck. Placing a small kiss on his either cheeks, I began in a small voice.

"I'll choose you every single time—Even with my eyes closed—" I murmured softly while peering into his eyes with a loving look. Immediately his eyes lit up at this, until I started again.

"Except, when it comes to choco—" I chuckled and before I could finish, I was rendered useless, when he pinned me down under him on the bed and started to tickle me.

"Ahh! I was kidding—I swear—You—I'll choose you—!!" I managed to say between fits of laughter but he didn't spare me, until Haniya had barged in.

"Zaira! It's an emergency—Gosh, RB—please continue your romance later—I need to steal Zaira, right now—" She remarked quickly while dragging me away from him, who was shooting her death glares.

"Hani! What about knocking first?" He glowered but she wasn't hearing any of it.

"Yes, yes RB—Lock the door next time, please—" She returned without missing a beat and for once, I was glad to be away from him.

"Zaira—! Breakfast—" I heard him shout, before the door had closed on him. I was listening to Haniya's emergency, which had something to to do with the decor mishap of the Dholki event tonight; when going down the hallway, I was stopped by an unpleasant sight.

Accidentally my eyes fell on him, who was coming our way with the guard. Immediately, I averted my gaze with a scorn.

"Zaira—" He called out, when we had passed him and I reluctantly stopped in my tracks but didn't turn around. Though, I didn't need to because he had come to stand in front of me.

"Zaira—Will you give me a chance to apologise?" He began but I looked away, from his pleading gaze; gritting my teeth in restrained anger.

"About the pictures and everything else—I—" Instead of hearing the end of his explanation, I cut him off.

"Don't you think, you are apoloising to the wrong person?" I returned in a levelled tone, the muscles of my neck tightening as I turned to leave with a curt nod, not waiting to hear his response.

As per his promise, Rayyan had convinced Dad to let Harris bhai attend Haniya's wedding. However, it came with a few conditions. Harris bhai would be under surveillance of a guard 24/7, until the wedding ends and the guard would alternate duty with another, so that there wouldn't be a single moment that he was left by himself. Apart from this, he would sign an agreement with Dad, Uncle Zia and Uncle Zubair as witnesses, that if anything happened to me or Rayyan under any circumstances then it's sole responsibility would automatically fall on Harris bhai.

Uncle Zia was enraged about the whole thing, but there wasn't anything he could do, when Harris bhai himself agreed to it all.

All this made me realise something. The reason why Uncle Zia went so far as to oust Rayyan from his company was only because he thought Rayyan really had it in him to be a competition to them—if he ever felt upto it. Despite the fact that he should only be a kid in their eyes.

And no matter how much Uncle Zia and Harris bhai tried to portray him otherwise—They still couldn't manage to change people's heart to hate Rayyan—

Ever since we were kids, Rayyan had always been the object of curiosity for everyone. Not just the fact that he was only half Pakistani—It was more to do with the charisma he possessed, that made everyone feel intrigued about him.

However, that still wasn't the reason why everyone listened to his every word and obeyed it as his wish. It wasn't fear either, because fear could yield obedience but not respect and it was respect and love that Rayyan received from them—That was the only reason that Ahmed, Ismail, Haniya among others; even my own Dad listened to him and went overboard for him.

I learned from Rayyan, that love and respect couldn't be ordained—it needed to be earned. By caring for people, going above and beyond for them and loving and forgiving them, no matter what they did; solely because that was the right thing to do.

And verily, respect and honour is only in Allah's hands and He grants it to whomever He wills.

————————————-

I turned to my side in sleep and unconsciously reached out for him.

However, on not finding him there, I felt myself rousing from sleep, too. The room was still enveloped in darkness and on checking the time on my phone, I realized it was just an hour after midnight.

With a sigh, I closed my eyes again.

'Maybe he's in the washroom—' I thought, suppressing a yawn.

We had only just gone to bed after the end of dholki a few hours ago. I continued to wait for him to return for a long while, until finally I had decided to get up and check for myself; all signs of sleep disappearing from my eyes.

There was no sign of him in the room and even his phone was left on the side table, so he couldn't have gone out to take a call. Having these thoughts started to make me a little panicked, even without intending to.

Trying to ward off these thoughts, I stepped out of the room to look for him and ended up coming to the courtyard from where I could hear sounds of chatter. I knew all of the cousins must've gathered together for some late night banter session and if I couldn't find him anywhere else, then I knew for sure that he would be here. And I wasn't wrong.

He was laughing at some story that Usman was telling everyone and it took him a moment to notice me, after Haniya had called me out.

"Oh! Look RB, Zaira is here!"

His face had lit up even before his gaze could find mine, in a warm smile. The unexpected eye contact made my heart skip a beat and cheeks flush with a sudden rush of embarrassment. I found myself shying away from his gaze with a bashful smile, which I tried to hide by biting down on my lips. I tried to avert my gaze to Haniya, who was still going on about it.

"Do you know how bad I had to bully him to make him leave the room—" Haniya was crackling up, who was in no time joined by everyone else too. And by everyone I meant some 14-16 people sitting around the bonfire.

Not paying any attention to their jokes, I kept my head down, whilst walking up to where Rayyan was seated on the bench with Ahmed.

"Hmm?" On noticing my presence over his head, Ahmed looked up at me questioningly, while I continued to glower down at him through a frown. It took him a moment to realise it but he still continued to gawk me blankly. Exasperated by his slow response, I raised both my brows at him and at this, his smile finally faltered.

For an awkwardly long moment, he stared at me puzzled before turning his gaze to Rayyan sitting beside him, who was in vain trying to hide his smile by covering it with the back of his fingers.

"Ah—! Oh! You should come sit here Bhaabi, I can go there—" He started with an awkward chuckle and got up to let me have his seat, which I took not-so-gratefully, with a shake of head.

Slumping down beside him, I immediately made myself comfortable by snuggling close to him, as he brought an arm to wrap around my shoulder and pulled me against himself.

"You shouldn't be out of bed." He murmured softly against the top of my head; while his fingers gently tugged back the stray hair falling on my face behind my ear. I listened to him groggily, with my hands itching to clutch at the front of his shirt.

"You weren't there when I woke up." I slowly whispered, listening to Haniya and Ahmed bickering back and forth, with half an ear. Nearly all of my attention focussed on relishing in the soft caresses that his thumb was brushing against the side of my neck.

"Do you want me to get you hot cocoa?" He cooed softly but I only shook my head against his side.

"Mm. Don't feel like it." I hummed in response. My eyes already shutting; drinking in his warmth.

"—She went out like a light. LOL—" I heard Aleena say and immediately my eyes snapped open.

"—I think RB, Zaira won't go to sleep without you—She's like a baby. Can't believe you guys are going to have a baby of your own—" Haniya's words made me look up at him with a sad pout. I didn't realise I had fallen asleep on his chest and my hand had somehow went up to clutch at the front of his shirt. At this, he softly chuckled before nudging my forehead with his.

"Ugh! I think if Hammad could love me even half as much as this then I could be satisfied!But I highly doubt that—No one can manage this except you two—MashaAllah!" Haniya whined and I began to pull away from Rayyan slowly and sadly, before sitting up straight in my seat. My embarrassed gaze fixated to my hands in my lap, while still in Rayyan's safe embrace.

'Ya Allah! I can't believe I used to make fun of those couples who were always glued to each other—When now, I just can't imagine ever getting enough of him! Astaghfirullah! That's why they say that you shouldn't talk big and pass judgment on things you don't have sufficient knowledge of!'

I scolded myself while suppressing a yawn, until Rayyan excused us both and I reluctantly but contentedly went back to bed with him.

Continued in the next part☺️