FOURTEEN

❝Meray kaan mein cancer ho jaye ga❞

Aayan stopped walking as they reached the familiar place and turned around to see his wife coming to a halt in front of him. She raised a questioning brow and he put his tongue in cheek, his caramel eyes darting to his right before setting back on her. He watched as she followed his gaze and snapped her head back to give him a glare.

“Are you for real?” she asked angrily. Aayan passed her an innocent look.

“Please?”

“Shut up! Kal ek paun khrab krwaya hai, aj dusra bhi krwana hai?” (You got one foot injured yesterday, are you planning on getting the other one wounded too?)

His shoulders slumped.

“Fine.” he swiveled on his feet and continued on the way, ignoring the urge to jump into the lake like yesterday.

His wife was such a spoil sport.

The trees were getting thicker as they went on and he looked around, admiring the scenery. If they weren't stranded here, Aayan would've enjoyed this place to the fullest.

“Hey, I found something.” Ifrah's voice called from the back and he swirled around to see her standing near some bushes. He came to stand beside her as she leaned over to inspect the shrubs.

Ifrah moved her hand to grab a berry but Aayan quickly caught it in a strong grip, preventing her from touching it. Her head snapped in his direction.

“What the eff are you doing?” she asked irritably.

Aayan pulled her back from the leaning position and let go of her hand before replying with a frown.

“What are you doing? They can be poisonous.”

Her heart fluttered at his concern but she rolled her eyes none the less.

“I'm not that stupid, okay? These are blueberries.” she said pointing towards the bush.

The raven haired guy squinted at the fruit before glancing at his wife. “You sure?”

Ifrah groaned and quickly plucked some from the bush before raising her hand towards him. “Kabhi zindagi mein khai hon tou pata ho.” (You would've known if you ever tasted them in your life.)

Aayan's eyes narrowed at her.

“I have, for your kind information. What if they just look like them and are actually something else?”

He had a point.

But she wasn't going to admit it.

“We'll see.” she plucked a few more and took out a tissue paper from her bag before wrapping them in it. She was tired of eating bananas. If they can't find a way out, better collect some food on the way.

Aayan shook his head and started walking again. She followed him after sticking her tongue out at his back, because she couldn't do anything else.

What a shame.

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“We're only getting older, baby. And I've been thinking about you lately... ”

Aayan clenched his jaw when he heard her singing once again. She'd been doing this for the past half an hour, while taking short breaks before singing a new song.

He didn't mind it at first. After all, she was only trying to not get bored, right? But why does it have to be a freaking One Direction song every single time?!

“Will you please stop that?” he said while turning on his feet, startling her for a moment before she threw him a mean look.

“Do you have a problem with my singing, now?” she crossed her arms over her chest.

“No, I just have a problem with that stupid band whose songs you're singing. Don't you know any other?”

Was he being serious right now?!

Ifrah's glare intensified. “Meri marzi jo marzi gaun mein.” (I will sing whatever I want.)

“Meray kaan mein cancer ho jaye ga. Ek to awaz kawway jaisi, uper se gana bhi chavlon wala.” (I'll get cancer in my ears. Your voice matches a crow's and to top it off, the song is stupid too.) he said with his expression matching hers.

Ifrah gave out a loud, horrified gasp.

“What did you just say?!” she was officially angry now, and stomped her way to stand in front of him. “Take back your words!”

Aayan lowered his head to come on her eye level and said very slowly; “I won't.”

He then spun on his heels and started walking, leaving his wife with her face burning red with anger.

“You're such a piece of burnt wood! You hear me?!” she screamed after him.

“I didn't know monkeys could speak nowadays!” he replied in a loud voice, not caring to turn around. Ifrah's chest flared. How dare he?

She took a few deep breaths but her anger wasn't fading away. This man has problem with everything she does! Was she not even allowed to sing to get her mind off of things?

Well, he can go fall in a ditch if it bothers him that much.

Ifrah followed him with a new found determination, and started singing What Makes You Beautiful.

Aayan was pretty content that she would stop it now, but his happy thoughts screeched to a halt when her stupid voice reached his ears once again.

“Everyone else in the room can see it! Everyone else but you!”

Oh God! She was being louder this time on purpose.

“Shut the fück up!” he roared.

Ifrah flinched at his sudden outburst. But she wasn't scared. If anything; she was actually satisfied.

“Why are you so bothered by it anyway?” she asked with genuine confusion.

Aayan ground his teeth. “It's stupid, that's why. Girls go mental over those British dudes, and you're among those crazy chicks.”

This was the second time Ifrah gasped.

“How can you be so disrespectful? You just called me a chick! Tameez ghaas khany gai hai tumhari?” (Have your manners went grazing?) she scowled at him.

The raven haired guy pinched the bridge of his nose before staring at her again. “Don't mess with me, I'm really not in the mood.”

He left her there, and she followed him while constantly glaring at the back of his head. If she's lucky, she can burn a hole through it with the intensity. They walked silently for a few minutes before a thought appeared in Ifrah's mind all of a sudden and her mouth went slightly ajar.

Of course! How can she forget?

An evil smile adorned her lips as the memory played in her mind. She snickered to herself before looking at him again.

“I remembered something.”

Aayan's shoulders went stiff, but be kept walking. He really hoped that it wasn't what he was thinking. When she saw that he had ignored her, she tried again.

“You used to be jealous of Harry Styles, right?”

Damn it!

“I wonder why... ” she mockingly tapped her chin before snapping her fingers. “Oh yeah! Because I had a crush on him.”

Aayan stopped.

He slowly turned on his feet and looked at her with a straight expression. “I wasn't jealous of anybody.”

Ifrah suppressed a smile. “You sure? Because I clearly remember you saying that you will kil— ”

A surprised yelp escaped her lips when she found herself trapped in his arms in the next moment and stared at the caramel pools of her husband's eyes.

He was so close.

“W-what are you doing?” her voice came out strained. Aayan only moved his face to her left ear, his nose burning her skin where it skimmed past, causing goosebumps to rise all over her body.

“Can that pop singer hold you like this?” he asked in a whisper, sending chills down her spine.

“Or do this... ” he asked in the same tone before pressing his lips on her jaw ever so softly. Ifrah's eyes went wide. He returned his face to stare in her eyes again. “No, right? So, tell me, babe... why would I be jealous?”

Who were they talking about, again?

He let go of her and took some steps back while straightening his shirt. He looked up at her and his heart flipped when he caught her round eyed and completely flushed state, but ignored it and said; “I told you to not mess with me.”

Aayan swiveled on his feet as Ifrah's hand flew up to rest over her wildly beating heart.

What the fudge just happened?!

Her cheeks were on fire and her right hand involuntarily went up to touch the place on her jaw where...

She clenched her eyes shut.

Breathe, idiot, breathe!

Picture of her husband standing right in front of her reappeared in her mind and her hazel eyes flew open. It wasn't a dream.

It was an actual nightmare!

She rubbed her face with both hands while gathering her senses and scowled at the ground.

Gadha na ho tou!

She ground her teeth and took some deep breaths before following after him.

It was partially her fault, too, that he reacted like that. But that doesn't mean it was right!

She would keep her distance from him, now.

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Another day had gone fruitless, and now both had returned to the hut. Aayan had collected some dry branches on the way along with some coconuts they found on the ground. The favourable part being that they were hairy ones; they could use the skin to start fire.

Both of them didn't speak a word after that small scenario.

While Ifrah was irritated with what happened, Aayan couldn't remove her scent of lavenders from his senses. It was fogging up his mind and making his heart go crazy.

And he fücking hated and liked it at the same time.

He was setting the sticks near the small window and looked over his shoulder to see his wife sitting in the corner with her arms wrapped around her knees. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“Can you get the lighter from the outer pocket of my bag?”

Ifrah frowned. When did he start keeping a lighter? She wordlessly moved over to grab his bag and opened the outer pocket. A lighter was placed in there.

She would've been okay with it if her eyes didn't catch the pack of cigarettes behind it.

Ifrah's whole body went cold.

Were her eyes deceiving her?

“What's taking you so long? It's in the outer— ” he cut off as if remembering something and hastily turned around after letting go of the sticks.

He came to sit beside her and practically snatched the lighter from her hand before closing the bag's zipper. Ifrah was sitting there completely frozen.

“You... smoke?” she asked in a quiet voice, disgust dripping from her tone, and Aayan cringed.

He stood up from there, but his wife's eyes were fixed on him. He avoided them as he replied.

“None of your business.”

Aayan made his way back to the window but Ifrah had also stood up by now, and she was full on seething.

“It is my business!” she yelled. “Have you forgotten about nanu? He died of lung cancer, Aayan!”

“I fücking know that, okay?!” he snapped, making her look at him in disbelief.

“Then why the hell you have that killing pack in your bag?!”

“As I said before; none of your business!”

She felt like crying now. It was not the Aayan she'd grown up with. He was a lot of things, but he never touched stuff like cigarettes and alcohol.

Oh God, what if he was using the latter too?

Her head spinned as horrible images started appearing in her mind and she placed her hand on the wall to support herself. Aayan's expression morphed into a worried one as he stepped towards her but she threw him a look full of disgust, making his heart drop to his stomach all of a sudden.

“Don't you dare come near me.” she stated.

Aayan swallowed a huge lump in his throat while his hands clenched and unclenched into fists. Something cracked in him when she turned her gaze away from his face, like she couldn't bare the sight of him, and he felt like the hut was too small for him to breathe.

So, he grabbed his backpack from the floor in a haste and ran out, not bothering to look back even for a second.

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N O T E

You guys:

I absolutely hate smokers btw 🙂

I was sitting, minding my own business when this parody came in my mind;

Hum tum ek island pe gum hon

Or kashti kho jaye

LMAO X 1000000

And I was like; where the eff did that come from?! I've always found the original song wahiyat tbh so it was an absolute shocker 🤧

(P.s the author hasn't listened to the full song, just the line that matches the above parody lol)

Peace out 🤘🏻