TWENTY THREE

❝I'm not a typical husband❞

Ifrah grumpily went out of the lake with a stomp in her feet as Aayan's loud laugh boomed across the area. It made her stomach flip but she was too annoyed with him to admire his laugh.

Or any other quality.

“Wait!” he called out but she was already making her way to the slope. She wanted to get away from him. They've been drowning each other in water for a long time anyway.

Aayan immediately broke into a run when he saw that she wasn't listening and grabbed the back of her shirt to pull her towards him. Ifrah let out a shriek when she fell back into him and his arms came around to wrap across her torso.

“Let go of me, you useless piece of plastic!” she said out loud while smacking his arms with her good hand to make him let go.

The raven haired guy chuckled before saying; “Plastic is recyclable. So, I'm not that useless.”

He quickly moved his head back to dodge her oncoming elbow with wide eyes and an involuntary 'woah' escaped his lips. “Calm down, sheesh.” he said.

Ifrah breathed heavily as her temper started rising and she said with gritted teeth; “How the eff am I supposed to calm down when you broke the rule?!” her voice became a scream in the end and Aayan cringed before holding back a smile.

“But you enjoyed it too.” he nuzzled into her neck and Ifrah's whole face reddened for an entirely different reason.

“I didn't!” she exclaimed before smacking him on the head with her fist and his hold on her loosened. She saw the opportunity and hastily got out of his arms.

Aayan was rubbing the crown of his head with a scowl etched on his face as he watched his wife storm away to the forest.

“It was only an innocent peck!” he yelled after her. “And you were returning it, you mad woman!”

Okay, now he was annoyed too.

Ifrah stopped to glare down at him from the slop and said; “You just contradicted yourself, idiot. Why would I return it if it was only a peck?”

He clenched his jaw at her smart reply as she passed him a sickly sweet smile before continuing on her way up to where they'd deposited their bags. A sudden realization made an evil grin to appear on his lips and he followed her.

Ifrah had reached the bags when he came up and said after collecting his breath.

“You just admitted that you were returning it. Means; you enjoyed it.”

Her hand stopped where she was grabbing her shoes before she went back to normal. Aayan's grin widened because he had caught the momentary stiffness of her shoulders and he took some lazy steps forward.

“Jaan,” he called in a sing-song voice, making her heart speed up as she felt him come near. “Why are you lying?”

Ifrah tucked her wet strands behind her ear before swiveling around to face him, but her heart leapt to her throat when she found him standing only a foot away from her.

“Aayan, dekho... ” she started.

“Wohi tou kar raha hun.” (I'm doing just that.) he replied innocently. Ifrah opened her mouth to continue but at the same moment she caught where he was actually looking at and her face burned like a volcano.

“Gadhay kahin ke!” she screamed before throwing the shoe at him and wrapped her arms around herself with a glare.

To her insane luck, her shoe hit him right in his forehead, breaking him out of his stupid thoughts, and he staggered backwards.

“What the fück?!” he yelled as he clutched his forehead but Ifrah didn't show any mercy. She came forward to grab her fallen shoe before starting to smack his arm with it.

“You,” hit. “have,” hit. “no respect,” hit. “no shame,” hit. “and definitely,” she hit him on the chest this time. “no manners!”

An 'oof' escaped the poor man's lips when she smacked him on the chest and he yelled out; “Stop hitting me for fücks sake!”

He snatched the shoe from her hand in an instant before chucking it behind him with so much force that it went down the cliff. Ifrah gasped in shock and was going to lash out but Aayan threw himself at her before pinning her to a nearby tree. Her words died in her throat when she saw the murderous look in his eyes and gulped.

Oh God.

“I— ”

“Quiet.”

His voice was deathly calm and she immediately complied. She was feeling a bit scared of him. Key word: bit.

“You've known me since childhood, right?” he started in a low voice, his eyes focused on hers. “So, you're aware that I don't like when people hit me.”

Yeah, she's aware.

“I prefer to return the favor, doesn't matter who the heck is it. And I'm warning you, babe. Next time I won't tolerate this behaviour; I'm not a typical husband.”

Aayan was satisfied with his words and was internally laughing when he saw Ifrah's eyes widen with genuine fear.

Nice. She'd taken it seriously.

To make his threat more believable, he kept his face straight and pulled back from her. Without sparing her another glance, he turned around and a smile plastered on his face in an instant before he went to grab his stuff. Ifrah blinked to snap herself back to reality.

She'd made him angry.

She didn't notice that her hands were shaking slightly and took a few breaths to calm her racing heart. Aayan had pulled on his vest by now and was wearing his boots. Irritation seeped through her veins once again when she remembered that he'd thrown away her shoes and she glared at his back.

It melted away the second he swirled around to face her and cocked a brow.

“What are you waiting for? Go and grab your shoe.” he said.

Ifrah wanted to poke his eyes this time.

She threw him a look and was going to go back down but his stupid voice stopped her and she watched as he stepped towards her with his black shirt in hand.

Aayan wordlessly extended it to her. When she kept staring at it, he rolled his eyes and said;

“Take off your own and wear this one.”

“No, thanks.” she shot back with an angry blush. Her husband's eyes narrowed.

“Do as I said. Your shirt is distracting me, okay? You don't want me to act on my thoughts now, do you?”

Her mouth went slack. This guy is infuriatingly bold!

Ifrah snatched the button up from his hand, barely containing her fury and stormed down the slope to get her shoe. Aayan grinned after her and waited. When she took longer than she should've, he frowned and was going to check on her but she came back at the same time.

His breath knocked out of him when he saw that she's changed into his shirt and her hair were out of the ponytail, wet curls falling over her shoulders. She didn't acknowledge him at all and went straight for her backpack to put her shirt in it. The raven haired guy felt as if someone had punched him in the gut.

Fück. Big mistake. Shouldn't have given her that shirt.

His shirt was a little too big for her but she looked absolutely fantastic in it. At least according to him.

Aayan was snapped out of his thoughts when she hiked the backpack on her shoulders and started walking without him. He hastily grabbed his own before following her after clearing his throat.

It was going to be a painful walk for him. What was he thinking when he threatened her like that?! He should've kept his cool like always and said sorry; he would've been holding her hand in his like before as they walked side by side. But no! His damn ego had to come in the fücking way.

He groaned and muttered whatever curse he could think of for himself all the way.

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Ifrah stopped when she looked at the path in front of her and huffed out a breath. The track they've been following ended here in the form of a small hill. The jungle continued on the other side and she squinted to see how the path was there. If they jump from here, they'd officially say goodbye to their hut and the familiar trees they'd gotten used to in the past week.

And for some completely absurd reason; she felt a tad bit sad about it.

The chestnut haired girl swirled on her heels to see her husband hanging the sign on a tree. She pursed her lips. They hadn't talked for the whole hour they'd been trecking.

Aayan dusted off his hands as he turned in her direction and when their gazes met, Ifrah felt her heart stutter stupidly.

He raised a brow in question while coming to stand in front of her.

“Why did you stop?” he asked.

Ifrah tucked the stray hair behind her ear and pointed at her back. “There's a small hill, we'll have to jump from here.”

His eyes rounded slightly and he walked past her to look at the hill himself. A slow whistle escaped his lips when he stared down before facing her again.

“I'll go first and then help you down.”

Ifrah wanted to argue but when she remembered her broken wrist, she changed her decision. She hadn't told him that it was hurting like crazy since she came out of the lake; because then he would start blaming himself for making her jump. And she didn't want that. He had done it with a good intention, it was the wrist's fault for hurting.

Or maybe she was officially going insane.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Aayan's voice and she realized that he was already on the ground.

“What are you waiting for?” he asked aloud.

Ifrah quickly looked over at him from the edge without saying anything.

“Drop your backpack first.” he instructed and she obliged, sliding off her bag and dropping it. He caught it before setting it on the side with his. Aayan came back and clapped his hands once before spreading his arms on both side.

“Okay, jump now. I'll catch you.”

She didn't know why, but her eyes started stinging all of a sudden. Maybe it was because they'd a fight an hour before and he was still standing there with his arms wide open to catch her and a warm look on his face. Like they never argued.

Why did they even fight in the first place?

“Ifrah?” he called, making her blink her eyes so that the tears don't spill. She inhaled a deep breath before jumping off.

Aayan caught her with ease and they both froze. Her hair were covering both of their faces from the sides like curtains as she was an inch taller than him at the moment. His hands on her waist clutched her tighter while his heart felt like it will come right out of his rib cage.

She looked breathtaking.

“Aay— ”

“I'm sorry.” his soft voice cut her off before she could start and Ifrah's eyes burned again. “I just got mad that you hit me and behaved like that. I was only joking but it still wasn't right. I shouldn't have said all that stuff.”

He could see the tears in her eyes and how she was constantly blinking to not let them fall. His heart broke. He always made her cry.

“You're not forced to hold your emotions, Ifrah. I just said I didn't like to see you cry because I feel bad whenever you do. But that doesn't mean I'm ordering you to stop letting it out.”

A sob escaped her as the dam finally broke and she buried her face in his neck. Aayan set her down on her feet and held her as she cried for a thousandth time.

“Did I scare you with my threat?” he asked in a whisper, his lips pressed to her hair.

Ifrah shook her head. “No— I mean, yes. A little. But I know it wasn't serious.”

“Thank God!” he sighed loudly while closing his eyes.

“Mein nahi darti tum se, samjh aai? Tum agar maro gy bhi na tou das aur khao gy mujh se.” (I'm not scared of you, okay? Even if you hit me, I'll hit you back ten times more.) she mumbled in his neck and his body reverberated with a chuckle.

“That's my girl.” he said proudly and kissed the side of her head. He tried to pull back but she didn't let go.

“I'm sorry for smacking you too.”

Aayan's heart melted and he grinned. “It's good. Now can we go back to trecking?” he asked as he tossed her hair over her left shoulder.

“Just hold me a little bit more.” came back her reply. He frowned.

“Are you okay?” he asked in concern and was replied with a light sniffle.

“I don't know... It's messed up.”

“Tell me.”

“I really wanna get out of here, there's no second thought to it. But at the same time it feels like we're leaving our own place or something.” she voiced out her frustration and Aayan sucked in a breath.

“I get it. I think you've gotten attached to that hut. Am I right?”

She gave a slight nod. “Yeah, it's stupid. We're stranded here. But it was ours, you know? And the fact that you made it with your own hands...” she trailed off.

Aayan's eyes went wide.

“So that's the reason!” he concluded. “You're gonna miss it because I made it? Gosh,” he chuckled. “I love you, babe.”

“Me too.”

“Say it properly, don't wound my feelings.” he pouted.

Ifrah let out a chuckle through her tears and complied. “I love you, too.”

“Can you please repeat that?”

“Stop it.”

“Sirf ek baar na.” (Just one more time.)

She laughed softly and said it again.

“Again.” he nuzzled into her neck this time. She blushed and said it again in a whisper. He asked her to repeat it three more times and she fulfilled his wish with a smile before he stepped back from her with a content grin on his face.

“You make me go crazy.” he told her boldly, making her duck her head.

“You make me go fücking insane, in a good way.”

“Stop!” she laughed.

“You make me want to go to the top of a mountain and scream to tell the whole world that you're mine.”

“Aayan!”

Her cheeks were on fire at this point and he chuckled before pulling her to him and brushed his lips on her forehead. “Mine.” he whispered.

There was a complete zoo in her stomach by now and she couldn't stop the grin from spreading on her face.

“Only yours.” she told him and he clenched his eyes shut.

“Banday ka dil gir gya hai, banday ko sans nahi aa raha.” (My heart has dropped, I can't breathe.) his lips moved in a soft murmer against her skin.

“You're so dramatic.” she giggled.

“Haye zaalim, hanso tou na.” he complained in a teasing voice which resulted in her doing the exact opposite of what he had said and he joined her. Aayan stepped back from her while still holding onto her hands and looked her in the eyes with determination.

“We will get out of here.” he squeezed her hands.

“We will.” she confirmed his words in the same tone and he let go before grabbing his bag. He tossed her hers before taking hold of her right hand and they both started walking once again.

Not knowing that their words were going to come true very soon.

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N O T E

Meray chuzay!

We're nearing the end guys :(

*adds this to my faves list*

You thought I won't update? *laughs nervously* I'm just a bit late today 👀

Have a nice day ❤