6
Everyone had left and even the catering and decorating vendors had cleared the backyard after late evening.
People were quite punctual here when it came to arriving and leaving.
The entire house was empty now. Rehaan had even sent off the house help and Isabel for the night after the hectic day.
He was somewhere in the house while Shahwar was roaming in the lounge thinking about something when Isabel was about to head out with her bag and belongings happily.
Shahwar waved at her with a smile and she courteously walked up to her to say goodbye.
The conversation led to a huge revelation for Mrs Dur e Shahwar Kazmi.
She was telling Isabel to enjoy her night off and in return Isabel had told her about how she'd been waiting for her to approve the room she had prepared for her according to her boss's instructions for his wife.
Adding more detail she told Shahwar that the room was for her stay though she was happy that her boss had welcomed his wife with much generosity to his own room too.
When Isabel left Shahwar kept on staring at the empty hallway in shock.
All this time Shahwar had been thinking she'd been so sensible maintaining boundaries when she had done the complete opposite.
He wanted her in a separate room and she'd slept beside him comfortably when he clearly wasn't okay with it.
She felt embarrassed and ashamed of herself.
She decided to stop being such a nuisance for him and walked to the other side of the first floor looking for the room Isabel had mentioned.
There was a room in the corner of the area and she opened it to find a neat pink and lavender tone bedroom.
Things did look like it was probably set up for a girl to fit in.
It wasn't as big as the room she had been in one day ago, but it was slightly close to the size of her room in her father's house.
Sighing she went to Rehaan's room and filled her hands with some of her clothes from his closet and walked to the other room.
For now she wanted to first change her clothes.
She put her hands back to remove the buttons but she could only go up to the third one.
It was impossible to get it off. She tried different positions to get out of the dress but it wasn't happening.
She laid on the bed thinking she'd surely be in this dress till she died alone in the room. No one was there to help her in the house either with the wretched clothing. Did Rehaan do this for her to feel truly like a loser?
On the other hand Rehaan Kazmi had been looking all around the house for his wife who was nowhere to be found.
He had thought she'd be in the bedroom, but she wasn't there, he went inside his closet peeking slightly just to check if she was there but it only had a stumbling change of some clothes hanging from the sides of his closet spaces which were filled with his wife's clothes till morning like they were stuffed inside to fit in at any cost. Sensing a little hint of idea what might have happened he walked towards the other side of the floor.
He opened the door and saw Shahwar standing near the drawer searching for something, she turned to see at the sound of door opening. "What are you doing here?" His voice was cold as he eyed the bundle of clothes sprawled on the bed.
"I am where I'm supposed to be." She looked down at the rug avoiding his eyes.
"Is that so?" He stepped inside and walked towards her.
"Yes." She didn't look up but could feel him in her proximity.
"No." It sounded like a command and Dur e Shahwar felt her body stricken. "You won't just go around doing whatever you please."
"I will bring my things to this room." She softly breathed still staring down.
"What did you just say?" Rehaan lifted her chin up with his finger making her look at him.
She blinked hard to keep herself from shaking, "I will—"
"You will go back to the bedroom right now." He was almost spelling it out for her in his firm tone.
"But Isabel—"
"Did I say something about leaving that room?" Rehaan was piercing his gaze at her innocent face. "Did I ask you to leave? Did I mention anything about you not staying there?" His harsh breath hovered over her eyes.
She slowly shook her head.
"Then take your things and get moving. Now. And I don't want to have another conversation about this." Shahwar's face had turned into a little helpless baby.
"Do not make me repeat myself, ever." He brought his hand back to his side and stepped backwards.
She grabbed her things from the bed and moved out of the room as Rehaan held the door waiting for her to do what was asked.
As soon as she was inside the bedroom he went to the bathroom and Shahwar stood looking around not knowing what to do.
The dress she was in wasn't getting off and she was hungry and her husband was being rude when it wasn't her fault. She was scared of him.
"Khud ne pehlay sab kiya ab aur ab mujhe daanta. Yeh bilkul achay nahi hain." She held her clothes to her chest and sat down on the bed. "He said he isn't a dictator but look now. Jhootay."
(He did everything first and now he scolded me. He's not nice at all.)
(Liar.)
Her stomach was growling indicating the emptiness, she hadn't eaten when the guests were being served because she was to stand next to her great and mighty husband to host the party.
Placing her things back into the closet she went down to the kitchen to eat something at least before the dress imprisoned her for life.
Searching the refrigerator she found some things to prepare a sandwich for herself.
In the same dress that was mopping the floor as she moved around the stove.
Rehaan came down in his shorts and sweatshirt walking past the kitchen area and saw Shahwar standing there in the same heavy outfit.
"Maybe she likes the dress a little too much. " He said to himself.
"I'm going for a swim." Rehaan announced and Shahwar turned back to his voice then nodded at him.
She saw how comfortable he was in his clothes and then felt the suffocation of hers. "Shahwar, self respect, self respect, self respect." She whispered it like mantra to herself as she saw him going towards the door.
"Self respect, self—fuck it." She breathed in and then called out, "Rehaan!"
He turned back to her and she walked out of the kitchen with her sandwich and set it on the table. "Yeah?"
"Unbutton my dress." She closed her eyes when the words came out.
"Sorry?" He was stunned looking at the girl who had eyes shut tightly.
"I need help." She opened her eyes and gave him a miserable look. "There's no one and I know you said I shouldn't bother you but the dress— it has buttons—and I can't, I don't know—please."
"Okay." He walked towards her.
"Uh huh." She didn't know what to respond with anymore and he moved behind her and started unbuttoning the dress slowly.
As much as Shahwar tried to not get any thoughts in her mind the mind was only sending her tingles of his fingers touching her back.
After two minutes she felt her heart thump really hard, though Rehaan was calm. "Done?" She wanted it to be over.
"Few are left. Why are they so tiny?" She felt the irritation in his voice.
"You got this for me." She didn't want to hear any more of his taunts.
"I didn't. It was my secretary. Ibaad." That gave her more clarity about how much he paid attention to this marriage. She felt her lower back bare and that's when Rehaan spoke, "Done."
She at once placed her hands on the ends of the dress holding it from falling off and hurrying towards the stairs. "Uh um, thanks." She turned hastily and said before going up.
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