21
"Fuck." Rehaan exhaled out loud when he'd picked up the wrong bottle of body lotion and applied it on his hands.
Now his hands smelled like the floral gardens thanks to his wife's massive collection of numerous bottles of floral lotions, perfumes, musks, body oils, shampoos, body washes, hair conditioners, body scrubs, the list was never ending.
They were all fitted into spaces where ever his few things were placed in the entire room.
He was getting late for work anyway and he knew if he went to now wash his hands first he'd have to look for his liquid soap instead of the rose and cherry blossom one that his wife had placed next to the wash basin where now it was overloaded with her things mostly.
And time was running out at the moment, he had to first eat and then leave for work, because Shahwar was waiting for him to come for breakfast downstairs.
He threw the blazer over his shoulder and wore it in one go then went down. It had been three weeks since the day he'd taken Shahwar to the event with him. His wife was doing better than she had been. And when she was happy, he was happy.
"Good morning." Shahwar's voice made him smile as he sat at the table.
"Good morning, how are you today?" He started eating the food and every time his fork would near his mouth his nose would be hit with the flowery scent of the lotion. Rehaan Kazmi had never smelled so feminine in his entire life.
"I'm alright." She passed him a big smile.
"I'll come home early tonight." He told her.
"No." She said in a hurry and he stopped moving the cutlery in his hands, "You should come late tonight please." She nodded trying to convince him. She had planned a surprise for her husband's birthday.
"Late? Am I getting kicked out of my house dear wife?" He smiled in astonishment.
"Can't you come late, please?" Shahwar batted her lashes at him.
"Where should I go when I don't have anything to do at work purposely?" He wanted to come home right away after work, he didn't like being at the office once the day was over. He just wanted to see his wife as soon as possible.
"Anywhere. You should go to nice places.
This is Paris. You can go anywhere, you can sit near the pretty fountain gardens and even the place that has many cats roaming around.
It's nice." She was suggesting Rehaan Kazmi the man who owned the most expensive places in the country and around the globe to sit with cats and near fountains to pass his time because his wife wanted him to not show up at home early.
"Cats? Fountains?" He was staring at her with wide eyes.
"Aap toh maalik hain, kahin bhi chalay jayen na, please." Shahwar curved her lips into a soft pout.
(You're the boss, go anywhere, please.)
"Okay. How late should I be back?" No one would have ever spoken such words at their own will planning their own late return to their own house in the history of conversations with their wives like he was.
"Eleven or twelve would be best." Shahwar was finally satisfied that he listened to her.
"Eleven or twelve?" He was in disbelief. "Shahwar that's a bit too—" He stopped talking himself when he saw her starting to frown at his words. Clearing his throat he spoke again, "Yes, of course, I think eleven or twelve is quite accommodating for me."
Now his wife was smiling normally and he felt a sigh of relief leave his chest. "Okay then. I'll be going now." He was done eating and stood up to leave. "Don't forget to call me when you leave and get back home."
Rehaan had made her call him everyday as a habit to fix what he had ruined a month back. He wanted her to feel like she mattered more than anything to him. Something that was very tough to become for Rehaan Kazmi.
He walked out to the car that was waiting for him to leave for work, "Khud apnay hi late anay ki planning kon karta hai?" He was muttering to himself before he left.
(Who even plans their own late arrival?)
The day passed by and Shahwar first went to some shops to get things for her husband's birthday gift right after her working hours.
She'd saved up her money for the day. Things her husband liked were beyond expensive but she wanted to give him what he'd prefer regardless of her bank account being emptied at the cost.
She saw a a shirt at the luxury brand; Tom Ford; that abba ji and her husband both were fond of and decided to get that.
Though the cost was thousands of euros but Shahwar didn't care about it.
It was a black polo shirt, she knew it would look good on him.
She got it wrapped up and added a handwritten birthday card in the bag.
She had to go back home and do rest of the preparations before he'd come back.
Shahwar had cooked herself for his birthday. She thought of what to choose for the menu and ended up making almost everything that she could think of. Around eleven forty five pm the door opened and Rehaan was home. He wanted to see Shahwar immediately.
"Shahwar." He called out the moment he was in the lounge.
She came walking fast as she had placed everything in order before she heard him. "I'm here, I'm here." She said stepping towards him.
"I hated the cats and the fountains." He pulled her into a bear hug bending down to her height.
"You actually went to see those?" She couldn't believe he had been to those places instead of any other better ones he could've been to.
"If my Shahwar said I should go there then I should go there." He snuggled his face inside her neck. "Please don't make me do that again."
"Okay." She looked at the time and it was twelve now. She pulled out of the hug and ran back inside, then came out running with a party popper and twisted it making the confetti fly over her husband, "Happy birthday!" Shahwar jumped with a smile as Rehaan stood still in shock.
"You know about my birthday?" He could never have guessed that his birthday which was the most forgettable day for everyone in his family, his wife would find out about it and even celebrate it.
"Well of course I do, you're maalik. I'm supposed to know everything about my maalik." She held his hands and he chuckled.
"Come let's go to the dining area." She dragged him by hand to the table where there were eight or more cakes ready for him to eat from. All different flavors.
"You did this for me?" He was gaping at the sight and Shahwar cheerily nodded. "Did you tire yourself after work to make all this?"
"I made dinner too." She added with more energy.
"Darling, I'm a human, you didn't have to make so much, how will we eat all this?" His heart was beating loudly looking at his small wife's hands and body that had worked to do so much for him.
"You don't like it?" Shahwar felt like maybe it wasn't to his liking. Maybe he liked minimalistic celebrations.
"Come here." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "I love it." Shahwar's heart fluttered madly but she tried to remain calm.
"Let's cut the cake. I made these, because I don't know which flavor is your favourite." She passed him the knife.
"I love everything that my wife makes for me. Everything." He cut the cake that was close in proximity and she clapped singing the birthday song for him.
Before he could make her take a bite of the cake she went somewhere and then came back with a bag in her hand. "Open it. It's your birthday present." She was nervous and excited at the same time as he took the bag from her.
First he read the card and then looked at her then before he unwrapped the gift inside he kissed her head. "Thank you my darling. Thank you so much."
He opened the gift and looked at the shirt.
Rehaan knew his wife had done the expenditure to gift the thing to him, no one had ever done anything like that for him.
His parents had always had way too much money which they could spend conveniently unlike his wife who earned on a monthly basis.
That wasn't even close to what successful people in her field did.
"Shahwar. You didn't have to. You didn't my dear." He tried to think but thoughts had left and he felt like his brain was telling him things he'd never heard of.
"I did, I did." She fought back softly and circled her arms around his neck. "Do you like it? Is it nice? We can always exchange—"
"I love it, I love it, I love it." He closed the gap between them and hugged the eternity out of her.
Shahwar's phone started ringing and she looked at the screen pulling away. Her stepmother was calling. After months. She decided to answer. "Hello, ammi ji."
"Shahwar, jaan, Salman sahab has passed away." Shahwar felt like the blood in her body froze hearing her words.
Now you'll get to know about why her father married her off like that.??