Chapter 23 15: B

She was in her thoughts when she felt hands around her and she quickly put back her glass, "Who s that?!" She asked breathlessly and she saw Mujaheed trying to tuck her into the duvet. "You might feel cold when you re sleeping, I thought I should cover you up." He said hesitantly and brought the duvet up to her midriff and stopped, "Sleep well, Fareeda. Don t cry, don t think about anything, just sleep. And also, you aren't going anywhere to make anyone regret." She was about to argue with him when he took off the glass, folded it and kept it on the bedside drawer, "Please, no more talking. Just sleep, okay?" He said softly and pulled the duvet until her chest was covered. He turned off the light and walked out of the room. She wanted to shout at him, tell him that he had no right to do what he just did to her but Fareeda found her lips unable to utter a single word. She couldn't think straight and decided just like he had said she should let herself rest, she emptied her mind, breathed out and decided she was going to sleep. But bringing the duvet closer to her heart, Fareeda felt as his scent filled up her nostrils and it felt as though he was laying down beside her. She softly hissed and forced herself to sleep. ? He reluctantly walked into the room to wake her up and that was the exact time she had came out of the bathroom, and now, she had her towel wrapped around her body. She had gotten used to taking her bathe in his bathroom because for the past two weeks, that s what she had been doing. And after she woke up and saw her things in his room, she didn't have to think about how it happened. "Nana brought these things?" She casually asked, forgetting her condition until she saw the look he was flashing her and as she sat down in front of the mirror, she saw it. She was only in her lilac towel that she always fought so hard with to reach just a few inches below her butts and now... "What are you still doing here?!" She screamed and bended down on the vanity stool, not looking up as she held her legs. "I came to wake you up. And I think you ve been up for long. I ll be waiting for you in the living room." Mujaheed uttered and he quickly got out of the room. He quickly breathed out not knowing how he held his breath for so long. He slumped on the chair and held his heart, what did he just feel? It felt as if his heart was going to skyrocket out of his chest and... "Oh god!" He softly spoke and palmed his face. She came out shortly after, wearing an A-shaped Ankara gown with a matching veil meticulously wrapped around her head and she sat down on the chair opposite from him. She cleared her throat and he looked at her, "I think we have to set boundaries for the moment I'm going to stay in your chamber before I have everything sorted out." She began, and he stared at her and held a stoic expression on his face. "And how do you plan to sort everything out?" He asked, because of all the things she had said, he was more curious of the way she was going to sort things out. Because to him, there was no way she was going to have things sorted out the way she wanted them to. "The easiest way is for you to divorce me, but I know after hearing what Alhaji had said this morning, that will be the last thing you re going to do unless I trouble your life too much to the point that you ll want to stay away from me." That made him chuckle. So she really thought that she was stubborn enough to the point that he was back away because staying with her was too much trouble? "And how s that? In what ways are you going to trouble my life?" He asked, fixing his eyes on her and she rolled those honey orbs at him. "I'll have to figure it out. And the second way is for me alone, yet to be figured out too. About the boundaries." She said, and Mujaheed wrapped his hands around his chest before he nodded his head. "Yes, about the boundaries." "You can't touch me, that should be rigid..." He cut her off, "But you re my wife..." "I'm not even going to the deeper part of touching, Mujaheed, just the simple basic touches. I appreciate it when you try to console me with a hug, but that should stop too. Holding my hand, that forehead kiss..." She let her words trialed off but she quickly masked up her expression and continued. "And you should also be giving me some privacy if I'm going to take my bathe, there s no way I can have you seeing me in those skimpy towels of mine." She grunted, clearly annoyed. "What more rule do you have?" He wanted to know, so he can know which will annoy her more if he did it and that would be the first he would break. "Even though I don't want to, I do mostly everything you say, so you should at least respect my decision for the time we re going to stay together. We should also give each other spaces, I won t interfere in your personal matters, you shouldn t interfere in mine. I mean, we know the way we live before this..."she pointed at the two of them and continued, "Before this happened, the only thing that should change is that I'm going to stay in your chamber for the time being, nothing else." Mujaheed sighed and nodded his head, unwrapping his hands from his chest but his hands are unshaken on her face. "Which among the rules will annoy you the most if I break it?" He asked, and she rolled her eyes at him but begrudgingly answered him. "The physical contact. Please, at all cost, you should stay away from me un..." Before she was done with her sentence, he was already seated on her sofa beside her with her hips partly brushing his. "What are you doing? I was just talking to you about..." She gasped when he took both her hands in his and nearly screamed when his hand swiftly took off her veil and her hair came down on her shoulders as though a rivulet. "Mujaheed!" She yelled, and he chuckled, amused and enjoying what was happening. "What? You haven t said that I can t see or touch your hair." Before she knew what was happening, she felt his fingers in her hair and she quickly stood up. "I'm so going to kill you! What do you think you re doing?" She furiously asked and he calmly leaned back on the sofa while he watched the way she was angrily looking at him with her hair running down on both her shoulders down to her midriff. He knew of women that had long hair, but hers, he had never imagined it would be this long, and black, and sleek, and soft when he touched it. She scoffed and thought for a moment, what was wrong with Mujaheed? He had never been this way before, she had never thought he could be like this. She was furious, but the way he was looking at her with an amused look and what she wouldn t like to admit was a smile on his face. What was he thinking? She flipped back her hair and had it on her back while she frowned at him, "It was hard having it in a bun, Mujaheed. I've lost all my ribbons and now I don t know how to get it all packed." She rolled her eyes at him while she packed the whole hair in her hands and wondered what on earth she was going to do now. She had to do some tricks to have pack it together with the veil and now she couldn't remember the way she did it. "I have some rubber-bands here, will they do?" He asked as he stood up and she rolled her eyes before she nodded her head at him and in a moment, he disappeared into the room. He came out holding the rubber-bands with him and she stretched out her hand to collect them. "What do you think? That I'll give it to you? I can t remember you mentioning that I can t touch your hair." He turned her back in a way she wasn't facing him and he removed her hands away from the hair and packed it into his palms. "What do you think you re doing, Mujaheed? I thought I made it clear that we can't have any sort of physical contact?" She asked in an annoyed voice while trying to turn back to face him but he forced her shoulders to stay where he wanted them to. "You haven t mentioned anything about your hair, Fareeda, and that s the only thing I'm touching. Stay still unless you want me to break more rules you wouldn t want me to." He smiled mischievously when he heard as she sighed out of exasperation and her shoulders slumped in defeat. He packed the hair into a bun before he turned her to face him and when she did, she was both angry and whiny, and a pout had already claimed a space for itself on her lips. "I'll add one more rule, you can t touch my..." Her words became guttural when he brought her forehead to his lips and for the second time today, planted a kiss softly on her forehead and when he broke apart, he had this grin on his lips that she wished she could smack it off. "Mujaheed! How many times do you want me to repeat what I just said a few minutes ago?!" She whined exasperatedly and he smiled before he went back to the sofa and sat down, looking at the way she was softly fuming as she stared at him. "Allah ya shirya man ke, Fareeda." He said calmly with a soothing smile on his lips. "What do you mean? I'd love it if Allah set my ways right but not for you. I just want to be good too, not for you!" She said in an annoyed way and sat back on the sofa, the pout still on her face. She picked the remote from the centre table and turned the tv on. He just stood there staring at her while she watched the movie with an expression that he knew if the people she was watching weren t just a show, they would have to run for their lives because she looked like a serial killer aiming his next victim. There was a soft knock on the door and that was when Fareeda remembered she hadn t covered her hair and she did that. He went to the door and opened it, seeing it was Nana, he smiled widely and ushered her in. "I think someone has been missing you here, Nana."