"A collab between your favorites, the queen of romance, Sumaiya Thaseen, and the knight of social issues, Saroosh Malik."
Opposites attract? ✓
Disapproving mother-in-law ✓
Fate bringing them together despite it all ✓
See inside for a detailed syn...
Second last chapter means we deserve lots of love.
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His heart thumped loudly in his chest, canceling out all sounds of the busy weekend evening. The rush of adrenaline pushed him to run further and further, up the bridge and over the busy highway. It wasn't long before the sweat that beaded his forehead began to flow down the length of his trimmed beard, dripping down onto his gray shirt. Sweet scents of flowering plants from the nearby plant's nursery mingled with the oily scent of the cars that drove through the area 24/7. And yet despite all the distractions, his mind went back to Rafa again and again.
It was like whenever things started to get better between them, something else came in their way again. It was exhausting, thinking that they had reached a point where they were on the same page, on the same team, and then realizing that there was still more to uncover, repair, communicate.
He wiped the sweat blinding his vision. Why didn't you tell me, Rafa? The intense running had taken an edge off his anger, and now he just wanted an answer of why. What had compelled her to not tell despite having every means to? Why did he have to discover it on his own? Had she been testing him? Had she been punishing him? He refused to believe that she would have gained any pleasure by keeping the news from him.
It frustrated him, but at the same time he wondered what good was there in asking why now. It was too late to address old issues, and they had already been through a rough patch. Him bringing up old arguments might just lead to Rafa leaving the house once again, and he couldn't bear to be away from his unborn child. He clenched his fists, confused with the dilemma.
Maybe, there's no why. Maybe in that moment, the one in which she had decided to leave, she didn't want to share this joy with me. He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. If he, too, had been treated the way she was, being given reminders of his spouse's old flames, criticized for his habits, and persistently being expected to change, he would have wanted to escape too, regardless of whether it meant sharing such life changing news with his partner. What has gone past, is past. Rafa was back home, he reminded himself. If he wanted to keep her happy and next to him, he would have to be blind to things—just the way he had trained himself to be around his mother. His mother had always gotten her way, and now he would allow his wife to do the same.
He vowed then to never bring up the fact that Rafa had purposely hidden her pregnancy from him. He wouldn't let her know. Nor anyone else.
"I just want peace," he said out loud, staring at cars zooming by on the highway. "Just peace." And if peace came by sacrificing his expectations and feelings, then be it.
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"Where are you?" Rafa's eyes scrunched, trying to see where her brother was as he walking on the side of a road.
"I'm walking home." Yahya said, looking straight ahead, "After your husband ditched me, what do you expect me to do?"
