Written Among The Stars.

Chapter 30 - Prying the past.

"Aaban!" She cried holding the cellphone to her ear.

"Haneen? Are you okay? What happened?" He asked impatiently from the other end.

"Aaban---I--" She cried again.

"Haneen where are you? Tell me, I am coming there in the next instant." He spoke in a commanding voice.

"I am at the road at the back of the office." She replied wiping away the stray tears.

She stood there shocked of the scenario that happened here a while ago.

After exactly 5 minutes, his car appeared and he came out quickly. He rushed towards her and in the next instant, he grabbed her hand and settled her in the passenger seat. He settled in the driver's seat himself.

"Haneen? Darling?" He spoke softly as he held her face with one of his hand while the other one was tightly intertwined with hers. He squeezed her hand and a tear or two rolled down her cheek and traveled all the way to his hand that was cupping her face. He wiped it away with his thumb and caressed her cheeks.

"Say something Haneen! You're scaring me." He spoke politely in a hushed voice.

She clutched the front of his shirt as he leaned towards her and then buried her head in his chest. He kept on holding her and soothing her with his words. When she calmed down a bit, he cupped her face in his hands and wiped away the rest of the tears with his thumb from under her eyes.

"You know whenever I see these tears in your eyes, I feel like I am failing you. Something breaks inside me whenever you cry. I feel like I failed to protect you." He whispered solemnly staring right into her eyes. "Meri jaan ho tum." [You are my life.]

He pulled her towards his chest and caressed her head with his hand. "Now tell me what happened?"

"Those--guys--on--the street-" She stuttered.

"What?" His eyes grew wide as his soothing hands stilled on her cheeks.

"They tried to harass me." She spoke sniffing. He hugged her to himself. "I feel like -- I feel---disgusted of myself."

"No, Hanie. It's not your fault. Nothing is your fault in this. Did they try to do something?" He asked seriously.

"The stall area was very much crowded and I was buying some fruits when a guy from behind placed his hand on my shoulders and one of them held my hand and then I slapped him hard enough for the other two to back away. I just ran from there. I promise I didn't do anything. I was just visiting the fruit stalls."

"My Darling, I believe you and I am proud of you. Okay, will you able to recognise them if you see them again?" He asked and she nodded.

"Okay, calm down. It was nothing." He pulled her towards him once again

Afterwards, they drove back home. She pretended to be all fine in front of her mother. But when she entered her room, one thing was literally bugging her mind.

She was staring at the empty space when she felt Aaban sitting beside her on the bed and wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Aaban?" She whispered.

"Yes, darling?" He replied making her smile.

"Why do you always call me that?" She asked him, curiously.

"Because you're my darling, darling!" He grinned and chuckled.

She giggled lightly at his attempt to be sweet.

"You know sometimes you're just too cute." She pulled his cheek. He frowned at her with a fake angry look.

"What? No. I ain't cute!" He exclaimed quickly.

"Yes You're!" She deadpanned.

"Am not." He defended.

"You're!"

"No!"

"Yes"

"No"

"No"

"Yes" He blurted out and bit his tongue.

"Oh and you're adorable too." She teased further.

"Haneen." He gave his signature warning.

"What?" She faked innocence. "I am just stating the facts."

"Okay, fine with me. But I am all that cute and adorable and other weird stuff only for you. No one else has the right to call me cute." He said solemnly.

"I will make sure of that!" She winked at him and giggled.

"MashaAllah Haneen! You should always be happy like that. You're even more beautiful when you're laughing freely. I feel like I am wasting my time when I am not looking at you."

"Way to be cheesy. Mr. Aaban Rehman Khan."

"Way to not being able to take compliments, Mrs. Aaban Rehman Khan." He frowned.

"I am not very good at that." She admitted honestly.

"Then, get yourself a grip on that cuz, you know what I mean?" He winked.

As they laid down, she tried to form a proper conversation in her mind regarding the mishap that took place back in Pakistan. She wanted to know about it.

"Aaban?" She whispered.

"Hmm" He hummed as he nuzzled his head in her neck and played with the locks of her hair twirling them around his fingers.

"Have you accepted me as your wife fully?" She asked seriously.

He quickly raised his head to meet my eyes.

"What?" He asked looking at me strangely.

"Answer me." She demanded.

"Ofcourse, You're my wife, the most important person in my life."

"Then, can I ask you a personal question?" She was a bit nervous.

"Say?" He asked confused.

"What happened with you as a child? Where is your biological mother?"
She asked looking down, fiddling with her fingers.

"Haneen, leave that topic." He spoke getting up from the bed and left the room. He didn't want to be reminded of that again.

°°°°°°°°

After that conversation, Aaban was avoiding her. She felt distant. She really wanted to know about his past and she was willing to wait if he wasn't comfortable right now but she really needed to know about it. It had been 7 months and they were still strangers. Although Aaban had accepted her as a part of his life but she knew nothing about him. She felt as if it was a test from Allah and she had to show her true potential. She knew she could do this as well with patience and prayers because even if the world was against her, Allah was always there for her and so she continued to pray for Aaban to open up to her.

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