Eternal Temptation

❥ 49| bonus chapter

"Why don't we slow down just a bit? Let her grow up first and then we can talk about weddings and grooms. She just learned how to say bâbâ and you already want to find her a shohar."

"It's good to be prepared, eshgham. Especially when it comes to Laleh."

I knew what he meant by that and I smiled, thinking of how she had just turned one — two weeks ago — and she was already wreaking up a storm every single time she opened up those sapphire eyes of hers. Just like Zayaan had wanted, our baby was born with eyes that were a replica of mine, except for the golden specks that glowed like the very sun in her irises. Sometimes, though, they seemed so bright that you could almost think her eyes were the exact hazel of her Dad's.

Our daughter was an angel — so perfect that I couldn't even believe she was real when I'd first held her in my arms and cried — but she was a troublemaker one at that. She loved to crawl and run around everywhere. Around the house, down the stairs until Zayaan had to install a gate to stop her roaming, in the kitchen where she opened random drawers and took out utensils she liked to play with, into her father's lap when he was working and into my arms, distracting me, when I was trying to tidy up the tiny little trinkets and gazillion toys she strewed around everywhere. She even managed a way to mess up laundry, playing around with the baskets of clothes when she was on her exploratory missions and messed around with the buttons on a running washing machine.

But it was difficult to be tired of her antics when she was so adorable that I wanted her to create more trouble so that I could constantly be around her. She would give me hugs in the middle of her baths when she was soaking wet, making my clothes soapy and wet as I returned them while smothering kisses all over her face, and she would raise her arms to Zayaan when he was cooking so that all he could do was laugh and lift her up, letting her babble along and stir the food, putting a bright grin on her face that we would do all that and more to see.

But her favourite person to chatter to and play with? Riyad.

She interrupted him more than the both of us, but the sweet boy never lost his temper, always entertaining her and pulling her into his arms as he patiently explained everything she was so curious about. He was almost eleven years older than her, but he would rather stay with Laleh rather than play games with his friends or go out with them. He was as amazing of a brother as he was a son and I couldn't be more grateful for our little family.

They were both sound asleep at the moment since it was past midnight and the thought suddenly made me yawn. I'd turned into such a grandma after having my daughter and I coveted every single minute of sleep I could get, turning in by ten — at the very latest, eleven — every night.

"Tired?"

"Mhmm," I hummed softly, suppressing another yawn. "Need my beauty sleep."

He chuckled fondly. "Come on then, joonam. We need to be up early tomorrow anyway."

"Crap, I completely forgot about that." The entire family was leaving for the countryside for the weekend, to our cabin slash country house on the outskirts of Tehran. The country life was completely different to the city and Riyad had been curious about it, and when he'd posed the idea after we'd arrived in Iran last week, Laleh had readily nodded, not understanding a word but always being a sidekick to her brother. And how could we refuse two of the most adorable children on Earth?

I stood, lending Zayaan a hand to get up from the lounge seat we'd been sitting on for over two hours. He grabbed it and straightened, pulling me closer by the wrist before lifting me up bridal-style.

I laughed, wrapping my arms around his shoulder as he carried me down from the terrace and through the almost pitch-black mansion to our room on the second floor.