This chapter is dedicated to YourSassyQueen. Thank you so much for the new cover. I loved it! So, guys as you can see, I have changed the cover for My Husband, My bully. Comment if you like it and thank you again YourSassyQueen for the amazing cover. Love you guys!
Ali's POV:
I was… confused.
It wasn't like me to do something for someone to this extent. Especially for just a little birthday present. Even though I told Anisa that I had just remembered it was her birthday, she looked at me like she didn't believe me. And that was a big arrow to my ego.
Anisa was nothing to me. Even if I found her interesting before, after getting married to her, I felt nothing about her. She was just a person living in my house. There were more conversations between us at school than at home. And it was strange how I thought that dress would look good on her. What should it matter to me what she looked good in or what she didn't look good in?
Stretching my legs on the bed, I glanced at her sitting on the desk. My phone was in my hand and I was just scrolling down my Instagram feed, liking random girls' pictures. But, I couldn't focus on it much. The quiet, yet loud presence in the room was not very ignorable.
When she caught me looking at her, she gave me a scowl. "I thought we were supposed to do this project together, physics partner." she looked back to her book again. I rolled my eyes. "We just have to choose the topic and submit it tomorrow. It's not something that should require my help." I told her. I knew it would tick her off that I was putting everything on her but really, it didn't affect me.
She looked back again. "Choosing a topic is not that easy especially since I don't know if you're smart enough to work on the topic with me. I don't want you to throw everything on me saying it's too hard for you." her tone was mocking me. I looked at her with a scowl.
"I'm very good at physics. I can probably do it better than you." I smirked a bit, showing my teeth from the side. Her mouth formed an 'o' as she nodded her head slowly with sarcasm. "Oh really?"
I gave a short nod. "Yes, really."
She folded her arms over her chest. "Then why don't you prove it to me? If you're good at it like you say you are, I shouldn't need to spend my precious time on this." she stood up, the book in hand, and walked over to me. My eyes followed her as she put the book on the bed, beside me.
I let out a chuckle. "That's a good way to avoid work." I took the book and put my phone on the side table. She gave a smug grin. "You shouldn't have bragged about yourself for no reason, genius." and with that, she left the room.
I groaned. I wasn't lying when I said I was good at physics but it was such a drag. I got up and opened the index page. When I finally found something I thought we could work on, a knock on the door made me snap my head towards it.
"It's me, Ali Hasan."
There was only one person who called me by my full name and it was my father. I stood up to open the door for him. "Yes, dad?" I wasn't a very good son but I knew how to give my father respect. Even though I was still mad at him, there was a feeling in my heart that it wasn't his fault.
"I'm going to Pakistan for a while and I wanted you to know. In my absence, the house is left in your care and," he glanced at the door and looked back at me again. "You have a wife who is your responsibility now. She left her home. Her comfort just to establish her new family. She doesn't deserve to feel not welcome or unwanted." The way my father was looking at me, it felt like he was a kidnapper who was warning me about all the bad things that would happen if I didn't listen to him.
But on the other hand; no matter what my father said, I didn't think Anisa was a victim or whatever. She was already a boring, practicing Muslim who never went anywhere. Who had no social life. She probably didn't feel any different. It was me who had to sacrifice everything. My friends, my parties, my social life—everything. Because of her, I felt chained.
"I know. But is it really important to go to Pakistan? Can't you just do your work here?" I asked, slipping my hands in my pockets. My father gave me a serious look. "Your uncle is sick and he needs my help with the business in Pakistan. I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't important." he opened the door again and turned his back to me.
But before leaving, he glanced at me from sideways. "Oh yes. A guest is coming over from Pakistan. Your cousin. Please take good care of him. It's only a matter of a week or two. I'll give the driver the information he needs and you and your wife can go collect him tomorrow."
Before I could ask him anything else about my cousin, he had already left. Scowling a bit, I went back to the bed to finish what I was doing before. Seriously, my father didn't give a damn about what I thought. Just because I was living in his house, he thought it was completely okay to order me around.
Half an hour had passed when Anisa came barging into the room. But as soon as she saw me struggling with the book, she put a hand on her side and grinned widely. "Look who's working hard," she commented. It was then I noticed the sandwich in her hand.
"Hey, you need to stop snacking and help me out with this." then I added, "And yes, I know I said I was good at this but it doesn't mean you can just walk away and leave me with everything." she didn't react and her grin was pasted on her face. With the same expression, she came closer and sat down across me.
"I knew you couldn't do it alone," she stated and took the pencil from my hand. I flinched a little when her soft fingers brushed against my hand.
What the heck, Ali?
I tried not to make anything of it, even though I could feel my cheeks getting redder. When I thought about it, I realized that it was the first time she touched me—of course, if you don't consider that slap as a 'touch'. I was just coming back to my senses when Anisa noticed the awkwardness and started feeling nervous too.
She tried to look down at the book and avoid my eyes but I could see she felt that too. I swallowed the lump in my throat when I caught sight of her pink, flushed cheeks and the uneasy expression on her face. She was trying very hard to hide it but I could still see it.
"I think we can do a lot of research on electromagnets. We can also make a model on that diagram on page 34." Her voice was barely audible. I quickly nodded. "I think so too." Even though I had no idea what diagram she was talking about or what she meant by research on electromagnets, (it was a very wide topic) I just agreed.
It was obvious she said that just to clear the awkwardness and maybe make it easier for us to face each other.
"Well, umm, your father's leaving for Pakistan?" She changed the topic, still marking some lines in the book. I nodded again. "Yeah. My uncle's sick." I simply replied. She then looked up at me, the redness on her cheeks was still there but she wasn't so nervous anymore.
"And your cousin is coming over?" She asked and I hummed a reply. "And yeah, I wanted to talk to you about something." She said. "Asma baji called and she was inviting us for dinner. She said it was like a tradition for new couples—" she cleared her throat a little before continuing. "To visit the relatives."
I frowned. "When did she invite us?" I asked. "Tomorrow night." She replied. I immediately shook my head. "No way. I have to go somewhere with my friends tomorrow night. I probably won't return before 12." I told her directly. She scowled.
"Well, you'll just have to take out time. Asma baji said it was important for both of us to come. Other relatives of mine are also going to be there." She said. I looked the other way with a shrug.
"Hey, that's not my problem."
"Excuse me? It is your problem because unfortunately, I had to get married to a jerk like you." She snapped. At that, I glared at her. But, her glare was scarier so I just spoke. "Tell your sister we can't do it tomorrow. Maybe some other time. It's not like I'm doing it on purpose. I have to go somewhere."
She stood up in fury.
"I haven't seen my relatives in years and this is the only chance I have to meet them all." She clarified.
"Sorry, Anna." She glared at the nickname. "Don't call me that." She warned. I held up my hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. But I can't go with you. Just go alone. Besides, what will I do with your family members? I'm not some traditional Pakistani son in law who has to develop good relations with my wife's relatives."
And I left with that. I could feel her swearing at me from behind but I just ignored it.
I didn't know why I was resisting so much. But somewhere, deep down, I was scared. She was already making me so nervous about a stupid touch. What would happen if I got any closer to her?
I ignored the blush on my face and walked out of the house.