"Oh my God! This place is huge!" Dunia looks around the Dubai Mall.
"I'm guessing your poor family couldn't bring you here?" Barqat tries to act witty to hide the fact that her amusement brings him some type of joy.
"Of course not! Are you crazy? Not only were the flight tickets expensive but the living expenses, tourism and all those things are extremely expensive here." Dunia answers him without any offence.
"Maybe we can bring your whole family here one day." Barqat's nice-self slips out of his mouth before he can stop himself.
Dunia's eyes widen and almost glimmer, making Barqat's inside twist into something pleasant, "Oh! I would never ask you to do such a thing! That's too much!"
Barqat scoffs, "You're talking to the guy who owns three top floor apartments in Burj Khalifa."
Dunia couldn't help but hold onto this Barqat, who's giving her some attention, by not necessarily being mean. He's being almost playful.
• • •
"I have to buy a wallet from Gucci." Barqat says as he stops in front of he store.
"Uh... I feel pretty uncomfortable in high end stores..." Dunia admits. The atmosphere is too posh and luxurious for her. She's never actually been inside any designer stores because she wants to avoid being judged by the employees who can probably tell she can't afford anything in the store.
"You're hopeless. You need to start acting like a Sheikh. Designer brands are normal to us." Barqat takes her hand and intertwines his fingers with hers.
Dunia couldn't help but stare at their hands in awe. Her heart skips a beat from such a little touch, What has gotten into him today?
"Mr. Sheikh! Good afternoon!" The woman at the door greets him. Her name is Nancy, according to her name tag.
"Good afternoon. I'm just here to look for a wallet and purchase a few things for my wife." Barqat says his most polite tone.
Did he just introduce me as his wife? Woah, I must be dreaming.
"This is the beautiful Mrs. Dunia Sheikh! Hello, how are you?" Nancy smiles at Dunia.
"I'm doing well, thank you for asking." Dunia puts on her best rich person tone
"We weren't expecting you today. You could have had someone call ahead to let us know. Shall we reserve the store for you?" Nancy asks Barqat.
"Yes, please. We shouldn't be too long." Barqat nods.
"They're going to what? Why would you make them do that?" Dunia asks, looking a little panicked. She doesn't want to interrupt other peoples shopping.
"Shh. Just look around and choose what you like. The sky's the limit." Nancy takes Barqat to look at wallets.
Dunia starts walking around and her eyes land on a white Sylvie leather maxi top handle bag. "Ou, how pretty— $5,710? I THINK NOT!"
As always, Barqat pops out of nowhere, "It's nice. Nancy, could you please pack this one."
"Barqat! That is ridiculous!" Dunia is flabbergasted.
Barqat ignores Dunia, "Nancy, the black GG Marmont medium top handle bag would suit her nicely. I'd like this one as well."
Dunia almost passes out from looking at the price, $3,320. "I don't need a purse. Please stop." She pleads.
Barqat puts a finger under her chin and lifts it so their eyes would meet, Dunia hasn't seen his eyes look so welcoming in a while. One soft look from him, stops her from complaining any further. "It's going to be fine. Think of these as the wedding gifts I never gave you until now, my love."
Dunia begins to blush as she sees Nancy look at them in complete awe.
"The dusty pink GG Marmont matelassé shoulder bag is very classy. It would suit you." Nancy nods and packs that for them as well.
Dunia tries her best to not look at the price tag but the broke person in her couldn't resist, THIS MAN IS CRAZY. THIS TINY THING IS $2,965! WHAT THE—
"That's enough for this." Barqat says.
Dunia sighs in relief.
Nancy checks the items out and he total comes to a little over $12,200 with tax and Dunia almost passes out on spot. No, literally, Barqat has to propel her against his chest so she can stand without falling to the ground. This action makes him smirk, knowing that Dunia isn't a big spender, meaning she's nowhere near a gold digger.
• • •
For the rest of the mall trip, Barqat decided it was funny to see Dunia's reaction to such expensive things. So, he took her to all the designer brands: Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Fendi, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Prada, YSL, etc.
When he saw that she might end up in the hospital from all the spending, he decides to stop. Every girl he's ever been with has never reacted in such a way to spending this much money. In fact, they've never once stopped him, instead told him to keep spending.
Dunia, on the other hand, flinches at the sight of something that over $50. He finds this historical but somehow comforting knowing she's not in it for the money.
"Ya Allah! You spent close to $90,000!" Dunia says in horror in their car ride back. "I'm making you return 95% of these, no way am I keeping this. It makes me feel guilty as heck."
Barqat chuckles, "You'll never learn, will you, my love?"
"Stop calling me that..." Dunia frowns. To be honest, when he calls her 'my love', Dunia melts into a puddle. It sends butterflies flickering through her insides. She feels like as if she'll run right into his arms if he keeps calling her that with his sweet, honey-like smooth tone. Barqat... Stop playing with my heart like this.
• • •
James helps them carry the shopping bags to their apartment and leaves.
"I'm never doing that again. There's no way I'm letting you spend so much money on me ever again." Dunia plops down on the couch and starts rubbing her temples from exhaustion.
Barqat is leaning on the door frame with a smirk on his face. "I can't make promises."
Dunia thinks about how there is clearly some untouched topics between them hanging up in the air, like last night. "Listen... about last... I—never mind..." Her voice is a whisper, she's hoping he didn't hear it.
"Why does it bother you to talk about last night?" Barqat's pitch turns grim, almost threatening her to go on.
"Why wouldn't it? Last night was such an emotional rollercoaster for me, I thought I was going to go insane!" Dunia couldn't hold it in, she feels like she's going to burst. "Last night, it hurt and then you made it not hurt and now you're all nice to me. Barqat, I'm confused, I'm so confused that I might blow up."
Something in Barqat shuts off, his eyes turn dark, "What's there to be confused about? I was piss-drunk when I walked into your room and I was sober when I fucked Elizabeth—twice."
Dunia winces so hard from hearing his words that she jumps up form her couch and starts inching towards her room. Barqat takes two long strides and grabs her wrist in a painful manner, "I was pissed off that Elizabeth left. You were the closest girl near me so I took my chance."
"Barqat... Stop... You're hurting me..." He's hurting her, it's true. But the pain is coming at her from so many angles that she's not sure if the stinging is from her wrist or from her heart. She squeezes her eyes shut, refusing to let the tears fall.
"Forget everything I told you last night because all of it was bullshit! You know my type and it's surely not you." His blue eyes are now on fire. If his eyes changed colour to reflect his anger, it would be a fire-y royal blue. However, his icy blues do even a more terrifying job at getting his anger across.
"Barqat, I said enough!" Dunia screams. She's never raised her voice before in her life but not only is he aggravating her physical pain but her emotional pain is becoming unbearable. "I will not let you treat me this way, do you understand?"
- - -
A/N: ahhhhh! 😰😰😰
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