I couldn’t believe my eyes. If I were to tell someone that that room had nothing but a pillow and blanket on the floor just a couple of hours back, they wouldn’t believe it. In less than 10 hours, the barren room was transformed into a beautiful luxurious bedroom. You name it and it was there.
Wooden bed set with side tables resting against the wall beneath the window, on the adjacent wall was a dressing table with a huge square mirror with light bulbs on the top, in front of which was a stool where I could sit and get ready. The furniture was all black, my favorite color. On the other wall facing the bed, was a rectangular shaped oil painting of the sea during sun set which was breath takingly beautiful. The wall against which the bed laid was dark grey which went well with the lighter shade of grey of the other walls.
I was overwhelmed with everything that happened today, everything that Ayaan did for me was extremely nice and I started doubting myself for thinking wrongly about him initially. Yes, he was short tempered and had a rather unusual way of dealing with it but his heart was pure. I didn’t know how to thank him and I looked at him. He was looking at me the whole time.
“I... I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful and thank you so much for everything. I’m sorry for whatever happened, I’ll never do anything that would upset you. Thank you again,” I was almost in tears, I felt like I didn’t deserve any of it.
“You are more than welcome. I’m really glad that you loved it", he smiled at me and sat on the bed. He motioned me to sit next to him. I was a little hesitant at first but then I went ahead. Sitting at a safe distance from him.
He took the phone out of his pocket and face timed my father. I was going to talk to my parents! I had been dying to talk to them and it was finally happening. My father answered and there were no words to describe how happy I was to see him. My vision got blurry and I wiped my tears away, I didn’t want him to see me like that.
“hello dad”, Ayaan said.
“Hello beta (son). How are you?”
“I'm good dad. How are you doing?”
“I'm doing good too, God's blessing are with me.”
“I have a surprise for you dad. Here”, he said and turned the phone towards me. I immediately smiled and was lost of words.
“How are you beta?. It has been really long since we spoke to you”, dad sounded happy and I think it was a tear that formed in his eye, which I could see even through his spectacles.
“I… I’m good dad. How are you and ammi and Marwa?”
He laughed and said, “we are all doing good beta. Has your jetlag gone?”
Before I could answer, mom interrupted, “let me talk please. How are you beta? Has your jetlag gone?”
“I asked her the same thing!”, exclaimed dad who was now behind her.
“I’m fine. Yes all jetlag gone. In fact we went out today, such a beautiful place”, I smiled.
“Its nice to see you happy beta. Ayaan please don’t spoil her by doing so much, the other day you made her breakfast and now all you were out all day”, mom said aloud for Ayaan to listen.
“How did you know that he made breakfast for me?”
“Jiju had called up to inform that you guys reached. Madam was peacefully sleeping and my jiju went through the trouble of making breakfast for you. Jiju she’s very lazy, you are making her worse”, Marwa said, trying to get in the frame.
Ayaan laughed and said, “don’t worry Marwa, I’ll take care of that.”
I don’t know why but that statement of his made me really nervous, it sounded evil. Maybe it was the past incidents that made me feel that way. I brushed off the negative thoughts and was hopeful of looking forward to a better marriage.
“Lost in thoughts already? Thinking of your honeymoon is it?”, Marwa teased and continued, “jiju when are you guys leaving?.
“Only time will tell”, Ayaan said and turned to look at me. This time definitely gave me an evil vibe and my heart started pounding again.
“Stop troubling them Marwa, they must be tired.”, dad said and continued, “take care of yourselves and stay in touch. We are so happy to see you two happy.”
“We are happy to see you too”, Ayaan said and the call ended on a good note.
I was really glad that Ayaan was getting along with my family, there was nothing that I could complain about. Things were getting better and I was happier than ever. It seemed like the perfect time to give Ayaan the signed file but we were exhausted and he was already in his room. I changed into my pajamas and jumped into my soft cushiony bed. It was like a cloud and I could just sleep on it till eternity. It was the first time since we got married that I fell asleep that easy, and also had the best sleep in days.
**********
The morning was perfect. I opened my eyes to the sunrays falling on my feet and not pricking my eyes. As I got up and looked at myself in the mirror, I saw a smiling face looking back at me and it felt wonderful. I was happy beyond words and there was nothing that could ruin it. I went to the washroom door to freshen up but it was still locked. Three days in the house and I hadn’t seen my washroom yet. Ignoring it, I used the washroom outside and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast. I wasn’t willing to take the risk of experimenting a dish with Ayaan’s food and made the breakfast that absolutely no one could ruin, scrambled eggs with bread and orange juice.
Even though it was the weekend, Ayaan was still dressed up. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a v neck red T shirt whose half sleeves hugged his muscular arms perfectly. He came towards the dining table and looked at me and smiled, “good morning”.
“Good morning”, I smiled back. It was indeed a very good morning. I had the best nap, bright sky, prefect breakfast and a smiling Ayaan. Oh that smile! I loved the way he smiled at me.
“Lets eat together today”, he said.
Strangely it made me nervous as eating with him didn't come easy. I was very conscious about the way and how much I ate in front of him. I didn’t want him to judge me. I looked at him and then the clothes I was wearing. If trash were to dress up, it would look exactly like me.
It was very intimidating to sit beside him that way. It was effortless for him to look his best self but it would taken hours of work for me to look half as good as him.
It was a quiet breakfast and I ate half of what I would usually eat but it felt a lot more filling than a full plate of food. I went to the kitchen to clean up and realized that the file was still in the drawer. I took the file out and went to the drawing room where Ayaan was busy with his phone.
“Here, I have signed the document”, I said and handed the file over to him. There was a spark in his eyes and his smile widened. Just like me, he was living the best life and it made me glad that I made it happen.
“That’s great”, he said and took the file from me. “Now that you have signed the file, starting now you will have to follow all the rules and since you have proved that you trust me by signing it, you get to unlock a privilege, you know as a thank you. Make your choice and let’s see if we can unlock it.”
His words sounded weird, privilege and unlock. But I guess that’s how he spoke, used more of business terms. I started thinking and it clicked.
“Access to WiFi?”
“Hmmm…. Good choice. Let’s make it more fun. Instead of one, you can unlock two of your privileges. But then you will have to comolete a game and once you succeed in it, you win or otherwise you don’t get any”, he said, sounding a lot more evil than usual and that scared me. To be honest, I didn’t even understand what he was saying.
“Sorry, I didn’t understand”
“If you win the game, you will get to unlock two privileges. If you don’t, then you don’t get any privileges. So the choice is yours, would you want to go for the task or just get your access to WiFi and let it go?”
It sounded interesting, very interesting indeed like a game show. It would be great to actually revoke one of the rules, it sounded like slavery. As much as I’d learnt about Ayaan, he’s very unpredictable and it would be a big risk to go for 2 privileges. But as he had been so great with me, he wouldn’t set a game that would be impossible to achieve. After all, he was just making our marriage fun and why not go for it, what could I possibly loose. Also, the competitive side of me didn't want to give up.
“Alright then, get ready to loose”, I said very confidently.
__________
Hello my lovely readers 🥰,
I really hope that you are enjoying the story as I am really enjoying writing it. Im sure you are excited to know what’s going to happen next?
How crazy can the 'game' be?
What rule would Safa terminate if she won?..... I would really love to know what would you want Safa to choose as your choice may actually be what she chooses next.
As always, please shower your love by hitting the star and help me improve with your feedbacks.
Much love ❤️ ❤️❤️