Iman's POV
"Child, you've been pacing back and forth for ten minutes!" I heard my mother exclaim. "My head is dizzy just by looking at you!"
But, in all honesty, I was going crazy. The wedding was only a couple hours away. 15 hours away to be exact and when I get anxious or I'm stressed out like this, I pace around, picking up anything I can find and cleaning the whole place like someone is about to walk through the door and discover a mess when really, there wasn't one.
"If you're going to keep this up, go out and come back when you've calmed yourself." My mother ordered and I paused and looked at her.
"Are you being serious Mama?"
"Im as serious as the fact that I'm your mother!"
"Are you sure about that too?"
Just then, she grabbed a pillow and I ran for my life, laughing at how she missed and walked upstairs. I should really go out and enjoy my last few moments of being a single, independent woman and how I didn't have to worry about a significant other before he came into my life.
Just then, speak of the devil, I received a text from him:
I'm outside your house, come out.
I scoffed and put my phone into the purse that I was going to wear today and didn't even respond. The other day, we had gotten into an argument so I wasn't in the mood of seeing him or speaking to him. Even texting him.
Once I was done preparing, I made sure to grab my purse and took out my phone before going downstairs to leave. I was making my way over to the garage until I realized I parked the car up at the front which is where we all know who is....
Ugh, why do I do this to myself?
After mustering up the courage and making a plan to completely ignore him upon opening the door, I shifted the handle and pulled it down to open it. I only looked up for a second to get a glimpse of exactly where he was and I saw him leaning on the side of his car then quickly looked back down.
Ignoring him and avoiding eye contact, I walked to my car and turned it on with the keys. Just when I thought I was getting away with this brilliant plan of mine, he closed the door and I look up to see him towering over me with an annoyed expression.
"What do you want?" I snapped.
"Your attention." he snapped back.
"Well, I don't even want to talk to you so you can go back to wherever you came from."
I rolled my eyes and opened the door again. In the back of my head, I was thinking, he's definitely going to close the door again but surprisingly he just let me go into my car.
I grew suspicious but I chose to ignore it and started my car. As I was backing up and finally got out of the driveway and through the gate, I looked at my rear view mirror and reacted.
"Oh my God! This is why he didn't do anything earlier because he's going to follow me now!"
I literally spoke to myself. There was no one else in this car besides Zaynab's little teddy bear that she left in here the day I took her shopping.
So, as I kept driving to my destination, I played a little game of 'try and escape from Zane' by cutting a few cars and trying any shortcuts possible.
But, who was I competing against? A prince of Dubai. So, I didn't get away with it as I saw his car parked just beside mine in the parking lot once I got out.
Completely ignoring him, I continued to walk into the gallery and paid for my admission. In my head, I pictured my personal space without Zane which was how I walked in to the first exhibit and started admiring each and every piece I walked by.
"It's a very intricate piece isn't it"
I turned to the man beside me who also happened to ask that question only to find that it was Marc Jacobs!
"Marc?"
" Well, glad to know I'm not the only designer who comes in casually to a gallery" he said
I chucked, "No, you're definitely not."
Both of us went back to looking at the piece in front of us which displayed a child, detailed with multimedia using fabric and stitching along with some paint to compliment the work.
In the process, Marc leaned in a little close to my ear and whispered, "Do you also know that your fiance is behind us?"
I rolled my eyes upon his name and said, "Sadly, I do."
Marc scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and looked behind him as I didn't even dare to turn my head.
Then, he walked over towards him and left me to continue looking around on my own. As I did, I started getting a lot of ideas for potential projects and layouts. It was also part of the reason I even decided to come here.
Suddenly, catching me off guard, I felt someone take my hand and I gasped, looking up.
"Zane!"
"It was either Marc drags you over to me or I bring you myself."
"For what?" I looked back and forth between him and Marc.
"Oh for some brunch dear, what else?" Marc responded.
***
"I would like..."
I zone out as soon as Marc started with his order. The waiter had already taken mine and Zane's so I decided to pull out my phone and reply to a few business emails that were coming in.
"Iman."
I turned to face Zane and see what he wanted.
"We're going to my office after this."
"What?" I questioned.
"We still need to talk." He handed his menu over along with mine, which gave me time to respond.
"Fine, but I'm only going to spare you 10 minutes to talk"
By the time we figured things out, the waiter had already left and Marc turned to look at the both of us.
"So, you two lovebirds, excited for the wedding? Are you even supposed to see each other before the wedding?"
We turned to look at each other and Zane decided to answer.
"There's no such thing as that with the culture we share Marc" he smiled, showing his perfect teeth.
"Oh well, I've got my invite and I custom made my suit so expect to see this dashing face at the venue"
I chuckled, "We won't want to miss it."
Just then, Zane's phone started ringing and he thought he was able to hide the caller ID from me but I saw Hamdan's name on it as he got up and excused himself.
I gave him a suspicious look while his back was faced towards Marc and I. But, decided not to think much about it. He would've picked the call up right in front of me unless it was something Marc wasn't able to hear...
"So, Marc, how are you and your wife?"
I started a conversation.
He placed his fork down and looked up at me doing a little eye roll to himself.
"Dear, if only you knew. That woman gives me stress on a daily."
I chuckled as I knew he meant it in a sympathetic way. He will say it like it's a big deal but he actually has good intentions behind it.
"Today, before I left for the art gallery, she tells me I can't leave the building without watering the plants." He said, "and there's A LOT of plants at our house."
I laughed, "Sheryl is an amazing woman."
He shook his head from disappointment and wiped his mouth with a napkin as Zane returned from what seemed like a heated conversation based on the frown that was present all over his face.
"What is it?" I quietly asked him as he took his seat right beside me.
"Just Hamdan updating me on the business over there." He shrug it off but I wasn't content with his response.
***
"Would you like something brought over to your office Mr.Zane" the attendant at the front desk grinned.
"No, I'm fine, but bring detox water for Iman."
He told her.
How did this man know me so well? I've only known him for two months and I can barely get his favorite ice cream flavor out of him.
He opened the door and let me in before going in himself, making sure to close it.
While I made myself at home by sitting at one of the chairs in his office, he went over to sit behind his desk and watched me fix my hijab.
"Can I help you?" I asked him
"The day you found out I was actually at the police station instead of my office, I can't blame you for being mad at." He started.
"But, the reason why I went over there wasn't because my anger got the best of me and injured that man."
I straightened myself and looked up at him as he caught my attention.
"That man barges into my office without consent and he threatened to stop the wedding!"
My eyes widened and I covered my mouth where my jaw had dropped, thinking back to the threats I had been getting.
"Zane, describe the man, how did he look?"
"Are you serious Iman? You're worried about the other man?!" He snapped back and I regretted my question.
"No, Zane, it's not like that."
"Then what's it like?" He raised a brow and started scaring me with the expression he was using to stare back at me with.
"Just curious because...." I asked myself the question of whether I should finally tell him about the threats one last time before continuing.
"Because I've been getting threats from someone and I thought it might be the same person." Instantly, I looked down, avoiding eye contact as soon as possible, knowing exactly how he was going to react.
"Threats you said?" The 'I'm going to kill you' humor in his voice only sent shivers up my spine and I heard the sound of him standing up from his chair.
His only destination at this point would be where I was sitting so I slowly lifted my head only to be met with his hazel orbs. I stared at him for a few seconds before he said,
"So you can go get mad at me for not telling you where I actually was that day, But, you don't want me to be mad at you for not telling me you were getting threats!"
"I only didn't tell you because you already had so much on your plate. It started when we went to Dubai and the family was already one thing so my problems was the last thing you needed then." I confessed
He scoffed, "You think I wouldn't have listened to you if you told me what was going on back then? You really think you're some random girl I picked up from the street, don't you?"
His last statement sparked a fire inside and I stood up, looking at him with a glare.
"Don't even start with me."
"Iman, why haven't you gotten this through your head yet? Are you really that dense? You think I would take a random girl and ask for her hand, then have her meet my entire family, or even hold you like this?"
At that moment, he snaked his arms around my waist and tugged me close to where I hit his chest and my hands voluntarily held him in response. My heartbeat began to accelerate and my cheeks flushed the color of a crimson red judging by how it suddenly felt hot in this room.
His gaze was so captivating yet, alluring, almost like he was trying to force me to read the mix of emotions that were contained in his orbs but I got lost along the way.
"Zane..."
"I can hear that heartbeat and that heart will definitely be mine in just a couple hours."
***
A/N: Hey guys!
Sorry for the late updates, I'm just trying to find a balance with college and my personal life right now, lol, but here's another juicy chapter! I don't know if you'd call this a cliffhanger but hey, here it is!
Don't forget to show this book some love by commenting and hitting that star button!
Thank you~