“There's a camera inside the bouquet.” Arzaan announced as soon as he entered the kitchen.
Iram looked at him with wide eyes, “Why would she do that?”
“To spy on us. She must be suspicious of our marriage. Iram, we need to put a drama to make her belief our marriage is genuine. ”
“How?”
“By acting all romantic in front of the camera.”
“I won't do that. Just throw away those flowers.” And she continued cutting the tomatoes.
“Iram, just once please. She will find another way to discover the truth. If we do it now, she will not spy on us again. ” He requested.
Iram sighed before looking at him, “What exactly we have to do?”
“Fake moans, that's it.”
And she threw a tomato at him.
💞💞💞
Iram entered his bedroom around ten o'clock at night. Arzaan smiled at her, but he looked a little scared too. His face still smelled like tomatoes. Iram ignored him and entered the closet. She changed into a navy blue night suit and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Iram, darling, come closer.”
She wanted to hit him for calling her darling. But she moved closer to him nonetheless. She was a few inches away from him when he switched off the lights.
“Relax.” He whispered and pushed her down on the bed. For a moment it felt so real and romantic. But he moved back and laid down a little away from her. And suddenly he groaned, “Iram!”
Iram was clueless so she asked, “What?”
But he pinched her making her wince, “Moan.” He whispered to her.
“I do not know how to moan.” She whispered back and pinched him on his arm making him wince.
“Think of food. Imagine you are eating your favorite dish.” And he faked a moan.
“Arzaan, this isn't helping.”
“Then there's only one option left.” He sighed.
Iram was about to move away when he suddenly began tickling her.
“Arz... Arzaan!” She shrieked and tried getting out of his hold while laughing hysterically. He kept tickling her until she wasn't out of breath. And when she regained her breath, she noticed their position. He was hovering over her and his hand was resting on her waist. Their breaths mingled together. Arzaan too noticed their closeness and moved away from her.
“Sorry.” He whispered and then said loudly, “I love you, Iram.”
Her eyes widened in surprise but he didn't notice that in the darkness.
“Good night, Iram.”
She responded with a hum and shut her eyes tightly. But she felt his palm on her cheek.
“What are you doing?” She asked in confusion.
“Making sure you aren't crying.” And he pulled his hand away.
“Why would I cry after laughing so much?”
“Women are unpredictable. I won't be surprised if you do cry.”
“I feel uncomfortable.” She replied honestly.
“I won't force you to do it again. Promise.”
“Hmm.” And she closed her eyes.
💞💞💞
The next morning, the first thing Iram did was to throw away that bouquet. And the second thing she did was to stare at Arzaan's peaceful face. She liked him. Not romantically. But it was hard to not like him.
“Iram, he is your boss. Don't think about him in that way.” She scolded herself like she always did when thinking of him in a romantic way but then she remembered, “But he is also my husband.” Her thoughts only confused her more so she quickly shooed away her thoughts and started her day.
💞💞💞
Iram couldn't ignore the judgemental looks Salma passed her while cleaning the living room. She didn't tell Salma why she ended up marrying Arzaan out of blue. And Salma was left to make assumptions that gave her a very wrong impression of Iram. But Iram could care less. She couldn't carry her character certificate everywhere nor she could be good in everyone's eyes. So she let Salma assume she married Arzaan for money.
“What is for the breakfast today?” Arzaan asked as he entered the kitchen. It was a Sunday morning so he didn't have to go to the office. He was wearing a red t-shirt and black sweatpants, his hair wet from shower.
“Banana pancakes.” Iram replied while handing him the breakfast. There were exactly three banana pancakes placed one over the other with banana pieces over the top and chocolate used to create a linear pattern over the pancakes to make it look nice and mouth-watering. Arzaan went to sit on the dining table and began devouring the food while Iram put the cup of green tea in front of him.
She was about to go back to the kitchen but Arzaan stopped her, “Iram, eat with me.”
She looked back at him in surprise. But nodded and brought her plate to the table. They were eating in silence. But then Arzaan spoke, “Iram, what will you do after our marriage ended?”
The question caught her off guard. She never thought about it. She only knew that she had to spend her life's next five years with him. That's it.
“I never thought about it.”
“Will you remarry?” He asked.
“I don't think so. But I will adopt a child when I'll enter my late thirties.”
“Wow. I'm also thinking to do the same.” He smiled.
“If you don't want to marry or have kids of your own then why are you after your father's property? We want money for our family, you don't want one.”
“I want that property so I can grow my business. I want to venture out and need lots of money to do that.”
“Hmm.”
“Iram... if we are not planning to remarry after separation, then don't you think we shouldn't take a divorce in the future?”
Once again his question left her shocked. She took a bite of the pancake and replied, “Don't you think it's too early to discuss that? We have five years. If things worked out, we won't divorce later. Don't give me a hope so early. What if you fell in love with someone?”
“I already have.” He mumbled to himself.
“What did you say?” She asked him when she heard him mumble something.
“Nothing.” He shook his head and continued eating.
Iram saw Salma rolling her eyes at her from her peripheral vision. But she tried ignoring her and focused on the food. Though she liked the idea of staying married to him.
•••
Question: One food with dairy products in it that you would recommend to Arzaan if he wasn't allergic.
Me: Khoa 😋
•••
A new Channel called Green Entertainment has been launched in Pakistan and I'm very interested in watching it's dramas on YouTube. I've watched two episodes of 101 Talaqain and Idiot. And then also watched Channel's COO's interview with Fuchsia Magazine. Their content is out of the box 👌
