Ruler of Your Ruh [a mafia romance ]

Chapter 27: "I am truly, completely, and utterly in love with my wife."

Azim
I leave Samina in our room and leave Laith at the entrance of our bedroom. I walk to the prayer room and pray salah.

Once I've finished I open my palms to offer my dua, "Ya Allah, you have given me the biggest blessing in the world. Please don't take her from me. If you will it, aid me to protect her as you do."

I finish and take a deep breath.

It's funny to me, that I can confront killers, gang members, and even my enemies, yet I cannot face my wife, the woman who holds my heart in her hands.

What I fear most is a life without her, a life where she doesn't want me, where she denies how I feel and I am left alone to build back the pieces she broke from my heart.

I recite what I plan to tell her again and again, but every time I think about her I can't seem to form the proper words to express myself.

"I have to tell you something."
No. Too stressful.
"Since the moment I laid my eyes on you-."
No. Too cliche.
"I am in love-"
NOPE. Too straightforward.

This is harder than I imagined. Talking to someone that could kill me in an instant is far easier than this, (though if she really wanted to, with the looks she gives me? I know she could kill me too). I figure that pondering won't do me any favor, and stand up deciding to just tell her what's on my mind.

I turn the doorknob and get ready to walk to her room. But that isn't necessary, because here she stands. With her mouth slightly open, and her hand raised to knock on the door, Samina's eyes slightly widen.

"I have something-"

"I was just going to-"

She flushes a deep shade of red and looks away, "You can go first."

I smile at her shyness, "What happened to my bold wife?" I tease trying to catch her eyes as she slowly turns her head to the ceiling, she's acting quite odd. I sigh and continue, "If you insist."

In a flash, I've swept her off of her feet and walked out of the prayer room. "PUT ME DOWN," she shrieks. Laith growls behind me and I throw him a look of annoyance, I have no idea why he's so protective of her all of a sudden... I mean- I'm the one who rescued him. Although I'm not all that annoyed because he does protect her when needed- just a little annoyed by the fact that he won't leave me alone with her. He's a tiger for God's sake! I didn't realize how intelligent he could be...

She tries to buck out of my hold, but it's no use, sighing in defeat she grumbles, "You really need to stop doing this to me- AHGH!"

I give her a look of innocence, "What? You said I really need to stop," I shrug, "So I did."

She glares at me from below, "I didn't mean that you DROP ME ON THE GROUND!"

"My apologies habibiti," I pick her up again like nothing happened.

"I- GAH I give up," she slumps into my arms and rests her head against my chest. If I didn't need to tell her how I felt tonight, then I'd keep walking until she fell asleep, but we can't always have what we want now, can we?

As we reach the room I've prepared, for some reason I get nervous. 'Will she reject me? Will she hate me after this? Will she rip my heart apart tonight?'

Only one way to find out.

I set her down on her feet and, with one hand on the small of her back, I open the door and walk her inside. She lets out a soft gasp and I look to see her eyes gleaming in the lights I've had assembled.

"I didn't know if you'd wanted this or not, so I just had Ali and a few others prepare this. We never had a honeymoon,"

"I-."

I don't stop, "Not that I'm assuming you wanted one- actually that's exactly what I'm doing. But I didn't know if you'd want people to talk about it or if you wanted something big or something small-,"

"Azim!" Samina raises her voice a little and that silences my rambling. "I love it."

A sigh of relief leaves me and I continue walking her to the bench. We sit down in silence and I take a look around, the lights cover the ceiling, along with various colored flowers. Candles have been safely placed in glass jars. The bench we are sitting on has cushions and lights on the back of it. They did good decorating.

I turn to Samina and she's as beautiful as ever. I place a finger under her chin and turn it towards me. She looks at me with those eyes, those eyes so deep I could drown in them.

A look of wonder crosses her face. I want to know what she's thinking right now. I want to know if she cares for me the way I do her.

"Ruhi," I whisper not wanting to ruin the moment.

A slight curl of her lip tells me she enjoys the name I've given her. "Yes, Mr. Hafeez?"

Her face is close, so, so close to mine. Her warm breath fans my face, and this is it.

This is the moment I've waited for. Those days I denied my feelings for her? Those days I wondered why I ever got engaged? Those days I felt like I wasn't enough for her?

It all comes crashing down to this moment.

I am truly, completely, and utterly in love with my wife.

So I tell her...