FROM NEVER TO HAPPILY EVER!

7.

Hooriya.

"Mrs.Khan, you will have to take immense precaution about his wounds. None of them should get wet. Apart from that, please make sure you give his tablets on time otherwise he will feel bodyache. We will remove the cast next month. Until then no haphazard movements. That's all. We will meet in the next follow up." I nod at the doctor and step out followed by Abbaji. Asad has already  been placed in the car, we soon join him and finally reach home. I m so tired . I couldn't sleep properly for the last two days that we were in the hospital.

Once we get down, Saif and the others help Asad to sit in the wheel chair. His right leg has a broken bone and the left one had slight scratches, so he can't walk by himself for another month atleast. I had asked Rakeena to shift my clothes in his room, much to his distaste. Nobody else could possibly take care of him better than a wife, is what Abbaji said. I remember the annoyed look he had on his face when he was informed I will be his shadow for the next month to come.

Personally, I don't mind that at all. I was shaken when I received news of his accident. The fact that i have accepted him long ago became crystal clear, I never really believed in this rivalry and when a bond as pure as Nikaah was formed between us, who am I to disregard Allah's will?

My stupor was broken when I dashed into someone's  back, I straighten myself quickly and step back only to see Saif turning around with a surprised look.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." I say sheepishly. He nods, "It's fine Hooriya. Looks like you need sleep", we have developed a friendship over the days. I know he was teasing me. Before I could come up with a comeback, we hear Asad's voice.

"Dad, I will be fine. Please go and take rest. I will manage from here." He has an annoyed look on his face, probably because he can't storm away from me like he used to.

Abbaji nods and walks towards his room. Saif takes us to the room on the ground floor since Asad can't walk to his bedroom now. That's where all our clothes have been shifted in. He helps Asad in laying on the bed and I go into the washroom to get hot water.

By the time I come back, Saif is nowhere in sight. I lock the door and walk towards my husband. I keep the small bucket of water near his side, bringing out the scrubber from the bathroom. I bend over to remove his shirt, he needs to take a sponge bath. For now, I decided to settle with just cleaning his upper body.

Before I can open his first button, my hand is jerked away and I lose my balance with the force. I look up to see a furious expression on his face, his eyes have turned red. I roll my eyes, nothing new there.

He grits his teeth at my nonchalance, the same thing has been happening from the last two days. I would try to do something and he would jerk me away. I am taking it all because I want to see how long he can continue with his hatred. I mean it has to end someday. If he is stubborn, then I am his wife.

I try again, slowly seeping my hand towards his shirt avoiding his eyes, because let's face it, they scare the hell out of me. As beautiful as they are, the hatred in them for me scares me. This time he shouts, "Can't you understand it once. I don't need your pity party to get back to normal. Just get lost from here."

As much I try to block the words out, they get to me. Pricking my heart, the tears threaten to spill out of my eyes. But I managed to compose myself just fine. I nod, "Let me just scrub you clean, and I will be out of your sight." I whisper hoping it wouldn't fuel him more.

Taking his lack of response as an affirmation, I open the buttons of his shirt fast, you never know when he might flip. Once the shirt is open, I place my other hand on his left arm which is uninjured and coax him to remove it outside of the shirt. He surprisingly obliged, and I thank my stars for giving him some sense if judgement.

Once we get rid of the shirt, I dip the sponge in the soap water, and gulp. It's going to be a damn difficult task to not focus on the broad shoulders, six pack abs and that delicious v below his abdomen. He is all muscles and not the kind that looks over the top, just enough to have any girl panting.

Focus Hooriya. On the sponge. See it looks so beautiful with the minute pores and the way it holds water. Once my hands stop shaking, i proceed to rub it on his shoulders, safe zone. I rub the area nicely, making sure no part of his skin is unattended, then dip it again and rub his stomach, I can feel the hard planes and the hours of gym work on display just beneath my fingers and it's a struggle to not let my hands roam free and explore.

Once I have scrubbed his body, I settle beside him on the bed to wipe him not forgetting the fact that his eyes were on me all throughout the process. Not once did they waver from my face. I take the wet towel from beside and begin wiping his body, my fingers shake sightly because I can feel him clearly beneath my fingers this time below that thin piece of towel.

God, please give me strength. What kind of torture is this? Once I am done with his body, I clean his face as well. Before I can get up I hear his hoarse voice, " I am still feeling sticky."

Okay. I need to rub him with the wet towel again. I go into the washroom to wet the towel again. I repeat the process, slowly this time so any remnants of the soap are wiped off.

I grab a shirt, putting a tee will be tougher. I gesture him to insert his hand into the sleeves of the shirt and he obliges, I had to bend over him to put the other arm into the cloth, but his warm breath tickling my neck froze me. I look up to see we are too close, a first in the last two and a half months we were married. I can see light speckles of brown on his nose from here, hear his heart beat, what amazes me the most is the specks of golden lining his chocolate brown irises which can be seen only on close scrutiny.

His eyes just got a lot more beautiful, knocking the breath right out my lungs. He clears his throat, that's when I snap out of my dreamland. My face flushes in embarrassment. Stupid me, acting as if I have never seen a man. I quickly pull his hand into the fabric and button it up.

The next moment, I am out of the room. Way to embarrass yourself Hooriya. I have no bloody self control when it comes to this man. I walk into the kitchen to prepare lunch trying to busy myself and not keep rewinding the scenes from the bedroom.

But no matter what, the golden specks of his chocolate brown eyes was all I could think of through out the day.

Synopsis of the day, I am whipped.