Love for Rent

x Decent Husband x

'You need to calm his heat' I was so startled to see like this that I didn't even realize that one of the two guys was talking about me. Everything happened so suddenly that one moment Shahzaib was standing far from me, and the second he was strangling a guy who had something vulgar. Jaan moved me to the side before stopping Shahzaib, but he kept hitting the guy.

'What did you say? How could you say that?' Shahzaib yelled as he continued throwing punches. Jaan and his other friend tried to pull him away, but nothing worked; Shahzaib was too strong and angry to care. He was making me scared.

'Shahzaib,' I yelled and jumped on his back to pull him away from almost killing the guy.

'Stop it, stop, what's wrong with you?' I grabbed Shahzaib's arm and used all my strength to drag him away. Shahzaib finally tore his angry glare from the guy lying on the ground, covered with his face covered in blood as Jaan and his other friend tried to make him get up.

'Take him away,' Jaan said without looking as I stared at the man on the floor who was beaten to death.

'Let's go' Shahzaib took my hand and walked me out. I mouthed sorry to Mona before leaving, and she returned the gesture by giving me a quiet nod before going to help her fiancee clean the mess that Shahzaib had made. As we were leaving, I saw Jaan's guests were gathered, and all were looking at us. Not even in my wildest dreams, I thought I would see Shahzaib control his composure like that.

'Shahzaib, wait, let go off' I told Shahzaib to stop dragging me as he walked me to his car.

'Let's talk it out first, I said stop,' I screamed, not caring if anyone would listen. There weren't many people outside at this hour in the area anyway, and nearby people didn't care and stayed away. Shahzaib finally stopped walking and turned to face me, looking as angry as before.

'Why did you do that?' I asked him to explain, but he looked away. I stepped forward and tugged his elbow to make him look at me, but he didn't.

'I can't stand him. I want to break his neck' He expressed his frustration after taking a couple of seconds as I waited for him.

'I think you already did that,' I growled.

'I think I should go back and do it again; you have no idea what they were saying about you at the party,' He told me, and I glared at him when he finally met my glance.

'That was just one guy; how many are you going to stop? You think this is the first time someone had said something?' I questioned him.

'I will stop whoever I see talking like this about you, you hear me?' He took a step forward, and I stepped back as my back hit the hood of his car.

'You can't go off hitting people like this, can't you a bit patient?' I struggled to find the right words, but I wanted to not be so enraged.

'Patient? You want me to be patient with dogs like him who look at women like a piece of meat?' He scowled.

'Of course not, but this was Jaan's engagement party, and we ruined it,' I blurted out.

'I ruined it' He shook his head, making me feel bad.

'Don't do this' I touched my forehead, which had started to hurt. He started massaging my temples with the right amount of force. He noticed and touched my forehead, and I looked up to meet his eyes.

'You can't go around hitting whoever talks about me like this. Even in your film industry, some men probably talk about women like this,' I said to him.

'You are right, I can't fix all but doesn't mean I won't try, especially when it comes to my wife' He said the word wife with so much right that his actions felt justified for a moment before I realized that under different circumstances this might have ended in jail or something worse.

'Not this much violence' I shook my head to disagree, and he dropped his hand from my forehead.

'So a few punches would have been fine?' He crocked his eyebrow, and his facial expression seemed more relaxed than before. He was so upset with the situation that he didn't realize that he also got hurt. There were fight marks and swelling on his face, and his knuckles were also bruised. I reached out and touched his face in places where he got hurt. He flinched in discomfort.

'Let's sit inside,' I suggested, and we both got inside the car. He was about to start the car when I stopped him. I grabbed some facial tissue and some water from the water bottle that I found in the car to clean his face, and where there was a cut, I took a bandaid from my purse and placed it near his jaw. Once I finished and was about to sit back in my seat, he took my hand that kissed inside my wrist. It was a slight touch, but it felt so special.

'For the record, I don't go around hitting people like this,' He said while still holding my hand in his and shifting in his seat, so we were facing each other completely.

'This has never happened to me before. I have done things I have never done before until you. It's not easy. I feel this way because you are important to me, and things that affect you affect me. I had never felt an emotion like this until you, and when I heard that guy speaking to his friend about you, I just wanted to stomp him to the ground.' The way he said it made me laugh, and he chuckled as well.

'And here I thought I had a decent husband,' I said without thinking too much.

'What happened in the back alley between us? Was that decent for you?' He gave me a humorous glance, and the moment played in mind when we shared hidden from the rest of the world when I was lost in his arms.

'I spoke to Kanwal today' I changed the subject and asked him to drop me home since it was getting late.

'Did she call you to ask whether we are going to Turkey?' He questioned me.

'She called you too?' I asked, and he laughed.

'She feels like she forced it on us,' I told him.

'She did,' He said, and I hit him lightly.

'Be nice. I think it's sweet, and I have never been to Turkey, so I am kind of excited, I told him.

'We'll go to Islamabad first. I'll book the tickets tomorrow,' He informed me. We both stopped on the way to get a cup of tea before heading home. Once he parked the car near my house, he opened the door for me and offered to walk me home since some of the street lights were not, so it was dark.

'Such gentlemen' I smiled and thanked him once we reached the stairs to my home.

'Just doing my decent husband duties,' He said in a flirtatious tone, making my smile wider.

'Go ahead' I told him to leave, but he stayed.

'I'll wait, go' He nodded at me. I couldn't win with him, so I listened to him and started going up the stairs. I stopped midway and turned around to look at him.

'Go,' I gestured at him.

'Wait here,' He said like he remembered something and left before I could stop him. He returned quickly and ran upstairs to meet me halfway, holding a stem of a white orchid taken from the bouquet I had given him earlier.

'Now you can go,' He said when I took the flower from him. I could only look at him and know that I probably something good or maybe God was happy with me somehow that he gave me Shahzaib, who was mine.

'What are you doing tomorrow evening?' I asked him. He gave me a puzzling gaze.

'I am taking you out tomorrow,' I told him, and he took a step forward, so he was just one step below me, on the same eye level and so close.

'Is this how you are going to ask me out? Order me like this?' He said in a compelling husky voice. Was he trying to seduce me? I gave him a quirky nod, and he smiled, and I saw how when he smiled at me like that, his eyes twinkled differently. Whenever he did that, it took my breath away.

'Go inside before I take you away and do the same decent thing I did to you before,' He whispered as he leaned closer, and I closed my eyes and kissed the side of his mouth, quickly giving him a peck before heading inside.

------------------------------------------------------