𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

25

Airah POV:

I decided to take a nap but I accidentally went into come since I slept for 5 hours straight. Glancing away from the clock, I slowly sit up. Arsalan stands in the kitchen, his back facing me as he cooks something that smells delicious. His arms visible because of the half sleeves of his white shirt. I slowly get up, tiptoeing owards the kitchen and sit on the chair. "Uth gaye aap madam?" How the hell did he notice me? He turns and faces me, a grin slowly forms on his face as he places a plate of biryani in front of me then sits across from me with his own. "Tumne banayi hai?" I ask looking at the food which looks delicious and then him. Placing his arms on the counter, he leans in, looking at me with hint of mischievousness in his eyes. "Taste karke dekho." He says tilting his face a little with a proud grin plastered to it. I narrow my eyes at him as I pick up the spoon and taste. To my surprise, the biryani is very delicious.

"Kesi hai?" He says and I look at him with widened eyes. "It's pretty good. Mashallah." His grin just widens, and his eyes focus solely on me. I gulp down and meet his gaze. Those grey eyes. They look so beautiful.

Among all eight of us, Ziya and Tariq have hazel eyes, a mix of green and brown, while Hiba has complete green eyes. And while their eyes are a shade of green, Arsalan's are grey which he inherited from our grandfather. His eyes are ones that stand out a lot. When I look into them, it feels like I'm getting lost in a beautiful storm. They have this magnetic quality that draws me in, making me want to explore their depths. It's my first time observing them so carefully.

"Gorgeous." The word accidentally slips from my mouth and I snap it shut. Silently praying that he didn't hear that. "What did you just say?"

"N-nothing. W-why don't you start eating? It's pretty good." I motion at his plate to distract him. Leaning back on the chair, he takes a bite and hums. Lowering my gaze, I start eating. I get lost in my thoughts so much that I don't even realise that the food in my plate is finished.

While I wash the dishes, Arsalan helps dry them up and puts them back into their places while he talks about how the news spread all over his workplace that he got married. And also that many of his friends asked him to introduce his wife to them.

We part our ways in front of our rooms, he closes the door to his room with a smile and I do the same. Lying on the bed, I start thinking about what we are.

Before, Arsalan and I rarely talked and used to fight a lot when we were kids. He was the only child for six years, so he was always loved by everyone. But when I was born, the attention divided, and I think that's why we fought. I never heard his side of the story, but I think that might be the reason. We didn't talk or see each other on video calls during the two years he was in the U.S.

Our relationship was so distant that we didn't even know what each other's favorite foods were. And we still don't know yet. He might know but I'm completely unaware of it. But there was one similarity both of us had. It was that we would always sneak to the rooftop during family gatherings. But then too we would both sit in silence.

We were almost like......strangers who lived under the same roof but knew nothing about each other. I still remember the fight we had that grew the distance between us more. It all started with a stupid puzzle book on one Ramadan morning.

Arsalan was a big fan of puzzles and mistery when he was a kid, so he had like a collection of them in his room. And they were my worst enemy because everyone else would make a pair of two and play while I would get no one. Arsalan wouldn't play with us because he was always solving the stupid puzzles, mystery and God knows what was in his book.

So one day, I had sneaked into his room while everyone was playing outside and he was showering. I was around 6 or maybe 7 years old at that time. So I sneaked into his room and picked up the latest book I saw in his hand, and some more of them from the shelf, they looked new. So out of anger I ripped the books from middle and cutted all the pages into small pieces by a scissor that I found on his desk. Grinning I looked at the mess I had done to his book. Actually he deserved it.

But the moment I turned around, I saw him standing behind me, his eyes widened and mouth opened with shock as he stared at the mess. Before he could do anything, I ran out of his room, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Hiding behind my mom, I looked at him, his eyes raging with anger as he entered the kitchen and glared at me.

"Kya hua Arsalan?" His mom had asked, who was also in the kitchen at that time.

"Ma Airah ne meri Puzzle book ko pura pieces mein cut kar diya. Mene to kuch kara bhi nahi!" He had said throwing up his hand.

"Koi baat nahi beta....new le lena." His mother had said softly.

"Ma but wo overseas se aayi thi!" He says, starting to get irritated and more angry. While I just held to my mother's cloth for dear life as I hid behind her. "Koi baat nahi baba se kehna wo tumhe nayi dila de ge." She said. "Ma but--"

"Arsalan. Wo abhi choti bacchi hai. Tum badey ho, behave like one." She glared at him. Arsalan looked at me and I did the stupidest thing at that time. I sticked my tongue out and teased him, which angered him more. He went out of the kitchen and I went out to play with everyone else.

The next day when I woke up to see my closet open, peeking inside I saw my white Eid dress covered in black paint. "That's why you shouldn't mess with me." His voice came from behind, turning around I saw him standing with hands crossed and looking down at me with irritated eyes. Saying that he had left and I just sat there and cried.

And from then, the little bit closeness we had also vanished until.....our nikah which turned my life upside down....in a good way, I guess.