Her Unreasonable Love (Completed)

chapter 20 - Date night

I missed the days when my biggest concerns were telling my parents that I would be quitting gym than having the fear of being chained for walking too fast or punished for doing something normal. Maybe it was God's way of showing me how unappreciative I was or how things could change in an instance.

I sat in front of my dresser trying to get ready for my dinner date. He had bought me a beautiful black dress and paired it with stunning diamond studs and a bracelet. If this was a month back, I would had been more than happy and probably jumping around the house with joy. But I felt nothing. Not happy or sad. It was just an instruction given to me by my beloved husband and I was following it hoping that I won't get hurt again.

I just sat there staring at myself with an empty mind. My body and soul had got numb by the turn my life had taken. Ayaan knocked on my door but I didn’t answer. He entered and stood behind me, looking at me in the mirror. He gently held my shoulders and bent to place a soft kiss on my head.

“Don’t you look perfect”, he said and gently held my shoulders and bent to place a soft kiss on my forehead. I looked at him in the mirror in awe. For the first time I saw affection in his eyes and my heart felt lighter. “Those cheek bones make your face gorgeous. We’ll be leaving in half an hour. I’ll be waiting for you.”

That’s when I really looked at myself. My face had gotten dull and my cheeks had gone inside. I had also got dark circles beneath my eyes. I wasn’t looking like myself. Though I felt good that Ayaan had started to like my appearance, it hurt to know that what I was, wasn’t what he preferred. I stood up from my seat and moved a couple steps back to look at my body. My stomach had reduced a bit and the dress that I was wearing did not hold onto my body the way it always did. I had lost weight, a considerable amount of weight and yet it didn’t make me happy. Loosing weight was like a dream and when it was happening, it didn’t make me happy.

I tried to smile but it was really hard to fake it. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I gently opened my eyes and tried to smile again, but my vision got blurry and tears rolled down my eyes.

I wasn't supposed to be crying, I was supposed to happy. I was fitting into my husband's version of perfect. I was finally able to make him happy, at the cost of my misery.

I successfully managed to hide the dark circles and highlighted my cheek bones as Ayaan liked it. I couldn’t understand why I was doing it for him when all he had done since the beginning was hurt me. Maybe it was the fear of being punished or that I loved him which was making me follow his words.

When I was about to leave the room, my phone on the table vibrated and I went to check it. I was hoping that it was a message from Marwa giving me some good news and so it was.

“The doctors said that dad is out of danger and will be discharged soon. He wants to talk to you. Call up when your free.”

I smiled at the text and read it twice, just to make sure that it was true. A weight lifted from my heart and I felt a lot better than I did just a while back. I was very tempted to make a call but I knew that if I was even a minute late, it would end badly. I kept the phone back on the table and went outside holding the smile.

“You look gorgeous”, Ayaan said as he saw me walk out of my room and hugged me. It was the first time that he had hugged me and it felt great. I couldn’t believe that it was happening and it was turning out to be a good day. There was so much going on in my mind but I didn’t have any words to express it. He let go of me and held my hand and escorted me to the car. He also held the car door for me and smiled as I sat inside.

Our car ride was rather quiet and I preferred it that way but I also wanted to know why he hadn’t told me about my father’s heart attack and how could he be so happy knowing that something bad had happened back home and after what he did to me.