Many turns that seem impossible to occur yet carve their paths into our roads of life. Same happens with certain people who appear at the end of our roads like a blue moon; rare and unexpected. That was what Haani Fateen's existence was like in Sanari's life.

Sanari twisted her leg to a better easing position in the uncomfortable heels Laila had made her wear and froze yet another fake smile on her face while posing. Taking pictures and standing painfully close to Haani wasn't something she considered. Laila wanted to capture the infatuating moments of her nephew's wedding even if he refused to show any interest in it. She believed later sometime when they both settle in life together and eventually accept their marriage as a real relation, they'd ask for those pictures.

"I think they had enough pictures posing alone, we should interfere before it's too late. I mean who'll forget this day when Haani gave up his bachelor status and got himself married to such a pretty lady here." Aron wiggled his eyebrows playfully at Haani and he rolled his eyes in pure annoyance.

"I never wanted anyone of you here." He eyed him back.

"Dude don't say that you're my best man. Don't spoil it yeah?" Marcus gave him a fake hurt look.

Sanari shifted her weight to the other foot, standing was getting really painful with each passing minute. "Can we just be done with it already? Please?" She silently pleaded and every pair of eye darted in her direction. Heat crept up her face from embarrassment, "I-I mean these heels are really uncomfortable, I can't bear standing any longer here." She tried to explain.

Laila sensed the pain she was inflected with and realised Sanari was a plain woman. Not the kind who'd walk in bruised feet just to please men. She silently signalled Haani with her eyes. He inhaled a deep breath and nodded back at her.

Hesitantly Haani pressed his warm hand to the small of her back. Her skin tingled where it was only covered by a perforated net fabric of the wedding gown. As if testing his own control he further snaked his hand around her body and grabbed onto her waist tightly. He pulled her towards his body with a swift jolt and held her upright in place. He noted a blush creep up her face.

The strong support from his arm around her waist and her leaning in towards his stern stance relaxed her paining feet. She sighed with both embarrassment and relief. She was never going to get used to his closeness, she thought.

Aron, Marcus, Laila and Ham came to stand beside them to pose together for a picture. The photographer swiftly snapped pictures one after another. Everyone took their own turn to take pictures with the bride and groom. It infuriated Haani as to why they were acting like it was a real wedding. At least to him and Sanari it wasn't. He realised none of his friends knew about the kind of proposition he had laid to get himself tied in a wedding band. They never believed he'd ever fall in love again let alone marry someone after the incident that happened. But only he knew that this marriage had no love involved.

Finally, when the photo session was over, Sanari huffed in tiredness. Haani let go of her waist. Everyone walked back towards the table where the food was served. So far, she only knew about who Laila and Ham were to Haani Fateen but the other two guys were aliens to her. She had no idea who they were.

Haani took a few steps towards where everyone was going but repulsively looked back to find Sanari struggling with her tail gown. "The heels are getting stuck in the ground." She felt his gaze on her and informed him annoyed. Haani shook his head frustrated and went to her.

He graded both her wrists at which her eyes widened a bit in sudden reluctance. He carefully placed both her hands on his shoulder blades and bent down, "You don't want me to carry you there and give them all yet another subject to amuse themselves with, so, I'll have to take off your sandals. You can walk barefoot right?" He looked up at her for an answer. She nodded back abruptly.

He lifted up the hem of her gown to reveal a portion of her legs. His fingers touched her ankle and lingered there for a moment. Sanari took a sharp intake of breath and squeezed shut her eyes.

His hand traced her ankle bone. Shaking his head to let go of all the disturbing thoughts, he regained back his control and unstrapped both her sandals. She took hold of her gown with one hand and leaned over his shoulder for support with another. He grabbed her ankle in a grip and took off her sandal with another hand.

After taking off both her sandals, he held them in one hand and took her hand in another. He walked her towards the table where everyone was already seated. Marcus on seeing them, wolf-whistled. "Woo hoo someone seems smitten." He commented in a fake American accent. "About the time I drill a hole in your skull with on of these Mark" Haani shot back a deadly glance in his direction and lifted up the sandals for him to see and get the point.

Aron and Marcus chuckled at their friend's irritation. Haani might have muted his emotions a lot since the past few years but his habit of making sneaky comebacks didn't leave. At times they wished they had their old carefree friend but then they thanked fate for at least having him around than not seeing him at all.

"Hi, I'm Aron by the way. Yeah, I know we have bad timings but let's introduce ourselves now than never." He got up from his seat and reached out his hand for Sanari to take. She waffled a bit but shook his hand. Next came Marcus and did the same. She beamed a genuine smile at them. "They're both my college buddies," Haani informed her silently.

"Yes, we are. But we're more like brothers-" Haani cut in between and made him stop mid-sentence, "I think that's enough, we should eat." He eyed Marcus sharply, he took his note from it and nodded. This sudden change in behaviour tugged a string of suspicion in Sanari but she ignored it.

Laila and Ham told them all about stories of Haani and his friends' college times and how sneaky kids they had been, literally giving Laila a high blood pressure, "-and this one time he put a sponge into my cars gas cylinder so it won't start and I'd ask him to take it and show it at the nearest mechanical shop. All three of them took my car downtown to the cinema to impress girls. Can you believe that?" Haani gave a tired laugh on hearing about his disported actions back then. Everyone indulged themselves in a good wholehearted laugh.

Sanari looked at him all amused. He was far from being that same person now. All she had come across of was a repulsive, arrogant, stern, bossy, reckless and highly tempered man. She wondered what caused the change. People don't change out of choice, times and situations manipulate them into changing. What impelled Haani to leave behind his livid self and submerge into a dark shadowy personate, was beyond her understanding.

At the first peck of twilight, the celebration shifted indoor. Sanari had her gown collected with her on the sofa and sat cross-legged. Haani and Ham were busy playing chessboard with Aron hooting on either side.

"He wasn't always like that you know," Marcus said from beside Sanari. She turned her head tiredly towards him and raised a brow. "He was this carefree person, full of life even after just getting out of a foster home. He'd always tell us this, 'what happened before should stay in past because what happens now is what's more important and matters.' He was happy, way too happy for his own good I guess. He was in lo-" He cut himself mid-sentence and realised he was giving out too much information to her without Haani's approval.

Somewhere he felt Sanari had already tugged at a chord of his heart. But he couldn't enforce his own assumptions on Haani and decided to leave him to figure out himself. He cared about her that much was known. But what made him marry her wasn't a lenient thing to be curious about. Haani wasn't the old Haani, he was a man with privacy now.

"Love?" Sanari completed for him and stopped his train of thought from proceeding any further into an oblivious matter. "Yeah-yeah in love...with his life." He completed with an unsure look curved into his face.

"Then what changed?" She asked him that one question which held entire of Haani Fateen's existence in a twisted void. He looked at her in the eye and they stayed like that for many seconds to pass. It seemed as if he was conveying her a secret message coated with thick emptiness and empathy. Finally, he tore off his gaze from hers, "it's not my place to tell you, let him tell you that himself. Just let him." He looked up at her and begged silently. She didn't understand what he meant by it but somewhere she knew he was signalling towards something much intense and fragile.

"I know he's hard. It won't be easy to get to him but don't give up on him. I don't know what made you both agree upon such a marriage but it is marriage after all. You can't get away from that reality.
No man is ever immune to emotions, he may have skilled in hiding them or ignoring them but he can never get away from them. He might seem like he doesn't care but deep down we all know he does, he's just scared to get hurt again. For him to believe in such emotions you've got to invest in him first." Not a single thing he said made sense to her. She was oblivious of what he was getting at.

Marcus knew she wouldn't understand him, but he hoped that at some point she would. He hoped she'd improve him.

"You'll make a good husband with that kind of intense talking." Sanari gave out a soft laugh.

"Oh trust me I already am. And besides, what do you expect from a writer? We tend to have a mind of our own." He chuckled wholeheartedly. She looked at him and observed him from close. His brown hair seemed to have gone all crazy from the wind, his skin tone seemed a shade fairer than normal. He had the kind of eyes that offered you a homely feeling. His square jaw set and kind smile indicated he had been a heart breaker during his youth. He was more like Haani expect that he was more sweet and kind.

Haani observed both from afar and wondered what were they talking. He noticed all the worry, confusion, discomfort devolved away from her face. He knew well about Marcus tactics of sweet-talking. That's what made him win over his wife Ella.

"Here's the tea everyone." Laila comes in from the kitchen with a tray of mugs and snacks with the maid towing behind her with a steaming teapot.

Ham got up and walked towards the nearest sofa leaving the game. Haani didn't mind at all because after all these years he knew this was a habit of his when he knew he was losing. "I think I should change, I don't want to spoil this dress." He heard Sanari say which made him think about the dress she was wearing and where Laila managed to get it from on such short notice.

"Laila do remind me of the bill for this dress she's wearing, I don't want you paying for a wedding dress my wife is wearing. You've done a lot already." He called out at her and made his way towards the sofa to sit beside Aron. The word wife felt weird on his tongue but he ignored the feeling.

Laila gave out a small laugh, "I did buy this dress but it was ages ago and I really don't remember the price. I'm an old woman now, my memory isn't that lush anymore." Sanari nervously eyed both of them. She didn't know Haani was unaware of whom the dress belonged to and it scared her on thinking how he'd react to that notation.

"What do you mean? Whose dress is she wearing?" He uncertainly eyed the dress that was now delicately collected around Sanari on the sofa.

"It's your mother's wedding dress." Laila beamed at him but soon noticed his gaping mouth and expressionless face. Sanari's heart stopped at the crude exchange. He looked back at the dress. Reached out and grabbed a portion of the long tail gown. Sanari shifted in her seat nervously, her heart hammering against her ribcage

"This is mom's dress?" He asked Laila in a tight voice. Laila nodded to which he frowned. He let go of the dress and moved forward in his seat, "pour me some tea." He ordered the maid. No one dare made a remark on the situation and carried on with it all normal.

Finally, it was late enough for Marcus and Aron to stay any longer. "So we'll see you then?" Marcus questioned Sanari to which she politely nodded with a smile. "Or we'll personally break into your house and meet you guys. " Aron added. She looked up at the guy who still had that nerdy looks to him with those thick-rimmed spectacles. She let out a free laugh and nodded.

It amused Haani how instantly she warmed up towards his family and friends. The many models he had brought in before ended up passing vaguely judgemental comments and disliking towards them. Maybe because their peculiar interest was only Haani and his status, nothing more to it.

"Look I know man she's your wife now and all, and you're one darn possessive specie of a man but I feel like doing this one thing, don't whip my arse for it. I'm a happily married man anyways..." Marcus hastily spoke to Haani. Haani brows jointed in confusion but before he could ask him anything, Marcus step forward and engulfed Sanari in a big bear hug. It took everyone by surprise even Sanari herself and her eyes widened in panic before she restrained her nerves and let out a soft chuckle. Haani seemed beyond cross and folded his arms over his chest in pure annoyance.

"Take care of him." Marcus whispered into her ear and felt her nod her head in an 'okay'. He pulled back and a genuine smile embellished his lips.

"Get out before I send you back home in pieces to your wife. Ella won't like that and neither would your daughter." Haani sternly commented.

Marcus and Aron both chuckled at Haani's reaction. "Don't worry man, no one's stealing her away. Have her all to yourself tonight. " Aron winked at him. The comment made Sanari's face flush with embarrassment.

Was it actually going to take a night for him to have his ways now that he had a right to it as a husband anyways? Worry started eating up Sanari. "He's just joking, relax," Haani whispered near her and rubbed her arm in assurance.

Haani stepped out to bid his friends a proper goodbye. The mid way getting into the car, Marcus turned and called at him, "You break her heart and I'll make sure you don't walk again." Haani gave him a 'whatever' look but deep down he knew well he wasn't capable of doing that yet. And it wasn't like she loved him or anything so it put his heart at ease for even if he did plan on doing it later.

"Laila?" He called out at her. "In the kitchen." She yelled back. He followed into the kitchen and seated himself on a nearby stool."Where's Sanari?" He asked her. "Settled her in your room." She smiled back at him with pure affection.

"Why would you do this to me?" Suddenly Haani asked out of the blue with a breaking emotion.

"Do what?" Confusedly she looked at him.

"I could've bought her any dress, even if it had worth a million I don't care. Why would you make her wear mom's wedding dress? Why?" He was controlling hard to keep his hurt feelings from showing and losing his anger.

"She is your bride, you married her. That's what your mom would've wanted." Laila sighed deeply.

"You don't know what mom would've wanted. This marriage is just a proposition to me so I could protect her. I didn't marry her out of love Laila, you can't give her that place." He raised his hand and dropped them back in frustration.

"I don't want to know for whatever reason you married her but in Islam rather in any religion of the world, a marriage is a marriage. She is your wife now and she has that place already whether or not you agree upon giving it to her. Should have thought of it before marrying her." Laila remarked relentlessly.

Haani knew this was a lost case for him. It infuriated him and he got up to leave before she called at him again, "This was your mom's wedding ring. I'm giving it to you because it belongs to you, most precisely it belongs to your wife now." She paused to push a royal blue velvet box towards him across the kitchen island. He picked it up with shaky hands and grabbed it tightly in his palm.

"I won't force you into anything Haani. It's your life and you know better about it. Wear it to her when you're ready to give her that place as your wife." He knew what her words meant. Give her that place as his wife, give her a piece of his heart, give her a chord of his affection and attention, in more authentic words, love her. He was far from doing that but he nodded back at Laila. It was pointless to fight her.

Haani opened the door to his room only to be hit with the strong fragrance of roses. Walking further into the room, everything was covered in flowers. He sorely laughed to himself. He was unsure of what might be his next step, this is the most he had planned out so far. What he does after he gets married wasn't plotted on his map yet. Uncertainty hit him in the gut. He looked around to search for Sanari and face her.

But instead of waiting for him as any typical bride on her wedding night, she was fast asleep at the bottom of the bed, laid diagonally. She was out of her wedding gown and dressed in a purple silk blouse and cotton fabric floral patterned long skirt. Of course, her headscarf was securely pinned in its place.

Sighing heavily and with relief, he moved towards her. Bending down beside the bed he stared into her sleeping stance. Her face was makeup-free and her features fully relaxed. She slept peacefully. He wished she stayed this peaceful too while awake. Hesitantly he reached out and brought his hands closer to her face. He caressed her cheek with the back of his three fingers. It felt soft and made him close his eyes to the sudden swirl pool of feelings within him. How would he be able to let her go once he finishes painting all his canvas and in carve her into each one of them? How would he do it to her?

Frustrated and ignited with his own demons he got up and moved towards the bathroom to have a warm shower. It helped him soothe his jumbled nerves and thoughts. After having a prolong shower and a chain of delusive thoughts, he made his way out of the steamed bath and stepped into the room. Taking out a loose tee and cotton shorts, he changed into them quickly. He didn't care what she would think of his attire when she sees him, she was his wife now. She was liable to see him in any condition and get used to it already. Not that it was going to be her first time living with a man. That thought gave him sour feelings.

He walked towards the bed only to find out Sanari dozing off in the same position he left her earlier. It confirmed her exhaustion. He didn't want to wake her up so he bent towards her. Carefully he placed one of his arms under her nape and the other under her knees. Momentarily he tried to pick her up but she recoiled herself into him and clasped him in her warm embrace. Her scent engulfed him and he wanted nothing more than to stay like that holding her in his arms. He gave out a divert smile. He was beginning to like her carefree self. Placing her on her side of the bed, he unclasped her arms around his neck and lifted the duvet to pull it over her.

This is how their first day of marriage ended, he thought intrigued. What more surprises and amusement she had for him, the thought tugged at his heart. Despite every vile thing that had happened between them, despite how he imagined making her marry him and be his wife would feel like, despite how he mused he'd have to pull a feat and suffer each second with her just to get what he wanted, it all went vain the moment he climbed his bed and laid down next to her. Sudden peace and contentment captured his heart. He smiled at her sleeping face and snuggled closer into her.

~~~~~

Peering open her eyes a bit and adjusting her sight to the bright illumination in the room, Sanari tried to wake up. Tiredly stretching out herself, she turned to a side and opened her eyes. A pair of grey orbs were already staring back at her. She almost jumped in her place but soon remembered she was in his room, what did she expect.

Scared and nervous she tried to feel her clothes in place under the duvet, "Seriously you think I'd have taken advantage of you while you were passed out dead?" He asked her in a hoarse voice. She ducked her head under the duvet to escape from the embarrassment she projected herself. She heard him stretch, move in his place and suddenly the duvet was torn off her body. He playfully brought his face closer to hers, "Even if I had taken advantage it should be fine since you're my wife now. But I won't because personally, I believe I've earned your trust this far and I won't make any wrong move to break it." She blinked at him profoundly.

"Get up and get ready. We have to leave soon. I have a business trip due today, I can't be late." He got out of bed only to earn himself a chuckle from her. He turned around and looked at her confounded.

"You seriously wear that?" She pointed towards his shorts. He shrugged at her in complete seriousness. "Haven't you seen men wearing shorts before?" He asked in all humour. "Not really. But considering the kind of personality and status you possess, I almost considered you the type who even goes to bed all suited." He stared at her amused, "That's another billionaire myth you've collected." She suppressed a smile at his comment because indeed she had collected way too many myths against him anyways.

After having breakfast, they bade farewell to Laila and Ham. She acknowledged one thing while leaving, Haani was right about envying the kind of love the couple had for each other. It almost made her believe in love herself. How she wished she was lucky enough to have such kind of a relationship. She never was materialistic, neither was she interested in Haani Fateen's financial status. She only wanted a real marriage but that was impossible now when she had already agreed upon a bargain.

~~~~

Haani had been gone on some important business trip for almost eight days. It was almost weekend and Sanari had begged Annum to spend it with her. It took her everything to explain out things to her but as ignorant as Annum was acting up, it did her no good.

Before leaving Haani had made certain things clear to her. First that she was never supposed to forget their marriage was a proposition so she wasn't to expect any compassion from him. Sure he'd be a husband to her but with no feelings involved. Sanari didn't know how she felt about it but for one she knew after her divorce from Behlul and her previous broken relation, she wasn't ready to give someone the kind of place in her life or her heart anyway.

Secondly, he told her that their marriage had to stay secret, no one was supposed to know about it. It made her curious as to why he didn't want to be upfront about it to the people. At least the employs at Haani villa knew of their marriage and that was enough for her to suffice her doubts. She didn't want anymore staking her character by thinking she was living with a man out of wedlock.

Annum finally showed up at Haani villa but with a smug expression curved permanently into her face. "I'm not going to like you anytime soon just so you know." Annum accusingly informed Haani who sat across from her on the dining table. He had arrived the previous day and had almost wasted two hours of talking out Annum which prominently went all vain. "No one asked you to like me even." He remarked back in pure infuriating tone. He dropped playing nice with her because unlike her sister, she was way more stubborn and rebellious than he thought.

Annum huffed in annoyance, "Did you just hear him Sana? How did you even agree to marry this arrogant prude." Her accusation started igniting Haani's temper. "Annum drop it please." Sanari pleaded in a whisper.

"I can't drop it. You married him, how can I drop it? I mean come on Sana you just escaped Behlul and now him?" She pointed accusingly at Haani. "He doesn't even have the ethics to legally announce you as his wife to the world. I'm not dumb like you Sana. He's using you and when he's done he'll trash you for sure because if you were real to him he'd have already announced this marriage. He's Haani Fateen for crying out loud-" Before she could finish Haani slammed his fist painfully loud on the table and the utensils above it shook from the impact. "Enough!" He roared. Both the girls jumped in their seats.

"One more word you speak and I'll make sure you never speak again, do you hear me?" He hated girls who behaved smug and spoilt. Who were in the habit of judging people before even knowing them. "You listen to me and you listen well. If it wasn't for me your sister here would have been dead by now and you would have had faced the horrors of abduction, physical and sexual abuse, rape even from that ex-brother-in-law of yours." His information clicked Annum at once and she shook her head to dismiss even the thought of it. Haani closed his eyes to calm his nerves before continuing.

"You should thank me for saving you both and putting that sorry excuse of a man behind the bars. As for why Sanari married me or why I made her do it is none of your darn business you hear me? I have tried being nice to you but you're not her of course." He pointed at Sanari. "And I can't tolerate people ill behaving with me."
He leaned in closer to them both, "As for making this marriage public, that's exactly the kind of thinking I'd expect from someone who knows nothing about the elite world. Oh no, I'm not bragging, I'm far from doing that. But believe me when I say it can't get any nastier than letting the media know about this marriage because the next thing you'll see is their cameras following you everywhere on the face of the earth. They would penetrate into your sister's life and exploit every fibre of her being. You'll see her in every single tabloid accompanied with statements like she must be a gold digger, it's probably the sex appeal, what did it take her to convince Haani Fateen into marrying her? He must have impregnated her and now she blackmailed him into marrying her, maybe she's nothing more than a charity case and he'll get rid of her after he's done with her. It'll go on and on and on..." He paused to calculate their stunned expressions.

"The media does everything to break you. Once they know about your weak ends, they'd do anything to extract out the news that can earn them good pay. It's ugly but that's what they're trained for and you can do nothing to escape it." He sighed remembering his struggle with such rumours and accusations. They had even labelled him gay and impotent because he was never spotted much around women like other billionaire playboys.

"Do you want that?" He asked both of them. They shook their heads in the union. "Good, now excuse me." He got up from his seat and left both girls in utter embarrassment for judging him wrongly.

******

Sanari's wedding dress on the side, above wherever. I don't do attachments because personally, I don't like them but for you guys, I'll compromise abit. I love the dress.