CHAPTER | TWENTY | ONE | UMAYMAH | POV

As I finished putting the last of my clothes into my suitcase I felt saddened and the feeling of wanting to stay grew on me. These past two days had been amazing, tiring but amazing. We met so many new people who were old, young, white and black but that didn't matter because we were all here for the same purpose. It was the aura that surrounded this place that made me not want to go.

However we had to as the next destination on our list was waiting for us. But, maybe I could buy some more time to stay here. It's worth a shot.

"Shoaib?" I called cautiously and walked over to where he was standing, typing away on his phone.

"Hm?" He said but I could tell he wasn't paying any attention to me.

And so I did what I thought best and plopped down to the floor, clutching one of his legs. I nearly let out a laugh by the yelp that came out of his mouth; I was behaving like a child, but I didn't care. Just as long as he paid attention to what I had to say.

"Please can we stay longer? Please?!" I whined but didn't let my hold on his leg any less stronger.

"Umaymah! Get off me right now!" This time I did laugh because he was wobbling around trying to get me off his leg; too bad I wasn't going to be budging anytime soon.

"But I want to stay." I said in a final time which I knew he wouldn't take seriously considering I was behaving like a child.

"We can always come back, but right now we have to leave." This time his tone was much softer and it made me want to forget my stubbornness and give in to him. But I didn't.

"Why can't we leave tomorrow or something? We're going to be in the Maldives for two weeks!" I carried with my whining, which surprisingly was getting annoying even to me.

"Because it's all planned out. Now get off me before I lift you off me."

Even though he gave me a choice of what to do, his actions didn't justify that because as soon as the words left his mouth, I was being lifted off the ground. A shriek left my mouth at the sudden force lifting me upwards and before I could fall, I clung on to him like my life depended on it; and right now, it did.

"Okay, okay we'll go." I finally gave in to him and released myself from his hold to stand on my own two feet.

I didn't miss the smirk coming from him knowing that he had won, but nonetheless I took my bag in my hands and waited for Shoaib to get both our suitcases. He was making me leave, the least he could was pick up a few heavy bags.

After all the commotion, we were finally ready to go. We had checked out of the hotel and Shoaib playfully smacked my arm as I made puppy faces at him and my surroundings, saying that I didn't want to leave. But we did and again we were on the same plane which we were in a couple days ago, and ready to fly out.

Luckily for my self control, blondie wasn't with us today which meant that I wouldn't have to worry about someone stealing my husband. Unlike last time though, I was far from tired - all the moaning and complaining somehow managed to make me stay awake and intrigued about our next destination.

Since the overgrown boy beside me was swimming in money, he had decided to put that to good use and rent out a private island for us, with the exception of another person being there; the maid. When I found out, I knew there was no point arguing with him because he wouldn't change his mind.

"It'll be more comfortable for you and I won't have you to worry about men staring at you." Was what his argument was when we were discussing this. Truthfully I felt a twinge of happiness when he said that, but being the emotionless person I am when it came to admiration, I waved it off and pretended like it didn't bother me.

There was also the excitement in me knowing that we would have an island surrounded by clear water to call home for the next two weeks. When I saw the pictures of where we were going to be staying, it was truly beautiful; not as much as Saudi, but enough to leave me in awe.

Having not to worry about my hijab and dressing modestly was also a relief because I wanted to relax on this holiday, not be on alert 24/7. Just thinking about my wardrobe for the Maldives almost made me shudder. I was used to wearing crop tops and just a shirt in my own room, but not in front of anyone else. But that's exactly what Assia and Zainab, my sister in law decided to pack for me: crop tops, play suits, short dresses and skirts and shorts. Shoaib had never seen me in anything other than sweats and what I wear outside.

Maybe I shouldn't have left my packing to my best friend and sister in law who were anticipating a new member to join the family; apart from Laila that is.

"Babe, look at that." I almost jumped out of my seat as I didn't realise he had made his way over to me. Nonetheless I followed his gaze to look outside the window.

I almost gasped at the scene in front of me. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realise we already arrived to where we should be. Either that or the pilot was in a hurry today.

Huts and beaches crowded my vision and even though I knew this isn't where our destination was, it was still beautiful to look at. Even the beaches were close to the airport that we just stopped at.

"This is amazing!" I finally managed to breath out after gaining my senses and realised Shoaib was waiting for me to answer him.

"Wait till you see where we're staying. Pictures don't do enough justice." He said and I believed him. I always thought pictures liked to exaggerate on destinations like this, but witnessing it first hand made me realise how wrong I used to be.

Like usual we exited the plane and if I thought Saudi was hot then the Maldives had to be burning! Getting inside the airport where the air conditioning was on had to be the best feeling ever as I made the most of the cool air before we had to leave to our own little getaway.

Somehow this all reminded me Twilight and how Edward takes Bella to their private island. I quickly shook that thought away because that film wasn't of my taste; it was Jasmine who insisted that I watch it with, her in return she buying me a jar of Nutella. The thought of Jasmine still got me restless but I shook away thoughts of her too.

Once everything was done, Shoaib guided me and another man who was holding our bags, to the beach. I wondered what we could be doing on the beach until I saw the boat that Shoaib had climbed in. He offered me his hand and I took it, carefully getting on the boat.

"So what exactly are we doing?" I asked as the boat started up and began making its way far from the people behind us on the beach.

"Well you can't expect us to walk to an island, can you?" He said amused by my lack of intelligence. I had nothing smart to say and so I simply looked ahead to the waters.

It glistened under the scorching sun, making it shimmer like diamonds and I could clearly see the little fishes swimming around, all different colours and the reefs as well. All I wanted to do was sway my hands in the water but I resisted the urge to.

"How much longer?" I asked Shoaib, a little impatient now that I had seen how beautiful this place was.

"First you didn't want to come here, now you're getting restless?" The amusement didn't leave his tone.

"I never said I didn't want to come here. Just asked if we could stay in Saudi longer." I said defensively and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Look ahead." He said from behind me and pointed to the distance where I could actually see land forming as well as trees and the most amazing house I had ever seen. Again I was left in shock by the beauty of everything on this island.

As I got helped off the boat, Shoaib turned to the driver and began talking. I took this as my opportunity to look around; taking my sandals off I clutched them in one hand and began walking through the sand. There were shells cluttered on the sands and bright coloured flowers were sprouting from from plants.

I didn't wait for Shoaib as I entered the large house which was opened by large glass doors and net curtains. As I stepped in, the cold wooden floors made me want to close my eyes at the feeling it gave off in contrast to the heat. Everything seemed to be here: a kitchen which was fully stocked up with food, living room with a TV and play station for Shoaib, multiple bathrooms and finally the master bedroom.

By now Shoaib had come inside with our luggage and even though it could have been 100 degrees outside, he still managed to look good and unbothered by the heat.

"Let's go inside." He said and I pulled open the door of the bedroom and walked in.

The first thing I noticed was the massive glass doors which opened up to a swimming pool outside, surrounded by plant pots and beach chairs to lay on. The pool itself was massive and I wondered how this was made for only two people.

Next was the actual bedroom itself. A huge king sized bed lay in the middle of the room with a bedside table and an ensuite bathroom. There was also a walk in wardrobe big enough to be our actual room back home.

Turning around after I took in my surroundings, I placed my arms around Shoaib's neck and got on my tiptoes to give him a short kiss on the lips. He seemed taken back and I quickly pulled away from him.

"That was for erm, you know, going through so much trouble." I said nervously and avoided all eye contact from him as I could.

Next thing I knew, we were in a kiss again, but this time Shoaib had started it and not me. It lasted longer than the first one and left me breathless.

"It was no trouble at all." He said with a smirk and didn't seem at all out of breath like I was.

"How do you do that?" I asked, voicing my thoughts out to him.

He seemed confused at my question.

"How do you manage to stay so calm while I'm all flustered. Its like that kiss didn't even bother you." I explained myself to him.

"Practice makes perfect." He said with a wink and detangled himself from me before walking off out of the room, again leaving me flustered.

I seethed silently by his teasing before deciding to take a cold shower to calm myself down. Walking into the walk in closet where our clothes had already been laid out, I debated on what to wear. I knew I had to wear all these clothes whether I liked it or not because an abaya or my usual modest attire in this weather was going to kill me.

Looking around, I settled on a navy blue dress which stopped a little over my knees. It had a deep V- neck with spaghetti straps and I had to admit it was pretty cute. Dress in my hands, I walked in the bathroom to find myself with three options: shower, bath or jacuzzi. They were all tempting but I went for the shower just to be quicker.

Grabbing the things I needed like body wash, shampoo and conditioner, I turned on the shower and began soaking up the cold water. I was content and just wanted to stay in here for as long as I could, but as much as I was enjoying myself, I was never one for long showers or baths.

When I was done I stepped out smelling like a coconut and the scent was awfully nice to my nose that I spent a good, idiotic ten seconds sniffing myself before getting dressed. It was light weight and if all the other clothes were like this then maybe there was a chance I wouldn't be burnt like a samosa on this trip.

Stepping out of the room I glanced at my reflection in the long mirror that hung on one side of the wall. I definitely looked different to my usual covered up self and it felt like looking in the mirror back home in my room where I didn't have to be so modest. Safe to say that no one apart from my sister or Assia had seen me dress like this and this might be a shocker for Shoaib.

I exited our room and followed the noise of the TV to the living room where Shoaib sat shirtless in a pair of summer shorts while playing on the play station. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the typic boyish behaviour.

Barefoot again, I walked up to him and took a seat beside him. He simply turned to give me a nod but ended up making me laugh as he did a double take on my appearance and dropped his joystick to the ground, making a loud bang noise.

"What happened?" I asked in between laughs seeing that he had now composed himself and was avoiding eye contact with me while he resumed his game.

"Er nothing." He said coolly which didn't math the fact that he seemed so bewildered a few seconds ago.

And so I stood in front of him, blocking his view of the TV, "really?" It was my turn to be amused because he obviously didn't expect me to come out dressed like this.

But what I didn't expect was for him to stand, towering me, as he placed a hand on my back and bend down to the side of my face.

"You look better than I expected." He whispered truthfully while I turned fifty shades of red by his compliment.

The words didn't want to come out my mouth apart from a shriek from the sudden force of being lifted over his shoulder. After the shock, words finally began forming into sentences and threats, begging him to put me down.

"Shoaib!" I cried out and banged on his back for him to listen but he simply laughed and began walking to the direction of our room. I felt conscious of the fact that this dress was short enough by me just standing, imagine how much it had risen by being on his shoulder? I didn't want to know.

He didn't say anything unless you can count the laughter that was coming from him every second. He found this a little too amusing.

Not so gently, I was placed on top of the bed while he stood looking down at me, entertained at his actions while I was embarrassed at how much of a view my dress had given him.

"Remember what you said a few days ago?" He was now beside me on the bed, "about not allowing me everything I was entitled to?" I knew where he was going with this.

"What about it?" I asked, keeping my cool by starting at him straight in the eye. Too bad this didn't break the smirk that he had on his face.

"Just be ready tonight." He said and I all but carried on looking at him even though my heart was beating a hundred times in a second.

"For dinner I hope you mean." I said and mentally praised myself for my comeback. A part of me knew that I was just making it worse for myself and that I was playing with fire; someone who was experienced in all this unlike myself.

"Well that's part of it."

"Ooh I know, there's going to be desert too right?" I said, faking enthusiasm and watched how his face fell a little before his face hovered right in front of mine at close proximity.

"Be honest with me. Are you ready for this?" He asked intensely.

I thought about it for a moment. He would never pressurise me into doing something I wasn't ready for but this time I believed I was ready for this. And so I lifted my head to meet his gaze with a smile.

"I am, now don't make this all mushy and move away from me." In just a matter of seconds I pushed him away from me and was finally able to breath again.

No doubt that I hated when situations became too smitten and it felt like Shoaib had the more affectionate side to our relationship than I did. But, I knew for a fact that I was ready for this.

"Are you sure?" He questioned all in my face again.

"Boy can you not see from all the way there that you have to come so close?" I asked and again pushed him away as he laughed. I couldn't help it and a few seconds later I joined him; both lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

"You know we have to be clo-" I cut him off by whacking him with a pillow, not wanting to know whatever dirty things that was going to come out of his mouth next.

"Blah, blah. I was forced to attend health class thank you very much." I said and took the pillow away from his mouth.

I simply looked at his humorous expression before rolling my eyes and agreeing that he was clearly enjoying himself way too much over this discussion.

"So, dinner tonight. Am I supposed to wear something fancy?" I asked, playing around with the hem of my dress before pulling it down as I realised it had risen up a little.

"Yeah. It will be romantic after all." He said and I groaned out loud.

"Please don't. Being romantic is not me and I think you've realised that even if I tried I will end up laughing at you." I said honestly.

How people can be so intimate with their feelings, I had no idea. I always laugh whenever a romantic scene came up in the times where Assia forced me to watch one. As a result of having her feel sorry for my future husband. Truthfully I felt sorry for him right now as well seeing as I wasn't bothered by his efforts.

"Tell me something: do you have feelings or nah?" He asked, trying to look hurt by my lack of...whatever he was feeling.

"Of course I do. I get hungry, angry and sometimes I'm actually happy too!" I ended on a cheerful note which made him even more annoyed.

"Oh yeah, you do get angry, especially when another girl is looking or talking to me." He replied smugly which caused me to glare at him.

"Shut up." I said defensively and once again looked everywhere but at him.

"No need to be shy about your uncontrollable desire for me." He said.

That was all it took for me to start chasing him around this massive house for ten minutes straight as he laughed his head off, trying to get me to confess what he was saying was true. Ten minutes later with my breathing ragged, we crashed onto the sofa, laughing at what we had just done.

"And for your information, I don't desire any part of you."

***

Argh, that was a long chapter and I feel like I had to write something to make up for yesterday's chapter. Hope you enjoy; the pictures are just a few of the outfits she wears while on holiday ☺️

Opinions? Leave them in the comments ❤️