CHAPTER | TWENTY | TWO | UMAYMAH | POV

As I sat with a coconut in my hands I watched Shoaib waltzing around in the kitchen - he had insisted that tonight was going to be perfect while I simply rolled my eyes at him and continued to watch the collection of Disney movies that we had available. At that he called me a child which I ignored.

"You don't have to do that much." I pointed out to him while taking a long slip from the straw in the coconut.

The maid, which I had grown to love, was familiar with this island and I was surprised when she managed to climb a tree and get us down some coconuts. That, and Shoaib's mans pride was also hurt because he couldn't climb the tree without sliding right back down.

"I don't but I will. Knowing you, you're gonna finish all this food without me." He said and laughed at his little joke while I gave him a glare.

"Whatever, I'm going to get changed." I said and got up from one of the kitchen stools I was sitting on and disregarded the coconut into the bin.

Walking into our room I realised how much fun we had already had on the first day of just being here, and now I had to get ready for our dinner. I was looking forward to it because all afternoon Shoaib wouldn't leave the kitchen and would only give me short replies, much to my annoyance, every time I talked to him.

I walked in through the walk in closet to find myself surrounded by my holiday clothes and the amount of it made it impossible to choose what to wear. It ranged from every possible bright colour which I would never wear back home, but took an exception for this trip.

My eyes finally landed on a floor length white dress that I had managed to store all the way at the back. After I had unsuccessfully tried on every single dress, this one was the best for a romantic dinner. And so I slipped the dress on and for the fun of it, twirled around, clutching the ends of the dress in my hands.

I almost felt like a child again and my reflection agreed with me as my hair was awfully messy and my face looked a little too plain. This isn't how I wanted to go out like and after looking around for my make up bag, I settled myself in front of the mirror and began applying products.

There wasn't much on my face, but enough to make it look like I made an effort. Plus I also wanted to look good for this evening, so I had to look brighter than my usual self. After I was done with my face I debated on what to do with my hair. Just like my hijab, I was also good at styling my hair, but it was impossible to think of what to do with the curly mess.

Minutes later with yet no idea of what to do, I decided to leave it as its natural self before running a painful brush through it. It wasn't the best but I didn't want to be any longer than I was already taking.

"My, my. Shoaib might just drool looking at you tonight." I said to myself before taking a final look in the mirror and with the urge of yet another twirl.

Exiting the room, I made sure to follow his instructions and go out to the back where the dinner was going to be taking place. As I stepped outside a single table fitted for two people was perched on the sand with Shoaib standing there.

He stood there with a suit which I have no idea how he was pulling off in this heat and held his arms at his back, smiling at me, beckoning me to join him. And so I walked over to him, grateful that he didn't go through the romantic cliche of candles and rose petals.

"You look nice." I complimented before taking a seat which he pulled out for me.

"Not as good as yourself." He said with a wink and seated himself opposite me.

This time I took the liberty of looking at what was on the table, and to my surprise a full three course dinner awaited us. From soup to chicken stir fry and finally cheesecake.

I let out a laugh, "How did you make all of this?" I was truly intrigued on how he managed to make all this food in a span of only a few hours. This looked like it took a day minimum to make.

"Boys can multi task too, and besides I thought you would have wanted all this food to eat. Don't rush though, we need to get busy later." At that I smacked his arm and sank back into my chair, not wanting to look at his laughing form. He took great pleasure in harassing me this boy did.

"Well carry on teasing me and you'll find yourself sleeping alone. On the floor. In the living room. Away from me." It was my turn to laugh with the daggers that he was shooting at me.

Lifting up my spoon I began to dig into everything, starting with the soup which was heavenly. In fact, all of Shoaib's food tasted like that an it was a good thing I hadn't told mom that he cooked most of the meals, or else she would have disowned me with all her preparations of turning us into good house wives going to waste.

We didn't talk after that, we just ate in silence with the only sound coming from the waves crashing on the shore just a few feet away from us. I all but devoured his food, enjoying the taste of it as I went along. It wasn't everyday he did something this special and I was glad for it.

As I ate, I stole glances at Shoaib who seemed to always have his eyes on me anyway; I didn't know whether to feel weirded by the fact he was staring at me, or embarrassed that he too had caught me looking at him.

Then I remembered how silly this was. We are a married couple and if we want to look at each than we can, without the feeling of having to be embarrassed. So after that I didn't look up again, knowing that he was already looking at me anyway. His stare wasn't intense; it was like I was something delicate and any harsh look from him would shatter me.

I think that's what scares me the most. My sense of over thinking things was coming back and I couldn't help but think that he was hiding something from me. From the way he looked at me to his distant thoughts a few days ago - and maybe I let myself worry too much, or perhaps I was right. Either way I wasn't going to bring it up.

With all this thinking, I didn't realise that I had stopped eating until Shoaib caught my attention.

"Are you full?" I looked at him, snapping out of my thoughts until my mind registered what he was asking me. I looked down at my plate to see that I had mostly finished my meal and was in fact full.

"Yeah. It was delicious by the way, not that it never is, its just that today it was nicer because you know, you went through so much effort. Not that you don't always put in effort, but you know what I'm trying to say." I finally finished my rambling and found myself looking at a rather amused Shoaib who looked like he was restraining himself from laughing at me. "Oh just laugh, I know you want to." And he did.

I watched him laugh for approximately 47 seconds before he turned red in the face and began choking for air. Rushing to get some water in him, I enjoyed the few seconds that he wasn't laughing at my expense. I make myself a laughing stock in front of this boy.

"I'm sorry but you're too cute when you talk nonsense." He said and punched my cheeks like I was a 7 year old rather than a 17 year old.

"Whatever. You didn't have to laugh that much." I said and waited till he was fully sober from his laughing fit.

"I can't promise that it won't happen again. Now let's go inside, I have a present waiting for you." He didn't wait for me to reply as he took my hand in his and guided me back inside the house to where his surprise awaits.

I wasn't completely clueless. The surprise had something to do with my birthday, which the clock showed to be in less than two minutes. What I was clues about however, was what he decided to buy me.

He lead me back into our room and proceeded to go the bathroom, leaving me in the room waiting on the bed. I took this time to aimlessly play around with the bed sheets that the maid had done up a few hours ago before me and Shoaib messed it up with our rolling around and pillow fights.

Just then the bathroom door open and out came Shoaib himself with a box in his hands. A smile graced his features as he made his way over to me and bent down to my level before placing the box in my hands.

"Happy birthday baby." I all but smiled and began to open the box by unwrapping the bow and wrapping paper.

The box felt light in my hands and I was glad that he didn't pick out anything heavy. Opening the lid I saw a bracelet sitting in the middle of the velvet box, covered by diamonds with a silver band. It reminded me of the one we had seen in the market, but this was bigger and had more diamonds surrounding it than the other.

"It's beautiful! Thank you so much." I gushed and enveloped him in a hug which almost made him stumble back into the floor.

"I'm glad you liked it. I got it so that it was similar to the one you liked." He said and confirmed my thoughts about it being almost the same to the one we had seen.

I then placed the box down on to the table beside and watched how he closed the distance between us, and at the same time lifted me on to the bed. Nothing was said and he lead me into the moment he'd been waiting for.

***

That early morning, Shoaib woke the both of us to pray and I happily did, following him, ignoring the little pain I had between my legs.

Yet again it was a beautiful morning and as we finished praying, I sat at the edge of our bed, finally getting the chance to check through my phone. Like every year multiple birthday wishes came through which I was late to reply to. However a particular message caught my attention and I looked up to Shoaib in questioning.

"You didn't have to send me a happy birthday message when you're right with me." I stated coolly, but actually I wanted to know what he had written because it was much more than just a happy birthday that he wrote.

"Well too bad that I did." He said as he got into his side of the bed and wrapped an arm around my waist as I laid down, getting comfortable to read what he had sent me. "Wait, when did you even send this?" I asked with a raised brow. From what I remember, we were together since yesterday.

"Just read." He said with a roll of his eyes and took the phone off me to open the message up.

Happy birthday Umaymah; God knows how much you've began to start changing little aspects of my life that I didn't know was possible. Before you only used to be my neighbour and then it all changed as soon as you started to stalk me ;) Jokes, but you're beginning to make me a better person and I don't know how. Yes it's taking time and yes we're not perfect yet, but we're having our own family soon and I can't wait to prove to you that I can be the best that I can. Thank you for having that faith in me which nobody else seemed to have. Most of all thank you for not giving up on me still when I manage to show you that I'm not worth it. You're a blessing within itself and never forget that. And look at that, you're finally an adult.

I was never one to know what to say in times like this and this time was no different as I read the message over and over again, trying to process every little detail that he had written in that text. Getting this wasn't what I was expecting at all and in all my life of having close friends and family, not once had someone written something so meaningful to me.

He may have thought that I was a blessing to him, but right now as I sat here on this bed, clutching my phone in my hands, all I could think about was how this boy was also changing me. I'd never thought receiving something like this would mean so much. But it did, and for that, I'm grateful.

"Shoaib this is amazing, I mean it's more than that but I don't know what to say. Thank you." As best as I could from the position we were in, I turned to my side and gave him a hug.

He immediately responded and at this moment I felt like I was finally getting somewhere in life. Taking this pledge to change the way of this boy was something I hoped to achieve, and now that it's slowly happening, it all seems surreal. The fact that he thinks so much of me made me happy too.

All our lives we want to mean something to someone, something worth cherishing and I believe I was slowly starting to become that for Shoaib. Truth is, he means a lot to me too and I knew before we had gotten married that there would be a day that I would slowly start to fall for this boy. That day was coming sooner than I expected, but I was glad.

"Don't tell me you're going to get emotional now. I only wrote what was true and I meant every word." He said sincerely, tucking away a strand of hair that had fallen onto my face.

"I've never had someone write something like this for me. Well, I've never tried interfering in anyone's life, but still." I said, a little embarrassed at the end, knowing that because of my longing to help was the only reason that we here at the moment.

He looked at me for a moment before running a hand through his hair and looking away from me. I contemplated on asking what the matter was until he, himself turned back around to face me. "Listen Umaymah, there's a part of me that loves the fact you decided to barge into my life and wanting to make me a better person, while the other part thinks you're wasting your time. Okay, so I've opened to you but I'm like this with everyone I'm close with. What has changed?" He groaned but more to himself than me.

I eyed him, choosing my words carefully before speaking up, "So what? Who said that change was ever easy? These things take time but opening up to me is more than I've asked for. And there have been changes; it's not only me you've been nice to. Everyone you see, you smile at and say hello and your attitude is starting to get better. Yes you're still hung up on your habits like smoking and occasional fights, but you're no saint and I'm not expecting you to change so quickly."

I smiled at him knowing that every word I uttered was sincere and meaningful and whether he knew it or not, I believed that he could become a better person because the humanity which he might have thought he lost, was still in there. And somehow that little bit of humanity is starting to light up again.

"You know what? For a girl who's pretty emotionless, you have a lot of meaningful words to say that can make a guy cry." His words made me laugh a bit which in return brought a smile onto his lips.

"Are you trying to say you're gonna cry? Wait, I need to record this." I began unlocking my phone to get the video recorder on before my phone was snatched from my hand and the guilty person simply waved it above me.

"No recording anything. Besides I'm not going to cry for you." He scoffed and gently threw the phone back to me. I ended up with a glare directed towards him at his violation at me.

"Don't hit him Umaymah, his pretty face isn't worth it." I chanted to myself in order to stop myself from landing my fist on his arm. It was all banter and in all seriousness, I loved how we could go from talking about something so heartfelt to going back to our goofy selves. It was rare to find someone who understand you at such a level but I believe that I had just found that person.

"Nah seriously though, your punches hurt. A lot." I could tell he was serious by the way he scrunched up his face, so I tried not to laugh at the fact that my husband may have indirected that I was stronger than his.

As a kid I was never one for looking my best; that was left for my sister to worry about. I more or less hung out with my brothers and began taking an interest in whatever the boys liked. However that didn't include sports because I was still as lazy as I am now, excluding the fact I went boxing. That was how I managed to have such a good right and left hook so I could defend myself.

I still remember the day I asked if I could take classes at the local youth centre. My mother had this horrid look on her face and exclaimed that boxing wasn't going to help me become a good house wife. Nor would a boy find a girl who had more muscles than him attractive. However, my dad found it to be a great way to get me up and running since I was gaining weight by sitting around an eating. His exact, blunt words that hurt me.

Fair enough that I had lost my baby weight but didn't become what my mother feared. Instead I gained good skills and a good figure that stayed the same even though I was the most unhealthiest person now.

"What can I say? Practice makes perfect." I stated, quoting him from yesterday before laying down on my back, with his arm still wrapped around me, and tried to get comfortable.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. It was a little cute.

"I used to go boxing."

A few seconds of silence ended by his sudden burst of laughter that nearly made me jump from his embrace. It was sudden and unexpected, but I also didn't find what was so funny about what I had just said.

"You're telling me, the laziest girl I know used to go boxing?" And again he started to laugh, as if not believing it, even when he said it himself.

"Well yeah. I mean I still have some of my skills, so it's best not to get me mad." I said as I crossed my arm over my chest and pulling the covers on me.

The double doors ahead of us was slightly open and a gush of wind was flying inside. A nice summery breeze which would have frozen me back home, but felt like bliss in the Maldives.

"I already know not to get you mad. You've got one heck of a temper on you." He said, stating the obvious.

"It's what happens when you have to deal with annoying siblings. And a husband for that matter." I avoided the mock glare he sent me and laughed it off. Truth be told, he wasn't that annoying but I liked to say so anyway.

"I've got annoying siblings myself you know." He stated.

It was after he said that, that I realised even though I knew his siblings, I had never knew them properly. Not once had I seen them interact with Shoaib - or maybe the moment wasn't right to do so since the last I saw of them was at our wedding. My siblings and I weren't close at all but we still acknowledged each other, even at the wrong moments.

"What are you thinking about?" I pulled back from my thoughts to realise that I didn't reply to him.

"Why don't you and your siblings ever interact?" I questioned, getting straight to the point.

He looked at me wearily for a moment as if I was losing my mind. "Are you kidding me? We're all crazy, especially towards each other. Maybe you haven't seen us, but most of the bruises we have are from one another." He scoffed and began moving his arm from my waist to hoist it to my face.

I stared at it until the faint lines of a burn started to show. It looked a couple of years old and you had to strain your eyes just to see it, but nonetheless it was still there. Then I wanted to laugh; laugh at how he might have gotten that burn in the first place, because I don't think it was intended to be an accident.

"How did this happen?" I ask, trying to keep my laughter at bay.

"I'll let Omar tell you that story when we get home." He says through gritted teeth - obviously not a good memory. Omar is the third child in the family and went after his brother by being the trouble maker, but was still pretty sweet. He definitely looked like a younger version of his brother too. In fact all the boys looked like their dad while the girls looked like their mother.

"Should I prepare myself to laugh?" I ask with amusement knowing that it was going to be an embarrassing story at Shoaib's expense.

He made a sound that resembled a 'psht' before pulling the covers off him and getting out of bed. Sitting up I wondered where he was going until I too unwilling got out of bed to follow him; the kitchen seemed to be his destination.

I sat myself on top of the kitchen counter, which at home would have gotten me in so much trouble.

"Whatcha doin?" I ask, resembling Candice from Phineas and Ferb which I used to watch in my childhood. I would still be watching it if Disney channel didn't decide to pull a sly move and stop all the good shows from airing. One day I would love for a throwback on Disney channel, just for a day so that many others like me could feel like a child again.

"I'm making breakfast because I'm hungry. Pass me the eggs please." I moved myself from the counter and walked over to the fridge to pull it open. Searching around for the eggs, I saw that it was right at the top, on the furthest shelf.

There was no doubt I was too short to have reached it, but I didn't want to give him another chance to tease me, about my height this time. So I stood on my tip toes and stretched my hand and fingers in order to get what I needed.

"Here." I turned around to see Shoaib holding three eggs and the worst thing is that he didn't even need to put in any effort to reach them.

"I was just about to get those." I say defensively and watch him roll his eyes, walk back to the stove and carry on cooking his breakfast.

The familiar sound of my ringtone made me groan but I picked it up anyway, putting the phone on loud speaker which I realised I was doing a lot of nowadays.

"Hello?" I asked, barely paying any attention to whoever it is that called.

"I told you to watch out didn't I?" I momentarily forgot who the person on the other end was until Shoaib rudely snatched the phone out of my grasp. I looked up to see that he was clearly tensed with a clenched jaw and his hold on my phone was strong.

"What do you want?" Shoaib spoke lowly and in a tone even I knew not to mess with. I had never heard him speak like this but it was definitely frightening.

"I think you know what I want." The other person chuckled but Shoaib was far from amused.

"Piss off." And with that he ended the call and dropped my phone onto the kitchen counter, making a loud bang as he did so, and ran a hand through his face in frustration.

I wasn't sure whether or not to say anything to him because at this point he was more than livid, and no doubt he could snap at me too.

"Umaymah," looks like I didn't have to start off the conversation, "has he called you before?" He asked, his voice low which meant that he wasn't joking around with me right now. This person, whoever it was, had called me before but I had brushed it off thinking it was just a prank call; now it seems serious than ever.

"Yes." I admitted but couldn't bring myself to speak any louder.

His grip was now on the edge of the kitchen counter, holding it so tight that it looked ready to be snapped off any moment now. Knowing his strength I knew that he was able to do so, which is why I slowly took a hold of his hands trying to loosen the grip he had. But then it was my hands that he now took in his; encircling his fingers around my wrists.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He looked down at me, straight in the eyes.

"I thought it was nothing, just a kid playing a prank or something." I said and offered a weak smile for my weak excuse. He didn't smile back.

Shoaib carried on looking me and with each second his gaze become more intense, but the hold he had on my wrist was beginning to loosen. I watched him take a step back before running a hand through his face again - he either ran a hand through his face or hair every time he was stressed or in a dilemma. That much I had learnt about him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to spoilt your birthday," he started but looked a little lost for words before he finally started to speak again, "let's just forget this happened okay?" This time he offered me a small smile, and this time I didn't give one back.

It was outrageous to think that after what had just happened, he'll expect me to forget about it! Considering his reaction was far worse than mine, I needed an explanation as to what was going on and why I was receiving phone calls from a person threatening me. Of course the threats had now begun to take a negative toll on me now that I know they weren't a prank, but in fact very serious.

"Shoaib, we need to talk about this." I said and took a step towards him.

"Umaymah for once please listen to me! It's your birthday and I'm not ruining that, come tomorrow and you can ask me whatever you want okay?" He bargained and I contemplated about it. Tomorrow is not very long away and then I could ask of all the questions that were bothering me. And so I gave in.

"Alright, but tomorrow I want to know everything." I said sternly and watched him nod, "for now let's eat breakfast and come watch a movie with me." I demanded with one hand on my hip, trying to distract us both from the dull atmosphere.

"Yes sir, I mean ma'am!" I almost laughed at how he pretended to be distracted, but he didn't fool me.

"We're watching Mulan by the way." I added in slyly and heard him groan before returning to his duties at the stove, turning his back to me.

With his back towards me I looked down at my phone and sighed inwardly. Just when things were starting to get better.

***

EID MUBARAK LOVELIES! I'm not celebrating today but I know a lot of people are, so I thought why not not update? This chapter is super long and I've brought the action back - things were getting a little too smooth 😼 Hope you didn't forget about the creepy caller from chapter 6 I think it was.

Let me know what you think in the comments & I hope you're all having a wonderful day 💙