|| S H A N Z E ||

I toured around the hotel leisurely to spend my time while my husband was busy somewhere. For a past week his routine was the same while mine was taking various pictures and putting them on status which was only visible to him.

Just like now in front of the swimming pool, I took a picture of the indoor pool and put it on status with the caption.

"Will a man die suffocatingly and mercilessly if I drown him in this pool and put electric waves in it?"

He saw my each and every status but didn't reply. Just like yesterday when I posted after taking a picture of a butcher knife in the chef's hand.

"Is this cleaver enough to chop a living man into many pieces?"

And the day before yesterday, I took a picture of fishes in the aquarium.

"I think throwing a man in this big tank is a better idea. Right? And put all the piranhas in this tank."

He already experienced death so many times in my imagination, one or two more couldn't hurt him more. I went to the game room happily and played games with a bunch of teenagers. After being exhausted, I went back to my suite and sat on the couch with sigh, stretching with my eyes closed.

Soon two arms were put on either side of me, causing me to open my eyes. There, my dear husband leaned towards me whom I had killed many times in my imagination.

"Are you done?" He asked me in a voice that sent shivers in my spine.

He really liked this position so much that when he came closer, he caged me between his arms.

"Wh-what?" I asked in a daze and looked at his close face with a trembling gaze.

I knew I had been very courageous between them but that was one thing where I was in charge and took sudden lead, not him taking lead like this. This and that were two different situations. A completely different situation.

"By making plans of killing me multiple times," He explained, his eyes flickering between my eyes and lips.

He looked away from my lips and stood up, extending his hand towards me. I stared at his hand then at him, thinking for a second, I put my hand in his. He pulled me up on my feet effortlessly.

"Let's make peace for a month," He told me in a soft tone.

"Oh, apology to me first," I put the condition in front of him arrogantly, taking advantage of this sudden proposed pact.

"Heh! Apology for what?" He sneered, pulling me a little near.

"For everything. From behaving bad and coldly to calling me with a name. Everything. Apology to me for everything," I repeated again, giving him my beautiful smile.

"I asked to make a temporary pact not apologizing," He stated, patted my waist with the other hand then stepped back.

"Go and get ready for tour in ten minutes otherwise forget everything," He gave me a threat as he took his phone out of his pocket, typed something then put it against his ear.

"Someone has an ego bigger than their repentance and words of apology," I mumbled to myself and made way towards our bedroom which we hadn't shared to sleep together because since we arrived, he had been busy with work nonstop.

"What did you say? Say it aloud, Janan?" He asked me in a confrontation tone like he heard clearly but wanted to listen once again.

So to fulfill his this desire, I turned on my heel and looked into his eyes with a tight smile, perfectly ignoring the butterflies this nickname gave me.

"What I am saying is maybe you should try apologizing without using these lips since they are not useful and clearly not even convincing anymore," Without wavering thinking, I told him confidently, using a classic sentence.

"Do you really think they are useless and inconveniencing, Janan?" He asked in a deep husky voice, looking deep into my eyes so intensely as they flickered to my lips then my neck.

Feeling so hot on my face, I strode towards the bedroom with quick steps and threw myself on the bed. I sat on the bed, putting my hand on my mouth then on my cheeks.

"No, don't come into this man's charm, Shanze. Be the person who has the upper hand in a relationship. This is all temporary. Just a trap. Don't think. Don't feel," I gave myself a small talk then went to get ready quickly for the tour outside.

I quickly got ready in a record time of seven minutes and walked out of the bedroom like nothing happened before. Seeing me ready so fast, he paused for a second then quickly composed himself.

"Let's go," He said, extending his hand towards me for the second time today.

This time without any drama, I put my hand in his and followed him out of the hotel. We took a car ride to somewhere only he knew where.

Soon we reached a place and on the entrance gate was written Singapore Botanical Garden. He took me inside to explore but the first step inside had already made me fall in love. I threw my phone at him and told him to take my pictures, treating him as my exclusive photographer.

"Hey! You are taking from a wrong angle. Take from a low angle.. rotate the phone upside down... take from a side angle.. don't take from a straight eye level..," I instructed him whenever he took wrong and ugly pictures.

Thankfully he was patient enough with me and not showing his rude and arrogant side to me. The pictures he clicked were barely passable but.. what could I say when I only had him as a photographer.

Halfway when we were in front of Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage, he didn't even click a single photo of me that could even barely pass. I was ready to accept my fate of just taking these ugly pictures when a foreign man came towards me with a friendly smile.

"Hello. Why don't I capture your beautiful pictures?" He asked me with a certain accent and cheeky grin on his handsome face.

As much as his offer was tempting, I was about to decline him for someone's ego when that certain someone put the phone in foreign's hand.

"Sure. Please capture beautiful pictures of my wife and me," Zeeshan emphasized deeply on the word 'my wife', coming to stand beside me.

He put his hand on my waist, pulling me near him, pushed the strand of hair behind my ear then looked back at the foreign man with a lovely and breathtaking smile. That foreign man took our pictures silently in various poses and at the last pose, Zeeshan grabbed my chin, making me look at him.

I felt the world paused for a moment and my breath knocked out. His actions were so smooth and natural around me, making me doubt for a moment that he was the same Zeeshan or someone else in my husband's body. The foreigner handed the phone back to Zeeshan then excused himself, walking away quickly to his friends' group.

"What?" I asked Zeeshan, wanting to hear the explanation because he would behave nicely without any reason.

"He has been staring at you for a long time," He gave me an answer, looking deadpan.

I looked at him silently and removed his hand from my waist. I didn't like him for what he did one second and then what he did the next second. I finished the whole tour of the botanical garden silently, enjoying the scenery all the way.

In the evening, he took me to the market for dinner. There we ate local dishes which were delicious then he took me to eat ice cream. I stood on a small rock and looked around while waiting for the ice cream. Soon an ice cream appeared in front of me. Absent-mindedly I held the end of the cone and leaned towards it to lick when a shadow casted on me.

I was startled and looked at the shadow with my tongue sticking out on the ice cream. There was only a distance of ice cream between us, where on one side I was and on the other side he was, both to eat ice cream and were stunned. I quickly stepped back, forgetting I was standing on the rock and staggered.

Luckily his arm that held another ice cream wrapped around me, carefully enough not to smudge the ice cream on my clothes. He helped me to stand straight then handed me other ice cream.

"Be careful," He told me quietly.

I thanked him in a whisper and finished my ice cream silently. Then we went back to our hotel to sleep. I was so tired that after removing my shoes, I fell on the couch feeling so sleepy that I couldn't think of moving to the bedroom. I fell asleep on the couch but felt someone lifting me in arms and putting me on a soft surface.

The next day when I woke up and found myself in bed. It took me five minutes realizing where I was, what happened the previous day and how I fell asleep sleeping on the couch. Putting my hand on my mouth and yawning, I looked around the empty room then moved to put my feet on the floor.

My gaze fell on the wall clock and saw it was 12pm. I stepped inside the washroom and was stunned by seeing the sight in front of me. Thinking it was hallucination, I blinked and rubbed my eyes but the sight remained the same in front of me.

Different shades of red lipstick put together making the word "SORRY". They were all neatly arranged in letters of sorry on the counter. I looked at them feeling a little lost and something in my heart was scratching. It was all shades of red from two famous international brands, Huda beauty and Nars.

When I came out of the bedroom, changing my clothes, I was still in a daze. Glancing at him from the corner of my eyes while eating brunch, he behaved so normally and naturally. At this moment, I really found him a little bearable to my eyes.

After brunch, instead of complimenting his behavior, I extended my hand.

"Give me your phone."

I was missing both of our parents and the whole family. It felt like so long since I talked to any of them.

Without asking for any question, he handed me his phone like a good husband, a side which he rarely showed. First I sent some good pictures of ours in the family group, then happily called my parents first.

Sitting on the carpeted floor of the living room, leaning against the couch and putting the phone on the coffee table, I looked at the screen. Soon the picture of my mom appeared on the screen who was putting her glasses on.

"Oh my bacha! How are you and my son Zeeshan?"

She asked me excitedly after greeting.

"Both are good with your blessings. Tell me how are you? What are you doing? Are you all missing me and my handmade dishes?" I asked her all the questions at once.

"All good, bache. Your father and I were talking about you just now at breakfast. And yes! yes! We are missing the taste of your hands."

Just as she finished answering, dad appeared behind her with a smile.

"How are you?"

"All good, dad. And you?"

"Me too. How's Singapore? Are you enjoying your trip?"

"It's beautiful. Yesterday..." I told him about the botanical garden we visited yesterday and what I enjoyed there and also shared about the airport scenery.

He listened silently and commented every now and then. But at the end of this tour sharing experience, I became silent and stared at the screen.

"I miss you, dad. It would be amazing to enjoy this all with you."

My eyes mist as I mumbled and wished to hug him.

"I am missing you too," There were tears in his eyes too but he quickly blinked them away with a teasing smile, "Silly girl, you are married now and should enjoy this whole world with your husband now."

Right on time, Zeeshan also appeared behind me and greeted my parents. Soon they engaged with conversation like he was their son with whom he hadn't talked for a long time. I just stared at them as they bid bye happily to each other then said bye to me.

I humphed silently and video called his parents. Unlike my parents who engage with him most of the conversation, his parents were engaged in conversation with me. We pulled Rania Appi on the call and almost spent an hour talking.

• • •

On my phone, I received a message from Mahira.

Mahira: Appi, there is so much silence here. Don't worry about me. Someone is already on standby. You enjoy your honeymoon.

This was her message I got on messenger when I checked on her in worry. I knew it was a silence with a storm and this was exactly what was making me afraid.

"We have reached."

Zeeshan's voice pulled me back to reality as we reached our today's destination, Garden by the Bay, to spend our whole day here.

He held my hand and walked inside, taking pictures which were a little better than yesterday. At night there was a beautiful light show that left me in awe. When I came into reality, I found him taking pictures of me on his phone.

"It better be beautiful pictures," I warned him, arranging my hair to take more pictures.

Suddenly, my eyes were attracted to his wrist. Something under his watch, hidden perfectly. Seeing and realizing what it was, I felt my heart almost come out and goosebumps rising on my body...

. . . . . . . . . .

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