Mujaheed placed the phone down and stared directly into her eyes, "I'm sure you know what being married stands for, and the intensity of the sin you've just committed in Islam. I don't want to have a fight with you over this, but as your husband, also as ordered by Allah, we should do all it takes to keep our families away from the hell fire and that's what I'll do. Don't you ever call this man again. If you think he's the one you're going to spend the rest of your life with, wait until you're not my wife anymore, which will be the day either of us die."

She scoffed and threw her head back, amazed and angered at the audacity of this man. She wondered how he managed to speak with such courage and authority that even if you didn't want to listen to him, you'd have to. "And who do you think you're to order me around? I've told you countless times, Mujaheed. You aren't the man I love, I mean..." She let her words trailed off as she pointed at him then placed her hands on akimbo, "How could I love you? Both you and I know that it's nearly impossible for me to love you, right? I've told you this before, and you betrayed my trust by not doing what promised to do. And now I'm hooked here with you, you're in no position to tell me what I should do and not. But you have an option, divorce me, and all this wouldn't bother you anymore."

Mujaheed scoffed in exasperation and wondered what this girl thought of him. "Who was talking about being in love here, Fareeda? You can't love me, why? Because to you, a gateman isn't worth your love but that stupid brat and cheat is, right? I don't ask you to love you, and all I'm doing here is to protect you from hell fire, that's it." His eyes were clouded with rage and he wanted nothing but to smack something so hard to get rid of his anger.

"Don't you dare call him stupid ever again. You're the one being stupid here, staying with a lady that clearly told and showed you she has someone else in her heart but not you!" She thundered and Mujaheed knew he wouldn't be able to control himself further. He closed his eyes for a few minutes and pointed at his chamber for her.

"Go. Go back home now and don't you ever come out without me knowing..." She was about to protest when her phone rang and he beat her at taking it.

"Hey, babe. I brought the snacks for you, can you come out and collect it?" He heard Adam's voice and looked at Fareeda that slightly shivered under his gaze.

"What have I told you about my wife? What brought you here? Do you want to stay in the police station tonight?" He threatened, and Fareeda swiftly took the pone from his hand and placed it on her left ear.

"I'm sorry, Babe. I'll be at the gate now, wait for me, okay?" She said and as soon as she ended the call, she ignored his whole existence and walked off. Mujaheed only but watched her retreating back as she intended to walk out of the house without even her hijab on. He clenched his eyes shot, knowing as much as he'd beg his heart to let this go and let her meet that man, he couldn't. He knew this was beyond her being his wife, his heart was surely up to something.

He followed her and when he was out, she was about to enter Adam's car. "Fareeda!" He thundered and she turned to look at him with a stubborn expression on her face.

"Don't even think of coming here." She said through gritted teeth and turned back at Adam that was seated in the car, "Can you please take me out of here? I truly need some air away from all this intoxicants." She rolled her eyes exasperatedly and with one swift movement, Mujaheed forcefully pulled her away from the car and slapped her right across her left cheek.

"What do you think you're doing, Fareeda?!" He clamored and she stared at him as though she wasn't sure that he had slapped her. He violently shook her shoulders and asked her again, "Fareeda! What the hell do you think you're doing? Where do you think he will take you to?" He asked, and when she looked into his eyes, Fareeda had never been scared of Mujaheed like she did today. She wanted to speak up, push him away from herself but she couldn't. She was even afraid to breathe.

Adam walked out of the car and came to their side, "What are you doing? Let go of her..." He warned, and when Mujaheed had his eyes fixed on Fareeda without looking at Adam, he added, "Now!" And tried to reach his hand to her shoulders before Mujaheed roughly swatted his hand away and with one of his hands holding her wrist, he turned to look at him.

"And who do you think you are to think that you can lay your filthy hand on my wife? Do you perhaps, have a death wish?" He asked through gritted teeth and with each word he had uttered, Fareeda's body shook with fear of the unknown. What was he going to do? Because she had never seen him this angry ever in her life.

Adam threw his head back and laughed before he pointed at him. "Don't you think this is disgrace enough to her? How can you, as a gateman refer to her as a wife? You surely know it isn't fair to her, right? And I can't touch her you said? What's left that hasn't been done? She might be your wife now, but do you know who had her first? I did. My child laid in her womb first, and I'll one day claim her as my wife because she has always been one! Let go of her!" He was furious, and he was afraid that if proper care wasn't taken, nothing could stop him from doing the bad deed today.

Fareeda felt as Mujaheed tightened his hold on her wrist and she softly winced in pain as she closed her eyes. Her whole body shuddered and she didn't know why she didn't want it when Adam told him that he was her first in almost everything. She wished she could speak now, she would have told Mujaheed that he was the first man to have ever kissed her forehead, her father included.

"Let go of her..." Adam wasn't able to complete his sentence when Mujaheed punched him so hard on his face and with fire bubbling in his eyes, he looked up at him.

"This should be the last time we're going to have a conversation of this kind, make sure of it. And you're proudly saying you were her first in everything, right? I'd agree with that, but I dare you to lay a finger on her today, touch even a hair on her body and see what I'll do to you. You can be dead for all I'll ever care for. You don't know who you're messing with, do you?" He fixed his sharp eyes as his voice sounded as enigmatic as Fareeda had never heard it sounded and her body shook.

"Don't you..." Adam lifted his face up to retaliate and Mujaheed cut him off.

"A word, I dare you to add one more word and I can assure you you're going to regret doing that for the rest of your life. And also, if you dare call her again, I'll track you down even if you're back into your mother's womb and make you regret. And also, don't you ever dream of coming to this house, okay? That's if you want to live, if you don't, you can try me and see." He forcefully dragged Fareeda back into the house and he didn't stop until he threw her on the bed.

She immediately lifted her eyes to look at him and he was fuming above her head. "Is this what you want? I'll give it to you then." She watched as she shook her head vehemently as he began to unbutton his shirt.

His whole body hovered over her while her whole body shuddered with fear and Fareeda didn't know when tears began to roll down on her cheeks. "Why are you crying? Are you sad that you're going to get it from the man you don't want to? Did you wish it would be him that's why you begged him to take you somewhere else?!" He roared and she flinched while she shook her head.

"Please..." She silently begged as she shook her head, pulling her knees up to her chest. Mujaheed kept moving closer to her on the bed while she backed away until the reached the bed head and he took her veil off her head. She was still crying while she shook her head. It wasn't until she felt his hands on her chest trying to tear apart her gown that she looked up at him with her crying eyes and innocently and painfully shook her head, "Please, Mujaheed, I beg of you." Her lips trembled as she spoke and he took his eyes off her body. This was the weakest he had ever seen her looked. With sweat on the edges of her hair and her tears rolling down her cheeks as though a fountain while her whole body trembled with fear.

"Then tell me, what do you want? You're married for the sake of Allah, Fareeda! If you can't respect me as your husband then respect the rules of the almighty! You can die at any minute, would you want to go back to your lord committing these sins?!" He clenched his fists on the bedsheet and watched as she cried while she kept shaking her head. To him, it looked as if this wasn't her first time. She looked extremely shocked and traumatized.

"I don't, please let go of me, will you? I promise, I won't do this again. But don't do this to me, please?" She begged with a shaky voice as she pointed at him, clearing her tears as more gushed down on her face.

Mujaheed sighed and got down from the bed. He didn't know why her tears were affecting him this way. With each drop of her tear, he felt as though a fire droplet on his heart and he wished to wipe he tears away at all cost. He went to the bathroom and had his shower while he left her crying on the bed. He came out and met her at the same place he left her, still crying as she clutched more to her body. He got ready for the night and went back to the bed.

"Get down." He ordered, and she stared at him with shaky eyes and did as he said, that broke him somehow. He wanted the fierce Fareeda that wouldn't have done what he wanted her to do immediately as he did that.

She was about to move to the bathroom when he pulled her back to him and she ducked her head down, clearing her tears away. "Look up," he said, not wanting the way she looked scarred to some extent.

With her body trembling with her tears, Fareeda lifted her head up to look at him and when she did, his eyes weren't angry anymore. Okay, maybe they were, but he wasn't as furious as she had seen him minutes ago. He held her gaze and spoke softly this time.

"Why are you still crying, Fareeda?" He asked, his voice sounding so soft and soothing that she began to doubt if he was truly the one that nearly made her heart jumped out of its ribcage minutes ago.

"I'm scared. You won't do it, will you?" Her lips naturally curled into a pout while she innocently stared up at him and he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I can't do it even if I want to, Fareeda. I can't hurt you that much because I know you'd be hurt over it. Now, go and take your bathe and let's talk about what happened in a more sensible way, will you?" He liked it when she seemed relaxed under his hands, he could feel it.

And what she did next surprised him and made him feel bad. She hugged him and broke into tears, "Thank you, Mujaheed. Thank you for not doing it when I told you not to." He felt as she wrapped her hands around his waist and cried harder on his chest and Mujaheed reluctantly wrapped his hands around her waist as well.

He fondled her hair softly to calm her down and spoke softly, "It's okay with the tears, Fareeda. Now, go and take your bathe, I'll make you something to eat before then." She nodded her head and stayed still as he cleared her tears before she walked to the bathroom. As soon as she closed the door behind her, Fareeda broke into tears. This was the very first time someone had ever heard her No when she said it and it stayed as a no.

She came out of the room after she was done getting ready and when she didn't see him in the living room, she knew he was in the kitchen. She met him setting the table for four dining table he had in the kitchen when she walked in and she meticulously moved there and sat.

With her eyes still bloodshot from her tears, she fixed her gaze on the plate until she was done eating and when she looked up at him, he had his eyes on her. "Are you still afraid, Fareeda?" He softly asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I know you won't do it. I just want to sleep." Her voice croaked and she took her eyes off him.

Mujaheed moved to the chair beside her and he held her hands, "Tell me, Fareeda, has anyone ever done this to you? Has anyone ever raped you?" He couldn't help but ask, because the way she acted looked as though she had been frightened about this all the time.

She immediately shook her head, "No, who would? No one has ever done it to me. And for Adam..." She let her words trailed off because she realized she didn't know what to say to him that would sound right and justify her acts.

"You don't have to justify yourself about what he said, I understand, Fareeda. That's all your past. You might not agree with me as your husband yet, but you are and will forever be my wife in my heart. And I'll never use your past against you because it has happened already and we have no control over it. The only control we have is that how we're going to let it affect our future, okay?"

She didn't know she was crying while he spoke until she felt his hands on her cheeks as he cleared her tears away. "I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to do that, Mujaheed." For the first time in her life, Fareeda apologized to someone and that someone had to be a gateman. She had never thought that one day someone would speak to her in a respectful manner like he did today. All what the people in her life did was use her past against her, tormented her with memories she wanted to forget herself, humiliate her. And now that someone didn't find that anything, she wanted to cry so much until she felt calm within.

"It's okay, you don't have to cry, okay?" He pulled her to his chest and hugged her while she rested her face on his cheeks and he smiled softly. Not knowing how or when he found the courage to smile during moments like this. He would have to say that he was proud of how today ended, because despite the fight, they weren't going to sleep angry at each other.

They walked back to the room and he was in the bathroom when she went to the living room and packed all the throw pillows like she did yesterday. He came out and found her meticulously arranging them on the bed and he groaned, which forced her to look up at him.

"Any problem?" She asked, and Mujaheed immediately nodded his head.

"You have more space on your side than mine, have you always been this selfish, Fareeda?" Somehow, she didn't know whether it was her ears that heard wrong, but he whined.

She stifled back a smile and shook her head at him, the honey color of her orbs glistening with much sweetness and innocence. "I think it's equal space. But if you want to, you can take my side and I'll sleep on yours." He moved to where she stood, analyzing the bed with her eyes to make sure what he said wasn't true.

"You can't see clearly, that's why you won't see that the space is more spacious than mine. Look, even your pillow, you took the softest one among them." She couldn't help but chuckle and turn to look at him.

"Mujaheed! You're just being whiny here, aren't you? But to my eyes, everything is equal, I promise."

He shook his head, relieved that he had finally made her chuckle before the day ended, that was a good sign. "How about this? You lay down on your side and I'll make the boundary with the pillows starting exactly from where you occupied?"

"Ahh!" She whined, "That will be so selfish of you, it won't be enough for me. I'm not a calm sleeper, you can find me on your side if that happens. Let's leave it this way, will you?"

"But I want you on my side, can you just sleep there with me? Even by accident? I'll assume you were asleep when you fell over." Before she spoke, Mujaheed began to tickle her and Fareeda laughed at the pitch of her voice.

"Oh my god! Stop it, Mujaheed!" It wasn't until he saw that she had exhausted her breath did he stop and after that, he hugged her from behind and placed his head on her shoulder.

"You should always laugh like this, Fareeda." He rocked them together while he wrapped his hands on her waist and she was about to speak when he landed a soft smooch on her neck, and she surged in air sharply and lightly hit his hands. He smiled and tightened his hold on her, he was afraid, but he knew it wouldn't be long for him.