"Fareeda! Open this door right now!" She heard his voice from the door and Fareeda knew it would come to this. The way Ummah kept screaming as though she had a knife on her throat wasn't something the whole people of the house will ignore like that. She looked at Ummah and a slow satisfied smile graced her lips.

She went to the door, opened it and her gaze fell on a furious Mujaheed that was staring down at the cable of her hands while Nana stood by his side holding the hot chocolate with a frightened expression on her face. She smiled innocently and collected the mug from her hand, "Thank you for this, Nana. I'll take my leave now." Her body softly shuddered from the glaring look Mujaheed kept flashing her.

Mujaheed turned to look at Ummah after she had left and ducked his head down softly, "I mean...I don't even know what to say, I'm so sorry Hajia on her behalf, please forgive her." He knew she wouldn't reply him and he fondled Nana's head before he furiously walked back to his chamber.

He met Fareeda seated casually on a sofa as though she hadn't done a grievous work today, he wondered what was wrong with Fareeda. He knew he couldn't be like that, he had a ver dangerous temper but he would never beat his father's wife. "Faree-" she didn't let him to finish her name when she immediately dropped the mug on the side table and stood up to him with a feign frown on her face.

"Mujaheed please, that woman is the real monster not me. Didn't you see what she has done to me the other day? She came there and beat me and when Alhaji came, she told him I was the one that beat her, so I couldn't let what I would've enjoyed doing be wasted. She started it first." She raised her hands up with palms out as a gesture of peace. Mujaheed stared at how puppy her eyes looked and shook his head while he took his wrist in her.

He guided them to the sofa and sat down before he shook his head, "Still, you shouldn't have done that, Fareeda. I know she hasn't been the kind of mother you wanted from the start but that didn't change the fact that she's your father's wife, okay? You committed a grievous crime and I wouldn't be there to save you when Alhaji comes back, you're all on your own."

She pouted while she stared at him with a feign hurtful expression, "So you'll let Alhaji grind me alive, Mujaheed? That's so unlike you. You used to me my knight in shining armor, always where I want you to be while you call my name 'Fareeda!', and I'd be saved like magic. You really can't do this to me, will you?" Subconsciously, her hands cupped the side of his face while she stared into his eyes. "You'll always save me, won't you?" She asked with a voice she wasn't aware of where she got it from.

Aware of her hands on the side of his face and also the look he was sure she didn't know she was flashing at him, Mujaheed felt his heart shrunk. Because staying with Fareeda over the months have been both hell and heaven. There were times when controlling himself was the hardest thing he could do. There were times while she slept beside him and crossed over those boundaries she set making a pillow with either his chest or his hand, Mujaheed wished they could just leave like a normal couple.

He cleared his throat and she tried to jack her hand off his face but he placed his hand over hers while he stared into her eyes, she quickly took her eyes off him. She didn't know how that happened, she wouldn't have done that to him. She understood desire when she saw one, and she was afraid to believe that it was the real emotion she was seeing in Mujaheed's eyes.

"You know I'll always save you, Fareeda, always." He spoke with a voice that wasn't really his and she nodded her head, eager for him to let go of her hand so that she can finally run off from this scene. She didn't like what she was feeling in her heart, no man had ever stirred her emotions this way but him, and that too in a broad daylight.

"I know." She managed a smile and it looked shrunken, "I'll have to go and take a nap now, don't you have a gate to guard?" She asked and tried to slip her hand from his hold but when he took their hands off his face, he held them tightly. She followed her hand that was in his hold and wished he would just vanish, she hated feeling what she was feeling right now.

"Your father doesn't want me to get worked up, he has hired security personnels from a private company, I have little to no job to do now. We can stay here for the rest of today if you'll want it. Should we?" He lifted a brow at her and for Fareeda to be freed from this body contact with him, she immediately nodded her head.

She snatched her hand away and stood up with the mug in her hand, "I'll go and reheat this, it has turned cold and I won't be able to enjoy it." Unfortunately, he followed her to the kitchen while he asked.

"Is that the reason why you beat your mother, Fareeda?" He asked, pointing at the mug in her hand. "Because I know Hajia wouldn't let you have that without stirring any trouble."

She poured it into the coffee maker she met and wondered what he used it for, he hated coffee. Maybe his tea when he was too lazy to lit up a fire? She turned to look at him with her hands on akimbo and sighed exasperatedly, "I don't know what's wrong with that woman, really. Isn't the whole house my father's? How can she say because I'm married to a gateman I couldn't have a hot chocolate anymore?" She hissed angrily looked up at the canters filled with food items in the kitchen. "I'm sure with the food items here, I'd find everything I need, and even if you don't have it, you can get it for me. But how dare her say it's because I'm married..." Her words became guttural as she felt his hands wrapped around her, hugging her from behind, she froze.

And that was when it all dawned on her. She knew she had always wanted to give Ummah a medicine of her own, but she was sure that wasn't what prompted her to beat her today, it was the statement she made as Fareeda can clearly remember her words. So when Mujaheed asked, "What did she say?" Despite being deeply affected by his touch, she placed her hands on his that were wrapped around her waist and scoffed.

"'You want to take hot chocolate? It's been long you take something that's good, right? Being married to the gateman shouldn't have been that tough for you, aren't you a billionaire's daughter? Why don't you sponsor the house yourself?' That's what she said, of course I acted as if I haven't heard that, but I made sure she felt my anger on her body." She sighed dreamily and felt as Mujaheed turned her to face him, his hands taking over their place on her back.

She lifted her eyes up and have them into his before she spoke with a whiny yet angry tone, "I wish I told her to come and see all this for herself, I don't have to look for anything, I mean...I don't even cook for all this to finish. And what's her concern whoever I got married to that she..." The unbelievable happened, the unexpected as Mujaheed leaned forward and merged their lips together, not giving her the chance to finish nitpicking about what Ummah had said.

He felt as she silently gasped and firmly held his shoulder for support, as he had taken her off guard. She felt as heat rose to her whole body that she could practically tremble from the fire forming in her. She had her eyes clutched shut, afraid that if she opened them then this magical moment would only be a figment of her imagination. And she loved this imagination to be real, so real that she wished she could stay like this forever.

His hands cupped the back of her head as he kissed her harder and Fareeda knew it would only be a matter of time before she began to kiss him back, because those lips weren't as she expected them to be. She knew for sure that he wouldn't be bad as a man, but those lips tasted like heaven and all goodness in it. Fareeda didn't know when she brushed her hand into his hair, the hair she had been wanting to touch and all the plans she had to touch that hair had always been ruined. Because she always slept before him and woke up after him, there was no other way, to her.

As she predicted, not even her hair could come to the lushness of Mujaheed's hair, she let her fingers freely roam while without knowing, it felt like making up a fire in Mujaheed's body. She heard him moaned, even though softly as he intensified the pace of their kiss. She slightly opened her mouth to fully invite him in, because she really wanted him in while her hands were wrapped around his neck, still playing with the hair at the edge.

Mujaheed wanted this to stop, he wanted to stop himself so bad but he didn't know how to calm himself down for the first time in his life. He could feel the way her fingers were slowly moving into his hair and he knew it would only be a matter of time before he took her to his bed. He knew she would taste this way, but he had never imagined that the first day he would kiss her, he would have a new favorite, and that was her lips. She scented like almond, calm and soothing with a pitch of mint and all the sweetness he didn't have the right mind to think of now.

And when she opened her lips and he got invited by her tongue, Mujaheed knew she would certainly be the end of him. This fierce girl that had the outlook of a tough woman but was soft in all the places he had ever visited in her soul and body. She was a warm and weak soul that had a frail heart to keep for a living. Slowly, without intending to but knowing he had to, Mujaheed pulled away from her face and she fixed her eyes on her feet, suddenly realizing that she had to apply henna on them, they were so white and not too pleasing to the eyes.

With a single glance at her, you could tell she was shy and that made him lazily smiled. "I'll check the chocolate." She excused herself from him and went up to the coffee maker, it had already turned itself off. She had never heated a hot chocolate before, all she did was to get away from Mujaheed and she ended up getting what she had never imagined from him and now she was amazed that it actually worked.

From where he stood, Mujaheed watched with amusement in his eyes as he wrapped his hands around his chest and smiled, she kept working with shaky and unsteady hands. He took a few steps until he filled up the gap between them and guided her on one of the chairs, "Sit down, I'll bring it here for you." He said softly and she only waited without looking up at him.

He poured it back into the mug and placed it in front of her, "Thank you." She said politely and covered half of her face with the mug. He sat down opposite her while he watched her.

"You shouldn't be this polite, you know? It's so unlike you." He stated and she looked up at him with a shaky gaze.

"What have I done? I just thanked you, nothing else." She fixed back her gaze to the mug as immediately as she looked up at him.

"You're flustered, Fareeda." He teased and had an amused smile on his face, she scoffed internally and knew she didn't have the strength of looking up at him now, she would have to wait until she was back to her old self. At least not when she could still taste his lips in hers and the warm of his hands on the back of her head.

"I'm not, what happened for me to be?" She glared at him and fixed back her gaze on the mug, it was suddenly appealing her eyes. She didn't want to look at his face because for her to do that, she'd have to stare at his lips and if she did that, she might end up telling him how much she wanted more of him. More of the kiss.

He immediately stood up with a daring look on his face, "You don't know what happened for you to be flustered? Should I remind you of it? Maybe you have forgotten already, right?" He was standing beside her chair and Fareeda tightened her hold on the mud, it was only the power of god that was stopping her from standing up and crashing herself on him. She wouldn't do that, she'd have to act as the tough person she was. Had always been.

"What are you trying to do? I need to take my nap." She placed down the mug quickly and stood up, trying to avoid him at all cost.

Mujaheed smiled before he placed his hands on her shoulders and stopped her right on track, "You aren't taking a nap, Fareeda, you're avoiding me." It was a fact stated rather than a question and Fareeda immediately shook her head.

"No, why will I? I'm just sleepy and kind of exhausted." She feigned a tired expression and Mujaheed had to chuckle at that. She was good at pretending. And he was certain that he affected her as much as she affected him because he was certain the Fareeda he knew wouldn't kiss him back even if he kissed her unless she it was beyond her control. And the way she was acting now was enough proof.

"Then look at me, I want to see your eyes. Or have you taken off your glasses already?" He asked casually and she quickly shot her face up at him.

"No, why will I?" She asked, accidentally making their gazes fall into place and Mujaheed smiled at her. She softly groaned and wanted nothing but to be in his arms, this man wanted to be the very end of her.

She quickly shook off her eyes from him, "I need to leave, don't wake me up unless it's time for prayer." With a swift flick, Mujaheed pulled her to himself and hugged her, Fareeda felt as his heart beat rapidly against his chest and she looked up at him.

"What are you doing, Mujaheed? I want to sleep." She struggled to get out of his hold but he firmly held her with a soft smile on his face.

"Unless you want me to kiss you again, Fareeda, stay calm and let me hug you for a moment, I really need this hug." He said and she silently obliged, because more than anything, she was certain she needed this more than himself. She slowly wrapped her hands around him and rested her head on his chest.

"Your heart is rapidly beating, are you alright?" She looked up at him from his chest and he shook his head.

"I'm not alright, and that's why I need this hug. Or will you help a poor soul?"

She chuckle softly, not fully understanding what he meant, "You aren't a poor soul. And what do I need to do apart from this? That's all you need, right?" She asked, fully relying on him. She was fully aware of her rules, but she had it in mind that just for today, she'd have to do everything she had always wanted to do with Mujaheed. Even though he had beat her at it, because she hadn't thought about kissing him, but she wouldn't stop herself now.

He leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her bare neck and she gasped, "That's not it. Will a wife help her husband recover, because Fareeda..." He began to sound whiny and she chuckled before she slipped out of his hold, laughing.

"I can't remember you being sick, Mujaheed. You're fine for all I could see now, right? That's what my eyes told me and even if you're sick, the only thing I could do is take you to the hospital, unless you want that." He followed her out of the kitchen while she laughed, rushing to the room and when he found her already laid on the bed with the duvet over her, he smiled.

"Are you going to sleep?" He asked, and she groaned softly.

"Yes, you should wake me up when it's time for prayer, I want to apply henna on my hands and feet. You don't have to say it, I'll sleep well."

She felt him seated beside her on the bed while he fixed his eyes on her, just looking. She slowly opened her eyes and laid them on him, "What? Do you need something?" She innocently asked, not knowing the kind of answer he was going to give her.

"You, I want you, Fareeda."

"Ahh! Wayyo! I'm sleeping!" She shrilled, taken aback by his sudden outburst.

He laughed at how flustered she seemed and kept staring at how she had her eyes clutched. "What? You asked me if I need something and this is the truth." He was laughing, never had he imagined she would be like this. He thought she was the most outspoken lady out there.

"If you'll please get me henna before I wake up, even though I have it in my room I know that woman wouldn't let me get in and carry it."

He took her glass off her face and planted a quick smooch on her lips. He was aware of the breath she had surged through her and smiled, "Sleep well, Fareeda."