Ibraheem's POV:

I was holding an oversized bouquet of red roses wrapped in black paper in one hand while eyeing my watch. I was right on time. Saturday at 5 p.m. The sun was starting to set and the sky was turning a beautiful orange. What a perfect way to start our date.

I felt my heart beat speed up. I wasn't a man to get nervous and I wasn't nervous. It was thrill. The thrill of picking her up from her place with her family knowing it. There was no fear anymore. I could take her wherever I wanted and it wouldn't scare her anymore because they knew. Her family knew. I pressed on the doorbell and waited. Subconsciously, I tapped my foot as I felt the gate open and there she stood. Like the angel of death. I breathed in harshly, the air stinging my throat as I felt my blood rush through my veins. She looked stunning.

Misha was wearing blood red clothes from head to toe with a black dupatta around her neck. I felt my eyes trail slowly from the top of her head to her eyes that were sparkling with innocence and playfulness. Her perfect nose and her lips that were tinted cherry and looked so kissable. Her cheeks were a soft pink while her golden brown hair flowed openly till her waist. My eyes had paused at her jawline, her neck, I wanted to leave my marks everywhere on that clear untouched skin of hers. She was such a temptress.

She wore a slightly fitted shirt and my eyes focused on the outlines of her body for a few seconds before they returned to her face. I wanted to stare longer but it was impossible when mother in law was standing right beside her.

"Asalam o Alaikum auntie, Misha." I greeted as I handed her the flowers which she took excitedly. The way her eyes shimmered warmed my heart. Such a beautiful soul she was. The flowers almost covered her immediately since they were thrice the size of a normal bouquet. "Bohat khubsurat lag rahi ho, meri jaan. (You look really beautiful, my life.)"

"Thank you. You look handsome yourself." Misha said in a shy whisper and I felt the corners of my mouth turn up. Once I handed her the flowers, auntie turned to me.

"Walaikum Asalam beeta, kya haal hen ab? (Asalam o Alaikum son, how are you now?)" Auntie greeted back and as I looked at her face properly I could see the resemblance between Misha and her mother. The innocent charm and the peaceful expressions were definitely her mother's genes though auntie's eyes were brown so that must be from uncle.

"Alhamdulilah theek. Ap kaisi hen? (Alhamdulilah, fine. How are you?)" As she told me she was fine as well, I moved to the car and took out the gifts from the backseat. Ammi said not to go empty handed and it was common manners to take gifts to my sasuraal (in-laws). I carefully placed the gift bags infront of her and then straightened up again. "Auntie, yeh ammi abbu ne bhejen hen ap sab ke liye. (Auntie, mother and father sent these for all of you.)"

"Inki kya zarorat thi? Mehwish bhi na. (Oh dear, what was the need to do this? Oh Mehwish.)" Auntie laughed heartily before fixing her expressions and replying. It was refreshing to see her calling mother's name in such a friendly manner. They must have really hit it off. "Oh this reminds me, there are gifts I want you to take back to Mehwish and Saqib bhai too." She instructed the house keeper to bring the gifts outside and just as I had handed shopping bags, the house keeper placed new shopping bags in the trunk of my car before disappearing again.

As I thanked Auntie, she ushered Misha towards me. "Make sure to be home before nine. I knew you both are legally married but she still has a curfew. Also, do have dinner with us." Auntie told me with a smile and nodded before placing my hand on Misha's waist and looking down at her lovingly.

"Of course, auntie, we will be back before then." After that, we said our goodbyes to auntie and I walked Misha to the car. I opened her door and once she was seated, I closed it behind her and rounded the car to sit in the driving seat.

"Well, that was pleasantly normal. I guess I will have to get used to taking you out on dates without having to worry about your family anymore. Though I did enjoy sneaking out with you before but this is better. It seems right now." As I said this, I felt Misha's hand on mine. She was oddly silent this entire time.

"I missed you. So much. It feels like ages since we met though it's only been two weeks. Are you alright now? Are you sure you can driv-"I felt my heart well up with how cute she sounded. Concern laced every word that came out of her mouth. I kissed the back of her hand before smiling down at her.

"Never better. I am perfectly fine since I am the happiest around you." I replied as the car revved to life. "Now then, where shall we go on our first ever halal date?" This made her giggle. "How about we get some food and watch a movie?"

"That sounds great." Misha nodded her head eagerly as she gave me a thousand watt smile. Her smile was blinding me. She was going to be the death of me someday.

"You know you look really beautiful. I wanted to say more but I felt like auntie would judge me so I held back." I shrugged as I drove away from her house street and onto the main road. Misha just laughed in return as she started to look outside. I was about to say something when I felt my phone vibrate. I took it out and noticed Fahad calling me. I told him not to call me on my date. Sighing, I swiped the screen and picked it up.

"I hope your date is going great but you forgot something at the house." I heard Fahad say as I heard shuffling in the background. Fahad and Kamran had decided to accompany me to Lahore for 'certain reasons' that they wouldn't tell me. I already knew Fahad wanted to meet Rubab but I had no idea what Kamran was planning since Zoya still wasn't around anyway. Maybe he was just bored back in Karachi. The two had been extra careful since the incident with Shahbaz and now I kept a gun on me at all times.

"Really, what?" I felt annoyed at how amused he sounded on the phone. He knew he was disrupting my date. I will have my revenge for this later.

"Your wallet, man. I think it fell out when you were carrying the gifts to the car. I found it in the garage." I felt my eyes widen as I felt my pockets and he was right. Shit. This was embarrassing. "Anyway, Kamran and I are headed out so I will leave the wallet on the table. Make sure to pick it up. Don't embarrass yourself infront of Bhabhi alright?" He laughed.

"Wait, where are you going? Hand it to me if you are going out anyway?" Misha turned to look at me with a frown on her face.

"Nuh-uh. I can't tell you where I am going." Fahad chuckled as I heard more shuffling in the back followed by a slam. Yeah, he was definitely going to go surprise Rubab. Or more like scare her. "It's a secret mission. Fetch it yourself. AJA KAMRAN! (COME ON KAMRAN!)" Laughing, he hung up on me. This rude fuck.

"What's up?" Misha questioned the moment I put my phone down. "Was that Fahad?"

"Yes. It was. Jaan, we will have to take a detour. I forgot something at my place so I just need to fetch it real quick." I turned the car around and started to drive to the farmhouse.

"Oh, everything alright?" The way her eyebrows knit as she looked at me with concern evident in her eyes was so adorable. Maybe the Shahbaz incident hit her hard too. She was always extra careful now.

"Yes, meri jaan, everything is great. It's a minor detour. We will be back to the main plan soon enough." I assured her and she relaxed visibly. I took that chance to place my hand on her thigh because it looked so tempting. I felt her shiver under my touch but she didn't seem uncomfortable so I decided to keep it there while my other hand was on the steering wheel. We sat in a peaceful silence as I drove to the farmhouse.

"So what did you forget?" Misha questioned as I parked the car in the garage along with Kamran's Porsche. So they went on Fahad's Audi huh? The guard asked for the keys but I told him there was no need because I would be back in a few minutes.

"My wallet." This caused her to snicker as she stepped outside of the car to follow me. The moment we stepped inside, I guess she wanted to say something witty in response but paused when her phone made a bell sound. She took it out, frowned and gave me a wary look before putting it back quickly. She gave me a relaxed smile only there was nothing relaxed about it.

One thing I had realized over time with Misha was that she was really bad at hiding stuff from me. She was like an open book. Anxiousness would take over her emotions, for example, her eyes would start to glance left and right refusing to make eye contact with me while she would put on her best fake smile. I raised an eyebrow as I closed the door behind us.

"What's up, jaan, who was it?" I questioned calmly as I spotted my wallet on the glass table before I turned back to her.

"Oh, it was just my brother asking me where I was." That was a lie. Her voice wavered and she didn't look at me as she said that. She looked at the white marble floor. I locked the door behind me before taking a step towards her. She took a step back and that was all the proof I needed. She was hiding something.

"Jaan, can I see your phone for a minute? It's not that I don't trust you. I do. I am just really curious about something." I had asked in a calm voice with a gentle smile but I saw the look of dread on her face. I brought my hand forward but she gripped unto the phone tightly.

"Uh, no." Did she just refuse? Now, why would she do that? I took a step forward and she took a step back until her back collided with that round glass table in the middle of the gallery.

"Come on, jaan, what are you hiding?" At this point, I was honestly just worried. I knew she wasn't cheating on me. I trusted her with my life on that. But I was just curious and worried. What if someone was harassing her? And she didn't want to tell me? What if it was that bitch Saba? We had yet to track her down.

"Nothing." She gulped as she tried to slide away from the table but I placed both my hands on either side of her to make sure she couldn't leave.

"Meri jaan, I am honestly just worried about you. Can you give me the phone, yeah?" Misha gave me a reluctant look as she handed her phone to me but not before messing with it. I could tell she was about to delete something but I grabbed it from her before she could and then I read it. The text message from an unknown number.

This is my new number. Keep it a secret from Ibraheem, yeah?
- Love, Z.

"Who is Z?" I felt my head start to whirl. And why did Z want it to be a secret from me? Misha gulped as she tried to escape from under my arms but failed miserably. I pressed my body against her hard as I looked at her face for answers. She wasn't going to budge this easy and at this point, her closeness was driving me on the edge in so many ways. I felt my body heat up and I could feel hers too.

And then the unexpected happened. She threw her phone and grabbed my collar to kiss me. 

Author's Note:

Hello and Asalam o Alaikum Lovelies!

REJOICE! I have posted the third book called 'A Tale of Hearts' (ATOH) that will revolve around Ruhad and Zoran on my Wattpad wall. I will start updating it as soon as I am done with this book or maybe I might upload a chapter in a while. I don't know yet because I haven't decided that part but DO ADD THAT BOOK TO YOUR LIBRARIES. I will obviously keep you updated with whatever developments happen.