Story copyright MehweenGR. Picture credit to its rightful owners.

......

Hatim

With my left arm circled around her stomach, I whispered next to her ear: "You Ifrah are my heart".

I closed my eyes and placed a lingering soft kiss against her temple. savouring her floral scent I revealed: " I want to give you a small gift for stepping first time in our bedroom".

Taking the rectangular box beneath the pillow, I lifted the lid before my wife's eyes. Her reaction was adorable. Carefully she picked out one of the three of them; souvenir size trucks with traditional pakistani art on them.

She eyed the small trucks with great admiration and cooed: "These are so precious and cute. They will keep reminding me of you. But why three?"

I placed my hand on her waist and pulled her closer to me, her body's sweet heat doing things to my heart and body. Staring at her as though we had all the time in the world I replied, ".....I want you to atleast have one of them near you wherever you are". Hearing my answer, she flashed me her barbie doll smile.

Her smile was a reminder again of our close proximity during doodh pilai rasam and how close we were the previous night just before saying goodbye. Last night I didnt go ahead, but today, right now she was in her future home, in her soon new bedroom (in sha Allah) looking as though she belongs here. Here in my room, in my arms. These thoughts were raising my heartbeat but decreasing my capability to think clearly.

I was a bundle of desire, hungry but other than food and in need to feel the girl standing before me. The girl- my wife, she is my first girl (apart from my mehram relations) whose hand I held yesterday, who is also the first girl whom I had a proper look at (post Nikah). And I feel so proud about it. Because yesterday when I held her hand first time, the sweetness of it was indescribable; like the first fruite of new season or the first flower of spring. And from there all the other contacts between us uptil right now only increased my excitement in many ways.

And right now in the privacy of our room, with the rose smell of the garland hanging by mirror lingering in air, increasing the romantic feel; I just about managed to tell her: " I want to complete yesterday's unfinished moment, if you allow me".

Her small hands tightened on my arms and she bobbed her head in approval.

Her approval set my brain from zero to hundred in excitement like a teenager before his first touch with a girl .

Cupping her face, I tilted my head and slowly leaned in, her soft breath were fanning my lips. At first contact with her soft attractive lips, a firework went off in my brain. Like mango eating, I deliciously ate her lips or better said her mouth out. This wasnt enough and within seconds I opened my mouth some more to dive my tongue inside her warm mouth and do a tango dance. Another second went by and I met her tongue and started my tongue dance. But her tongue wasnt joining in the dance, rather it was trying to run away, pushing it out. And with that I also felt Ifrah's hand pushing against my chest for distance, her body stiffened in protest.

Finally I registered that something went awfully wrong and I loosened my grip and tore apart from her mouth. Instantly she calmed down and continued standing close enough to me.

.........

Ifrah

When he asked for my approval to continue from where we left off previous night, there was absolutely no doubt that I wanted this. After he left, for a long while I kept smiling to myself, letting my tongue run over my lips, imagining how he would tenderly press a kiss on my lips making the mwah sound.

With all this in mind I was definitely looking forward to our first kiss. And than reality happened.

The second my lips fully disappeared inside his mouth, for a split second my heart felt at peace, no man living in todays age who must have kissed a woman before would kiss in this manner. This means my Hatim was most likely a virgin when it came to kissing. And how would it even be possible for an unexperienced person to excel even if its only a kiss without ever having done it before.

Love alone isnt enough to become an excellent kisser and most of all a perfect lover right from the start. All these things require practise too to excel.

With him devouring my mouth, my mind continued thinking; that if he was a virgin in regards to kissing, he was most likely a virgin regarding physical contact too. In my mind I said allhamdulillah.

Yet it was undeniable that his inexperience very soon started give me great discomfort, especially when his long tongue entered my mouth in one go seeking my tongue. He filled my entire mouth and I felt too full. I was trying to pull my tongue further backward to find some breathing space but his tongue kept pushing mines and there was too much saliva between us and I felt it leaking from the corner of my mouth. When I couldnt bear it anymore, I discreetly pushed my hand against his chest to create some much needed space so that I may take a breath again and it worked. His grip loosened on me and his mouth tore away from mines.

And now we were standing before each other in weird silence. Ocassionally we would look at each other. He was feeling ashamed and I didnt know what to say without breaking his heart. A man who has most likely remained chaste because he feared Allah and also to preserve it all for his wife shouldnt be made to feel bad about it.

He first broke the silence by asking, "Did I do something wrong or did you not like it"? At first I avoided his gaze, his sincere remorse was piercing my heart. After thinking thoroughly, I came up with what to say:

"My heart is bursting with happiness, knowing my husband saved himself for his wife. What an honour especially in today's times, where more and more men especially are not taking it serious. As for liking the kiss-- ummm it was as generous as your heart".

 I placed my hand on his chest and cautiously continued, " dont give too much". I left the line like this instead of telling him what was too much and that the word generous was a critic. 

But it seems, I didnt have to elaborate, because he seemed to have figured it out, "The kiss wasnt good... right ?!" I didnt give him an answer this time, instead said, " who said I'll be better, I am as unexperienced as you". I chuckled and locked my hands behind his back. Our bodies touching, but neither took a step back. I looked at him dreamily. Despite the first kiss being far from perfect, I wanted to feel his warmth and taste again. And who says that if it didnt turn out good at first, it will be the same the next time.

Closing my eyes, my hands resting on his shoulders, I neared his lips and he stood there silent as a stone, wanting me explore him. I became nervous all of a sudden, because I didnt know what sort of action on lip should be done in beginning. With slightly parted lips I kissed the most plump part of his lip. His lips were warm and almost not rough. When my lips touched his, I felt simultaneously his hands so softly caressing my back. I was melting into a puddle, oh how I love the soft contacts. I was in a delicious daze making me feel vulnerable and more. Drunk in the moment, I lazily held his bottom lip between mines and sucked at one spot like a wet sponge. 

Before I could pause my act and wipe my drool, his hand cupped my head from behind and in seconds I felt him try to pluck his tongue back in my mouth, but luckily this time it was far less, so I let him kiss me with tongue. When he sensed that my tongue wasnt responding, he ended the kiss. But he wasnt offended, instead asked me with an amused smile: " You like it light and slow... am I right? Next time I will try to do it light or you can show me. I really want to learn to your liking. I am sorry for kissing so bad". 

If he being a man can be so honest, I decided to give a little honesty back too, to help him. Until I wont tell him what needs to be changed how is he supposed to know. May be in books and movies the man magically figures it out, but not in real life, yet how to convey it to him is very essential. Its very nice of Hatim to even sense it. 

"Just feel my lips, open the sweet feelings inside you on my lips. And when you feel my tongue in action, you can use your tongue too, little bit though". Suddenly I felt shy over my preference and hid my face in his warm chest, which felt so peaceful.

When I finally pulled away, my hair static, with hooded eyes his gaze was fixed on my slightly parted lips. With the pad of his thumb he sensually brushed over my lower lip, making the knots in my stomach tight. This man definitely was capable of giving soft touch. I was convinced that after some more practising and open yet respectful discussion he will one day give the most amazing kisses- soft, sweet and slow in beginning than slowly turning passionate.

.............

Aziz family home

Hardly a week was left till Ifrah's flight to Amsterdam. Her in-laws wanted to spend more time with her alongside give the recently nikahfied couple more opportunities to meet and create some beautiful memories, in whatever little time they were together. 

Post their Nikah, Hatim was today back to work. An overloaded truck delivery of cement to Thatta; nearly 2 hour drive depending on road condition. Seeing the overloaded truck, Hatim's eyes widened for safety reasons aswell as police checking. But his boss assured him that he will handle it, in case police checked. Besides that these days there was no checking going on on that route. Seeing the load, he prayed that the receivers had enough unloaders and that he didnt have to participate in unloading them, that too on ones own back. 

He was hopeful to be back home by dinner, since Thatta isnt too far away. Rubina decided to call her daughter-in-law over to spend the day with them and also be around for dinner including Hatim, hopefully.

It had been 2 hours since Ifrah had arrived at her in-laws and she was treatedly just like prior to Nikah; welcomed with open arms, no formalities and lots of pampering. Right now her mother-in-law was sitting with 1kg ginger and 1kg garlic with the nund and bhabhi; Ifrah and Inaya who were looking at the Aziz family's photoalbums including childhood pictures of Hatim. 

Rubina was peeling ginger and garlic for her monthly stock of ginger and garlic paste. Instead of daily making small portion, she prefered to make a weekly if not monthly bulk in order to prevent her hand from smelling of them daily. She might lacked the awareness of latest trends in various topics but when it came to appear attractive to husband's eyes and senses, she didnt make any compromise. Her mother; Inayah and Hatim's maternal grandmother had always insisted that a woman shouldnt smell of ginger, garlic, onion, and spice when her husband comes closer to her regardless of wife's age. And therefore she should be finished with all these things long before husband comes home. Even fried onion she prepared in bulk, because the smell of frying onion instantly greases the hair and smells of it.

Due to backpain she prefered to comfortably sit down and do the peeling task and today when her special guest was here, she also wanted to spend time with her, she shifted her task in living room. 

Whenever Ifrah (even before marrying into Aziz family) saw Rubina doing ginger, garlic and/or onion peeling and slicing in living room, she could clearly hear her mother's response if she were to become witness of this scene, that these tasks should only be done in kitchen and under no circumstance in living room let alone in any sleeping room. Whilst she never witnessed Rubina taking these vegetables to any bedroom, but most certainly to living room, but Ifrah never said anything.

 Some people literally view their home a place where every room is for using purpose and not just mere decoration purpose or presentable to guests.  Ifrah always felt that if the Aziz family was comfortable living this way than it should be respected and it is relaxing not having to think twice when using anything in house unlike in her own home. 

Ifrah was neither  messy nor was extreme like her mother. The more time she spent with Aziz family, she enjoyed not having to be overcautious to avoid signs of using an item, furniture etc.

Alongside doing her ginger and garlic work, Rubina was telling childhood stories of the siblings and full family and everytime Hatim's name was mentioned, Inayah looked at her friend cum bhabhi and gave her a teasing smile. Soon Rubina's task was done and she commenced with cooking; Khandviyan.

Upon seeing a small mixture which didnt include chillie, Ifrah enquired and her mother-in-law replied with a knowing smile: " You dont eat spicy food, so this portion is for you" pouring the gramflour with spices, onion and water mixture in a small pot and stiring it on medium to high flame till it formed into a dough than pouring it in a greased tray and cutting it in diamond shape and let it set. The stiring part requires alot of muscle work, which made Ifrah a little more sad that her mother-in-law had to go through this process twice due to her. But Rubina responded back:

"Let me gain some extra reward from Allah for going a little out of the way for someone. Making a seperate portion for someone is quite a small task compared to the reward which Allah will give".

Ifrah's heart soared at the incredibleness of her mother-in-law and gave her a one arm hug and said something which she had planned since previous night:

"I want to apologise on behalf of my family for what occured towards the end of doodh pilai function". 

Rubina immidiately cut her by saying, " I blame myself more than anyone else; we shouldnt have arranged this function which easily goes out of control in the name of innocent fun and bringing two families together aswell as breaking the ice between a newlywed couple. But I guess we are humans and get carried away. And thanks to you, my jawan only nikahfied son didnt end up eating that Unani medication. As for using cough syrup, I forgive them (your family). Lesson learnt for future; no such functions where misunderstandigs are easily created". She finished her explanation by lovingly patting Ifra's cheek as she moved onto the next step of Khandviyan; the gravy. Once again she first took out Ifrah's portion before adding red chillie powder to the remaining gravy.

(Jawan- young  man)

The ladies spent great hours together with talks, laughter and showing to Ifrah more family treasures including Rubina's bridal outfit. When there was only one hour remaining till Hatim's official return time, she informed her mother-in-law to be going to get changed in a fresh outfit which she had brought along to wear when Hatim returns from work.

However Rubina told her to delay starting to get dressed already, because Hatim often arrived much later than given time. And after getting dressed or any other preparation for guest or a special person, the wait becomes unbearable.

Ifrah did as told. After helping her mother- and sister-in-law out with final touches to dinner, the rest of the family sat in living room, catching up on the day with each other. Half an hour later after given time, Ifrah started to pace in Hatim's bedroom where she had gotten ready. For the countless time she nervously fixed her hair or the Jhumkis which she had worn matching with her red outfit.

When she couldnt bear to wait any longer, the panicked wife in her dialled his number, not caring that her presence upon his home coming is meant to be a surprise. But looked like as though the surprise was going to remain as surprise, because his phone went straight to voicemail. His last seen status on Whatsapp showed many hours ago. It was when he msged her to wish her a great day. And right now all sort of fearful thoughts were running in her mind; from being involved in a truck accident to being kidnapped. Her body shivered at the possibilities; frustration, panic and deep fear clouded her heart and mind. She started to pray two rakat nafl to bring him back home soon and safe. After praying she cried in sujood, just than Inayah entered the room after knocking. Seeing her friend and bhabhi's eyes red from crying, Inayah put her arm around her shoulder and said:

"Its rare that he comes back on time due to various reasons; road conditions, signal problem, issues on truck, loading-/unloading delays, his phone battery dead. Actually bhai is not very good with (new) technology and he easily gets confused with them. Dont worry he will come back soon. Think positive and wipe away your tears. Your his surprise and he should see you smiling".

Ifrah gave a fake angry reply to her friend, "I dont know about smiling but I will somehow get hold of a GPS mini smart tracker and put it around his neck and hes never allowed to take it off". She than chuckled towards the end, thinking what his sister must be thinking of her Bhabhi. The teasing which followed by Inayah was foreseeable:

"Aww, is that how much you love him? Already so protective or shall I say possesive about him?!"

" Dont ask my dear, post Nikah, this person becomes like a part of you. Its like you need them to- to live further?! Rukhsati or no rukhsati, the mind and soul doesnt make a difference". Ifrah closed her eyes as she expressed her intense emotions, which had come over her in very few days post Nikah. No comparison to anything she felt prior to Nikah.

...............

Hatim

So apparantly I was supposed to only drop off a truckload of cement bags at one place in Thatta. But upon reaching there, I was informed that two unloaders of the client didnt come to work today and thus I had to help unload the cement bags, each bag weighing 30 kg. It is said that a man isnt allowed to carry more than 25kg in one go in order to prevent back injury. 

But because it was only 5kg above the limit all workers including myself were made to carry the bags on our backs till the located place, which was few minutes away. Initially it sounds less until you realise that there are 500 bags to unload and you had to drive the heavy truck before that all the way from Karachi.

To cut it short it took me a little over 2 hours to unload with the help of on-site workers and than I was met with fog on the way back.

I have a smartphone, still my first one though and its battery drains very fast by just touching it, thats how it atleast seems and it proved it again today; battery died hours ago. Therefore I use the device very less and since my family is aware of my delayed returning and a delay of over 1 hour was nothing unusual, hence I dont call them very soon. I guess thats not a very good thing, but my parents always stress to give more priority to safe driving than calling. And I am not too good and familiar with modern technology. With great difficulty I learn something and if I dont use it frequently I forget to operate it.

As I passed the distance road board which read 10km till Karachi. A wide smile escaped my lips to be home soon. I than checked the time on the small manual clock by dashboard. My mind thought to pay a quick visit to my wife after reaching home, but before that collect my paycheck from boss office.

Upon reaching home, my mother held my sweaty and exhausted face between her fragile palms and kissed my forehead like she mostly does. As usual duas upon duas left her lips as her hands stroked from my shoulders down to  my arm, making sure I was save and sound. Before she could say more my dad nudged her saying in our mother tongue: 

" Let his father and sister meet him too". 

After the greeting I placed the paycheck in his hand. His eyes welled up with tears whenever I give him the paycheck. And he always ends up saying:

" I wish you didnt have to work so hard to bring this check home. I wish I could take some of the burden off you-" But this time he also added: " Your married now, first take out you and your wife's share, than some saving, than give us whatever you wish. Actually buy yourself a new good phone, more people are concerned now when your out there".

As I made my way towards my room, which was closed my mother casually said:

"Theres no hurry for you to come out and have dinner with us".

I didnt think much of my parents code language messages, not even when Inu (Inayah) was smirking behind my mum, it cant be what I am thinking, right?! That would be too good to be true.

Dismissing the thought, I opened the door and before I could even close it, I let out a surprised sound before salam even, which made my family giggle and within seconds everything was silent again. I closed the door and  just bombarded the dream come true with endless questions:

" Assalam o alaikum!! You here?! How? When? Why did you not tell me? And how comes noone told me from my family? I cant believe to see you here right now, when I was daydreaming a while ago to find you or to come and meet you after a while".

My wife kept a straight face standing at her spot, more than an arms lenght away. I was surprised not to see her show happiness upon my arrival. Taking a step forward I noticed her moist eyes and I tried to reach for her arm to comfort her, but she pulled away and blurted:

" Walaikum salam! I was meant to be a surprise for you, but you surprised me by arriving so late. Do you know how worried I got for you? I- I felt like leaving the house and hunting for you. Why was your phone off? The voicemail shut all my senses. What if something happened to you?!" She broke down in sobs and before she could speak further I slowly pulled her in my embrace and gently spoke over her head:

"Than why are you telling me all this from distance, you can speak from here (my embrace) too, actually why dont you show me how much you missed me". I slowly pulled her away from me and cupped her face, my fingers resting behind her ears as my thumb softly caressed the corner of her eye, drying her tears. 

Her red dupatta was nearly slipping off her shoulder, so I grabbed it and put it over her head:

" Wedding ceremony done. My bride is looking stunning in red. Lets do Rukhsati.... U know" I smirked without averting my eyes from her.

In response she shyly lowered her head but a wide smile appeared on her lips. This encouraged me to remain on the teasing track:

"Or we could atleast kiss. Remember I said last time, that next time I will try to kiss you more towards your liking...... slow slow, opening my heart on your lips and no awful tongue. May be I can practise  now. I am so tired to be wild right now anyway".

She finally looked up at me and said: " I didnt say awful tongue, just not too soon and too much. But before anything, would you like to freshen up? Shall I get you something to eat?" I refused her offer. I didnt want to move away from her or atleast not before I got a bit of a taste of her. 

"Everything can wait, but I need you here in my arms, before me more than anything else right now. I want to show you how much I love you, how happy I am to be with you right now"

And this time I tried to kiss her the way she kissed me; eyes closed and with puckered lips just place small kisses on her lips and in snail pace kiss her back and forth across her lips. I wasnt even sure though wether I was fully pressing my lips on hers, but she was relaxed in my arms and started to kiss me back, kind of trailing behind my lip. I dont think we were kissing properly but it felt so good not to have her getting stiff and all whilst sharing a liplock. Before I ended the kiss, I caressed the side of her face, so that once the kiss ends, I would still be in skin contact with her.

The smile which she gave me after I parted from her lips, made me never want to use my tongue again for kissing; such fondness and satisfaction was on her face.

.......................

Long chapter. Thank you for reading. Do leave your valueable votes and comments.

How was the chapter?  Feedback welcome

So they kissed first time, both equally unexperienced and it wasnt perfect. What sort of first kiss were you expecting from them? Love alone doesnt make a kiss perfect.

Ifrah nearly daily spending alone-time with Hatim post Nikah. Is that a good idea?

Hatim gives his paycheck to his parents like an obedient son, right or wrong?

Can you imagine Ifrah ever accompanying Hatim in truck?