"if the world frowns upon you, you're worth true love - derek."

All along the ride to their apartment , Faaris could hardly concentrate on the road .

Inaya was seated beside him staring out of the window with her elbow propped on the door handle .

He was thankful for that .

There was a relatively large silly smile on his face and he was trying to not look too happy or excited . Inaya didn't seem to bother much about him since she had been sitting in that position as soon as they'd exchanged salaam .

He was looking forward to his date . His first ever proper meeting with Inaya . With his wife . The person he so hopelessly fell in love with .

As he parked the car into the parking lot , he immediately swung open his door and jumped to Inaya's side before she could come out on her own .

He clutched the handle and opened the door .

Inaya looked startled as she flickered her gaze between him and the car door . An awkward moment passed between them as she deciphered the situation they were in . Still dazed , she stepped out only to slip on her abaya . Faaris quickly balanced her by sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her up on her feet by his free hand .

She fell upon his chest with her palms unknowingly clutching his thoub . Her eyes widened for a fraction of second until he met his gaze and relaxed fairly .

A girl passing by whistled and Inaya almost shuddered with fear . Her gaze broke from Faaris' and fell upon the girl with a large smile and hands on her waist as she kept wiggling her brows at them .

Inaya squirmed out of Faaris' arms that had kept her strongly in place , bound to his body .

Waving a hand with a smirk , the girl swayed her abaya as she hopped her way down the street .

As she saw the girl's figure fade away , she hung her head low and tried to not meet Faaris' gaze . She could feel his worried stare at him . It felt like he had raisen a hand to tell her something but had decided to keep it to himself as she hastily walked towards their apartment .

The lift had been under repair which meant they would have to walk to the second floor .

"We will need to walk upstairs . I wanted to tell that to you but you seemed to be walking away rather quickly ."

Inaya cringed . She was very nervous and didn't want to be caught up in any romantical moment from which they couldn't escape .

"It's no problem ."

She softly told , the hammering of her heart making it difficult to not stutter .

They both fell silent again and trudged up the stairs slowly , taking their time . Inaya wasn't very fond of the silence they shared but didn't do anything to initiate it's breakdown .

When they reached their apartment , Faaris fumbled into his thoub's pocket for a few seconds . Inaya could find his hands shiver and unexpectedly , the keys clinked loudly against the floor .

His head snapped up to look at her with a nervous smile as he got down on his knees to get ahold of the keys . Inaya broke into a small smile as he kept trying to steady his hand and hold the keys with a grip .

She hesitated for half a second and got down on her knees beside him .

"Mind if I take over the job , Mr retired officer ?"

She was very confidently taunting him but when he looked up to gaze at her , she could trace the drops of perspiration shining against his hairline . He threw her a shaky smile and shot up on his feet .

Inaya took ahold of the keys and stood up to give him a small smile and put the key into the hole .

Faaris could be one of the most bulkiest men she had ever seen , but that didn't make him any less nervous . Infact , she found him more anxious than herself .

Once the door had been opened , she faced the dark living room .

"Why is the house so dark ? Where are mama and Mahreen ?"

Finally , she turned to look at him properly , her eyes narrowing to make out his figure . She felt a lot more relieved to deal with a invisible Faaris . Though , again , she was more naughty than him .

"Um , they've gone to a neighbour's house for lunch ."

He sheepishly replied and the house flickered into a blinding light . Faaris moved away from the light switches over to the kitchenette . Inaya followed ; a few steps behind him .

"What are you doing ?"

She asked to which he looked over his shoulder and smiled a little .

"I'm warming up what I had prepared ."

Inaya's gaze locked with his for a few moments before she turned her head while clearing her throat .

"Um...you...y-ou prepared lunch ?"

Faaris looked at her after putting a pot of stew on a low flame .

"Yes , I really did ."

Inaya tilted her head a little and gave him a hard stare .

"What ?! I'm seriously being honest . I prepared all this ."

He pointed to several pots and dishes nearly arranged on the island and Inaya lips curled inwards .

She didn't bother trying to argue with him since he sounded more than genuine . But Inaya was very sure that there was no way he could boil water , let alone cook full meals .

When she felt like he was too engrossed , she walked to a corner and blew out short breaths through her mouth . It had already been fifteen minutes since they'd stepped foot in the house and Inaya knew that Faaris would ask her to get refreshed any time soon .

"Inaya , change and get refreshed . I'll set the table ."

She nearly jumped a foot in the air when he shouted , because he probably couldn't see her . She had walked out towards the farthest corner of the hallway , in hopes of escaping his vision .

"Yeah , sure ."

She yelled back only to find her voice shivering with fear .

"Damn you Samantha . You're so screwed ."

She whined and hit her head against the wall a few times before blowing out air through her mouth .

Shutting her eyes , she unbuttoned her abaya and let loose her scarf around her chest .

"Ya Allah ! I look so exposed in this dress !"

She lay her back against the wall and her eyes darted against her chest .

"Allah ! My chest ! Why is so much being seen ?! Ew , noo !"

She securely draped the scarf across her chest and gulped hard .

"I have a feeling this date is going to be too revealing ."

Helplessly , she had only started to walk towards the room when the lights started flickering on and off . Before either of them could make a move , the house was enveloped in darkness .

She waited a moment and heard someone bang the door shut .

Inaya started to panic .

"Faaris ?"

She hugged herself and moved uneasily across the hallway .

"Faaris ?"

She had already started to tear up , the familiar fear of darkness crawling into her . The darkness had seeped into her skin and the events she was escaping were playing right before her eyes .

She was hallucinating again .

"Fa - aris , p...l.ease ."

It took several more minutes before Faaris' voice echoed into the silent room .

"Inaya , what happened ? Where are you ?!"

Her cries stopped for a moment and she sucked in a huge gulp of air .

"Faaris , where are you ? I'm...in the hallway ."

She called out loudly and heard approaching footsteps within a few seconds . An audible gasp escaped her lips as a pair of hands touched her bare arms .

"Oops , sorry , didn't mean to touch you there . Was just trying t - "

He was left spellbounded when her frail arms wrapped tight across his neck and embraced him . It shocked him to the extent that his his arms lay midair and he hardly was able to breathe when he shivered under her hold .

"Can I hug you ? I'm sorry , but am very scared ."

She mumbled softy in his neck and he gulped . He could feel his hands shiver as he tried to bring them back beside him .

For a while Inaya hugged him silently but just as Faaris thought he couldn't keep his hands to himself any longer , she started sobbing loudly . Her body shook with jolts and Faaris protectively wrapped his arms around her waist .

He could feel some cloth clung tight across her body .

"Inaya , shhhhh . What happened ? Do you want me to leave you ?"

Immediately she shook her head and he felt a warm feeling of happiness spread through his body .

He went silent for a minute before mustering the courage to speak up .

"Is my hold bothering you then ? Want me to let go ?"

She shook her head harder and burst out into fresh sobs .

Faaris panicked and quickly patted her back while he felt her tears soak his collar and shoulder . She never cried so much before . Maybe she did to herself or in front of Hafsa and Mariam but never in his presence . Something told Faaris that he didn't know much about Inaya .

"Habibti , then tell me what's wrong ? Is it hurting anywhere ?"

He whispered softly and pulled her apart from him reluctantly . He regretted almost instantly as her body's warmth radiated off of him . Inaya had only hugged him for a few minutes and he had already started to crave her touch .

"No ."

She whispered with her head ducked down and her chin quivering .

"I.....hate darkness . An...an- d you were n- ot answering so I got scared ."

Faaris couldn't take it anymore . Without giving much thought he scooped her up in his arms and heard a small gasp from her .

She didn't protest but just lay her head against his chest , silently sobbing as he felt her tears drop down on his chest .

When he carefully sat down on the couch , Inaya brushed her tears off and and had started to pull herself away only to be held strongly by him .

"Not so fast ."

Faaris instructed and helped her adjust properly into his lap . With the position they were sitting in , Faaris could see Inaya blush faintly and her head bent low .

"Now what's troubling my dear wife ?"

Without caring much about her reaction and fear , he started to run his fingers through her hair . Inaya kept her head low and barely managed to look at him for a second through her lashes .

When she didn't budge or breathe almost for a few minutes , Faaris sighed and sat up straighter with his palms down on either side of them .

He tilted his head slightly and secured his grip on her waist . Inaya's body tensed but he didn't seem to take much notice of it as he edged closer and pulled her hair to a shoulder and kissed her exposed shoulder .

"Red is your colour . Romantic and fierce ."

Samantha dusted off her hands with her head held high and swung the door shut with her heel .

"God , that was some exercise !"

She boomed happily and walked with a goofy grin on her face .

"You mean throwing Inaya out of the house ?"

Sarah confirmed while flipping a page of her novel with her gaze still fixed at the book in her lap .

Samantha huffed out air and waved a hand airily .

"No , I mean excercise ."

Sarah shook her head and continued reading the novel . Because the males were out and the ladies were having some sister time , Samantha decided to surprise everyone and cook a traditional Arabic dinner like Inaya and Hafsa had taught her .

"Sarah , girl , can you show me how to switch on the burner ?"

Samantha pointed out at the gas stove and Sarah slowly turned her head to face her sister . Her eyes narrowed .

"Why ?"

Samantha hummed in response .

"I want to.....boil water ."

Sarah sighed , bookmarked a page , set the book on the couch and walked over to Samantha .

"I'll do that for you ."

Samantha immediately shot forward , her arms widespread preventing Sarah from moving towards the stove .

"Why ?!"

Sarah blinked .

"Because you burnt your arm just by attempting to boil water a few months back ."

Samantha hunched , rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly .

"That won't happen again . Besides I'm a grown up . I can very well handle boiling water ."

Sarah humphed and tightly crossed her arms across her chest looking sternly at Samantha .

"The last thing you learnt preparing was a toast Sam ."

Samantha opened her mouth to argue back but stopped midway when Hafsa came hopping down the stairs , smiling in their direction .

"What's up sisters ?"

Hafsa slapped both their backs with a large grin but her smile faded away when she saw the looks on both of their faces .

"Anything the matter ?"

"Everything is the matter ."

Sarah snorted , looked intensely at Samantha and dropped her gaze .

"Hey ! All I want to do is cook !"

Samantha retorted back loudly , making Hafsa jump in between both of them to prevent any fight .

"Whoa ! Girls , what's wrong ? Let me help out ."

Sarah quickly turned to face Hafsa and started to explain the situation calmly .

"The last time she tried cooking , she had destroyed our burner . Turns out , all she tried to do was boil water ."

Sarah looked at Samantha whose cheeks were turning red with infurity .

"If you don't let me practice , how do you expect me to boil water ?"

"Boiling water doesn't necessarily need practice ."

"That's absurd ! Everything needs practice ."

"Boiling water is something even Macaroni can do ."

Hafsa could feel the tension growing between the two of them but she didn't necessarily want to interrupt lest she'd turn out to be the victim .

"Um , macaroni ?"

Hafsa timidly spoke , making sure to not sound too loud or corrective .

Sarah turned to look at her with an apologetic smile .

"Yeah , even Macaron can do that . Your sister ."

Hafsa pursed her lips and rolled her eyes .

"Too bad , I'm not Macaron ."

Both the sisters glared at each other stiffly .

"It's not Macaron . Her sister's name is Marshmallow ."

Sarah slumped and pinched the middle of her brows .

"It's margarita ."

Samantha shook her head with a small laugh .

"It's Macaron ."

"It's Marshmallow ."

"Macaron !"

"Marshmallow !"

"MACARON !"

"MARSHMALLOW !"

"MACA - "

"GUYS !"

Hafsa stepped in and pushed them both to either sides .

The girls kept glaring at each other like raging bulls and Hafsa made sure to keep them far away from each other .

"It's Mahreen . Her name is Mahreen . But we weren't even discussing that !"

Hafsa threw her arms up in the air , looking at both of them in disbelief .

"Let's get going with the cooking . We might as well help her learn Sarah ."

Samantha happily positioned herself across the burner with Hafsa behind her and Sarah slumped on a seat at the dining table .

She had an unpleasant frown on her face as she muttered under her breath.

"It would be a lot easier to teach maple syrup than this douchebag ."

« Assalaamualaikum Princesses .

Love you all sooo much . ❤❤ .

First things first , we've officially reached 2K votes . Who's shouting with me ? YAAAAYYYY , like what ? How's this possible ?!

I'm lost for words literally . Why are you guys so good to me ?! It's crazy . ❤❤❤ . Nonetheless , from the bottom of my heart , I'm thankful . Too thankful. You all make my life so much more brighter and livelier . ❤❤❤ . I wouldn't be here at this point without you all .

I had published this book on August of 2017 and by the end of this year, we've been ranking on the 13-20 positions with over 15k reads .

What more can I even..... I should just cry now . ❤❤❤ .

I just hope that I show my gratitude to all of you . I don't want to miss even a single one of you .

Also , I was gifted some covers !!!! Gifted for the first ever time . She's my dear , beautiful , lovely, GORGEOUS sister _PrincessRapunzel_ . I can't....urgh , such amazing covers really .

I'm extremely....nothing ! I can't even write down my emotions . Thank you so much Habibti . These melted my heart . ❤❤❤ .

ILYASM ! ❤❤❤ .

TAKE CARE .

Much love and Nutella ,
Me ;)