"That was the best dinner I have ever had."

"Thank you." Zarah mumbled while filling his glass with water. Though she had heard many denials from Ryan about doing house chores but she didn't want him to have food prepared from the maid. It was okay when she was not in his life but now Zarah was his lawfully wedded wife and it was her duty to take care of him with her small gestures. "You stay here, I have prepared something for dessert."

Zarah said and came in the kitchen where she had kept the rice porridge in the freezer and just as she was about to move, Ryan's protective hands stopped her-saving the dessert from falling down.

"I thought it fell down." She said composing herself as her husband had scared her enough.

"I won't let you and this fall ever."

Zarah giggled looking in Ryan's mesmerizing eyes as he gestured towards her and the dessert in her hands. She liked seeing in his eyes, which were deep and felt like always speaking the truth.

"So I have gotten a cheesy husband." She said resulting a chuckle from Ryan as he looked at her with pursed lips, smile creeping upto his features.

"Can't help it around my wife." He said moving a little back to give her space as they came to their room.

There was hesitance but no awkwardness, it was like they both knew each other from so many centuries but hadn't meet ever. They were talking like long lost friends who had suddenly met up with each other after a long wait. They both were just eager to hear each other, listening to what the other wanted to say.

She had prayed for this relationship. A relationship with her husband who would look at her like Ryan was looking at her when she would tell him something, though some silly stuff of her childhood or of her job. A man who would hold her hand unknowingly like just to make sure she was there with him, like Ryan was doing every now and then. Zarah knew her Lord listened to her every prayer but he accepted it with such ease, she never knew until she saw Ryan in front of her.

"Which side of the bed you prefer?"

Ryan asked and she came out of her reverie as he was holding a spoonful of porridge in front of her to take. She put the coming strand of hair behind her ear, forcing the dupatta on her head to slide back some more revealing her hair to her husband.

This was the hesitancy she was thinking about, Zarah didn't have enough guts to reveal her hair just like that to Ryan. She had observed hijab from her adolescent age and to reveal herself to her husband all of a sudden was a difficult task for her. Ryan smiled warmly looking at her as she merely tilted her head down in shyness, her cheeks heated up with the events that ended up in front of her.

******

He kept the spoon back in the bowl, placing the dessert on the bedside table looking at Zarah whose head was still bowed down, her cheeks turning a fine shade of red due to shyness. Never in his life ever Ryan had seen someone so much shy but was he complaining?

Not at all.

Instead now Ryan Ahmed was enjoying her shyness.

It felt like a whole new Zarah was standing in front of him as her dupatta slid back to reveal her beautiful hair. His heart jounced seeing her beautiful features in a new light.

Ryan moved a little closer to his wife as she looked up in slight surprise and confusion. Cupping her face in his gentle hold, he looked in her eyes-her eyelashes seemed to be shivering in his vicinity as if Zarah was having difficulty in keeping them open.

He asked with his eyes for her permission as she smiled and looked down for a bit, "Actually I don't have any idea about it..." Her voice wavering at the edge as she confessed pushing him more in to the pit where Ryan had stored all the love for her.

"I haven't taken any courses about it either." He said caressing her cheekbone, making his wife split into peals of amused laughter. Her laughter turned into a small smile as she saw him moving his face closer to her.

The touch of her lips on his felt like an elixir as if he was waiting for his whole life. Zarah held his arms trying to support herself as he dotted her lips with the signs of his love. His hand moved to her neck slowly and made its way to her waist; pulling her closer if that was even possible, earning a low gasp from her. Ryan opened his closed eyes as he felt a soft kiss under his jaw then on the corner of his lips, Zarah's fingers bunching his sleeve.

Ryan touched his forehead with hers, just trying to decipher where they were and counting each others' breath. He kissed her and didn't know how he was living without it till now. Because now when he had done it, he couldn't be away from her. She was seriously an elixir for him-giving him life all of a sudden.

"Ryan..."Zarah's whisper brought him back as he opened his eyes to see her opening hers, "I don't know how to say it but... that kiss was, beau- nic-" She stopped saying as he smiled looking at her, clearly knowing what she wanted to say.

"Beautiful, nice." Zarah looked down with a graceful smile, her fingers now playing with his shirt buttons as she just nodded her head,"I was about to say the same thing. Never felt like this. Want to feel that again?"

She didn't say anything because he didn't let her. Just as Zarah looked up, he sealed her lips with his. He didn't know his heart could feel so much happiness because he hadn't feel ever, it was Zarah who was gifting him that feeling. As they moved back a little from each other, Ryan picked her up in his arms-moving towards their bed.

Zarah coiled her arm around his neck pulling him closer as she kissed him once more while he rested his elbows on the bed to not put any weight on her. Slowly Ryan dotted her jaw, neck, ears with his kisses, hearing his wife's slow gasp as she tried to hide herself in his embrace.

"May I?" Ryan whispered after kissing her earlobe as his fingers moved to the chain at the back of her dress. Zarah nodded while he kissed her eyes, he just wanted to show his love which felt like increasing with every moment when he thought about her, saw her or talked with her.

Ryan turned off the bedside lamp as he pecked her lips once more, feeling the goosebumps coating her skin under his fingers."You are making me your slave, Zari!" The silent room which was holding the sound of their shallow breathing filled with Zarah's gentle laugh.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Never."

No words were spoken after that because now there was only speech of love between them. Some unspoken promises were made; some unheard oaths were taken as the couple moved to the valley of ardor.

Ryan placed a kiss on her forehead as Zarah moved nearer to him in his embrace, still feeling like that all was a serene dream. He hid his face in her neck, nuzzling his nose under her ear-snaking his arm around her waist securing his wife to himself. It was a new journey to them; those words, those touches, that spark of light going through their spine but it all was worth it because they had waited for the right time, they had waited as their Lord had told them to. That was why their Lord had blessed them with calmness, contentment and delight. This was the time when Ryan's belief on the words of Quran became stronger than before.