"Hareem…" Waasiq woke up with a jolt as he had a nightmare related to Hareem. He looked everywhere, the room was empty as well as dark. Terrified, he stepped out from the bed with a jolt but hissed due to sharp pain in his abdomen. The day was different for him. 

Stepping out of the room he checked the kitchen, his mother's room and dining room, but Hareem wasn't there. 

"Waasiq dinner is ready" His stepmother informed. But Waasiq wanted Hareem, not dinner. 

"Where is Hareem?" 

"Come and have dinner." He listened to that voice from behind. His real mother was entering in the dining room. 

"Ammi please tell me where is she?"

"Waasiq, enough now. Have dinner silently" His mother scolded him. 

"But…" 

"She is fine and right now she is sitting with girls in their room. Have dinner" His mother assured him, letting go a long sigh of relief he took his usual seat. 

Maids and servants started serving dinner but Waasiq's hunger for gazing at his wife was not going to satisfy with rice and curry. 

"Say Varisha to do what I had told her" Waasiq looked at his mother when she ordered a maid.

"What did you tell her to do?" Waasiq Asked and his mother shook his head 

"Have your meal silently" 

"Ammi Hareem is a nice girl, she is very innocent an…" 

"Waasiq don't talk while eating" Another scolding! "At least call everyone for dinner" 

This time he got a glare, was it difficult to understand who was special in everyone. 

Who could believe, the man who always carries his gun ready to shoot his enemies was making excuses to get a single glimpse of his wife.

 After torturing Waasiq by separating Hareem, both the ladies were enjoying their meal, and he was cursing himself to bring Hareem here instead of taking her to the same home where she was kept before. 

"Waasiq" 

"Ji Ammi" 

"I like that girl, she is very innocent" Waasiq smiled and his mother filled his plate with more food. 

"Apparently she's innocent, but I still have doubts about her" His stepmother commented but this time Waasiq ignored as his mother already approved Hareem. He knew with passing time his stepmother will also become fine with Hareem but… 

Where was Hareem? 

His eyes were travelling down to every possible point of his sight to get her glimpse. 

"Ammi, the job is done." Varisha (Waasiq's sister) came into the dining room with a big smile and Waasiq looked confused. 

"What job?" He asked to get no response. Now his patience was coming to an end, frustration was conquering his mind. 

"I'm asking something." He asked a little louder, but his sister left the room without any reply. Waasiq was pissed off by then, leaving the dinner with fury he stepped back to his room. Opening the door he was shocked. 

Wearing a beautiful suit, Hareem was sitting on the edge of the bed. Waasiq forgot to blink, his breath hitched and his heart pondered when found her wearing a light touch of makeup which was exactly like the morning dew drops on fresh roses. 

On the other side, Hareem was nervous, she was shivering with fear of his closeness. When Waasiq's mother took her along, the poor girl was encountered with a million questions but she replied everything with honesty. From kidnapping to hating Waasiq to started loving her she told everything without any kind of alteration. And as the result of her truthfulness, she was sitting in Waasiq's room, decorated with some ornaments and light makeup. 

"Masha Allah '' Waasiq whispered while sitting beside her and Hareem took an uneven breath. Her heart refused to beat again when Waasiq covered her hand with his warm and big hand. Involuntary she pulled her hand, shifting away from him she looked at Waasiq with the corner of her eyes. 

"Hareem, don't worry. I won't do anything without your consent" Understanding Hareem's nervousness he maintains a small distance between them. And unknowingly he took another step closer to her heart. There was a magic in his words that Hareem didn't take time to believe in him. Waasiq cupped her face in between his hands. 

"Hareem, don't dream high for your life with me, I'm a short-tempered, aggressive and stubborn man… I guess you already know. Maybe sometimes I'll draw out the anger of my failure on you but I promise that we'll share all our joys together. Maybe I'll shout at you but you'll also be allowed to draw out your frustration on me. Maybe I won't be able to give you complete time, but my complete love is always for you. And most importantly…"   Waasiq stopped and took a deep breath.  "I'm sorry. I never wanted to kidnap you, I'm sorry for giving you tears. I didn't want to start our relationship on such a bitter note, I can't change the past but I promise, I'll repent of all my wrong steps. I'll try to give you happiness a hundred times of your tears, you're the queen of my heart and my world. Maybe I won't repeat myself, I'm not expressive or talkative… You'll find out many flaws in me with passing time, I'll try to change myself but conclusively I'm not perfect." 

Her eyes shone with tears of pleasure. "You're perfect, even you're more perfect than my expectations" Waasiq kissed her forehead making her blush more than a tomato, finding no objection from her side he pecked her cheek, which stopped her heartbeat for a moment. His gaze fell on her red painted lips, which were trembling by then, his heart demanded to taste them, but he knew Hareem wasn't ready yet. Killing his desire one more time he smiled at her nervousness. "Take rest" kissing her forehead one more time he moved back. 

<><><><><><><><>

Midnight 

The cup made up of her hands was receiving the tears dripping down from her eyes, lips were engaged with a smile but trembling too. 

The silence of the room was disturbed by a sniffle. Allah paak, I'm sorry… I always had a problem that you don't listen to me, I was offended with you for not giving me what I wanted… I had a big list of complaints but I'm sorry I was wrong, please forgive me… We humans can't understand your Hikmat (underlying reasons), we only see what is visible to our tiny eyes, but you work on hidden things, you always have better and unexpected plans. Forgive me for being such an ungrateful wretch, and thank you for blessing me with Waasiq, he is not even close to my dream man, he is a thousand times better… How can I thank you for this favour? I can't my lord… I can't

She again sniffled and this time she coughs too, which disturb Waasiq's sleep. 

"Hareem" He lifted his head from the pillow. "Why are you crying?" Asking that he went closer to Hareem. 

"When I was in trouble I used to complain about everything the whole night, but now when everything is fine I should apologise and thank Allah." Waasiq smiled on her pure innocence, "Will Allah forgive me? I was offended with him, but what if now he is offended with me?" Mumbling that Hareem cried and leaning down Waasiq kissed the middle of her head. 

"Are you happy with me?" Waasiq Asked and Hareem nodded innocently, her hands were still making a cup for dua and her eyes were still shedding tears. 

"Hareem, If someone is happy in the present, and repenting for the past mistakes it means Allah is not offended with that person. And here you never did anything wrong with anyone now Allah is giving you happiness it means he is not offended with you." Waasiq said politely and Hareem was quite surprised. 

"Really?" she asked and he hummed 

"Yeah. Now, thank Allah and sleep. Allah has made the night so that his servants can take rest." Waasiq said politely and Hareem nodded. He went back to bed, where she joined him after five minutes. She looked here there, only one pillow was present under his head so she laid down without a pillow.  Waasiq buzzed to attract her attention then placed his arm under her head before covering her with a sheet. 

"Don't cry again" He kissed her both eyes, and Hareem nodded. She felt special one more time. Waasiq was the most awaited dawn of her life after the terrible dark night. 

Niyazi's crossed all the limits of brutality, they used Hareem as a trump card, for seventeen years they used her as their free slave and after every kind of mental, physical and emotional distress they Almost Sold this poor, innocent girl to an old cruel man, just for money. A cruel man whose death brought happiness among the poor people of the village. No one held good intentions about Hareem, everyone was thinking about themselves and planning for their future. But why do people forget that: 

وَمَكَرُوا وَمَكَرَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ

(They plan, and Allah plans. Surely, Allah is the Best of planners.)

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-The end-

But every end is a beginning too

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Author's Note: Don't go without leaving a feedback.

Bye Bye

_Naaz Jamal