"Sana?" Annum called out in the pitch-black darkness of the room. She felt her shift in bed beside her. Haani had asked Sanari to sleep with Annum as he was going to stay in his studio the entire night, working on some art project. "Hmmm" she replied her. They didn't talk after Haani left after such an outburst. "I'm sorry!" Annum told her in a whisper.

Instantly the bedside lamp flickered open and Sanari shot up in bed alertly. "Are you alright Annu? " Annum slowly placed herself in a sitting position and brought her knees to her chin. "I'm sorry for judging him, he doesn't seem so bad. I was just scared he might hurt you as Behlul did. I don't want you hurt." Sanari sighed and moved closer to her.

"I understand how you feel and it's fine. But I think you need to apologise to him instead. He seemed upset about your accusations. " Sanari paused to look at her, "Annu sometimes you can't stop what happens to you, you can't recoil back from fate. Behlul was my fate and so is Haani. All I can do is pray that Haani turns out good if not better. And so far he's done nothing to prove me wrong. We don't have a right to accuse and hate on someone who's done nothing but been helpful and kind to us." Annum still didn't look convinced one bit.

Sanari closed her eyes and hesitantly told her something she never shared with her before, considering she was her baby sister but then again they were grown up now and had faced a lot already. "He hasn't even touched me yet." Annum's eyes widened at her confession but she quickly replaced her reaction with an amused one. "Like that?" She poked at her. "Yes, like that. He hasn't. To make it more unbelievable to you, he hasn't even seen my hair. I didn't take off my hijab in front of him not even once." Annum shook her head in a diverted stance.

"Not even on your wedding night? He didn't ask you to show him your ankle or hair like most of the Arab guys ask on their wedding nights?" Annum asked and let out a humoured laugh.

"I can't believe I'm discussing my private marriage life with you and you're finding it humorous." She hit Annum hard on the thigh.

"Okay-okay I get the point. He's not like Behlul and he's a gentleman so far." She stated sarcastically to which Sanari rolled her eyes.

"You're apologizing to him first thing in the morning or I'm never seeing you again."

"Wow acting all wifey ain't we? I mean I'm vaguely sorry for offending your arrogantly proud husband but I don't think so he'll buy my apology without insulting me in return." Sanari eyed her sternly.

Annum threw up her hands in the air, "Okay fine I'll apologize." Sanari rolled her eyes again and turned off the lamp.

~~~~~

Haani tiredly walked down into the dining room and was hit by the strong smell of pancakes. It was starting to become his personal favourite by now. Dragging out a chair he noticed Annum already seated and waiting. Upon seeing her, a sour expression invaded his face. He sat silently and pretended to concentrate on his tablet instead. He heard a throat clearing "Assalam Alaikum!" Annum half-heartedly greeted him. "Morning!" He returned it with the same enthusiasm.

Sanari entered into the room with a tray filled with pancakes. Two maids followed behind her with a coffee pot and other things. She placed the tray and took a seat to the left of Haani. She sensed the room thick with tension. "Salam and good morning." She smilingly greeted Haani. "Good morning!" Haani answered in a foul mood to which Annum rolled her eyes.

Sanari served them all pancakes and roasted coffee. She was starting to notice Haani's likes and dislikes. Annum, on the other hand, felt irritated with her sister's wifely behaviour. Haani silently ate his breakfast, ignoring his surrounding completely. Annum finished her breakfast and sat there silently watching them both. Sanari signalled at her silently.

Haani heard a throat clearing again and he wished he could personally drain a bottle of some cough syrup down her throat. "I umm-" He looked up at Annum with a boring look.

"I wanted to apologise. I'm sorry about last night." She finished in a haste. The frown on Haani's face seemed to relax. He dropped the smug look and gave her a genuine smile on hearing an apology from her. "I forgive you. I understand this is hard for you to accept but I will appreciate your civil behaviour with me." With that, he closed the case. Haani was never the kind to stretch things pointlessly. She nodded at him in agreement.

Haani got up to leave before he was stopped by yet another of Annum's inexorable comments, "I'll try trusting you with her but always remember that she's my sister so believe me when I say if you hurt her I'll chop off the parts of you where the sun doesn't shine." Haani instantly turned around and glared at her. Annum seemed unfazed and Sanari hissed at her.

"Is she for real?" Haani looked towards Sanari. "Yes, I'm very much for real." Annum crossed her arms over her chest and emphasized her point.

"Well, I'd had vaguely appreciated if you were this real on your promises and had done it to her previous husband and today I wouldn't have had to tolerate your melodrama." He sternly replied.

"I was starting to like you." Annum voiced in a fake hurt tone. Haani shrugged at her innocently and left.

Sanari rather found the situation hilarious than serious. It further ignited her sister. No one had ever annoyed Annum as much as Haani Fateen could.

~~~~~

It was two weeks later that Sanari was getting used to Haani's schedule. He would leave in the morning and return by noon or evening. After that, he'd either lock up himself in his study sorting out files or his studio messing around with paints.

In three weeks of their marriage, he didn't proceed towards her and let her stay in her comfort zone. It eminently relieved Sanari but she wasn't a girl anymore and this wasn't her first time getting married. Haani was a man, one day or another he was going to ask for his due rights. So far, he was proving Behlul's accusations wrong. He didn't make a single move towards her without her consent.

Haani had developed a habit of sleeping next to Sanari each night and snuggling closer to her warmth and her. After a tiring day, it was kind of his personal drug to soothe his nerves. He didn't make any move on her yet because he wanted to gain her trust completely which was really important for him and his objective. Only if Sanari was comfortable enough to open up to him, he'd achieve his goals. Most of all, he didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to scare her away and get her into any kind of trouble. The thought of her in distress made him depressed.

"Haani?" She called out at him from under the blanket. He had a personal liking by now for the way she'd call his name. He turned away from his laptop to investigate her purpose of asking. "Yeah?" She pulled out her head from under the blanket. "I was just thinking..." He put aside his laptop and twisted his body to face her. "You were thinking about what?" He asked softly.

"I was wondering about our wedding feast, we didn't have one. I know you don't want to go all public about our marriage but in Islam, the wedding feast is a Sunnah. We can't avoid it." He looked at her with a confounded expression.

"What kind of wedding feast are we talking about?"

"Umm it can be a feast for your friends and family, or people you know or you can even feed the poor, anything." She finished.

Haani nodded in thought. "I'll think over it." And that's how he always closed a case. Switching off the lamp he prepared to doze off and asked her to do the same.

Haani observed her wake up before the crack of dawn and observe her prayers. It vaguely intrigued him as to what made her be so devoted towards God. Deep down he did believe in a God but his mind would tell him otherwise. Seeing her devotion started to crease his stern school of thoughts. Maybe there really was a God, that fated him to her because not in a million years he would have expected he'd let a woman into his life again. Yet here he was married to one. Life is full of mysterious fates and they're all linked like a chain reaction. You can't really escape it, he mused to himself.

~~~~~

Sanari set the pot down and tilted it a bit towards the sun. She was taking a personal interest in the villa and making it more livid with lushness and life. Though she resisted from changing anything about Haani's studio or his room. It might offend him or upset him, she thought She didn't even visit his studio once after the incident had happened. The thought of slapping Haani made her cringe inwardly. Maybe that day she wouldn't have imagined being his wife someday but fate does play games after all.

"Sanari?" One of the maids called at her. She refused to be addressed formally and thus, everyone called her by her name. "Yes?" She asked paying little attention to her. She continued digging into the pot to mix the mud for the plant to grow well. "Mr Fateen is asking for you." She said a bit out of breath.

"Oh! Wait I'll be there." Sanari stood up and dusted her muddy hands. She washed her hands and made her way towards where Haani was.

She towed behind the maid into the living area. Haani was taking long strides in pure impatience. On hearing the maid knock, he turned his head towards them. He eyed Sanari top to bottom. The front of her loose cotton shirt was covered in drying mud. He sighed deeply and signalled the maid to leave them alone.

Sanari walked further towards him, "You called for me? I'm sorry I didn't know you'd arrive early today. You should've informed." So she wouldn't have been in such an improper form, she thought.

His eyes squinted and focusing on something. He reached out and rubbed dry mud off her face with the pad of his thumb, "What have you been doing? Rolling in the grass like some seven years old?" Sanari chuckled at his statement.

"No, I was just fixing a few indoor plants." He rolled his eyes at her. "You could've told the maids to do that or the Gardner. They get paid for it Sanari. This isn't your work to do. As much as I like you simple and carefree, I don't want you getting hurt with something." She zoned out on his words and focused on only one; like. Did he like her? She looked at him amused but it didn't seem like he realised what he just stated.

"I'm not used to it." She answered back. Both of them extracted their own meanings from that statement. Sanari wasn't used to being liked by any man. And to Haani it felt like she meant she wasn't used to having people work for her.

"You'll get used to it soon." He dismissed the topic. "Okay just tell me how fast can you get ready?" He deliberately asked her in a haste. She furrowed her brows in confusion. "Ummm fifteen minutes." She answered uncertainly. "Make it ten and just go do it, now. Hurry!" He ordered her. Without letting her question him, he dragged her towards the staircase and signalled her to comply.

Sanari washed off the mud and took a quick shower. She dressed into a pink plain sundress with golden patterns. She wore a purple full sleeved cardigan caring less if it matched. She secured her wet hair in a bun and wrapped a cream colour hijaab. Holding her cross strip sandals she rushed downstairs. In her haste, her foot slipped over the marbled floor but was saved from falling with an impact, by two strong arms. "I asked you to get ready quickly, not injure yourself in haste." Haani scolded her in a concerned voice while securely straightened her to stand upright.

He eyed her top to bottom, her clear and washed face looked fresh and appealing, with her plump lips and still wet eyelashes. He shook his head to dismiss the thoughts. He grabbed her from her hand and walked towards the front door of the house.

"Are we going somewhere?" She asked him while being dragged from one hand and holding her sandals in another.

"Yes, we are. Now, hurry or we're getting late." He rushed her out of the door and into his rocky driveway. He didn't realise she was barefooted and abruptly stopped when he heard her hiss from the sudden pain. She had stepped onto the edgy pebbles, it didn't pierce her skin to bleed yet but the rough feel of it against her bare skin was enough to make her ache. He noticed her shoes being held in her hands and searched for the source of pain. He sighed in frustration when he noticed her standing barefooted.

"Can you ever do something properly and not get yourself hurt?" He scolded her again.

"You were the one in such a haste, it's not my fault tha-" she was cut mid-sentence when he rolled his eyes and bend to pick her up instead. Sanari eyes widened in surprise but she bit her lip from shrieking. She decided to stay silent and not ignite his anger as he seemed to be running late for something important. She didn't understand why he was taking her along but whatever reason it was, it wasn't an appropriate time to ask.

The driver opened the door to the passenger seat of the car. Haani carefully placed her and leaned in to clasp her seat belt in place. He took the keys from his driver and got himself seated in the driver's seat of the car. The engine roared to life and he took off on the road.

After a while, the silence started hurting and Sanari's patience unleashed. "You know that car has been following us for the past ten minutes." She indicated towards the rear mirror that reviewed a black colour car following behind. "I know," Haani answered. "Shouldn't we tell the-" Haani cut her mid-sentence and said, "it's my car."

"Are you going to tell me where are we going?" She finally asked him.

"Wait till you see it yourself." She huffed in annoyance.

After some dreadful sixty minutes, Sanari found them entering the gates of some foster home. She looked at Haani questioningly. It seemed old and located far from the main city. "Why are we here?" She asked confused.

"Remember you talked about some wedding feast? You said we could feed it to anyone right?" He asked her. "Yes!" She answered. "Well, here it is then. Our wedding feast and children you can feed and celebrate with. They'll enjoy and appreciate it more than anyone. I've been at a foster home once so I know how it feels. Little attention makes a whole lot of difference." He let out a sour laugh but dismissed the feelings quickly.

"So, this is the nearest foster home I could get to and not have media towing behind. They keep tabs on me so this hour of the day was convenient to do this as I'm usually in the office. They won't find out my whereabouts." He genuinely smiled at her.

Sanari felt a warm feeling tug at her heart. This man was full of mysteries. He didn't let out much and cascaded his true self with fake arrogance and pride. Maybe he was scared of letting people know him, he was scared of getting hurt but aren't we all scared of it? She thought to herself.

He got out of his car and opened her door. She unclasped her seat belt and struggled to strap on both her sandals. He held out his hand at her which she willingly took. They walked towards the other car and the man opened the back to reveal much-packed paper boxed that seemed to have food in them with toys stuck atop of each one. She laughed at his thoughtful gesture.

They helped in getting all packed boxes out of the car and piled them up near the building area. Soon the kids rushed out in lines. Haani had already talked with the faculty and they were expecting them. He let Sanari distribute the boxes with gifts.

Sanari enjoyed herself. She'd casually converse with the children, make them laugh and kiss her on the cheek. Haani watched her playfulness. "Are you fairy godmother?" One of the kids asked. Sanari laughed and dismissed his assumption, "No, I'm umm-" She was still pondering over her answer when Haani answered instead "A guardian. She's your guardian. You see God has created many children. And He's given each child a pair of parents to look after but then there were children very special to Him so He thought why not look after them Himself. So, he made many guardians who come and check on the special children He promised to look after and inform Him back on their wellbeing." The kid beamed at him with pure bliss, "That means I'm special?" Haani nodded at him with a smile.

Sanari turned to face him with an awestruck expression and mouthed a thank you. He didn't believe in any God but didn't felt right about snatched away that strand of hope from an innocent child. "Do all guardians wear that around their heads?" A little girl asked Sanari. Haani intriguingly looked towards Sanari and waited for her to answer this time.

She bent down to the girl's level and looked her in the eye, "you see you're a very special child and I'm your guardian send by God to look after your wellbeing. Therefore, I need the protection of my own so that I'm able to look after you better. I wear this protection coverage, it's like God hugging me and protecting me against bad people."

Haani got the hidden meaning behind her words and was taken aback by her thinking. He never thought of it that way. Her covering was indeed protecting her. How many guys lust after women by seeing them exposing themselves mercilessly which had always resulted in brutal and cruel happenings. Sanari covered herself to protect herself from earning such lusts or happenings.

"Can I cover myself too to stay protected from bad people?" The girl innocently asked to which she nodded.

Haani watched her play games with the kids and laugh wholeheartedly. He wasn't sure anymore if his heart could bear with it but then again he believed he had no heart anymore. He was starting to like her. Soon the children retired back to their rooms. He offered a good sum as a charity funding to the foster home.

It was nearly sunset when they were heading back home. "Get rid of that car." Sanari voiced her thought out of the blue. Haani paused to look at her," Why? That's my bodyguard."

"Still, get rid of him." She sternly stated. "No, I can't. It's not safe for us to stay alone and we're heading home anyway so what's the point? "

"We're not heading home that's why get rid of him. I want to take you somewhere too." She desperately wanted him to listen and comply this once.

"Sanari you know how dangerous this is right?" He asked her uncertainly.

"Yes, I know. Allah is with us, He'll protect us." She confidently murmured.

Sighing deeply, he knew there was no point in fighting with her. She wasn't going to listen and it was only fair to her that he listened to her propositions this once. Suddenly he hit the breaks and parked the car to aside. Sanari was unsure what he was doing and panic reeked her face abruptly. "I'm just going to inform him of our plans and ask him to leave for a while." He assured her.

The car behind him came to a halt too and a bulky guy came out. Haani unclasped his seat belt and went out to him. He instructed him to stay at a few miles distance from them. He took the pistol hostler from him and clasped it around his jeans, closing the lower buttons of his coat so Sanari won't suspect anything. He didn't want his bodyguard to leave them on their own. He wasn't scared for his life but he certainly was for hers.

"So, guide along." He asked her after he got back into his car. She gave him directions towards a scarcely crowded city side which seemed near to hilltops. They both got out of the car and Haani was unsure where she was taking him.