For those of you who wanted a Marina-Shahroz chapter, here you go ;)

Enjoy!

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M A R I N A

"Sit."

He did as she said, sitting on the edge of the bed, him getting a clear reflection of his face in the mirror opposite to him.

She washed her hands and brought a chair beside the cupboard and stood on it, her hands reached the first-aid kit the university provided to all students.

She came down and kneeled in front of him and opened the box, his eyes watching her carefully. She was about to bring a wet cloth and clean the dried blood on his knuckles when he spoke.

"You don't have to do this, you know. You don't have to touch me if you're feeling uncomfortable.." He looked down at her and saw her stiffen.

She zoned back in and smiled, "I'm just trying to help you. I don't want to leave you when you're hurting, Shahroz." Her eyes twinkled in the dim lighting of the room due to the translucent curtains.

"Yeah but if you still feel uneasy th-"

"Shahroz ", she gave him a pointed look, "I've done way more than this, I've given you CPR for God's sake!"

That shut him up.

Marina grabbed the cloth in one hand and his left hand in another by the fingers. She couldn't help but think that his hand was the perfect balance of hard and soft. She lightly dabbed the cloth over his knuckles. He started hissing in pain once she started rubbing it away.

"Ahhh f-fuck!"

"Sorry", she gave a guilty look, "I'll do it more slowly now." He nodded.

She did the same with the second hand, just a bit slower, and then proceeded to take out the ointment.

"Okay, this is gonna hurt a little." She said as she took some of the ointment on her thumb.

She brought her thumb towards his knuckle and lightly tapped it with the substance. He flinched and his hand stiffened, his eyes closed in pain.

"J-just do it f-faster." He said it in a rush, his voice rose a few decibels higher. She nodded and quickly swiped her thumb on both hands, his voice louder than ever.

"Oh God. Oh God. Oh, God." his hands were burning, but he wondered if it was due to the ointment or the fact that her hands were holding his.

She brought her face closer to his hands and lightly blew air on it, his eyes looking at her fascinated. Her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her cheeks which grew red after blowing too much air. He was so busy observing her that he didn't realise the pain had eased. She quickly bandaged his hand.

"Wow. How did you do all this?"

"We're not done yet." She lightly chuckled and he could've sworn that her laugh was music to his ears.

"Ugh fine", he huffed playfully, "Now where are you gonna work on?" She was still holding his hand and it was getting harder for him to speak by the time.

She pointed at his right cheek, "Your face."

She lightly dabbed another dampened cloth on his cheek, her right hand doing the work and her left hand holding his face by his jaw to keep him in place.

She grabbed a different ointment and brought her thumb closer to his face, "Get ready", she smiled.

"More than I'll ever be."

She swiped her thumb quickly around the area where the graze was. He flinched slightly and she wasted no time in lacing her fingers with his - her left hand with his right one. She wanted to divert his attention away from the stinging pain.

She did the mistake of looking into his eyes and that's when she saw it, the pain which his eyes held for so many years, the rare innocence which only a few people had, and the golden and silver flecks in his hazel-coloured eyes which gave them his uniqueness.

He was unique, but in a beautiful way.

When his eyes met hers, all he saw was happiness - happiness which he never had, but there was this tinge of pain which she hid from the world. The thing that he noticed most about her eyes was that they were green, so green.

She was beautiful, yet she had no idea.

She brought her face close to his - more towards his right cheek - and blew cool air on it. He bit the corner of his bottom lip and closed his eyes even tighter, his right hand still in hers and his left hand holding the edge of the bed in a death grip. He wanted to calm his hormones down but he couldn't do that when she was close to him.

So close.

She pushed herself back when she was done, her hand leaving his and she closed the box after putting everything in. She made her way to the chair and stood up when he spoke after letting out an awkward cough.

"Umm.. I just wanna know.." , his hand made its way to her quilt, "how did you learn to do this?" He avoided looking at her so he just looked down and played with the threads on her quilt.

"Shahroz we're in med school.." She trailed off.

"Yeah, but you do it so good." He looked up and gave her a breathtaking smile as she sat next to him.

"I have a brother who always injures himself while playing cricket so I guess I should know all this." She shrugged.

A calming silence descended upon them and he decided to speak up again.

"Thank you." They both looked up at the same time and she saw the sparkle in his eyes.

"For what?"

"For so many things", he looked away for a second then looked back at her again, "for saving me that day. For saving me now. For helping me. For everything." She gave him a soft smile in return.

He couldn't believe someone was actually there in his dark and gloomy world, showing him the little specks of light which add up to something so much more. He was glad he met her.

"I have a question" he let out a 'hmm' to let her go on, "how can I tell if it's you or.. Shaheer ?" His name came out in distaste from her mouth.

She could tell from his stitches that it was him, but they're starting to dissolve slowly and the scar forming was becoming so unnoticeable.

"Come here."

"Excuse me?" She gave an offended look.

"Just, come." She was reluctant but she finally gave in and moved an inch closer to him.

He started unbuttoning the first two buttons and she covered her eyes in embarrassment, her face turning a deep shade of crimson immediately. She mumbled an astaghfirullah (I seek forgiveness from Allah) and he chuckled lightly, causing her to smack his shoulder.

"Hey it's okay, you can look. I swear I'm not naked." He boomed with laughter.

She parted her fingers from the middle in front if her right eye and saw it was safe to open her eyes so she did. He had unbuttoned a few top buttons and was pointing at something to see. She took a closer look and that's when she saw it.

A birthmark.

It was a brown patch on the area which connected his shoulder to his neck. She looked up at him in confusion.

"Do I always have to wait for you to unbutton your shirt now?" She asked and then she wanted to cut her tongue out for making the situation ten times more awkward. Shahroz's laugh was so loud now that she just wanted to kick him out of her room.

"We can wait for that later, Maria." He stopped laughing and winked at her. She never saw this side of him before and didn't know if she was glad or not.

"Maria?"

"Yeah, Maria", she looked at him perplexed, "it's shorter and easier to say, I guess."

"I don't care even if you call me Sponge Bob but just get out of my room." She fought to hide the smile surfacing on her face as he smirked.

"Out, Shahroz." She ordered as he held his hands up in defence.

"Okay okay, geez." His laughter filled the hallway as he left.

She was about to go wash her hands when Amira came in.

"What was going on here? I heard some guy grunting and repeatedly going saying 'Fuck '. " Amira smirked and Marina's face reddened, "and then you were saying to 'do it more slowly '. " She stated with air quotations.

"Amira it was nothing I was jus-"

"Oh don't tell my that, Rina ", she was trying to control her laugh but continued anyway.

"I know what you were doing."

Oh God.

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Hey there peeps! I've been having trouble with my notifications so it will take some time to reply. But anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and we'll see more with these three. Till then, take care and Allah bless you all!

-Sana