Inaya's POV

Dominic opens the door to his blacked out Mercedes G-Wagon. For some reason, I smile to myself thinking how this is such a Dominic car.

"You won't tell me where we're going, are you?" I smile slightly.

"I will tell you that you the least exciting place we're going. The mall." He answers.

"Oh? Do you need something?" I ask.

He doesn't answer but he does smile a little, making my chest tingle.

Ya Allah! His beautiful smile can really make my soul jump.

As we drive by, I see people giving glimpses at the car, trying to see who's inside. It does look like a very customized. luxury car.

What if I run the second he opens the door... how far would I make it before being shot point-blank?

We reach a mall pretty quickly and I realize which mall this is. It's one of the fancier malls in our area, the one with all designer, high-end brands you can think of. Whenever I visited this mall with either Caterina or Mehar, I'd always make sure to dress a little better than usual.

Caterina used to joke about how we could easily pick up a rich man at this mall and live our lives blissfully. I'd always laugh saying that she'd be able to pick one up with ease, me on the other hand... I wouldn't be able to do that even if I wanted to because of my deathly awkward personality.

Caterina... Mehar... being here and remembering them is making my chest clench in pain. I miss them so much, so very much. I wish I could see them, just once, just one glimpse. Just to see if they're okay.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" I hear a man's voice.

I look up to see a valet, who opened my door already, waiting for me to step out.

"Oh, I'm sorry for holding you up." I quickly apologize.

"It's okay. Sir is waiting for you at the entrance." He smiles.

I nod and thank him.

I quickly walk towards Dominic, who, for some reason, didn't notice I didn't follow him out of the car.

"What took you so long?" Dominic says with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

Is he always this impatient this quickly?

"Sorry, I didn't realize you left."

"You weren't planning on running, were you?" He raises a brow.

My eyes widen, "Huh—No, I wasn't—"

I notice he isn't being serious because the corner of his lip pulls into a slight smile.

My heart does that stupid little flutter again.

"Let's go." He nonchalantly slips his fingers through mine.

I look around the mall, self conscious about the jealous looks I'm getting from women and amused look I'm getting from men.

I don't blame them for staring. I look like I don't belong beside him. More for the reason that he just looks like he belongs in a completely different level than me rather than the fact that I'm a Muslim.

We stop in front of Chanel and I give him a confused look.

He winks at me before we walk in and makes my heart do the somersaults again.

If he keeps this up all night, I might just die from being flustered.

We are greeted by two women at the door.

"Take it away, ladies." He says to the two girls at the door.

"Of course, Mr. Belcastro." One of the women says.

"This way, Ms. Habib." The other takes me away to the back.

• • •

Dominic's POV

Will she enjoy tonight or will I manage to fuck it up?

I forgot to open the car door for her too—

Fuck, I left her in the car.

What's wrong with me tonight?

Once we get inside, I rather do something impulsive, something intimate, something that's out of my comfort zone.

I hold her hand, gently. I'm sure I shocked her more than I did myself because she squeezed my hand in surprise.

I could tell she feels a little uncomfortable walking with me because of all the stares. She hides her petite frame slightly behind me while firmly gripping my hand out of nervousness.

Her small, warm hands defrost the rock hard ice slightly. Something in me starts beating again.

I thought buying her something nice would start off the night slowly.

What does she like? What does she not like? I don't know anything.

I've never done this before, genuinely take someone out. Never cared about what their likes were or their dislikes.

Taking her out like this; fuck, it was such an impulsive fucking decision.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

As I send her off with the two women to help her find something, she looks back at me with these pouty big eyes, making me want to push her against that wall to take her.

Fucking hell, I'm always so damn horny around her. Maybe this way she'll let me finally fuck her and I'll get back to my normal self, rather than being on the edge around her all the time.

• • •

Inaya's POV

"These are our most popular bags... while these are our most unique, one-of-a-kind ones..." One of the women goes on to explain some of the purses.

"I'm going to be honest... I have no clue what I'm doing here." I confess.

The two women look at each other and giggle slightly because of my genuine cluelessness.

"Mr. Dominic brought you here to pick out something for yourself." The older woman says.

"But I don't want anything." I frown.

"We were told not to let you out until you pick something." The younger one states.

"A-are you serious?" I ask.

They both nod.

"But I don't have any money."

Now the two women look at me as if I said something really dumb.

"I'm sure he will be paying." The older woman smiles.

"I can't let him do that for me. Have you seen the prices of these bags? Of course, they're gorgeous but it's such a big purchase." I can't have him buy this for me, this is ridiculous.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend I haven't dreamt of owning a nice designer bag using my hard earned money.

I'm not crazy materialistic but something about owning a fancy purse I bought myself would've made me feel accomplished, career-wise.

It's odd. I've always wanted to walk into stores like Chanel or Prada but never had the confidence to do it. It was almost as if I wouldn't feel worthy enough to walk into a mere store.

Isn't it weird how much control luxurious things can have over a person? I compared my worth to a brand or a store.

Gosh, I really need to work on my confidence.

My eyes linger on this classic black quilted Chanel bag and one of the women saw me looking at it.

"This?" She points at the bag.

"That's really pretty bad very classic Chanel." I smile looking at it.

She happily grabs it and says, "I will pack this for you."

"How much?" I ask.

"$8,650." The younger woman replies.

I gulp. "No way! I can't do this!"

I thought I could just close my eyes and pick a bag to be out the door. But nope.

She didn't listen to my arguments and went to the back to get a brand new one.

I come back to the front to see Dominic had been shopping as well. That means the total will be out of this world.

He turns around, "All done? That was quick."

"I don't think you should get it for me." I sigh.

"And why is that?" He asks.

"It's so expensive. I couldn't ask you to purchase it for me." I whisper.

He caresses my cheek with his hand. "It's a gift."

I hate how turn into a puddle with his touch. I hate this whole situation because I hate how much I love it.

Does that even make sense? I don't even know!

The older woman brings up the box with the purse and puts it in a bag. Dominic takes out his black American Express to pay for it.

I've never seen such a fancy American Express like that in all of my time working retail.

He takes the bag and gives it to me.

"Is there a return policy?" I ask him.

He only looks at me and chuckles softly, shaking his head. "Come on, amore mìo."

- - -

A/N: surprise! I updated! It's exam season so I'm busy with that and I'm still dealing with some family issues. Thank you so much for your patience!

Next Update: Wednesday, November 13, 2019. Insha'Allah!