We drove back home, with Iyaz keeping the car door on my side locked. I was subtly trembling with the pain, disbelief and anxiety of my situation. Iyaz...he had brought along our wedding ring and had demanded me to never remove it again. The weight of that huge diamond on my hand felt so possessive and toxic. I couldn't believe what was happening.

Iyaz...I couldn't recognize him. The way he had yelled.. how sadistically proud he had been...it was a damaging memory. I closed my eyes to these new possibilities...who was this man?

Hurting over how beautiful our story had been and how betrayed I was feeling I cried out tears of pity for my own self. Iyaz had been such a big liar; he promised that he would never hurt me, yet still managed to be cruel...to turn into such a stranger. I hated him so much now. He was a monster.

With me sobbing and sniffing, our car stopped and Iyaz ordered me to go inside the kitchen,and prepare lunch for the family. He was happily whistling to himself, smiling at me and acting like everything was okay-even suggesting me to prepare lasagna. I eyed him with tears.

"Tell me what's wrong?!" He sounded alarmed, concerned, once we stopped in front of our house.

"You!" I sneered. "...You bringing me here, acting so normal! I hate this so much! I hate-"

"Don't!" he bellowed again "Don't ever say those words. This is your home. Our home. Understood!" His temper jolted my confidence again. Stung, I simply lowered my head in defeat and allowed tears of misery to roll down my cheeks.

"Mahira, why are you crying? Tell me, who do I have to destroy?" Seriously! I just couldn't comprehend why he was continuing to play ignorant and dumb.

"Why are you acting like this?" I sobbed instead, peering into his eyes with pain and hurt. "Why are you like this?"

"I have my reasons, but I do care. Just know that I do."

"What kind of caring is this?" I retorted. "You threaten me, you make a fool out of me, and all your promises seem to lie now. Just tell me how can I cure the messed up wounds that made you this insane. How I can fix this?"

"I can't be fixed." He turned sober, looking at the road ahead of us. "You don't need to deal with complication. Just go inside and prepare lunch. My son will be here soon." And with that, he unlocked our car doors and walked out of the car, leaving me behind to fully break down.

I couldn't believe how big of a mess it all had turned out to be. What the heck had happened to make him be this way?

*****

Sitting in the lounge, having with his son shows him some toys, Iyaz had his feet placed on the lounge table. The sight of tears in Mahira's eyes was hurting him...crushing his sanity. He couldn't tolerate seeing her so broken and hurt, yet he knew that he couldn't let her leave.

Thus, lost in the feeling of pain and berating himself for not being able to keep Mahira from crying, he closed his eyes and breathed in. His need to ask for forgiveness was growing, with the passing of each minute. He really didn't like to upset her. But he knew he had to be strict about making her know what happens when she decide to throw admittedly adorably innocent tanturms. He was half-amused by how a such tiny woman could hold such amount of temper.

Suddenly, he felt his arm being tugged and Shahmeer giggling with joy. His gaze turned soft and happy. Mahira was still in the kitchen when Shahmeer had arrived. He wanted her to meet his boy.

"Papa," Shahmeer smiled. "I learned this new trick." He began twisting his hands in a weird manner. Iyaz patted his head gently, ruffling his hair with affection.

However, just as he was tenderly smiling at his son, he sharply looked up upon hearing a huge crash near the end of the staircase and got up. Cautiously looking for the source of noise, his eyes widened at the sight of an extremely disoriented Mahira standing at the bottom of the staircase with huge tears of pain falling down her cheeks. The food tray-which she was carrying-was now seen shattered near her feet, looking extremely dangerous if stepped upon. Shoot!

"Don't move!" Iyaz immediately bellowed at Mahira, eyeing the sharp pieces of the tray near her feet. He couldn't let her get hurt.

Frightened at the harshness in the voice, she immediately halted in her stance. Although, she knew that not moving would do no better because her hand had already been pierced by one huge loose piece.

Thundering towards her, Iyaz didn't even care if the sharp pieces pierced his own feet and had her follow him to the kitchen.

"It's alright now." He assured her with a gentle and tender smile, watching her so silently wipe her tears. "Let's get a first aid kit for it."

"My hand hurts" She confessed in a childish manner, eyeing her injured palm in pain. The sight of her hurting made him fume. He wouldn't tolerate her being hurt.

Feeling furious anger and extreme protective vibes cloud his emotion, he immediately looked for the first aid kit and stood like a protective shield as she sat on the kitchen chair, wrapping the bandages around her wounds.

Being aware of the urgency of events, he then ordered her to not move and pulled out a glass of milk and some food for her.

"What is the meaning of such clumsy behaviour, hmmm?" He scolded, giving her a rather stern look while folding his arms, placing the food before her-on the kitchen island.

Mahira simply sniffed in return. "You are a heartless, messed up monster." She declared, making him clench his jaw.

"Care to repeat that."

"Yes! You are a lying and messed-up monster, and I-"

His gaze grew fierce. "I may be a mess, but I won't have you throwing such childish tanturms about it. Now quickly finish your food. I am excited about introducing you to Shahmeer." His expression turned happy again.

Fumed, Mahira immediately slapped him with her uninjured hand.

"This is disgusting. You aren't even ashamed about having another family and hiding it from me!" She bravely sneered while glaring at him.

Simply clenching his jaw and absently cupping his hurt cheek, Iyaz allowed a rather amused smirk to appear on his face and tilted his head.

"Sweet. Like I said before YOU are my family. Now that this is over, you have to go and meet Shahmeer. I will handle setting the lunch. I won't have you stressing your injured hand."

Slightly horrified and looking quite off-guard, Mahira finally nodded with defeat. "O-okay. I will," she reluctantly muttered after a few minutes, making a wide smile appear on Iyaz's face.

He was happy that he had cut the wings that had allowed her to fly...to leave. This was a bittersweet moment.

"Excellent." He appreciated, making her weakly smile back.

After all, it was about time that they both took a fresh start-with no secrets this time.

Oh, and btw, deep apologies for not really being able to reply back to all your comments. I sometimes get into these quiet moods, and my migranes are making me avoid screen time for sometime, but I will still try my best to keep up with the updates. This is an early new chapter for you guys because you guys have been sooo awesomely supportive....and I read such sweet requests for an early update.

I love reading your messages, comments and actually take into consideration each and every comment, so THANK YOU SO MUCh for being so sweet. I will get back to replying soon just when I get over this mood, lol.

Take care! Stay Safe, keep smiling.