The night went on in the same exuberant manner. Hera enjoyed the festivities with all the dancing and laughter. Youssef had taken the initiative to dance with all of his children and Daman had enjoyed watching Hera and Youssef together.

Hera and Daman were last to arrive back at the hotel. Tomorrow was the wedding and then the day after that everyone would return home.

"Would you like to accompany me to one of the lounges?" Daman asked Hera who had a beautiful smile on her face. She surely had enjoyed the night and her mind was taken off all the setbacks in her life.

"Only if you promise to get me something to drink. All that dancing has made me parched," Hera laughed at herself for being so unfit.

Daman led them to one of the private shisha lounges in the hotel. Time was tight seeing that the wedding was tomorrow and given the day after that, everybody would return home and he would no longer be able to see his stunning Hera.

After all he was between Kuwait City at the islands while Hera had her life in London. Although, Daman was aware of the fact that he was brought up in London and his family estate there was still standing.

He rid himself of the thought as soon as it came. There was absolutely no way he was going to shift his business to another continent for a woman out of all things. He'd barely known Hera for 48 hours. It was exhausting trying to figure out his thought processes. For the first time in his life, he was out of control and he didn't like it at all.

Hera did things to him the moment he set his gaze on her. That mustard dress captured him and now it was throttling him.

"This is a hookah lounge?" Hera questioned as she looked around her. Daman gestured for her to take a seat and raised his hand for the waiter to assist them.

"It is. A shisha lounge. Have you smoked one before?"

Hera shook her head inspecting the water pipe. "I haven't. But I'd like to try."

The waiter appeared and asked what the duo would like to have. Daman took the liberty of ordering himself the Bahraini beverage called Qawah while he'd ordered Hera a glass of rose sharbat. He'd figured she's like something cold and sweet tonight.

"Shall I set it up for you?" Daman further asked Hera referring to the hookah.

Hera nodded and watched him as took some flavoured tobacco and placed it on the glass top of the hookah. Then he placed a layer of foil on top and poked some holes in it. Daman checked to see if the water was filled at the bottom segment and ensuring that it was, he then proceeded to heat up the single coal.

"Don't inhale too much on your first go. It can be a bit strong." Hera scooted up closer to him not thinking anything about the action but Daman was pleased. The night was only beginning for them.

Once the coal was heated and red, he carefully placed it on top of the foil and the waiter returned with their drinks.

"Mmmh this is divine!" Hera excitedly let out and took another sip of her sharbat. "What are you having?"

Daman lifted his teacup up and showed it to Hera. "It's called Qahwah. A typed of green tea with saffron, cardamon and other spices. Better than the Chinese green tea of you ask me. My nanny used to make this for me when I was in primary school. I never appreciated it back then," Daman said fondly and he remembered the naughty boy he was and the headaches he had given his nannies.

"Would you like a sip to taste?"

Hera nodded and looked at the teacup intently. Daman realised that Hera was always a curious one, first at the fort with her intense questions directed at the guide and even with the cuisine the country had to offer. She was like a cat always clawing around to know more. He laughed at the thought, his qiTa.

"This is good too!" Hera happily relished the taste of the tea and sat back.

She finished of her sharbat and turned to look at the duke who was gently sipping his teacup.

"The Chinese green tea you were talking about, I hated it yet I should drink it every single night before bed. I couldn't stand it but I heard it helped with weight loss."

The duke's attention was perked up at that statement. "Weight loss?"

Hera uncomfortably laughed as she placed her mouth on the hookah pipe and inhaled. It was her first time and her eyes went wide when she released her breath looking at the smoke coming out of her mouth.

She couldn't make out the flavour of it but she liked the sensation it caused.

Daman wasn't having it if she decided to ignored his question. Again he probed, "Why would you want to lose weight?"

At that, Hera wasn't sure what to say. She shied away and tried not to let it consume her. "I'm larger than most people I know."

Daman's mind was processing fast. He was beginning to read Hera like a book. She made it easy for him every second. He never deemed her to be an insecure woman about her weight but alas, he was proven wrong. In his eyes, she was perfect in that department.

Looking at her, he would have guessed that she was around a UK size 10-12.

Hera had taken another swig of the hookah and turned her face to blow out the smoke directly on Daman's face. He closed his eyes as the smoke hit him and grinned at her antics. Placing his arm over the top of her side of the sofa, he leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"If mother nature disliked curves, she would have made the world flat."

Delicately he placed his palm on her stomach making sure that she was comfortable with it. When he saw no protest, he gently rubbed.

"You don't have to constantly suck it in. It's quite charming actually."

Hera's big doe eyes snapped towards him at the speed of light. A man like him should not be saying such things to her. He was a duke! He had standards set out for him and she was sure that she didn't fit within those lines.

"Stop it, Daman," she gently nudged him away from her although she really enjoyed his touch.

The comparison should not have even entered her mind but Mikael used to constantly criticise her for her belly. Hence she resulted to green tea and home workouts on YouTube. She even tried the keto and intermittent fasting that Jasmine had mentioned yet nothing ever worked. Hera was destined to be this size. Her weight just never budged. It was always the same, never more, never less.

The duke and Hera dabbled in mindless chatter about random topics enjoying their time together.

However, whilst on the topic of Netflix shows, Daman had noticed a change in Hera. She was beginning to get a bid flaccid and her head leaned over his shoulder. Her carefully held her head up on her chin and looked into her eyes.

"Fuck," he cursed as he saw the way her pupils had dilated.

Daman laid her against the sofa making sure that she sat upright. He held the little pot of what was supposed to be flavoured tobacco and inspected it.

He wanted to kick himself for his carelessness. He should have checked it thoroughly before setting up the hookah. Instead of the flavoured tobacco, it was filled with cannabis.

It was the first proper alone time he had with her and he surely fucked it up by getting her high.

Shisha Lounge: A hookah lounge (also called a shisha bar or den, especially in Britain and parts of Canada, or a hookah bar) is an establishment where patrons share shisha (flavoured tobacco) from a communal hookah or from one placed at each table or a bar.

Qahwah: A traditional preparation of green tea widely consumed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, some regions of Central Asia, and the Kashmir Valley, India.

Rose Sharbat: A popular West and South Asian drink that is prepared from fruits or flower petals. It is sweet and served chilled.

qiTa: Cat