Chapter 103: His Need

Her body was locked. Frozen. Her senses were numb. She was unable to feel or sense

anything, and when his deep breath fell on her neck, that was when she realized her

position. Her hands that lay on his chest immediately moved and pushed him back, creating

a distance between them. She fixed her scarf around herself, looking anywhere but him—

the floor, the walls, the window. Nervousness consumed her entire being. Her heartbeat

was rapid. Her breaths slightly increased.

"I want to go home," she said in her raspy voice.

She still couldn't understand what came over her that she said such a thing to him. She was

going to sell her body to him. But it seemed right in the moment to her. The feeling of just a

thing and a rag doll was pinching her; she wanted to get rid of it.

But the cost of it was too much for her to take.

And she realized it when he had agreed.

She realized she couldn't do that. Not again. Not with him. Ever again.

That night. One night. It had sowed a deep seed within the pit of her brain that she would do

anything but have any sort of sexual intimacies with him. That was also one of the reasons

she wanted to get rid of this marriage. Of him.

Their eyes collided for a moment, and it made an electric shock jolt through her backbone.

Tiny goosebumps arose. And they were gone as soon as they came. She brushed off that

feeling.

His eyes. They were not the usual dark. Some sort of a feeling existed in those orbs that

made her overwhelmed.

"I am going home," she rephrased her sentence and walked past him when her arm was

caught in a firm grip. He looked to his right and she at her left.

"I will drop you," he said.

"No," she whispered and proceeded to remove his fingers from her arm, gently, but he

didn't budge. "Leave me. I can go on my own," she muttered, looking at his hand encircling

her forearm.

"No. I will drop you," he said and released her hand before sauntering towards his chair and

getting a hold of his coat.

Her jaw clenched, and she folded her arms against her chest, facing him. "If you're adamant,

then I'm adamant too. I will go on my own."

"Let's see who is more adamant then," he said, wearing his coat and then holding her hand

before leading her towards the door.

"No. I will go on my own," she tried to resist him, and he stopped. "You can't stop me," he

turned towards her.

"I will go on my own," she said again. Her voice getting soft.

And in that moment, he found himself drawn to her eyes, drowning in them, and without

even realizing it, he nodded.

Without saying a word, she quickly left the office, leaving him alone. As soon as she was

gone and was not around him anymore, he realized how she made him morph his decision,

as he already could feel an empty feeling brewing in his heart.

He wanted her.

No.

He needed her.

....

Shehryaar had already informed her that he would be going out of the city for a few days to

the haveli. He had to attend the wedding of his brother and had to be there a few days prior

to check on arrangements. Though, in between, he had been going to the haveli, especially

when he had come back to Dubai.

His visits used to be frequent until she came and he preferred staying here more.

He got a moment to settle down on his desk and laid his head against the headrest of his

chair.

He opened a drawer and retrieved a box from the drawer. It looked old. Years old. Then he

opened it, retrieving a ring from it. His eyes landing on the sparkling diamonds of it that had

lost their shine over the course of years.

The ring told him tales.

Unsaid tales.

As if the ring alone held more secrets than he was carrying in his heart.

Before a surge of emotion could hit him, he immediately fixed the ring back and held the box

in his hand.

He always kept it close.

He didn't know why, years later, he had the urge to open that box and look at that ring

again. Specifically after listening to her confrontations. Her small complaints that managed

to move his heart. It reminded him of someone who years ago had wandered across the

floors of the haveli, across every nook and corner. Crying. Wailing. Seeking justice.

Then to invest his thoughts away, he opened his laptop and began to work, but glassy grey

eyes came in front of his vision.

'You can do whatever you want with me,'

Her voice whispered in his ears.

A weird satisfaction had come over him when she denied him. He felt satisfied. The subtle

fear that came over his heart for a moment elapsed. He didn't want her to be like the woman

who still lived in his memories. The woman from his childhood. The woman whom he used

to call mother. The woman he despised.

He wanted Sheharzaad to deny him. Deny him every time he would come close to her until

things weren't official with them. He didn't want her to approach him. He wanted her to

cower back from his physical advances. He wanted her to hesitate to his touch. No matter

what he would place in front of her—the money, the luxury of the whole world at her feet—

he wanted her never to accept his offer.

One of the reasons he had placed that file in front of her that day. It drew him closer to her

when she rejected his offer despite getting a heavy price to spend certain nights with him.

He was testing her. He desired to know whether she was anything like her. And when he

found she wasn't, the resolve to make her his grew more.