Chapter 164: The Final Product

. "A Her doe-like eyes, innocent and fearful, full of anticipation, were staring at him as if he wasabout to announce the verdict of her life. He wanted her. So much. All of her. Yet he still

couldn't understand why he was marrying her. She didn't fit the frame of his ideal, but

whenever she was around, he felt he had all the happiness, all the contentment in this

world. Just like now. He just wanted to stare at her and keep staring until his eyes grew

tired. For hours. Long, long hours. Rather, his eyes could never tire of her.

During the time he had kept her in the cell, he had a camera installed, and through that

CCTV, he would keep on staring at her. He was aware of her every move, every breath, and

every blink. Every night he would drink himself to sleep because living without feeling her,

touching her, or hearing her voice was testing his sanity. His mind was slipping out of his

control. But he needed to carve it in her brain, deeply carve it in her mind, that she was

owned by him.

Because if she had feelings in her heart, she might begin to take interest in other men as she

had started taking interest in Hannan, and he wouldn't bear that at any cost.

He had to kill her feelings.

This was Shehryaar.

Just to have a girl completely — physically and mentally for himself — he killed her,

reducing her to nothing but a walking dead body.

Nothing but a dead soul in a living body.

Only because he wanted her…

A fearful soul that would now tremble with just his frown.

"You still won't tell the truth," he asked her, and it was then she began to whimper. A girl

who was once full of life, who once had aspirations and dreams shining in her eyes, was

now struck with the devil himself.

She became restless in her chair.

"I...I lied...not...lied, n-not," she shook her head, squirming under his stare. She was now in a

dilemma about whether to tell him what the person had said on the call or not. She wanted

to tell him, but the thought of saying those words, that he knew her name, in front of him —

that thought alone made her tongue numb.

His eyes fixed on her hair as a small piece of string was tangled in her locks. He moved his

hand to remove the piece, his eyes on her hair as he asked, "Was it a man?" His voice was a

low rumble, sending chills down her spine. When his eyes moved from her hair back to her

eyes, it was her undoing. The dizziness in her head intensified.

"You're going to faint," he said, removing the piece of string before giving her his undivided

attention.

Suddenly, his hand snaked around her waist, jerking her forward, making her land on his

chest. He wrapped his arms around her and began caressing her hair, gently. He could still

feel her body, stiff and tense.

She whimpered as she tightly gripped his shirt and moved her eyes downward. Small

tremors shook her body.

"Fine. We won't talk about it. We won't," he said in an assured manner,

as if consoling a child, and continued caressing her hair, feeling her body relax slightly. His

touch was somewhat comforting, leaving a soothing effect on her troubled mind.

"Shhh, don't shiver," he muttered in a low voice near her earlobe, continuing his soothing

ministrations.

She had reached a stage in life where the need for affection had intensified so much that she

didn't care who was providing that affection.

As much as he wanted her in his life, she equally needed affection and love in hers.

After a few moments, when her ragged breathing had subsided, he pulled her away and

made her sit on his lap, her back resting against the armrest of the sofa while her legs

dangled between his.

"Do you want to say something?" he asked, noticing her changed demeanor as she kept

looking down and then up at him.

She shook her head but ended up nodding.

He smiled and brushed his fingers beneath her chin. "Say."

"I w-was... thinking," she said, then paused to look at him, his eyes fixed on her, as if

entranced. Hooded, narrowed gray eyes fully concentrated on her as if she was the most

mesmerizing thing he had ever seen.

"Thinking what?" He arched an eyebrow.

"I need... actually.. I... need... permission."

"What permission?"

"

That… you told me…to stay in the haveli and not to step outside these four walls without

your permission.

" she said and then suddenly shook her head, "

"And-and…I didn’t go against your order…I did exactly what you told me

" she tried assuring him. "A

ctually…I want to go to the garden of the haveli. There are birds…and flowers

too…and that day it was raining as well…so I wanted to go out too…when-when everybody

was enjoying the rain.

" she explained with great difficulty. This was the longest dialogue she had ever spoken

in front of him since she had been out of the cell. Rather, it was the first time she was

genuinely asking him for something.

There was a time when she had her own will, a sense of independence, when she abhorred

bowing down before anyone. And now, today, her mind itself forced her to ask for his

permission to even step outside the haveli.

He remembered telling her not to step out of the haveli without his permission, but he

couldn't have imagined she would think the lawn of the haveli would be excluded from the

area she was allowed to walk in. It was a part of the haveli as well.

"Those four walls included the lawn, little lady," he stated as a matter of fact.

"

I-I thought...that I wasn’t supposed to go outside…so I didn’t go.

" she said so innocently that he

found himself chuckling.