❝Tumhary bachay hon gy bandar jaisy!❞

As she had decided, Ifrah ignored her husband and kept her lips sealed. She didn't make any kind of remarks; neither smart nor annoying, and just focused on collecting the branches as he had instructed. Aayan had also noticed her sudden closed off demeanor and it was (unfortunately) bothering him a bit.

Is it because of her hand?

He thought while stealing a glance at Ifrah who was putting some thick branches in the middle of the clearing. Aayan watched as her face slightly contorted in pain and he cursed under his breath before making his way to where she was standing. He placed the trunks he had collected and dusted off his hands before facing her and aksed;

"How's your wrist?"

Ifrah didn't look at him when she replied. "Good."

Sheesh.

The raven haired guy's eyebrows creased together at her crisp tone but he brushed it off and said; "Okay. Forget about the branches, just collect some soft twigs or vines. We will use them as ropes."

Ifrah silently nodded her head and went back to the thick bushes, leaving a very confused and irritated Aayan behind. Confused as to why she was suddenly acting like a brick, and irritated because why the fück he even cared?

He rubbed a tired hand down his face and returned to the task of collecting branches to avoid thinking about the stupid woman.

Twenty minutes later, they were standing before two piles of wood which was soon going to be turned into a house (according to Aayan), and Ifrah let out a huge breath of relief when she realized that she wouldn't have to work anymore.

“There's one more thing we need,” Her husband's voice made her lips turn back into a frown and she spared him an irritated glance.

What could he want now?

“Rocks.” Aayan completed his previous comment before facing her. “To make a base, then we'll make the floor on them with the branches.” he explained.

Ifrah only cocked a brow in return, making him roll his eyes. “Of course you don't get it.”

She crossed her arms and gave him a straight look. “Can you stop that?”

Now it was Aayan's turn to raise a brow. “Stop what?”

“The jabs. Every statement which tumbles out of your stupid mouth has been degrading me since we got stuck here.”

“Oh! Wait— ” he rubbed his chin as if he was pondering over something important, and snapped his fingers before saying; “It's our usual thing, right?” he gestured a hand between the two of them. “Insulting each other?”

Ifrah's eyes turned narrow.

“No. It's completely different. You're practically boasting about your knowledge of wild life while making fun of my intelligence.”

Aayan opened his mouth to say something but she didn't let him and continued.

“And I'm not okay with that. It's not my fault that I didn't get to travel the world with my friends like you, and it doesn't give you any right to make fun of that fact.”

The caramel eyed man bit his lip. “You're being extra touchy about this whole deal. I mean, it's not like you don't do the same with me.”

“I never treat you like an inferior, okay?!” Her sudden outburst took Aayan completely off guard and he stared at her with slightly rounded eyes.

“Woah, chill out. I thought we agreed on not arguing with each other.” he said with knitted brows and Ifrah scoffed.

“Then don't make these kind of remarks again.”

She stomped out of there and towards the river, while Aayan glared at her back.

“Satki hui.” (Mentally unstable.) he muttered to himself before pushing his hair out of his eyes and starting to search for some big stones.

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Ifrah wiped the sweat from her forehead as she slowly sat down on the ground. Her limbs were aching really bad, especially the wrist, but she couldn't complain.

Her idiot of a husband would find a chance to insult her.

She watched as Aayan tied the two large branches with some vines and joined another one to them. He was so focused on his work that he didn't even realize they still had to eat some food. The bananas were still hanging on that tree because they couldn't think of a plan to get them down. Ifrah averted her gaze to the ground when he swiped the sweat off his face with his forearm because the sight did something to her foolish heart, and she didn't like it.

She kind of felt bad for he was doing the heavy work all alone, but her ego wouldn't let her offer him some help.

A sudden idea hit her and she pushed the sticky strands of her hair behind her ear before standing up from her spot and making her way to the banana tree.

Better do something beneficial instead of lazying around and show this baboon that she can be useful in this situation, too.

She picked up a rather long branch and started hitting the banana bunch to make them drop. Her sprained wrist was making the task extra difficult but she didn't stop and a grin appeared on her face when some bananas fell to the ground.

She let go of the wood before stepping forward and collecting the fruit; they were a total of five, and although it wasn't much, Ifrah still felt grateful.

Aayan was wiping his face with the hem of his shirt when his wife came to stand beside him and cleared her throat. He stared up at her to see her extending some bananas to him and his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“How?” he asked while grabbing one and Ifrah jutted out her chin in pride.

“I have my ways.” she replied and pushed her hair away from her face while her husband gave her a straight look. He didn't question anything else and peeled off its skin before taking a bite. Aayan felt as if he has never tasted a banana in his life before, because it was that delicious.

Well, when you're hungry, even dry bread tastes like heaven.

When he had finished his banana, he looked at Ifrah who was on her second one and said; “I don't know how you managed to get these down, but I think that your inner monkey has to do something with it and it will surely be passed down to your children.”

A smirk got plastered on his full lips when he watched his wife pause while taking a bite and she slowly turned her head up to look at him with slit eyes.

“What did you just say?” she asked with a hint of warning in her tone. Aayan chuckled at her annoyance and rephrased his statement.

“I was just saying ke... tumhary bachay bandar jaisy hon gy.” (Your kids will look like monkeys.)

Ifrah immediately turned red and squeezed the banana in anger.

“Tumhary bachay hon gy bandar jaisy!” (Your kids will look like monkeys!) she nearly shrieked in fury. “Why are you cursing my future kids?!”

The raven haired guy burst out laughing at her anger and slapped his thigh. He knew how she was very sensitive about kids. Her grandmother had once said that if someone makes any kind of predictment about your future kids, there were chances that it will come true. A very illogical superstition but Ifrah had taken it very seriously, and to this day, she gets furious if someone even jokes about her future children.

“Oh God!” he managed out in between his laughter and wiped a stray tear from his left eye. “I'm not cursing them, relax.”

“Just take back your words.” she said through gritted teeth, making him chuckle even more.

“Come on, babe. It's just a superstition.”

Ifrah's heart skipped a beat at the word 'babe' but she ignored it and stood up from her spot on the rock before placing her fists on her hips and throwing him a glare. “Don't call me babe, and I don't care if it's a superstition or not. Just take back your words.”

Aayan clicked his tongue before making a 'tsk' sound.

“It was only a joke.”

“Aayan,” she was losing her patience at this point, and her husband noticed it by the way she was looking at him; as if she would strangle him any second. To say he was amused would be an understatement.

But he still got up from the ground and pushed his hair out of his eyes and said; “Fine, I take back my words, your kids won't look like monkeys.”

“Thank you.” Ifrah said stiffly and turned around to go back to her spot, but her husband's voice made her swivel back.

“Catch!”

A sweaty shirt landed on her face with a smack just as she spinned back on her heels and she quickly pulled it away with a disgusted face to see her gadha of a husband standing there in his vest and wiggling his brows.

Astagfirullah.

The word appeared in her thoughts as her mouth went slightly ajar and she immediately spun back around before walking towards her backpack.

“I feel free now!” Aayan's stupid voice reached her ears and she breathed deeply through her nose. “Can you collect some more bananas? I'd need them while working.”

Ifrah clenched her eyes shut and counted to ten before throwing his shirt near his bag, and making her way to the tree.

A few more days and this guy will officially make her lose her marbles.

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N O T E

So... Who's gonna tell them that they'd probably be sharing the same kids?

Certainly not me 🙄