Chapter Five

The two were alone in the car. Noori was already dropped off. "Hey, Aarush." Aeleya was sitting while staring at his hands, which were on the steering wheel.

Aeleya noticed that his hands had a few scars and burn marks. They looked rough, overworked. Something one would normally see on an older man who had seen the hardships of life. "You said I could ask you anything, right?"

"Of course. As your husband, it is your right to know everything and anything about me." He looked at her with excitement. "Got any questions?"

"Yea." She nodded her head. "Your hands, why do they have so many wounds? I see areas which were stitched, I can see old burn marks and some other scars."

"Oh, this?" He lifted his hand and nodded. "Well, alright. Since you're asking about this, I'm assuming you're a little curious about my past, right? Maybe not childhood, but recent past?" She thought for a moment and hesitated a little, which was caught by Aarush. "Just say it. Anything you wish for, I will grant it to the best of my abilities. Don't ever hesitate to ask me anything. I mean anything."

Seeing how serious he was, she nodded her head and took a deep breath. "I want to know a bit about your childhood. You're right, I'm curious about you. Don't take it as me falling for you, I'm just curious. How could there be a person who took the news I gave you so calmly? How could you happily call me your wife when you know that currently, I'm still not considering you my husband. I'm also curious as to why you show so much affection to Noori. Like the amount you have shown is a lot more than even a parent showing to their own child. I'm curious."

Seeing her say all these things, rather than be offended in any way, he smiled brightly instead. "Alright, since you want to know, I will tell you." He took a deep breath. "Something you should know beforehand is that my dad came from Pakistan to this country through his education. He was very successful in both, but because of certain reasons, he lost his job, and everything went downhill from there. From the time my sister was born and before I became a doctor, my father worked two jobs, barely being able to raise us all. My mom also had to find work, which was a difficult transition for a housewife, atleast during her time."

Aeleya nodded her head. "What did your dad do?"

"My dad completed a master's in software engineering from Pakistan. Something I still find impressive is that my dad was the only person to ever reach such an academic standing in all of my family. Whether we looked at very distant relatives or ones closer in blood, no one reached his qualification standard. And, he did it all by working hard himself." Pride was showcased on his face.

"Impressive." She agreed, it was slightly impressive. She could already get a certain understanding of his family's background from the way he spoke.

"Anyways, after losing his job, he was never able to find a decent job. Especially after that terrible incident that happened many years ago, with the Twin Towers. Things just got worse for him. He had to work odd jobs here and there." Aarush sighed as he spoke. "Growing up, my dad showed me and my sister lots of love, getting us toys and trying to make us not feel left out, but sometimes he couldn't. When we cried, there were many times he would beat us up, which I honestly never took to heart, even back then. As a Pakistani, my dad knew how to discipline us, he never hurt us where we would get injured, but did hit us a bit. Of course, my mom did most of the beatings. Sometimes, she still smacks me and Aliya. Haha." He laughed as he spoke. "Well, I took life pretty well until grade four. Things took a turn for the worse and we basically had to leave our house. We rented someone's basement and stayed there for a year. Me and Aliya had to start taking the bus and train. It was a little weird, but we didn't complain., but it was at that time I started to understand that our family isn't really in any great position. I would notice my dad growing grey hair much earlier then he should. There were times I wouldn't even see my dad for days. He would be sleeping when we were heading off to school, and then be gone to work when we got back. He would come home late and we just couldn't meet him at times." He sighed deeply and couldn't help but laugh a little. "But really, my dad made sure to be there when I got bad grades. He would miss everything else, but never the days we got report cards. Oh man, Aliya would get good grades, but me? My face would be red for a few hours after his slaps, maybe even more."

'So his life wasn't a glorious one like I thought? Seems like one should never judge a book by its cover. People can see his success, but maybe only he knows how much he suffered.' She pitied him a little.

"Well, I began to basically mature up after grade four. I still threw tantrums here and there, but overall I became more responsible. Funny thing, when I went to Pakistan in grade five, which is also my only visit, my parents tried to set up a future marriage between me and one of my mom's nieces, so my cousin. Honestly, I didn't even have the maturity to understand marriage back then, only when I slowly grew up did I understand what it meant." He showed a bitter look as he told this part. "Well anyway, I started to become extremely annoyed about this but never brought it up. I didn't know how to say no since my parents had apparently told my grandpa about it, and if I said no, he would die of a heart attack."

"Your cousin?" She couldn't help but look at him weirdly.

"I know its weird, but like its a common thing for the olden days. Even one of our presidents married his cousin, I think." Aarush tried to defend himself with a weak argument. "Well anyways, I started to get annoyed by this, but eventually forgot about it after my parents tossed another heavy thing on my head, whether it was intentional or not. My mom and dad said to become a doctor, and that it was my mom's dreams for me to become one, etc. etc. I agreed back then, thinking it wouldn't be a big deal. I was confident in my skills. I was confident I could do it with ease, but little did I know the consequences of me agreeing to this." He sighed when he said this. "In grade ten, I'm struck once again with the whole cousin marriage issue. This time, I basically found out that the reason they want me to marry my cousin wasn't so I could have a good wife, it was so that I wouldn't risk having a wife that would try to get rid of my younger brother, Maazi." He laughed slightly, but this time, his eyes didn't show laughter. "As I grew up from there, I basically began to understand my position in the family. I was the oldest boy, I had responsibilities, some I couldn't escape. I was responsible for my sisters, my brother, my cousins, and really all of my family. Only because of me being the oldest son. My wife was going to be chosen because my parents feared something would happen between me and my brother if the wrong wife showed up." He stopped and looked at Aeleya who paid attention to the story. "One thing you should know is that from grade four to twelve, I changed five to six houses, and went to about seven different schools. Sometimes we would be too far so I would bus, sometimes we would have to leave the house because we couldn't afford it." He sighed heavily. "But things were bad as a family then, for me, things only started to get really bad after high school was done."

"What do you mean?" She asked while still leaning forward, listening carefully.

"After high school was done, my mental state began to become a little different. My dad had this ideology, 'one should only work after high school, never during or before', and because of these thoughts I never worked during high school, only volunteered and stuff. So after high school, I began to look for work like a beast. I would apply anywhere and everywhere. But it took me a full five months before I could find work. Sadly, my parents were not the best during these times. They would see that I was sitting around since I didn't have a job, so they would taunt me and call me useless and stuff. For me, who was trying my best, it hurt. Especially because other then job hunting, I was still making side money. During the time I was looking for work, I started to write. It became a way for me to release stress. I wrote and wrote and published my first book. My parents didn't really praise me until I got my first paycheck. It was a full grand." He smiled with pride. "So basically, the first four months of my five-month job hunt, I was making a very good amount from my book. Everything would go to my parents, to help them pay bills. They were happy about it, and so was I. But still, they would taunt me and call me useless. This made me go into depression really, but I couldn't even show that I was being affected because that would only make my parents sad. I didn't want to hurt them as I know they were only saying these things out of stress themselves. They didn't mean it."

Listening to his story, she couldn't help but become a little sad.

"Well, in the fifth month, the month before I finally found a job, the amount of money I made was nothing, only a few dollars. And so, my parents got upset, told me to quickly find a job, of course, not forgetting to call me a few names." He laughed bitterly. "Also, don't think my parents were bad to me. They still treated me well, but most of the focus was on my younger siblings and my older one. Well anyway, I eventually finally found a job. It was at a fast-food chain. I worked in the kitchen, around thirty to forty hours a week, and this is when I started a full-time university. Basically, I started to work like crazy. I worked with oil and would get burns now and then. That's how I have these burns. These cuts came from metal pieces in the workplace that cut my hands now and then." He looked at his hands and shook his head. "There is this really bad scar on my thigh which was stitched up by me. My parents have never seen it, nor have ever heard about it, and I would like to keep it that way."

"Wait, why did you stitch it yourself?" She was curious, and a little worried.

"Well, when I got the stitches on my hand, we had to pay lots of money, this caused lots of problems for us. So, when I got this wound, I didn't want my parents worrying about paying for it, so I watched how to stitch something online and did it. And lord did it hurt." He winced a little thinking about it.

"Are you dumb?" Suddenly, she showed a bit of anger. "Even if money would be wasted, it would have been safer. You could have done something wrong and made it worse."

"I know, but it was a risk I could take. I made a small amount of money with my part-time job, while also being pressured by many things. But those things can be told on a later day. Your stop is here my wife." The car stopped and he smiled at her.

"What?" She looked around in a panic. She saw that she was here and became sad. She really wanted to know more. "I want to know more, can you tell me tonight?"

"I'm sorry, I can't. I told you, I'm going back to the hospital, and will likely be there until the day of our flight." He was guilty, but couldn't do anything about it.

She thought for a moment and sighed, but before getting out of the car, she looked at him once. "Can I ask you one last thing before I go?"

"Go ahead." He spoke with a smile.

"Do you like your job as a doctor? Like, you said that your mom and dad kind of pushed you to it, however, it's been a long time now. Do you like it now?" She was curious.

The smile on his face froze and became bitter. "Since you're my wife, I will tell you. I haven't told a single person in my life about this, not even my closest friends." He sighed deeply and showed a bit of a pained smile. "I hate it. I don't like it at all. I never had a passion for it, and to this day I don't. Every time I go there, it feels like I have been there for an eternity. Think of it like this, say for example I was an abusive person and would beat you every day after you told me about your take on this marriage, how would you feel about your life?" Seeing her face pale a little he smiled bitterly. "That's my feeling for this job. I see people die often. I see people get mad at me, swear at me, for letting their family die. At times, they call me a killer. Honestly, if there wasn't Noori around, I probably wouldn't be around either. For your last question, to me, Noori was a type of lifeline. Without her around, I feel like I'm drowning. I feel suffocated every day, only when I see her do I feel happy. She is my second life." He smiled brightly towards Aeleya and spoke from his heart. "And the reason I'm telling you all of this without any secrecy is that I take you as my life as well. I never in my life touched a girl, only because I wanted to leave myself to my wife. Aeleya, maybe not now, but hopefully in the future, once you finally accept me, I will shower you with so much love and affection without holding a single thing back. Right now, I'm very strained, so I'm waiting patiently for that day." He smiled gently while looking at her. His eyes showed the affection he spoke about, yet it also showed it being held back.

Aeleya didn't really know how to reply. She was saddened that he was not in love with his work and the fact that it hurt him more, but she didn't know how to react to his heartfelt love towards her. She didn't feel the same way, atleast not now. She found him to be an interesting person and somewhat of a tragic one, but that was the extent.

"You don't have to say anything, no need to force anything. I just wanted you to know your position in my heart. Even though it's only been a day, I honestly feel this way. Anyways, go on ahead, hopefully, I'll see you sometime this week, if not, then I will see you on the day of our flight." He understood that his words would make her somewhat awkward, which wasn't his goal.

He watched her finally get out of the car, so he drove off. Aeleya watched the car leave and felt her heart throb a little. "Aeleya, over here." She heard her friends and turned around after a few more seconds of watching the car. Her friends were by the entrance, looking super excited, so she quickly joined them.

Entering the shop, she was met by a lot of brown, to say the least. The chairs, a light brown, the table a dark wooden color, and even the floors, slightly light brown. There were people taking various spots, but she was led to a table with four seats by Steph.

"This is our table. The waiter said that everything is paid for, so we can order what we want." She had a happy smile on her face as she looked through the menu. "Your husband isn't bad Aeleya. He really spoils you. Booking a seat is whatever, but everything is paid for isn't a normal task. Most wouldn't do that unless they had money to spare." She spoke with glee and envy in her tone. "I hope my husband spoils me like this too, that would be amazing. He doesn't even have to be rich, just spoil me with whatever he could. Lucky lucky Aeleya." Steph quickly found the items she wanted, while speaking her mind without holding back. Ishan, who was beside her, nodded her head over and over again, agreeing with everything.

"You guys, I don't really want to be spoiled or anything, it feels weird. I'd much rather use my own money to get myself things, atleast that way I won't need to depend on anyone. Isn't that why we study so hard? To allow ourselves to become more independent?" She also chose a few things from the menu, this time her words didn't follow her face. She was filled with excitement as well since her love for cheesecakes was not low.

"I don't agree with you completely. If we only worked for independence, then why would we want to get married? As girls, of course, it is a great feeling to help our family and man with money and other things, but when we spoil ourselves vs being spoiled by our husbands or boyfriends, the pleasure is so much more different." Ishan disagreed with Aeleya. Although Steph wasn't in complete agreement with Aeleya, she would still understand. "Anyways, I chose what I want, did you guys pick yours yet?"

"Yup, since I could order whatever, I ordered anything that interested me. Of course not too much because I don't want to waste anything either." Steph placed her menu down and nodded her head.

"I'm good to go as well. Let's call them over." Aeleya waved at one of the male waters, signaling him to cover. With a smile, he walked over.

"What can I get you three?" He opened up a small notebook and pulled out a pen, ready to take an order.

"Can we get these, and this, also these." Steph pointed out a few items, which the waiter listed down happily.

"Alright, give me like fifteen minutes." The waiter quickly left with the list.

"Anyways, did you ask him who that girl was? The one named Mackenzie, she seemed very interested in your husband. Maybe a past lover?" Steph without mincing her words.

"I don't think she was a past lover. Probably someone who liked him and was rejected by him." Aeleya thought back to what Aarush said. Maybe he could be lying, but she didn't believe he was. Something about the way he said and his expressions whilst saying it made her believe that he wasn't lying to her.

Steph smiled wickedly. "So you didn't ask? Seems like you trust him very much."

"That's a good thing. Trust is very important between a husband and wife." Ishan stepped in to help Aeleya out.

"I'm not saying it isn't but you can never be too careful with guys. They say one thing, and do something else. Especially good looking ones like Aarush. Girls probably message him everyday. Aeleya, you need to be a strong wife, make sure he's in control." Aeleya thought about the 'fish the ring' game she played with Aarush and how he let her win three times in a row. He had every chance to win, but he let her instead. Culturally, the winner wore the pants in the relationship, meaning that he allowed Aeleya to have the pants when he could have claimed them for himself. She laughed slightly thinking about this.

"I don't think Aarush is like that. I trust him." She spoke with a smile.

"Well, up to you. Anyways, where are you guys going for your honeymoon? Any plans yet?" Steph changed the topic, slightly.

A little surprised by her question, Aeleya shook her head. "I'm not sure we're going to take one. In about a week, we are planning on going to Pakistan as a family trip to complete some important things, plus I need to meet the rest of his family."

"What? In a week? And why haven't you planned a trip? You should talk to Aarush about it soon. Honeymoons are important, it helps build the relationship early on. You learn a little more, enjoy your time, and so much more." With dream filled eyes, Steph fell into a daze speaking about the event.

"I don't think I could meet him anytime soon if I wanted to." Aeleya sighed a little.

"Why?" Both girls asked at the same time.

"Its seems like the chairman wants him to train a bunch of residents and also work as much as possible before our trip, so he said he might just stay at the hospital until the day of our trip. So I will likely not see him." She shook her head, pitying Aarush.

"Woah, that's a little too much, right? Like, that should be illegal, making him stay there and basically over work. He might even work himself to death. A week, that isn't a short time." Ishan became a little worried and a little angry. "You should totally report this chairman."

"Relax, he did it because he wanted to. Plus, he and the chairman have a really close relationship, why would I step in and ruin that?" Aeleya rejected their little idea.

"Uh, hello." With a look of annoyance, Steph wrinkled her eyebrows. "You're his wife, don't you care about his health? Do you not understand how much stress he will be put under? Ontop of not being able to go home and take a full rest, he has to do his normal shift as a doctor, which is already very stress inducing, and he has to train residents. Meaning, if someone messes up, he has to fix it. If some patients get mad, he has to handle it. Little sleep will make him probably find all of this very difficult to handle. You need to talk him out of this." Steph made great points that Aeleya didn't even think about. She fell silent, thinking about it all.

'I hate it. I don't like it all.'

'If Noori wasn't around, I wouldn't be either.'

Aeleya thought back to the things he said and truly felt a little worried. He seemed to have a passion for disliking his career, rather than liking it. It made him depressed, and to a certain extent, even somewhat suicidal. 'Hopefully he doesn't do anything bad.' Her mood instantly fell. She couldn't help but worry.

Their food came and she at in silence. The other two could see that she was lost in her thoughts, so they left her alone. They all ate quietly. Soon enough, Ishan and Steph left.

"Aeleya, I'm here to pick you up." While sitting alone, she felt someone tap her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw that it was Maaz. He wore a casual t-shirt and shorts.

She nodded her head. "Thanks Maaz." He smiled back and both of them got into the car. The house was only about thirty minutes away so they were able to speak a bit. "Maaz, what kind of person would you say Aarush is? I remember you told me he worked very hard to buy you a console, but does he normally work hard?"

Maaz looked at her strangely but didn't decline her questions. "Umm, Aarush is hard working, but he has very bad mood swings. If he works too much, he gets irritated with everyone, of course Noori is an exception. He even gets in small scuffles with dad and mom. Anyways, overall, he is working most of the time, I don't see him much. If I think about it, the last time I saw him home properly was before he started working part time. When he started, he became busy so I never actually properly saw him home or anything. I don't know much really. Other than Dara, Haris, and Adi, no one knows Haris that well, not even mom and Aliya. All of us have a basic understanding of him, while mom and Aliya have a bit more, but because he was always busy with so much, no one ever really got time to properly talk to him." Maaz sighed. "Honestly, he sometimes needs to chill. Still, what can we do? If we say anything, he just ignores it."

"I see." Aeleya nodded her head. They spoke for a little while more. Aeleya learned more about Maaz, and the latter about her. Soon, they arrived home. It was getting somewhat dark, so Aeleya was worried she might get in a bit of trouble.

"Aeleya, you're back." Getting into the house, she was greeted by Aarush's mom. Her smile was wide and she beckoned Aeleya over.

Walking over with a smile on her face, she sat next to her mother in law.

"How are you dear? Did you eat anything?" Aeleya nodded her head with a smile.

"Yeah, Aarush got me food and also treated me to some more later." Her mother in law smiled when she heard this.

"That's great. Make sure to eat plenty, and also remember to rest. Your degree is important, but it becomes useless if you fall sick." Aeleya nodded her head, agreeing with everything.

"Anyways, Aarush called me and told me about his plans at the hospital. What a dumb kid I have, it makes me so mad." She seethed. "Taking so many shifts at once, especially with you and him just getting married. Seriously, I have no clue who he is similar to." She sighed and rubbed Aeleya's hair gently.

"I won't bother you anymore, go and rest. There is food in the fridge if you want some. If you want to eat something else, just order it or have Maaz get it. Don't hesitate. If you need me, I will be in my room, alright?" She got up and kissed Aeleya on her forehead before going upstairs.

"I'll go to my room as well. Maaz, I will just see you in the morning then." She got up and smiled at Maaz who was snooping through the fridge. The latter nodded his head and continued what he was doing. Although there was still time before she would normally sleep, for some odd reason, she felt very tired.

Going up the stairs, she entered her room. She saw that the flowers and stuff were removed, all except for the one Aarush got for her in the morning. She walked over and picked it up and gave it a smell. It was a pleasant scent that made her smile. "Maybe I'll take a shower before going to bed." Heading to the closet, she picked out a pair of pajamas and quickly headed to the washroom.

She came out fifteen minutes later, wearing pajamas, and feeling a lot more relieved. She walked over to the bed in her bare feet, leaving footmarks on the ground. Although she dried herself, the heat was still there, leaving small prints on the wooden floor. Getting on the bed, she quickly laid down and snuggled in the thick blanket. She looked up at the ceiling and began to think.

'He's probably working right now. I don't even know when he goes on break, but it's probably not anytime soon. Wasn't he awake all day as well? He left in the morning for a meeting, and then took Noori to the mall. After that, he dropped me to university and then what he did after I'm not sure about." She laid silently and was lost in her thoughts. Looking towards the office door, she sighed. "He was also forced to sleep there because of me, such an uncomfortable place." Sitting up, she couldn't fall asleep right away. She looked around the room and picked up her phone. Going into her contacts, she saw the name Aarush. Her finger hovered over it, but in the end, she didn't call him. She was worried but didn't feel it was right to disturb him. "I should just get some sleep. Worrying isn't going to change anything. Plus, he has been doing this for years, so it's probably no big deal." Thinking up to this point, she laid back down and forced her eyes closed. After a few dozen minutes of resting her eyes, she was finally able to fall asleep.