"I can't hear you, Murat," Mashal yelled at her phone screen which was buffering due to poor internet connection and the huge time difference was making her cranky and moody. It was freaking three in the midnight. She's not even a night person but couldn't help herself this day. It was a tiring day at work and her eyes begged her to fall asleep.
"What? Can you repeat it?" He asked tiredly, looking pretty worn out already and it was just one thirty in the afternoon at his place.
"I said I can't hear you, what did you have for breakfast?" She laid back on the bed, gazing into the neon sparkling stickers above and then at her phone.
"Same as yesterday, nothing new. How was work?" He asked whilst sipping some protein shake. His favourite drink of all time.
Mashal smiled even though he can't see her, she has switched off all the lights in their room, it was pitch dark except for the stickers above, "work was pretty okay. Kaif sir appreciated my work. The first real work that I did after joining this company and my boss appreciated it. Great day I could say. I'm happy no one tried to steal credits for my work,"
"Kaif?" Murat's jaw clenched hearing that name. Mashal was confused by his sudden reaction. She remembered the same reaction that he gave when he first came to see her as her prospective future husband. She didn't pry him more because of her own happiness that night, but now she's intrigued.
"Yes. Do you know him or something?" She asked curiously.
"I haven't met him in person yet. Didn't hear good things about him though. Just be cautious around him." Murat's response confused her more if anything. It was pretty vague. She didn't know what to make out of that. But he didn't want to share more it seemed. So she lets it be.
"Where's your team? And how come you got free at this hour?" Mashal suppressed a yawn and stared at her screen sleepily.
"They're around. We just finished shooting a good commercial and I gave them some break. They're all pretty exhausted." Murat sighed.
"I miss you," he admitted out of blue. Her ears perked up in shock and slight disbelief. It's been fifteen days since he left and never did he admit about missing her, although she knew that he did. For all her I-miss-you's he'd only reply with an I'll-be-back-soon message. That's all.
"I miss you so much," he confessed again, taking her off guard. She sat up quietly and switched on the lights, making sure that her face was visible to him now. His eyes lights up brightly the very moment she did that. He gave her a sad, longing smile and just silently gazed at her, without uttering a word.
Her heart skipped a beat unknowingly.
"It's pretty hard. The last few days. I never knew that it was possible for me to get used to someone so quickly and miss them so much, but now I know. I miss you so much, Mashal."
Her eyes welled up in tears. Looking at his sad face made her more emotional. She brings her hands to touch the screen, wanting to wipe off his sadness. But it was not possible. Eerything in her just ached to hug him tightly at this moment. Murat's emotional side has always been closed off. He puts up a strong and big guy pretence for the world outside but only she knew how soft he is from the inside.
"Just twenty more days, it will pass in the blink of our eyes," Mashal whispered sadly while he simply nodded. He didn't utter anything ever since she has switched on the lights and the silence wasn't uncomfortable. She could stare at him like this. He was so handsome and all hers. She could stare at him all she wants.
"You look sleepy," he finally spoke. She shook her head in negative, even though all she wanted to do was to wrap her exhausted body in her comfortable blanket and sleep like a baby.
"How's Ginny? Is she eating properly?" He asked and she nodded again, "she misses you too. Always waits by the main door in the evening hours hoping you'd show up." Mashal chuckled softly.
"Give her lots of kisses and hugs from my side," he chuckled along, making her beam.
"Oh yeah. Only cat gets your kisses and hugs, huh. What about the wife?" Her face was turned into mock seriousness as she tried to hide a grin.
Ever since their marriage, Murat has trained his cat to sleep downstairs in the living room. It was tough, but the cat got used to it by now. It wasn't that he loves his pet any less now that he is married but his excuse was that he wanted exclusive and private time with his wife without any intrusion.
"You don't know how badly I want to kiss you, my wife." He grinned teasingly, "and please stop biting your lips. You know how badly it turns me on." Murat brings his hands close to the camera, almost as if caressing her face.
Mashal's cheeks turned deep red as she ducked her face, unable to take the sudden change in the mood. It felt pretty hot suddenly. Not knowing what to say, she goes to tie her hair in a messy bun.
"You look so effortlessly tempting, do you know that?" His eyes were dark with desire and she blushed hard whilst tucking a few hair strands behind her ears. She couldn't meet his eyes. Gosh.
"I'm in my pyjamas, nothing special about it." She tried to brush it off but his teasing grin only widened, "you look hot in everything, babe."
"Murat, stop it."
"Your blush. I missed it so bad, feels good to see them again, Shortcake." He winked subtly, making her heart race.
That handsome punk knew the effect he has upon her and when did he ever leave a chance to not tease her that he'd do it today?
Mashal didn't mind it all that much anyway. The past few days were hard. Both of them were super busy at work and the huge time difference didn't give them much time to talk anything other than asking about each other's day or if they ate and slept.
"How are you, really?" She finally asked, looking at the dark circles under his eyes. He tried to smile in response but that smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Terrible, I miss sleeping with you. You spoiled me so bad." Both of them chuckled at his words. But her heart fluttered knowing it wasn't just her who's missing all the cuddles and hugs.
"We'll go through this. Insha Allah. Just like the past fifteen days, the next twenty days will pass quickly." Mashal said emotionally. Long-distance in the early days of marriage or any kind of relationship is never easy.
Long-distance relationships themselves are not easy.
"Insha Allah, it will. Did you eat dinner?" He smiled softly at her.
"I'm hungry again, too lazy to get up from the bed and eat something." Mashal chuckled.
"Should I order something for you from the twenty-four by seven restaurant?" His question touched her heart as she gave him her brightest smile, "it will need me to get up from the bed as well, told you right, I'm feeling lazy. I have some leftover food. If I am really very hungry, I'll go and have them. Don't worry."
"You're such a lazy brat," He shook his head while she just giggled cheekily in return.
"How is your family? Are they checking up on you every day?" He asked, still sipping his protein shake.
"You don't even have to ask, Murat. Mama wants me to sleep there all night. But I like it here. This bed reminds me of your presence. Helps me sleep easily," She replied with a cute pout and he gave her an adoring smile in return.
"Miss me that much, huh?" He sounded emotional but a small smile played on his lips.
"Do you have to ask? Of course, I'm missing you." She murmured sadly.
"Wait a minute, is that my t-shirt?" His eyes widened in disbelief while her cheeks turned red. How could she be so careless? Mashal wanted to facepalm.
"I-um. Yes. It's yours." She stuttered shyly, unable to meet his teasing gaze.
"Cute. I missed seeing you on my shirts. Are you wearing something else or just my t-shirt?" He raised his brows mischievously. She felt like smacking his good looking biceps but too bad he's oceans away.
"Stop teasing me or I'll hang up."
"They look good on you," he grinned making her shiver.
"They're mine now." She muttered boldly yet shyly.
"All yours, babe. Take whatever you want. You look hot in them,"
Heat raised onto her cheeks like it usually does. She felt like a teenager whose crush has complimented her. Ironically, he was her crush once upon a time. She was such a lucky woman. Not everyone marries their crush anyway.
"Am I disturbing your sleep?" He asked again, noticing her bashful yet sleepy face.
She wanted to say no again but someone else from behind caught her attention and her whole happy and giddy mood has turned suddenly sour.
"Murat. Do you want to try this mango smoothie, I heard it's yummy." It was Murat's creative director. Mashal wasn't sure if that woman was aware of his marriage or not but she's been stalking that woman all these fifteen days with her other account and she never leaves a chance to not mention or tag her husband in her stupid Instagram stories or posts. It gets on her nerves every freaking time.
"No, Tanya. I'm good." Murat declined her politely and turned to face her again but raised his brows seeing Mashal's clear annoyance.
"Did I disturb your private call? I'm so sorry," the woman apologized, clearly not sounding sorry at all.
"Can you please leave me alone? I'm talking with my wife,"
Mashal huffed whilst clutching her bedsheets tightly. She didn't like her. Not even one bit, maybe today was the day she'd let her husband know it as well.
"Sorry, I'll just leave." The voice faded away in the background as Murat gazed at her again, "what happened, Mashal?"
"I don't like her, Murat."
"Don't like whom?"
"That woman, she's not having any good intentions I'm telling you," Maybe she was paranoid but Mashal didn't want to take any chances. That woman was so pretty and so tall. It shouldn't matter but somehow it does.
"Mashal, what's wrong with you? Tanya is my classmate since my school days. She's my creative director now. We have a years-long friendship and a great professional life. I would know if she had any such intentions towards me," Murat's irritated response took her off guard.
"But she keeps tagging and posting about you every single day. I saw the way she looked at you right now. There's definitely something. She likes you, Murat." Mashal justified her fears, but somehow Murat didn't seem too keen on her words. And it hurt.
"So, don't you have any faith in me? You should know I'll always be loyal to you. What's the big deal now?" He sounded exasperated.
"It's not about that. It's her whom I don't trust. She could take advantage of you being away from home and try something. Can you please stay away from her? I don't like how she keeps clicking so many videos and photos of you. Friends should know their limits as well."
"You know? I sacked Eliza from an important role in this commercial just because I didn't want to hurt you. But you didn't think twice before hurting my feelings." Murat sighed as he ran his hands through his hair.
Mashal couldn't comprehend what did he had just stated, "you did what?"
"I stopped Eliza from working on this project. It's going to cost me a lot because her face is a known one among the target audience and the replacement isn't as famous as her but I still went ahead with it, only for your sake."
Just the thought of Murat and Eliza working together for five weeks, away from home, away from her, made her nauseating. She wanted to say so much but words fell short. She was too stunned to react.
But deep down Mashal felt touched knowing that Murat gave importance to her feelings and emotions first priority than making profits by using a famous personality to make his commercial a hit. But this Tanya person clearly doesn't have any good intentions towards him, how is she going to tell him that without making him feel bad.
Why are men so dense?
"Thanks for letting me know that you have zero trust in me," he added emotionlessly, making her speechless yet again.
"Murat, I trust you but her..." She trailed off sceptically, noticing the change in his mood.
"You should sleep, sorry for calling you at the odd hours. Good night." Before Mashal could say any further, he has already hung up the call. A deep frown appeared on her face. She felt angry and hurt.
She stared at her phone in anger before throwing it away. It fell down with a small crack. She didn't have the energy to check upon it. With a huff, she pulled the blankets over her face and closed her eyes. Luckily for her, she's too exhausted from everything else, so sleep overtook her eyes almost immediately.
***
The next day Mashal woke up to find a cute rose bouquet placed on the bedside table. She was at first confused and worried thinking if some stalker broke into their home while she was sleeping but sighed in relief realising how her parents have a set of keys for now, just in case to check up on her.
One by one things started making sense for her.
Murat must have used her sister to sneak these flowers inside their bedroom.
Traitors!
I'm sorry about yesterday. I shouldn't have hung up like that. I felt hurt that you'd think I'll give someone else the chance to come between us. But I didn't realise what would it be like to be in your shoes. I'd hate it if some other man, albeit your good friend keeps taking photos and videos of you and posts them on his social media pages continuously. So I'll ask Tanya not to repeat this again. I hope you have a great day at work. Please don't skip breakfast.
Yours, Murat.
The finishing line of yours part made her flush hard. Her sour mood instantly changed into a cheerful one, thanks to him.
As soon as her eyes fell on the roses, she searched for her phone immediately. It was still on the floor. She picked it up and read his message the first thing. She didn't want to touch it at fajr and slept immediately after praying. The message and roses was really a pleasant surprise.
Oh, and I hope you like the roses. Your sister is so easy to bribe :p
A small smile played on her lips at the end. Her traitorous heart can't stay mad at him for longer than a few hours and those roses, his heartfelt apology just made it easier for her to forgive him. But at least he understood where she was coming from though. That's all that mattered at that moment.
She just hoped that he wouldn't use her weakness as a way to get away from things in future. In all this, she has cracked her phone pretty bad. But the camera still worked.

Thanks for the roses, xoxo!
I want a new phone I guess or even a repaired one will do. It cracked pretty bad because of last night.
Mashal hits the send button and picked up the bouquet and inhaled its fragrance. Her eyes get closed automatically as she enjoyed its pleasant scent.
Are we cool or not?
We are!
Good night, Murat.
It's still evening. Anyways, go safely. Message me after you reach the office. Work is calling. Bye.
She didn't reply to him. Because suddenly her heart was pounding hard, thinking about him. She missed having him around. He used to wake her up every single day; even though she has five to ten alarms set for that. He used to make breakfast for both of them and feed Ginny as well as she hunts hidden bugs and all.
Mashal could feel his presence in every corner of their home. It was so frustrating yet bittersweet. She missed him so damn much.
"I miss you, Murat" She whispered to his photo on their nikkah picture which was framed and placed on the bedside table. She held it tightly in her hands whilst suppressing her tears. She didn't want to cry so early in the morning, but yesterday's unexpected fight and his sweet apology have made her very emotional as if she wasn't already.
Nineteen more days to go! That's how she motivated and forced herself to get up from their bed.
Can't I get a time machine or something? Mashal huffed, it was wishful thinking of course.
***
[Warning: Next few paragraphs briefly touches on office Sexual assault. Please skip if uncomfortable]
***
It was just another day at work. At least Mashal thought it was. But apparently, it wasn't.
"It's done like this," Mashal flinched as the guy came too close and their hands brushed as he instructed her. She thought it might be accidental and let it be.
"How long are you working here?" He asked her, looking at her eyes and then at her lips. She wasn't sure if it was an accident anymore. This person seems like a pervert. Suddenly she was hyperaware of how close he was trying to get to her. She worked inside a small cubicle, which felt even smaller today at this moment.
They were the only two people in the office currently. Except maybe the security.
In nervousness, she got up from her chair and stood up firmly, not giving him any chance to be close to her. In his dreams!
"I'm working here for three and half months," she said through gritted teeth.
The guy smirked at her. His shameless eyes checked her out from top to bottom, making her absolutely uncomfortable. She wanted to slap the smirk off his face. But she wasn't foolish enough to stay here any longer. Almost everyone left but this guy, he was her superior and realised how he made her stay back intentionally.
"You should know better not to do such silly mistake if you were here for almost four months. I'm going to keep an eye on you, making sure you won't do this again." He said with a challenging look. As though taunting her that she can't go against him. Who does he think he is? She was so mad.
Mashal stumbled a few steps behind and was going to fall due to imbalance but he held her waist on time. If he was a gentleman, he would have taken off his hands immediately but no, he went ahead and gave her waist a tight little squeeze. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She felt disgusted like never before. Her hands automatically go to slap him.
She slapped him hard. Twice.
"Do you know what have you done, Mashal?" His eyes became red in anger.
He had the audacity to be angry.
"You'll pay for this!" He yelled at her disappearing figure as she hurriedly packed all her belongings and ran away from there.
Quickly she reached the parking lot and spotted her Activa, which she kick-started rapidly and drove as fast as she could. Tears welled up in her eyes as she blinked them away and concentrated on the driving. But the memories of what just happened made her want to puke. She felt sick from within. How could he do this so casually in the workplace? When there are cameras available? Thinking about it, again and again, was nothing but painful torture.
Mashal felt weak and pathetic. She bit her lips, trying hard not to sob while driving. Her breathing was at an uneven pace, she was scared out of her mind thinking about what all could have gone wrong. Her hands were shaking in fear but she controlled them with great effort and continued to drive home. She wanted to go to the comfort of her home as soon as possible.
Luckily, her mother has called her to stay with them tonight and she agreed without a second thought.
The distance between her and Murat could be felt more and more with each passing day. She ached to touch his face, touch his eyes and wanted to just hold onto him tightly. It was getting so unbearable at this point. She could say the same was the case with him.
Murat was miserable there. Alone and miserable.
It's funny how she had her whole family here and yet Mashal felt so alone.
And the happenings of today just made things more difficult for her. How she wished Murat was here, right now.
She missed his presence more than anything at this moment.
But he won't be coming back home for the next ten days. It's been twenty-five days since he has left and every single day felt longer than the previous one. And it was so frustrating how the signals work so poorly some days. Like right now. There was no calls or messages from him since yesterday and she was so worried and tense.
Ya Allah. Please keep him safe. She prayed softly throughout the ride back home. Her eyes were moist with tears. The thought of something wrong happening with him was not going well with her.
There was a strange feeling in her heart as she parked her Activa. Taking slow steps, she walked inside her parents' home. It felt like ages since she was last here although they were neighbours. Freaking neighbours.
Does that make her a bad daughter?
But as soon as she stepped inside her parents' home, she took a deep sigh of relief. Nothing could harm her here. No one would dare to touch her.
"Assalamualaikum, Mama! I'm home." Mashal greeted tiredly whilst scrolling through her phone in one hand. She tried calling Murat's number for the nth but it was still unreachable. She badly wanted to talk to him, at least hearing his voice will do too. She wanted him ai badly right now.
"Harry! What are you doing?" Mashal bent down to pet her sister's cat, who meowed at her in excitement.
"Where is everyone?" She took him in her arms and walked inside the living room but no one was there.
"Papa? Mama? Meher?" She yelled loudly, hoping they would respond. Because strangely enough, she couldn't feel anyone else's presence in there other than their cat.
Mashal sighed, feeling too overwhelmed and emotional. She wanted to take a long bath and remove all the traces of the pervert's touch. She felt disgusted and sick knowing his intentions towards her.
He was freaking married and his wife too worked in the same company. How could he think of doing something so cheap like that? Does he not have any fear of God?
"Mashal." She swung her head towards that voice. It was almost like a whisper but she heard it crystal and clear. But it couldn't be possible. How can she hear Murat's voice now? He's supposed to be back after ten days. Ten freaking days. Just the thought made her eyes wet.
Harry meowed at her sad face. She still searched for that voice, even though she knew it was useless. Maybe she was imagining things.
"Murat, are you here?"
"Mama. Where are you? Stop playing games with me you all. I'm already exhausted with everything that has happened at work." She complained annoyedly.
But there was no response. She gave up calling anyone and walked upstairs, Harry was still in her arms. It looked like he has missed her presence as well.
"Did you miss me, Harry?" She asked the cat softly as she entered her bedroom. She hadn't spent enough days here to miss this room that much. She got married so soon after coming to this house. But still, looking at all those familiar things from her childhood and teenage years gave her an unknown sense of comfort.
Mashal felt safe and secure here, away from all the nastiness of the cruel world.
"I don't know about the cat. But I definitely missed you, Mashal." Her heart raced fast as she heard that familiar voice. She could feel him. His scent. His presence. She could feel him so much. Was he really here? She stood rooted to her spot, not wanting this to be a dream as soon as she turned around. She didn't want this to be a dream.
"Mashal, I'm here."
It wasn't a dream after all.