SaHil: A Different Kind of Game || Chapter 4 Updated @ Page 8

Chapter 1

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Aahil leant against the pillar by the indoor pool. His own troubled eyes stared back at him from his reflection. For a moment the reflection vanished and he was met with the beautiful face of his beloved smilingly sweetly at him. His postured straightened and his features softened.

"Sanam..." he whispered quietly but at that instant the vision disappeared and the ache that seemed like a permanent fixture in his heart returned tenfold.  His eyes slid shut and once again his eyes flashed towards the fateful night of, what was supposed to be, their wedding.

He knew it was too good to be true. But he couldn't help but question. Why?

Why him?

Was something lacking in his love?

He knew that his reputation before depicted a careless and unloving rogue but when Sanam had come into his life he had changed. He had honestly and with great effort made an effort to change.

For her. For their love. For their marriage and for their future.

Because Sanam had, or so he thought, loved him. She had come and gently began healing the wounds on his heart, something he had thought only his ammi was able to do. She had seen him at his worst and brought him to his best.

She was his queen, his chote begum.

And she had abandoned him on the hour of their nikaah. Had fled from their wedding altar without so much as a letter to explain why and what. Had she had explained to him why he would have wholeheartedly let her go. But no, she had shamed him and his ammi in a way that was unforgivable.

Or so he kept telling himself.

When he had found her on the road, staring so forlornly at the moon his heart had lurched in his throat. And the first thought that had crossed his mind was a prayer of thanks.

Because she was alive. And she was safe.

It was only after that the hurt and anger welled up in him. He had stepped out of his car and had planned on marching up towards her and demanding answers.

But then her eyes, those bewitching eyes stared at him with so much love and hope that he had to stop himself. He kept her at arms bay so he wouldn't rush to embrace her, to hold her in his arms and rain kisses over her face in an effort to prove she was there and she was real.  

But even that served to spark a flame of anger in him. And at that point all he could think of was making her hurt. Hurt the way he felt when she abandoned him, and what better than to bring her back into their, no his, home and knock her down to the status she had come in with, all the while using the new woman his ammi had brought for him.

He would not call the new woman his wife because he would never accept her as such. His chote begum was and always would be the bewitching Sanam. Sanam Raza Ibrahim. His Sanam. Not some random woman who he had gone through a rushed and unconsented nikaah.

Aahil had spent some time away from his home to not only clear his mind, but begin to prepare to annul the sham of a marriage he had entered. But with Sanam back in his life he had decided to withhold that process and use his new woman to torment her until she understand how hurt he had felt.

He was brought of his musings when an arm lay on his shoulder and for a moment he hopefully looked over, hoping it was his begum.

Hopeful black eyes stared at him and he fought to fight down his frown as his mothers chosen bride looked up at him.

"What is it?" he asked, hoping to keep the irritation out of his voice.

She shyly looked down and mumbled out.

"I-I w-was told to c-call you f-for breakfast," she stammered quietly.

"I'll be on the way," he replied, dismissing her and turning away to walk towards his room.

He began to ascend the stairs when a pair of sandaled feet stopped before him. Aahil looked up and was bewitched to see his begum descend in a black anarkali with gold embroidery. She looked so forlorn that his heart broke all over again and he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and hold her.

Sanam stopped before her husband and she stared into his black onyx eyes. Eyes that had once held immeasurable love for her were now clouded with doubt and anger and it hurt her. It her that she was robbed of his most loving days because at the time her sister was here instead of her. And now, it was like they were back to the beginning. And it hurt.

But what hurt most was the lie she was going to partake in to get him back to her. She knew she couldn't very well expose the truth of her sister before him but the elaborate plan Seher had come up with to bring her and Aahil back together after Tanveer's manipulations left her heavy hearted and guilt ridden.

We have to fight fire with fire...

Her sister's voice echoed in her mind. Sanam resolved herself and clutched her phone, ready to set the plan in motion.

And in that moment her phone rang, and she schooled her features into a look of discomfort, glancing down at her phone then at her husband. She let the phone ring before it silenced only to start up again.

"Aren't you going to answer?" Aahil questioned his beautiful begum, watching as she worriedly glanced at her phone before looking away. She slowly nodded and walked past him, and he couldn't help but notice as she let the phone continue to ring without answering. Against his better judgement he waited a beat before following her.

Like a thief in his own home he followed his begum as she stole away into the garden, worriedly glancing behind her. She finally stopped and he hid behind a pillar, waiting as she answered the phone.

"Please," Sanam pleaded brokenly. "Haven't you done enough? I don't want you to interfere anymore. You will only make things worse. Aahil is already very upset and he won't listen to me, so please I beg you to leave me, to leave us alone."

Aahil's ears perked and he bent around to look at his begum talk to some unidentified person on the other line.

Sanam waited to hear the other person on the line confirm the plan Seher had set up.

"Salim please," she begged one last time, keeping up with the act Seher had laid out for her. "For God's sake, if you hold any shred of respect for me after what you have done to me you will never even let your shadow near my life again!"

Salim?

Aahil's eye furrowed at the unknown name and he racked his brain trying to remember if Sanam had ever mentioned someone of the name before. He moved away from the gardens as Sanam finished her conversation, intent on finding the identity behind this name.

Sanam finished the drama on her phone and looked around. Aahil was nowhere to be seen but then her phone beeped with a message.

Seher: The seed has been planted...

Sanam smiled unsurely and deleted the message and cleared her phone history. Now the real game would begin.

Dinner at the mansion would be a spectacle for sure.