Chapter 83: Chapter 83

There were laughs and claps over there as the people rejoiced. The CEO standing in the middle of them. Not just the CEO but also his son. Today, Sheharzaad was the epicenter of attention. Those claps and congratulatory sentences were for her. The whole building was happy.

The blueprint was atlast passed by the client which was the main thing to get the contract locked between the two companies. And Sheharzaad had a major hand in this that the CEO himself had to come on his feet to her and appreciate her for her dedication, hardwork and devotion for her work.

Among the people who stood and clapped, some were genuinely happy for her while some clapped out of jealousy. In a competitive environment in which she worked, no doubt there was more room for jealousy for your colleagues than for appreciation.

Some eyes eyes her with envy. Some with pride. Some with appreciation. While a pair of eye had.... neither of these emotions in his eyes but... it was lust. Her angelic face had caught his attention.

Attention of Maaz Kirmani.

The notorious womanizer son of the CEO.

.....

At the table, Chahat, Shehryaar and Sheharzaad were having their dinner together. She was genuinely tired today. Shehryaar made him tired.

Days back, she had expressed the driver to teach her driving and Shehryaar overheard the conversation. He presented the opportunity of him being her driving teacher and who was so keen to learn driving jumped in. Since then he had been teaching her driving. Not just her usual nervous self around him came to surface rather the anxiety that she may cause someone's accident due to her ill-driving skills always made her do blunders.

And Shehryaar. He was a no nonsense guy when it came to things like these. He was hard on her. Very hard. He always had been a very strict teacher when it came to anything. Any thing. That his harshness will make the next person to go to their limits and bring out their best.

And today he made her drive for 1 and and a half hour straight. That had her genuinely tired but she was confident that she can do better than what she thought of herself.

But their car rides did bring them together.

As one noon, following their usual routine, they were in the car but a certain topic was suddenly brought to discussion that reminded her of her old times with him and it slowly made tears cascade down her eyes. The car stopped. And he hugged her, enveloping his arms around her. He remained quiet and listened to all the complains she had collected for him within her heart. Once the load on her chest was relieved, it made her feel light and she looked up at him.

He stared within the depth of her eyes for a second before kissing the crown of her head before muttering, 'I'll never make you go through that again. Never,'

After that, she had been conscious regarding expressing herself around him.

"Actually," Sheharzaad began, breaking the silence on the dining table. Shehryaar looked up at him, "I'm invited at a dinner by my boss tomorrow," she told. She wasn't asking for his permission but she thought of informing it to him. And he was well aware that she wasn't asking just informing. "Our client will also come,"

He just gave a nod, "that's good," he said and then intermingled his fingers with hers and grasped her hand with their fingers interwined. Looking straight in her eyes, he uttered, "I'm proud of you, my dear wife,"

And she saw it.

Then and there.

There was genuine pride in his eyes for her.

It made a smile reach her lips, "thank you,"

Being appreciated for her hard work and that too from a man like Shehryaar was for sure an achievement. For a moment, she thought, someone who was a part of her family commended her for her efforts. And it made her realize, she needed it. She needed that emotional support from her family to keep going on. But she always had dumped these thoughts in the pit of her heart, because she knew she had no family. But Shehryaar's comment today made her realized otherwise.

His lips connecting with the back of her hand which Chahat noticed.

"Baba loves mama," he told Chahat.

"Chahat loves mama too," Chahat said pouting her lips.

"Mama love baba?" She asking, looking towards Sheharzaad and Sheharzaad's eyes connected with his for a second.

Sheharzaad smiled at Chahat and patted her head. Her eyes fell on her hand in Shehryaar's hold as she slowly released her hand from him.

"I'll.... I'm going to sleep. Chahat baby where will you sleep today? With mama or with baba?"

A sudden sadness came over Chahat's face that made Sheharzaad frown.

"What happened bachay?"

"I want to sleep with you both....Aini says she sleeps in between both her parents," she pouted as if about to cry.

"Oh my beautiful kid," Sheharzaad kissed the top of her head, "We all will sleep together,"

"Really?" she asked unbelievably. She thought that parents sleeping separately was a norm.

"Yes, really,"

"And we all will have a same room?"

Sheharzaad streched her lips in a smile.

"Yes,"

And afterwards she slept with Shehryaar and Chahat.

Just like a family.

A broken family....

.....

"We've always seen working you so hard for this company, Sheharzaad," Raza Kirmani, the CEO of Kirmani group of companies, remarked.

"Thank you so much, sir,"

"And our client will join us shortly as well. They were willing to meet you,"

"That's my pleasure, sir," Sheharzaad smiled.

At the table was present, Raza, his wife, Tuba Kirmani, their only son, Maaz and the financial officer of the company who was also a family friend, Tayyab Dar.

"I thought you will bring your parents or someone from your family, dear," Tuba commented, sipping on her drink. She seemed like a soft and gentle lady given her deliverance of her speech.

"My parents passed away and I'm a single child," She told them.

"Oh dear. I'm so sorry to hear that," Tuba said with sorrow.

"So Ms. Sheharzaad, do you live alone?" It was Maaz who asked.

"Yes,"

Sheharzaad intended to keep the identity of her family hidden. She didn't want them to get intimidated by Shehryaar's name and show favouritism to her. She wanted to pave her own way of her success without anyone's identity playing it's role in her journey.

In the business world, Shehryaar was a big name. The Syed were one of the most well known family of the country. If they knew that she was daughter-in-law of such a well known and elite class family, definitely they'd have been intimidated.

Suddenly, Raza received a call and he stood up, pleasantly taking his leave from the table. Tuba told Sheharzaad that the client has arrived and Raza had gone to receive him. As Raza entered, they all stood up, welcoming them both. Sheharzaad's smile suddenly faltered when her eyes fell on the man coming along side with Raza. None other than Shehryaar himself.

He was the client.

And now she was able to put two and two together that why Raza was so keen to get the contract locked.

Because it was Shehryaar.

....

The dinner went smoothly. Sheharzaad was glad that Shehryaar didn't reveal his identity as her husband and pretended as if they met for the first time.

It told her that how manipulative could he be.

Nobody could ever get that what was going on in his mind.

He was so good at acting that even she thought that they were meeting for the first time.

As soon as he had come, an air of dominance came along side with him. Everyone on the table knew that he demanded respect.

His persona was such.

His body guards were hanging around the building. Some evident, some invincible to bare eye.

Once the dinner was done, everyone was resorting to their vehicles when Maaz offered Sheharzaad that he would drop her home and she softly declined. It was for the betterment for Maaz himself because she could feel Shehryaar's grey eyes boring holed in Maaz's skull. And she knew he wanted him to shoot at the very spot.

The Kirmani family left and Shehryaar waited them to leave as he had to escort Sheharzaad to home personally. And given the impression which Sheharzaad was maintaining at them, he had to play along.

"You... passed it because it was made by me?" Sheharzaad asked the question running in the back of her mind as he drove the car to home.

"No," It was his simple response

"Are you lying?"

"No lies when it comes to business," his eyes left the road and rested on her face before going back to the windscreen.

"And... why did you choose this company for your project when there were many out there striving to do work with you?"

"This one is special," his response was short and exactly what he had expected.

And unknowingly made a smile sprawl on her lips.

"Do you want to drive?"

Her eyes widened at the sudden question.

"No. No. I can't. There is heavy traffic on this road.... and I'm not confident,"

"Really?" Shehryaar looked back at her, "Ms. Sheharzaad Qureshi isn't confident about anything?"

She nibbled on her lower lip, "I'm afraid, I'll kill someone,"

"You won't. It's my job darling. Now come on. Drive," He said, parking the car by a curb.

"No. Please. I'm not a good driver. Someone might die because of me,"

"Are you talking about that young lad Maaz Kirmani?"

Her eyes rounded after grasping the meaning of his words.

She knew nothing go unnoticed by his eyes. And no matter the gap between them, he was still very possessive of her.