Chapter 54: Chapter 54

A wet kiss all over her face woke Rakia up from her deep sleep. Her eyelids lifted slowly and gave her the chance to look at the person who gave her a wet kiss all over her face.

“Good Morning, Sleeping Beauty, come on you have to see Dubai in the morning,” Dashtan greeted with a bright smile as bright as the morning sun. Rakia chuckled at the sleepiness that still lingered in her eyes.

“I wish it was raining in Dubai,” she said in her typical sleepy and lazy intonation. Her husband laughed with a heavy, manly and sexy laugh.

“You wish you could spend the morning with me and do one more amazing round?” he teased, to which Rakia only responded with a sleepy smile. She tilted her body to face her husband and hoped he would let her sleep. Last night was such a sweet and beautiful battle, she didn’t know why it could be so intoxicating that she who originally promised only one round actually did it so many times that she felt sleep deprived.

“Oh, come on... The sun is so nice, we’ll go jogging on the beach to keep you warm. Besides, your in-laws will want to see you helping them in the kitchen to make breakfast.” Dashtan’s ramblings succeeded in making Rakia unable to stubbornly continue sleeping. She took a deep breath through her nose and exhaled loudly. She turned her body back to the side Dashtan was currently on and struggled to open her eyes even though they were still heavy.

As the green netherworld came into Dashtan’s view, her heart warmed as if the morning sun filled his every cavity. One of the most amazing eyes he had ever encountered on a woman, even capable of making him daydream from the first time he saw her and locked eyes with her.

“Come on, I’ll wait in the dining room,” Dashtan said and then gave her a fond peck on the forehead and left without a care in the world for the bathroom. Rakia used her solitude on the bed to steal a few seconds to close her eyes and combat her sleepiness. She got up slowly and looked at her clothes scattered around the bed, but she wasn’t going to wear them anymore. She scoured the room with her eyes for something she could wear temporarily. But there was nothing except Dashtan’s long-sleeved shirt that the man had worn last night. She got out of bed and walked over to pick up her husband’s shirt. She inhaled the scent for a moment before putting it on. It was a very seductive scent and made her blush all over as it reminded her of last night’s battle. She quickly put on the shirt to cover her naked body without a single thread.

Just as she had put the shirt on perfectly, the owner of the clothes came out of the bathroom with only a towel covering his waist to his knees. Rakia smiled as Dashtan gazed passionately at her. A knock on their bedroom door interrupted the passion that was taking over the room’s atmosphere. Rakia turned to the door intending to open it but Dashtan quickly walked to the door and said, “Let me open it.”

Rakia turned fully towards the door, wondering who was behind it, Dashtan only opened the door in a small crack.

“Mom?!” Dashtan was both surprised and asked.

“Hurry up, your father is waiting at the dining table for breakfast.” Mahira walked away after saying that. Rakia immediately ran to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, she planned to take a shower after jogging. As she looked for something appropriate to wear that morning, she couldn’t find anything suitable except her knee-length sweatpants, she couldn’t just wear a sleeveless shirt to the dining table.

“Do you have a sweater?” Rakia asked Dashtan as she checked her husband’s clothes in the closet.

“Just look in the closet,” replied Dashtan who was now wearing a tracksuit, a gray short-sleeved shirt and sports trousers of a famous brand in black with a white stripe running down the side made of parachute. Rakia found Dashtan’s black and red sweat-absorbent t-shirt sports jacket. She closed the closet and put it on without buttoning it.

“You look hot in that,” Dashtan commented, which made Rakia stare. She checked her own appearance, but she thought it was more modest than her sleeveless pants and dress, without Dashtan’s jacket.

“Come on... It’s decent enough,” Rakia defended her current appearance.

“Your ass is too visible.” Dashtan walked over to her then opened the wardrobe and searched for a pair of sweatpants that would fit his wife. Rakia rolled her eyes but kept quiet and complied. Dashtan gave her sweatpants that matched the color of the jacket Rakia was currently wearing.

“Put these on.”

Rakia took the pants and put them on after taking off her sweatpants. Dashtan smiled with satisfaction.

“Still looks sexy, but this is better. You always seem to attract a lot of people without you knowing, Rakia...,” Dashtan said as he pulled Rakia’s body with one hand to cling to him even more. The strands of her hair that she had tied in a ponytail swayed as her front body bumped into Dashtan’s front body. He managed to steal one deep, wet kiss before they left the room and joined the dining table.

“Oh, my God, what took you guys so long? You can have fun after breakfast,” commented Mahira who was busy arranging the food on the table, the woman then turned to Rakia and winked one of her eyes accompanied by a seductive smile. Rakia who saw that just smiled mischievously while smiling.

“We’re going to exercise first, we have breakfast after exercise,” Dashtan told her after he took a sip of his water standing near Rakia who was sitting on one of the dining table chairs.

“Dad has something to talk to you about, meet me at nine in my workspace,” the head of the home and owner of the mansion announced. Dashtan nodded and gently pulled Rakia’s hand to follow him out of the house. They headed to the backyard and continued to the shoreline. Past a man who was mowing the artificial grass that grew in the large and neat backyard area. Two women were sweeping the grass clippings that had been cut.

Rakia smiled as the warm morning sunlight hit her body. The warm sea breeze immediately restored her spirit from the sleepiness and laziness that had not yet disappeared. She paused for a moment after running with Dashtan for quite a distance, sweat starting to appear around her temples. Likewise with her body, she felt the sweat starting to soak the sleeveless shirt she wore on the inside. The Persian Gulf, with its graceful color yet implicit depth, calmed Rakia as she gazed at the salt water that seemed to be shining in the morning sunlight.

“This is beautiful, I would pay anything for a view like this every day of my life.” Rakia said that earnestly. She once had a dream with Benjamin to have a house near the sea.

“You want a house around here? I can buy one for you.” Dashtan said that while also gazing at the sea, Rakia turned her head with a dumbfounded face. She didn’t understand whether anyone as wealthy as Dashtan could easily buy a luxury property at a fantastic price without worrying about falling into poverty.

“I can’t accept anything from you.”

“Why? Because you think we’ll divorce someday? And you’re afraid I’ll take back everything I gave you?”

The question and assumption struck Rakia. She swallowed and looked down for a moment, the sea breeze blowing through her hair.

“Isn’t that how it’s going to be? We’ve broken some agreements but with our consent, but half the agreements are still valid. Until you and I agree to actually end it.” Rakia let out a long sigh. Dashtan shoved both hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. He thought about ending the agreement but he was always conflicted by his own feelings for Rakia.

“I know, you can’t do it yet. Both you and I are still stuck in our past, about how to trust someone again. I won’t force anything between us.” Rakia spoke again after she knew Dashtan was thinking about something.

“Then, what do you want this marriage to be like? I’m starting to think about you loving me in this marriage.” Dashtan said his gaze half blankly staring at the sea. Rakia folded her arms across her chest and said, “We can’t love someone if we don’t know them. I don’t know you and neither do you know me.”

“I’ve known you for a long time,” Dashtan said in a half-whisper, his eyes now downcast. Rakia turned to the man with a faint crease on her forehead.

“Because you’ve been stalking me? How long have you been doing that?” asked Rakia who was finally able to discuss the things she had found in the man’s desk drawer.

“I’ve known your father since five years ago, when we met at a symposium with me and him as presenters. At that time, I was going to present my research for my professor’s degree. It was a great coincidence because we had many compatible ideas and thoughts even though our fields of study did not intersect at all. He was all about archaeology and nature, while I was all about science and technology. Nonetheless, we have the same goal of helping nature through human hands to become empowered again. We understand the crisis.”

Rakia could only stay silent and listen to Dashtan’s narration which somehow surprised her.

“He often told me about you, how he was very proud of your independent and strong personality, even though he felt like a failed father to you. He loves you and hopes you can achieve your dreams. I first heard about you through your father and that’s when I thought of finding out about you.”

Dashtan let a moment of silence take hold of them. Rakia really never thought that could happen. That her father would be so close to a handsome, wealthy, lonely man.

“Unfortunately back then, I was still too scared to start a relationship with a woman. Dalilah left such a clear and ugly mark on my life. She made me believe that I was special to her but in the end she gave up our relationship just to make a bigger profit through Steven’s family. I was able to help her at the time and promised to marry her, but what I didn’t know was that she had slept with other men during her relationship with me.”

For some reason, right now Rakia wanted to hug the man beside her and win him over. But all she could do was stand by and wait for Dashtan’s story to continue.

“Ever since she decided to marry Steven, I’ve had a crisis of confidence. It took time to go through it all alone, my work made me forget what I had been through and was going through at the time, but there comes a time when we can’t keep hiding and running away from the wounds. The pain will linger if left untreated. I tried to find out about you, but when I found out you were with another man, I stopped. I thought you must be happy with that man.”

The sound of seagulls as they crossed the bay area momentarily distracted Rakia from her silent thoughts. Dashtan also looked at the watch he was wearing.

“It’s almost nine o’clock, we should go home and have breakfast I also have an appointment with Dad.”

Rakia nodded and they left the place, taking the same direction they had come to return home.