Mine to Love

9. Something from the past.

Maria's POV:

I jolted up from my slumber, hearing to the incisive sound of the gunshot. The sound was coming from outside the room and Sheryaar wasn't in the room. His absence frightened me to death.

What if they kill-

No.!

No. That's impossible.

He said we are safe here and there are many security guards in the house. How can someone break into the house when there are so many guards?

They are above the police. Sheryaar had told me last night.

I heard another shot. My mind went hazy and I jumped out of the soft blanket. Cold floor hit my soles making me shiver. Fear and concern hijacked my mind. My legs trembled and I fell on the floor with my face directly hitting the white marbles.

Ouch!

The pain was unbearable but I still tried to get up. I felt the metallic taste on my lips. Upon touching my nose, my fingers covered with bright red color.

My nose was bleeding. It intensified my fear and I felt myself blacking out.

Wiping the blood with the back of my hand, I continue my trail of steps to the lounge. Outside the room, everything was deadly silent. A dreadful silence that could scrape your skin with fear.

But I wasn't terrified anymore because there was no place for fear in my mind. Thoughts of sheryaar had already occupied it. Tears were blurring my view and blood was oozing like a waterfall. My heart lost its original pace and was beating abnormally.

When I didn't find him in the lounge, I ran in the direction of the main door. My strides were long and fast. My mind was numb and my limbs were trembling.

I hugged myself, wrapping the arms around my torso and kept walking. Before I could open the door, a big hand caught my wrist.

That wasn't Sheryaar. And I was sure of it.

I was turned around with a force.

"Hey, sister where are you going?" It was Armaan. Smile embellished on his lips as usual. When I turned my face in his direction, his eyes widened.

"Your nose is bleeding, Sister. What hap-..."

"Armaan! Sherry... Sherry is no- not in the roo- room. And guns- gunshots."I cut him in the middle of the sentence. My words were coming out in a jumble.

Nothing was making sense. Not my words, neither the situation.

"Gunshots? You must be dreaming, sister." He said smilingly.

His smile was infuriating me and the continuous flowing of blood making my vision blur but I put together my strength because it's not the time to blackout. My husband is in trouble and I can't afford to vanish away from the mess, again.

"And Sheryaar is out for some work. He will be here anytime soon. You shouldn't be worried about him but for yourself. Look your nose is bleeding. Come, let me clean it before the monster of your husband come and break my nose and I don't want my nose to be deformed." He said holding his nose. His hilarity was boiling my blood.

"Armaan.!! SHERYAAR IS NOT IN THE ROOM AND I WASN'T DREAMING. I HEARD GUNSHOTS." My intonation depicted the fury burning in my eyes. My screams hit the roof and echoed in the spacious hall. The playful smile on his face vanished and his features were now displaying seriousness.

I fell with my knees hitting the floor and he kneeled in front of me. I let my tears flow freely. I was terrified.

Terrified of losing him. Losing my Sherry.

"Hey sister, Don't cry. Sheryaar is out for some work and he i-...." He paused.

The main door clicked open silencing him. We both turned our heads in the direction of the door.

The door opened and there he was standing shirtless. His body was soaked in sweat and few damped strands of hair hanging before his eyes. He was breathing heavily. Wrathful expression was prominent on his face. His eyes were radiating fury and his sharp Jaw tightened to its maximum limit. Despite his dangerous expressions, I raised on my feet and ran towards him. My head spun due to excessive bleeding and I stumbled. My head stroke with his hard chest and his arms came around my waist securely.

I somehow tried to raise my head. My eyes witnessed his change of expressions. His eyes softened and jaw relaxed. I placed my arms on his broad chest and let the darkness embrace me.

_________

She was lying semi-unconscious in his arms. Her helpless figure revived the painful memories of his past, in his mind.

Flashback.

Sheryaar! I don't want to die. I want to live with you. I want to be happy with you. Please, sher don't let me die.

"I'm here Bella. I'm here, with you. Nothing is going to happen. You're not going to die. Trust me."

His heart squeezed seeing her quivering body. The pain was unbearable. He knew it. She was clutching his shirt in a tight grip whenever the jolts of pain shuddered her fragile figure. Her eyes were pleading for life but he was helpless. He caressed her hair to comfort her but that wasn't working. Painful twinges worsened and her screams echoed in the room, shattering his heart.

"Sher...!"

One by one, tears flowed from her eyes. He patted her head trying to relax her quivering body. Her breaths became uneven and eyes lost their shine.

"Sher, please.!" She whispered and the tears of helplessness gushed out of his eyes. She was dying in his arms. His love of life was pleading for her life but he was helpless.

He hugged her tightly. His tears were drenching her hairs and her pleas stabbing his heart. Her movements ceased. The squirming figure went numb. Her eyes were open but there wasn't any glitter of life. A lone tear slipped from her eye. Asphyxiating silence engulfed them. He loosens his grip around her lifeless body and looks in her eyes. Though her soul had separated from her body still her eyes were pleading. His lungs captured an extra amount of air without puffing it out. Now it was he, who was trembling. He exhaled slowly squeezing his throat.

She left him.

Her innocent soul fought against the cruel world but she lost.

She lost everything.

She lost her life.

She died.

End of Flashback:

A solitary tear escaped his eye. It had been a decade since any liquid crossed the margin of his eyes and made its way down his cheeks. He had killed the monsters brutally who made her first love suffer. Those monsters were the reason, he became a monster himself.

A feeble punch on his chest broke the trail of his past. Maria was trying to open her eyes. Her face was displaying the mixed emotions of pain and concern. She was worried about her husband but the bleeding nose was hurting. Armaan stood there in bewilderment. He had never seen any drop shedding from his eyes. But today sheryaar was crying.

That was the most unusual thing about sheryaar. The furious beast just let the tear escape his eye.? He just showed a hint of weakness.! He was known for his brutality and ruthlessness. His single intensive glance could have your skin scratch with fear. And now he was kneeling there, helpless and broken.

"Sherry..!" Her whisper c*m plea broke the thick layer of thoughts and bewilderment and brought both of the men back to the earth. Sheryaar wiped his only tear, lift his head up and Armaan rushed out of the door, understanding the unspoken words.

Sheryaar carried his bleeding beauty in his arms to the bedroom. Her eyes were closed but her lips were slightly parted and the only word came out of her mouth was Sherry.

He placed her carefully on the bed and turned to get something to clean her bleeding nose but her feeble grip on his arm retrieved him back. He grasped her hand in a soft grip and kissed her forehead. She instantly closed her eyes as his lips made contact with her forehead.

"I'm here. Let me just get you something to stop the blood." He tried to reason but she wasn't ready to let him go.

She was afraid. Her moistened eyes were pleading him to stay. Her innocent facial features were making it difficult for him. Her grip wasn't strong but her pleas were. Her tears were breaking the wall that he had built a decade ago. He was feeling the emotions again that he used to feel. His heart has found its rhythm back.

The door snapped wide opened and Armaan along with a lady doctor entered. She checked maria and cleaned her blood. Armaan told sheryaar something in his ear and left.

"She is alright now. The wound wasn't serious but the bleeding could have caused worst damage if had not stopped on time." She said after examining her.

"Leave." His voice echoed in the silence occupied room. The doctor gathered her stuff and ran out of the room. Maria glanced at her husband narrowing her eyes.

"What?" Sheryaar asked reading the angry expression of his wife.

"Why you have to be rude to every other person. She was a doctor for God's sake, sherry." She said in her shrill voice.

"So?" He said not affected by her angry voice. She shook her head and sighed feeling defeated.

"How did you get your nose bleeding?" He asked examining her face. But the beauty was angry. She didn't reply.

"Maria." His voice saturated with an intimidating warning but the beauty was too enraged to worry about his fury.

"He has to understand. Everyone deserves respect." She thought.

Sheryaar was gnashing his teeth in fury. Nobody ever dared to ignore him but here his beauty was paying no attention. He couldn't hurt his beauty So he threw his phone on the floor, quenching his anger. Beauty flinched closing her eyes but still didn't say a single word.

He hovered above her and connected his intensive gaze with her innocent one.

"I.have.asked.you.something." He said each and every word slowly and prominently, clenching his perfect jaws.

He tried to keep himself calm but again ignorance of beauty infuriated him. He punched the pillow on the side of lying beauty. She flinched again closing her eyes and shrinking herself in a thin figure. He watched her every move with his furious eyes. She opened her eyes to see her beast. The lava of fury was still boiling inside him. The eyes of beauty instantly moistened and her lips quivered.

His angry look was penetrating through her heart, shattering it into zillion pieces She can't bear his anger.

Why he has to behave beastly all the time?

Edges of her lips bowed down as she sniffed. Her nose tip turned red and tears slipped from her eyes. Sheryaar closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. Without saying another word, he stormed out of the room.

"You killed him?" Armaan asked him. Disbelief was written all over his face.

Sheryaar just nodded.

Armaan puffed combing his hair with his slender finger.

"You could have tried something else instead of using a gun." He said sprawling on the couch with his fingers intertwined behind his head.

"Your wife was already terrified of all this and now as you have seen her condition, I don't think she could be able to survive anymore in this milieu."

Sheryaar made him shut his rattling with his dangerous glare.

"Get the plane ready. We're are leaving in an hour." Sheryaar ordered him. He was lost somewhere. God knows what dangerous was running in his mind.

"But what about your wife."

"WE ARE LEAVING IN AN HOUR." His pitch of voice announced his anger and Armaan rise from the couch shaking his head.

"Sheryaar!" A high pitch scream followed by a sound of something falling snapped their heads in the direction of the room. A room where the beauty was lying. Armaan stopped in his tracks and Sheryaar ran to rescue his beauty.

As he opened the door, the sight in front of him widened his eyes. His heart skipped a beat and his back hit the wall.

"Baby." A whisper escaped his soft lips as his heart squeezed at the view in front of him.