CHAPTER ONE
Zara
Zara, don't be scared, she repeated in her head. This is a gated community, they would have called if there was someone from outside who'd come to "meet" you. They always call on the intercom. It must a neighbor, asking for sugar or here to welcome you. She took a deep breath again, slowly letting it out through her mouth.
Thump, the door sounded again.
She pulled open the door then. Eyes down, she looked at the shoes that emerged from behind the door. She expected the lash of a belt on her knees or the lash of his words on her mind. She waited... scared to even look up. He never liked when she meet her eyes. He liked her to be submissive, to keep her eyes down, and always take what he gave her.
"Are you all right, ma'am?" A deep voice sounded, making Zara jump. She wasn't expecting this. She was expecting him to be here, ready to bring her to the edge of mortality again. She wanted to scream in relief. Shaking her head, she had opened her eyes and had looked up to...
There were no words to describe the man in front of her. He must be a couple of years older than her, but his eyes held wisdom like he was so many years older than he looked. He wore khaki pants and a button-down black shirt, the buttons protesting against his powerful chest. Zara's breath caught in her throat, and she looked up into his eyes. His eyes... there were no words to describe the warmth they held in them. Zara felt that she could lose herself into those eyes forever and still want more.
"Ma'am?" His deep voice shook her out of her reverie. She gulped in a huge amount of air, "Are you all right?"
"Yes." Zara croaked. Great. The first guy to ever treat you nicely and ask you how you are, and you croak. Shaking her head, she swallowed. "Yes, I'm alright." Much better, Zara thought.
"Well, you weren't answering the door for a while and so I had to thump pretty loudly. I didn't mean to scare you."
"No, um." Zara shook her head, feeling a little light-headed. "How may I help you?"
"Right, huh." The man shakes his head too, looking down as if he is embarrassed about something. Did Zara just catch him looking at her? Ha, she laughed. As if he'll find her pretty. With the big jagged souvenir of the first time she had been brave running down her cheek, she bet everyone found her pretty irresistible.
"Sir?" She asked, waiting impatiently for this man to say whatever he wants and then be on his way. Don't get her wrong, she didn't mind the view or even the sound of his deep voice. But she could feel her relief taking over her, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She couldn't cry in front of a complete perfect stranger, now could she? She shook her head and continued to look at her feet.
"Right. Your, um, I'm... your... new neighbor." Zara wanted to believe that he was nervous because he liked her, and not because he felt awkward by her scar. Everyone she had ever met had wanted to ask how it happened and it had made them uncomfortable because they felt they couldn't address it. They looked at her with sorrow in her eyes, like she was a victim. What they didn't know, was that she might have been a victim once... but now she was a survivor.
"Oh? Well, nice to meet you. My name is Zara." She extended her hand before she could even think, and then quickly extracted it back before he could shake it. What was she even thinking? She hadn't even been able to stand anyone touching her shoulder for a millisecond or sharing a room with her friend of seven years, and now she had extended her hand to shake a stranger's hand? This man was messing up with her senses. She shook her head slightly, looking up at his beautiful face. His kind eyes, so confused with the disaster that stands before him. He looked so adorably confused at that moment, Zara wanted to smile.
This thought shocked her more than her ability to extend her hand to shake it did. She didn't actually want to smile, did she? She hadn't smiled, hadn't really smiled since the incident with him happened. She felt trapped, no way to escape the harsh reality of truth.
"Kabeer. With two e's." The voice replied. Kabeer... that was his name. Zara looked up at the man, who now had a name, and she couldn't place where she'd seen him. She had seen him before, that much she knew for sure. But where she couldn't remember. The way his eyes searched hers... it felt all too familiar. She knew him from somewhere.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Kabeer. I'm guessing you moved into 2A?" This fake confidence, this front, that Zara had on could easily fool anybody. The took her to be an extrovert, someone who isn't scared of anything or anyone. But she was... she was so scared it choked her to death sometimes.
"Yes." He nodded, still looking at her as if he was in some sort of a daze. Don't fool yourself, Zara. He looks like that, do you really think there is any chance he likes a girl like you? Tainted, like you are? Damaged goods?
Her hand subconsciously reached her cheek, covering the memory of the night she had spent years trying to forget when Kabeer's hand lifted suddenly. His hand approached hers on her cheek, and he lightly wrapped his fingers around her palm.
"Never be ashamed of who you are, Zara. God made you beautiful." And he dropped her hand from his cheek and left.
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