Chapter 11
âBenaam Rishta Vo, Bechaen Karta Joâ
Razia closed the door behind her watching Humaira lean on Ayaanâs shoulder as he supported her up the staircase. She hadnât expected anything good to come out of the sinister plan that had been sprung upon her family, but this she could not complain about.
âHappy, arenât you?â
She turned to see Daadi standing to her side. She had a mind to put the senior citizen in her place but settled on just rolling her eyes. She didnât have time for this.
âThodi ton sharam karo razia, kisi roz usko bhi muh dikhana hai.â
âWhat do you want from me?â she spit out bitterly. She was only a hair away from snapping.
âHow could you do this to your own daughter? You forced my Ayaan into this marriage first and now you want to trick him into falling for her.â she yelled at her with disgust.
âWhat?â
âBut let me just tell you one thing, relationships built on pity never lastâ
Razia didnât know what she expected but it wasnât this temper tantrum.
âHow dare you? You think I would poison my daughter to get Ayaanâs pity?â she nearly shrieked out of her skin.
âJust in case you havenât noticed he is already in love with her. Aur rahi baat gunehgaar ki, to agle 24 ghanton mein vo bhi jail mein hogaâ
For once Daadi was shocked about words coming out of Raziaâs mouth. She had claimed it with such certainty, that she couldnât help but wonder.
And⌠what about the other declaration she had so confidently made? Was Ayaan really in love with Humaira? What if he was? Her entire family would become this sorceressâ pawn. She hoped it wasnât true and she still had a way to save her grandson.
âI am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and Iâve led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone whoâs ever lived: Iâve loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.â Ayaan finished off reading from book, The Notebook, apparently Humairaâs favorite.
A minute ago, she had thrown a complete fit over going to bed early.Everyone had come up with different ways trying to tire her to put her to sleep but to no avail. The girl was being totally unreasonable.
To Ayaanâs horror she had been adamant on him reading to her. Her meds were surely tampering with her brain. When he had asked about it, she had made him pull out a withered copy of the notebook. To her benefit, it would put someone in the room to sleep for sure. Nonetheless if this is what she wanted; he was ready to put himself through the torture.
He never understood why girls loved all this mushy, romantic stuff. But as he heard the words, reading along the lines, he suddenly realized that every word he had uttered in the last minute was as true to him as it was to Noah. He hadnât expected to enjoy this, but there he was pleasantly surprised.
Suddenly, he couldnât wait for the marriage to happen.
Asad paced around the living room, face livid, fists clenched behind his back. This had to be the worst day of the century. First, he could come up with nothing in the name of evidence, there was hardly even any garbage when he entered. How weird was that? He knew it hadnât been taken out since last night. And he didnât see the maid take out any when he entered.
Wonder if that evil witch chucked it out before them.
And as if that wasnât enough to send him into an incensed frenzy, Zoya had decided to stay out late with her loser best friend.
He glanced up at the clock again and the vein in his forehead ticked like the hands of the timepiece.
âAsad, at least sit down. Ajayegi Zoya, they must be stuck in trafficâ Dilshad tried to reassure him in a low calm voice.
â10:30 Ammi! 10:30! She is stuck in traffic at this hour!â
Dilshad decided to shut up and let the âfor nowâ restrained volcano bubble away in isolation. The mixture of his rules blended with the newfound jealousy was one bad show to be featured in.
âAllah Miyan! You look like a soaked monkeyâ
Everyone turned to the voice in the doorway as Zayn and Zoya entered the hall, him holding his jacket above the both of them as an umbrella.
Asad imagined the sound his bones would make if he backhanded him into the far wall.
âZoya, you are finally home! Weâve been worried, what happened to your phone?â
âSorry Phuphi, my phone died and Ladduâs malfunctioned in the rain.â She continued in a teasing tone arching her eyebrows in her friendâs direction. âJust replace your dabba already man, you work in tech for god sakeâsâ
âOh really! So, itâs my phoneâs fault that we are late and not the person who wanted to gobble down entire Bhopalâs chaat stands in one night? Ab hum yahan jayenge, ab hum wahan jayengeâ he chattered on mimicking her.
âPleaseee, your phone was a gone case even before it started rainingâ
âNo, it wasnâtâ
âYes, it wasâ
âNo, it wasnâtâ
âYes, it wasâ
âNO, IT WASNâTâ
âYES, IT WASâ
âZOYAâ
âZAYNâ
âMiss Faaroquiâ Asadâs dangerously polite voice ended their hallway banter. Dilshad had a feeling that the eruption had already took place somewhere in his brain.
âYou do realize that the people in this room were actually concerned about your whereabouts and could have used a memo beforehand about you meandering until midnightâ
âExcuse me?â
âI know aapka bahut khaas dost hai yaha, but you still need to respect the rules of this houseâ
âUmmâŚâ was all Zoya could manage before he decided to storm off to his room.
The image of her body brushing against Zayn, their forms clinging together, snug under the cover of his jacket still burned in the back of his mind.
The bang of his roomâs door brought her back to earth.
What was wrong with this man?
She had spent the entire day trying to get her morale up and just when she had started feeling a little bit better, he had washed it away like the puddle of water gathered at her feet.
But now he had done it. She has had enough of his tantrums.
He can stick up his rules where the sun donât shine for all I care.
Dilshad hid a smile when she saw Zoya march up to his room. She knew they were at their angry best, but she also knew they were both at the peak of admitting all that was unsaid. Ya Allah! Please let there be a confession. She had secretly already started singling out venues for their sagai.
âWhat the hell is your problem?â Zoya stormed through his door, only stopping for a mere second to admire his glare.
Get a grip Zoya! Jeez
Jaw locked and fists curled up, he purred back âWhat the hell is your problem?â
Allah Miyan! What is with this new angry yet silky smooth voice. Itâs much scarier than his usual gorilla fit, only hotter.
âWhat do you mean? I was merely hanging out with my friend.â, she retorted as soon as her breath returned to normal. Asad had now trapped her between himself and the door, his arms spread out on either side of her face.
âSo? His glorious self couldnât do it by himselfâ, he closed his eyes immediately as he listened to how dumb it sounded.
âExcuse me, what is that supposed to mean?â
He opened his eyes to recollect himself but her close proximity, the wet clothes sticking to her figure and her trembling lower lip didnât help.
âIt means that I donât care if he wants you to be his tour guide, you need to respect the rules of this houseâ And if he gives you one more âfriendlyâ hug, I will personally kill him.
Maybe it was his hot and cold advances lately or his stare boring into hers, his rude words from the night before or the way his eyes would glaze over her lips every now and thenâ but something in her snapped. She was tired of these torments and his dumb double signals.
âRules, wow, you are talking about rules. The man who yells at me whenever and wherever he pleases, who forgets all his tehzeeb and tameez when it comes to me is talking about rules now? Hereâs a thought, why donât you go and learn some beginner-rules at the school of politeness first Mr. Khanâ she finally lashed out.
He had a mind to step away for her angry eyes were hypnotizing him, but then again something in him had snapped too.
âMeri baat abhi khatam nai hui haiâ she shut him up when he opened his mouth to speak.
Ok, clearly talking isnât going to help distract me. Letâs stay angry Asad. Stay angry!
âYou have insulted me, my family and my upbringing over and over again. Telling me I am a misfit, judging me at every chance you getâZoya lamented, her voice breaking down with each word. His fantasies evaporated into thin air as soon as he heard her voice break.
Please donât beat yourself over me. I was an idiot.
âBut let me ask you a question Mr. Asad Ahmed Khan, who gave you the right to question me? Who gave you the right to preach about boundaries when you donât know how to stay within yoursâ she reminded him sparing a glance at his entrapping arms.
He finally decided to put some distance between them and took a step back. He could handle the brunt of her anger, but her self-sabotage he could not endure.
Zoya on the other hand was barely holding it together.She gave herself a little pep talk in her head lest she break down in front of him, and soldiered on, â I am sorry I am taking so much space in your house but now that Zayn is here, I donât see how that would be a problem for you for too longâ With that she pushed him away and stormed out before he could let another word out.
He looked at her retreating back with his ânoâ stuck in his throat.
It indeed was the worst day of the century.
Edited by Vintageflower - 4 years ago
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