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“What took you so long?” Marwa was irritated.

“What is your problem? You really think hurrying is going to solve anything?", I asked as I got out of the bike and made my way into the café.

“Whatever. What are we going to do now? What if Rayaan gets her?”

“He is going to try and get her eventually.”

She stared at me in shock and asked, “what do you mean? Did you talk to him? Why is he here ?”

“The last time I spoke to him was in the US when I met him during his treatment at the rehab. And he was very certain that he wanted Safa back.”

“Why!”

“Because we had a rather unpleasant conversation. I thought he was just trying to scare me but it doesn't seem like he was.”

She punched me and went in for another blow but I managed to save myself the second time and said, “look it wasn’t intentional.”

“What did you talk about? Safa said that you recorded all your conversations with him. Do you have the last one? ”

Hesitantly, I nodded my head and pulled out my phone. I had recorded those conversations as a proof in case something went wrong but it had turned into an audiobook with everyone hooked to it.

“Aah I’ve missed you”, he said sarcastically.

“If that makes you feel any better then I’ve missed you too.”

Awwh isn’t that cute. Did you leave your masculinity outside the door?”

“Since when has being nice become feminine?”

“ ‘Beng nice’ is just a strained way of getting to the point.”

“Wow. You are one hell of a piece."

“I agree. No wonder you come crawling back even though you cannot stand the mere sight of me.”

“I come here because Safa wants to know about your well-being.”

“Oh please. I know why men do this for women. You are a man, aren't you?

“Care to explain?”

“You are here to know whether or not I’m going to come back for Safa. You really think I’m so naive to not see that? Are you scared to lose her again?”

“She is just a friend.”

“A friend?" *Laughs* "You mean like friends with benefits? So what are you benefiting from this friendship? From what I see, you are getting fucked by her and not literally.”

“I don’t have to explain my relationship with Safa to anyone, especially you.”

“Oh you sure do! Fucking around with my wife. You really think I’m going to let this go so easy? You really think she won’t be held accountable for this heinousness?”

“She won’t be your wife for long.”

“Ha ha ha. She’s going to be my wife until her last breath.”

“You really underestimate her.”

“Do I? She is never going to leave me and I’m not going to leave her either.”

“Why?”

“Oh come on. She is so co-operative. We fullfill each other’s needs. We complete each other.” He laughed hysterically.

“You are a horrible husband. She is never going to come back to you.”

“I’ve always loved challenges. And this one in particular interests me a great deal.”

“Just shut up. You are just a piece of shit who is going to rot in here forever.”

“Oh how much I love your company.” He laughed again.

“After that I left.”

She sat there thinking and said, “Couldn’t you keep your mouth shut? Why were you instigating him?”

“Ok that’s enough. There’s a limit to which I can tolerate disrespect.”

“Oh really? That man is going to kill my sister and you are concerned about being disrespected?”

“If you want us to work together then we need to set some ground rules and the first rule is that we are going to be nice to each other.”

Her eyes threw daggers at me but she didn’t have a choice but to nod in agreement.

“Rule number 2, we will inform each other of every move that we are going to make.”

I looked at her to see if she was going to protest to that as keeping me informed wasn’t one of her strong suits. Reluctantly she nodded.

“And rule number 3, the most important one. We need to stick to the plan no matter what.”

“What is the plan?”

“First of all, we need to eat something as my brain doesn’t work on an empty stomach.”

I ordered breakfast for both of us as she didn’t want to eat anything. I saw that my every move was just triggering her and I had to get her to calm down.

“Look. You are like my sister and this isn’t going to work. I know that you care about Safa and I do too. But you have to tell me why are you angry with me!”

“You ‘really’ want to know why I’m angry with you? Then listen.” She sighed and shut her eyes tight before continuing,  “you claim to love her but yet you are so calm like her misery doesn’t make any difference to you. Can't you see how much she has changed? You saw her in her panic attack. You saw her fighting for life and death in that hospital. It’s hard to believe that you love her.”

“Am I supposed to be all sad, not shower, not eat and be miserable just to show that I love her? I’m sorry, but that’s not love. Love is putting up a strong face even though you’re breaking inside. Love is prioritizing your mind over your heart in difficult times because your heart will only worry about the problem but the mind will solve it.”

Just as I was talking, the waiter arrived with our food and we had to put on a fake smile to greet him.

As soon as he left I continued, “This is not the time to be angry and vent it out on each other, but to be smart and handle the issue in hand. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I know the truth and that is enough for me.”

I took a deep breath and dived right into my plate. Marwa just sat there processing what I had blurted out and leaned towards me and said, “I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright. I don’t doubt your intentions but I would really appreciate if you could loose the attitude.”

“I can do that.”

“Did you have breakfast?”

She shook her head and I signed her to eat. Hesitantly, she pulled out the fork and took a bite.

“So what is the plan?”

“Well the plan right now is to get Safa to file for a divorce. Once she does that, half of our worries will be overcome.”

“I guess, but will she agree?”

“She actually agreed to do that. Now what I want from you is to get it done today.” I pulled out the papers and handed them over to her.

She read it and asked me in surprise, “When did you make these divorce papers?”

“Well I was working on it for a while now and they arrived yesterday.”

“We can’t take any step without talking to my parents. There are divorce terms here which Safa and my family need to approve first.”

“Don’t worry, I have been in touch with your father and he knows about this. I wouldn’t had taken such a big step without talking to him.”

It had been a while since I had seen a genuine smile on her face. Her smile took me to the time when she was just going to school and the way she would smile at me when she met me as I dropped Safa home from work.

“I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Well you can start off by finished your breakfast and then heading home to get Safa’s signatures on these.”

She nodded. The way she ate, it felt like she hadn’t eaten in a while and as her stress reduced, her appetite increased. Which actually made me really happy.

Later that evening, Marwa visited me to hand over the signed divorce papers and I filed them first thing the next morning.


I thought everything was going to work out as I had filed for the divorce papers and Safa was slowly opening up to me. I could see the jist of my old Safa in her but it was a long way before I truly found her. Though I did miss her, there was something about this Safa which pulled me towards her stronger than before.

**********

Things couldn’t have been better but fate had a different plan. It couldn’t see me happy, why would it? But I didn’t get discouraged. A little setback was normal and all great love stories are known for the struggles that they overcame ‘together’.

First Ayaan texts Safa and then me. I hated him enough to not see him ever again but worried enough that I had to meet him to know what was going on in his wicked mind. It was hard but I had to do it. It’s funny how the ones we hate the most are sometimes the only ones who can save us.

Being the one who was waited on was always my forte but this was different. If I were to wait for Safa, I would do it with pleasure but for Ayaan, it just made me down right mad. It had been more than half an hour since I was waiting but there was no sign of him.

My phone beeped and I hoped that it was Ayaan and his text read.

I won’t be able to make it today. See you tomorrow.

I knew very well that he was doing it on purpose. Of course he wanted to see me in misery. I enjoyed seeing him miserable too and he was just returning the favor. And the worst part of it all? He met Safa later that evening. Though her parents weren’t pleased with him, Safa convinced them to listen to him once.

“Rayan? I need to tell you something.”

“Yes my sunshine, you can tell me anything and everything.”

There was silence but I could tell that she was blushing on the other side of the phone.

“I don’t know how to tell this but Ayaan wants to meet me.”

I sat up from my bed and got tense. So this was the reason for her silence.

“Ok.” That was a safe word to use.

I knew that this day would come. I was so focused on getting closer to Safa that I forgot to get Ayaan away from her. It’s not like I belong to some powerful family to get things done. I just had to wait and see what happens.

“I told him to come home in the evening.” It made me furious.

I was about to tell her that Ayaan and I were due to meet at noon but didn’t want her to know about it. It was great, I could meet and threaten him. In my mind, I wanted to shout at her. How could she even think of meeting him? Doesn’t she remember what he did to her?

“I thought it was over between you two.”

“The divorce isn’t final yet. Until then he’s still my husband and he wants to meet me. His mother is coming too.”

“Great!” Just one maniac wasn’t enough, his mother had to join.

“Please be careful of his mother.” That’s the only piece of advice I could give her.

“Why?”

I could not tell her about Marwa and my little escape during our trip. So I had to go with what everyone does.

“I’m not getting a good feeling about her.”

“Alright.”


Marwa had agreed to give me a call during Ayaan and his mother’s visit. I was hoping to listen to their entire conversation but to vain. These TV series and movies can be very deceitful. All I could hear was Marwa’s voice and faint murmurs. Disappointed, I had to disconnect the call and wait patiently for Marwa to give me updates later.

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