Faurah

Chapter 25

He was trying to mess with me. I shouldn't have even bothered to acknowledge that Haroon was messaging me.

I rolled my eyes and was about to block him but the last message was in the form of a video. In the thumbnail I could see Arfan sitting at the work's security room. I clicked on the video and tears welled up in my eyes.

Arfan was stitching together the video of me and him in the car park to make it out as we were doing things which we weren't. Changing up the angles and downloading it from the computer onto a pen drive. The video was blurry but I could easily make out my husband's features.

My heart felt as though it had been shattered into a million pieces. I trusted him. I married him and this is where that got me. It hadn't even been one night at my marital home and my marriage was at rock bottom.

I turned in Arfan's arms, his chest heaving up and down with every snore. I felt disgust and pushed myself away from his body, scattered out of bed and backing away from him until I bumped into the wall. I slid down onto the floor and broke out into sobs. It couldn't be true, could it?

Arfan had been amazing, why would he do this to me? To send a suggestive video like that around to people. The phone in my hand pinged again.

Now do you see?- Haroon

Droplets crashed onto the screen and frustration crawled further up my throat making it hard for me to breathe. I didn't feel safe. What if Arfan was the one who ordered that attack on me. I couldn't be in that room with him, in that apartment. Maybe that's why he rushed the marriage. Why would he do that to me? I don't understand what I ever did to him to make me hate me this much.

I decided I couldn't stay there. It was ridiculous to think I could be loved. To believe someone actually wanted to spend the rest of their life with me. I grabbed a bag from the closet and started stuffing my clothes in there as fast as I could.

Once I was ready to go I made my way to the door but I heard Arfan in a dazed state drunk on sleep call out for me, "Faurah?" I rushed to open the door but I was too late when he gripped my upper arm gently and turned me around to face him. His hair was disheveled and confusion was evident on his features. He looked at my face, to my bag and back, "where are you going?"

My body was shaking. This was the man who fooled me into thinking we were made for each other, strung me along, made me believe he was the one for me, manipulated me, hired someone to attack me and make me... make me fall in love with him. It was all too much. The lies, the secrets. How could he?!

He reached out to carefully caress my wet face, "what's wrong?"

Pain was written all over my face no doubt. I slapped his hand away which started him. He stumbled back and looked genuinely pained by my reaction. "Don't you dare touch me! Not after what you've done."

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

I switched on my phone and showed him the video. "This."

His eyes widened and his speech hastened, "It's not what it looks like! I-I can explain, Faurah-"

"Don't call me that! How can you explain that? The video shows you clearly! Did you or did you not send that video to Haroon?"

"Fau- Iman I would never do anything to hurt you."

"Did you or did you not?"

His head was hung down and his eyes apologetic. "I did but-"

"That's all I needed to hear." I spat, I turned to leave expecting him to stop me but he didn't. I was happy that he didn't because I didn't want him to see the onslaught of tears that came after I shut the door closed behind me.

All I heard before I finally stepped in the faintest whisper was "please don't go."