Kinza - The Dark Love

Chapter 15

KINZA

We walked out of the office, and I glanced at Nouman Khan. He moved towards the car blankly, as if he didn’t know where he was. He was about to open the car door for me, but I put my hand on his. He gulped and looked into my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, forcing a slight smile.

I looked into his eyes, my heart aching for him. Holding his cheeks, I cupped them gently.

“This is wrong,” I told him softly. He raised his eyebrows, confused. “You hiding your feelings is wrong.”

He stared at me for a moment, his eyes searching mine. I smiled at him and opened my arms.

“Want a hug?” I asked, offering him comfort.

He blinked at me, looking like he was trying to decide if he should let his guard down. I was about to dismiss the hug, thinking he would decline, when he suddenly stepped into my arms, pulling me close.

We stood there for a while in silence, just holding each other. The weight of everything we had just heard was heavy on both of us.

“What are you feeling right now?” I asked in a whisper, my voice barely audible.

He kept hugging me, his grip tightening slightly. “I don’t know. I can’t define it. It’s anger, sadness, and everything in between,” he said, his voice full of pain.

I held him tighter, trying to offer him some solace. “It’s okay to feel all of that. It’s okay to not have the answers right now.”

He nodded against my shoulder, his breath warm on my neck. “I just... I thought I knew my mother. I thought I knew everything, I thought she had been murdered and now, everything feels like a lie.”

I pulled back slightly to look at him, my hands still on his cheeks. “We’ll figure this out together. You don’t have to carry this burden alone.”

His eyes softened, and for a moment, I saw the vulnerability he always tried to hide. “Thank you, Kinza. For being here. For not giving up on me.”

“I could never give up on you, Nouman. We’ve been through too much together,” I said, my voice steady. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

He sighed, a deep, shuddering breath. “I just... I hate feeling this powerless. Knowing that my mother, your mother, they did all this. They put us through hell.”

I nodded, understanding his frustration. “We have each other now. And we’ll get through this. We’ll find Rashid, and we’ll make sure he pays for what he did.”

Nouman’s eyes hardened at the mention of Rashid  “He’s not going to get away with it. I’ll make sure of that.”

I smiled, a determined smile that mirrored his resolve. “We’ll make sure of that. Together.”

He took another deep breath and then stepped back, letting go of me but not of the connection we had. “You’re right. We need to stay strong. For each other.”

I nodded, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “Exactly. And we will.”

We got into the car, and as he started the engine, I glanced at him. “Do you want to talk more about it? Or do you want some silence?”

He gave me a small, genuine smile, the first real one I’d seen since we left my mother’s office. “Talking helps. It always helps when it’s with you.”