You Will Be My Ruin

Chapter 23

Ahad

I wasn't fully recovered from the shock Bhai had given me. He had proposed to Mira which meant he was damn serious about her. What made me think he wasn't in the first place? I felt like an idiot. I was still in a daze of my own when I stepped inside the room, my eyes drifting towards Layla, who was engaged in a talk with her father, their faces calm and composed.

'I'll go home and ask the maid to help me pack up your stuff,' I heard Uncle Hayaat saying that to Layla.

'No, Dad, it's all right. I'll be getting discharged today. I'll see to the packing myself. Don't get yourself exhausted. You've just come back from a long-hour flight. You need to rest,' she said in response.

'Packing? For what?' I found myself interrupting their conversation all at once.

As soon as they heard my voice, they stopped talking and glanced at my side. For a second, I felt guilty of interrupting a father-daughter conversation but then I realized they were discussing something that I had the right to know about.

Uncle Hayaat's face stiffened for a fleeting moment as he passed a glance at me and then back at Layla.

'Honey, have you told Ahad about our plan?' Uncle Hayaat asked his daughter almost in a whisper, loud enough for me to understand.

My brows creased in confusion or fury, I couldn't know.

I saw a shadow of guilt pass over Layla's face as she looked at me, her eyes pleading with embarrassment. She then looked back at her father and slightly shook her head. Uncle Hayaat was intelligent enough to follow his daughter's gesture. After quickly analyzing the situation, he took hold of Layla's hand and spoke to her.

'I guess I should leave you two to talk. I'm waiting outside,' he said, letting go of her hand and then stood on his feet, not able to meet my eyes.

'I'll see you in a bit, Dad,' Layla said, her voice thick with guilt.

Uncle Hayaat looked at me briefly and gave me a nod before he walked outside, closing the door behind him. I slowly turned my gaze towards Layla, my heart hammering loudly inside my chest.

'So... you're... you're leaving?' I finally asked, breaking the silence between us before taking too long.

'Yes,' she said, her stricken face was contorted with worry. 'I wanted to tell you about it but this happened.' She gestured towards the hospital room with her free hand and then fell quiet.

'When do you leave?' I crossed my arms across my chest, pretending to be normal about the entire situation.

'In two days,' she said.

Nodding, I slowly digested her words, making my way towards her until I sat down next to her on the edge of the bed. She didn't speak anything neither did I. Both of us waited for each other to say something for the next few seconds. I decided to break the silence once again because I knew Layla was too embarrassed to say anything.

'Layla, are you sure you wanna go?' I asked her, keeping my voice low.

'I have no good reason to stay here for some more time, Ahad,' she said, looking up at me.

'Am I not a good enough reason for you to stay back?' I asked, hurt by the choice of her words.

'Don't say that! You know it's not like that...' she protested but then fell quiet. 'Ahad... I'm not going to NY forever. I'll be back soon. I just need some time for myself. I need to do something right before I no longer can. This NY job is what I've been dreaming for a long time and you know how important it is for me.'