Asya FF ~ Dekh Dilne Seekhli Baatein Sufiyana ~

Chapter 7

Koi bole dariya hai...koi maane sehra hai

"What?" Zoya exclaimed at the breakfast table driving Asad's eyes on her. She had been saying that for the last five minutes taking small intervals in between.

"What even...how...when?... Aapi I... I can't" her speech deteriorated more and more as she tried to speak up to get some words in at what seemed like an argument her Aapi was winning. His ears perked. Something wasn't right. Zoya looked...restless.

He put his coffee down as he observed her more openly now. She then suddenly disconnected the receiver and held her head in her hands a second later.

Asad was really starting to panic now, one of his biggest fears reverberating in his mind.

Did she tell you to come back? Don't...leave...

"Are you okay, Ms. Faaroqui?"

"Allah Miyan, what's wrong with you? Do I look okay?"

 He gulped.

"What is it?" he questioned patiently.

Nothing. He tried again.

"Ms. Faaroqui?"

"Aapi has foghj me grfd" her words came out all muffled as she tried not to break down.

"Jee?"

"Aapi has found me a groom, Mr. Khan" she finally yelled in his face looking up, tears streaming down her face in full force "and I can't talk her out of it this time" she finished in a whisper.

Did his heart stop first or his breath, he didn't know. His past experience told him that Zoya and Nikaah in one sentence spelled disaster, but this time destruction will be all his...loss will be all his.

As the seconds ticked by, he tried to find his voice in midst of her sniffles...his eyes stinging of their own accord.

It was serious, his gut said. He had never seen Zoya look so defeated before.

He didn't know what took over him, but he found himself reaching for her hand as her body shook with muted sobs.

She didn't say it, but he knew, she was still very emotionally vulnerable. She had come out fully strapped with her bag and ipad the other day ready to go about her daily routine. Only she had forgotten that she didn't need to look for him anymore. The look on her face as she realised still haunted his senses. 

"I promised her" her tortured voice brought him back. When she looked up at him, she must have found something encouraging as she continued "When I had expressed my wish to stay in India, Aapi had let me stay on one condition. I know she will never force me again, but I promised her, promised her I wouldn't say no." She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand carrying on. "It's just that I've let her down once and she keeps blaming herself for it. What happened with Akr...it wasn't her fault. I never want her to feel like she didn't do, what she felt was best for me. I always want her to know I trust her."

Just as Zoya realized how easy it was to open her heart to him, Asad listened quietly trying to make sense of her words and emotions.

He knew a girl like her was capable of loving strangers. She had so much compassion inside her even for a man like him...a man who had been nothing but rude and crude to her.

Maybe her promise came from a place of love just like her sister, but it wasn't right. He understood she felt obligated maybe even indebted, even though she wouldn't admit it­– perhaps not even to herself.

His next decision was made in a split second.

Asad knew more than anything who he was going to do this for. He had always shied away from thinking about that day...that one day she will be out of reach from his fingertips, with her hand in someone else's.