Chapter 22

"I've always been a broken man, Zoya. Having a father who left me and my mother and sister for another woman, I've hated my life. Then you just came into it and showed me what the word "life" really meant. Tell me, Zoya. How would you feel if you found out that the person whom your life started to revolve around tried to kill you?" He asked her. Zoya watched him silently before she reached up and touched his cheek softly, the lightest touch that one would probably not feel, but Asad felt it, for she had not touched his cheek but his inner being. Almost as if struck with an awakening, Zoya realised that it was not his fault that he didn't trust her. Life had played an awful game with him, a game that she was a player of herself.

"I would try and find out the truth," Zoya whispered gently before she closed the gap between their lips, her anger and frustration all forgotten and blatantly unaware of the danger that still loomed over her and her lover's head.

Asad didn't know what hit him. One second he was yelling at her and the next she was kissing him with a passion beyond recognition. Abandoning all rationality, he wound his arms around her waist and kissed her back with equal passion.

Zoya felt his hand slip down to her thighs and she was lifted up, her legs wrapping around his waist as he turned and placed her down against the cushions of the gazebo.

Her lips parted and his tongue dashed into her mouth, trailing every crevice of her mouth. Memorising her. She tugged him closer than he was already, desperately needing the relief of having his hard body against hers.

What are you doing, Zoya? Her mind screamed at her.

He trusted that Billi over you! How could you give up on yourself so easily?

I don't care. I don't care whom he trusted. Right now, I have him for myself and I will enjoy every minute of it before he reverts to hating me. Zoya argued with her mind, before shutting it off completely and focussing on the tongue that was rubbing against hers, demanding her attention.

At this moment, if someone had pulled Asad back and told him he was kissing the girl who had tried to kill him, he would knock that person cold and return to kissing the daylights out of the girl underneath him. He could hardly care less right now, for all that mattered to him was that he had the woman of his dreams in his arms with her legs wrapped around him and her mouth tasting so heavenly.

Both were so lost in each other that they didn't notice the two figures that had ran into the garden flailing their arms madly as they saw the two locked in a passionate embrace.

"BHAIJAAN! BHABHI!"

Asad and Zoya pulled away from each other and then looked at the source of the disruption and then looked back at each other. Then their eyes went wide as they realised what had happened between them.

"Bhaijaan! Bhabhi! We're so glad you two have patched up!" Ayaan said as he tackled his brother to the ground, surprising him out of his wits. Zoya was more fortunate as she received a much careful hug from a smiling Humaira.

"When are you throwing that sleazy piece of crap out of this house and your lives?" Ayaan asked standing up and brushing himself off, he was smiling like a fool at seeing them together. Asad tensed as his younger brother's words sunk in.

Zoya looked at Asad and with a heavy heart realised that he was retreating. The Asad that she had glimpsed seconds before was retracting and the Asad that hated her and believed his Tanu was resurfacing. He was losing himself within himself and all because of the cruel joke that life had played on him. No, not life; the joke that Tanveer had played with him. With them.

At that moment, Zoya felt such a strong surge of anger towards the woman who had ripped him away from her. An anger so strong that she visibly started to shake, her hands balling into fists by her side. Her head had begun spinning again but she ignored it. She wanted to claw that woman's face out, hurt her so much just so that she knew what it was like to feel this pain that she was feeling.

That woman had succeeded in making him the Asad that he had been before her arrival. Arrogant, stoic, and angry. What her love had taken him out of his shell, that woman's words and tricks had made him vulnerable and broken him. Zoya ground her teeth together and tried to control her anger.

"You'll need more solid proof than your body to persuade me," Asad said, with no trace of emotion on his face, before storming away from them leaving an angered Zoya.

"What?" Ayaan said looking around confused. Before he could say anything, his gaze fell on his fianc who was watching Zoya with a concerned expression. He followed her gaze and his eyes widened as he saw the positively enraged Zoya.

"I won't spare her," Zoya muttered darkly.

"I will kill her with my bare hands if I have to, but I will not have her play with his life as if he is her puppet," Zoya spat. Both Humaira and Ayaan understood immediately that when she said "she", Zoya referred to none other than their Bhaijaan's best friend, Tanveer.

"Zoya, please calm down," Humaira said gently placing a hand on her arm. Zoya jerked and shoved Humaira away from her. The younger girl let out a yelp as she fell back only to be caught in her fianc' s arms.

"What the hell, Zoya?" Ayaan yelled, angered at seeing Humaira being shoved like that.

"No, Ayaan!" Humaira said holding onto both his arms. Humaira knew that Zoya was angry and that if she had been in her senses, she would never have tried to hurt her.

"It's okay, I'm alright. See, I'm okay," Humaira assured him before turning back to Zoya.

"Zoya, please. Listen to me," she begged. Ayaan didn't let go of her waist and held her close to him, watching Zoya with narrowed eyes.

"What Humaira? What's left to listen to? There has to be a way to prove my innocence! Until I do that and until I get my revenge on that Billi, I will not rest," Zoya vowed.

Humaira sighed deeply and made a move to go towards her, but Ayaan's arms prevented her. Turning around she glared at him with all that she had in her and he immediately let go. She moved to Zoya and once again placed a hand on her shoulder, this time she wasn't shoved but instead Zoya hugged her tightly.

"I need to do this, to give back his life that she had taken away from him. I need to," Zoya muttered in a hushed tone.

"Zoya, you are his life. You need to prove your innocence so that you can return to him. So that his life can return to him," Humaira said pulling away and placing a gentle hand on her cheek.

"And no matter what happens, Badi Maa, Najma Baji, Ayaan, and I will always stand by your side," Humaira said. She glanced at Ayaan and noticed him open his mouth to retort but she glared him into silence.

"Promise?" Zoya asked looking at her, her face so vulnerable and innocent, like a scared and lone child. Ayaan suddenly felt as if he was staring at a two-year-old Najma as she asked him to promise he would return home to them. Without thinking of anything and his anger at her from earlier dissipating, Ayaan rushed forward and hugged Zoya.

"I promise, I promise, I promise!" Ayaan assured her. Zoya was slightly stunned but patted his back awkwardly and looked at Humaira who was grinning and shaking her head. Ayaan pulled back and the three sat down on the cushions of the gazebo.

"Zoya, I have been watching the video over and over again and I still can't seem to figure out what's missing," Ayaan told her.

"She's planned it all brilliantly. I've been thinking about it too, but I just can't seem to figure it out. How did she get the piece of cloth from my shirt?" Zoya asked.

"What piece of cloth?" Humaira asked suddenly. Zoya looked at the two of them and relayed how there had been a matching piece of cloth in Tanveer's hands as well as the cloth that she herself had found.

"Can we see it?" Ayaan asked. Zoya nodded and lead them to her room where she searched through her cupboards and produced the white zardosi designed fabric. Ayaan took it in his hands and looked at it with a calculating look on his face before his eyes went wide and he jerked. Grabbing Humaira's hand, Ayaan sprinted out the room.

"Ayaan! Humaira!" Zoya called after them surprised.

"We'll come back!" Ayaan hollered back as he dragged the stunned and helpless Humaira out of Khan Villa.

"Great, said they would always stand by my side," Zoya said grumpily. She heard the door open and Zoya stood up to go out the room to see who it was.

"Zoya, what are you doing out of bed?" Dilshad asked, surprised at seeing Zoya alone. Where is Asad? Dilshad wondered.

"Phuppi, I just woke up and when I heard the door open," Zoya lied. Dilshad felt disappointed. That meant Zoya had slept throughout their absence, and Asad had locked himself in his room doing what he always did: work. As if on cue, the door to his room opened and he walked out.

"Ammi, you're back," Asad said.

"Jammy, I'm sorry," Tanveer said making a beeline for him and flinging her arms around his neck. Zoya growled, completely forgetting that she was there too.

Asad stood there stunned at being hugged suddenly and automatically his gaze went to Zoya. She was watching him with anger and pain in her eyes and he immediately detached himself from Tanveer.

"You don't need to touch me to tell me sorry, Tanu," he said to her. Tanveer pouted but smiled nonetheless.

"Just as my way of seeking an apology, I will go and make you kheer," Tanveer said before turning around and walking towards the kitchen.

"Asad, did you give Zoya her medicine?" Dilshad asked. Asad looked at her confused before his eyes went wide. He glanced at Zoya and noticed how she had tensed up. The two had been busy with...other tasks...that they had forgotten about her medication.

"Er, actually," Asad started.

"Yes, Phuppi! Mr. Khan woke me up to give me medicine," Zoya interjected hurriedly. Dilshad nodded and head up to her room.

The two stared at each other awkwardly, shifting their weight from one foot to the other. Zoya opened her mouth to say something but at the same moment, Asad had chosen to return back to his room.

Zoya watched his retreating back with agony. His shoulders were slumped and he looked like someone had just placed several boulders over his shoulders.

"I promise Mr. Khan. I promise that I will prove my innocence and bring a smile back onto your face again. I promise," Zoya whispered. The sound of someone humming filled her ears and Zoya made her way down to the kitchen where Tanveer was happily making kheer.

"Let the games begin," Zoya whispered from afar, a small vindictive smile on creeping onto her face.