Chapter 24

"Please, let's go," Zoya begged. He shook his head and returned to leaning back against the headboard.

"Fine," she said before whirling around. Asad watched her whirl around and then freeze. Her hand went up to her head and she swayed suddenly.

"Zoya!" Asad exclaimed jumping out of bed and rushing to her. He caught her just as she slumped in his arms.

"Zoya!" Asad said again as she lay limp in his arms. He picked her up and carried her to the bed and called out for his Ammi. Dilshad came running in with Najma hot on her heels, Tanveer also sidled into the room.

"Zoya!" Dilshad cried when she saw Zoya's limp body on Asad's bed. Asad was rubbing Zoya's hand and was asking her to wake up.

"Najma quick, call the doctor! Not aga-." Dilshad stopped talking when she saw Zoya crack her eyes open just a fraction and wink at her. Dilshad widened her eyes and moved to sit next to her. She leaned down and pretended to brush her hair away from her face while Asad stood up to rush to Najma, yelling at her why it's taking so long to call the doctor.

"Zoya, what is this?" Dilshad murmured, noticing that Tanveer was busy looking at her nails.

"Blackmailing Mr. Khan into having lunch," Zoya whispered back. Dilshad sat up straight and chewed on her lip.

"Zoya, please wake up," Dilshad said softly. She could've sworn that she saw a smile on her face. Asad came running back into the room with the doctor following him.

"Asad, Tanveer, Najma, go outside. I want Zoya to be checked properly," Dilshad said Asad was about to protest but Dilshad glared at him and he turned and left the room.

"Doctor, I'm absolutely fine," Zoya said sitting up. The doctor stared at her in shock.

"But," he started.

"But nothing. I want you to tell the rest of them that I am very weak and need to be fed immediately," Zoya told him. He looked at Dilshad who nodded at him in encouragement. He stood up and Zoya lay back down, closing her eyes.

Asad waited with a bated breath for the doctor to come out. When he did, Najma and him ambushed him.

"Is she okay? What happened?" Asad and Najma fired.

"Relax, she's fine. Just a bit weak. But she needs food and she needs it immediately. It's not healthy for her to go an entire day without eating," the doctor told him. As soon as he was gone, Asad rushed to the kitchen to prepare her a plate of food and returned to his room. He opened it and found Zoya still knocked out with Dilshad stroking her hair.

Zoya's eyes fluttered open and she groaned and looked around the room. Her eyes came to rest on Dilshad who was smiling at her.

"Phuppi, what happened?" Zoya asked.

Hats off Zoya. You could've easily played a daily soap lead. Dilshad thought as Zoya feigned ignorance.

"You fainted! That's what happened. If you had eaten breakfast then you wouldn't have had to face this problem. Now sit up and eat," he growled at her. Dilshad took this as her cue to leave and stood up.

"Asad, please make sure she eats," Dilshad said, laughing when she realised that she had said something similar to Zoya almost an hour ago. Once she had left, Asad rounded on Zoya, who sat there looking pretty and innocent.

"Eat," he said holding up the plate. Zoya shook her head and turned it away. Asad growled dangerously and grabbed her face, turning it to face him.

"Eat otherwise I will make you eat it," he hissed at her. Zoya stared at him with wide, fearful eyes and then...she burst into tears. Asad blinked in astonishment as she sobbed. What?

"Zoya," he groaned and he moved to put his arms around her but she shoved him away.

"No!" She snapped at him through her tears. Asad groaned again and set the plate down before holding her shoulders.

"Zoya, meri jaan, please," Asad whispered to her, unaware of what words were coming out of his mouth. Zoya only wailed louder and now started to hit his chest with her fists.

"I hate you! How can you force me to eat? How can you worry for me and hate me at the same time?" Zoya wailed. Asad grabbed her wrists in his hands and made her look at him. Her doe-like eyes were brimmed with tears and she sniffed as she looked up at him.

"Just a little bit," he pushed. She dropped her hands and then nodded. He sighed thankfully and gently formed a morsel of food. He held the spoon up to her lips and she parted them just a little bit.

"Wider," he urged and she opened her mouth wider to take her food. She reached up and took the spoon out of his hands. Thinking that she would eat herself, he made a move to leave but Zoya grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He looked at her puzzled and she held the spoonful of food to his lips.

"I won't eat until you eat," she said stubbornly. Having no other option, Asad accepted her condition. Zoya mentally did a victory dance at her brilliant plan.

You are so gullible. Zoya thought as she fed him.

Together the two fed each other until every scrap of food was cleaned off their plate. While two pairs of eyes were glistening with tears of joy at witnessing this scene, the third pair was watching them with jealousy and execration.

* * * * *

Dilshad and Najma sat down on Dilshad's bed with bright smiles on their faces. The mother and daughter duo looked at each other before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Flashback

As Tanveer opened the container to add the nuts into the kheer, Dilshad gave thumbs up to Najma and the younger girl pressed the call button on her phone. Tanveer answered the person and Najma whispered softly to make her think there was no reception. Their plan worked and Tanveer headed out the kitchen. Dilshad slipped in and placed the nut container back in the pantry and replaced it with the peanut container.

"This is to inform you that you have won a lottery, ple-." Najma broke off as the line went dead and turned to see her Ammi already standing next to her smiling brightly.

The two rolled their eyes when Tanveer didn't even look at the container and just added it to the kheer. They watched her leave and Dilshad went back and replaced the peanut container with the nuts.

"Ammi, we've got only a ten-minute window. What if something goes wrong?" Najma asked.

"Nothing will go wrong. Zoya will be the first one there, just watch," Dilshad with confidence.

End Flashback

"I knew I chose the right girl for my Asad," Dilshad said as she smiled. Najma hugged her mother and the two Khan women rejoiced with the success of their plan.

"But shouldn't we tell, Zoya?" Najma asked after awhile.

"Both her and Asad don't need to anything. It's just between me and you," Dilshad told her. Najma shrugged and hugged her mother again.

* * * * *

"This isn't making any sense!" Ayaan shrieked after watching the video for the umpteenth time and causing Humaira to jump a foot into the air.

"Ayaan!" She scolded.

"Sorry, Humaira Begum," he said grinning sheepishly.

The two had finally snuck some time to spend together away from prying eyes in the storeroom. They had asked Nikkhat and Nuzzhat to stand guard, if anyone tried to come to the storeroom, they would either lure them away or give a signal to Humaira and Ayaan to hide. So far, no one had come and the sweet couple had happily spent almost half an hour together.

"What doesn't make any sense?" Humaira asked, hitting him on the chest when he pulled her down on his lap. She made herself comfortable and watched the video on Zoya's iPad.

"The cloth, the bracelet, the woman, everything! It just doesn't make any sense," Ayaan said. Humaira touched her lips in thought, an action that caught Ayaan's gaze immediately.

"Maybe we're not looking in the right place," Humaira suggested. When she received no answer she looked at Ayaan and noted him staring at her lips. She shoved him and blushed wildly.

"Ayaan!" She scolded again.

"Huh?" Ayaan asked dumbly.

"Focus! I'm saying maybe we're not looking in the right place," Humaira said. Ayaan shook his head and watched the video again.

"No, Humaira. I have this feeling that this is the only thing that will be able to prove Zoya's innocence," Ayaan stated as he replayed the video. Humaira suddenly stiffened in his arm and glanced at her.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She nodded affirmative and snuggled back into his chest, her eyes still wide.

"I can't figure out what it is but I know the proof is in here," Ayaan said in frustration.

"Then use your brain," Humaira suggested simply.

"Well thank you so much for that piece of advice, Humaira Begum. You see, I had forgotten that I had a brain," Ayaan said sarcastically.

"Clearly," Humaira muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" He asked. Humaira shook her head.

Ayaan grumbled as he watched the video over and over again. There had to be something in here. He looked down at the piece of cloth from Zoya's shirt then back to the video. Then back down and then up again. Ayaan's eyes suddenly went wide and Humaira smiled triumphantly.