The rain was lashing against the windows, raindrops sounding like bullets as they crashed upon the glass panes. A shiver ran up her spine, the chill seeping into her very bones as the wind picked up and howled in her ears, saying things she could never begin to comprehend.
Zoya closed her eyes in pain, her entire being throbbing with an agonizing feel of loss. Tears trickled from beneath her shuttered eyelids, proceeding to draw an invisible track across her cheeks. They didn't cease to fall, only wetted her fingers as she tried to control the flow.
An array of carefully selected memories played in front of her closed lenses like a reel, each particular scene from her subconscious an excruciating stab to her heart. The pain travelled from her bosom and bloomed across her body, causing her tears to mutate into violent sobs.
She dropped to the cold ground, collapsing upon the pristine marble. Her frame continued to wrack agonizingly, each sob feeling as if it had been torn from her very heart. And it had. Each tear was a remnant of her very own blood, crying for the pain of loss. Crying for the pain of betrayal. But most of all, she cried for the loss of a dream. A beautiful dream.
But it had only been a dream.
A retreat from reality, where she conjured up the most beauteous of truths. A few stolen moments where she could have belonged to someone, with someone. A place where the man she loved with all her being, all her heart, confessed his own feelings. That he desired her above everything.
But it had only been a dream.
Only a dream, for the man in her whimsical thoughts didn't exist anymore. Gone was the laughing, childish, honest man who'd dominated that lone fantasy. In his place now stood a human cut from stone. A human with no concern for her feelings.
Of his feelings.
Wiping away her tears, Zoya sighed and rested a tired head upon her knees. All these muddled feelings were causing havoc in her system. If she didn't watch out, she'd end up having a breakdown. And no matter what happened, she would never Mr. Khan know he was doing this to her.
Zoya swallowed tightly and looked towards the huge window covering the north wall. The rain still pounded heavily against the glass, and the raindrops still sounded harsh. But they had mellowed down, for the sound was no longer akin to gunshots.
She smiled, and lifted herself off the floor. There was no doubt that she was irrevocably in love with a man who prided himself on insulting her. Who prided himself on blaming her-
Who prided himself on saving her. Who prided himself on protecting her.
Reluctantly, the memories of his dedication came back to her. He had done so much to protect her from any harm. And his remorse had been painful to bear as well. But then why did he hurt her so? Why, when he clearly felt the same?
He did, didn't he?
Insecurity crept into her mind as she debated this particular statement. What if she was wrong? What if he truly did hate her, and felt nothing but disdain?
But she cast that thought aside. Zoya knew the feelings which he tried so desperately to hide, but couldn't. She had known the look in his eyes. She'd known, because it was the same expression that stared her in the face every time she gazed at a mirror.
Asad Ahmad Khan loved her as well.
Zoya smiled, that gentle motion of her lips breaking through the barrier of grief upon her beautiful face. Yes, he loved her.
Now it was time for her dream to become a reality.
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