Part 9:
They arrived at the hotel.
"Why are we here?" that was the first thing she said to him. He looked at her and although he heard her he didn't understand it. Did she mean why they were at the hotel, or did she mean why they were in that situation. Was she trying to get to the reason that separated them? Or was she not happy staying at the hotel? He decided to answer it in terms of the hotel.
"I just drove 12 hours; I need some rest before we start off again. Besides you've been travelling for over 24 hours, I think you need to sleep as well! I've booked two rooms…"
She got off the car and headed to the door. He got off to follow her, he gave the keys for valet parking and the bell boys took care of the luggage. She waited for him to get the keys and she left. They got rooms opposite each other. He followed her to the lift and through the corridor. And the bell boys followed them. He made sure the luggage was placed in her room while she just stood there watching – she wasn't shocked or numb anymore, she just didn't want to talk and needed her time and space. Asad tipped the bell boys and turned to Zoya…
"Freshen up and then we'll meet for dinner, after that we'll meet around 6 am so that we reach home before dusk" He was hoping she'd say something now that they had their privacy. He wouldn't mind her yelling at him. He wouldn't mind anything as long as she just acknowledged him.
"Ok" she shrugged. She turned her back to him and headed for the bed.
"Zoya" she turned towards him again. He bear hugged her, again. She wasn't expecting it, but there were a lot of things she hadn't expected; her silence, her reaction, his reaction, his change of behaviour, and in short… everything that had just happened.
"Please say something. I didn't cheat on you. Your silence is killing me. Please" he was slightly losing his temper – that's what her silence did to him.
"What do you want me to say Mr.Khan?" she said with a defeated soft voice.
"Whatever you want! I want to know what's bothering you now." He let her go to see her face, to make sure she wouldn't cry and if she did, he would be able to wipe her tears.
"I thought you knew."
"How would I, you haven't said anything!"
"Some things are not to be said, but to be felt."
"And what is it that you want me to feel?"
"Trust. I wanted you to feel that I am worthy of your trust, because I felt you were worthy of mine. I trusted you over Tanveer despite knowing that she wanted to sleep with you." His eyes widened with disbelief. She knew Tanveer wanted to sleep with me? And she didn't tell me?
"I know what you're thinking, how could I have told you? For you Tanveer was always more trustworthy than me. Had that not been the case, we wouldn't have been here standing so close with distances of a thousand miles within."
"But, you knew?" he sounded infuriated. So far the conversation had been in a calm and hurt tone but now all the anger was out in the open.
"Yes I knew, but I didn't know how low she would stoop and that she would trap you. But I trusted you to not stoop so low. Yes, it is now that I know my trust has won. But your trust, your trust has lost. I don't know whether I should be happy or upset! Happy that I proved you wrong, or sad that you didn't trust me and I had to prove you wrong in order to gain trust."
"I don't know Mr. Khan. Please leave"
"And through all this you don't want an explanation at all?"
"Did you ever give me a chance to explain?"
"No, but I regret it. Don't commit the same mistakes that I have done"
"I'm really tired now; can we please continue this tomorrow?"
"Zoya, I can't take it anymore. I really can't, I want to sort this out now… so that I'm at peace, and you're at peace… By delaying this, we're getting nowhere."
"Alright then, what now? You know why I'm upset. You want a chance to explain yourself. I don't want to hear anything now because I'm not in the right frame of mind. And you're not ready to delay this. Where are we heading?"
"I love you Zoya, that's where we're heading. I want to marry you!" He yelled.
"Fine, let's say I love you too… now what? Love is not everything. You can't yell at me and hope everything will be fine – that's not how a relationship works. Fine let's get married – but what about loyalty, trust, and priority? How can I be sure tomorrow some other childhood friend of yours won't be more important than me? That you will trust me more no matter what. That you will be loyal in the true sense? I know you didn't have sex with her – but yet she had her hands all over you and you would do nothing to get rid of them. I'm sorry if you think I'm jealous or insecure – it's just that I don't believe in sharing my husband with someone else – be it whoever, except phuphi and Najma." The addition of except made her stop yelling and him and whisper.
"And what about the time you had betrayed me? Deceived me into going with you and planning to stop me from heading to the court? What about that? You have broken my trust, and given me reasons to not trust you"
"I've never betrayed you for my own benefit. If you want me in your life, I want you to know that if I feel you're right I will stand with you against the world. But if I know you're wrong, even if the whole world is with you – I'll go against you. Because I want you to be right, always… and to do so you must be open to knowing everything. Which you aren't most of the time! Your judgements are results of opinions rather than evidences. I know that microchip said stuff that you agreed to – but now we also know that Tanveer had changed them. I don't know why. But she confessed." She had left him speechless. He didn't know what to say anymore. He needed space and time to figure things out. To really think about what she said. And to figure out what he would do for her, would he make himself the ideal husband – or would he let her go. He left, leaving her confused and more upset. She was upset at her own outburst at him. She didn't want to be so rude, and that why she needed time. But his insistence led them to this.