I'm posting it here now, to add it to my index haha. At the time when I wrote this, the visa fiasco was still happening, so that's why the story is based on that storyline. Enjoy (:
Sighing deeply, Zoya sat down at the dining table with her plate of freshly washed strawberries. It had been quite a few days since Eid, but celebrations amongst the Muslim community were still on-going. Zoya was alone at home since Dilshaad, Najma and Tanveer had gone off to one such party held by a friend of Dilshaad's. Dilshaad had tried very hard to convince Zoya to come along, but Zoya simply wasn't in the mood. She hadn't been in the mood for anything in a while. Zoya picked up a strawberry from the plate and stared at it, as she began reflecting on the past few months.
It'd been a while since Asad and Zoya had put up that act about being engaged so that Zoya could extend her visa and stay in India. Asad had even put a diamond ring on Zoya's finger, to make the act even more convincing. In the end, they successfully tricked Mr Batawdekar and Dolly into believing that they were truly in love and getting married soon, thus getting an extension for Zoya's visa.
Zoya remembered fiddling with the ring a few days after Mr Batawdekar and Dolly had finally exited from their lives, before finally taking it off her finger and striding up to Asad's room. She took hold of Asad's hand and placed the ring in his palm, telling him that she didn't need to keep it anymore since they no longer needed to pretend. Asad simply nodded and closed his palm, before turning away from her and walking to his wardrobe. The memory was still as clear as day in Zoya's mind, as she stood there staring at his back, tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to fall any second. She stood there for a long while, hoping he would change his mind and let her keep it, but he didn't. He didn't even turn around to see whether she was still there.
After that day, everything went downhill. Asad distanced himself from Zoya to the extent of not even acknowledging her presence when they were in the same room. So Zoya decided to ignore him as well, causing the distance between them to grow even more. Zoya began to wonder what she was even doing in his house anymore. There were so many times she was tempted to just book the next flight back to the US, but she could never get herself to do it. There was a sense of incompleteness engulfing her, so she'd retreated into a shell, silent and sad. She couldn't even remember the last time she smiled. Zoya badly wanted to feel whole again, but there was a void in her life she couldn't place, and it bothered her all the time.
Zoya snapped out of her daydream when she heard the front door open. Asad walked in with his briefcase, tired from a day's work. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Zoya was sitting at the dining table, but didn't turn to look at her. He was pretty sure that ammi had told him they were all going for a party, and that he'd be alone at home for dinner. Looks like Zoya decided to stay home and torture his soul instead. Asad contemplated for a while before deciding that it was the best time to do what he had planned for the longest time, since they were alone at home anyway. Determined, he paced to his room, intentionally failing to acknowledge Zoya's presence.
Zoya watched silently as Asad walked to his room wordlessly, and she felt a sharp piercing in her heart. She got that he didn't want to look at her; he hadn't in a long time. But would it hurt for him to at least nod to acknowledge her? Why couldn't he even be civil towards her? Wrapped up in her new-found rage, Zoya began stuffing her mouth with the strawberries, forgetting altogether that she had washed the strawberries to enjoy nibbling slowly on the sweetness that she loved so much. Her mouth was still full of strawberries when she picked up the very last one from her plate. As she was about to stuff that one into her mouth as well, to join the strawberry mush that was already inside, she stopped midway. Asad had come up to her and he was standing next to her chair, looking down directly at her. Zoya dropped the strawberry from her hand in shock. It had been a long time since she'd drowned in those intense eyes.
"Miss Farooqui, yeh aap ke liye hai. Eid Mubarak," Asad stated matter-of-factly, as he placed a brown paper bag on the dining table. Zoya badly wanted to say something, but her mouth was full of strawberries. Besides, before she could get to it, Asad marched right off to the living room just as quickly as he had arrived. He sat himself down on the sofa with his back facing the kitchen and switched on his laptop.
Zoya blinked a few times as she tried to swallow the strawberries in her mouth. Did Asad just give her an Eid gift out of the blue? She wiped her damp hands on her jeans and opened the paper bag in a rush. There were two boxes inside, a small one and a slightly bigger one. She opened the small one first, and gasped when she saw its contents. It was her mom's missing earring! She'd been looking for it for so long, and Asad had it all along? Why didn't he give it back to her before then? She put it aside as curiosity got the better of her and she jumped right into opening the bigger box. She took the contents out and gasped again, unable to contain her shock. Asad had gotten a matching necklace made specially to go with her mom's earrings!
A smile had almost crept up her face when another thought crossed her mind. He'd spent months distancing himself from her, and now suddenly he gives her such meaningful gifts, yet failing to provide any explanation at all. She wasn't going to just accept his hot and cold behaviour like this. She placed the necklace back into its box, grabbed the last strawberry off her plate, and stomped right on over to the sofas.
"Mr Khan, yeh earring mera hi tha pehle se, so I'm going to keep it. But this necklace, I can't accept it," Zoya said, as she placed the box on the coffee table in front of Asad. Asad closed his laptop and put it on the side table. He rubbed his forehead and nodded, not even bothering to look up and make eye contact with her. Zoya wasn't surprised with his response, she was getting used to it. She turned around, and was just about to pop the last strawberry into her mouth when she tripped on the carpet and fell clumsily onto the sofa, her legs dangling aimlessly over Asad's knees.
"Sorry," Zoya mumbled, as she began to try and swing her legs off Asad's knees. But she found that Asad had placed his arm around her legs, preventing her from moving them. She stared at him questioningly, but before she could form a sentence, Asad pulled her legs over his knees, sliding her right up into his lap. Zoya gasped yet again, as her head collided with his chest. She looked up to see Asad glowering at her, as his arm slowly snaked around her waist and pressed her body into his.
"Why don't you ever accept any jewellery I give you?" Asad demanded to know, his voice husky and sullen. Zoya stared at him in confusion. This was the first time he had ever gifted her jewellery, so what was he talking about? Zoya was just about to verbalize her thoughts when she felt Asad's legs move around uncomfortably beneath her as he tried to reach into his pants pocket. He pulled out something Zoya had least expected. The reason for the bitterness in their relationship the past few months was now staring at her in her face. It was that wretched diamond ring.
"You returned this piece of jewellery back to me too, do you remember?" Asad asked, as his eyes bore deep into Zoya's. Zoya tried to compose herself and collect her thoughts. Asad was always so unpredictable, where was he going with this?
"It broke my heart when I did that, but I thought you wouldn't want me to keep it," Zoya finally whispered, after a moment of silence. Her answer was met with another stretch of silence; only the sound of each other's breathing puncturing it. Zoya's heart began to beat faster and faster, as Asad slowly removed the arm that he had wrapped around Zoya's waist. His hand rose to her face, and he slowly cupped her cheek.
"On that day, for the first time in my life, I realized that I do have a heart. Because I could feel it breaking in chest," Asad whispered, by way of an explanation. His fingers began to trace her lips, as he wiped away some remnants of the strawberry mush that had escaped from her mouth earlier.
Zoya's eyes widened at Asad's admission, and at her own as well. She felt Asad's hand reach for hers, and he slowly removed her fingers from grasping that strawberry she had yet to pop into her mouth. He placed the strawberry on the coffee table, and then returned his attention to her hand. Asad lifted her hand and placed a soft kiss on it, before slipping the diamond ring into her ring finger.
"When I had first placed this on your finger, I wanted you to keep it forever. And I still want you to keep it forever," Asad whispered into Zoya's ear, blowing hot breath on her cheek. Zoya blushed deeply as Asad said this, and it simply grew deeper when Asad began raining soft kisses on her cheek. Zoya struggled to calm the erratic beating of her heart, and surprised Asad by suddenly pulling out of his arms and getting up from his lap.
"Theek hai Mr Khan, aap itna insist kar rahe ho toh I'll keep it," Zoya said mischievously, flashing her pearly whites at him. Asad grinned widely, despite himself. It had been a long time since he'd seen that beautiful dimple of hers. His Zoya was back, and the thought warmed his heart. Zoya picked up her lone remaining strawberry from the coffee table and was going to pop it in her mouth for the umpteenth time that day, when she felt Asad's hand close over hers and stop her. He took the strawberry out of her hand and smiled at her softly, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him again.
"You know, I believe in sharing quite a bit too," Asad teased, reminding Zoya of the time she gave him a speech on sharing just to earn some kachories. He bit into a portion of the strawberry and then moved his mouth towards Zoya's, pressing the strawberry against her lips. Zoya blushed prettily before finally indulging him and opening her mouth to receive the strawberry. As they both chewed down into the strawberry, their lips brushed each other's in the briefest of a touch.
And in that moment, Zoya Farooqui knew that she was finally whole again.
The End (:
XXX
Other Works:
Woh Raat, Main Aur Aap - My Writing Index
CID
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
