Chapter 5 : Hum apke hain kaun?
In the final semester, students had to be divided into small groups of 5 , to go for rural health medical camps. They would be sent to remote villages to run a free clinic, with the barest of facilities. It was 6 weeks before their graduation. Zoya was looking forward to it, as it would keep her away from Asad. Seeing him at lectures, in the wards and at study sessions was difficult. And the freezing tension between them was wearing her out.
There was no reprieve for Zoya. She was horrified to find her group mates for the trip were: Aisha, Aman, Preeti, and Asad. Allah miyan! What's wrong with you! Please give me a break! This trip is going to be horrible for sure.
Thankfully there were no classes, assignments or reports to be written, just clinics to be manned. That should save them from face-time. Zoya packed for her trip that night, with Aditi sitting on her bed, doing all the worrying aloud for her. She went to bed troubled with what tomorrow would bring.
The air was tense during their trip to the rural health clinic. Zoya sat at a vantage position, right at the back of the van. Sure it was bumpy, but she could be out of Asad's view and see everything too. Preeti and Aman sat directly in front of her, which left Asad and Aisha seated together at the front. Zoya could feel the moroseness return in her, so she put on her favourite songs and sunglasses and looked out the window. In the pretext of talking to Preeti, Asad turned several times, but only saw her large sunglasses as she shut herself off the scene.
After a long half day journey, they arrived in Malavli, Pune. After settling down in their quarters, the 5 of them, gathered for a briefing and then got to work, as the clinic was running full swing. It was heavy work, most of the patients had multiple problems to be sorted, and the experience was exciting for all of them. When clinic was over, all of them just went back to sleep it off, and Zoya slept on without dinner.
This continued for a week until the villagers decided to give them a small appreciation dinner for the doctors at the clinic. The casual air was troubling for Zoya, she wished she could bury herself in work; this socializing was forcing her to look at Asad, who was as aloof as ever. Aisha however, stuck to him like glue, determined to dominate his attention.
Aisha had dressed to the nines, looking really beautiful, but woefully out of place. Because the village elders and head were in attendance, Zoya had to dress up too, she wore a silvery purple silk sari and pinned her hair up in a coiffure with a white flower behind her right ear as an accessory. Although Aisha was fancy in money-bags kind of way, it was Zoya who turned heads among the young men in attendance that night.
Unaware of the stir she was causing, she bent to adjust the heels of the ridiculously high heels Preeti made her wear. Darn, these shoes are killing me! She grumbled and straightened to find Asad staring at her intensely across the room. She swallowed hard and just then Aman approached her from behind.
'Hey gorgeous!' Aman said, while Asad's eyes narrowed dangerously and turned away abruptly. She turned upon Aman indignantly, 'Why do you do that Aman? Why do you purposely irritate him like that? Are you actually enjoying this!?'. Aman laughed as Preeti joined them and linked her arm around Aman's. Preeti had been infatuated with Aman for a long time, and had just last week plucked the courage to confess to him, delighted to know he reciprocated.
'Come on, Zoya,'Aman teased surely, you can't blame me for needling him. How arrogantly he pushed me off from pursuing you before! Now, he's suffering and I'm enjoying it! Ha ha!' he laughed as Preeti whacked him.
'Get off it, Aman. In case you haven't noticed, there's a Rajasthani princess stuck on his arm. Her majesty's clothes shine so brightly he won't be able to see anything else. .' Zoya smirked. Preeti smiled understandingly as she knew the proximity to Asad was not easy for Zoya. Zoya looked at her watch impatiently, praying for it to quickly reach a respectable time to leave.
She stayed at the fringes of the gathering for most of it. Then she noticed a group of young men leering at her repeatedly. Feeling a little fed-up after a while she decided to leave for the doctors' quarters. She had reached the courtyard when she heard a wolf whistle behind her.
Four men stood behind her, grinning lecherously as they drunkenly approached her. 'Hello there, beautiful lady! Fancy spending some time with some admirers?' the most scruffy and smelly one of them spoke in a slurred voice. Subtly Zoya kicked off her heels, preparing to use them as a weapon, as she frantically looked about for an escape route.
Suddenly one of them lunged at her, catching her by the hair and yanking it hard. Zoya screamed in pain and swiftly picked up her heels and swung it into the brute's stomach. He screeched in pain and let go of her hair. But the other 3 men came at her together and held both her arms back. Zoya let out a blood curdling scream before the first man clamped his hand over her mouth. She took a hefty bite of his hand, and he brutally slapped her, as her head jerked sideways hard causing her lip to bleed.
She started to panic, she took a deep breath to scream again, when the first offender was yanked backwards and thrown on the ground. The others gasped in surprise as he was kicked repeatedly into unconsciousness.
Asad!
The relief Zoya felt was indescribable. The other men began to panic and started to drag her away when she took an opportune moment to dig her knee into one of her captor's groin, hard. When he howled and doubled over, the man on her right back-hand slapped her, and Zoya started to see stars. He dragged her and hoisted her over his shoulders as she teetered at the brink of unconsciousness. By instinct she started dropping her bangles, one by one, by one, until the darkness swallowed her in.
She woke with a pounding in her head, tied to a chair in dark room without windows. As her eyes began to adapt to the dark, she saw it was a messy store room of sorts, with torn boxes and ropes, with the windows nailed shut. Her mouth was gagged, hands and feet tied tight. She looked around anxiously for any objects that could help her escape. She heard arguments outside the door when the buzzing in her ears started to clear.
'Why the hell did you carry her for?! You should've just ditched her and ran! Now what are we going to do with this b***h???'
'I don't know!! I just picked her up and ran! That madman was pounding Ashok into pulp, I didn't think!'
'Maybe we can still make some money out of her? Ransom maybe?' and he was hushed suddenly, the morons remembered that she might hear them. How ironic, Zoya thought. If they demanded a ransom from the Siddiquis, Razia bi might offer them the money to finish her off, plus a bonus for destroying the evidence too. She shook her thoughts off from the morbid direction and tried to loosen her hands from the knots.
Her slim and dainty hands made it easy to wriggle out of the amateurish knot. Zoya quickly freed herself and hid behind the door, trying to spy a look out the door. What she saw stunned her. Asad was punching the living daylights out of the three captors. Zoya pushed open the door as her rescuer successfully defeated his opponents. She hobbled to him and Asad gently lifted her up to seat her on a chair.
'Zoya ...' his voice cracking ,'Are you alright? he quickly scanned her face and body, assessing her injuries and bleeding,a nd spotted her swollen ankle. He lifted it gently and felt it, looking for broken bones. As he pressed her ankle, an intense pain shot up her back to her head and Zoya slumped back into unconsciousness.
When she came too, there was a small bonfire in the centre of the room, adding some extra light to the miserable orange menthol bulb light. Her ankle was bandaged in some purple cloth.
Gasp!
'You used my silk sari to bandage my ankle ?!?' Zoya shouted.
Asad looked up at her voice and replied indignantly, 'It was already ruined!?'
Zoya dropped her jaws in horror at the travesty of his treatment of her silk. But she sobered as Asad got up and walked to her.
'Thank you Asad. I'm sorry to have troubled you so much.' Zoya said quietly.
'It's okay. Next time don't invite too much male attention! Asad scolded.
'What !? I invited this?! HOW DARE YOU! Just by wearing a silk sari I invited four men to rape me!? Oh the nerve!! ' Zoya countered hotly.
'No ! I meant... ! No, wait... ITS' JUST THAT YOU'RE SO DAMNED BEAUTIFUL THEY CAN'T HELP THEMSELVES !!!' Asad thundered Zoya into silence.
They stared at each other for what felt like eternity. Asad knelt at before her chair, and gently tucked her hair behind her ear and caressed her swollen cheek and lips.
Asad's voice wavered, 'My God, if I didn't reach you in time...' he cupped her face and slanted his lips over hers. Zoya felt a delicious warmness spread all over her body as he gathered her into his warm embrace. A tear escaped her eye as she kissed him back for all the months she missed him terribly. Their arms moved over each others back and head restlessly as though unbelieving that they found each other again. All the pain of her heart breaking...
Zoya pulled out of his arms and looked away, Asad searched for her eyes but she looked away. Asad cupped her face and forced her to look at him.
'Now you're not going anywhere. In fact you can't because you're ankle is twisted and I have to carry you back. Now you're going to tell me why you froze me out 2 months ago.'
'I was falling for you and you played with my feelings by encouraging Aisha.' Zoya spoke directly and to the point. You allowed her to think she may have a chance to be with you, you enjoyed her attention and my discomfort. When I walked away, you didn't fight for me, you believed the worst of me, and you left me..' Zoya continued. "I told you when I love, I fall hard. And you didn't fight for me, you just left.'
Asad blanched and sat back on his heels. He rubbed his head distractedly. 'I didn't encourage Aisha... she's just a friend..'
"Well, she doesn't think so. She thinks she won you from me, and you encouraged her. Now she sticks to you like glue, its so annoying!' Zoya huffed.
Asad smiled,'Jealous, Zoya?'
'Jealous my foot!' Zoya hissed as Asad admired the fire flashing in her eyes.
'Wait... you love me? Did you just say you Love me?' Asad gasped. He smiled a radiant winning grin and pulled her into a hug again.
Zoya retreated heatedly, 'Did you not hear me? You left me! Are you not aware that another girl thinks you are interested in her??'
'I'll explain to her that she's wrong, don't worry' he said dismissively and moved to kiss her again, and Zoya exploded.
"EXCUSE ME?! What are you doing? You have a lot of explaining to do!' she clamped her hand over his mouth to stop him.
Asad ran his hands through his hair frustratedly. 'Look Zoya, you kept me hanging on pause for months since I told you my feelings. Suddenly you froze me out, refused to talk to me, and flirted with Aman. I took it as a sign of your rejection, I was angry, I felt used, like a spare tyre. It hurt. And I retaliated. God, you girls are so complicated!'
'Allah Miyan! I'M COMPLICATED!? Excuse me, but you cosied up with Aisha to make me jealous, it worked alright! I was so jealous I could have strangled both of you!! I walked off, I cried over you! But you never came for me! You never fought for me! You just gave up and walked away!' Zoya ranted with tears streaming down her face.
Her tears were breaking his heart. He held her tightly as her body racked with sobs, just saying, "I love you Zoya' over and over. Then he tried to kiss her pain away. He kissed her eyes, her cheeks, her lips, their mouths meeting with desperate need to be closer to each other. He nuzzled and kissed her neck, working his way down to her breasts as she clutched his head close to her.
He released the clasps of torn blouse and gazed hotly at her pert breasts, laving and suckling them into sharp points. She pulled at his shirt and he helped her pull it off and she held him to her. The rough hairs on his chest tantalized her into delicious sensations as he continued to kiss her body and rid her of her clothings.
Their frantic lovemaking in the firelight was punctuated with labored breathing and soft moans as they sought to heal the pain they inflicted upon each other. When Asad joined himself with her intimately, he shuddered with her incredible wet tightness, as she wound her long beautiful legs around him. He looked deep into her eyes as he slowly thrust in and out, driving her mad with wanting. Zoya then reached up and placed her hand upon his cheek and pleaded, Please, Asad' and he lost his control and thrust uncontrollably as they both soared into the heights of ecstasy, clutching at each other helplessly with so much love.
Draped over him,she lazily drew patterns on his chest, they spoke of their past, their ambitions, their aspirations. Zoya told Asad about Anwarul Qur'an madrasa, how she wanted to help the children as Abbas chacha had helped her. Tuition classes, a reading room with good books and colourful decorations, to instill love for knowledge in the orphans there. To look past their fate of birth and strive to be best they can be.
As he watched thoughts fly by one by one on her expressions. Before she started regretting this beautiful reunion, he spoke, 'I love you Zoya. I don't want to waste another moment without you. Marry me,' he whispered to her.
Zoya teared at his words. She saw the sincerity in his eyes, the love in his smile, the safety in his embrace. 'Yes, I will marry you. I love you too,' she vowed into his eyes, and they kissed softly.
'You still have to deal with the Aisha issue, you know,' Zoya said sarcastically.
Asad groaned, 'Argh, it's going to be difficult! You won't help me?'
'No way Asad! You waded in to that game, and I'm not playing that one. You sort it out yourself, leave me out, thank you very much!' Zoya fumed.
They argued about this and that, blissfully unaware that the biggest of their problems was not Aisha, but what awaits them upon return home .
To be continued...
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