Live In Fantasy Index updated 23/05/16 BUDDY ME FOR PM - Page 6

"It's only a contract. It's best that you keep that in mind." Zoya's lips quivered, she didn't know how she'd got herself into all that mess. The man who'd once claimed to love her, had also turned out to be the man who would hurt her most. Zoya clasped her mouth, to stop those sobs which were threatening to escape her lips, she squeezed her eyes shut, as the tears rolled down her cheeks. He stoically said, "There used to be a time when you meant more than the world to me, but I never in my life thought you would be the one who would betray me." Zoya screamed, "But what did I do?! How did I betray you?!" Asad's eyes filled up with tears, but they mostly out of anger, he gritted his teeth and hissed at her, "So, you really don't know?" Zoya shook her head, indicating a no. His fists clenched tightly into a ball, he whispered, as a few tears escaped his eyes, "Traitor."

Asad's fists met with a wall, once again. His eyes were bloodshot, he collapsed on his bed, as his fists made contact with the hard surface of the wall, for the last time. He screamed out in frustration, as tears slid down his cheeks. His heart had shattered the very second the bitter revelation of Zoya's true nature had been thrown at him. His heart filled with a stabbing pain, every time he reminisced their sweet, love filled past. He'd thought that those hard core walls that he'd built around his heart, had finally been broken down, but they'd enclosed his heart, once again, after being betrayed by the very woman who taught him to see the world around him. He sat up on his bed and sobbed, his head in his hands. His agonized heart was screaming in pain, he found that same curse of a memory flooding into his mind, yet again. If only he could look further into the deep realms of the fateful secret...

Tanveer thrust the recorder into his hands, her heart jumping in triumph. Asad stared at her quizzically, he asked her, "What's this, Tannu?" Tanveer immediately soured her expression and replied in fake bitterness, "I'm sorry, Jammy. Please, don't ask me anything. Just listen to the recording, you will understand everything." Asad's eyebrows furrowed, as he tried to make meaning out of her unclear statement. He looked down at the recorder, he slowly brought his hand up and pressed the play button. A familiar voice rung into his ears, "Here, take this money. Once my marriage with Mr. Khan is completed, you can have the rest of it." Asad's eyes widened in shock, as he heard the next words, "God! I need to pretend that I love that man, for all that money he has! If he finds out about my actual intentions...well, I guess, I still have a plan, I'm Zoya Farooqui, right? I'll just threaten him, saying that I'll kill his mother and sister." The recorder fell out of Asad's hands. He looked up at Tanveer, utterly shocked. Tanveer placed her hand on Asad's shoulder, as she feigned sympathy, "Jammy, now you know who she actually is. It's best that you report her to the police, right away." Asad stared at the recorder lying on the floor, he whispered in shock, "I'm not believing this." Tanveer sighed and held out a picture in front of him, to see. Asad stared at the picture, there she was, handing over money to some guy. Tanveer cunningly asked, "Now, what do you say, Jammy? Report her to the police." Asad took the picture in his hands and blankly stared at it, he replied, "No, if she actually does something to my ammi, or Najma, I'll never be able to forgive myself. I'll marry her, but it'll only be a contract, I'll hand her over to the police when I'm sure that she won't be able to harm my family."

13 days later

Asad caught hold of Zoya and yelled into her face, "Why do you act like you're innocent?! I have the proof right in my hands and you still have the audacity to defend yourself?!" "That is a fake picture, that's not me! As for the recording, that's not my voice either! Someone is setting me up!", screamed a distraught Zoya. Asad glared at her at her, disgusted by her trail of never ending lies. "The contract ends tomorrow. We're no longer husband and wife. The police can deal with you, now. If I even see you get just anywhere close to my family, I'll kill you and I mean that.", he hissed. He walked away, leaving a completely broken Zoya behind. She stared at his retreating form, her lips quivering. She slowly walked towards the dining table, staring at a knife glimmering under the morning rays of the sun. She kept her fixed on it, for a few seconds before picking it up. Just out of a hunch, Asad turned around. The next thing he knew, blood was shooting out of Zoya's wrist, her body lying motionless on the floor.

5 hours later:

Asad held his head in his hands and cried, he'd thought of Zoya to be a traitor, but when the truth had hit him, it had left him shattered. The woman he'd considered as a murderer, had taught him in an extremely painful way, that she wasn't the beast that he'd thought her to be. The very thought of losing her made his whole body shudder. He couldn't lose her after all the agony that he'd made her face, for no fault of hers. The operation theatre's door opened and the surgeon walked out. Asad immediately jumped up and bombarded the doctor with questions, "Doctor, is she fine? Can I see her now? Is she awake?" She smiled at him, "Yes, she's fine and you may go and see her, but she's very weak, at the moment. Please keep her away from any sort of stress." Asad nodded and rushed into the room, only to find her staring into thin air, tears streaming down her cheeks. He took short, careful steps towards her. He stopped at her bedside and softly called out, "Zoya?" She looked up at him, Asad felt a huge stab at his heart, as those tormented eyes bore into his own. His voice cracked as tears made their way to his eyes, "Are you ok?" "That wouldn't be your concern.", she replied, bitterly. Asad was taken aback, with the harshness of her voice, he sat down beside her and took hold of one of her hands, but Zoya was quick to shrug herself away. She moved away to the other end of the bed, keeping as much as distance as she could, from him. Asad slowly whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for every single time I hurt you in the past three months. I'm sorry for not trusting you." Zoya stared at him, perplexed, she didn't know what he was apologizing for. After all, he thought of her as an ungrateful, cheap beast. Asad hung his head in shame and quietly said, "I should have believed you, when you said that someone had set you up. Tanveer had planned all of this."

Dilshaad was too shocked to recover from the impact of what she'd just heard. She looked at Asad and asked, with no sort of expression of playing on her face, "Your and Zoya's marriage was just based on a contract?" Asad nodded, staring at the floor, Dilshaad further questioned, "And you broke the girl's heart, because you heard a recording which sounded faintly like Zoya's voice and a picture where you can't even see the girl's face clearly?" Asad didn't respond for this question, Dilshaad's voice cracked as she asked the next question, "Now, she's so broken that she wanted to commit suicide and she's battling for her life, right now. Whose fault is that?" Asad hung his head in shame. For him, it might have been Zoya who'd committed the crime in the first place, but he couldn't help but feel guilty. Dilshaad stared at her son, as tears rolled down her cheeks, she whispered in between in her tears, "Is this what I taught you?" Asad kept mum, as a few tears escaped his eyes. Dilshaad was about leave, but right then, something struck her. She quickly walked up to Asad and snatched the photo out of his hand, she stared at the photo for a few seconds, before yelling, "Tanveer!"

A resounding slap echoed through the living room, as Dilshaad's hand met with Tanveer's face. She caught her by her shoulders and shook her vigorously, she bellowed at her, "You did this to Zoya didn't you?! You betrayer!" Asad rushed over to his infuriated mother and tried free Tanveer from her grip. He yelled, "Ammi! What are you saying?! What has Tanveer got to do in this?! All she did was help us!" "No, she didn't!", she retorted. She turned over and looked at Asad, with furious eyes, she thrust the photo back into his hand and screamed, "This photo is fake! The person in the photo is actually Tanveer!" Asad's eyes darted over to the photo and back to Dilshaad. He stared at her in confusion, Dilshaad pointed to the ring on Tanveer's ring finger, on her left hand and then she placed the tip of her finger on the ring on the left hand of the girl in the photo. "They're the same. It's Tanveer.", she said. Asad's eyes widened in blatant shock, his eyes sprang up to meet with Tanveer, whose face had gone red with rage. She was scowling at Dilshaad, hatefully. Asad walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders, "Why did you do this?! Why?!" Tanveer shrugged him off and screamed into his face, "To marry you!"

Asad squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the memory of the next series of events. "I'm sorry.", he whispered, again, as more tears made their way to his eyes. Zoya was pretty shaken, herself. Her lips quivered in fear, as she tried to find her voice, "Ta...Tanveer did this? But...but what did I ever do to her?" "Nothing.", Asad replied, "She wanted to get rid of you, so that she could marry me, for my money and for her illegitimate child." Zoya stared at him in shock, she asked, "Illegitimate child?" Asad nodded and replied, "She was that cheap, I was a fool to have ever trusted her. But she's the past, we should move on." Asad's hand, made it's way towards Zoya's, he gently curled his fingers around her hand and whispered, "I wanna start again." Zoya looked away, she didn't know if she could forgive him after all the insults and pain that she'd been through in the past months, because of his mistrust on her. Asad could see the dilemma she was in, through the confusion clearly written on her face. His hands made their way over to her face and caressed her cheeks, he begged, "Please, just give me this one last chance to correct myself." Zoya looked at Asad with teary eyes. "Please?", he asked again. Zoya reluctantly nodded, a minute smile playing upon her lips. Asad wrapped both his arms around her waist and crushed her against him, in a hug. She was a little taken aback, with his force, but she soon relaxed and laid her head on his chest, with her palms resting on his shoulders. They parted after a little while and Asad caressed her cheeks again , he leaned forward a little and rested his forehead on hers, "I love you." Zoya smiled at him, tearfully. He'd finally uttered those three words that she been dying to hear. He asked her, "Aren't you going to say anything?" Zoya shook her head, indicating a no. Asad smiled at her and replied, "You'll have to say it someday, or the other." Zoya pounced on to him and engulfed him in a hug, once again, burying her face into his shoulder. Asad ran his hand over her back, while stroking her head, affectionately. He whispered into her hair, "We were made for each other. No one's gonna separate us now.", Zoya smiled against his shoulder and replied, "Stop being so cheesy." "I'm not being cheesy, I'm just saying the truth.", he replied, smiling widely. Zoya shrugged, still hugging him, "Whatever." He pulled away, his expression turning serious once again. Zoya's forehead creased in confusion, as she noticed his eyes well up, once again. He said, "I need you to make a promise on something." "On what?", she asked. He whispered, as his voice cracked, "I need you to promise that you'll never hurt yourself again. Never." Zoya smiled and took his hand in hers, she replied, "I promise, I'll never hurt myself, again. Happy?" Asad smiled at her, contentedly. "I love you.", he stated, once again.