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He stood by her like a rock when she collapsed.He heard her when nobody else did. He saw her at her weakest and he became her strongest. He is the answer to all her questions , no matter how long she takes to realize it. Her tears show up in his eyes. She is his missing smile, his lost laughter and his unknown childhood. He loves her - against himself, against all reason and against all his definitions of sanity. But that love stays in his heart, never filtering to his mouth , even though it shows up as saline water in his eyes now and then - and as tenderness of a smile on his otherwise rock-like face.
Does Asad know he loves Zoe? Has he realized and accepted it? What makes him go out of his way and adhere to desperate measures to stop her from leaving but never stand and retrospect why he did what he did? He can take her in his arms and protect her from the world, but why does he feel she needs to be protected from him? He reads the questions, the signs, the longing in her eyes when she desperately waits for that one short sentence from him - Mut jaao, Zoya. But he averts his eyes, leaves the room , only to come back with a solution that equals Mut jaao, Zoya.
Perhaps, to love and to realize, accept and live the tests of love are two entirely different things. What stands in Asad's way, is not his ego and pride as some people perceive. Its little Asad who is standing between Asad and Zoe. Little Asad who saw the so-called true love of his parents Dilshaad-Rashid crumble like a cookie. A growing-up Asad who saw his mother suffer one misery after the other in poverty, a broken heart and Rashid's love. Asad who sees his father first and foremost a cowardly spineless lover/husband. Then, he looks at his mother again - still suffering because she loves Rashid.
For Asad, his parents are the ultimate tale of a failed love spangled with deceit, longing , backstab and all the negativity that you can attach to the repercussions of emotions. For Asad, love only brings suffering and you are ill-fated to hurt the person you love. This is so deeply embedded in Asad that he has a hunch that he will also break a woman's heart if he fell in love - just like Rashid broke Dilshad's. Asad is very vulnerable and fragile on the inside, and he knows he will not be able to take an injury in love or live with the horror of ruining a woman.
So, when Asad looks at his gregarious, flawless , beautiful Zoe, little Asad stops him from choosing his heart over his head. It reminds him that its him who is a misfit to be someone's lover, husband and soulmate. Don't forget what happened with your parents. Don't you know that you are fated to do the same? Let her remain Miss.Farooqui , don't make her your Zoya.
Asad reads the red caution sign board and he steps back. He can be Zoe's everything - he is - but he cannot say it to her.How can he? Little Asad stands in his way. His parents stand in his way. And maybe, even destiny stands in his way.
And who knows which way fate will go? Tomorrow, Zoe might have to choose between Asad and Gaffur. Asad might have to choose between Zoe and Dilshaad. Asad's hunch is not for nothing. Somewhere, a voice inside him is telling him that Zoe maybe your destiny but are you and her ready for the pathway that leads to it?
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