Far Away Love ✓

√chapter sixteen

Zainab's POV

After rolling the iron on the bottom of my new pale yellow long shirt, I placed it back on the stand in a vertical position and held the shirt in my freed hand. While jogging towards the wardrobe, my eyes laid an abrupt glance on the wall clock; it was eleven in the night. I sighed when I cursed myself for not going to sleep already as puffy eyes on a job interview might become a big turn-off for the ones conducting it. But that wasn't the only thing I was worried about. My biggest concern was that asshole Shakir; what if he again came in front of me like before?

Tomorrow would be the first day I would be leaving for outside since the day I came to Shaiq's place. It would be almost one month and I wasn't stepping outside the house because of the two factors; first, because Aunt had banned me from going to University and even for my previous job as I was heartbroken due to Daniyal's death and second, exactly after fifteen days, my second last semester also ended so miraculously, I got an opportunity to stay at home as I got a month break from the university.

That was the reason I didn't know where Shakir was; whether he was alive or dead. I just hoped for the later one though. The fact that he never tried to approach or call me was enough to decipher that he was afraid of getting caught up since he must have got to know that I had shifted to Shaiq's house. This thing also became clear that he just relished making me feel vulnerable when I was alone and he didn't want to take some kind of revenge on me or my brother as he used to claim.

I shook my head to get his thoughts away from my mind. Tomorrow was going to be my big day and I was making my mind anxious by thinking about that filthy man. I opened the wardrobe and hung my pressed shirt on one of its hems. Just when I was about to walk away after closing the almirah, the front door got opened with a cracked sound revealing Shaiq. By the look of his swollen eyes and disheveled hair, I guessed he was tired.

But tired of what?

Me?

How much I wanted to prove myself wrong, it was true. His eyes which were showing ecstatic, bright, and loving emotions a while ago with his family, became dull and stone-like hard when he was with me. He was the previous Shaiq for everyone but me. I just couldn't understand why that minor decision taken by me five years ago, made him so bitter with me. He laid a momentarily glance at me before making his way towards the couch which I think he got to love so much since he arrived back; without saying a word. He took out his phone and with the other one, he started to run his fingers in his sleek black hair. I wondered what world he got in this phone that he never seemed to take his eyes off it.

Suddenly I remembered something; my terrific promise to myself that I would suggest him to take his bed back. But now thinking about this, my lips began to quiver. I was cent percent sure that I would get a cold glance with a five or sixth worded long arrogant sentence as an answer just like I was getting for the past week. I couldn't believe someday I needed to think so much just to start a conversation with this idiot- who now was no longer an idiot. But there was no wrong in trying. Right? At least by doing this, I wouldn't feel guilty like I had been feeling for depriving him of his bed.

I took a few steps ahead and stood near to where he was. I cleared my throat to get his attention, "Shaiq?"

"Speak," a small reply came from his side but his eyes were still fixed on his phone screen.

Wow! This guy surely would be counting words before speaking anything.

I still remembered what happened in the evening when I came to the room to wake him up. He gave me a grim look by his bright black orbs because perhaps I woke him from his beauty sleep and maybe also because I made his important files fall. Though he didn't utter a single word. When I told him his mother was asking for him, he just hummed in the response but what more embarrassing was when I dared to ask him the reason for his sleep at this time since he never slept like this.