The Addiction of Love

V

Zain was relaxing on his chair with his eyes closed when Inaya barged inside his cabin.

He slowly opened his eyes to look at her. "Decent people knock before entering someone else's office."

Even with her sour mood, she managed to roll her eyes at him. "I think we've established the fact that when it comes to you, I'm never decent."

She sat on the chair opposite to him and put one leg on top of the other.

"And I'm sure that you haven't called me here to discuss my decency. So cut the chase. You might have enough time to waste, I don't." She looked him in the eye and spoke nonchalantly.

Zain curled up his lips into a small smile. Finally, she was behaving like her old self.

"For your kind information, I'm way busier than you. If you've forgotten I'm the CMO."

She huffed. "You'd never change. Always self-praising."

"By the way, I didn't expect you to accept my request to visit me. I thought I'd have to send Aditya quite a few times to you before you agree. But I guess you were too eager to see me, huh?" He winked at her smugly.

She gave him a cold glare. "Are you going to tell me the reason for this sudden meeting or should I leave?"

Zain stood up from his chair and walked around the table to get close to her. She tilted her head sideways in confusion.

He knew it was the time for the big question.

"I called you up here because I wanted to ask you about the guy who was standing outside our building yesterday. And why were you scared to go in front of him?" He asked her straightforwardly.

And as expected, her body language changed. She tensed up, and clutched her palms together. "It is none of your business."

She got up from the chair and turned around to leave, but he caught her hand.

"I am not letting you go until you answer my question."

She jerked her hand out of his grip. "What the fuck do you think of yourself? You think I am obliged to answer you?"

"Inaya.. "

"No!" She snapped at him. "What do you men think of yourself? That you own every woman around you? That you can come and claim anyone you like, without considering what the woman wants?" Tears pooled in her eyes. Zain's dominant question had triggered the memory of how Murtaza had imposed his decision of marriage on her.

"What the hell are you saying? When did I say that I own you?" Zain couldn't understand why her mind was working in such a wrong way. He didn't intend to make her feel like he was claiming her.

Instead of answering him, she just stared blankly at him.

He moved closer to her, and palmed her cheeks in his huge hands. Then, in his softest tone, he spoke, "Inaya, I know something is wrong around you. I can feel it. And I just want you to tell me what that is, so that I can help you. Please."

"Why do you want to help me?" She said in a voice that was as soft as his.

He chuckled. "Because I love fighting with you. And lately, with all the other stress in your life, you're not paying me enough attention. Let me deal with all the problems in your life, so that I can have my angry cat back."

Inaya couldn't stop the giggle that erupted from her throat. But within two seconds, that giggle changed into sobs. She broke down in his arms. Maybe it was because her body couldn't take anymore, or maybe because he said all those cute things to her.

He gathered the crying mess in a hug and kept running his fingers through her hair to soothe her down. He didn't know why he was being that gentle with her, but it felt right to him.

And it also felt right to her. Unlike the disgust she had felt when she was being forcefully held by Murtaza, her heart fluttered and her soul was at peace in his arms. And finally, after three days, she felt safe. Her mind relaxed thinking that if the guy who was hugging her at that moment stayed by her side, she would be able to defeat Murtaza.

In that moment of weakness, she ended up telling him everything. He heard the entire story, and even though his hands itched to kill Murtaza the entire time, he kept his calm. He didn't want to scare that poor girl more than she already was.

After she was done speaking, he offered her his handkerchief to clean the tears from her face.

Before he could say anything to her, Aditya interrupted them saying that Zain had an important meeting. Inaya looked at the time and saw that they'd spent more than an hour talking.

"You should go. Even I've to get back to work." Inaya stood up to leave.

Zain nodded with hesitation. He wanted to talk more, but they couldn't do that in between work hours.

"Meet me outside your office at 07:30pm. I'll drop you home." Zain said.

She agreed at once because she was scared to go out alone.

_____________

The entire day went by in a jiffy, and before Inaya knew, she was again seated in Zain's car, while he drove towards her home.

When they reached her place, she unbuckled her seat belt and smiled at him. "Thank you for dropping me again."

"I want you to go home, eat a heavy meal and then sleep like a baby. You don't have to worry about Murtaza anymore. I promise you." He said with determination.

She didn't know why but she believed him. He then asked for her phone and fed his number in it.

"Text me hello so that I get your number as well." He said while giving her her phone back.

She nodded and bid him goodbye.

Just as he had asked her, she had a wholesome dinner with her mother. Then they sat down in the living room to watch their favorite show together. It was almost 11 in the night when they decided to go to bed.

"Good night, Inu." Razia kissed her forehead.

"Night, ammi."

After reaching her room, she remembered she had to check a mail that her colleague had sent her. She opened her laptop bag to take her laptop out, when her eyes fell on Zain's handkerchief crumbled inside the bag.

She had forgotten to return it to him. She pulled it out from the bag and stared at it. A goofy smile appeared on her lips as she remembered how tenderly he had tended to her today. She couldn't even imagine a guy as cocky as him to be this considerate.

She knew she should wash the handkerchief and give it back to him, but instead she decided to keep it. Don't ask why, because she didn't know it herself.

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Don't we all lose ourselves in novels, as well as find ourselves in them too?