Fated

Ch. 21

'I am not ready' I hesitated for a bit but ended up saying what I felt. Zain was demanding, controlling and persuasive but I wasn't his toy that he could play with.

'I don't want to marry Zain' I uttered, freeing my hands from his grip and getting further away from him, watching our families in a complete state of shock.

'Maya...' My mother looked disappointed at me as she stared at me with displease.

'Zain and I are not compatible with each other and I think it's best if we stay friends instead of getting married to each other' Although I didn't think Zain and I were never friends, our parents, however, saw each other as childhood buddies and I didn't want to turn this into a family feud.

'Maya...Zain is a...' My mother came up to me to try to convince me however Jamila Aunty interrupted.

'That's fine Nosheen, its Maya's decision...I think we should respect that' Jamila Aunty seemed upset but was kind enough to not let her ego get in the way of doing the right thing.

'I am sorry if I hurt you but this is my life and I don't want to sacrifice it for someone else' I looked at Zain and found him looking at me with an expression that was hard for me to comprehend. He seemed surprised but also not as his body was set of fire and his ego was shattered into a million pieces but standing tall. I felt bad for him...seeing him like that bothered me more than I could describe in words but I also knew that my life with him would have been disastrous. He was still trying to fight his battles and didn't seem ready to share his secrets with me. If he wanted he would have told me about his struggles but he never trusted me enough to talk about his bad times with. How could we create a life together if he wasn't invested in knowing me? I was just a prized possession for him. He wasn't in love with me.

'Maya please reconsider this proposal...Zain really cares about you...he might not show it but he really cares, I am sure you know that too' Anum approached me, glancing at Zain in between.

'I don't know him Anum, I can't figure him out...who is Zain? Tell me?' I asked her but she kept quiet.

'I think that's enough...we should leave' Abbas Uncle looked at his wife and they started walking towards the door to leave.

'Abbas we apologize...but we do trust Maya and I think we should respect her decision...it's her life after all' My father walked with Zain's family to the door but Zain remained still.

'Zain...come on' Anum anxiously moved towards him and grabbed his elbow to take him away but he aggressively pushed her hand away.

'Zain...please' I said to him and he slowly turned his head to me and I saw his damp eyes. Was he crying?. This is the last reaction I was expecting from him.

'You got your revenge Maya' He said to me, making me feel extremely shameful before disappearing out of my sight.

'Why did you do that?' My mother returned to the room after they left. She looked at me as if damaged her pride.

'I said the truth' I told her.

'That boy really likes you Maya...his family likes you...he is a good boy...what more do you want?' She yelled at me.

'Nosheen, calm down' My father stood next to me and told Ramsha to go to her room but I knew she was going to hide by the stairs to listen to the conversation.

'Why...why should I calm down? This girl...you have given her too much freedom and look what she did today...you had no right to insult Zain and his family like that...you could have stayed quiet and talked to us after they had left, we would have handled the situation' She angrily looked between my father and me.

'He is doing this because I challenged his ego...I am nothing but a game for him...I know what I did was wrong but he has done far worse things' I told them.

'What are you talking about?' My mother expression changed when I said that, and she got quieter.

'I resigned from his job because I was bothered by him...he didn't behave nicely with me' I answered.

'Why didn't you say anything to us? Did he do anything to you...harass you?' Papa stared at me. It took me a second to fully comprehend as to what he was referring to.

'No...no he didn't harass me like that...he just have some issues and gets really moody. We always get on each other nerves and that's why I didn't understand why he was interested in marrying me. He told me he likes me but he is going through some stuff and I don't think he'll be able to open himself up toward me or trust me completely' I told my parents, especially my mother.

'What stuff...what are you talking about Maya?' My mother seemed confused. It was hard for me to talk about him with my parents when I was also somewhat confused. Everything happened so fast that I thought I was imagining this whole thing.

'It's okay what's done is done...we'll talk about this tomorrow' Papa told me to go to my room and I listened to him. I was mentally drained.

'You shouldn't have done that' Just as I suspected on my way to my room, I saw Ramsha standing by the stairs, not hiding her disapproval towards me.

'You are too young to understand these things' I said to her as she continued to follow me to my room.

'I did the right thing' I said to her.

'No you just wanted to win' She said to me as we reached the door.

'What do you mean?' I turned around and asked her.

'You said he wasn't nice to you when you worked at his office so you refused his proposal to settle the score' She told me.

'I am not a child Ramsha...I didn't purposefully say no to him to take revenge against him' I replied.

'Didn't you feel even the slightest bad for him?' She accusingly asked me but I didn't answer.

'You must really hate him then...if you hate him and can't stand him near you then I guess you did the right thing' She said to me and went away, leaving me in a chaotic state of mind. Was everyone right? Did I just do that to win? No, I am not that vain. I did that because I don't want to marry him. It was simple as that.

Just as I started to get unready, my phone rang and it was Anum calling. I answered straight away.

'Hello,' I said, waiting for her to say something...anything at all.

'Hey...I wasn't sure if I should call you right now...are your parents around?' She asked me.

'No...I am glad you called...I wanted to talk to you and apologize. I know I hurt you and your family but believe me my intentions weren't bad. Zain was forcing his decisions on me and I felt really small' I told her.

'I know...I told him to take this slow but he didn't listen to me...I am so sad for him' She informed me and my heart ached for her. She cared so deeply for him.

'Keep an eye on him. Where is he?' I asked her.

'In his room...we tried talking to him but he has locked himself inside' She told me.

'He isn't going to do anything right?' I panicked and she went quiet.

'Right?' I asked louder this time but the call disconnected.

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Hi guys,

There is a double update this week! Enjoy xx