Fated

Ch. 30

'What are you doing here?' It was the first thing he said to me when he saw me at the airport. This was the last thing I was expecting from Zain to say to me. I thought he was going to be somewhat excited to see me there but I got a completely opposite reaction from him. He seemed so hostile. I felt like an idiot holding on to a cup of coffee for him.

'This is for you' I gave him the coffee and looked away not knowing how to carry the conversation from that point.

'Thanks...sorry, I had a long flight, I wasn't expecting to see you here' He said to me as we walked to the car.

'Sorry, I thought...never mind' I hurried inside the car to move on from the awkward situation. Everything about him was so strange; it was as if we were back to the time when he was indifferent towards me. I thought he was going to ask me how I was doing or something but he remained quiet during the whole car ride home, lost in his own thoughts. 

'Bye' I said quickly as soon as the car stopped in front of his house ready to leave but he covered his hand over mine and told the driver to leave the car.

'Sorry, I am just tired Maya' He excused.

'I don't think you're tired Zain, I think you're back to your old self' I pulled my hand away and exited the car and went inside my house. I couldn't help but cry as soon as I shut myself inside my room. How stupid was I to trust him? He asked me for a second chance after hurting me badly but I still gave in and he didn't respect that at all. He told me he loves me, was this behavior part of his love for me?

My phone started ringing just moments after I reached home. I checked and saw Anum calling.

'Hi Anum' I took a deep breath and answered the call, keeping my voice steady so she doesn't sense anything wrong.

'Hi why did you leave suddenly after dropping him off, we were expecting you two together...anyways, come over for tea' She said to me.

'I can't' I responded nervously, thinking of a reason to use as an explanation to avoid going there.

'Why?' She asked.

'I have some work to do' I said to her.

'Do it later, come on Maya' She replied waiting for me to say yes.

'Anum I don't think...' I started but she cut me off not agreeing to listen to me.

'No you're coming and that's final, I already asked Aunty for permission' She said to me.

'Okay,' I said and hung up the phone. My parents wanted me to go to Zain's house and since they had some party to attend they walked me to Zain's house to meet with Zain before heading off to the party along with Ramsha. Everything seemed fine at first, Zain behaved nicely with my family but he never even once looked at me, nobody noticed that except Anum so she took me to her room to talk to me as soon as my parents left.

'What did he do this time?' She asked me, looking directly into my eyes making it difficult for me to keep lying to her.

'I don't know what happened to him all of a sudden...he acted so strangely when he saw me at the airport and then when we reached here just before I got out of the car he just said that he is tired that's why he acted this way...I don't know what this means...maybe he is having second thoughts' I added the last part painfully.

'Talk to him...he is going to a party tonight, go with him' She mentioned Sumaiya's birthday.

'He is going?' I asked to confirm. If he was so-called tired from the flight, shouldn't he be resting at home, I thought to myself.

'Yes, he said it's very last minute' She said. Little did she know, this party was everything but last minute.

'I don't think he'll want me there' I replied, just then the door of her room opened and Zain walked in, finally looked at me.

'Can I talk to you?' He said firmly. I looked at Anum and she walked out of her room leaving me alone with him.

'I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now' He started as we continued to look at each other while I tried to figure out what went wrong between us out of the blue.

'Then you don't know me at all' I said back and he got quiet again.

'Why are you doing this to me Zain?' I finally asked him directly.

'You couldn't wait until tomorrow? I told you I am tired...' He changed the direction of the conversation.

'No I couldn't...and if you are so tired why are you here? Shouldn't you be in your room resting? If you are so tired then why are you going to Sumaiya's party tonight?' I fired one question after another. I was so angry with him for making me feel so miserable like that.

'Today was a long day, we'll talk later' He turned around to leave but I grabbed his hand.

'Zain I came to the airport to see you because I missed you and I don't understand why you are acting so strange with me...did I do something?' I admitted with defeat, hoping that he'll tell me what was going on inside of him. What was he thinking?

'Didn't you miss me?' I walked around him to face him.

'You should go, we'll talk later' He said to me insensitively, purposefully avoiding looking at me. Was he afraid that I will see right through him and know that what he was saying wasn't the truth?

'You're right' I smiled at him and walked out of the room and went to look for Anum.

'Hey' I spotted her in the front lawn.

'Is everything okay?' She questioned me as soon as she saw me approaching her.

'It will be...so about the party tonight...can you please come with me?' I asked her for a favor.

'Sure yeah we'll go together' She agreed.

'No...I want to go after Zain leaves...I met Sumaiya at the mall when we went dress shopping and she invited me to her birthday party and it sounded like she was in contact with Zain while he was on the trip but he was avoiding me...I just feel like he is hiding something from me and something tells me it has something to do with Sumaiya' I told her whatever was going on in my head. Maybe I was overthinking and a part of me felt extremely bad for going this far to find out the reason for Zain's hostile behavior but I couldn't think of anything else.

'Wait, hold on...you saw Sumaiya? Why didn't you tell me this earlier...do you think Zain and Sumaiya are...' She didn't finish the sentence but I knew what she was going to say.

'No forget it ...this is a bad idea, I am going home bye' I hesitated and backed away from her so I can leave.

'Oh no you are not, we are going to the party' She stared into my eyes and for the first time, I realized how determined she was, just like her brother. She was favoring me over her brother, how did I get so lucky to find such a great friend in her. This plan of ours was probably a really bad idea but then again when did I ever do things rationally? I wanted to learn the truth and if I couldn't get it from Zain directly then it had to be done obliquely.

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