"Forgive me," he uttered, his forehead still against hers.
Zahra was gobsmacked now. Daniyal's words lingered in her mind.
'Had he for once, just once said sorry to you for what he did?'
Now here he was, asking for forgiveness for what he did to her, and here she was backstabbing her. Remorse again painfully clutched her heart as her throat constricted with tears. Her heartfelt heavy as a sharp pain shooted in her throat indicating her tears were at bay.
"I'm sorry for what I did to you." He uttered again. He would've died but never have said a sorry if it was someone else than Zahra.
Her eyes begin to glisten with unshed tears as she looked at him and at last, a tear slipped down her eye.
Tear of pure remorse, her conscience was eating her.
One after another, they continued to slip down her face like a waterfall. She couldn't hold them anymore and out of instinct pressed his body against hers in a bone-crushing hug.
She begin to hiccup on his chest as he massaged her hair and kissed the top of her head, lovingly.
"I...(hiccup)...forgive...(hiccup)..you." She hiccuped. She was so disturbed but she meant every word she said. Guilt strongly affected her heart. She felt pure remorse. She knew what she was going to do with him was nothing compared to what he did to her. Because the pain of betrayal is the worst pain ever and she was going to inflict that pain on him.
So she decided to forgive him for whatever he did to her till now. But the fear was still there. She cannot forget what he did though she forgave him.
If the situation was different she would've never forgiven him but now her conscience was practically eating her like a hungry man. He was nothing but lenient with her for the past few days as if he was trying his best to make this marriage work. She could see it in his eyes she meant something to him. And on the other hand, she was planning to backstab him.
"Zahra, do you accept yourself as my wife?" He asked again and her mind instantly clustered with Daniyal's advice and warnings.
'Zahra make him think that you accept this marriage.'
'You're his possession, Zahra. He would never let you go.'
'If you love me you've to do whatever I say.'
'Whenever he asks that you have accepted this marriage then you've to say a yes.' Her mind clicked at this and she without any second thought uttered something which will be bringing a whole new level of calamity to her life.
"Yes. I do. With my whole heart." She lied. She internally thanked them that he couldn't see her eyes in the dark otherwise he'd had figured it out that she was lying.
She was guilty of what she was doing with him.
What she could do, she was just a puppet of her lover, Daniyal.
But did she that easily forget who her 'sweet' husband is?
"I love you, Zahra," he whispered, pouring out his heart in these 4 mere words.
He had never been an expressive person. But he wanted to express his love for her, to her. He meant every single word. He wanted her to know that she held a prestigious place in his heart. If his previous actions were hindering her to accept this marriage then he was damn fucking sorry. He had never said these two sentences to anyone but Zahra's case was different.
Her case would always be different.
He had done numerous murders, killed tons of people brutally and most of those people got wasted by his hands only because they betrayed him. He never had felt any guilt for his doings but the mere thought that his previous treatment with her was hindering Zahra to accept this marriage stirred his mind and his heartfelt remorse. He wanted to move on in his life with the sole love of her life.
At first, he only wanted Zahra to claim her as his. He wanted her to know that she was only his and no one else's. He had a strong urge to make Zahra only his. He was always possessive of his belongings and so was the case of Zahra. He became extremely possessive of her. And in this game of his possession, he forgot when he crossed his line and behaved like a barbarian to her and dealt with her in the same way as those people who disobeyed him.
He was still possessive of her but a softer side entered his heart. He felt those emotions with Zahra that he had never felt before. His heart compelled him to trust her unlike his brain and he wanted to be a bit lenient with her as callousness runs in his veins.
"I love you too." Zahra lied, biting her lips to stop her cries but a lone tear managed to escape down her eye.
These words again were forced out of her mouth because of Daniyal and his instructions which compelled her mind to utter those words.
If he can be lenient then he also can be a barbarian, when he will come to know that she was feeding him lies.
Even worse than a barbarian.
He frowned after hearing her confession, her statement didn't settle well with him. He didn't know why but his sixth sense was already telling him that Zahra was lying.
He was growing suspicious!
And she had no idea she was playing with fire.........
........................
Zahra was on her way to her university along with her lads. The sky was bright as she stared at it through the window of the moving car that Haseeb was driving.
"Zahra, what was Irtaza bhai's gift?" Dua asked breaking the silence in the car.
"A horse. A black horse," she replied and looked towards her who gave her a cheeky smile.
"Oh great. Do you know how to ride it?" Haseeb asked.
"No, he said that he will train me."
"Zahra beware he is strict while his training sessions. I'm warning you." Haseeb warned, making Zahra scared immediately as her eyes widened and she looked worriedly towards Dua who instantly punched hard on his shoulder.
"Oww women. Can't you let me live in peace?" He scowled with pain. The punch was hard.
"Ohh bro I'm sorry. Now I gotta tell Irtaza Bhai that his strict and harsh gym sessions aren't resulting well with Haseeb and he should be more strict with him as he's not even able to bear a small punch of mine." She sassed and now it was Haseeb's turn to widen his eyes as he knew Irtaza would definitely believe Dua and then he will be more strict and command him to uplift heavier weights for a longer time this thought alone dizzied his mind.
Every morning he has to wake up at 5 a.m sharp for jogging and if he's by any chance late then he's done. He has to finish two rounds of the whole damn big ass park within 15 minutes, running like a donkey. The park was so vast.
After finishing the morning walk with his big cousin brother they both get back to haveli and start gymming, with Irtaza continuously ordering him around to uplift different heavyweights and if he fails to do so 100 push-ups at that exact moment. Then comes different exercises to make his limbs stronger and fitter, their fighting sessions, and what more making him already tired at the start of the day. Yet Irtaza would always say that he was being much lenient with him.
"You won't."
"I would if you won't stop scaring her stupid."
"Abay pagal mein tw mazak kar rha tha. Irtaza bhai sei zayada acha tw koi dunia mein hai hi nahi aur training karatay waqt tw wo aisey hotay hein jesay muj sei ishq mein dubay huway ho. Chill karo.... mein tw bss mazak kar raha tha. Meri baato ko serious keun letay ho?" Haseeb joked making everyone to break out in hearty laughs.
(Ohoo stupids I was just joking. There is no one sweeter than Irtaza Bhai in this whole damn world and while training he is like that he is drowned in love with me. Chill out... I was just joking. Why do you take me seriously?)
"By the way Zahra when did you get your gift?" Haya asked after everyone laugh's died down.
"Last night about 2 am."
"Ohooo raat ko akelay akelay." Dua teased and she blushed as the kiss of last night wandered in her mind.
(Ohhh Alone at night)
"Shut up," she muttered under her breath as her cheeks got tinted red making her laugh.
"I was just kidding baby relax. Chill out." Dua said and that's when Zahra's eyes moved to her wrist. It was covered in a white gauze making Zahra worried.
"Dua, what happened to your wrist?" Zahra asked worriedly while holding her hand and both Dua and Haya's eyes widened as they both shared a similar look as if they both instantly got worried about something. Dua immediately snatched her hand back from Zahra's hold and looked away.
"No, it's nothing. She just got hurt two to three days ago. Nothing special." Haya replied trying to shrug off the situation but Zahra could sense something fishy. Over the past few days, Zahra noticed a reasonable change in Dua's behavior. She was usually off and quiet. She didn't talk much neither intermingle with others and spend most of her time in her room or with her elder brother Shehryaar, who left haveli and went back to Lahore 2 days ago.
Shehryar was the one who commanded over the west wing of the mafia, while Irtaza was the center of the whole mafia. Every activity and deal taking place in the mafia occurs according to Irtaza's command and Shehryaar gives access to all the illegal shipments and other activities occurring on the border. Various hotel chains and many well-known companies of Syed enterprises were under Shehryaar's control. He was the CEO of the multinational company that he established through his hard work. For handling his legal business, he often spent most of his time in Lahore and often comes back to haveli for a day or two every week.
Zahra knew that without any special reason Shehryaar won't come to haveli and all her assumptions directed her mind to one point that Dua and Haya are trying to hide something from her and it also included her elder brother Shehryaar. She decided to talk to Dua after her university.
"I hope everything is alright," Zahra muttered under her breath, she was getting worried about Dua.
Haseeb dropped her off at her university and she entered inside.
Zahra was unaware of the eye keenly observing her.