Betrayal

Chapter 14

Zain's POV

"Mum, Dad... Zain has a girlfriend", Rayan decided to make an announcement when they were having dinner making Zain choke on the food that he was chewing. His Mother's eyes went wide while their Father had a huge grin, making Zain roll his eyes at Rayan, he wondered why he thought Rayan would keep his mouth shut after what happened. "Son, is this true? who is she? do we know her? is she one of Zoya's friends? I bet she is...Tariq, I told you, I'm a better matchmaker than you", their Mother rambled making Zain smile. He wasn't surprised to see that his Mother had not changed. She was still set on making sure he gets married despite failing a million times. At that very moment, he regretted going to the family dinner. His Father watched in silence, he was the only one who could understand him, he was the exact replica of him after all. "Aaliya, let the boy breathe, besides he will tell us when he is ready right Zain?", his Father said looking at him with pleading eyes. "Yes Dad, thank you", he said returning his focus to his plate. His Mother huffed in annoyance. He was sure that she was going to pin him down and demand to know everything about Valerie. Just thinking of the last two days he spend with her made his body shiver. She was not what he was expecting and that alone made him smile. "Tariq, look at him, look at our boy... he's in love. This is amazing. Rayan do you know his girlfriend? Can I see a picture of her?", she pressed and Rayan being his annoying self pulled out his phone and showed a photo to their Mother. Zain remained neutral as he always did. "Oh my! Tariq look", his Mother said full of excitement peaked his Father's interest. "She is a beauty", his Father said with excitement that reflected on his Mother's face. "Yes, she is. I hope she is not like Yolanda, that girl can talk for ages", their Mother said making Zain chuckle. "Really Mum?", Rayan whined. "Sweetie, I love Yolanda as my daughter but I have to be honest she does talk a lot", his Mother said matter-of-factly. "I love her just the way she is and I wouldn't change a thing", Rayan defended making his Mother smile. "We know sweetie... we know", she said lovingly.

"So who is she?", Zain's Mother asked him when they were washing the dishes. It was tradition for him and his Mother to wash the dishes after dinner, they would talk about everything, and it was their way of catching up. "She's Yolanda's roommate", he answered shortly. He watched as his Mother's eyebrows furrowed. "Zain, you know what I mean", she said in her serious voice making him turn his body to face his protective Mother. "Mum, I know what am doing and I can assure you that I will do what needs to be done but after I see how this goes", he tried reasoning with her. He recalled how their Mother made Rayan do a background check on Yolanda, she did not back down until the family PI assured her that Yolanda was clean. "Zain, this is for your own good", she said going back to washing the dishes. Zain pulled his Mother in a hug, "I know Mum and I will do it, but you have to let me do it my way", he told her then kissed the top of her head. "I love you son", she said making him smile. "I love you too, tiny person", he said making her chuckle. 

After having a final catch-up with his family, he left. Going back to his luxurious bungalow. He was a man that enjoyed luxury but never wanted people to know that and that is why he wanted to live in a quiet street and have his home surrounded by a wall. He had state-of-the-art security systems. This was one part that his shrink could not fix. He went straight to his surveillance room, checking to see if something was out of place, when he was satisfied, he went to his gym room, put a one-hour timer on and then started exercising. An alarm went off on his smartwatch telling him that someone just entered his driveway. He looked into the camera to see that it was his young sister. "I see some things have never changed", she said getting out of her fancy car. He furrowed his brows. Not that he was not happy to see his young sister but because she was not alone. The thing is, Zain had a soft spot for his young sister which she knew about so whenever she wanted to have a good time without boundaries she would go to him and judging by the people coming out of her car, she was there for his swimming pool. "What are celebrating?", he asked hugging her from the side. "Well, we just finished exams and we want to cool off, is it ok if we chill by the pool?", she asked giving him puppy dog eyes. "Yes, just remain there please and tell your friends to behave", he said making her smile. "Hey! It's not my fault that you're a chick magnet, besides you can always say no", she joked making him shake his head with a smile. He returned to his room without giving her friends any attention. His attention was already occupied by a certain black woman that he was yet to call. 

He was in his home office when he decided to call Valerie. He had a long day so he was not able to call her. As much as business was booming, it was hard for him to manage multiple companies at the same time but having Pauline who worked with his Father for ten years was very helpful business-wise. He also recalled when he told Claire about Valerie, to his surprise the lady did not question him like she usually did when he wanted to employ someone without following the normal procedures. He figured that from the look on her face, it had something to do with Valerie's struggle because Claire reacted like the story was something she could relate to. When she told him that Valerie was exactly what they needed, he was relieved, he did not want Claire to have the impression that he wanted to take advantage of Valerie. Even though he had dated other women before for some reason Valerie was different and he was eager to see what more he was going to discover from her.