"You have been mine since the moment I saw you, and nothing can change that. Nothing." He said it through his teeth as his voice shook with rage.
Zahra (The Depressed), who doesn't want anything to do with anyone but just mind her business, gets for...
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5:47 P.M. ALI RESIDENCE, DELHI THREE DAYS AFTER ARRIVAL
"Maa, please drop this shaadi talk!" I irritatedly replied, pulling my brows together and scrolling down on my laptop while sitting cross-legged on the couch.
"Why? Why should I drop it?" I heard her angry voice, but I did not look up. "Look at me when I'm talking!"
I slightly pressed my lips before taking a short breath, closing the laptop, and setting it aside, then looking up at her. She sat opposite me in the living room along with Mallika and Sabah, who were staying with us during their visit. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that they had also put down their phones and were staring at Maa attentively. I mean, kisko sher se darr nahi lagta!
"You are 29, Zahra!" She spoke slowly and sweetly while looking at me. "And in India, girls must be married by the age of 25."
"In that sense, Aunty, Mujhe, Sabah and Zahra, teeno ko toh chullu bhar pani mein doob marna chahiye, since we're of the same age." Mallika proposed from where she and Sabah were sitting on my right sofa. I could literally hear her mocking tone, and I wanted to exchange looks with her, with both of them, and laugh till my stomach hurt, but I couldn't. Because na toh we're in London, na toh we can pretend that Maa is not here.
Maa gave Mallika a look before returning her gaze to me, noting that I had not responded or nodded. I just stared at her with a straight face and thin lips, doing my best to avoid her gaze. Because, no matter what I say, she will only understand and hear what she wants.
"Mein tumse baat kar rahi hu, Zahra." She stopped for a while before shouting, "Look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you!"
I flinched, and goosebumps spread across my body, and my entire body began to shake as my pulse rate increased. I gulped and looked up into her eyes as she glared at me with a hard expression on her face. Her lips pressed thin for a second as she wetted them before glancing away and taking a few soothing breaths.
I used that moment to also take a deep breath while feeling my body tremble. I clasped my knee and clutched it tightly with my hands so Sabah and Mallika wouldn't notice the shaking.
"I have a few alliances," she explained as she looked at me again. "I want you to meet them. Can you at least do that?" I still didn't respond because I knew my voice would be wobbly and afraid. And I didn't want her to know I was frightened and that I am still afraid of her, even though she thinks the opposite.
Maa sighed from her seat when I didn't respond, then glanced away. I looked down at the white knuckles of my hand gripping my knees, then closed my eyes as the sudden urge to cry hit me. Not here. Not here. Not here. Not in front of her.
