It's not all Roses

Betrayal

Zaynab

Asad is humming the title song of Khamoshi, and all I want to do is throw him out of his driver's seat so that he falls into the running canal and watch his bloated dead body float away.

"I can explain," he says interrupting my fantasies, "but I won't."

"What the hell?"

"You went behind my back!"

"You did first!"I say, fuming.

"I specifically told you to let him go," he says.

"You didn't tell me you knew where he was going!"

At this, he goes silent.

"You know what, nevermind," I say, "just pick up Ayzah and drop us off."

"Alright your Highness", he rolls his eyes.

"I am telling her what you did, just so you know."

"Don't do that," he says in a warning tone.

"She deserves to know where her friend went," I say as Asad stops the car.

"Oh, since when do you care about her?" 

"Since Talha ran away and you started being a bitch!"

"Shut the fuck up." He slams his hands at the steering wheel.

Before I can say anything, Azyah emerges out of nowhere. Asad motions her to sit inside.
"Asad, I am sor-"

"-No need to apologise to him," I intrude, "he was there too."

"Where?" Ayzah's eyes widen.

"Zaynab!"  Asad says, sounding like he wants to skin me alive.

"He was there to see off Talha!"

"Wait, what?" Ayzah says, leaning forward in her seat.

Asad sighs and runs his hands through his hands.
"Don't listen to her," he says looking back at Ayzah, "right now we need to leave if we want to make it to the last lecture."

Uh oh.

Ayzah looks at me quizzically as realization dawns, slapping me square in the face. I have missed all the lectures today.
And if we don't make it by 12:30 I'll miss Pharma. Again.
I glance at Asad's wrist watch.
12:05.
Shit, we need to hurry.

Somehow this message is delivered to Asad. At times like these, we have a telepathic rapport between us. He dashes the car out of bus terminal in a frenzy. We reach college just in time.
We scurry into lecture hall, panting and dripping with sweat.

As we march into the hall, trying to look non-chalant, Dr. Shazaf clears her throat. All three of us stop short like deers caught in headlights.
I glance at her defiantly.

"Two minutes late," she says peering over her round spectacles perched on her pointed nose,"and where are your overalls?"

Shit. We forgot them in our lockers.

I look at Ayzah with pleading eyes. She's a goody-goody, she must get us in. But her eyes remain focused on the floor.
She is useless.

"Ma'am," Asad says ,"we-

"-Get out, all of you!"

****

I rush into my room the minute I reach home and fall face first on my bed.

What a day.

I tell myself I should have lunch, shower or at least get on with preparing the test we have tommorow.
But I can't focus, I can't seem to forget what happened.
It's not the first time I got kicked out of class. It's the very least of my worries right now. I am just scared of ma'am Shazaf calling my parents.

She would let Ayzah off the hook, but me and Asad?
Never.
If Talha was here, we might have been able to get her sympathy.

Talha.
What a motherfucking tool.

I stretch my hand into my overall's pocket and take out the keys to my bottom drawer.
There's a pack left.

I shuffle inside the bathroom,  light a cigarette and let my mind free.
Dozens of thoughts slip through, flashbacks after flashbacks, confusion and regrets.

Why didn't he tell me he was leaving?

Didn't he trust me with his secret?

I would have understood whatever it was, wouldn't I?

Or did he try to hint at something and I missed it?

Why couldn't he just tell us straight out that he didn't want to marry Sameen?

I had been so focused on thinking what would I do when I found Talha, I didn't stop to think what would I do if I didn't?

What if I never see him again?

Where did he go?
And to whom?

I take the last drag and throw out the remaining butt.
As I stagger out the bathroom, I feel strangely calm. And then a sharp breath comes and I burst into tears. All the wind is knocked out of me.

I think I have lost my best friend.

****

A/N:

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