The Wrong Wedding

Act-29

"—if we can get Zaira's testimony that they manipulated her words, then maybe we can get hold of your shares back—Rayyan, are you even listening?" I could hear Ismail's words falling on my ears but my attention was faraway, in the tear filled eyes of Zaira.

"I am not having Zaira make rounds of Courts. I don't want the shares, Ismail. I don't have any need for them. Just clear her name from the fraud case they've framed her for—" I exclaimed in a small and tired voice, while fiddling with the phone in my hands. For a moment the lock screen blinked with her wallpaper, in which she was holding the chocolate icecream cone to her face and I had secretly clicked the picture.

Unknowingly, the corners of my lips lifted ever so slightly in a smile.

"Are you forgetting that it's not just her but you as well?! Rayyan, Zaira has only been framed as an accomplice in helping you misuse the company shares to support your Parent's charity foundation—It's you who they are targeting—! They know very well that you've never taken a penny from your shares—It's all an elaborate scheme to oust you from the company and that's why they've used Zaira for achieving their schemes this time!" I listened to him go on with half an ear. My mind was stuck back in Haveli, where Zaira must be crying thinking that I was going to betray her, again. Completely oblivious of how people whom she easily gave her trust to had used her in the worst possible way for their own gains.

Maybe this was karma, for wrongfully accusing her 13 years ago, for a sin she hadn't committed. History was repeating itself and it keeps repeating, until we learn the lesson it wants to teach us. Now, after all these years, I was standing where she once stood. Just as in past, this time too, I was the cause behind allegation against her virtue.

Except this time around, it's my honour they had decided to attack. Zaira, was my honour and I was going to leave no stone unturned to protect it.

"Rayyan—I am talking to you—" Before he could go on, I cut him off, snapping my gaze to meet his.

"They want the shares, Ismail. I know Uncle Zia and Uncle Zubair—if I give up all claims to the profit from Mum's shares, I can ask them to quietly back away. I don't want Zaira to find out about any of this. She doesn't need to know anything. I just need your help to protect the foundation. Hopefully, I can stop them from harming it. They might leave us alone without asking for compensation charges if I give up the shares—" I added solemnly, flickering my attention back to the phone in my hand.

The only reason, I had stayed part of the Hamdani's establishment was because of Mum's last wish. She wanted me to mend the ties with her family which she had broken by marrying Dad against her family's wishes. I would've long before wiped my hands off of this family if Gramps and Nanna didn't keep pushing me to conduct myself in a righteous way. All of this was just for them to backstab me, in this way.

I always saw this coming but what I didn't anticipate was them pulling Zaira into it as well.

"Are you sure? It's 30% shares that you're talking about. No matter what they say, it's your legal right—and we can still get everything back if you just—" Ismail tried to make me see something which I had no regard for.

"I am sure. I have no use for them. Never did. I know they are going this far just so I don't wake up one day and suddenly claim my right to it. It doesn't matter—" Nothing mattered except for her safety.

"Alright. If you're so sure, then I won't discuss it anymore. What about that other matter—with Harris. You're going to keep that hidden from her too?" He questioned defeated while getting up and wrapping up his stuff from the coffee table. Without meeting his gaze, I nodded my head.

Unaware of how much time had passed since he left, I continued sitting in the cafe, until the waiter came over to inform me that it was closing time.