Love or Revenge

Chapter 34

Both headed to the usual coffee shop and saw Arshad was sitting far behind in an isolated table.

When they both reached the table, Arshad stood up and hugged Zoya, "Siddiqui, it's really good to meet you after a long time", Arshad said and he shook hands with Grace. "How you know her original surname?" Grace asked. Arshad and Zoya laughed. "Well... I know Arshad since college... We studied together..." Zoya said. "Hey... We studied together... How come I didn't know anything about him?" Grace asked.

"Well... We know each other because we had same classes... And he left our college after his second year... And we met again after Stan's death... I don't know we were in the same city till then..." Zoya said. "And he knows about my past since college and that's how he knew my original surname", she added.

"We both had our past..." Arshad said and laughed. "Arshad... Please..." Zoya said with chuckle. "Am I missing here something?" Grace asked while tapping on the table. "Well... Arshad has a soft side for me, since college and he proposed to me then... And while denying his proposal, I told him about my past and about my revenge to him as I thought it would be fair because I liked him too... and as you know, I was not in a place to accept any relationship at that time... and I don't want to give him any hope that we might have a future" Zoya said and added with a chuckle, "And I think he is not yet get over me..."

Arshad laughed with her, "Well... Can't agree more, Siddiqui... But what's with the marriage? that too Harshawardhan's son?" He asked. Zoya sighed and said, "It was part of the plan to get close to Harshawardhan..." Arshad looked at her in confusion and said, "For that you married him... That's absurd... Whenever I see this guy, I get all the bad vibes... He is kind of harsh and rude... I would say you kind of fallen into their trap, Siddiqui"

"Ah! No... No... Aditya is nothing like his father... He cares too much about the people he loves and he cares for me and he looks out for me... Aditya is a very good person from his heart and definitely not like his father. Once you get to know him then you won't be saying something like that about him. I know, Arshad, you too look out for me. But when it comes to Aditya, you don't have to be worried. I can promise you on that", Zoya said her eyes sparkling while assured him by placing a hand on his.

"Wow... That's deep... I think finally you have fallen in love..." Arshad said as pain flashed through his eyes. "Oh! No... Arshad... I said he is good person that's it... I don't love him..." Zoya said stuttering. "Siddiqui... I know you more than you know about you... When you talked about him... I saw your eyes sparkled and you were smiling all the time... You do that when you're really happy... He makes you happy, Siddiqui. Just admit it..." Arshad said and Zoya lowered her head.

"Well... She won't accept that... Just leave her to be..." Grace said and asked, "Arshad, what brings you here, today?" Arshad shakes his head and said, "Well... I had to go through so much trouble to erase the evidence that she left behind..." Zoya looked at him and asked, "What?"

"Yeah... Siddiqui... When I heard about Srivastav's death... I went to his place and scanned for evidence left over... I found this piece of saree design and this cloth under his bed then I had to call in favor with the doctor to remove the some of the pointer from the post mortem report", Arshad said.

"Again, what are you saying?" Zoya asked. "I'm saying... You lost your touch, Siddiqui... You almost blew up your identity... Your finger prints are all over his hands and your dress material was left behind... I got a heads up to erase those evidence before that inspector reaches there" Arshad said.

Grace closed her mouth in horror and looked at Zoya. Zoya look at Arshad baffled. "During Stan's death... You didn't even leave a single evidence behind that could point towards you including the video it was clean... But this time, you lost it..." Arshad said with disappointment. Zoya didn't expect that she lowered her head in disappointment. Arshad placed his hand on hers and said, "Hey Siddiqui, don't worry... I got it... I'm there to cover you and I got it covered..." Zoya smiled and Arshad smiled back.