Zaya's Point Of View
I stole a glance at the wall clock to look at the time while coming out of the kitchen. It was nine p.m. The house was sparkling and everything was in shape. It was our wedding anniversary tonight. The wedding anniversary of I and Kabir. Today would make it the span of a year since we have been married and, believe me, it hasn't been easy, but I'm still grateful for everything.
As I sat at the dining table waiting for Kabir to arrive from the office, I made a quick check with my eyes on the dishes on top of the table. I had made all of Kabir's favorite meals and scanned the table to see if anything was missing. The salad! It was the only thing that was not there. It is probably still in the kitchen and I forgot to take it out. I made my way to the kitchen to get it. While in the kitchen, I found the salad on the kitchen table along with a glass cup I had used to drink water while cooking earlier.
While trying to pick up the salad, I accidentally kicked the glass cup, and it fell onto the ground, shattering. I gasped in shock. Tonight had already started on a bad note.
"Why would the cup break now? Especially on our wedding anniversary night? Why couldn't it be on any other day? Why now? Why now?" I said out loud to myself and obviously to the glass cup.
You might be wondering why I am placing so much importance on a glass cup. I mean it's just a glass cup, no need to get paranoid about it. Some of you would say, but from where I come from, a glass item breaking was sort of like a bad omen. It meant bad luck or something terrible was sure to follow.
I didn't want anything bad to happen tonight, especially on this special day of ours. I sighed in frustration and took the salad to the dining table before coming back to clean up the mess. After cleaning up the mess, I made my way back to the dining table to wait for my loving husband. He will be here any minute from now. I looked at the time again, and it was 9:30 p.m. Any minute now, he would arrive in the driveway.
I decided to busy myself by imagining how it would all go down. Kabir would be so surprised when he comes in through the door and sees me dressed so beautifully. I was putting on a white dress, which was knee-length and some stiletto heels to go with it. For my hair, I did a very simple yet elegant style. I owned a hairdressing and nail salon, so I made the best of my employees do my hair and nails while I did my make-up by myself.
I went with a simple tone for my make-up. I didn't really like extravagant things and for my accessories, I paired the necklace, earrings and bracelet Kabir's mother got for me with my dress. The accessories came as a set and Kabir's mother got them for me as a wedding gift. It was also simple on the surface but was very expensive and had diamonds in it.
Kabir came from a rich family. An extremely rich one. But the truth behind their story was that the Asads were never born rich. They were just some poor family trying to make ends meet, but they all had brilliant ideas and innovations that would change the world. My family, on the other hand, was rich right from the start.
My father approached Kabir's father, Mister Malik Asad, after hearing about his awesome idea and decided to invest in it. Ten years later, both of our families were swimming in wealth and topping the charts as the most expensive family. As an act of gratitude and friendship, both my father and Kabir's decided to wed us to each other. It was meant to be a betrothal, arranged marriage kind of thing.
That was where the problem arose. I didn't want to get married to Kabir and neither did he want to get married to me. We both had relationships which were good and going pretty well. None of us wanted to call it quits with the person we were dating, especially after being in a relationship with them for so long.
When both our fathers saw our reluctance to get married to each other, they decided to come up with a marriage contract. It would last for only five years and, after that, if we were still not into each other, then we would go back to our old relationships, that is if our partners were still willing to take us back.
Our year one in this contract marriage has been going really well. I have no reason to complain because Kabir treats me well and takes care of me and…. Who am I kidding? Our year one has been a total disaster. It's as if Kabir always forgets me or forgets the fact that he has a wife. He stays out late only to return late, like one a.m. or two in the morning. He never eats my food and sometimes brings his friends over to embarrass me or my cooking. He still links up with his girlfriend from before and specifically makes my own life a living hell while I worship and condone all his acts.
The reason why Kabir sees me as a bad person and treats me as such is because my father was the one who brought up the whole idea of betrothal, arranged marriage and contract marriage thing. So he blames my father for everything through me and treats me unfairly in revenge for what my father did.
The reason why I condone all of this, on the other hand, is because of my mother-in-law. She has been really kind to me and understanding of all of my problems. Kabir's family are really accepting of me, but when it comes to him, I might be the reason why he would commit murder. My whole existence irritates him and I think he sometimes wishes I should fall down and die before the end of the five years so that we would get over this charade faster.
My mother-in-law has told me to take it all in, that better days would come, but with the look of things it seems like better days weren't even coming at all. It could not be found because it got lost on its way to our lives. Still, I have decided to heed her words and do my best in this marriage so that, after five years, no one would ever find fault with what I did or call me the unreasonable person that ruined something beautiful.
I looked at the time to check what it was, and it read 10:15 p.m. Wow! I can't believe I've been lost in my thoughts for so long. I decided to go check outside. Maybe Kabir had arrived, and I was still lost in my thoughts by that time that I didn't hear him come through.
As I made my way to the front door, I couldn't help but be amazed by the structure of our house. Kabir was a famous architect and the way our house was constructed and designed internally would instantly give away his career profession to anyone who came in.
I arrived at the door and went outside to look, but Kabir was still not back. I sighed in frustration. He was doing this even today, of all days. I went back inside and decided to sit on the sofa and wait for him. I put on the television to watch what was being shown on it. Truth be told, my mind wasn't into anything that was being displayed. I was totally focused on the door, waiting for the moment when Kabir would come in.
I let out another sigh again and went to the wine cabinet in a corner and picked up a bottle of champagne with a glass cup for myself. Might as well entertain myself with some drinks while I wait, right?
As I was busy watching the television, laughing at the funny film being shown and drinking the champagne, I realized this was the funniest thing or moment that I have ever had while being in this marriage. This was the first time that I was really happy and enjoying myself and didn't really put in much effort to make myself happy.
Who knew that happiness could come so easily? Who knew that I could be so satisfied with spending some time alone with myself? I have been so invested in this marriage, making it work and in my business, that I never had time for myself. I always thought that there was never happiness in the things I did if Kabir wasn't involved. What a wrong notion I had?
An hour had gone and one bottle of champagne down and Kabir was still not back from the office. Oh well, I might as well entertain myself with another! And so did I. On the second bottle of champagne, I was starting to feel sleepy and prayed that Kabir would arrive before I fell asleep.
It wasn't until the third bottle of champagne and at around 1:30 a.m.did Kabir arrive. By that time, I had already fallen asleep on the couch watching TV. It was the sound of his car coming through the gate that woke me up. Our house was smartly controlled, so Kabir could easily let himself in with one click from his cellphone.
I immediately stood and made myself look presentable while letting out a smile for when Kabir came in through the door. A few minutes later, Kabir enters the house. My heart was thumping crazily, and I was suddenly feeling nervous. What would he say? What would he do? Oh My God, I am so scared!
Kabir, once inside, took a glance at my appearance, picking me up and down with his eyes. He stood at the entrance of the door for a minute, looking at me before he scoffed and headed for the staircase.
Is that it? After everything I did, is this it? A scoff? And that's all? Not even a simple smile? Or what's the occasion for? Or you look good? Just a scoff and he was headed for the stairs.
Not on my watch! This night and all my efforts are not going to go to waste. Not for nothing!