The call came to an end and Zaya wiped off the little tears that had gathered at the corner of her eyes. Immediately after Zaya cleaned off the tears, she got a notification from her phone. A text came in. It was from her mother-in-law and it read,
"Meet me at your store by 11 a.m. today. I'll be there waiting. Zaya, we will fix this together."
Zaya felt light-hearted after reading the text message. She went to bed with the hope that the morning would be great and that everything would be alright.
The next morning came and Kabir left early as always. Zaya had stopped making breakfast for the two of them after Kabir started his attitude of leaving early. Zaya woke up to prepare for the day. She had her breakfast alone and made her way to her room to take her bath and get ready to leave.
Zaya left the house and made her way to her store. Her salon was located in the heart of the city. Zaya had a car which she drove to the store. When she arrived at her store, it had already been opened by her employees and the business of the day was already ongoing. Zaya made her way to the meeting room after greeting her employees. One of her employees told her about the arrival of her mother-in-law and some people that she knew.
Zaya became curious as to who the other people were. As she made her way to the meeting room, she desperately wondered who the other people her mother-in-law invited could be. Zaya arrived at the door of the meeting room and took a deep breath before she went in. When she got in, she met her mother-in-law and the shock of her life.
When Zaya opened the door to go in, the people present inside immediately stood up. Standing before her were her mother-in-law, Kabir's siblings, Zafar, Roy and another woman who she had not been able to identify yet and…. Lara.
Zaya suddenly felt ashamed and embarrassed by their presence. Although they were here to help her, she could see the pity they had for her in their eyes, and she didn't want any of that. Zaya took a deep breath before she proceeded to sit. This was really going to be a long talk.
"Good morning, mother and… everyone." Zaya said after she sat down.
"Good morning, Zaya," Mrs. Salma said.
"How are you, sister?" Rahila asked.
Rahila Asad is the youngest daughter of the Asad family and one of Zaya's in-laws.
"I am fine." Zaya answered nervously.
"Well then, let's get into the business of today." Salem, Mrs. Salma's eldest son suggested.
I know you are surprised that Kabir is not the eldest son. Well he isn't, he is the second child of Mrs. Salma, immediate younger brother to Salem.
"Where is kabir?" Salem asked.
"He is at the office." Zaya answered.
"Good then. Now, we can talk about the main issue here." Mrs. Salma said.
"As you all know, Zaya's relationship with Kabir is suffering a major downfall, and we want to change that. I have gathered everyone here today because each one of us has an important role to play. We need to make Kabir fall in love with Zaya." Mrs. Salma started off while the others listened attentively.
Zaya, on the other hand, was extremely embarrassed by the presence of everyone. She thought that it would just be a conversation between her and Mrs. Salma, but it turns out that she invited a whole squad along. The fact that they also knew her marriage was crashing was also a shame to her.
The reason why she called Mrs. Salma alone was to keep it as discreet as possible and not let anyone know, but now, a lot of people knew. She couldn't even look Roy in the eye because of how she felt.
Zaya wondered what Roy was invited for. She would have preferred it if it was just Mrs. Salma and her in-laws and maybe Zafar. There was no need for Roy and Lara. Their presence made her feel like a failure.
"To make Kabir fall in love with Zaya, we have to get rid of one problem... Lara." Mrs. Salma uttered, and everyone focused their gaze on her.
"I know that I am a problem, Mrs. Salma." Lara reacted to her words.
"Well then, you must also know that in order for the marriage of Zaya and Kabir to work, you must be eliminated from the story" Mrs. Salma spoke.
"Eliminated? Do we have to kill her?" Zaya asked naively.
Everyone present smirked at her naivety before Mrs. Salma uttered, "We are not going to kill her, Zaya. We just need her out of Kabir's life."
"I also want to end things with Kabir," Lara defended.
"Then why haven't you?" Zaya inquired politely.
"Because he won't let me!" Lara said in frustration.
"What do you mean?" Rahila asked.
"When Kabir first got married to Zaya, I was determined to wait for him for another five years before we could get married, but after thinking things through by myself, I've come to realize that I cannot do that. I cannot wait for Kabir for five years, it would be a waste of time," Lara explained.
"I thought you were in love with him. 'Till death do us apart' kind of love," Zafar chirped in.
"I love Kabir, but I think it's high time we moved on. I want to put an end to this because I feel bad whenever he comes to see me and leaves Zaya waiting. My boyfriend is slowly catching up, and I don't want that." Lara let out.
Everyone present went into shock when Lara uttered the words 'my boyfriend'. So she had a boyfriend, they thought.
"You have a boyfriend?" Zaya asked the burning question they all had.
"Yes, Rei is his name, and he is from Japan. We met in Japan three months ago when I went to a modeling event. He is also a model like me, and we instantly clicked and have been dating for about two months now. What I have with Rei is beautiful and promising, and I don't want to ruin it." Lara explained.
"Why didn't you tell Kabir about it?" Mrs. Salma inquired.
"I have tried! Believe me, I have tried countless times to confront Kabir about my relationship with Rei, but he wouldn't give it a listening ear. The only reason why I am still on the safer side is because Rei is not around that often as he travels a lot for work because he is quite popular and in demand," Lara told them.
Zaya sighed out loud. Lara was quite lucky, she thought. She had a Japanese boyfriend who loved her a lot, and she also had Kabir who was going after her. Zaya wondered what she was doing wrong? She wanted the kind of love and attention that Lara was receiving.
One of the pros of being a model!
Lara was a model for a modeling agency called "SLIM GIRLS". Lara was a perfect fit with the agency's name as she was slender, tall and beautiful. Lara has worked with different brands and companies as an influencer and even headlined runway shows. In terms of everything, Lara was far better than Zaya, Zaya thought. She had the body, she had the money, and she also had the man and the love. On the other hand, Zaya was struggling in all aspects of her life. Truth be told, she envied the life of Lara.
What was she doing wrong? Why can't she be as good as Lara?
"What does Kabir say whenever you try to bring up the issue of a breakup?" Salem asked.
"I don't want to hear it, he would say. Sometimes he would leave instantly and in anger," Lara answered.
"Now that we know that Lara is not into Kabir, it is safe to say that this plan of mine will surely work," Mrs. Salma said.
"What do you have in mind, Mrs. Asad?" Roy asked, addressing her by their family name.
"I call it Operation Kabir, O. K for short. The goal, as we all know, is to make Kabir fall in love with Zaya." Mrs. Salma revealed, smirking in satisfaction.
"And how do we achieve that? Kabir is like a rock, he won't budge!" Rahila said.
"I am his mother. I know him better than he does, Rahila," Mrs. Salma uttered.
"The power of a mother!" Zafar chimed in.
"With Kabir, what works best is reverse psychology. Act like you don't care and then he will start to care." Mrs. Salma explained.
"But I care too much about Kabir to not care! I don't think I'll be able to act as if I don't care about Kabir." Zaya let out subconsciously.
It was too late for her when she realized what she had said. Everyone had already heard it, and she couldn't take it back.
"Well, all that is about to change, Zaya. You have to start acting like you don't care about him, it's the only way that he will begin to acknowledge your presence." Mrs. Salma responded.
"I will try, mother," Zaya said softly.
"No! This is not a trial and error kind of thing. You must act like you don't care about it, because if you slip up and make one mistake and Kabir catches on, then all of our efforts will be for nothing. So you must not try, you have to do it!" Mrs. Salma directed at Zaya.
"Alright, mother," Zaya said nervously.
"Good then. Lara…" Mrs. Salma called on her.
"Yes, Mrs. Salma?" Lara answered.
"I need you to go away. Leave the city, better still leave the country for a few days. Months would be appreciated." Mrs. Salma replied.
"I actually have an upcoming project. I am supposed to star in a reality TV show, but it has not yet been confirmed. My manager told me to hold on a bit until the end of the week, so I would get a response," Lara revealed.
"How long is the show supposed to last for?" Zaya inquired.
"Well, it is the first project of the company, so it is going to run for three months. Rei has gotten an invitation to partake in it, and I am hoping I'll get mine soon," Lara explained.
"I don't think it's best for you to go on a reality TV show when your relationship with Rei is still new. If it's one thing I've learned from reality shows, it is that they bring out the worst in people." The woman next to Roy chirped in.
"Who are you?" Zafar asked politely.
"Oh, forgive my manners everyone, this is my wife, Mira. Mira Faruq." Roy introduced the woman while she smiled politely.
Wife? Roy has a wife? When did he get married? I thought he was still in love with me? Zaya said in her thoughts.