Rina halted at the door the minute she realized there was someone inside. Nothing had given it away, other than the slight wavering of the curtains in the living room. If Rina hadn’t been so psyched with the fear that someone might trail her home each time she left the house, she might not have noticed it.
The person inside had seen her. Rina was sure of it. That was the only thing that explained the fast letting go of the curtains, and the seemingly hiding away from view. Stilling her breath, Rina knew she had to act fast before whoever it was got outside. Her legs moved first, sliding backward while still watching the door.
She watched it push open in slow motion, and her flight senses kicked in. But before she could bolt, she heard a familiar voice say, “Stop, Rina.”
Her legs stopped moving, as Rina allowed the baritone to embrace her. Her pulse raced and her skin flushed as Zayn came into view, leaning on the door frame with a grim expression and his hands folded across his chest.
Really? Rina thought, snapping out of it at once. It was a foreign feeling, and worse was the fact that she didn’t know where that had come from. Raising a hand to her face, she felt the heat seep through. She could tell without looking at the mirror that she was blazing red right now.
If Zayn had noticed that, he was either unconcerned or focused on something else, as he paid no attention to it. Instead, he stepped aside from the doorway and motioned for her to come in, unbudging until she was in the living area. Rina heard him close the door behind himself, before following her in.
“The ownership of this house is becoming uncertain by the day, or is that just me?” Rina needed to say something to keep herself from pondering too much about how her breath was hitched and her eyes suddenly unfocused.
“Where were you?”
“You know, last I checked, this cottage was bought under my name. That means I remain the sole owner and occupant. Any other thing contrary to my sole and permitted usage amounts to trespass. Have you ever heard of that?”
“Where the hell were you, Rina?” Zayn edged dangerously closer, and Rina took a corresponding step backward, putting exactly the same amount of space between them. It was more to stop herself from doing anything stupid, than whatever threat Zayn posed. Rina was certain he wouldn’t hurt her.
“You can’t keep coming in here as you please simply because you have a master key!”
“I can!” Zayn snapped. “And I will because you are going to get married to me and I should have full and unchallenged access to my wife. Now can you stop talking about the damn house and answer my question? Where did you go? Do you know how many men I sent out on the streets looking for you?”
“What?” Rina blinked, wondering when her whereabouts became a matter of security.
“Fuck!” Zayn muttered, putting more space between them. He turned around and closed his eyes for a minute, trying to still the rage and worry in him before turning around again.
“Rina, a lot has happened today. The people in that hall were ready to harm you if they were given the chance. And then, suddenly, I cannot reach you. Do you know the crude images my head conjured?”
“Were you worried about me, Zayn?”
He felt like holding her shoulders and shaking her back to the present, to see what was really the issue. “That is not the point, Rina.”
She dropped her purse on the seat next to her. “I was out with Joel, okay? We took a long walk and ended up talking about a lot of things. I’d forgotten my purse back in the hall and had to go back to get it when Joel and I were done talking. That was the reason you couldn’t reach me.”
Zayn blew out a sigh of relief, but that was long-lived as something suddenly dawned on him, his blue eyes suddenly getting darker.
“Joel? The same Joel I met today at the hall?” When he reached the cottage, Zayn still hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling that he knew Joel Osteen from somewhere, so he had asked his assistant to get him some intel. Joel was a model, just as Zayn had guessed. However, he hadn’t been on the runway for a long time.
At first, Zayn thought it was a scandal that pushed him out, and he was probably trying to look for some affinity in someone who had gone through the same thing. But Zayn’s assistant said no one knew why he left. He just suddenly turned in his resignation letter at his agency and made an announcement as to the effect. He fell off the grid after that only resurfacing now after three years.
It made Zayn wonder what he’d been doing all the while, and why he’d chosen this moment to stage his return.
“Yeah,” Rina replied, nodding. “He’s actually a nice person.”
“Nice person,” Zayn scoffed. “Did you know him before today?”
“No, but you don’t need more than a single occurrence to be friends with somebody. Life has taught me that.”
“I don’t think you’re taking notes of what life has been teaching you.” Zayn didn’t mean to sound harsh or rude, but he didn’t know what to do with the wealth of emotions he felt inside. It was like a fiery ball that kept threatening to burst forth, and he had to find relief in any way possible.
“Zayn…”
“If you did, you would have realized that you can’t fully know anyone, nor term them as nice, even though you’ve been with them your whole life. Kayla and Finn were the people you trusted most in the world, yet look where they left you.”
A loud silence settled in the living area. Rina was dumbfounded at the outburst, but her hurt went deeper than that. She tried to shrug it off as one of those things, but she felt the pain deeply lodged in her chest like a knife being twisted inside her.
Rina had only allowed herself to get hurt by people she loved. This didn’t fit into that category, so why did it hurt that bad?