Zayn didn’t spend the night. When they’d exhausted the cocktail, he realized with a start that there was nothing keeping him back there. As much as he tried to stall for time, to ensure Rina was okay, beyond the smile etched on her features, he knew he had to leave since his flight was to depart that night. It was almost 9 pm already, yet, they were still on her balcony, comfortable in each other’s silence, staring into the dark.
Or at least, Rina stared into the dark.
But for Zayn, his eyes never went off her, even when he reached for his glass on the table. He wished he could do something about how she felt, take away a part of the burden he could see on her shoulders. But he knew what she would say before he even managed to get the question out, and Zayn didn’t think tonight was best for that type of conversation.
He sighed and glanced at his watch. “Rina, I have to be at the airport in thirty minutes, and I have to go with William because I’m not used to traveling without him. But while I’m gone, some of my men are going to be with you round the clock. You don’t have to go to the fashion house…”
“I want to go to the fashion house,” she interjected, still looking out into the night. “And everyone needs to stop acting like I broke my leg or something. I’m going to be fine.”
“By everyone, you mean…”
“You and Joel.”
A muscle worked in his jaw, but Zayn said nothing about it. He already felt strange about the fact that he was leaving Rina behind knowing fully well that Joel wanted her in every ramification, but he was going to trust his judgment and stay put until he returned.
“That’s because we actually think something might go wrong,” Zayn muttered. “The whole country has gone crazy over the old rumors. They are digging up stories and circulating them like wildfire. The tabloids are pulsing and the internet is in a rave. I’m going to make a few calls to withdraw the published articles on the tabloids, but you have to…”
“Don’t do that, Zayn,” Rina breathed, turning around and gazing at him softly. The intensity of his eyes returned her mind to the closet, his tongue teasing her skin. She flushed a bright shade of red, and a knowing look appeared in Zayn. Despite that, he made no mention of it.
“I want to,” he said instead. “I’m going to be miles away and I need to know that my proposed wife is safe. You know you have to stay alive until the wedding, don’t you?”
Rina scoffed and got on her feet, the chair scrapping noisily on the ground. “If all you’re concerned about is your little contract, then you can be rest assured that I’m going to be here, ready and waiting for you until your arrival. Just don’t do anything that is related to my profession. I told you before, Zayn. I can handle it myself.”
“Why?” It was something Zayn had always wondered. He had all the powers at his disposal, and he was willing to use them all as long as it kept Rina safe. Although, Zayn justified the reason in his head with the fact that Rina was going to be his wife, and as such, he needed to keep her safe, a tiny voice in his head told him it was much more than that. And if he needed any proof, their little moment in her closet availed him more than enough.
Still, Zayn quashed that voice each time it came up.
“When Finn left me,” she started. “He took everything I had, leaving me to start from the beginning, a point I never thought I would return to. And that was because I allowed him access to what I had, did things in his name and allowed him to help me as much as he could. I should have known that he was going to use those very things as weapons against me.”
“So, when I started afresh, the intent of rising way beyond the point where he left me, I made a promise to myself to smash every goal all on my own, so that in the end, my success would be attributed to no one but me. I know my worth, and I know I’m going to get there. Just let me do this for me.”
Zayn wanted to say that the same would not be said of him; that he would never leave her the way Finn did, and that even if he did anything for her, he would never stab her in the back. But instead, Zayn sighed and muttered, “Okay. I’m going to head out now.”
Rina nodded and walked him out through the glass doors and back into the room, grabbing the empty glasses. They went into the kitchen together, and Rina watched as Zayn rolled up his sleeves, washed them, and left them to dry on the sink. His muscles bulged as he worked, and Rina had to remind herself often to take her eyes off him, count to ten in her head, and take a deep breath. It didn’t work as much as it used to, but at least, it kept her mind busy, edging it away from the need to find out what it felt like kissing him.
The sudden shrill of his phone made Rina jump, but Zayn turned around at once, giving her a look as he grabbed his phone off the countertop, and picked up the call without looking away from her. His responses were monotonous, and Rina had no way of knowing who he was talking to or what he was saying. When the call clicked dead, he placed the phone in his pocket.
“That was Mia,” he offered. “She’s at the airport already.”
Rina nodded. “You can leave,” she muttered. “I will be fine. I promise.”