For Rina, the day couldn’t have gone any better, from seizing back the narrative and getting a sniff of her stardom, perhaps more. But unknown to her, the cosmos seemed to have other plans, sending her deep into a pore-infested barrel, unable to hide from the poking. But that night, she returned to the hotel with Zayn, all smiles and sighs, until she was seated inside the car. Then, the smile faltered when she felt Zayn put a little distance between them, his arm slipping off hers. Of course, it was all a facade. How dare she forget?
The ride was slow, perhaps the slowest Rina had ever experienced. Her eyes were fixed on her phone to keep away time, to keep herself from noticing the tension in the air, how both their arms lay side by side, aching to touch, yet never reaching out. A sigh escaped her lips as she returned her attention to the post Ginny had just made. Back in the hall, Rina had sent a video of her ring, with Zayn kissing it. She was over the moon to receive it and didn’t even waste a minute putting it online. Although it was only on her Instagram story, pending the time the official videos and pictures came out, it already had a lot of views, and people went ahead to screen-record and repost.
The comments were of different variants. While some of them were getting back on her side, wishing her all the goodness and finding someone else to blame for all the lies they had put up, a particular sect of people thought it was suspicious and that Rina was playing a game that would soon yield its benefits, but only to her. No one thought it was detrimental to Zayn, because everyone knew nothing could affect him. Zayn Graham was invisible, as far as anyone was concerned.
The car slowed to a halt in front of the hotel and Zayn turned to look at her. “Are you ready?”
Rina took a deep breath and nodded. This was the path she had chosen to take, and no matter how much her emotions threatened to complicate things, she wasn’t going to back down. With a destination in mind, she waited as Zayn walked around to get her door open, taking her hand in his. She shivered at his touch but tried to give nothing away, managing not to allow any part of their skin to touch. It tugged at her edges when they touched, making her want to do things she shouldn’t even be thinking about, as Zayn had made clear.
It wasn’t casual for her. She was falling in love with Zayn, and the faster she got a hold of it, the better it would be for them all.
The receptionists in the lobby and the guests around didn’t bother hiding their stares as they crossed the space and headed into the elevator. He waited for her to get in first, then hit the button taking them to the last floor. Inside, he leaned on the wall and closed his eyes, as if thinking of something. The silence in the elevator was deafening, and even though, at first, she tried to ignore it and focus instead on the numbers trickling, she found her eyes returning to him almost every second.
“Are you fine?” Rina questioned, giving in at last to her worries. “What are you thinking about?”
“You,” he murmured without skipping a beat.
It took a while for Rina to get over his response, but when she finally did, the words came out of her lips. “Why?”
“It’s been a mixture of emotions all day, some that I can’t control.”
“And you hate not being in control.”
Zayn nodded. “Now, you’re getting it.”
“I love being in control all the time too,” Rina said, leaning on the wall behind him. “But when Kayla betrayed me and Finn walked out, everything that happened around that time just spiraled around me and forced me to go along with it. I felt everything slip out of my hands, and I just stood there, watching the flames eat away at the things I had built, without being able to do a thing about it. I still think about it that feeling of helplessness, the aching that comes with it.”
Zayn gazed at her intently. She saw through his eyes that he was thinking about something else. They softened, and there seemed to be a tiny close gap between them, almost unnoticeable. But Rina had seen it because she was always so painstakingly conscious around him. Even the slightest change in the charge of the atmosphere never slipped past her notice.
“I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this,” he started, his voice not more than a whisper. “But how did you do it? Manage to be this strong despite everything that has been tossed your way? I remember when Mago had to run away from her ex because he threatened to end her life if he couldn’t have her. He was mad and obsessive, but Mago loved him. She went through hell in the villa and would cry most of the time. I thought she would never get past it, but she did, even though it took a lot of time. But for you…You just sprang right back like nothing ever happened. It’s impressive.”
“I don’t allow myself wallow in what should have been, or the mistakes I could have avoided. It’s hard, sometimes. That’s why I don’t allow myself to think about it.”
“But there are certainly those bad days, those days when you soak in the bad things that have been done to you and it breaks you deeply. What do you do then?” Zayn sounded like he was truly trying to get to know her. His eyes searched her face intently, unraveling the secrets she held. The first wall was about tumbling to the ground.
“George,” Rina said simply. “It’s the reason why he can’t be replaced. He brings a bottle of liquor, and we talk about random things, get drunk, usually George first, and then sleep through it.”
“From now on, let me be the one to do that with you.”
The elevator dinged open and Zayn walked out, waiting for Rina to get into the hallway too. But she was stunned. It was on days when he said things as casually as that, that Rina found it hard to shake off her feelings.