UNWANTED

CHAPTER 28 - P34.4 - LIZAVETA

"I shouldn't have interrupted that." Zabdi said as we descended the stairs and continued down the ornate halls of the CST. He brought me a scarf to tie around my hair and a helmet to keep it all in. He was with my wig again, but rather than comment on it, which he probably would have preferred, I stayed quiet.

"No, I'm glad you did." And I was. I didn't know how to react to Tino. I couldn't be in the same room as him, knowing I was using him.

"He was proposing to you-"

"No." I shook my head.

"You were proposing to him?"

"No!" I thought he'd read the handouts.

"But you got a ring!" He pointed at the huge sapphire weighing down my right ring finger.

"He just gave me the ring." I said, turning a corner and looking for the exit we planned. I saw it down a dimply-lit hall. It was a barred gate like the ones in prisons, but the electronic padlock on it was melted. Zabdi obviously already walked the whole route.

"Without proposing?" He gave me a look.

"Without proposing." I confirmed, looking back to make sure we weren't being followed. Ilyaas told me to be careful a few hours before. I think he knew I was going out with or without his permission and his guard, but I had a feeling I was being watched.

"What a waste of a ring!" Zabdi said, putting on the white leather jacket he didn't want to part with despite the heat. "Who gives a ring without proposing?"

"Tino." I said, matter-of-factly. "Come on, the chitchat can wait. Raza doesn't have time for this."

"But you accepted it? Without anything in return?" He gave me another look, completely ignoring me. "Of all the people I know, I never thought you'd be a gold-digger."

That was it.

"It's a ten-carat, pear-shaped, Kashmir sapphire. What were you expecting me to do? It's beautiful!" I looked at him incredulously, impatiently, lying through my teeth, knowing I was keeping the ring hostage against Tino. "And it's platinum! I'm a platinum-digger!"

"A nobler pursuit, I bet." He said sarcastically. "I could get you a pearl bigger than you eyeball, and you still wouldn't accept it, I'm sure."

Zabdi opened the door and went out. He wasn't much of a gentleman in that sense. Tino would have held it open for me, watched me go through it with a smile and then cross to the other side just like all his ancestors were taught. Ilyaas would have simply blocked me and told me to get back to my room.

"Well, this has been my dream ring since I was a kid." I said.

Kaz and I used to auction our jewelry every Christmas to give the money away by literally showering slums with cash.

He asked me once what type of jewelry I'd like to keep for myself if I had the chance to. My favorite color was blue because I wanted to be a pilot like Abbu, and then Kaz introduced me to sapphires.

He bought us a pair of earrings of Ceylon sapphires; he kept one on his left ear and put one on my right. He had it on the day he left, and Upapa destroyed mine when I came back from the desert.

I pulled myself back to reality. "We have other pressing matters to-"

"Then why'd you call me?" As if he had anything better to do, he asked, taking the tarp off yet another rust bucket of a bike. I was sure New India had better options, but not ones which didn't require IDs. "You should have had the rest of the dinner, he looked pretty happy until I came along."