𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞

Chapter 18

Zaidan's POV

An hour ago, I called my wife to let her know I'd pick her up tomorrow night. And the sadness in her voice didn't go unnoticed by me.

After taking a cold shower, I felt refreshed. I glanced at the girl peacefully sleeping on my bed, not ready to let her go just yet.

Heading downstairs, I started cooking for her. Despite my body aching, I still made food for her. I would be lying if I said that the ache in my body wasn't worth it, because it was.

When the food was ready, I heard footsteps. I turned around to see Muskaan, and my lips slightly curled upwards seeing her.

"Is that a small smile? For me? It's so rare to see you smile," she said, playfully pinching my nose.

"Consider yourself lucky. You're one of the rare ones who saw my smile," I replied, placing the full plate on the table.

"That wasn't quite a smile," she reminded as she sat down.

I shrugged, gesturing towards the food.

"It smells delicious," she remarked, savoring a bite, eyes closed in delight.

"Aren't you eating?" she inquired, eyeing me as I sat opposite.

"I'm not hungry," I replied, observing her eat.

Finishing her meal, she glanced at me, eyebrow raised.

"Why the look?" she began then I interjected.

"I met with Nowaiz." Her face dropped. "What, why?"

"He wanted to talk."

"About what–" I cut her shortly. "Were you pregnant?" I already knew the answer but I want to believe that everything he told me was a lie. But the look on her face gave me the answer.

"How–how did you. . ." she faltered, guilt washing over her face.

"Your lover couldn't keep his mouth shut." I kept my voice calm.

"I'm sorry." Fresh hot tears dropped to her cheeks and I so wanted to hug her and tell her that everything would be alright, she hadn't to worry about anything, but instead of that, I said the words I shouldn't have.

"Are you? Even if you are, your apology can't change what happened," I said, regretting the harshness of my words. "The child's gone."

"I–" she started but I didn't let her.

"You what? I fucking told you not to go to him. Didn't I?" I slammed my hands on the table and got up.

"I told you to stay away from that fucking bastard. But what did you do? The very next day you were in his arms." I tried to lower my voice but I couldn't. My blood is boiling and I swear I will kill him.

"You knew I didn't want you to go to him," I said, my voice rising. "But you went anyway."

Not wanting to let out more anger on her than I already had I started making my way to the front door but stopped, because of her trembling voice.

"Where are you going?"

I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I need some time to think. I'll be back late tonight, so don't call me." And something to get over with.