Shunned

Chapter 2

"Hey, are you okay?", the voice snapped Zoya out of her inner monologue. She looked to see the dog-guy giving her a weird look. "Oh! Hi, I was just startled", she replied. "You are Zoya right?", the stranger asked. Zoya froze for a second and silently prayed "Please don't be him. Please!", but what she actually asked was "I am and you are?". The stranger extended his hand "I am Asad. We were supposed to meet today". Zoya took a deep breath and smiled up at him."

"Hello Asad, take a seat. Have you tried the viral Dalgona coffee?". Time went surprisingly fast for Zoya. She was surprised by him, pleasantly so. The little gestures of passing the sugar without asking, the smile he gave her looking right into her eyes, all seemed to surprise her. She hadn't been at the receiving end of a sincere smile for a long time now. But one thing was nagging at the back of her head. The incident with the dog. So she being the curious one went ahead and asked him. Asad started laughing.

"You mean you saw me with scooby", he continued chuckling. "I think so", Zoya was fascinated and wanted to hear more. "I am dog-sitting scooby for a friend of mine. He had a sudden call from work and he decided I would be the best person to take scooby in". Zoya remembered the dog's adoring expression as he looked at Asad and decided his friend was right. "Then you did you drag scooby into that building earlier", Zoya asked."Today also happened to be the day scooby had his Rabies shot scheduled with his vet. That building you saw", he paused chuckling, "is the vetnary hospital. Scooby is currently playing in one of their play pens". Zoya was embarrassed. Both of them looked at each other and started laughing together. Later, Zoya accompanied Asad to the vets to retrieve scooby.

The dog seemed to like her. Zoya and Asad took a short walk together with scooby sniffing everything around him. Zoya loved dogs and she already 2 of them. "Do you like dogs?, Zoya phrased out her doubts. Zoya paused for a second, thinking. Zoya found that nice that he would consider something so small with so much thought. "I don't have dogs. I don't love them. But I can live with them." Asad pulled at the leash at this and Scooby turned around ,looked at him and gave a enthusiastic "Whoop!". "Yep! He likes me for some reason and aside from the times he makes me want to pull my hair out, I like him. So it's a yes to your question". Asad finished with a lopsided grin. "Ah...", Zoya forgot her name, let alone her question for a second.

Night of the wedding

"Thud", the sound of the door closing snapped Zoya from her contemplating her past. She sat up in her bed and saw Asad removing his watch by the bed side table. He was yet to say a string of words to her after the wedding. Zoya felt unsure, but decided to be logical about it. "Asad, hey", she began softly. Asad froze for a second hearing her voice. But, he ignored her completely and continued moving around the room, now, their room, collecting clothes. Zoya felt irritated by him acting immature and not just telling her what was bothering him.

"Asad, we need to talk", she tried again. He went to the bathroom slamming the door behind him. Zoya was seething at this point. She had a hellish day so far, standing on her feet the whole day and smiling at people she didn't even know were her family till then. She didn't even change her clothes as she was worried about her groom and now the said-groom wouldn't even look at her. By the time he came out, Zoya was ready for war. Then the strangest thing happened. Asad came up right next to her, looked her in the eye and said, "Do you prefer the floor or the couch?". Zoya was so shocked she felt like a protagonist of a revenge novel. "Well, which is it?", it snapped Zoya out of her daze. "What do you mean by floor or the couch?". "It means exactly that", Zoya replied with a face devoid of any expression. "What about the bed, it's big enough for both of us", Zoya replied as calmly as she could. "I don't feel like sleeping in the same bed with you tonight. So which one is it". "May I ask why ?". "I have my reasons". Zoya took a deep breath and actually looked at Asad.

He looked strung up on nerves. He also looked quite worn out as her, the day had been long for both of them. With the way the conversation was going she didn't think he would tell her his so called reasons. She looked at the couch by the corner near the window. It looked pretty comfortable. She sighed, "It's going to be a long night". She looked right into Asad's eyes, "I want to hear that reasons you have by tomorrow". She turned to the bed with as much dignity as she could muster and took some pillows and sheets and moved towards the couch. Asad took a book and settled in the bed. Zoya could feel him watching her from behind. She ignored him, took her clothes and went inside the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Two can play this game.