Shunned

Chapter 8

That Saturday

It was movie night! Zoya was excited and nervous at the same time. It's the first time she is venturing into her husband's territory, that is, his friend ships. Asad was gone the whole day, God knows where. When the evening came closer she even doubted any of those happened and it just wasn't her imagination. She had even bought some chips and nachos for tonight.

At around 7pm, she heard a car up her driveway. Here goes nothing she thought to herself. The front door opened and in came her husband first. Oliver and Lola went to greet him wagging their tails happily. The traitors. Zoya had no idea how they got this attached to Asad, for God's sake she hasn't ever seen him smile in their home apart from at her dogs. She's a little irritated and jealous at that. Asad's friends came in after them and all took their spots at the couch except Tanveer who wanted to use the wash room.

Zoya stood near the living room unsure of how to proceed further. Imraan waved her over and so she took a deep breath and went to face the wolves. Lo and behold Ayaan  and Humeira were on the recliner, cuddling. Seems like they really are inseparable. Asad was sitting on the couch next to Imraan on his left, who was browsing through Netflix looking for something to watch. Now comes the problem, the only empty spot was next to Asad as Imraan was sprawling on half the couch. Or maybe she could take the foldable chair which is kept near the patio door. Zoya sighed and decided to just sit next to Asad, he's her husband anyway. So Zoya took the seat to the right of Asad and scooted as far away as she could get from him.

Finally Imraan settled on some scary movie of some Asian language, muttering they have better ghost characters and plot lines over there. Zoya saw Humeira burrowing further into Ayaan and rolled her eyes. Tanveer emerged out of the blue. "You people started watching the movie without me! How shameful!", Tanveer cried in her harpy, sorry sweet voice. "Of course not Tanveer! Who could forget you!", Imraan told her in a sugary tone and gave Zoya a wink. Now the problem, there was no empty space left as all chairs and the couches were occupied.

Tanveer looked directly at Zoya "You're in my spot", she told her loudly. Zoya was taken aback. Now everyone was watching them. "What do you mean by your spot. I can get you a spare chair maybe..", Zoya trailed off. "I want my spot", Tanveer cried childishly. Humeira said "Tanveer, Zoya sat there because that place was empty, you could sit next to Imraan, there's plenty space available.", Imraan straightened up and gestured to the empty space next to him to prove Humeira 's point. "No I want to sit next to Asad", she pointed at Zoya, "You can't just take a place because it was empty, maybe it was spoken for already. You'll never know." Zoya had a feeling she didn't just mean the space on the couch.

"You can go sit next to Imraan", Tanveer further added. Zoya was confused with the turn of events and looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Get up", a soft voice came from Asad and Zoya looked over. "What", "I said get up and sit somewhere else", Asad said louder this time looking directly at her. Zoya was speechless. She heard some gasps from his friends nearby but she didn't care. She looked up at Asad with his icy glare to Tanveer's smirk and understood she wasn't welcome there anymore. Just then a phone rang from somewhere inside the house. Zoya realized it was hers that she kept in their room. "Excuse me", she muttered to no one in particular and left not looking at them. Zoya kept her head up till she reached their bedroom and then silent tears started rolling. She could hear everyone laughing at something in the living room. So there is something between her husband and Tanveer. Great. An affair under her own roof with so many witnesses too. Bloody Great.

That night when Asad finally did come to bed, it was to the sight of his wife curled up on the couch. His mind flashed back to earlier that evening and he let out a little groan. He knew he had acted like a complete jerk and even saw her cry when he came into their room earlier. He didn't know why her tears affected him so much. "God knows how I got into this mess", he muttered to himself and laid down in bed, but sleep came eluded him and his eyes kept drifting towards the tear tracks on his wife's cheeks.

The next day when Asad came out of his room for breakfast he was stopped by Zoya. "So are you going to give me some explanation for what happened yesterday?", Zoya asked him with a neutral face. "What explanation do you need?", "You could start with why Tanveer keeps getting coy with you". Asad gave her a cold glare, "Because that's how it has always been". Zoya was shocked, "You mean you don't mind if she acts like your girlfriend when I, your WIFE, is just there". "If it hadn't been you, it would have been her anyway", Asad brushed her off and left the home.

Zoya was now even more confused than when she started. One thing Zoya understood then was there was so much of their past secrets between them, somethings they will never be able to change no matter how much they regret them. Now the question is how much of those mistakes they will be able to forgive or at the very least forget. "It's not easy to forget when that past is literally clinging to my husband", Zoya said softly. "What exactly is the relationship between Tanveer and Asad, and how serious is it still". She had to find out. After all her marriage or whatever it is she is trying to build depends on it.