𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞

Chapter 28

Zehra's POV

I stared at the ceiling wondering why I was in Alessandro's car. I was in Zaidan's arms when I fell asleep so how did I get in his bodyguard's car? Maybe Zaidan told him to pick us up, but then again, where was he?

I looked at Zaidan who came out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel. He glanced at me then at the time. "Why aren't you sleeping? It's almost two a.m.," he said.

"Why did you leave me alone in Alessandro's car? Where were you?" I asked, sitting on the bed.

"I had to go somewhere," he said and walked to the balcony.

I heaved a sigh and got up. "You can't just leave me alone to a stranger's car and disappear yourself," I said, when I was on the balcony with him.

"He's not a stranger."

"For me he is! And you can't just leave me alone with a man. Either you know him or not."

He ignored me and folded his hands, looking at the rain. "What's wrong with you? You can't ignore me forever," I said, irritated with his behaviour.

"Maybe not forever, but for a long time yes," he said.

I turned him to face me. "Why can't you behave like a normal human?! I'm tired of your this bipolar-like behaviour! Why did you marry me in the first place when you don't know how to keep your wife happy?!" I raised my voice.

He just kept staring at me without any expression on his face. "Will you say something or just keep staring at me?"

I waited for him to say something or even react, but he didn't. I run my hands through my hair in frustration. "Why are you like this? Why can't you just open your mouth and tell me what's wrong with you?" I inhaled and took a step towards him. "Just tell me what's the purpose of our marriage," I asked.

He looked at me, opened his mouth. Closed it. "Right. We don't have any purpose, so we should divorce," I said, as his eyes darkened on me. "No," he replied.

"No?" I frowned. "Why? Why won't you divorce me? I'm tired of this loveless and unhappy marriage. I also deserve to be happy, to be loved by someone. Will you make any efforts to make this marriage–"

"This marriage won't work out for us, but that doesn't mean I'll divorce you," he said, so casually that I wanted to punch him. I nodded and backed away. "One year," I said, and he looked at me confused.

"I will continue to have hope for us and make efforts to make this marriage work for just one year. And if it won't," I opened the door and looked back at him. "Then I will leave you," I said, slamming the door behind me, and entering the guest—my—room.

Turning on the lamp I closed the door and turned off the light and climbed on the bed. I closed my eyes, covering myself with the blanket, trying to sleep.

********

"MR. GRUMPS!" I shouted, looking at him working. He, however, ignored me and grabbed a pen, scanning the paperwork In front of him.

I strode towards him and snatched the pen from him. "I'm talking to you," I said, and slammed the album I saw on my nightstand on his desk. "What's this?" I asked. He leaned back on his chair, glaring at me.

"Why can't you just open it and see it yourself instead of making a scene?" he said.

"Why can't you just tell me instead of ignoring me?" I threw the pen on his desk and opened the album and my jaw dropped. It was a picture of me sitting and looking just pass by the camera, on my wedding day. I wasn't smiling but still the picture came out beautiful. I turned the next page and saw Mr. Cold's picture. He also wasn't smiling and his facial expression was serious as he was glaring somewhere holding tightly a glass of water that clearly broke after the picture. But I can't lie, he was looking handsome. In the next page, it was a picture of him lifting my veil.