Beau Monde ✅

Chapter 32

At least, that's what one would think. He hired someone to do the job with him.

So, for about a year of my return, I still had to put up with that and pretend as if I'm unaware of it as well. I don't know what made him stop, but after the first year...he did. And we only got to meet on certain occasions because we both were busy and barely kept contact with each other.

Our marriage came to light about three years ago at the same time the merger between the two companies took place...it didn't come as a surprise to anyone—at least, not to anyone in our family. It had been insinuated on more times than one, it just became a general knowledge.

We got married two years ago; and yet again, I was plunged into another life where I had to fake my emotions all the damn time. It didn't matter that it's been years since he stopped stalking me, I was still traumatized from that action. I couldn't say a thing about it, no one would believe me.

Or more like, no one would care. Like always, they will turn a blind eye to it.

In the eyes of everyone, he was the definition of kind to me. I pretended to be that as well. But behind everyone's eyes, I didn't bother to hide my distaste towards me without having to express my real reason why.

He did try to make it work at first, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.

Couple my experience with him, along with him potentially being behind my sister's death, I couldn't bring myself to ever have any positive feeling towards Imran, ever.

You'd think he'd learn to trust me, or at least give me the right reasons to trust him, right? He didn't.

He tried to hide it, but I was aware that every night, when he thinks I'd fallen asleep, he comes into my room and goes through my phone—it seemed he didn't trust me either. I guess me being cold towards him set the basis that I might have feelings for someone else. Some might term that 'protectiveness', and deem it 'cute' but it isn't.

It's a toxic act, and it didn't matter what intention he has, nothing would justify it.  

Try living your life for years with such a man. Do you still think Imran is the saint you all believed he was? I admit, I'm not either. But, I never claimed to be the protagonist I feign to be. I've long made up my mind to be the villain instead.

It's like Ayaan always tells me; looks can be deceiving. And I believe Imran is more befitting of that statement more than anyone else.

I had been cautious of my relationship with Ayaan as well. There were no traces of my interaction with him because for starters, I never used the phone everyone knew me with to interact with him.

Him coming to Maroudi, and our entire interaction leading to this point was staged.

My second meet-up with Ayaan that ended up with a breakdown, the photos sent to Basma, the rumors about me and Ayaan, and the photos of us sent to him on the day he finally snapped...I did all that.

See, Ayaan and I had different goals. His was bring down Hadi Groups, and mine was to make Imran crack. And I knew just the right way to do it was to bring out the side of his he had kept hidden for years.

The side that only comes out when he feels like he's losing Nailah...he's losing me, to someone else.

The only way to drive Imran crazy and bring out the real him was to make him think there was something between I and Ayaan—and there is, just not in the way he believes it to be.

I will admit, I wasn't particularly happy about doing such a thing to him, considering on more occasions than one he's been nothing but good to me. However, I had to remind myself times without number that he's not the man he's pretending to be.