Damsel In Distress (COMPLETED✓)

CHAPTER: 61 | THE ART OF LETTING GO (PART-7)

Seated in the backseat, Zainab Faheem Othman's gaze alternated between Laiba and Aariz as the car zoomed down the highway.

Feeling her eyes at the back of her head, Laiba leaned further into the seat as if doing so, would make her disappear.

Aariz, on the other hand, could sense her discomfort and could hear his mother's unspoken questions in her silence.

Leaving both his mother's smouldering stares and his nervous wreck for a wife to themselves, he sped up and focused on the outstretched roads before him.

The sooner they reached, the better, he thought as he put on some podcast to fill the silence and ease the tension in the car.

It helped.

After an excruciating half an hour, the car stopped outside Veronica's place.

"Veronica's team is waiting for you inside." Aariz announced, unbuckling his seat belt and twisting his body to face his mother.

Zainab Faheem Othman made a show of moving her eyes to Laiba(who was doing a poor job of pretending to be busy on her phone) before meeting his.

"Aren't you going to come inside?" She asked.

"In a minute." He replied.

Grabbing her cellphone and her bag, she untangled her legs, pushed the door open and stepped out.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Laiba visibly relaxed.

"I didn't know you could hold your breath for that long." He quipped.

Laiba gave him a look, "You are enjoying, aren't you?"

He smirked in response.

He was right. She really wasn't breathing. There was no room to breathe. It was suffocating. Claustrophobic. She heaved a sigh, her chest raising and falling.

Aariz watched her, inhaling and exhaling, doing one of those breathing exercises people do to calm their nerves.

It stuck him in that moment how fragile she was.

How delicate.

How sensitive.

It was impossible to imagine how this girl managed to survive the storms life had been throwing at her.

Girls like her had a way of bringing out the protective side of men.

"We have to go." He told her, pushing his thoughts at the back of his head and shutting its door close.

A worried frown appeared on her forehead.

"Come on, she's not gonna eat you." He scuffed.

She shook her head, "What am I suppose to say?'

He took his time and answered her question calmly, "You tell her the truth."

She looked at him, sharply. "What are you trying to do?" She queried.

"What am I trying to do?" He rephrased.

"You are...you are throwing me under the bus." She was not pleased.

He arched an eyebrow, "You think so?"

Frustrated, she spoke to him, "She is your mother. Shouldn't you be the one to break this to her? She doesn't even know me." She fretted, "Imagine learning from a stranger that your son is married to her."

He shrugged, unbothered, "There's a reason as to why we kept her in the dark-"

"I'm sure." She cut him off, "I'm sure you have your reasons. I'm not questioning it. It's just that..." She paused, "I don't wanna be that person from whom she gets to know about our marriage. It will be awkward for both of us. It's not fair."