Eye for an eye

As she walked out of the hall, a lone tear dropped from her eyes and at that instant, she began cursing Felix.

He was the genesis of all her problem. If she didn’t elope with him she wouldn’t be here getting humiliated by Harry in front of many people.

Upon getting close to the reception, she wiped the tear off her face and kept a straight face.

She was tempted to ask the receptionist for cash but that would be a slap to her face.

She ignored the lady’s scorching gaze and walked out of the company.

There wasn’t any cash with her, she had no money to go back home.

Home? She didn’t even have anywhere to go. She didn’t want to go back to the same person who humiliated her, she was scared he might do worse if she went back to his house.

“Miss Zara.” She turned back immediately she heard her name. To her surprise, she found Harry’s cousin there.

She wanted to snap at him and ask why he was calling her name, but then she decided not to pass aggression on. “Hey.”

“Harry asked me to give you this.” He stretched forth a bundle of cash towards her. “He wants you to go home and wait for him.”

Zara looked at the cash for a while, before moving her gaze to him. “For?”

“To get a cab home.”

“When did he tell you all this?”

“He texted me as soon as you left the hall.” He replied. “I have to go back immediately.”

It was more like a reminder that she was keeping him waiting.

Zara was caught between a rock and a hard place. If she refused to take the money, she would have nowhere to go to and no money with her, but if she decided to take the cash and go back to Harry’s house, she was scared he might play another expensive game.

She took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She muttered as she collected the money.

“Take care, miss.” He flashed her a smile and walked away after that.

******

It was almost 9pm and Harry wasn’t back home. Zara had been watching the gate from the window, waiting for his arrival.

Unable to keep up with it, she went to sit on the bed. Just as she sat, she heard the honking of a car.

Immediately, she sprung up from the bed and rushed to the window to check, and when she saw it was the car that drove Harry to the company, she rushed downstairs.

By the time she got there, Harry was out of the car.

He looked so stressed and she could tell he definitely was.

His facial expression and his tie which was almost loose revealed it.

“What was the meaning of what you did back there?” She didn’t care that they weren’t alone.

“Not now, Zara.” His voice was low, she barely heard him.

He walked past her, going inside.

Zara went after him, not ready to give up. “You can’t do that to me back there and pretend that nothing happened!” She raised her voice.

Harry didn’t say a word, neither did he stop walking. He didn’t even reply the greetings of the workers.

When he got to his room, he dragged his tie off and flung it somewhere across the room.

“What is it?” From his tone, it was obvious he was frustrated.

“Listen, Harry.” Zara’s tone turned serious. “If you do not want to get married to me and go on with the plan, it’s fucking fine. Just don’t try to make fun of me.”

He scoffed. “I’m too busy to make fun of you, Zara.”

“Then what was the meaning of that?!”

Shockingly to Zara, he grabbed her wrist tightly, pulling her close to himself.

“It was a warning, Zara.” His voice was firm. “Two years ago, we agreed to the arranged marriage and on the day of the wedding, you fled, leaving me humiliated. Today, I returned the favor…”

He took a brief pause and let go of her hand, “We will go ahead with the wedding plans, but know that if you try shit after the wedding, I’ll definitely pay back, no matter how long it takes.”

She didn’t say a word, she didn’t know what to say. She looked at her wrist which had became red because of his tight hold on it, and then looked back at him.

“Next week, I’ll plan a proposal. All you have to do is pretend to be surprised…” He informed, as he took off his suit jacket.

When she didn’t reply, he said, “If you don’t have anything else to say, get out.”

Zara’s lips parted, she wanted to speak, but she decided not to.

She shook her head and walked out of the room quietly, wondering why Harry suddenly turned bitter towards her.

******

It was a long week of hard and serious training. Zara was determined and OG possible, she couldn’t gym from morning till evening.

She and the gym instructor finally got along. All the man wanted was for her to be serious and when he noticed she had, he was excited.

Zara had just finished her last training session for the day and she fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

“You did great, miss Zara.” Her gym instructor commended and she flashed him a weak smile. “You’ve lost so much weight in the space of one week, I’m so proud of you.”

She chuckled and one of his brows raised, wondering what was funny. “The last time someone said that to me was three years ago when I graduated from college. My dad was proud I graduated at an early age.”

“How old were you?” He asked.

“I was twenty when I graduated from college.”

“That’s nice… If you continue putting in this much effort, you’d lose so much weight in such a small time.” He said.

Zara sighed. It wasn’t easy, but she had to be consistent. Nowadays, she skipped meals and only eat whenever it felt like she was going to pass out.

“I will try. Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” He flashed her a smile.

The gym instructor left and it was just her in the gym hall, seated on the floor with both hands on her lap.

Her phone beeped beside her and when she checked, she saw it was a text from Harry.

“7:30, get dressed, don’t be one minute late.”

As she read the text, she let out a sigh. “It’s today.”

It was the day of the proposal. A big step ahead. She took a deep breath, hoping everything goes as planned.