45. To the Police Station

Next day, Carol invited me for her floral shop inauguration. I decided to take Zoya with me there. It could be the perfect occasion to let my friends see her.

I reached just on time to the address Carol texted me yesterday. Grabbing Zoya's hand in one, I held the small, cute flower bouquet in my other hand that I had bought on the way for Carol.

I stepped inside Carol's shop and looked around. The smell of fresh flowers struck my nostrils and I breathed deeply to inhale more of the fragrance. Different species of flowers were displayed on their respective racks. There was an array of greenery spread over vertically on the mint green walls with the multi-color fairy lights for the decoration. On my right, at some distance there was a cash counter and two padded, rolling chairs in front of it.

Overall, the place looked colorful and eye-refreshing. I would want to live in that scented environment all day. There wasn't much crowd here because Carol had invited only few people for her special day. I looked down beside me and saw Zoya looked uncomfortable and hesitant.

I knelt down to her level and smiled, "Are you okay, Baby?"

She nodded her head slowly.

"Don't worry. Mom is with you. I'll show you my friends today." I caressed her hair, "Don't hesitate to tell me if you wanna leave, okay?"

"Yes."

I stood upright again and saw Carol coming towards me. Forming a happy smile on my face, I waved at her.

"Sanayaaa, My God! You're here." She hollered and opened her arms wide.

I laughed at her excitement. She enveloped me in a hug, "I'm so happy. Finally, my business is starting."

I patted her back, "Yeah, congratulations. You're now officially a florist."

She released me. A gleam of happiness and excitement was flickering in her eyes, "That's sounds so good...wait, who is she?"

The smile on her lips faded when her gaze fell on to the little girl who was very tightly holding my hand. Her mouth fell opened in astonishment. She looked back at me with a obvious question written on her face.

I looked at Zoya and smiled, "She...she is my daughter Zoya."

Her face contorted in confusion, "Come again?"

I repeated aloud, "She is Zoya, my daughter."

She placed her both palms on her mouth dramatically and looked at me with wide eyes, "Why she's with you? What happened?"

"Nowadays, she's living with me." I moved my head down and asked Zoya, "Say hello to my friend, baby."

"Hello, Mommy's friend." Zoya greeted her hesitantly.

"Goodness. She's so cute. Is she old enough to communicate?" Carol questioned.

I slapped my forehead lightly at her stupid question, "She's three years old. She can talk quite easily."

"Really? That's new and informative." She bit her lip thoughtfully, "Anyways, Just wait okay. I don't have time to ask right now what happened. But, you can't leave this place without telling me what's going on."

"I know." I laughed.

Carol knelt down and faced Zoya, "Hi, little girl. I'm Carol, Mom's high school friend."

She offered her hand to Zoya. Zoya shyly shook hands with her.

"Come with me. I show you the beautiful flowers." Carol towed her with herself.

I smiled while standing there. I knew my friends would be happy to see her. I just hoped Zoya would not feel uncomfortable with the unfamiliar environment.

Later on, Ryan and Tessa also showed the same surprised reaction like Carol, but thankfully, they didn't trap me with their countless difficult questions. I wasn't sure how I was going to answer them.

Zoya slowly became comfortable around them and enjoyed the evening. Carol stuffed her stomach with delicious food and Ryan and Tessa gave her dozens of candies and chocolates. I just stood there at some distance and observed the scene. I felt myself on cloud nine whenever I saw her smiling around me. One could just forget her all worries and concerns if they see Zoya and her cuteness.

"She's so adorable, Sanaya. I want to keep her." Tessa commented.

"I know, she's a lovely girl." I said with a warm heart.

"I hope everything's going well in your life. Please don't stress yourself." She patted my shoulder.

"I'll try." I mused.

At the end of the party, when all of the guests were left, Ryan and Carol caged me to get information from me. I felt slightly intimidated by their death glares.

"What's going on, Sanaya? Why didn't you tell us that Zoya is living with you?" Ryan crossed his arms against his chest.

"I don't know what's going on." I sighed.

It was the truth. I had no idea what was going in my life now days. I was just keep going with the flow without letting my guards down.

"Did you sort out differences with your ex-husband?" Carol quizzed.

"No." I groaned, "It's not like that."

"Then, why Zoya is with you? Did he leave her to you or what?" She asked with knitted brows.

"It's not the case either." I answered in a low voice, "Sorry, guys, but I don't want to talk about it right now."

Ryan stepped closer to me and grabbed my shoulders, "It's okay. If you don't want to we won't force you. But, don't forget, we're here for you."

I nodded my head, smiling, "I know."

Ryan put his arms down on his sides, "Everything will be okay."

Invisible tears moistened my eyes to see their concern for me. Fate didn't give me family, but it gave me good friends and I would be eternally grateful of that. All three of them made me see the good side, the positive side of this cruel world.

"Thanks for understanding." I glanced at Carol, then him, "Nowadays, I'm happy that I'm spending time with Zoya."

Carol came forward, "Bring her over here often."

"Sure." I said in assurance.

💙

It had been three days, yes, three whole days, I didn't see Ashar. He didn't even come to annoy me or contact me after that day when I made him arrested. He didn't come to the iAdverts. I was shocked and bemused.

There was a product launching ceremony yesterday at his office. The same product, whose promotional strategy we were designing. Ashar wasn't there on his own product launching and the strangest thing was that his staff also didn't know his whereabouts. He was not seen by his office staff either.

Despite my futile efforts to not to get bothered by it, my head was flooded with pessimistic and bothersome questions like; did he give up already? What if he decided to leave Zoya with me forever? Did my fake complaint really affect him?

Although, I was grateful that in his absence I worked in peace and thought that he finally learnt his lesson, but now his sudden absence was making me feel apprehensive.

"Mommy, I want to talk to daddy." Zoya's voice disturbed my thought process.

I looked at the document that was opened in my laptop in front of me, then her. The corners of her lips were curved downward as if she was about to cry.

"You've your phone with you. Call him." I suggested.

"No, it's nott working, Mommy. Someone on the phone keeps saying daddy won't talk to me."

I got baffled, unable to understand about that someone, "Give me your phone. I'll check."

She immediately listened to me and gave me the device. I called on Ashar's number and  understood Zoya's complaint when I heard the robot voice saying that his phone was switched off.  My anxiety escalated.

"Darling, maybe he's busy." I tried to convince her.

"Mommy, who is this Aunt who has daddy's phone? I tell her that I want to talk to my Daddy, but she doesn't listen. I miss him, Mommy." She lowered her gaze on the bed and pouted.

I chuckled at her innocent question and felt confused about how should I explain her that the voice she heard was just a recorded, robot voice.

"Zoya, my baby, don't be sad. Your daddy will contact you soon." I caressed her cheek. I was not sure about my own words.

"Mommy, I wanna see daddy. Please, mommy." Her lips trembled as she began crying.

I moved down my laptop's screen and turned to her, panicking. "Ssshh, calm down." I picked her up and put her on my lap, "You're my good daughter, why are you crying."

She rubbed her watery eyes and increased the volume of her sobs, "I want...to.sl-eep on his..chest." She stutteringly said between her weeps.

I got flabbergasted. That means Zoya had slept on his chest in the past. Was Ashar that warm and cozy?

Zoya's cries were getting louder and very severe. I tried to calm her down by enveloping into hug. It was not easy to silence her once she started weeping. She didn't listen to a word I say.

"Come on, Zoya. You'll listen to your Mommy, right?" I spoke in my softest possible tone.

For Ashar, maybe I was doing good as a mother, but I knew how difficult it was for me to keep a three-year old toddler happy and satisfied. Yesterday, I was searching for some bedtime stories because Zoya complained that she needed to hear stories in order to sleep faster and early.

I had no such habit of doing so, but for Zoya, I tried and took out some time to tell her stories. Moreover, she was not very cooperative when it comes to her eating habits. She didn't like the food I prepared for her and got angry when my food selection did not match with her expectations. I felt exhausted sometimes after cooking twice for her because I already had a hard time at office.

She pulled back and sniffed. Tears were all over her small face, "Take me to Daddy."

I sighed in defeat and cupped her face, "Okay, I'll see where your daddy is, only if you stop crying."

It worked. She listened to me.

Thank God.

She bobbed her head up and down. I wiped off all the water from her face and smiled at her in assurance, "Sit here and let me check and then we'll go see Daddy."

I was now getting angry at Ashar, at his carelessness. I asked him to stay away from me, not from Zoya. He knew how much she was attached to him, still he chose to remain disconnected with her without telling his reasons. I warned him several times not to make her suffer because of me.

To keep my words to my daughter, I began thinking about what I should do to find him. I called on his cellphone numerous times, but it went straight to voicemail. I was out of options of how to find him. I only knew his office address and he was not there.

Just for a moment, I considered my mind's stupid, impossible suggestion that what if Ashar was still trapped because of my complaint?

Even just a mere a thought seemed laughable. There was not a one percent chance that it could be possible. But still just for the sake of getting any clue about his whereabouts, I pulled opened a drawer of the bed's side table and searched the business card of the cop that he gave that day.

Now this could be the only way to get some information about Ashar. When I found the card, I quickly grabbed my phone and dialed the cop's mobile number. Zoya was sitting on the bed with swelled face and watery eyes, watching me.

"Hello?" The male voice from the other side of the phone spoke.

"Hello, sir. It's Sanaya speaking." I fumbled.

"Who Sanaya?"

"I met you three days ago and complained about that man who was stalking me. You gave me your business card." I explicated, scratching my temple with my thumbnail in nervousness.

"Oh, yeah." He recognized me, "I remember you, Miss Frances. Tell me what's the problem? Is there anyone else bothering you?"

"No." I quickly said, shaking my head, "Sorry for disturbing you, but, I wanna ask about him, did you....release him?"

I glanced in Zoya's direction. She looked curious. I blinked at her in assurance.

"Not at all." The cop answered, "He's still in the lockup."

My eyes widened. I got paralyzed with shock for few seconds.

"What..." I whispered.

He had been in prison since three days?

This could not be possible.

"Yes. No one came for him till yet." He continued.

I rubbed my sweaty forehead in anxiety, avoiding the eye contact with Zoya.

"Which...police station?...wait, can you text me the address on my number?"

"Okay."

"Thanks." I immediately cut the call.

I helped Zoya to jump out of the bed and held her hand, "We need to go. Come on."

Ashar Hobsons was in the lock-up because of me since three days and ignorant me didn't even know about it. There could be so many bad things could've happened to him during those three days. What if the cops beaten him up for real?

God, I didn't know my small complaint could turn out to be a proper mishap.

Zoya was unable to walk side-by-side with me because of my fast, big steps, so I picked her up in my arms and ran out of the building. I caught the cab and reached to the police station where Ashar was imprisoned.

💙

Anger, horror and guilt pulsed through my veins as soon as I stormed inside the police headquarter. I moved my eyes around and observed that no one in particular paid attention to me or Zoya. All the constables were busy in their respective tasks. I put down Zoya from my arms and held her hand.

I ambled forward and spoke to the first policeman I encountered with. His eyes were glued to the computer screen in front. He was trying to stay awake, but, his heavy eyelids were keep shutting down. Zoya stood beside me, observing her surroundings.

"There's a person inside the lockup named Ashar Hobsons. I filed the complaint against him." I began speaking to get his attention.

"So?" He looked up at me with sleepy eyes.

"I want you to release him."

He chuckled, "Come back tomorrow." He ruffled his buttercream blond hair lazily, "It's late."

"Listen." I persisted, "He has been in the lock up since three days on a false complaint. He is innocent."

He rolled his eyes, looked irritated. He cast a glance at Zoya and then looked at me with lifted brows, "Fake complaint? You said you're the one who complained against him. You can't just play around. Just go away. I'm feeling sleepy right now."

I began getting restless, wanted to shake that man by grabbing his shoulders to vanish his drowsiness away. He was getting under my skin.

"You're go-" I was interrupted by the sound of silent sobs. I moved my head down and saw Zoya was once again crying. She rubbed her runny nose with the back of her hand.

"Zoya..." I trailed off.

She angled her neck and moved up her imploring, moistened eyes at me, "Mom-my,"

She shook my arm and whispered, "I wanna see Daddy."

The constable also got worried after seeing the way she was weeping. I sat on my knees and grabbed her arms, "Why are you crying? Your Mom is trying for you."

Seeing her this way increased my mortification. She had already shed heaps of tears for Ashar and it was all my fault. I also found myself at the brink of tears now. The skin of her face was turned into crimson color.

I immediately cleaned off all the water from her face with my hand and glowered at the constable who looked slightly bothered.

"At least, let her see her father." I stood up on my feet and snapped at him.

"Alright, I can do that much." He nodded slowly and turned to his side, "Andy....bring Ashar Hobsons out here."

A man who was sitting at some distance beside him, nodded his head at the officer and walked somewhere inside the place, maybe to bring Ashar out.

I heaved a sigh of relief. But, the bigger problem still persisted i.e. Ashar was not yet released. I just didn't get it why he chose to be imprisoned when he was powerful enough to escape out of it.

"Daddy.." Zoya shouted and ran forward.

My gaze followed her and soon they stopped at him. My foot involuntarily took a step back as I felt appalled. He was still in same clothes, the clothes he wore when I last saw him. Now they looked dirty and disheveled. He had few fresh scratches on his face, neck and around his knuckles, indicating that he definitely got into a fight or fights.

"Hey, my little princess, how are you?" Ashar's asked to Zoya. He sat on his knees and embraced Zoya into a hug. He stroked the back of her head and moved his gaze up in my direction. I immediately looked away and touched my hair in nervousness.

"Why are your eyes watery? Were you crying?"

I looked at them again. Ashar dried the tears around her eyes with his finger. "Yes. I was missing you." Zoya answered.

Ashar pulled out his lips into a pout, "I'm sorry, my baby girl. Now, I'm here with you. But, let's first deal with them."

He rose on his feet and Zoya stepped aside, freeing his way. He stared at me for a moment with a frown as if he was thinking about something, then, all of a sudden he said aloud, "My dear wife, come here."

He scurried towards me and pulled me into a hug. My arms froze in air. I felt his warm breathes on my ear as he buried his head in my hair. He gave me a squeeze before releasing me. I felt fazed momentarily due to his not-so-decent hug.

"What took you so long?" He questioned with a stupid smile.

I furrowed my brows. What exactly he was doing?

He looked worn out. His haggard and drowsy eyes clearly showing that he didn't have an easy time there.

The cop, who was watching us, came forward, "Are you both married?" His face contorted in confusion and amazement at the same time.

I clenched my jaws and glanced at Ashar who was smiling, "Yes, we are."

Zoya giggled aloud. I glanced at her in disbelief. That little woman was surely enjoying this drama.

Seeing his old-self again was making me furious. I didn't like the way he chose to sort out this issue.

The police officer fumed, "I can put both of you in prison for wasting my time. Don't you take police seriously?"

"I'm sorry...We had a fight and she got so angry." Ashar explained, then turned his face near my ear, whispering, "Give me your phone."

Submissively, I listened to him. He took my phone immediately and pressed some keys.

He put the phone on his ear and spoke after a moment, "Hey, its Ashar here..."

"I'm contacting my lawyer." He informed to the officer, "Excuse me for a minute."

He groaned, but didn't say anything.

I stood still with Zoya, seemed like my work was finished here. Ashar knew how to get rid of this problem still, he chose to stay in prison and waited for me. I could never understand what was there in his mischievous mind.

💙

After spending almost an hour at the police office, we all three finally managed to come out of it. Ashar's lawyer took the situation in control and eventually convinced the cops that Ashar was innocent. Those police officers were more angry on me than Ashar because I was the one who filed the complaint against him. But, the lawyer was quite smart and professional. He saved me.

If I would've known before, that I would've to clean up my own mess, I wouldn't even have started. I was just trying to stop Ashar from annoying me, but I ended up embarrassing myself and injuring Ashar. The damn fate was never on my side.

Anyways, Ashar called his driver to bring over his car to the police office. His car came and we all three got settled in it; Ashar at the passenger seat besides the driver and I sat behind with Zoya. The car ride was awkward because none of us talked except Zoya. She asked few questions regarding the scene she witnessed at the police station. I tried to answer her with short responses.

I saw Ashar from the rearview mirror who was resting his head against the car seat, eyes closed. He was probably knackered and drained out of energy. I remembered that his lawyer showed some documents to the cops that stopped them from further prolonging Ashar's case. I felt baffled about it, but, I couldn't ask what those documents were due to my own embarrassment. I was hesitant towards Ashar, couldn't look in his eyes.

The car stopped in front of the building where I had my apartment. Ashar sat up and looked outside the window from the driver's seat and got out of the car. Zoya and I also came out from different doors.

Zoya ran to her father, looked up and opened her arms, "Daddy." It's her way to ask Ashar to pick her up.

I stopped walking and observed them.

Ashar laughed, bent down and fulfilled Zoya's wish. She wrapped her little arms around her father's neck and rested her head on his shoulder. I felt envied a little after witnessing Zoya's intense attachment towards her father. She didn't love me that way. She never hugged me like that. I had even noticed that she sometimes hesitated telling me her concerns.

Her love for her father showed how gracefully Ashar had raised her. It again compelled me to see Ashar's another side – the softer side. I didn't know back then that he was capable to feel any emotion, other than anger, arrogance and impertinence. Either he was always like this and I was the one who was unable to see or he thought I just didn't deserve his nicest side so he hid all those good qualities of him from me.

"Can I sleep with you today, daddy?" Zoya questioned.

Ashar passed me a nervous look, before looking back at Zoya, "I can't ri-"

"You can stay for a while at my apartment." I cleared my throat and offered.

For a second, a wave of astonishment swept over his face, but he hid it quickly and composed himself, "I don't have new clothes."

The bruises on his face distressing me. I wanted to know what happened to him in the lock up.

"You can ask your driver to bring fresh clothes for you." I shrugged and headed into the building without waiting for him.

As I entered into my house, I instantly threw my phone on the couch and sprinted towards the kitchen side to quickly cook something for him. I didn't know if they had fed him in the prison or not. Even if they did, it would've surely made his stomach sick.

Ten minutes passed and I finally saw Zoya with her father entered into my house. Ashar had a large paper bag in his one hand, probably carrying his fresh clothes. His other hand was holding Zoya. He put her down on the floor. Zoya ran inside, took my phone and sat on the couch. She had developed an obsession of playing Jewel Mania in my phone. It was a game from the candy crush family.

Ashar took few steps in my direction and stopped, looking around, "Your apartment is nice."

My gaze moved at his bruised knuckles, where blood had dried now, "Thanks."

"Can I use your bathroom?" He hesitated.

"Sure. It's this way." I extended my arm at my right.

He wordlessly nodded and sauntered towards the bathroom. Meanwhile, I completed my work. As I had only little time for cooking, so I thought I could only prepare vegetable spaghetti with a barbeque sauce. I had already started all the preparations.

"Zoya, you should sleep now. It's already quite late." I said to her while cutting the required veggies.

"No, Mommy. I'm going to sleep with Daddy." She shook her head in negative without looking at me because her eyes were glued to my phone's screen.

I sighed, "He's not going anywhere. He told you he's staying here. Come on. Just get up."

She ignored me.

I gave up and thought that I would deal with her later on. I brought all my focus back on my cooking.

Once I was finished, I brought the food on the small dinner table that had three chairs. Ashar stepped out of the bathroom in fresh pair of fit,  blue melange trouser and plain, black, crew neckline tee shirt that was stretched on his upper body, outlining his perfect physique. His hair was falling in all directions.

He should avoid wearing black around me. The color really suited him and made him look sexier.

Wait, what? Ugh.

As he got closer, my nose caught the familiar scent; the scent of my yogurt, aloe Vera body wash.

"You should eat something." I suggested nervously, avoiding looking into his eyes.

"That's good, Sanaya. I'm starving." He walked towards the dinner table.

He dragged back one of the chairs and sat on it, then, grabbed the bowl of barbeque sauce and poured all of it on the spaghetti and mixed them quickly through a fork. I observed him. Once he was sure he mixed them well, he started guzzling the food in a way that showed that he couldn't eat properly during last three days.

The realization increased the guilt inside me. I cast a glance at Zoya who was still engrossed in my phone and then went to my room to search for ointment for Ashar's wounds.

When I found one, I took a chair beside Ashar and grabbed his free hand in mine. He got perplexed, "What are you doing?"

"You can eat with your other hand." I didn't look at him instead I squeezed out a cream and began applying it on his bruised knuckles.

He groaned lowly. I looked up, "Is it hurting?"

He gave me a slight nod, "A little."

"I try to be more gentle." I again looked down and continued my work.

Honestly, I was expecting him to shout at me for making him suffer, for maybe ruining his image as a businessman, but he didn't say anything to me till yet and acting completely normal. The Ashar I knew could get easily furious by such things and then, throw bunch of harsh tantrums on my face, but the present Ashar was so calm.

Once I was done covering his bruises with an ointment on his hand, I moved towards his face. By that time, he finished his food. He understood my hint and turned to me. The scar on his forehead was deep. I carefully and gently, applied the cream on it. He flinched a little, but got relaxed afterwards.

I could feel his intense gaze on my face, making me shivered. I avoided the eye contact and pretended to focus on my work. I hid his forehead scar with a small bandage.

"How did you get these? What happened?" I put on the medicated cream on the other small bruises on his face.

He grabbed my hand and stopped me, "I'm fine now. Relax."

I tried to mask the truth on my face, the truth that he already noticed, "You didn't answer my question."

I turned straight and moved my chair away a little to keep some distance between us.

"They confined me with real criminals. There was this psychopath murderer who kept giving me a hard time."

"Murderer?" I shot him a surprised look. My face turned pale.

He lived with a real murderer for three days? The thought alone drained all the blood from my face. I had never even seen a murderer in real life, living with the one was a faraway thing.

"Did you e-at anything there?" I stuttered another question.

"No." He shook his head in negative, "I couldn't. Firstly, the food tasted gross and secondly, those culprits even took my food."

The remorse crept into me.