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My lips curl back in disgust as I twist the ring off my finger. “You’re literally named after our most important prophet,” I snarl at him. “Astaghfirullah. What will Allah say?”
“I guess I’ll find out once I meet Him,” Muhammad Moiz drawls. He curls his fingers inward. “You’re testing my patience now.”
I take one last long look at my engagement ring. I remember Imtiaz telling me he spent hours in a jewelry store trying to find one he thought would suit my tastes. It’s a zero-point-nine-five carat total weight diamond, in fourteen-karat white gold. It encompasses a brilliant round diamond, with a sparkling halo and diamond-set shoulders. All in all, a beautiful and extremely expensive ring. Yet... I never really liked it. Of course it’s gorgeous, but it never felt like me. Still, Imtiaz picked it with lots of love, or at least affection, and here I am about to give it to a thug in exchange for my freedom.
With a final huff, I give Sarfaraz the ring. Cautiously, he drops it into Muhammad Moiz’s outstretched hand.
Muhammad Moiz examines the ring for a moment before curling his fingers over it. He gives us a mock salute. “Enjoy your stay in Pakistan!” he jokes, and then he hits the gas, the sound of his guffaws echoing through the night.
For a long moment, all Sarfaraz and I can do is stand there, utterly stunned. Finally, I say, “I’m starting to think they weren’t from the bus company.”
Sarfaraz whirls on me. “Are you trying to make a joke?” He waves his arm in the direction of the car. “We got robbed at gunpoint!”
“Hey, don’t yell at me like it’s my fault,” I fume. “It’s not my fault.”
“It’s not mine, either!”
“You were the one who chose that car, not me.”
He grits his teeth because he knows I’m right. I guess that’s not going to stop him from taking his frustration out on me, though, because he says, “You were the one who escalated the situation.”
“What?!” I exclaim, my jaw dropping. “How?”
“You had to insist you had something to give them. You could have gotten us both killed. You should have kept your mouth shut.”
I can’t believe my ears. “I’m the one who got us out of there!” I snap. “Who knows if those guys would have let us go if I hadn’t offered up my freaking engagement ring.”
A loud crack interrupts us, and we both catch a glimpse of lightning above our heads. Within seconds, rain falls from the clouds, pelting our faces and drenching our clothes. Sarfaraz huffs. “Great! We’re going to get soaked through, and we don’t even have anything to change in to, because all our luggage is on a bus that’s miles behind us.” He clenches his hands into fists. “I don’t know how you managed to survive on your own for two years, because it seems like your mother’s right—you can’t take care of yourself. You’re an adult woman who apparently can’t be trusted to do anything on her own without messing it up somehow.”
Anger boils hot under my skin. “Hey! I was doing fine before I got stuck with you.”
“Oh, you call what you were doing fine?” He laughs humorlessly. “Running late to the airport, talking to a stranger on the plane next to you because you can’t handle being on your own, and then getting sick and not being able to take care of yourself. You call that fine?”
I hate how much merit his words have. I try to spin it around on him. “At least I’m not some emotionless robot who doesn’t know how to interact with people without pissing them off.”
“I don’t think I was that bad.” Sarfaraz’s expression turns steely. “But maybe I should have been worse. At least then I wouldn’t be stuck in the middle of nowhere with you.”
That last sentence unexpectedly punches me in the gut, stealing my breath from my lungs. My jaw wobbles. I open my mouth to defend myself, but to my horror, I burst into loud sobs.
Sarfaraz freezes. “Why...why are you crying?”
“BECAUSE!” I explode, unleashing all the pent-up anger and frustration I’ve been trying to keep at bay since my plans derailed in Switzerland. “THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TIME OF MY LIFE AND I’M SUPPOSED TO BE WITH MY FAMILY IN A WARM HOUSE BUT HERE I AM IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE BEING RAINED ON WITH AN ASSHOLE STRANGER YELLING AT ME!”
Sarfaraz stares at me blankly, and even in the darkness of night, I can see pink dotting his cheeks. “Oh,” he says quietly.
I try to speak again, to shame him for his stupid Oh, but all that comes out is unintelligible blubbering. I can’t catch my breath, and I continue to sob, burying my face in my palms, my hot tears mixing with the cold drops of rain. I fall to my knees, not even caring about the mud staining my pants as I sob.
All of a sudden, the rain stops pelting me. I look up at the sky. Rain continues to fall, but I’m not getting wet anymore. I crane my neck back, only to see Sarfaraz holding the sweater we sat on earlier over my head. He grimaces against the water plopping onto his body, but he continues to stand there patiently.
I sniffle loudly. “What are you doing?” I ask, my throat thick with tears. “I’m already wet.”
He’s silent for a moment. “I...don’t know,” he responds honestly. A helpless expression pinches his face. His eyes meet mine, and they’re much gentler than they were before. “But I’m trying to do something.”
We stay like that for a long while, me on the ground with tears slipping down my face, Sarfaraz hovering above me, allowing himself to get wet. I cry and cry and cry, and he remains quiet. All he’s doing is standing in silence, letting me sob my brains out, but I realize I haven’t felt so connected to someone in a long time. After years of faded friendships, failed attempts at relationships, and mismatched rishtas, here is someone looking at my truest, ugliest, and most vulnerable self, and still deciding to stick around. It feels good. I haven’t let myself want anything like this before, and it’s terrifying but I can’t help but want more of it. It’s exhilarating, emotional, and...dangerous.
18
Maya’s Law #18:
