Zain stared back at his friend who regarded him with a degree of curiosity. Glancing around at their obscene surrounding in the bar from the quiet spot they'd chosen and still finding Kevin's gaze on him, he grimaced in annoyance.
"Why do you look at me like that?"
"What's going on Zain?" Kevin said after taking a short swig of his beer. "The only time I get to see you nowadays is in the evenings. You're never available in the afternoon man. And you no longer come so we can go for for lunch together anymore. Come on man, your company is just a ten minutes drive from mine. What have you been up to?"
"Sorry if you're feeling ignored," he said in a mock sappy sympathy, then taking a drink of his own beer and holding his head proudly, he replied. "I've been up to Emma Taylor."
"Now what's that even supposed to mean?â Kevin cocked his eye brows.
"I've been having lunch with Emma every day."
Kevin suddenly burst out laughing, and Zain frowned.
"I'm sorry Zain but I couldn't help it. Just almost a month ago, you came to me crying like a baby because she said she didn't love you anymore and to get out of her life, and now you're here telling me that the two of you have been going out a lot lately. Come on man, tell that to someone who's oblivious to your situation."
Clutching the neck of his beer bottle tightly, Zain scowled at him. "I'm being serious man. I told you that my new business partner George turned out to be Emma's husband. I didn't tell you that Emma agreed to be friends with me that day."
"So it's true?" Kevin asked, and when Zain nodded, he gave him a look that all but read what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you? "Zain you proposed friendship to her even while you are trying to get over her?"
"Who said I was trying to get over her?"
"What do you mean by that?" Kevin queried with an alarm that Zain hoped was for his sake.
"I'm planning to get her back, bro." he deadpanned.
Kevin stared back at him mouth agape, seemingly shocked, incredulous and disbelieving. "I thought you'd given up on her and decided to move on!"
Shrugging, Zain reclined in his chair as he swallowed a bit of beer. "I seriously wanted to, Kev. But one look at her at her house and I couldn't help it. I still love her and this love will never die."
"But she is married for Pete's sake!" Kevin mused as if the fact wasn't any obvious. "You want to get her to get divorced to be with you. That's quite very so presumptuous. What gave you the idea Emma will be willing to do that for you? Does she even know about your intentions?"
"She still loves me." Zain replied, remembering the vibes he felt exude from her each time they were together. "I've not told her my intentions yet so she thinks I just really want us to be friends. I'll tell her at the right time when she's in deep enough, but I know she loves me."
"What is the base of this conclusion?"
"I felt it in her kiss that day when she claimed she didn't. I see it in her eyes whenever she looks at me despite her efforts to cover it up. I just know she does."
"Oh my God. You simply can't base a feeling as crucial as this on those signs. Besides what's to say you didn't misinterpret them?"
"The hell I can't!" Zain bummed his fist on the table, starting to get upset.
He'd known that his best friend almost brother would find ways to discourage him rather than give him ideas, the reason why be hadn't told him about it initially. "She reacts to me the same as she did five years ago, Kevin. She's only holding back because she's married."
"She has every reason to hold back. Come on my friend, what you're trying to do is just so cruel. Think about her daughter. How do you think the three year old will be affected seeing her parents' marriage shatter at such an infantile age?"
"I'll love her as if she were my own." The reply tore with earnest from Zain's throat.
Though he hadn't gotten the chance to meet the child properly, he had a feeling he would like her a lot, and when he and Emma were happily married, he would love her like his own daughter.
"It'll never be the same, Zain. And the girl will only grow up to resent her mother." Kevin sighed. "Besides, Emma has never confirmed her love for you so I think it's better you stop fantasizing."
Nightly fantasies of Emma was just something he could never avoid. Most of the time she was beneath him, panting and groaning and begging him to a faster rhythm, then moaning how much she loved him as she came.
"She doesn't need to say the words, Kevin. I just know she does." After the reply there was a bit of silence as both of them chucked their drinks before Zain spoke. "If she still loves me, it means she isn't happy in her marriage. I'm the only one who can make her happy."
"Now that's called taking this to an extreme Zain Chadwick. I think your relentless wish to have her back is making you believe in an illusion. Emma never told you she loves you in the first place, so you have no right to draw such conclusions. Besides how do you suppose she's unhappy? Do you think George perhaps abuses her?"
"No, no, no. I don't think so. George is a good guy."
A week and some days of working with George and Zain realized it. He loved her and wouldn't hurt her. But it was unfortunate he couldn't make her completely happy because he'd never really won her heart. And while Emma may think she loved him, he was determined to make her see the mirage the love had been.
While Zain was confident he could because he knew he still had her heart no matter how much she denied it.
He continued. "But think of it. Emma never stopped loving me which means she doesn't love George. How can she be happy in her marriage when she's not in love?"
"Oh so I see, this is an ego thing. You're just upset that Emma could move on with another man while you never could. That's it!"
Zain's breaths came sightly shallow, feeling Kevin's words stab at his heart. "I can't believe you would say that Kevin. I've never stopped loving Emma and you know it. Your words hurt man."
"What you feel is not love. Perhaps it's just an obsession which causes you to cling to the past. If you truly love Emma you will leave her to enjoy her marriage."
"But her marraige doesn't make her happy!" Zain retorted fiercely as he glared at Kevin, and only flinched a little when the other man returned the gesture and said with a voice adorned with a fierceness of its own.
"She never told you that! You've never seen her suffer. And you and I both know Em isn't the type to take shit. If she isn't happy she wouldn't have given birth with George's child in the first place, not to talk of her giving George a divorce."
They glared at each other with Zain breathing heavily, trying to hold back the hysteria that played on the fringes of his consciousness. Kevin was the one to break the heated silence.
"Don't you ever feel guilty around George? Smiling at his face yet trying to stab him in the back?"
"I would've never partnered with George had I known that he was Emma's husband." Zain lowly said, already feeling weary from the doubts Kevin had just tried to instigate in him without success.
"Well that's what you and your ego get for refusing my help. But it doesn't answer my question. No, don't answer. I only want you to think about it and see how insidious you're becoming, Zain."
Which made Zain noodle. Did he actually ever feel guilty around George with the intentions he had towards his wife? The answer was no. What he felt was actually fear that the man was the type who mixed business and pleasure while Zain really needed the partnership to revive his father's recuperating company of which he would soon become CEO.
Chucking down the rest of his beer, Kevin stood. After placing the bottle back, he dipped his hand into his pocket and fetched out his wallet, taking some dollar notes and placing it on the table.
"I have to go. Lydia must be worried sick about me. I know despite all these 'I want a baby' tantrums, she still worries. See you."
Then he made to leave before suddenly stopping and turning back, seemingly on impulse. "You're like a brother to me, Zain, but that doesn't mean I support everything you do and you know it. This is definitely one of those I don't." He parted Zain on the shoulder and left.
Zain stayed back for another beer. Tomorrow was a Saturday and George would be on a trip to California to check out how their starting project was doing and would be back on Sunday or Monday
Zain decided he was going to use his business partner's absence to spend the whole day with his wife and Amy, his daughter. George would come home to some instigated doubts about Emma's feelings.
He knew from the outside looking in, his intentions would seem selfish and hence he, but after he'd made Emma realize her love for him and they were a family, then people would understand.
It didn't matter how long he had to wait, but when he finally forced her to accept the inevitable, she would be his.
All his.