Chapter 10: "Cold Peace"

Post your reactions as you read 🤗. Y'all are really quiet these days. What's up? School?

January 1st 2021

Salma rubbed her face in an exhausted exasperation as the laptop screen glared in her eyes. Nothing was helping. Focusing on studies was becoming difficult. Taking a stroll did not work and Sarah was busy. She had been fighting the images in her head all day as they kept swinging between what happened the previous day on the Youth Club’s trip, and the night when Zayn pulled a beast on her on the rooftop.

“Trust me,” he had said softly, holding her gaze. “Bee, trust me.”

Salma’s eyes flew open in alarm as her body collapsing onto Zayn’s flashed past her mind. She focused on the silent library setting, trying to get her mind off of the feel of his arms around her when he had held her securely. More often than not, this sequence of flashes morphed into the same man holding her in a vice-like grip, shaking her roughly, causing her face to uncover.

“Bee, trust me.”

Sitting back, Salma stared at the almost blank document of her assignment. She had only managed to write a sentence and a half in the past hour. She took in a deep breath. Her head was messed up. This madness had been invading her mind even during her classes.

“I need air,” she muttered to herself, as she shut her laptop and got up to leave. She decided another walk to the café might help clear her head.

It was a beautiful day. Salma observed the students enjoying the warmth of the sun so she could stay out of her head where one voice and the associated memories kept traveling with her.

“Salma!”

Salma looked across the lawns to the source of the voice. Jason’s red curls were immediately noticeable as he waved her over from one of the canopies near the Biological Sciences Block. Salma smiled and walked over to them, surprised to find him in the company of Louisa.

They were just the kind of distraction  she needed.

“Hey!” Louisa grinned.

“Hi.” Salma returned. “I’m surprised to see you here. I see the two of you have hit it off great.”

Jason laughed, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“No, I just ran into her,” he said, sheepishly.

“Lies,” Louisa disputed. “I’m certain Dad’s now trying to use the handsome guys from his department to lure me into Marine Biology.”

“Oh, so you admit that you find me handsome?” Jason grinned, leaning forward on the table.

“Nah dude,” Louisa made a face. “It’s y’all that finds pests beautiful. I ain’t into it.”

Jason deflated, making Salma laugh. She took a seat on the bench.

“Mantids aren’t pests!” he defended his favorite insect. “They’re predatory. They feed on pests.”

“Predatory? See? All the more reason to avoid you guys,” Louisa returned, making Salma chortle. These two were really something special to make her laugh on a day like this. “I’ve had enough predators for a hundred lifetimes.”

As the two bickered, Salma relaxed into the bench enjoying the banter.

“Salma, what do you think?” Jason turned to her for help.

“What?” Salma asked

“What’re you asking her about? She likes Bees,” Louisa countered. “Genuinely useful. They make honey and pollinate flowers.”

“And they sting!” Jason remarked.

“Who told you I liked Bees?” Salma asked.

“Jason,” she replied immediately.

Jason opened his mouth to deny it but struggled to manage a reply when Salma turned to him.

“I see.” Salma raised a brow. “And you just ran into her, yeah?”

“No I genuinely just --"

Jason was cut off as Louisa gasped.

“Don’t alert him!” she whispered, then she stepped on the table and onto the other side, breaking into a run.

“What is she doing?” Jason frowned.

Salma squinted her eyes against the sun as they watched the young girl zoom past people, keeping her head low. Then, she just jumped over one of the two guys casually walking towards the café.

“Whoa!” the blond one of the two cried in alarm, hopping away.

“Got you!” Louisa yelled, triumphant. “Now you’re the one getting kidnapped, Harris!”

“Seriously?” Zayn’s voice carried over, making Salma’s spine tense up. “I’m the one who’s still on my feet. I can literally carry you wherever.”

“Not if you can’t see,” Louisa replied. Crossing her feet over his waist to steady herself, she blind-folded him with her hands.

“Brownie, be my eyes,” Zayn told Niall.

“Blondie, nose out!” Louisa countered instantly. She jiggled her shoulders excitedly. “This is between me and him.”

Salma laughed despite herself. While Niall scowled at the adorable young junior, Zayn sighed in defeat.

“Fine, you win,” he admitted. “Where to?”

“Straight ahead!” she ordered, pointing in front of her. “Oh!” She scowled, realising she had left one of Zayn’s eye uncovered.

Zayn chuckled, as she slapped a hand back on his eye, and took a step.

“Another five steps,” she instructed. Zayn followed. “Keep going.”

Louisa suddenly turned to Niall, an evil glint in her eyes.

“Record it,” she mouthed, before tugging at Zayn like a reined in horse. “Two steps to the left. Then six straight ahead.”

Niall’s eyebrows rose when he saw what she was doing. Stifling a chuckled, he hastened to get his phone out of his pocket.

Zayn kept following the crazy girl’s orders blindly.

“Two, three, and --"

Louisa jumped.

“Ouch!” Zayn head butted the sign board.

“Yikes!” Salma and Jason winced as the bone-cracking bang carried all the way to the canopy.

“That must have hurt,” Jason grimaced.

Salma shook her head in disbelief watching Louisa and Niall bent double with laughter, together with the rest of the students. As the lawns roared with laughter, it took Zayn sometime to get his bearings back.

“Lou, you absolute freak!” he screamed.

Realizing she was in danger, Louisa scrambled back to her feet, and broke into a run. Zayn chased. It took Salma a second too late to realize Louisa was tearing through the crowd towards them.

“Salma! Jason!” she screamed, jumping over the table. “Protect me!”

“Oh yeah?” Jason raised a brow as she tried to crouch in the tiny space behind him on the bench. “What happened to me being a predatory pest?”

“Dude, you’re the most handsome man on the planet! Think of me as one of your stupid Mantids. Now help!”

She whimpered and cowered next to Jason as Zayn reached the canopy. She need not worry, however. Zayn came to a sudden halt the moment he saw Salma sitting there. Salma felt her skin crawl and her breathing got labored. She kept her eyes trained on the two juniors, pretending to not notice him, but try as she may, his  words from the other day kept ringing out in her head.

“Trust me!” Zayn urged, stretching his hand out to her even more. “I’ll catch you!”

Salma turned to him, focusing on his honey dew eyes.

“Trust me,” he said softly, holding her gaze. “Bee, trust me.”

Had he meant more than just to trust him to catch her when she jumped? Salma shook that thought away. In her periphery, she noticed Zayn glanced at her, then Louisa, then back at her.

“Aha!” Louisa suddenly appeared underneath Jason’s arm, grinning maliciously. “Now, I got you!”

Zayn advanced towards her. She yelped and pushed back behind Jason again.

“You --" Zayn seethed through clenched teeth. He glanced at Salma again.

Louisa peeked over Jason’s shoulder. Her sharp eyes went to and fro between Zayn and Salma, quickly identifying the cause of his hesitation.

“I what?” she challenged, then stood up on the bench. “Bro, you back off right away or I’ll tell her your secret.”

A slight frown creased Salma’s brow, while Jason blinked at Louisa in confusion.

“What secret?” Zayn asked, looking around the canopy as if casually searching through his brain the kind of dirt Louisa might have over him.

“That you are, you know?” Louisa smirked, folding her arms. “And what you do when you’re not in school.”

Salma saw Jason looking puzzled.

“Uh haan,” Zayn responded. “What do I do where when I’m not at school?”

Louisa leaned forward.

“LA,” she whispered.

Salma felt the corner of her lip poking upwards at the girl’s antics.

Louisa suddenly yelped. Salma’s eyes snapped up to see Zayn had grabbed her ear. Much to her own misfortune, Louisa had leaned too far in.

“Oh, you will, won’t you?” Zayn asked.

“Ouch-ouch, ouch-ouch!” Louisa winced.

“Nice try.” He smiled.

“Ouch-ouch!”

“She knows.”

“Oucha – I mean, what?!” Louisa suddenly cried, her pained expression disappearing.

“She knows what?” Jason finally voiced his curiosity.

Zayn pulled Louisa’s head to the side by her ear, while she resumed Ouch-ing her way through it.

“Nothing that concerns you, Stark.”

Jason quickly rearranged his features and shrugged, acting like he had not just tried asking about Zayn.

“Hey, I got it recorded!”

Salma looked up just in time to see Niall skidding to a halt beside Zayn. As Zayn rounded on him, Salma glanced a red bump already forming on the left side of his forehead.

“Did you?” Louisa asked eagerly, then winced.

Niall took in the scene in front of him. Of Zayn’s hand holding onto the ear that was connected to Louisa’s body.

“I see you’ve been caught.” He forced a chuckle, pocketing his phone. “And um, nope! I got nothing. Unsteady hands. It’s just a blur.”

Louisa stepped on the table, and taking advantage of the Zayn’s momentary distraction, slapped Zayn’s hands away.

“Are you for real?!” she cried out angrily.

Zayn held her back.

“Deep breaths, Devilsy. Take deep breaths,” he said. “Not everyone has horns like yours, but yes, he’s very real.”

As Niall started laughing, Louisa rounded on Zayn.

“You’ve got some nerve calling me that,” she returned. “Every soul on this table knows who the real Satan in disguise is! See! He’s even got a horn on his forehead!” Louisa pointed to the bump forming on Zayn’s temple.

She yelped and jumped out of Zayn’s reach as he tried to make a grab for her again. Much to Salma’s discomfort, she stepped down on her bench.

“Alright, stop fighting,” Niall tried to talk sense into them. “It’s -- Oh, hi Salma!”

Salma tensed to feel everyone’s attention turned on her. She tried to stay collected.

“Hi.” She nodded.

“Exactly! ‘Hi’ is the word,” Louisa interrupted, jumping off the bench. She grabbed Zayn and forced him to take a seat. “Let’s all be friends and act like mature adults.”

Salma’s breath got stuck in her throat and her chest congested when she realized, Zayn was now sitting next to her.

“Adults?” Niall laughed. “You’re the farthest thing from being an adult!”

“Hey! At least I don’t chicken out and say ‘unsteady hands’ when I --"

“I didn’t chicken out!”

“Yeah, show me the video then?”

“I agree.” Jason added.

While the rest of them bickered, Salma felt her neck and shoulder muscles ache with the tension in them. Her breathing was shallow and congested, and her throat painfully clogged. She was doing all she could to bear the silent presence of the man next to her, but nothing helped as images of him yelling and manhandling her barged to the surface, holding her prisoner as he yanked her face up, bare and exposed, to make her do what he wanted.

***

November 5, 2019

Zayn could feel the unease and discomfort radiating from her in waves. He wanted to ease the tension between them but he could almost feel her cringing away from him. Getting up and leaving seemed like the best thing to do. However, with the juniors around, it would only raise questions. Also, he was not sure if that is what he should be doing. She had asked him to not quit and walk away, hadn’t she? Zayn felt conflicted. Should he acknowledge her sitting next to him, or not? Should he talk to her, or leave her alone? Was it wise to try at all?

He had met her only a couple of times in the previous weeks and none too pleasant. She had been cold at the court, miserable during the nikkah, distant by the café and less than interested in her uncle’s office. In fact, she had been frustrated and upset to have to endure him there.

Her words from that particular meeting at the masjid screamed in his ears, piercing at his heart all over again. He had barely just stepped out of her Uncle’s office after the meeting when he heard her confronting him about it.

“What was that?” she had burst out, sounding close to tears.

“What was what?”

“Him!” she had returned, the contempt and bitterness in her tone stabbing at his ears. “You could have told me!”

“Sally, I had already told you to come early. That we had things to discuss,” her uncle replied calmly. “I wanted you to know beforehand so you'd be mentally prepared. You were late.”

“Anne could have mentioned that!” Salma argued. “You could have called!”

“I’m sorry it’s my fault,” her uncle replied. “I didn’t think it through. After you decided to continue the relationship, I thought --"

“You thought what, Uncle Dawood?” Salma’s voice cracked. “That I was suddenly fine with him? That I felt butterflies everytime I see him? What I did for my people does not in any way diminish or wipe out what he did to me! He assaulted me!”

“Sally --"

“Shook me like toddler's toy, and manhandled me! I can’t just rid my mind of that. Of all the people, I at least expect my family to understand the madness I’m trying to get around!”

Zayn jumped to one side when he heard a chair being shoved roughly. The door was yanked opened not a second later. Blistering mad, Salma stormed past him without noticing him and slammed the door shut with the blast of cannon.

Zayn was shocked to see her company the group of youngsters on the trip the next day. He could not comprehend what was going through her head after the way she had retaliated just the night before. She stayed extremely cheerful around the young girls, especially the little ones, but once whatever business she was supposed to deal with, was done with a smile, she went back to being cold, silent and distant. Zayn stayed out of her way.

Until, he literally had to get in her way to help her out.

He felt his neck getting warm remembering what it was like to have her arms around him. His heart had picked up pace to match hers. Involuntarily, he had tightened his arms around her, holding her closer.

Zayn took in a deep breath to tame his racing heart. He should not be thinking of something like that with Salma sitting at an arm’s reach from him. Who was to say what he would end up doing?

As if on cue, a series of horrible images flashed past his mind. Those of him grabbing her face and forcing her to --

Zayn clenched his fist, feeling his insides shake as if electrified. Is that what crossed her mind every time he was around? Disturbed by the thought and without planning to, he turned to her.

Salma shot to her feet at that instant. Zayn froze. The other three were laughing their heads off at recording of Zayn bumping his head. It took them a moment to realize something was wrong. They had either been oblivious to the tension between them, or just actively ignoring it.

“You okay?” Jason asked, a concerned frown knotting his brow.

Niall threw Zayn a quick questioning glance.

“Yeah,” Salma replied. “I have to meet a friend.”

“Sarah?” Louisa asked excitedly. “Tell her I said hi.”

“Will do!” Salma called over her shoulder, in a rush.

Avoiding the others questioning gazes, Zayn watched her receding figure hurrying to the dormitories. Running away.

From him.

Author's Note:

Uh, oh! Zalma just froze that ice between them some more 😬

Anyways . .  .

First of, I almost forgot, the sweet Lostie, iamhinamskhan made me this cover a few weeks ago. Isn't this just beautiful! 😍

Also, I wrote a scene between Salma and Zayn when they went on that rock climbing trip mentioned in this chapter. It's called "Cliffhanger" and is already up on my Patreon page as a patron-exclusive scene. Happy reading! 🥰

Vote, comment and share! See you on the 20th.

Lots of Love!

J.