13. His Anger

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I never wanted to agree to Samara Elizabeth's plan, but I ended up becoming a part of it. I never intended to sign those papers, but eventually I signed them and that's what visible to everyone. No one is interested in knowing my intentions because it doesn't matter. Eventually, I did everything I shouldn't have done. That's what scaring me the most because they won't believe me. I won't be able to clear my name.

The cops, who had talked with Ashar earlier, came to me at the hospital after taking Carol's statement. "We've arrested Noah Rogers. The victim has given her statement against him, so he's now arrested for the rape attempt charges."

Ashar kept his promise. Although, he didn't come to the hospital, still he kept his words to me. I gave a nod to the cop, "Thank you for your cooperation, officer."

"No need of it. It's our job."

The hospital discharged Carol. Her doctor allowed her to go home, but with few precautions. He advised her to take rest for few days, otherwise the head injury would take long to heal.

Carol had decided to go to her parents' house and stay there for next few days. She was leaving for California after two weeks for her college admission. Yeah, she planned to go to another state for higher studies.

I thought of going to my foster home today and meet my family there maybe it would help me to find some strength to face Hobsons.

💙

"So, are you really that busy with your new job that you get no time to visit us?" Patricia asked while eating my baked cupcake. I brought some muffins and cupcakes for the kids here.

Patricia was one of the orphans who were living here. She was younger than me so it means she had still few years to left this place. Her parents abandoned her because they didn't want another child. They said that they didn't have enough money to raise four kids. That's why, they thought to abandon the last kid and let the orphanage to look after their baby girl.

I was just five years old when Patricia came here so I had faded memories of the time when her parents brought her here. But after that, I'd never seen them again and that made everyone think that her parents had lied about their financial burdens because they never even came to see her face.

"I have left my job." I responded to her truthfully, "But don't tell anyone about this."

I told her because I wanted to tell someone about some of my problems with a thought that it would lessen the burden from my heart. I was feeling so lonely since I had came back from the mansion.

I envied how Ashar's parents were supporting him that day, standing with him in his difficult moment. Even Samara also had her father's support. But I was all alone to deal with all the mishap. No one was there to comfort me, to give me some encouragement that I could handle this. That's so unfair!

"That means you didn't want your teachers to know about it and that's why you weren't coming here." She anticipated.

I glanced at her, "Yes."

"My heart is feeling heavy right now, but I can't cry in front of you." I sighed aloud.

The kids of all ages were playing and laughing in the hall where I was sitting with Patricia. Their cheerful and carefree laughs were reaching to my ears. Patricia was also looking at those kids, "Once, Alexis said that strong women don't cry."

"Who is Alexis?"

"You don't know her. She is the new counselor and she is very good."

My foster home was full of heart-wrenching stories. It always broke my heart to hear background stories of those kids. They were being punished for someone else's sins. Their parents do the sin and the children need to bear the punishment.

"You know, what's the worst disadvantage of being an orphan?" I asked her.

Her eyes waited for my response, "That you're lonely. You don't have family, siblings or relatives. You only rely on good friends. No one is there to help you with your problems. No one is your backbone."

I didn't know why I was saying such hopeless things to her. I was not sure whatever I was saying was even making sense or not or I was just blabbering thoughtlessly because I was so stressed out right now.

Ashar was so generous and nice to me day before, now he would be hating me. And I hated that fact. I wanted him to listen to me, see my side of picture as well before thinking of me as a cheat.

"Sanaya, you are scaring me. I've been waiting to turn eighteen and get a real home for myself where I wouldn't have to share my room with several other noisy kids."

I grinned at her complaint.

"What are you both talking about? I hope Patricia is not giving you a headache." Mother walked towards us.

"No, not at all. She is a good company." I smiled and stood up from the bench. Patricia mimicked me.

"But, why are you looking so pale?" She looked at me closely, "You're busy cooking food for others, but not feeding yourself. You should come here often then I'll serve you with some good food."

I knew it she would detect that something was off with me. She was good at face reading. She once told me that dark circles appear beneath my eyes whenever I didn't get to sleep properly or feeling stressed out. She said, one could easily notice that I was crying because my prominent and big eyes get puffy.

It was the truth. I was not someone who could hide my tears because my swelled eyes give people an indication that something was wrong with me; either they guess I was crying or couldn't sleep.

"It's just I'm quite busy. You don't worry about me." I said casually.

"Mother, tell her to start dating." Patricia giggled.

I glowered at her in response. She pouted.

"She is right, Sanaya. You should find someone for yourself. It's not healthy for you to live alone. He will also take care of you." Mother mused.

Her suggestion reminded me of my current situation and Ashar. A wave of cold shiver passed through my body. Why we plan, dream or wish when our fate ruins everything? I hated everything now days. I had never planned my life this way.

"Learn from that kid Ryan. Look how happily he's living his life." She continued with her dating advice.

"Please stop, both of you." I snapped, getting annoyed.

"Sorry, Sanaya. I was just kidding." Patricia said.

"It's for your own good." Mother responded.

"I know that. I should leave now. It's getting late." I tried to smile.

"Okay come soon, Sanaya and bring lots of muffins next time."

Patricia said and then walked away, left me smiling.

She was a lovely girl. She always lived with a smile on her face because she said that she didn't care about her parents, she would live a good life without them as her previous counselor taught her that it's their loss if they lost a pretty girl like her.

Mother's gaze followed Patricia, "Take care of yourself and visit your first home often."

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The clock struck nine in the evening when I began cooking some instant noodles for my dinner. I had adopted the habit of frugality since I had stopped working for Hobsons, just trying to save some money for my college and for paying the rent of the place where I was living. I had to live like this until I would get another job. However, so far I was failing.

Places where I'd left my résumé refused me with a reason that they were full nowadays. Three days had passed since my crime was known to everyone. No one had contacted me after that day, not even Samara which was a good thing because I also wanted to stay away from them as much as possible.

Still I was bothered and curious about what was going to happen next, how Hobsons had decided to solve this marriage disaster and when I could be free from this. I didn't want to trap into this problem anymore. I was freaking me out.

The doorbell of my house rang. I stopped transferring my boiled noodles into a bowl and reached for the door. Since my apartment is quite small, the fresh smell of boiled noodles had filled the entire place. I thought who could be here at this time of day when excluding Carol no one knew the address of my new house. She couldn't be here because of her weak health so who could be?

The thoughts coming in my mind were scaring me that Hobsons had sent the police or their men at my house to search for me or kill me. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating, but I was feeling paranoid since they knew about my fraud. The doorbell rang again. With shaky hands, I opened it.

My intuition was right. Ashar was standing at my doorway with a stiff face. My eyes flew up in complete shock. Fear and guilt began taking control of me. I gulped down the bulge in my throat.

"How-How did you know about that place?" I stuttered a question. I didn't expect that out of all the people Ashar would be the one who would search for me. His furrowed brows hinted his anger. He pushed the door back with his foot. I stepped aside reflexively. He made his way and entered into my apartment.

I turned around and saw he moved his eyes here and there as if he was studying my house, "I'm sorry. I was thinking to tell-"

I stopped in mid-sentence when he abruptly moved around, flaring his nostrils, "But you didn't. Tell me exactly what you were actually planning by acting innocent and vulnerable in front me?" His eyes narrowed into slits of fury.

My lips trembled, "Listen, Ashar, I swear I didn't know they were marriage papers. I never intended to trick you."

He roughly grabbed my arm, "Didn't I tell you that I don't remain a gentleman when I get betrayed? Who you really are?" He pushed me back with a jerk.

"I know how you're feeling, but please don't hate me. I swear-"

"Cut the crap." He roared, "You both would be laughing at my back for fooling me all this time, right? What did you think that I would just let it pass? I'm not that easy."

He trotted to my kitchen side and started throwing all the crockery on the floor that was there. He pushed down my boiled noodles as well. The whole place echoed with their shattering noises. I shivered after seeing his wrath. I ran to him and grasped his arm to stop him from further breaking things.

He jerked my hand away and fisted some of my locks, pulling them to make me look up. My eyes met with his sinister glare. His face skin was flushing with anger. I found myself on the brink of tears when I saw rage for me glistening in his eyes, "You're taking me wrong. Believe me. I never wanted to do this to you. I was also shocked to see you at the Church."

His grip on my hair tightened as he further pulled them to angle my face to the last level. Tears gathered in my eyes, didn't know the reason behind it, whether it's because he was trying to physically hurt me or his hateful words that were aching my heart.

"I'm not going to make this easy for you." He muttered in a throaty voice, "Be thankful that you're a woman or else I would've beaten you until you bled. You don't know how much I'm trying to control my anger."

My heart hammered against my chest. I swallowed the lump down my throat, "Ashar..."

"I won't let you live in peace, Sanaya. You've messed with a wrong person." He threatened. I used my strength, moved my arm up and tried to push him away. He became angrier. He left my hair and twisted my arm to my back. It ached. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to bear the pain.

"Stop it, Ashar." I breathed, wriggling my arm under his tight grip. "I said just stop now. What are you really doing?" This time, I hollered and pushed him back with all my strength.

He moved back and stumbled once. I rubbed the area of my arm where he left his fingers' mark. He gave me a light smirk, "Get ready to face the punishment for backstabbing me."

"What do you mean?" I whispered in fear.

He once again came forward, grabbed the nape of my neck, making me to look into his eyes, "Let's play this husband and wife game that you've started. You wanted to be my wife, right?"

He let out a short chuckle and tugged me close to him that my chest touched with his, "Let me show you the monstrous husband you've got." His jaw tightened and his eyes flashed a menace. Maybe he had planned something, that he would hurt me and take his revenge.

My heart skipped a beat at that thought. "You can't form opinion about me after hearing a one side story. At least hear me out. Let me tell you my side of story." I dared to look into his eyes and said in a pleaded tone.

"I don't want to hear anything." He responded, "Whatever I know about you is enough for me to despise you for the rest of my life." He shoved me back. I lost my balance and fell on the floor where the glass pieces of the crockery he broke a while ago were scattered.

A burning pain and something wet on my arm, just below the wrist registered in my head and forced me to look at it. My mouth agape when I saw one of the glass pieces penetrated into my arm and blood was streaming out of it. Tears began flowing down my face as I tried to pull it out with my other hand. A faint scream escaped my lips when I became successful in my attempt. Now the blood was running rapidly.

I wiped the water from my face with the back of my hand and looked up at Ashar, who was looking stiff with clenched jaws and remorseful eyes. His gaze stared my wound, but he didn't make any effort to help me. I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from screaming out of pain. Water from my eyes continued seeping down.

He looked up. His gaze met with mine, flaring his nostrils in anger. I tried to stand up on my feet and search for some cloth to wrap around my arm, to stop the bleeding. Ashar took out some cash from his wallet and flew them in my direction, "I guess this is enough for today's loss."

Then, he walked out of my apartment. I tightly shut my eyes and sobbed. There was no way he was going to forgive me. He hated me so much. I was running out of options to escape from this problem, to tell Ashar that my intentions were not wrong for him, that I was feeling the same way like him.

Wrapping the cloth on my arm, I laid on the bed because I was feeling weak and broken. I cried the whole next hour and slept afterwards without eating anything.