He was in heaven. Imprisoned in the haven of Arzoo's arms. His Arzoo. His ears still ringing with her I love you. His heart thumping in overdrive as much from the lack of oxygen as from having her in his arms. Her arms wrapped tight around him, those soft fingers digging into his wet hair before gliding them over his face and back as if she needed to touch and reassure herself of his wellbeing. The irony wasn't lost on him. In fact it was choking the breath that she had just pumped into him. He had put her life in danger to score points. And she overcame her fear of water. Her fear that another man was out to hurt her. To save him. His Arzoo loved him. The hesitation fell away and he let himself feel and absorb her love. Joy unfurled in him, fluttering its wings over his mangled heart.
In that moment, across the space of almost the whole room separating them, Sahir opened his eyes and met those of his brother's.
"Haan bhai. Jitna mein Arzoo se pyaar karta hu, Arzoo bhi mujhe utna hi pyaar karti hain. Mera dil kehta hain."
Those words had been punching holes in his heart and mind since the night he heard Zaki mouthing them. He wanted to shake his brother until his teeth rattled and shout, "You dumb idiot! She loves ME. You are seeing something that is there but not for you." But he could not do it. Because what would he have said after that? Zaki would have asked how he knew and what he intended to do about it. He would want to know why he didn't discourage her. If she knew of his past. After all, Zaki didn't know everything about Zeenat, did he? No one knew. And he wasn't ready..would never be ready to dig it out of his psyche. So he had mouthed nonsense about her being a gold digger.
He tightened his arms around her reflexively as he looked at Zaki.
Do you see? MINE! She is MINE! She loves ME! Do you hear? ME!
From somewhere he mustered what he hoped would pass as a derisive grin. After all he has scored, didn't he? He won the bet, didn't he? He had set out to prove that Arzoo doesn't love Zaki. And he proved it. He had said he would make her say I love you to him. And he did that.
Oh yeah, you won alright! By deceiving this innocent girl. His face twisted in disgust. At himself. At the way he has played, is playing and will continue to play with the feelings of the girl whose only crime was to fall madly in love with him. A love he reciprocates with all his torn, damaged heart.
Thank you all for reading. As you have all realized by now, I have taken that one scene and tried to explain Sahir. The moment his eyes fell on Zaki, I noticed three different expressions crossing his face. The second one which was evil and the third one which was him hating himself were easy to decipher. But it was the first one that prompted me to write this.
