THE WEDDING ANNIVERSARY (2)

Kabir's POV

I woke up on this fateful morning to get ready for work. I owned a construction firm and was into the architecture business and interior designing. Without being told, I am doing extremely well for myself at the age of twenty-nine. I had accomplished my lifetime dream of having wealth and now was the time to have children, my family would say.

No doubt, they were right. Now was the perfect time to have children with my girlfriend, Lara. Lara and I had been dating for the past five years and this would be the perfect time to pop the big question and make her mine. But how did Lara end up becoming Zaya? How did my wife and woman- to-be end up being Zaya Mars instead of Lara Croft? I had everything planned out. My parents said they liked Lara and that she would make a good wife, so how in the hell did it end up being Zaya?

I was devastated when my parents told me that it was Zaya I was getting married to and that I had to end my relationship with Lara. No way in hell is that going to happen, I thought. Even if it meant that I'll have to get married to Lara without my parents' blessings then so be it but it is certainly going to be Lara…my wife.

Who was I kidding thinking that I could go against my father and his friend?!

It was his friend who brought up the idea of a betrothal when we were young but my father was not in support of it. That was not enough for him to keep shut he had to come up with an arranged marriage idea once we became full grown adult and this time, my father was in support of it. He wanted I and Zaya to end the relationship we had going on with others.

This resulted in a major fight between my father and I. I was adamant on not ending my relationship with Lara and so was Zaya with her boyfriend. Our fathers let us throw our tantrums around before they put us in our place and forced us into a contract marriage since we didn't agree to the arranged marriage. It was to last for five years and I had no option of getting out of it because of what my father told me. He went to threaten me with the one person I love…. Lara. If I don't get married to Zaya, then I should get ready to attend Lara's funeral.

I was gobsmacked and had to do it because I knew my father wasn't joking. He meant every word he said and would really do it when push comes to shove. So I did it. I got married to Zaya. I could still remember how Lara felt seeing me get married to someone else. On the surface, a large wedding was done to make it look believable but behind closed doors, I was forced into this and loathed Zaya with passion. If it wasn't for her meddling father then I and Lara would have probably gotten married together and ended up living the dream.

You might be thinking that as a man of twenty-nine years I should be able to stand up to my father and get what I want but that is not how it is. My father is the type of man who would let you grow your wings so big and end up using a large scissors or knife to cut them off and tell you to grow them again. He would watch you suffer, make you suffer, cry and beg him, you would give all your blood to him and he would still toss you in the corner to do what he wants to. He would say he was teaching us life lessons.

"A slave should never forget that he was once a slave even if he became a master" he would often say.

I had tried countless times to make my father see that I was not just a slave or anything. So many times I had gone against him and done what I wanted to do but in the end I would come back on my knees begging him to forgive me. He would have done something behind my back to put my success on hold and frustrate me. My father was a harsh man but one thing was for sure. He was always right! What he told me not to do and I went against usually had big consequences which he was trying to prevent by telling me not to do it but I wasn't ever able to understand or see until he had done something bad to make me see it.

Him telling me to get married to Zaya instead of Lara made me wonder what he knew about Lara that I didn't!

Even though I got married to Zaya, I still talked to Lara and continued my relationship with her. I was still in love with her and I couldn't let her go. We still go out on dates and spend time together and Lara is cool with it. She is ready to wait for another five years for me, after that we would get married and then my father would not be able to do anything about it.

One year into this hellbound and I am proud to say that I have been able to frustrate the living daylights out of Zaya's life. That's what she gets for having a father who can't mind his business. Call me childish but I won't let this marriage work. I can't wait for this marriage to be over. One year down, four more to go.

As I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom, it struck me that today would be our one year wedding anniversary. It was one year ago today on January 17th, 2022 when we got married. We got married a few days after the New Year. It was perfectly planned out by my father and Zaya's in order to gain more publicity. As expected, the news went viral since our wedding was coming after the new year. People didn't even know when we started dating, news that we were both in relationships came out and the fact that our families were rich reigned in the air. My father and his friend gave the media exactly what they wanted. A big, extravagant and flashy wedding as expected. It trended on various platforms and helped to boom their businesses a lot.

Anyways, that was a year ago and the buzz has all died down, everything has returned back to normal. We have been living together in my house for the last one year and it has been highly uncomfortable for me. I have made it clear to Zaya that I don't want to see her anywhere near me or my belongings. I have sternly warned her to stay away from me and my room. I hope she is not expecting me to do anything since it's our one year wedding anniversary today because she is not getting anything. Today is the worst day of my life!

I dressed up and headed for the office as early as possible before Zaya could even wake up. It was my usual routine so I didn't have to see her in the morning and have my day ruined. As soon as I got to the office, I busied myself with work, attending internal meetings, drafting up the design for the new amusement park that the government had in mind to build. I visited the construction site for an ongoing project and went ahead to look at the finished work of the estate project I had an intention of launching soon. I went back to the office and drowned myself in more work until it was 10:30pm. I was finally done for the day and decided to head home but No! It was too early and I didn't want to partake in any of the activities that Zaya had planned out.

I decided to visit Lara instead and spend some time before leaving at around 12:50am. The drive from Lara's home to mine is approximately forty minutes. I spent an extra five minutes in my car prepping myself for whatever was about to happen. It's time to put on the cold expression that Zaya knew.

I left the car and headed for the door, got in and met the shock of my life. There she was…Zaya standing beside the couch. There were three bottles of champagne on the table. Was she drunk? What did she do when I was not around? Seems like she had a lot of fun but it is none of my business.

What was more amazing to me was how she appeared before me. In my eyes, she looked…. beautiful. She was looking very beautiful tonight, more than ever. I spotted the set of jewelry that my mother got for her and could attest it was fitted for her. It went perfect with her dress. My jaws almost dropped at the sight in front of me. The sight of Zaya.

But No! I was stronger than this! I did not have any feelings for her and hated her. That was the plan. Get a grip of yourself, Kabir!

After regaining consciousness of myself having been lost in my thoughts, I let out a scoff in distaste and made my way to the stairs.

That's what you get Zaya. Nothing more, nothing less!