Kayan was tying his tie when someone came from behind and hugged him. Kayan was pleasantly surprised, thinking it was Hooreen since everyone else was boarding the vehicles to leave. Kayan grabbed the person's arm and turned them around—it was Samara. Kayan's temper flared, and he spoke in a harsh tone: "What is this vulgarity? What are you doing in my room, that too without my permission?"
"It's not vulgarity; it's my love for you."
She spoke with a honeyed tone. "What kind of love is this that brings you to my room...? Don't call it love, call it your lust—that even knowing I am married, you still came into my room. Even if I weren't married, it doesn't suit you to enter a stranger's room. Don't make the mistake of thinking I am like Mr. Akbar. Get out of my room."
"What is the use of this marriage where your wife has still deprived you of your rights? She never let you near her. If you want, you can establish the relationship with me that Hooreen never allowed. Give me one chance...!"
Saying this, she tried to force herself into a hug again. "Slap...!" Before she could finish, Kayan pushed her away and delivered a powerful slap that sent her falling face down on the floor. For a few moments, darkness clouded her vision. No matter how Kayan was, he had never raised a hand against a woman, but today he did, because of her actions and words.
"How dare you...!"
"You cheap woman... how dare you say such a thing and act like this with Kayan Zarrar...? I am not a slave to my desires, understand? And as for Hoor... don't even take my Hoor's name with that filthy tongue of yours. As far as the relationship between Hoor and me is concerned, that is a private matter between husband and wife. No third person has any right to say anything, especially not you."
How could she stay silent after such humiliation? She stood up. Her eyes fell on Hooreen's mobile on the dressing table, and her devious mind went to work. She hissed with hatred: "What private matter...? The private matter she discusses with everyone? The one she tells her friend about—that she feels 'disgust' toward you and your very existence? That every time you go near her, she feels hatred for herself? That's why she messaged Amna last night to come and take her away from you, to save her from you. You are a husband in name only."
She paused and picked up Hooreen's mobile. Opening the chat between Amna and Hooreen, she held it in front of Kayan and spoke again: "If you don't believe me, look at this."
He didn't believe Samara's words at all; he knew well how cunning she was. But the things she said were known only to Kayan and Hooreen. Samara wasn't even there at the time, so had Hooreen really said all this...? These thoughts were paralyzing his ability to think. Involuntarily, he looked at the mobile and read the text on the screen: "When Kayan comes to the room, please... please... come to get me five minutes after he arrives... make any excuse, say the girls are insistent on calling their teacher. Please just come, do me this favor, and don't ask why right now, I'll tell you everything later."
Hooreen's message proved to be the final nail in the coffin. He couldn't believe his Hoor had done this to him. Pushing Samara aside, he went to the restricted section on the third floor—a bar area he kept only for friends and business parties. He had never had a drink in his life, but today he was broken to the core. He began to drink. Samara followed him and spoke, entreatingly: "I am still saying, listen to me. You will get what you want, and I will get what I want...!"
When she opened her eyes, there was no one in the room. She immediately ran to Kayan's room because she didn't want anyone to see her like that. However, an unusual silence reigned everywhere. It felt strange to her, yet she was certain no one could have left her behind; she figured everyone must be out in the lawn. Entering the room, she looked around—it was empty. She breathed a sigh of relief and went to the washroom. After freshening up, she looked for her dress from yesterday which she had hung in the washroom, but it wasn't there because the maid had taken it for washing. She came out wearing a bathrobe that reached slightly above her knees. She had no other option. She quickly came out and tried to open the closet, but it was locked. She began searching for the keys when she heard the sound of a door opening and then closing. She turned around and froze.
"I am still saying, listen to me. You will get what you want, and I will get what I want...!"
At her words, Kayan looked at her with eyes raining fire. She stepped back in fear. Kayan grabbed her by the arm, dragged her out of the bar, and threw her out. She barely managed to keep her balance. He spoke in a venomous tone:
"Disappear from here this very instant, or else I will be justified in killing you, understand?"
"I am leaving, but I feel sorry for you. What kind of man are you that you couldn't control your own wife...?"
Saying this, she also came out where everyone was already in the vehicle. Seeing her red cheek, everyone asked the reason, to which she replied that she had fallen. However, Amna's sixth sense signaled that something was wrong. She wanted to see Hooreen one last time, but the vehicle started, and she could only pray for her in her heart. Meanwhile, Samara thought to herself:
"If I cannot have this luxury, I won't let you live in peace either. Now try and save yourself from Kayan's wrath."
She let out a wicked laugh at this thought.
Kayan's condition was deteriorating with grief and anger. He was drinking glass after glass, addressing Hooreen in his imagination:
"Hoor... you... you deceived me...? You lied to me? You kept me in the dark...? You and your love reside in every fiber of my being... and you feel disgust toward this existence in which you entirely dwell...? You made a mockery of my love in front of everyone... you struck a blow to my ego, the consequences of which will be terrible, Hoor... Do not come before me right now, I don't even know what I will do... You did very wrong, Hoor, very wrong...!"
He was not himself today. In his entire life, he had never touched anything forbidden, but today he was so broken that he couldn't see the difference between the forbidden and the permissible. When he grew tired of drinking, he walked toward his room with staggering steps.
He entered the room with staggering steps. After closing the door, he turned around to find Hooreen standing before him. At that moment, Hooreen also saw Kayan and froze in her place.
Dressed in a bathrobe, her wet hair was scattered around her face and back, with water droplets dripping from it. Seeing Hooreen, Samara's words began to strike Kayan's mind like a hammer.
Seeing Kayan, she spoke hesitantly:
"I... dress... had to take... so... tell the keys... where are they...?"
She was confused by her appearance, and secondly, Kayan's intensities from the previous night spread colors of modesty across her face. Had he been in his senses, he could have easily distinguished between truth and lies by looking at her face. But Samara's words, the effect of the alcohol, and Hooreen's presence in this state combined to turn him into someone he was not.
Without wasting a second, he stepped forward, grabbed Hooreen by the waist with one hand, pinned her against the closet, and gripped her hair in his other fist. He forced her face up, crushed his lips against hers, and took her breath captive. Hooreen tried hard to free herself, but it was in vain.
After a while, when he released her breath, she touched her lips pantingly in disbelief; they were badly bruised. Still holding her hair in one hand and pulling her face close to his, he spoke in a venomous tone:
"I told you never to use such words for me, but today you did. You told your friend to take you away from me because you feel disgust toward me... that you feel hatred for yourself when I come near you... You feel disgust toward my existence, right? You feel hatred for yourself when I come near you? That's what you keep telling everyone, isn't it? That two-bit Samara came and told me that I should establish the relationship with her that you never established. I have tolerated enough of this, no more. Now I will show you who Kayan Zarrar is!"
"What are you saying???? Kayan... you are wrong...!"
"Shut up! What I am saying is right!"
Saying this, he pushed Hooreen onto the bed, threw off his shirt, and leaned over her.
"No... Kayan... please... you are misunderstanding me... You cannot... do this... to me... You will regret this deeply... don't... you are not... in your senses, please Kayan... n-o... no...!"
"I have come to my senses only now...!"
With that, Kayan untied the robe's strap. His grip became strong and harsh. She kept crying and screaming, trying to free herself, but Kayan was not in his senses; he was possessed by madness.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in Kayan's grip. Freeing herself from his hold, she tried to get up, but Kayan grabbed her again and spoke in a voice heavy with intoxication:
"You cannot leave so easily."
Saying this, he leaned over her once more.
"Kayan... for God's sake... leave me, let me go... You did what you wanted, now please...!"
"Where to just yet? I've only just started. Your punishment has just begun."
Once again, she was in his grip. The only difference was that this time, she lay motionless. After Kayan fell asleep, she got up, put on Kayan's shirt lying nearby, and went into the washroom. Turning on the shower, she stood under it and eventually sat down, crying. The cold water was soaking her. Her tears were flowing.
"Kayan, you destroyed my pride, my love, my honor—everything. In your state of intoxication, did you forget everything...? Why, Kayan...? Why...? I will never forgive you, you are very bad...!"
She sat crying under the shower for a long time. The cold water froze her senses, and she became oblivious to her surroundings.
In the evening, Kayan woke up. He sat up, his head feeling very heavy and aching severely. This was the first time in his life he had had a drink, and that too in excess. He sat on the bed trying to relax, pressing his temples. Suddenly, his attention turned to his own state, and Samara's words began to circulate in his mind. The last scene he remembered was with Samara... when she was inciting him to do wrong. Remembering this, he sat holding his head. He began to worry that he might have done something wrong.
"My God... I hope I didn't do something very wrong... I hope that... Samara... with...!"
The thought beyond that was agonizing for him. The sound of water running in the washroom caught his attention. He gathered courage, got out of bed, and walked slowly toward the washroom door. Controlling himself, he knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside. He knocked five or six times, but still nothing. He placed his hand on the handle, and the door opened on its own. The scene inside made the ground slip from beneath his feet. Hooreen was lying on the floor like a huddled mass. Water from the shower was continuously falling on her. Kayan quickly turned off the shower and shook her while sitting on the floor. Touching her felt like an electric shock to Kayan; she was burning with a high fever.
"Hoor... Hoor... open your eyes...!"
Kayan lifted her and laid her on the bed. He saw Hooreen dressed in his shirt and completely soaked, which had also made the bedsheet wet. Kayan took the closet keys from his coat pocket on the floor, opened it, took out a dress for Hooreen, and changed her clothes. The marks on her neck, arms, and body were screaming the story of the cruelty Kayan had inflicted upon his Hoor. Kayan laid her on the sofa and changed the bedsheet, seeing which his sense of guilt and shame deepened. Then he laid her back on the bed and covered her properly with a blanket.
"Hoor... Hoor... Hoor... get up... please open your eyes... Hoor...!"
He tried to wake her, but when there was no movement in her body, Kayan panicked. He called a doctor. Her condition was critical. The doctor checked her and, after providing treatment and medicine, left. She knew Kayan Zarrar well, so she didn't dare ask any questions. She quietly did her job and went away.