said a woman who had entered the bathroom with her friend. Aylin stopped in her tracks, and she fidgeted with her hair some more while she listened.
"I know! Didn't he break up with his ex like four months ago? That isn't long enough to get over someone before getting a new girlfriend," the other woman said.
"Oh, that's not what surprises me. He has money. All he has to do is flash it in front of any girl, and next thing you know, he's got a new partner. I'm just surprised he brought her out in public. Surely, he must've known Chloe’s friends would see him.”
“You know why he's doing it? To show off what he can buy. And I don’t just mean the fancy dinner. I mean, did you see that dress? No way could she afford it," the girl shook her head.
"She probably thinks he really loves her too."
Aylin felt sick to her stomach. They didn't know anything about Zain. If they did, they would've known the truth about how the two of them met.
"You mean you didn't hear about what happened between Zain and his father?" The other woman asked her friend.
"No."
"Well, you didn't hear this from me," she winked.
"But there is a rumor going around that his father is going to expel him from his company."
"You're kidding me! Why? I thought he was grooming Zain to take over someday."
"Guess his reckless ways finally caught up with him. The old man finds Zain unfit and is transitioning to give more responsibilities to his older brother and sister. If you ask me, the father should've chosen the two of them as senior executives in the first place."
"Who did you hear this from?"
"From a friend who heard it in some business circles. The Auzaars run more than a dozen companies in Europe and several worldwide. People talk."
"Do you think Zain knows about this?"
" If we do, I’m sure he does too. You know the stories that go around about what the father used to do to his children, especially Zain."
"You know what this means? First, we know he definitely didn't pay for this girl to be his girlfriend. I bet he went looking around for any girl that would take him, one who doesn't have anything and flashed his money in front of her face. Foolish as most girls her age are, she probably thinks he’s a decent guy. But in the end, after this episode is over, she's going to end up supporting him all alone because he won't have a penny to his name."
"I was thinking the same thing when I saw the two of them walk in. Did you see the earrings she was wearing? No doubt Zain bought them for her to wear out on the town tonight. I bet he knows his days are numbered."
The other woman shook her head.
"That poor girl. She has no idea what will happen the longer she stays with him. I hope she learns the truth."
"I hope so too. She's young and pretty. Hopefully, she sees Zain for who he really is: a big liar."
"I mean, this is what happens when Chloe Kamikazed dumps a guy, and for good reason."
The more they spoke about Zain, the worse Aylin felt. What if they were right, and he was just using her because he needed someone to support him once he lost his position with his father's company? Her head was spinning. She did think it was lovely but expensive to send her a dress for the evening. Did Zain think of her as some stupid, naive seventeen-year-old? I'll show him, she thought. And I'll show those women who think they know me. She thought back to when they arrived at the restaurant and how she giggled when the waiter came over to the table and reproached herself for the childish displays. Well, that's about to change. Disturbed by the women's conversation, she wanted to get far away from them. She made her way back to the table.
"Aylin,"
Zain stood up when she returned and went to pull back her chair.
"I can manage on my own," she said,
not cracking a smile and taking a seat. Zain picked up on the shift in tone immediately.
"Have you decided what you're going to order?" he asked with a smile.
"I didn't want to order until you returned."
"Let me look over the menu again," she said as she looked at the menu, avoiding eye contact with Zain.
"Aylin? Are you All right?"
"Yes. Why would you ask me that?"
she lowered the menu and forced a smile.
"Life couldn't be better. You're going to Granada, and I'm going to start the next chapter in my life. Everything's falling into place," she said sarcastically.
Zain watched as Aylin went back to her menu and then put it down on the table once she made her decision.
"Where is that waiter? I'm ready to order," she said.
Zain looked around for Lucio. Here we go again, he thought as the waiter made his way towards their table. Maybe Lucio could spark a real smile on Aylin’s face since he wasn’t able to, Zain thought.
"Have we decided what we would like to eat?"
Lucio, once again, only kept his eyes on Aylin, ignoring Zain.
"Yes, I've decided I would like to have the fire-roasted cauliflowers with mushrooms."
"You haven't sampled the wine I've brought over. It's on the house."
Aylin remained calm,
“I’m sorry. I don’t drink.”
An annoyance with the waiter began to burn in her. The conversation she overheard was fresh in her mind, and she wanted to prove to everyone present that she wasn't the naive teenager hey thought her to be when they saw her walk in with Zain. She picked up the menu and placed it in Lucio's hand.
"Thank you,"
she spoke. Feeling the spark had faded, Lucio turned to Zain and asked for his order.
"Why did you do that?"
Aylin asked when the waiter was gone.
"Do what?"
Zain didn't know what he did wrong.
"You ordered three appetizers to my one entrée. Why?”
“It’s been a long day. I didn’t want to be too full,” he said.
“By the way, I have something for you."
"You have something for me?”
Aylin was starting to wonder if all this money he was spending on her was just a way of keeping her around.
"I saw this, and I thought of you."
Zain walked over to Aylin's chair. He knelt, pressed his cheek against hers, and wrapped his arm around her hip, holding an opened box that displayed a medallion bracelet.
"May I put this on you?"
Aylin was speechless. Thoughts raced through her mind. What do I say? If I say yes, this might be his way of tying me to him even when we are apart. And if I say no, I will lose him.
She couldn’t help but be flattered, and the feeling visible in Zain's eyes only reinforced the truth of his devotion to her. Overjoyed with emotion, he took the bracelet out of the box and placed it on her wrist.
"Zain?"
Aylin broke the silence, looking down at his gift.
"You didn't have to give me all this.”
"I wanted to. The bracelet can be a reminder of our time together."
Aylin nodded, her eyes still on the bracelet. She still wondered if what the women in the restroom said was true. Was he using all his money to shower her with presents because he knew he wouldn’t have money for long? What if she did end up supporting him in the end?
"Aylin, is everything All right?"
She quickly made an excuse—not a complete lie—and Zain assumed she was just nervous about moving to London.
"I can imagine…when I left for university, I thought of how much I would miss our family driver,” he said.
“What?” Aylin responded.
“You wouldn’t miss any of your family or friends?”
“Well, most of my friends would be in the same vicinity, and my family, well…”
Their conversation numbed Aylin’s doubt, but they did have a good dinner, and afterward, Zain drove Aylin back to her home. He held her hand as he walked her to the front door. They stood in silence, looking at each other at the late hours of the night. But this night was different. She didn’t let go
of his arm but also didn’t let him leave or enter her home. She placed her hands behind Zain’s head and brought his face close to hers, passionately kissing him. In that second, every doubt in Aylin's mind disappeared. She didn’t care anymore.
"Zain, take me to your apartment," she said.
The loud horns shattered Zain’s thoughts.
“I’m sorry, Sir. Paris traffic, uh, I hate it!” said Mazaar.
Recovering from his thoughts, Zain responded,
“It’s ok. We’re not in a rush. Take it easy.”
Perplexed by his need to relive his past and struggling to understand what was happening in his present, Zain tried to pull himself together.
╔ ——————————————— ╗
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
╚ ——————————————— ╝
Zain had been up since 4 am, fearing he would have to endure another nightmarish episode. He took Ferdash’s advice to put himself through a rigid personal training regimen with an elliptical machine to help his mind focus. Zain felt barraged with anxiety, waiting, and thinking.
Then the alarm rang. The first wave sounded, then the second and the third. Zain did not turn it off. He was still breathing deeply. Compounding his exhaustion was the only way to keep his mind from circling. But only just so. Still, he maintained a state of unmanageable angst would have been someone else’s anyway, he thought, and that reality now had been hammered home. His heart was weeping of the past, but his mind grieved for the present.
The reality that Zain lived in was complicated in all forms. The state of calm was just not in him. Sweat began to drip into Zain’s eyes. Today was a big day. All ambassadors had been summoned to the Élysée Palace, and the Prime Minister’s staff had explicitly communicated to his office that his attendance was compulsory.
Zain wiped the sweat from his face. He imagined that he was wiping away his embodied stress as he did. Entering his shower and situated himself under a heavy stream of water. As the deluge of water ran over him, Zain felt his blood flow improve and some tension and stiffness release. He thought about Aylin again. Her warmth, her touch.
Mindlessly, Zain stepped out of the shower and into the drying cubicle and then into his spacious closet, where he selected one of his many Saville Row suits. He thumbed through his tie display, selected a light blue one, and put it on. He was ready.
He walked outside just as the Lexus was pulled around. He groaned at the sight of it. His security in black suits clustered around it.
“Lose the entourage!” Zain ordered Ferdash.
“I trust these two,” he said, pointing to Mazaar and Berzad.
As instructed, Ferdash got rid of the three security vehicles, and they began their drive.
Berzad noticed they were being followed from the beginning, and he knew it was not a coincidence. After the episode at the police station, he had been especially careful. He didn’t signal any alarm. Instead, he sent a text message to Ferdash with the description of the car and the license plate number.
“Turn left, turn left,” Berzad directed Mazaar.
Mazaar was initially confused. He saw the look in Berzad’s eyes. There was no doubt that something was amiss. Zain was too far lost in his thoughts to notice. Mazaar turned left but remained visible. They didn’t want to raise suspicion. Fearing they were an easy target, but Berzad wanted to be less predictable. With a shared understanding and with no words spoken out loud, both agreed to carry on the path they were driving. They turned off the location services on their phones that indicated where they were, yet the car continued to tail them. Mazaar made sure no car stayed long enough on the sides for any gunmen to fire into the car through its window. Berzad meanwhile considered how he would provide body cover for Zain sitting at his immediate back. But after a while, those uncomfortable feelings began to subside as their car exited the freeway, and the car tailing them was no longer visible in the rearview mirror.
They passed the Nanterre, then the Seine, the tunnel de la defense, and then the Seine again on route N-13, and then Charles De Gaulle Avenue, on to Porte Maillot, and finally, they arrived at the Elysée Palace. The number of cars parked outside gave the indication that this was an event for a select few, and though Zain was hesitant to be there, he nonetheless found some solace that he and his government were considered—at least on this day.
“Bonjour!” said a tall, muscular man who came to greet them. Jean Chevalier was a politician and member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet.
"Nice of you to come, Mr. Ambassador."
He presented his hand to Zain.
"Thank you. My pleasure," Zain replied.
Inside the Elysée Palace, Chevalier led him past the portrait of Philippe VII and into the Salon des Ambassadeurs, where Zain was met by Rafael Toussaint, the Republique foreign minister. Next to him was Dominique LaRue, the Prime Minister. In the past, Zain had a very good relationship with LaRue, though the same couldn’t be said for Zain’s relationship with Toussaint. A young, untested Zain had been good friends with former judge and mayor LaRue more than a decade previously. But from then, their relationship turned cold the deeper La Rue went into politics—from mayor to senator to now Prime Minister.
It wasn’t until Zain endorsed a center-left Mayor candidate to a city nearby that he realized the true colors of his once good friend. Zain had heard of LaRue’s stance on open markets, but he also heard rumors of how anti-immigrant his policies were. There was enough proof of LaRue’s limited tolerance, but behind the scenes, friends had warned Zain that his La Rue’s tolerance was more to keep right-wing groups happy and not interfere. Zain had ignored those warnings, but after observing not infrequent partnerships with fascist parties, Zain could never again take his friend seriously. News reporters argued the Prime Minister was not racist, just anti-immigrant. Even at parties Zain had attended before he became ambassador, he personally observed that, while others conversed primarily about European championship football, LaRue spoke only of immigration.
La Rue was number two in the government and was very much the puppeteer that critics imagined him to be. His influence was disproportional. Now finding himself marginalized by the upcoming regional elections, he sought new and unconventional paths.
“Jean, Rafael, leave me alone with Zain," LaRue ordered. "Have a seat, Zain."
Zain sat down.
"I have heard you’ve been making headlines.”
Zain didn’t respond.
“Involvement in elections, civil campaigns, murder…the list goes on.” La Rue laughed.
“Why am I here, Dominique?” Zain asked.
“Isn’t it wonderful that after all this time, you are still so direct,” said LaRue in a sarcastic tone.
Zain kept his head down, and it was clear to LaRue that Zain did not want to be there, and though he could drag this meeting of old friends, he knew very well what Zain’s priorities were.
Zain would not consent to anything unless he gave him his nuclear deal. But now, he had more pressing problems. An uncomfortable silence settled between the two men.
“I understand you are aware of what is going on,” said LaRue. He let those words hang in the air. Zain knew all communication between the two governments was continuing, but the Prime Minister did not address his main priorities. He had little interest in conditions and threats.
"Unless you have anything constructive, Mr. Prime Minister, I really don’t understand why I am here.”
“I thought you understood our position, Zain,” said LaRue.
“To get the little, I need to give a lot. I don’t think that is a position for me, Mr. Prime Minister. I think that’s what we consider ransom.”
LaRue shook his head and adjusted his sleeves.
“Let’s set the nuclear deal aside for right now and focus on today. We will need your government to take back a certain number of refugees. We simply can’t have them within our borders,” said LaRue.
“And if I say no?”
LaRue took a deep breath.
“Then imagine the worst, Zain. You’ll leave me no choice but to cancel our pending deal and request your replacement,” threatened LaRue.
“Mr. Prime Minister, you can’t make threats. You can’t back up,” said Zain.
“Oh, I can do a lot more than meets the eye, Zain. If you don’t play ball with us, trust me, everything will be shelved, and you won’t even have a mind to dream to what will happen next.”
Zain smiled.
“I actually dream more of the past than of the future, but that’s just me.”
Seemingly unfazed by his threats, LaRue noticed that Zain appeared more confident than ever. He recalled an incident involving Zain from several years earlier when he was still a judge. Zain had worked in a firm but had been let go after getting into a fistfight with his manager. When the police questioned him, Zain said he responded after the man made so many antisemitic remarks that he couldn’t take it anymore. That manager was the now foreign minister Rafael Toussaint.
“My answer is no, Sir, and you can do whatever you so wish. Replace me or not, make my life hell—you need my support,” said Zain calmly.
“Give me my nuclear deal, and we’ll talk.”
LaRue had reservations about Zain’s nuclear deal. In his opinion, it didn’t conform to the peaceful principles of the agreement but provided a clear pathway to extend nuclear activities for Zain’s bankrupt but nuclear-weaponized government. He also believed that in exchange for front-loaded permanent benefits, it was only a matter of time before Zain’s government would act against the principles to which they would agree to get the deal through.
LaRue could cancel the whole deal entirely, but that would undo all the confidence-building measures he and his government had worked on for the better part of their term. If he were to throw it all out, he would give ample grounds for other countries to hijack the deal. Internationally, he risked alienating key allies.
“Zain, ok, I’m not going to waste my time or yours in this argument. When you come around, then we can see, but for now, it seems this meeting has come to an end without reaching a satisfying conclusion for either of us.”
The Secrets We Live In: A Novel Page 18