Chapter 79 Baby

Chapter 79 Baby
Ariyha’s POV

Zayn was sitting in the living room when I walked in and that alone was unusual.

He never waited for me or even acknowledged me. Most nights, I came home to silence so thick it felt like the walls themselves had given up on us but today… he was there seated calmly with one leg crossed over the other and a glass of something dark in his hand.

I paused at the entrance, my fingers still curled around my handbag, my heels suddenly too loud against the marble floor.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

This… this was what our marriage had become two strangers tied together by vows neither of us honored, living parallel lives under the same roof.

I exhaled slowly and walked past him like he wasn’t there but today was different because I had seen Cassian and that… that had broken something inside me.

He looked happy that was the part that burned the most.

The kind of happiness that showed in the ease of his smile, in the softness of his spoke about her… Elena, his wife. The woman standing where I was supposed to be.

I was happy I didn't cross the line and stood my ground because he hadn’t even hesitated to moved on and built a life and a family.

While I was still here stuck, suffocating and trapped in a marriage that felt more like a prison sentence than a choice.

“Dinner is in the kitchen,” Zayn said suddenly, his voice cutting through my thoughts and I stopped mid-step.

That was the first thing he had said to me in… what? Days? Weeks?

I turned slowly, studying him. He looked the same always calm but the worst devil.

“Do you even notice?” I asked quietly and his brows pulled together slightly. “Notice what?”

A humorless laugh slipped past my lips.

“Anything, Zayn. Me. This marriage and the fact that we live like ghosts in the same house.”

He didn’t answer immediately, he just watched me, his expression unreadable and that… that irritated me even more because I was falling apart, and he looked completely unaffected.

“I saw Cassian today.”

There it was, I didn’t know why I said it maybe I wanted to hurt myself more or I wanted to see if it would provoke anything out of him.

Zayn’s grip on his glass tightened, he had stop me from working in the company because of him and even stop going to events with me because he feared us crossing paths.

“He was with my student father,” I continued, stepping closer. “And we spoke.”

Still nothing but his silence wasn’t empty anymore. He was tense so I tilted my head. “He dropped me off actually”

That did it and his jaw clenched but suddenly, I wanted more.

I dropped my bag on the couch and walked closer, stopping just a few steps away from him. “Tell me something,” I said softly. “Does it not bother you?”

“What?” His voice was lower now.

“That I’m still here… thinking about another man.”

The words hung in the air, heavy and deliberate and Zayn slowly set his glass down.

The sound echoed louder than it should have.

“It should bother me?” he asked. I smiled faintly, but there was no warmth in it.

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t it? I’m your wife.”

The word felt foreign on my tongue, this whole marriage thing was just like a joke.

Silence stretched between us again, but this and I took another step forward, closing the distance just enough to feel the shift in the air between us.

“I’m tired, Zayn,” I said, my voice quieter now, but steadier. “Tired of this… nothingness. This marriage that doesn’t exist.”

His eyes lifted to mine fully now, sharp and assessing. “And what exactly do you want, Ariyha?”

I didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to get pregnant.”

“With or without you.”

The look he gave me then that should have scared me because It wasn’t anger, it was something darker but I didn’t back down because fear had kept me quiet for too long and trapped me in a life I never chose.but I was done.

“I’m serious,” I added, lifting my chin. “I’m done waiting. Done being stuck in this… this arrangement, I want something real and something that’s mine.”

His gaze hardened. “And you think a child will fix that?”

“No,” I said honestly. “But it’ll give me something that’s not empty.”

For a long moment, Zayn just stared at me.

Then he stood and suddenly, the space between us felt too small.

He stepped closer, his presence overwhelming in a way it had never been before. “You’re playing a dangerous game,” he said quietly.

My heart thudded against my ribs but I refused to show it. “I have nothing left to lose.”

That wasn’t entirely true but it felt like it because somewhere along the way, I had already lost the only thing that mattered and that was Cassian.

“I’m moving on,” I continued, my voice steadier now. “With or without you. With or without this marriage.”

“And Cassian?” Zayn asked, his tone unreadable and a bitter smile curved my lips.

“Cassian made his choice,” I said. “He built his perfect life.”

My chest tightened, but I pushed through it.

“I’m going to build mine.”

Even if it meant breaking everything in the process.

Zayn studied me for a long moment, his eyes searching mine like he was trying to see something I wasn’t showing.

Then, unexpectedly… he smiled. “Be careful what you wish for, Ariyha.”

A chill ran down my spine but I didn’t step back because for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t afraid of the consequences and fuck Cassian for walking back into my life like he still had a place in it and looking so happy without me.

Fuck my parents for binding me to a man who treated me like I didn’t exist and fuck this marriage…

This chain wrapped so tightly around me that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to breathe but not anymore.

I was done suffocating even if I had to burn everything down to feel alive again.