He emerged from the bathroom with a towel and came to stand beside her on the bed. "Time for your bath, honey."
She looked at him sharply as he picked up the remote for the lights from the bedside table and the room was plunged in darkness.
"Take your tunic off," he said curtly. "I'll cut open the jeans."
"Cut open?" she whispered and she could feel his narrow-eyed stare in the darkness.
"If you try to remove it in a normal way, it's going to hurt a lot. Hurry up or the water will get cold." She felt his hands on her calves, feeling their way down and then she heard the sound of scissors cutting fabric. Oh my God, the guy was serious.
He did the same with the other leg of her jeans and gently took the fabric away before catching hold of the edge of her lace panties near her hips and ripping it. She gasped.
"Armaan."
He said nothing and pulled off her tunic when he realized that she was making no move to do so. When she felt his fingers on the clasp of her bra, she placed her hands over his to stop him.
"I'll do it," she said quietly.
Jasmine removed her bra and took the towel from him, placing a hand on his shoulder for support as she bit her lip and raised herself enough to bring one end of the towel around to the front so that she was wrapped in it.
He turned the lights on and she gazed wide-eyed at her scattered and torn clothes on the bed and then looked at him. His expression was deadpan. Armaan bent to lift her in his arms once more and she stared at his face, feeling the air shift around them. In that moment, she felt a strange connection to him.
He cared for her. He did not just tell her he loved her and started to expect things from her. He truly cared.
She rested her head against the solid strength of his shoulder, wishing for the first time that it was this guy whom she had met and fallen in love with after her parents' death. The guy who was committed to her and who treated her right. The guy who would always be there for her whether she needed him in public or in private, even though he was aware that she did not return his feelings. The guy whose love for her was...unconditional.
He lowered her into the tub which was full of bubbles and then, he extricated the wet towel and put it away. Reaching into the water, he lifted her sprained ankle meticulously and placed it over the side of the tub on top of a thick towel.
Her legs were spread with one of her thighs clearly visible and she grimaced at him. "This is highly embarrassing," she muttered.
He did not laugh. "I'd leave you to it but I think you might need my help," he said quietly and moved behind her.
Armaan pressed his hands gently on her shoulders and she leaned forward slightly and allowed him to wash her back. They stayed silent for a long time as he concentrated on the task. Even though she could not see him, she knew his brows were drawn together in concentration.
Jasmine looked absently at the bubbles which were starting to disappear.
"He didn't come to me," she said in such a low voice she was not sure if he even heard her.
His soapy hands slid up the back of her neck. "What?"
She blinked when she felt tears in her eyes. "He saw me get hurt and he just stood there and stared," she murmured. Armaan's hands stilled.
"If he knew he couldn't catch me when I fell then why did he make me fall for him?" she questioned bitterly, chewing on her lip, hugging herself under water. "Why did he touch me when he knew he would ruin me for other men? Why did he fall out of love with me but still pretend to be in love when I came back in his life?"
She had suspected this for some time but the knowledge had been buried so deep in her sub-consciousness that she had never tried to access it. Hamza had fallen out of love. Not completely. He still cared about her to some extent and he still found her attractive but that was it.
"We were so happy," she whispered and allowed the tears to fall. The tears that mourned the death of a bond that had been the deepest one she had known in her life. "I would have followed him to the ends of the earth but he doesn't want me anymore. How can someone love you so much that you bare your soul to them and then, one day, they decide that you just won't do? How can someone do that? He used me, Armaan. He used me even when he knew it would hurt me."
She sniffed and cried for a long time and he did not say anything or try to comfort her. Maybe he understood that she needed to let it out. She needed to let him go. When her husband picked her up and toweled her dry, she noticed the tear streaks on his face before he laid her on the bed and held
