Victory Part 1

She had won, she had got him.  He was hers again and yet she was stuck here with nothing to do and he wasn't giving her any attention.  Gilbert sat with his friends in the room next door editing photos and drinking beer. Bushra sat on the bed staring at her phone trying to find some way to kill the boredom.

She had travelled - correction took an actual flight - all the way from Paris to see him and he was practically ignoring her.

Bushra didn't want to complain because she really wanted them to make it work this time and she knew how he disliked women who complained.  He reminded her often enough. Gilbert had been telling her ever since they got back together that the others were too demanding, too negative. Mira apparently had dark negative energy and had always been argumentative. A woman who craved drama he had told her.

'Bushra, this girl, she would always want to go out, she never wanted to stay at home. I'm a traveler, it's what I do for a living as you well know and I just want someone to stay in with and cuddle with, but she didn't understand me.  She was such a materialistic girl, wanting to eat out and spend money in expensive restaurants and hotels all the time. It was so tiring.'

He had held her hand and looked straight into her eyes, 'you are different though, you have been there with me from the beginning when I had nothing and you simply want to spend time with me.  You don't care about expensive gifts and expensive restaurants.'

Gilbert leaned in closer so that she could smell the cologne on his t-shirt, 'you only want me, and that's enough for you. I know that. You know that. You are different. I'm not used to having a girl that wants me just for myself.'

God his presence was so intoxicating for her. 'Yes I do. I only want you.' She nodded in agreement.

Gilbert had held her hand at sunset as they walked up the beach at the holiday resort. She had booked this holiday for them, because he had told her how Melissa, another girl he had been with, had paid for all of his travel expenses and organised the trips that they had been on. So she wanted to show him that she too was resourceful. Bushra knew they were meant for each other so she didn't hesitate to show him how much he meant to her by paying for their holiday.

Surely they would be together forever, she thought as she held his hand and walked alongside him. Theirs was a transcendent love, like in the Bollywood movies.  Gilbert was her first love and her first lover and she knew he would do anything for her. Why else would they have been together for all of these years? They were soulmates.

He told her often enough.

However, today as Bushra sat on the bed in the tiny one room apartment and remembered those  words and that moment at the beach she wondered why she felt so bored and unvictorlike.  She had waited two years for him.  He had dated two girls after breaking up with her and neither could satisfy him, he only wanted her.  She always knew that. That he would return to her and would be hers again.  No-one else would ever be enough for him.

Yet this weekend after hurriedly boarding the plane and rushing to see him because he had sent her a message to come to him, she received an uninterested welcome.  He ignored her the whole weekend and spent time with his friends.

Eventually he took her for dinner but at a local kebab shop! It took all her strength to stay energetic and happy but how was she supposed to keep her calm for heaven's sake?! She hadn't been able to post a single photo over the past few days because they kept eating at home or in low grade fast food restaurants.

He didn't let her cook either.  He cooked the food and instructed her to eat without complaining.

After much effort she posted about the kebab shop on Instagram and described it as 'local eating'. When they went to McDonalds she just grimaced and ate the burger and chatted happily. She wasn't going to post about that on social media. She couldn't!

She had been so happy, so ready to erase the memory of every girl that he had been with since he broke up with her.

Yet what bothered her now was that he kept talking about that first girl he had dated now. Gilbert had started to say that Bushra didn't know how to cook and that Mira was an excellent cook and would have made a wonderful wife. Mira had cooked meals for him and made his house feel like a home. Mira was intelligent and funny. He kept talking about this Mira. That girl wasn't a model but Bushra had to admit she was very beautiful and it annoyed her to no end. She too was intelligent for God's sake, she loved the sciences and she loved reading, she loved art. What made this girl so special?

In frustration Bushra looked at the girl's Instagram page. What was it about this girl that he mentioned her so often these days?  Bushra could see from the girl's social media page that she was travelling with friends and family all the time. This girl seemed to go away every month!  Bushra was the one with the modelling career yet why was her life not as glamorous?

She looked closer at some of Mira's posts. Anger raged inside Bushra as she thought about whether Gilbert was still in contact with this girl.  Was it possible that they were still communicating?

She would have to post something.  She wanted to post a photo of the two of them to show that they were one again, but he wouldn't allow it. Gilbert said he wanted to keep their relationship private. He said she was too special for him and he didn't want to share her with the world.

But Bushra had a plan. She would post a photo of her in his bed. This would show them stupid girls that he was hers and only belonged to her. Melissa, Mira, Anna, Jane. All of these girls would see.

She looked at her self. She was so stunning no wonder he couldn't stay away. She was a model and she looked like Kareena Kapoor. She could even pass for Bella Hadid, that's how stunning she was. She simply hadn't made it big yet.

She was already starring in Bollywood films and in no time she would be a Bollywood heroine.

She found some of Mira and Gilbert's posts very annoying though. There were weird similarities that she didn't like. Could he be reacting to Mira's posts? She knew he was very good at these subtle manipulations and provocations. Usually he was the provoker though not the one who reacted.

Yet here Mira posted about the wonder of Autumn and Gilbert had posted about the beauty of 'fall'. Mira posted about rain in London, soon after Melvin posted about rain in the mountains (where he was working at the time). She posted about visiting Germany with her current boyfriend, he posted about some work trip to Germany. Germany, a country which he rarely talked about!

Could he really be looking at her Instagram page only? Why oh why was he stalking her and imitating her? She must be trying to reach out to him Bushra thought. These girls never wanted to give him up. Or was it all in her head? Bushra couldn't be sure.  Truly she was the expert on subtle social media posts which made jibes at others, but here he was mirroring Mira for no good reason!

As Bushra sat on her bed wondering what would be a good way to show that she and Gilbert were together without actually declaring it and stake her claim on him for all to see, Gilbert suddenly walked in.

'Let me take a picture of you', he said abruptly.

She brightened up. There it was again,  the old passion he had for her.  He always wanted to take pictures of her. She was thrilled and felt such a high. She posed for a few pictures lying down and pretending to sleep, but he told her 'be sexier'.

'Move your top off your shoulder', he said.  She adjusted her clothes so that the shoulders were bare and she sat up on her knees, trying out different seductive looks.  He took a few more hurried snaps before she could look at the camera. Then just as abruptly Gilbert dropped the phone on the bed with little interest and walked out again saying 'you should post one, you look good'.

He wanted her to post the picture? She was so happy!  This was a brilliant idea. Bushra would post a sexy photo of herself in their bed. After all she was his, and he was hers and this was their bed, and what a better way than this to make a statement?

She sat for five minutes trying to decide which of the pictures to post and then decided on both sexy and sleepy looks. Bushra added a message about sleeping well because social media was hot on well being these days. As the flood of likes came through, she laughed with joy at her conquest. She was back in his bed again and he was all hers.

For a moment Bushra paused and wondered why Gilbert had suddenly walked into the room like that and took those pictures or why he said she should post them, but then what did it matter? They were together. Again.