Chapter 25

------------ Los Angeles, California

------------------ Same morning( Lily’s hospital)

" Faryah, we made you hot chicken soup with some veggies" Sophia called immediately she walked into my room with me behind her. I couldn't take my eyes off Faryah, she was so beautiful even though she had lost some weight that was still keeping her alive. She had no flesh in her. Mother gave me the recipe for her chicken soup, and I made it for her. There was something in it that made it different from other chicken soups out there. She was going to come over to see Faryah later. Brandon and GrandPa were still handling the office, I was going there later too. I missed work for the first time. Pamela wanted to keep Faryah company, it was awkward but we could manage.

" Well hey, Khalid's the one that actually made everything for you this morning, he couldn't stop talking about you" Sophia blurted as I smacked her head which made Faryah giggle. How much more beauty did she possess. " Well thank you Khalid" We heard her say and I saw the smile on Sophia's face widen. " Oh my goodness, I am so glad you can talk now, and your voice, oh my I missed you" Sophia squealed as she hugged her tight. " She just woke up Sophia, don't make her go back" I said as I served Faryah some of the soup. " Thank you and it's okay. I missed everyone too" she answered as she smiled at me.

" Here, this is for you" I said to her as I placed a plate of soup on her food table and I poured a cup of water for her. " Faryah, I'm going to go now, I have classes till three today. I'll come and see you when I'm done" she said as she pecked Faryah. " I'll be waiting" she answered as Sophia hugged her again. " Byee, Byee Khalid" She chirped as she left. I was glad that she was getting up after our loss.

I sat beside Faryah as I took a spoonful of soup for her and nudged her to open her mouth a little. I watched as her cheeks became rosy, she was blushing. " I can eat by myself" She said as she tried collecting the spoon from me. " No way, open up bright lad" I said and she laughed and opened her mouth. I spoon fed for her five times before she took the glass of water. I didn't want her doing anything or stressing herself, I was here and willing to do everything for her. " What do you think you're doing?" I asked nicely as i collected the cup from her. I felt a spark in me as my fingers brushed her bony ones.

" I want to drink my water" she said and pouted. She looked amazingly cute. She didn't have a proper English accent. Her accent sounded like that of Malaysians. Weird. " Let me" I said as I tried helping her sip her water. " Khalid come on, I have two working hands, I can do it myself, give it to me" She said and she shook her hands for me to clearly see them. " Just let me, just once" I pleaded and pouted too. She wasn't the only one with that charm. " Your charm won't work on me" She said as she stopped looking at me. " Pretty please" I begged again as I moved a strand of her that was blocking her right eye. She smiled and slapped my arm. " Stop making me blush" she smiled and I fed her her water. I loved how she smiled. Even though she went through a lot in her childhood days, she was still happy, she hid all the hurt and smiled always.

" Thank you" she answered as I cleaned up after she ate. " I'm always here anytime you need anything" I answered as I kept the cooler on the drawer beside her. We were both avoiding talking about all what I confessed to her when she was still in her Coma. " Khalid, I need my phone, I would love to call Ummi and GrandPa Musa and let them hear my voice, is it possible for them to come to LA too?" Faryah asked as I sat beside her on her bed. " Your phone?, I think it's with Sophia, but I'll get you a new one, and some other gadgets too, because I plan on sending you to school with Sophia too, in UCLA and as for your GrandPa, I am not so sure he can come, GrandPa Julius said he underwent surgery not so long ago" I answered and watched her form on" oh" with her mouth. " Yeah his surgery, it was successful that means" She held another smile on her face. " Yeah it was, I'll get you everything when I get back okay, I'll talk to some people to see if you can enrol this late, I'll have to find a way" I had to find a way. I was definitely going to.

" Thank you" she was all smiles. " For everything, it really means a lot to me, a whole lot, you can't imagine how much it means to me" She thanked again. " Anything for you" I answered as I tried pinching her cheek. There was nothing much to pinch. " When you get out of here, you're going to get a large burger and fries and Ice cream, we need you to be fat" I teased as I used my fingers to size her wrist. She was so small. " Good luck with that, I've tried and nothing ever changes" she said and laughed a little. " We'll change that" I answered as I took in the length of her hair. It was very long, dark and beautiful. She was beautiful.

" Khalid, uh.. I need to find my real parents" she had already told me everything about how she lost her parents and how she was beaten up by a man and was raped, how she got into an accident, how she hit a big rock and how GrandPa Musa found her. She didn't have a solid lead for us to find her real parents. All we had was just the name of her brother, Farouk and the name of nanny, Aisha and also the idea that she was born in Malaysia. No wonder she had that accent. She tried remembering the faces of her parents or names but she got nothing. The part that saddened me more was that the memory of the person that tortured her was still fresh in her mind. " We don't have much Faryah, but I'll try, I'll ask my PI to see what he can do okay?" I said and gave her a small smile. She was strong. She really endured a lot.

" Faryah, Will you support me if I filed a case for your rape?" I began. She didn't really see the man die in the explosion. Maybe he managed to escape like she did. " No, it has been sixteen years, they're not going to listen to me and I am very sure that he's dead, no one can survive that kind of explosion" She said as her facial expression changed. She wasn't happy. Who would be?.

" We could try" I added and she replied with an instant No. She was a victim of rape. I couldn't even wish that for my own enemy. " The only police case we need to focus on is that of that Miss Ji Hae Soo, we're still not safe with her lurking around" She answered. I could feel a hint of sadness in her voice. " Hey, you'll be fine, I'm with you, nothing of that manner is going to happen to you again" I said as I pulled her into my chest. This was supposed to be wrong but it felt so right. She was my wife after all. I felt my shirt become wet as she cried on it. " let it all out" I consoled as I patted her hair. " I wish I could trade the memory of what happened for that of my parents, who knows, they might think I'm dead" she cried as she used my shirt to clean her eyes. I didn't even tell her to, she just did.

" You should go to work, you're needed there " she said as she cleaned her eyes. " No, It's okay, I'm waiting for.." I was cut short when the door to Faryah's room opened up.

Pamela

I watched them from outside her room for a pretty long while. They were too attached to each other to notice I was outside. I watched him spoon feed her and I watched him take care of her. I was jealous and pretty angry. But he said he wasn't in love with her. It was obvious that he was. Khalid wasn't in love with me anymore, I saw the look in his eyes. I never saw them in his eyes when he was with me. He had this sparkle in his eyes as he watched her every move.

I volunteered to watch Faryah as she went through all her therapy sessions. I wanted to get to know my rival better and it actually turned out that Khalid was the one in love not she. Well I could see that she was too, it just wasn't as much as what Khalid clearly felt for her. I didn't want to let him go. I loved him so much and I wanted him for myself. I wanted to make us work but it was going to be hard to. He could easily dump me when he was tired of having me around. She was his wife and I was just like a mistress. She was legally his and I was just, I was just painfully a side chick. A second choice.

I hated being second at anything. I always wanted to be the first, the one at the top. I couldn't just lose Khalid to a beautiful skinny broom stick. I had to try my best to make him mine, fully. I wasn't going to share him. I opened her room door finally and walked in. " Hey babe" I greeted Khalid as I walked over to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. I felt him freeze. " Hey" he answered and gave me a small smile. He wasn't going to let go of me that easily. " Hi, I'm Pamela, Khalid's girlfriend" I started as I greeted Faryah and watched the expression on her face turn from happy to confused. " Uh.. I'm Faryah?" she was answering like she was asking a question. " Yeah, I know about you, you're his wife" I answered back as I smirked at her. " Yeah, I guess I am" she was careful with her words. She wasn't that feisty, pretty calm and collected. " Yeah, I volunteered to take care while the others were attending to their duties, I'm free so no hassle" I added again. I hated when girls fought with a lady because of a guy, I couldn't believe jealousy was leading me to this.

" Well thank you" she answered again. I looked at how she cautiously stared at Khalid and I and I looked at Khalid's face. He was embarrassed. Embarrassed by my actions. There came the weird silence. It was a pretty awkward situation. " Uhmm, I know this is awkward but Khalid told me all what happened. You two aren't in love with each other, you just had to get married to fulfil a dying mans wish, Khalid made me understand that. I and Khalid have been together for five years now and we're engaged, so we're still waiting for you two to get divorced before we can proceed with our wedding" I said as I broke the awkward silence. I watched as Khalid got up from beside her. I watched as Faryah formed an "ohh" with her mouth. " I never really asked for details you know" she didn't just do that. No one does that to me. " I just thought you needed to know" I answered sweetly. " Oh, well okay, thanks for letting me in" she answered as she smiled at me again. She wasn't hurt.

" Uhmm, Are you sure you two can get along?" Khalid asked. " Well if your wife doesn't have a problem with that" I answered. " Oh, I don't" She answered as I watched Khalid stare lovingly at her. " Good, so I'll head on to the office, bye Faryah" He said as he kissed her forehead and gave her a light hug right in front of me. What the hell did he think he was doing. " Bye" she answered softly as he smiled at her. " Thank you Pamela" He said to me as he gave me a light hug too. Only?. " Bye ladies" He called as he walked out of the room and left me and Faryah alone. " Uh excuse me, I need to do something, I'll be back in a jiffy" I said as I hurriedly rushed out of the room to catch up with Khalid.

" Hey" I called as I tapped him from behind. " Hey" he answered as he turned to look at me. " Khalid what's going on?" I asked as I balanced myself on my heels. " What is?" he asked as he sighed and turned to look at me. " Are you really asking me that, What the hell happened back there?" I asked as I placed my hands on my waist. " My feelings happened"

" Huh?"

" Pamela, I can't do this anymore" He began. No. No way. " What can't you do anymore?" I asked again. I really hoped it wasn't what I always dreaded happening. He sighed and looked at me. "Come with me" he said as he held my hand in his and led us towards the elevator.

We got out at the last floor of the hospital and I followed him as we walked to the roof top. " What are we doing here?" I asked as we got to the top and I watched the pretty view of the district from here. " Can you remember, this was where I asked you to be my girlfriend, with the necklace on your neck" He said as he put his hands in his pocket and we walked to the edge of it. " Yeah I remember clearly" I said as I smiled widely and I put a hand on the necklace. He still loved me after all.

" Pamela, we've been through a lot together, for the past five years now, we've been by each others side and I am forever grateful for that, but Pamela, I can't do this anymore" He began. I wasn't going to let him leave me. " No, No, don't go on, just leave it as it is, we can make things work, I can't lose you" I said as I felt my eyes water up. " Ella, there's no going back, I'm sorry but I have to stop lying to myself, I have to accept the truth, we have to, I have to make you to, I don't love you anymore" I gasped as those words escaped my lips. I was breaking down. This wasn't happening. " No, No, you do, you do, you love me Khalid, You do, you can't just throw away what we've managed to build for five years, for five years Khalid, come on, you can't just throw it all away for someone you just met like a month or two ago, Khalid five years" I cried as I placed my hands on his face. " I'm sorry Ella, we just have to accept it as it is, I love Faryah not you" His words were hurting me. They were stabbing my heart painfully. " No, No Khalid, No, please, we can do this together, just give us another try, I love you, you loved me, you were madly in love with me. What happened to all that?" I cried again as he took my hands off his face. " Pamela, I wasn't planning on breaking up with you, but I guess I can't hide my feelings, I have accept reality, even if Faryah doesn't love me back, I don't want to torture you, I don't want to pretend, Pamela I'm very sorry, please forgive me, I didn't mean for all my feelings to change like this, I'm sorry" He really needed to stop talking. I couldn't take it.

" It's enough, stop, stop talking" I said as I tried pulling myself together. " I'm sorry" he said again. " I'm not letting you go that easily, I can't throw five years away like that, if you can, I can't" I added sternly. " Pamela, about three weeks ago, I said the same to you, I thought you didn't love me, cause you didn't want to fight for me then, you let go of me in your thinking was for a few days but I realised that was forever, accept it " He said as he turned to leave. " Khalid, I love you, and I'm going to fight for you" I said as I stopped him from leaving.

" Don't waste your time Pamela, we're over" I could see the hurt in his eyes as he walked away.

I was going to fight till the end. I never came second in anything.