Chapter 27

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

------------------------Lily's hospital ( Same evening)

" Faryah" I called as I happily walked into her room and found her groaning in pain and holding her forehead. " Are you okay?" I panicked as I rushed closer to her and tapped the red button on her bed that alarmed the doctor as I kept the coffee on her bedside table. She was in terrible pain. " Goodness, what's going on?" I panicked again as I watched her groan louder and the doctor finally arrived with nurses as they injected something into her. I watched as she finally calmed down and took a deep breath and batted her eyes as she looked at us well. "I have been waiting for that to happen" Mike began as he looked at Faryah's eyes. " it came so suddenly, and the pain was terrible, I felt like my head was going to explode" Faryah whispered as I intertwined our fingers.

" the headaches have begun, did you try remembering anything, are do you remember anything?" The doctor asked her as he put the torch back in his pocket. " A name, I heard a name and the pain started" she answered quietly. "It's very possible that the name is part of something you're finding hard to remember" he answered and she nodded. She was falling asleep. " I administered her a pain killer and a sleeping aid, we can't really do much about the headaches, all we can do is to give her painkillers" Mike said as she finally fell asleep. " is it going to stop?" I asked. " It will when she finally remembers everything" he answered and I nodded. " Thanks doc" I thanked as I watched him leave.

She looked so beautiful even in her sleep, even with the pipes connected to her nose to aid her breathing well. I fixed her covers and used my fingers to move the strand of hair that was covering her eyes. I loved her so much. I could finally admit it to myself.

The way Pamela acted towards Faryah earlier today made me realise that I was done trying to make things work between me and her. It wasn't going to change because the new feeling I felt towards Faryah was sincere. It made me feel at peace . I was only going to be hurting Pamela more and more if we continued like that. I couldn't bear to see her hurt. Me ending things with her hurt me, but deep down inside, I knew that I was doing the right thing for both of our happiness.

I threw myself on the comfy couch in Faryah's room after taking my coffee from the table next to her. Work was going smoothly. Brandon had shifted the production of textiles to Africa and I was still finding the perfect models. The designers were Brandon’s Job. All was moving smoothly. I heard the door open and saw Sophia walk in. She looked cute as usual. Not as cute as Faryah. " Hey, she's asleep?" Sophia asked as she walked in and I saw what she was holding. She was holding a pizza box and some Chinese food and a pack of three smoothies and another packed food. " Yeah she is" I answered as I helped her keep all of them carefully. " How did you manage to get here safely with all these?" I asked as we dropped them on the table at the centre. " Well it so happened that I did, why is she asleep?, Mother packed some fresh beef stew and fried rice for her, with veggies, it looked so good" She whined as she sat on the couch. " She had an attack, she heard a certain name and the pain followed with it, the doctor said it was normal, and the pain was going to stop when she remembered all she couldn't remember" I said as I grabbed a smoothie. " Poor girl, after all what she went through, are you going to help her find her real parents?" we didn't really have much. " We don't have enough details, we don't even have a picture, all we have is a name of a brother and a Nanny, and that her real name is Fauziyyah" I said as I took a slide of pizza. " She can't even remember their faces, but hey can't you try convincing her to you know describe the face of her rapist, even if he's dead, we can still identify him and maybe search for reasons and things that led to him kidnapping her" she had a point. Faryah didn't even like talking about him. I didn't want to pressure her.

" I'll try and see what I can do" I answered. " But not now, let her get out of the hospital first" I added. " She's definitely going to cooperate when we make her realise that she can find her parents by that means" Sophia added as she joined me, taking a slide of Pizza. " Sure, she has to, we need her to be fully alright now" I answered as I ate and looked at her sleep. " Yeah, did Pamela take care of her?" she asked as I remembered what happened earlier. How she was pleading. " She did, surprisingly" I answered again. " She didn't lash out at her?, well that's new "

" well, maybe because I broke up with her" I spat out and watched her reaction. " So you finally realised what you truly felt for Faryah?” she asked and I nodded. " Aww, your kids are going to be so beautiful" she squealed and I smiled. Our kids were really going to be beautiful. I knew I was handsome and there was no doubt Faryah was beautiful, so the combo was going to make perfect beautiful faces.

" I can't believe some cute people are going to be born into this world, they'll be cuter than this cute face of mine" she pouted as she used her two hands to show her perfect face. " Your cute face is irreplaceable, extremely cute" I teased and pinched her cheek. " Yeah, I was nominated for most beautiful for the year 2019 in UCLA" she chirped as she smiled widely. " It's just a beauty title" I answered and rolled my eyes at her. " Bear in mind that Faryah's joining you soon"

" Well I won't be bothered about that, I mean I'll know she won fair and square so eh" She answered and ate her pizza. " Sure" I answered and ate mine too.

" Khalid, I wanted us to go see Sandra tomorrow, she's really having a hard time after Neill, It's hard for her to move on, I tried calling her through out the week but I got nothing, I'm really worried about her Khalid, I miss him too but she's broken, she needs help getting all her broken pieces back together, and I think we can help" Sandy cheeks. I thought she was already getting over it. "Sure, we'll go to her place tomorrow" I answered and she smiled widely. " I'll sleep here with you tonight, staying at home will be so boring" she stretched her legs and they landed on my thighs. " Can I get massage" she asked and I laughed at her.

At least I still had a sibling to bother me.

Next Afternoon

We gently knocked at the door again after twenty minutes of knocking. " Are you sure she's home?" I asked Sophia as we knocked again on Sandra's door. " She's here, well her phone is, I tracked her down here" Sophia said as she showed me her phone. " Her mother isn't home right, her car isn't in the garage right?" I asked as I knocked again. " If she was, she would've opened the door" Sophia asked and knocked harder. " Ugh, I'm done, Sandra, get your ass down here right now, we've been here for the past twenty minutes and girl we don't plan on leaving till you come down here, Sandra!" she yelled as she tried using Sandra's Black American accent. " Don't do that" I said as I rolled my eyes at her. " Ugh, It's fun" She replied and smirked at me.

The door finally opened up and we saw a curly haired monster appear in front of us. I couldn't believe her natural aura was drained out from her like this. She was wearing a black robe, with baggy grey pyjamas and white slip ons. " what are you guys doing here?" she asked as she looked at us fully with her swollen red eyes. " We came to get you back on your feet" Sophia said as she walked into the house. " There's no need for that, as you can see, I'm walking perfectly" Sandra said as she followed Sophia inside. I followed behind them and closed the door. There was no source of light in the house, everything was dim. " Sandra, come on, you can't continue to live this way, seriously" Sophia scolded as she found a remote to open the curtains and windows.

" I thought you were seeing someone for all this, Sandra, come on" I scolded too as she slumped herself on the couch. There were tissues everywhere, literally everywhere. " I don't have a reason to wake up anymore" she cried as she buried her face in the couch. I watched as Sophia fixed the curtains and windows well and found a vacuum cleaner. " Sandy Cheeks.." she cut me off as I sat beside her on the couch. " I can't be Sandy Cheeks without Neil bunny" she whined again. She was really getting on my nerves. " Sandra, this isn't the end of the world you know" I said and patted her back. " I know, I'm just finding it very hard to accept that he's gone, everything I do always reminds me of him, everything, I mean I try but nothing works, I can't forget him" She said as she rose her head from the couch. "No one said you have to forget him Sandra" Sophia joined as she cleaned the living room. " I know, but it's hard to remember him and not break down" she added as she cried more. The lady needed some fresh air.

" Sandra, you need to learn how to think of Neill, and be thankful for all the memories you had together, be thankful for all the moments you shared, all the good and bad times, all the things he changed in you, just think about that and be grateful, Neill is in a better place, he's at peace now, okay, so just learn to live with it, it might be hard but I know you can do it" Sophia said again as she turned the vacuum off and sat beside her, throwing a hand round her shoulder. My sister really got over it, fully. " You just need to think about Neill and make sure it won't hurt much" She added as she hugged Sandy Cheeks. " Mother said so too, but coming from you, it makes me more determined to" Thank Goodness she was coming to her senses.

" Good, Now I want you to take a nice bubble bath, get dressed and I and Sophia will clean up this mess you made and make you breakfast, then we'll go out, you need fresh air" I said as I got her ass up from the couch as I pushed her towards the stairs to her room. " I might take an hour, or two" she groaned as I pushed her. " As long as you don't commit suicide" Sophia called and Sandra stopped almost instantly. " If I spend three hours, call 911" she answered and continued walking upstairs.

Cleaning Sandra's living room wasn't that much of a hassle. Their house here in LA wasn't that big. It was just a simple duplex, only what Sandra's mother could afford for them after her husband left them for another woman when Sandra was fifteen. Mrs Baker still managed to take care of her daughter alone, and here they were, prospering. The was painted light blue and pink. Too girly. They had a much bigger house in Pennsylvania.

I made Sandra a nice plate of meatloaf, chicken adobo, plain rice and some veggie salad. A full healthy plate for only her. Sophia was done cleaning, so she helped me prepare lemonade for her. " It's been an hour and thirty minutes" Sophia began as we set her plate for her. " She's not dead" I answered as I removed my apron. I left work for Dad and GrandPa. Family always came first.

" I'm not dead" Sandra called as she walked down the stairs. She was finally dressed properly. She was in a blue button up jean skirt that had a small slit in the front and a short sleeved white shirt. She had braided her hair into two parts. Making her look really cute. She wasn't wearing any makeup, she wore a small bracelet Neill gave her and pink sneakers that exposed her ankle bracelet. She looked really cute. " Good, you look good" Sophia commented as she came towards the kitchen. " I'm loving the braids as usual" I added my comment as she sat. " Thank you, I didn't really put much effort into my look, Khalid you cooked?" I nodded as she dug in. " Hey, I made the lemonade" Sophia intervened. " I know, and thank you, you two" she thanked as she ate from the chicken adobo and dropped her fork. She was definitely going to have a nice meal.

We drove to the world famous Griffith Park in the heart of Los Angeles, perched high in Hollywood hills. We really had a lot to explore, Mother brought I, Neill and Sophia here when I was sixteen. We had fun but I almost got lost. It contained the Los Angeles Zoo and Griffith Observatory. It was also the location of the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was pretty historical. The Griffith Observatory had a much clearer view of the stars than rest of the city did. I kept on coming here in the evening time on some occasions when I was tooo bored, usually around sunset. I took a clearer view of the beauty of the stars here. It really comforted me. This was definitely going to help Sandra. " I haven't been here since when I was nine" Sophia squealed immediately she got down the car. " I remember you almost got lost here" she added as she pointed at me as I got down too. " This should be fun" Sandra chirped as she got down. " Oh it is fun, really fun, let's go" Sophia chirped as she grabbed her hand and headed towards the zoo. " Lets buy cotton candy, Khalid" Sophia called as we stopped in front of a cotton candy cart. " When did I become your Atm?" I scolded as I ruffled her curly hair. " Khalid come on, just get us some, get your dirty fingers out of my hair" she snapped as she hit my hand. I rolled my eyes and brought out my wallet and she snapped it out of my hand almost instantly. " This is mine for today" she said with a wide smile as she opened it up and found 10 bucks in it. " You've seriously got to be kidding me, how broke can you be, you own a company and you only have 10 bucks in your wallet, come on dude" She snapped and I saw Sandra laughing. Finally. " Why's it even heavy when all you have is 10bucks" she said as she threw the wallet at me after removing the 10 bucks from the wallet.

She didn't see the other zip where the rest of my money was. " Don't talk to me like that" I said as I opened the zip up and showed her the bills that were in it. " Oh my goodness" her eyes were wide open and Sandra was still laughing. I instantly zipped it up after I showed her and I put it back into my pocket. She rolled her eyes and paid for our cotton candy and walked further into the zoo.

I loved seeing gorillas, after watching baby’s day out, I loved their nature. They were all dark and hairy, super hairy, the young gorillas and monkeys were cute, very cute. So also the Koalas that were asleep. They were very cute also. I admired the beauty of tigers, especially baby ones, they were so cute I could eat them. The mighty lions, Mufasa. I was a big fan of lion king. I still am. Their cubs were the cutest things ever. No one was going to tell me that Simba wasn't cute. They had a pretty tiny waist, so girly.

We finally left the zoo and got ice cream and hot dogs and took a walk around the park, Admiring the beauty of nature and people living around it. " Guys, Thanks, for everything" Sandra began as she walked between Sophia and I. " It's been weeks since Neill passed on, and I know it'll take time for me to heal and move on, but I'm ready to overcome all now, I can do this" That was the spirit. " you promise?" Sophia asked as we paused a little. She nodded and smiled at us. " pinkie promise?" I asked as I pointed out my pinkie. " pinkie promise" she answered as we intertwined our pinkies. I was glad that we could do this for her. She deserved to be very happy. " I love you guys so much" She was crying as she pulled us into a tight warm hug.

" We love you too"