Chapter 38

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

---------------------Taglyan Complex.

" Faryah, excuse me, I want to use the restroom" I really needed to ease my self. The chilli caused it. " Okay" She answered as I got up from our table. Sophia and Ethan were eating too. But GrandPa, Mother and Brandon were still moving around, making sure their guests were okay. The event was going to end very soon.

I walked out of the hall and found my way to the restroom. I washed my hands and dried them up after I was done and walked out of the rest room. " it's been a while, Khalid" I could recognise that soothing voice anywhere. I turned my back to find the tall pretty blonde figure I was once crazy for. She was wearing a red short off- shouldered ball gown and golden heels. And her makeup and all, as usual perfect, she curled her hair to her right and she looked so beautiful.

" Pamela Hutchkins, how are you?" I asked as we walked closer to each other. " I am okay" she answered and smiled at me. " What exactly are you doing here?" she was supposed to be in Rome. " Well, I came back yesterday, to show you support, you know an invite was sent to me right?" Oh yeah. She was on the guest list. " Ohh, thank you so much Pamela" I said and she laughed a little. " The Fabrics are beautiful, you guys really out did yourself you know" She complimented. " It was all Brandon, which collection did you like most?" I asked again. " Well to be honest, I guess, Faryah" She said with an enchanting smile. " Really?"

" Yeah, I like how the designer used the fabric, I loved the patterns, they were uhm, let's see.....uhm, unexpected" She commented. " Oh really, I kind of thought so too, Thank you"

" Sure, Anytime, How's Faryah?, it has really been a while since I've seen her, How is she doing?, and the headaches?" She asked at once with concerned eyes and I smiled. I was really happy that she moved on well. I was happy for her. " She's doing great actually, she's back in the hall, want to see her?" I asked and she smiled. " Oh........ Sure, but wait, I want to apologise for you know, how I talked to you, the last time we saw each other" She said with a small smile. " It's okay, I understood what you were going through, it's fine" I answered and she nodded. " How are your parents? And siblings?" I was curious. " Well....." She was cut off by the ting of my phone. Someone sent me a message. " Let me just take a look at this, give me a sec" I said as I took my phone out of my pocket.

It was an unknown number. They had sent me a video. " An Unknown number" I laughed a little as she came beside me to see it. " They sent you a video?" She asked as she stood beside me. " Yeah, I guess, let's see, it must be one of those ads" I said as I played the video.

I could clearly see Faryah carrying someone into a hotel room. A man. Khalifa. He walked into his washroom and she followed him like a minute after. What was this?. It couldn't possibly be a prank, it was clearly her inside this video. I began to hear disturbing moaning sounds from the video. I heard a gasp from Pamela as she stood beside me. I really couldn't believe this. Faryah couldn't possibly have done this. It's just a look alike. It's not her. But Khalifa. What the hell was going on. Khalifa finally came out of the bathroom and Faryah followed behind a few minutes later in his clothes. The same clothes that I saw her with last night. She really did all this. How could she. " Don't worry about your dress, I'll send it to your house before I leave tomorrow, I'll ask the laundry to wash it" We heard Khalifa say. She took her purse from his bed. " You should sleep, goodnight, Ma'assalam" that was clearly her voice. I could feel my heart shatter into tiny pieces. How could she do this to me. What did I do to her?. She wasn't as innocent as she claimed to be and I trusted her completely. She was a whore. How could she deceive my like this. I never did anything wrong to her to deserve this. He was walking closer to her as they stopped behind the door. I heard soft moaning sounds again before she rushed out of the room and closed the door shut from behind her and walked away. The video ended.

I have never been this heartbroken and extremely annoyed in my entire life. How could she have possibly done this to me. I should have figured this out sooner. Why else will a woman come home with someone else's clothes if she didn't do anything. This was the only explanation. She was unfaithful to me. She fucking slept with someone else.

I felt my phone being taken away from me. I needed to give her a piece of mind. I couldn't take this. She was a whore. A shameless slut with the cover of a pious person. Why did she do all this?. For the money?. I turned to rush back to the hall to the confront her but Pamela stopped me. " Let go of me" I said as I tried pushing her hand of my arm. " No, you're in no condition to face her, you're going to cause a scene" She shot and my breathing became heavier. " I don't care if I cause a fucking scene, she needs to pay for deceiving me, she deceived all of us, how dare she" I snapped with my voice raised. I protected her all this while, I gave her everything she wanted, I trusted her and she goes around sleeping with other men. She's supposed to be mine alone. She and her family lied to us, GrandPa trusted them. " Khalid, calm down, please"

" Don't fucking tell me to calm down" I shot again and pushed her away from me. She was hurt. " Khalid, you need to calm down before talking to her, you need to think about what you're going to do, you don't want to do something you're going to end up regretting, Khalid come on let's get out of here" Pamela said as she held my hand. She was right. I could possibly kill her if care wasn't taken. I hated lies and deceit in my life. And she claimed to love me.

I followed Pamela out of the event centre as she quietly drove to her apartment. She parked her car and we went in. It was still the same. I needed water. I sat down on her kitchen stool and she kept her clutch beside me. " You want a drink?, Beer?" She asked and I shook my head. " Fine, No alcohol, I'll prepare something for you" She said as she turned her back at me and opened her fridge.

Why did Faryah have to deceive all of us like this. Her stupid GrandPa wanted her to come into our lives so they would live comfortably. He deceived his best friend who loved him so much. If she loved me, she wouldn't have slept with someone else. And that video couldn't be a fake, she was clearly the one in that video and that Khalifa. She slept with him. She cheated on me.

" Here, It's lemonade, kind of, and some other stuff, no alcohol" Pamela said as she passed me a glass of juice that looked like apple juice. " Thank you" I said as I took a gulp out of the drink. It wasn't bad. It tasted like Lemonade and apple juice all together. She was drinking the same thing as she sat beside me. " I am sorry, for what you saw, I guess, you really can't trust anyone" She said as I took another sip out of the drink. My head was hurting a lot. " We all trusted her. She thought we weren't going to find out, we found out, she's a whore, I fought for her, I protected her, I cared for her and she lied to me, she cheated on me" I said as I drank up the juice. My eyes were getting heavy, I was feeling really dizzy. " Khalid, I am sorry, I know you didn't think this was going to ever happen to you, but it has... I am deeply sorry" I was zoning out. I really couldn't carefully hear what she was saying. I tried keeping my eyes open but I couldn't. I gently placed my head on the kitchen counter, closed my eyes and drifted away.

Taglyan Complex

Khalid has been gone for long and I was beginning to feel really sleepy. I was so tired. The noise and everything were making my head spin. " Do you know where Khalid could be?" I asked Sophia. They were preparing to leave. " Maybe he met some business partners or a client on his way back, or he got caught up in something" Ethan said and I nodded. " I am really tired Ethan" Sophia said as she yawned. " We'll leave then, Faryah will you come along? Or you want to wait for your husband?" Ethan asked. " I'm not sure I can wait for him, I'm feeling tired too, I need to sleep, I'll text him that I left with you guys, he can come home with Mama Zainab" I said as I took my phone from my clutch to text him. " Let's go then" Sophia said as she got up. " I'll tell Mom and Dad we're going" She said as she walked away for find them. " Faryah, let's go" Ethan said as I got up from my seat.

We got home by 11:00pm and I rushed to my room to wash up my makeup. I took my dress and scarf and the little jewellery I had on and got into the shower. I let the hot water linger round my body for a little while before I finally got out of the shower and threw on my pyjamas. Khalid didn't text me back. I guess he was still busy.

I got under my covers and kept my phone on the bedside table beside me. I turned my lights off and prayed before I closed my eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

next morning ( 5:00am )

I woke up to make my Fajr Salah. Khalid wasn't with me and still no reply from him. I really hoped everything was okay. This was so unusual. I brushed my teeth, made my wudu and made my Salah. Ummi, GrandPa and Firdaus were coming home today. I really couldn't wait to see them. I recited my Qur'an when I was done making my Salah and decided to sleep again.

I woke up again around 8:00am, and went downstairs to prepare breakfast for everyone. I made sausages and eggs with bread, fruit bowls for everyone as usual and tea. They were supposed to be awake by 9:00am. I finished up in the kitchen and I went back to my room to take a bath. I wanted to pamper myself a little so I prepared a lavender scented bubble bath and I soaked myself in it for a while.

I got out of the bubble bath an hour later and realised it was the weekend. They were going to be asleep for long today. I kept tabs on my phone in case Khalid was going to call but I still didn't get anything. I wore a fresh pair of black jeans that I folded the ends up a little and a white shirt that I tucked in. I wore a pink hoodie on it and used a scarf to tie my hair. I wore on Khalid's gift to me and wore my white sneakers. I looked really cute.

I dialled Khalid's number and it rang but no answer. I tried again and no answer. I tried him four times and stopped when he sent me a picture. My eyes almost fell out from the haram they met.

This had to be a mistake. It was a picture of Pamela and Khalid in each others arms. Naked. On a bed. I could feel my heart shatter into tiny pieces as the phone fell out of my hand. I needed to think straight. Khalid could never do this to me, I trusted him and I knew he would never cheat on me, Pamela was my friend, they could never stab me in the back like this. Maybe someone stole his phone and sent this as a prank, but it was clearly him in the photo. I didn't want to believe it even though it looked like it was true. I tried calling him again but he didn't answer. I was going to go crazy if I didn't do something about this. It couldn't be true. It honestly couldn't.

I rushed out of my room to Sophia's room and knocked on her door. I didn't want to alarm any body else, I knew Sophia could help me out. " What's up?" Sophia asked as she opened the door and I showed the photo to her almost instantly. I watched as she looked at the photo with a questioning look and pulled me inside her room. She was wearing her clothes. " What is this?" She asked as she collected my phone from me. " He sent it to me, I tried calling him four times and he sent that to me" I cried as I paced around her room. " Khalid can't do this, I know him, this isn't possible, it's just an edit" Sophia had a worried look on her face too. " I hope so, Sophia I'm going crazy, he can't do this, but I feel like he did, I won't believe it till I see it for myself, it is very possible that Pamela did this, I don't even know what to think anymore. I don't know" I broke down in tears as I fell to the floor. I couldn't breathe properly. "Faryah, come on, Khalid can't do this" She said as she came to meet me on the floor. " I know" I screamed at her. " But Pamela can" I added and the tears that were rolling down my cheeks increased.

" You know what, let's go to Pamela's apartment okay?. If Khalid's there, we'll know what to do and if he isn't, you'll know this is all a prank" Sophia said. I needed to see it for myself. To see is to believe. " Let's go" I said as I cleaned my eyes and got up from the floor. Ya Allah, please let it not be true. " Let me just wear a jacket and shoes okay, don't let the others know about this " Sophia said as she ran into her closet. I still needed to wear a scarf. I quickly rushed out to get mine and get my bag and phone and I found her closing her door when I got out of my room.

We rushed out of the Mansion and got into to Sophia's black car. She carefully drove out of the mansion and sped up when she was out. " Sophia, I really have a bad feeling about this" I said as I dried my eyes. " Don't worry okay, Khalid will never do such a thing to you" She said as she continued driving. I really hoped she was right.

Sophia slowly stopped in front of a three storey classy building. This was our destination. " Her apartment is on the second floor" Sophia said as she took off her seat belt and turned off the engine. " Lets go?" She asked and I began reciting Ayatul Qursi. All was going to be fine. I got down from the car and we walked through the gate. It was a pretty nice building but that wasn't on my mind right now. We walked in and found a water fountain in front of us. " Follow me" Sophia said as we walked to an elevator in the building. It was a pretty short ride. We got out of the elevator and we saw three apartments. One on our right, one at the left and one in the middle. " She's on the right" Sophia said and I followed her. I stood behind her as she slowly turned the door handle and it opened up. " Come on in" she whispered and I followed behind her. " Why are you whispering?" I asked as I followed her in and she closed the door without making much noise. There was no one in the living room. Sophia walked further in silently and I followed her footsteps. Khalid was here. His cologne was all over the place. I was done keeping quiet. I found a door at the end of a short hallway. Bedroom.

I walked towards and opened it up. It wasn't a lie after all. He really was here, naked, in Pamela's arms. He cheated on me. They both deceived me. The proof was right in front of me. I had to control myself. They were disgusting. I slowly let go of the door handle and turned to rush out of the room. " Faryah wait" Sophia called as she followed behind me. I thought we were happy. We did she have that I didn't. I loved him with all my heart and this was what I got in return. Deceit.

My head began spinning again. The world was twirling around in swift circles. I closed my eyes tight and fell the floor. All I could feel, see and hear was darkness.