Chapter 73

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

------------------------------- Valentine's residence,11:30am.

Sleep is a necessity in this life. I spent 18 hours and 5 minutes on an airplane and I didn't get to sleep properly. The bed in the room I was given by Sophia made everything right. I slept like a baby.

I was on my period so I didn't have to make Salah. After taking my bath, brushing my teeth and getting cosy in my pyjamas, I threw myself on the small but comfy bed with cotton duvets and the purple velvet bed sheets made me not want to ever get out of that bed. Everything felt right. It was an amazing bed.

I woke up fully refreshed by 11:00am, I took my bath, brushed my teeth, got dressed and called my family up to let them know I was doing fine.

I called Khalifa up as well but he didn't answer, he was probably busy at work.

" Faryah, are you awake?" Mama Zainab followed her words with gentle knocks on the door.

I got up from where I sat with my phone in my hands, making sure I wore my slippers and opened the door for her to come in with a wide smile. " Welcome Faryah" I was soon going to get tired of hugs.

Very soon.

" Thank you Mama Zainab" She really didn't want to let go of me.

" How're you?, how was your trip?. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to welcome you last night. I was on my night shift in the hospital" she finally let go of me and followed me into my room. " it's okay mama Zainab and I am doing great, the trip was stressful but I feel refreshed right now" I answered as we sat on my bed and I stared at her beautiful face. Old but still beautiful.

Very beautiful.

" Good. You're hungry right?. You want to go downstairs and cook something up?. Sophia, Ethan and Kimberly went to the hospital for a vaccine. They'll be back soon, it's just me and you at home" She smiled at me intently as she took my hand in hers and caressed the back of my palm gently. " Yeah I'm hungry. I really need something to eat"

" Okay then we'll go downstairs but first Faryah. I never got to properly apologize to you for what I did, you know one on one"

" It's okay Mama Zainab"

" It's not to me Faryah. I ruined the love you and my son shared and I ruined Najmah's home" She was about to cry. "Mama Zainab please no. Please don't cry. You were only trying to look out for your son and I completely understand. You hurt me but I've accepted it and I have found it in my heart to forgive you honestly, for everything you did Mama Zainab. You didn't ruin anything, you actually created a path way for me to find genuine happiness with the person I'm about to get married to and my family" I dried her eyes with my skinny fingers as I spoke the truth.

Kind of.

" You really are an amazing person Faryah. Thank you so so much. I know it's hard for you to trust us again but please just know that we're always going to be here for you no matter what and we're going to support you in all the decisions you make. You're like family to us Faryah and don't worry, Najmah is going to come home to us very soon. We're going to continue praying for her"

" Thank you so much Mama Zainab. It really hurts that I have no idea on where she is or how she's doing"

" It's okay for you to feel that way. Just keep on praying to Allah and you'll see all will be fine"

" In Sha’a Allah. How're you doing Mama Zainab?, you know with Papa Brandon and everything that's happening to you guys?. How're you?" I definitely wasn't the only one that had problems to be shared. " Well I'm fine. He wanted an annulment so I had to give it to him"

" But you still love Papa Brandon right?"

" sure but he has turned into something else. He has gone completely crazy" That's new.

" What's wrong with him?"

" He feels guilty for the death of his Father and he blamed it on Khalid and I that's why he annulled our marriage and fired Khalid from the company. He wants nothing to do with us anymore and guilt is eating the poor guy up" guilt made Papa Brandon crazy.

Wow.

No one could deny that I was bewildered. He had no fault in grandpa Julius's death. " It's obvious that Brandon had nothing to do with what happened so I don't know why it's eating him up. We tried to talk him but nothing. He's still listening to his instincts and it's killing him" Mama Zainab looked bummed out.

" We don't know what to do anymore" She added with a low shaky voice and I pulled her into a comforting embrace. I really didn't know what to say to her. " I really don't know why whenever I feel loved and comfortable with my partner they always turn into monsters at the end of the day. I thought everything was going well with Brandon" she sobbed lightly on my chest and I gently patted her back.

Papa Brandon needed to talk to me. He was feeling guilty about what they did to me and since he realised I did nothing wrong he's going crazy looking for who to blame.

He's blaming Khalid for not trusting me and Mama Zainab for hurting me that day. I guess to him, if they didn't do what they did that day his father and my grandfather would be alive and all will be fine.

His depression made him push both of them away, wishing they never came into his life.

The only way I could help Papa Brandon was to talk to him and let him know that I forgave all of them. Maybe that was going to make him stop feeling guilty and come back to his senses.

----------------------12:40pm.

" Do you want me to come with you?" Sophia asked as I stuffed my mouth with some pasta. " No I think Khalid should go with her. Call him up" Mama Zainab answered. I told them that I wanted to talk to Papa Brandon and they were all on board with the idea. But they really didn't want me to go alone. Clearly, they were afraid of the person he had become.

I didn't want to go alone either, as long as Miss Hae Soo was here, I wasn't safe. We all weren't safe. " Yeah do that, he's not busy with anything. I wonder why he didn't drop by today. He has more reason to come here now than any other plain day" Ethan added as Sophia dialled Khalid's number.

I really hoped he wasn't going to give me the cold shoulder again.

" Khalid are you okay?, you didn't drop by today" She said into the phone immediately he answered and put the phone on speaker.

" Yeah I'm busy with stuff"

" What stuff son?"

" My new project, what do you guys want from me?"

" Uhmm, Faryah wants to see if she can talk to Father. So we wondering if you could accompany her there"

" he didn't talk to you guys so why will he want to talk to her?"

" Faryah thought that if she talked to him and make him see that he had no reason to feel guilty and that she has forgiven him, he'll come back to his senses"

" Brandon is a lost cause. She can't help him"

" Well let's try and see first Khalid. So you'll come pick her up before 2?"

" No. I'm busy" He ended the call. " He hung up?" Ethan asked with a questioning look on his face. " He did" the shock on Sophia's face couldn't be hidden.

To them, this was a perfect opportunity for him to get closer to me but he's wasting it just like that.

Khalid wants to stay away from me to avoid hurting himself more since he has already signed the divorce papers. I was happy with someone else and he was trying to make things easy for me, for the both of us. I made my choice and he was respecting it.

I was supposed to be happy, celebrating but all I could feel was pain and heartache.

Do I really love Khalifa?.

Khalifa tried his best to make me happy so the only logical thing for me to do was to give him what he deserved.

He deserved my love from all his efforts.

But did I really deserve Khalifa?. He was perfect for me in every way but I guess he wasn't what my heart craved and longed for.

I felt something out of this world for Khalid and I needed to stop lying to myself.

I really didn't know what to do anymore. I really couldn't just let Khalifa go, we were getting married. His family loved me.

I couldn't give them a reason to hate me.

" Someone needs to hit you hard in the face Faryah, what about our happiness?. We don't deserve to be happy I see" wasn't that being selfish?.

" I'll accompany you Faryah. Just finish up and let's go" Ethan said as I came back to reality and realised Sophia and Mama Zainab weren't at the table anymore. " I'm done, we can go now if you don't mind"

" Oh sure, let's go. Go get ready" He answered and I got up from the table with my plates, dropped them in the kitchen and headed to my room to get my hand bag.

I really hoped Papa Brandon was going to listen to me at least.

--------------------Olyster Residence, 1:10pm.

" Anna said he's around so let's hope everything turns out well" Ethan said to me as we stood at the front door, after ringing the bell.

Their home was still very beautiful but it was extremely quiet. It was quiet before but this kind of quiet was creepy.

Everything was still intact, the flowers and the surrounding.

"The house is so quiet, it's giving me the creeps"

" It sadly is. Don't worry, Everything is completely normal, well on the outside I guess" He answered as the door opened up and revealed a woman young figure dressed in a maid's outfit. This wasn't Anna. " Hey, good morning. Anna's not here?"

" Good morning. Yeah she's not but she told me you were coming, she went to get some groceries. Come in please" The young lady answered nicely and we walked in behind her. " Okay, thanks. Where's Sir Brandon?" The house was still neat but all the pictures that were hung up before on the walls were all gone. Brandon took them down. I thought I was going to see a house turned upside down and a Brandon curled in one side of the room. " He's in the study sir"

" Alright. Let's go Faryah" Ethan said as he walked in front of me and I slowly followed behind him.

" You should knock on the door" He whispered and lowered his pace as he got closer to the study door. " Sure"

The door opened up widely before my knuckles hit them and I gasped at the horrible sight and the horrible stench that slapped my nose hard. He probably hadn't shaved or taken his bath in days. The study was a mess as well.

There were many broken glasses, chairs and torn papers all around. The room had a pungent stench of alcohol, mixed with vomit.

He was a mess.

Oh my Allah.

He was wearing a long sleeved blue striped office shirt and the first three buttons of it were gone. He was drunk.

" Papa Brandon" I called as he stared at me with his drunken eyes and I backed away from him a bit. His eyes reminded me of that of Khalid's father years ago.

" What are you doing here?" He said with a shaky voice as he staggered closer to where I stood, holding a bottle of alcohol. Coming here was a bad idea. " I came to talk to you"

" About what?, what do you want from me huh?" He took a big gulp from his bottle, cleaned his lips and tried to maintain his stance. " you're not guilty for what happened to Grandpa Julius" I tried my best to sound comforting as he slumped down on the couch. " I am. I let those two devils into my house and they caused all this mess. They killed my father" He raged as he rolled himself on the couch. The effects of too much alcohol was irritating. People that drink know this so why go ahead with it?.

" No. You're not" I tried going closer to him but all I wanted to do was run away. He looked vulnerable now I guess. " You're also a cause of this mess" He snapped as he tried to get up from where he sat with shaky legs. " You came into our lives and destroyed it as well. You're a devil" He yelled as he quickly ran to where I stood and pushed me to the floor aggressively.

" I should kill her right?" He looked towards the study and spoke to thin air. Was he seeing ghosts?. " Yes. I'll kill all of them. You'll be very happy right Father?" Oh my goodness. " Call the hospital Ethan" I panicked as Ethan helped me up.

What happened to the nice and calm papa Brandon we all knew?. It was so hard to believe that he ended up like this.

" I've called them up, we need to get out of here" Ethan said quickly as he held my wrist tightly. " Don't you move" Papa Brandon was pointing a gun at us. We definitely had to stop in our heels.

He was out of control.

" my father used this gun to kill himself because of all of you so you all deserve to die by it"

Oh ya Allah.

" Yes. They deserve hell because they killed you Father" He raged and smashed his bottle on a side table and tried to shoot at us but nothing came out of the gun.

It had no bullets.

Run.

We rushed out of the house, making sure we closed the front door. We needed to make sure he didn't get out of the house. Rushing to the kitchen from the back and alerting the maids, we locked the door that led to the kitchen and also the ones that led to swimming pool before he could reach them.

Brandon was stranded inside now.

My heart was beating faster than normal. I thought I was going to be able to help their family. Papa Brandon was too nice to let anger and guilt eat him up like this.

He was seeing people and talking to those people. Shaytan had taken over him completely.

This is what happens when one doesn't let out their anger and frustration. Thank goodness he didn't kill himself but him being insane was still equally very bad.

The ambulance sirens screamed from a close distance and I sighed in relief.

Ethan called up the psychiatric hospital, that was where Papa Brandon needed to be.

He really needed attention.

We opened the doors for the psychiatrists and some nurses dressed in the white on their arrival. They injected something in him so he could easily be taken to the hospital.

" Do you think he'll get better?" Ethan asked as we followed the ambulance to the hospital. He already called up Sophia and Mama Zainab. They were probably on their way to the hospital as well. " I hope so. Papa Brandon really can't continue like this"

" Let's pray for the best"

He needed lots of prayers.