Unexpected Love ✔️

O N E

Y O U  W I L L  F I G U R E  I T  O U T  –  Life can be confusing and hard at times. This is usually where there is a lesson for us to learn or an opportunity for us to grow. Trust that you are meant to be here, and that better days are coming. You are having exactly the experiences you need in order to elevate to the next level – third eye thoughts

 C H A P T E R   O N E

"Hey mama," I whisper into the phone with a sigh escaping me as I feel the cold harsh winter breeze of London drift across my bare skin, twirling a strand of curled hair around my finger.

"Hey Ari," my mother coos down the line with a chuckle escaping her. 

"How are you doing today?"  I ask, with my lips tugging up in a frown at the thought of her being hooked up to a bunch of foreign machines and wires. Hurting.

Grimacing at the sound of her coughing down the line, "Good honey." She breathes after a minute and I can hear the smile she has plastered upon her lips in her voice, and if it weren't for hearing her cough seconds earlier, I would've have believed her.

I roll my eyes and purse my lips together, "Mama, stop bullshitting me." I bite out, pinching my eyes closed as I slip back inside my room, sliding the doors leading to the balcony doors shut.

"Ari, beta, I'm getting better." She insists, begging me to believe her.

"Sure as shit sounds like it, ma," I quip, sarcasm dripping from my words, taking a seat at the foot of my bed, arching a disbelieving brow, because there's not a single part of that believes her right now. Not after seeing her over the weekend, pale as a ghost and deadly thin. "Ma, there's no point lying to me," I deadpan, hearing her chuckle on the other end of the line, "I'm not Zach. I don't blindly trust people," I point out.

"Even me,"

"Especially you, ma." As awful as it sounds, my mother has a habit of lying to me to try and keep me away from Bradford. That doesn't stop me from making the two and a half hour drive every other weekend though. She should know that by now.

 Catching a glimpse of the time, I say my usual goodbyes and hang up the phone. Grabbing my bag off the foot of my bed and head out into living area of my six bed apartment here in the heart of London, a couple minute drive from campus, to see one of my roommates and close friends Freya McKenna who I had met during my first year at King's College and her boyfriend Hendrix on the couch. 

Sending the two a small smile as I pass them on my way over to the kitchen, I murmur a soft hey over my shoulder as I enter the kitchen. Grabbing a to-go cup from the cupboard I pour myself a cup of freshly brewed coffee and begin to head out. 

Taking the elevator down to the lobby, I pass Richard, the landlord for our apartment complex, and send him a smile as I make a beeline for the doors. Tightening my parka coat around myself, I feel a shudder crawl up my back as I make a dash for my car – my most prized possession, a sleek black Audi R8 – gifted to me by my brother as a sort of congratulations for being the first one in my family to go to university.

Yes, I am the fourth child, with four sisters and two brother, but I am the first to go to university. What can I say –  other than my sibling suck ass?

Aaliyah is the oldest at twenty nine. She's happily married to her high school sweetheart, Adnan with two kids Liliana and Liam – aged 6 and 5– don't get it wrong because there'll be hell to pay. She works as a hair dresser in a salon near her house in Bradford.