------------------Los Angeles, California.
-----------------------------Valentine's Residence, 2:00pm. Two days later.
Well they were coping, Olyster Textiles has been shut down until renovations were done and everything was back to normal, then business could continue again. They were doing so well you know. Brandon has been in an asylum for the past two days and I have heard nothing from the police or Miss Hae Soo about Najmah.
Sophia and her family cheered me up, especially baby Kimberly. I was always around her, she was a baby so she had to remind me of Najmah. Khalid hasn't being around the house for two days and I couldn't help but feel bad. He was avoiding his family and staying all alone because of me.
Deep down honestly, I really wanted to pour my heart out to him, to all of them but I just didn't want to hurt Khalifa's feelings.
He honestly deserved someone who was going to love him wholeheartedly and not a confused person like me.
He was arriving LA today, by 4:00pm. He was going to come see me first before going to the hotel he booked.
" Hey Faryah" Sophia called as I sat with Kimberly on a bench in their garden. She was holding Kimberly's bottle. " Sophia"
" Thank you so much for holding Kimberly. I was trying to prepare something for Khalid, I'm not sure he's eating well. He's coming over to discuss and get some stuff from Ethan" She said as she sat beside me. He was coming. I was going to get to see him again, even though he wasn't going to talk to me or try to win me back. It's actually kind of funny to be honest.
I pushed him away.
I wanted him to be away from me, as far as possible but here I was yearning for him to be by my side again.
Like the old times. " give her to me"
" Sure" She was so small and cute. Just like Najmah. I never wanted to be away from Najmah when she was little. She was so tiny and fragile.
I missed her so much.
" I've been sleeping peacefully lately with your help you know. Thank you so much" She had a radiant smile on her face and it made me smile at her.
" You're welcome, she's helping me deal with the fact that my daughter isn't here with me. So thank you very much too"
" Najmah will be found soon Faryah, okay?"
" I sure hope so. What did you cook for Khalid?" I asked and watched her reaction. She was blushing. Weird.
" The both of you are acting weird. I thought you guys were cool, since the divorce and everything"
" I'm not acting weird"
" Yeah sure, tell me about it" I laughed at the way she rolled her eyes. " I want to make some coffee, you want some?"
" Sure. I made chocolate brownies for Khalid and steak glazed with sweet sauce and rice with a veggie salad" it made me hungry.
" Can I have some of it?"
" Sure it's in the kitchen. I'll just stay here and feed Kim"
" Alright" I chirped as I got up from where I sat and headed for the kitchen. I wanted to make Khalid some coffee before he arrived. I hated coffee but he loved it with lots of milk and sugar. I was never going to forget it, even if I tried.
I served myself to the dish Sophia prepared and made coffee for him and Sophia. We had beef sausages dipped in egg and bread with tea for breakfast and I was hungry again. The steak and rice satisfied me.
Najmah loved to eat bread dipped in tea. I know she misses that a lot.
" Here's coffee for you" I called as I gently dropped the coffee tray on the table in the garden, right in front of Sophia. " Thank you so much Faryah. Did you enjoy your meal?"
" Yeah very much. Thank you"
" It's no hassle, I've improved my cooking since I've gotten to be a full time house wife for months now. I went on an 8 months leave. I have like three months to go"
" Cool right?"
" At some point but look I'm getting chubby and I'm getting tired of it" She was probably seeing things. " I don't see the chubby"
" it's here, My arms and legs are humongous" They were just like mine.
Slim.
" You're seeing things Sophia. Look, Kim is falling asleep" Her eyes were closing and her lips were slowly parting away from the teat of the bottle. " Bring her, I'll tuck her in"
" oh my. Thanks Faryah" Holding her and picturing Najmah was what I always wanted to do when I was around her. Sophia slowly removed the bottle from her lips and I collected her, patted her back and made sure she burped.
And she did.
" I'll put her to sleep, enjoy the fresh air and the coffee till I get back"
" You're heaven sent Faryah. Thank you so much" I heard her say as I held Kimberly in my arms and walked inside the house.
Babies love it when their ears are caressed and the surrounding was serene. That helped calm Najmah down whenever she was crying and she always fell asleep.
I watched how baby Kim pouted as she slept peacefully in her cradle after tucking her in. I wanted my baby with me so badly.
Ya Allah please let Najmah be safe wherever she is.
I dabbed my eyes with a tissue that was in Kim's room and I walked out, making sure I didn't make any noise.
" She's happy with someone else right?, isn't it best I stay away from her?. I don't want to keep hurting myself more and more" That was Khalid talking.
He had arrived already and he was at the garden talking to Sophia and Ethan. Walking further more towards the door that was wide open, I hid behind it and listened to them. This was my business, so I had to listen.
" Who said she's happy with that other guy?" Sophia asked as Khalid took a sip from the coffee I made him. I'm sure he missed it. " Well, she did. She pushed me away and can't you guys see that I'm only trying to respect her wants" he moved the coffee away from him.
Ouch.
I made the Coffee for him to enjoy not discard. I put lots of effort in that.
Why was he throwing my efforts away.
My coffee didn't deserve that.
" But that's not what's good for her, you should try again" Yes Khalid.
Please try again.
" look I love Faryah so much, that's never going to change but I can't keep her to myself and make her unhappy. I'm sacrificing my happiness for hers. She deserves to be happy with that Khalifa guy. I have realized that I'm not worthy of her love anymore. I know I didn't want to give up on her, but I have to, for her happiness" The sadness in his words couldn't be unheard. " I want to move on and leave everything in my past that hurts me, she's that thing I want to leave behind. For my own good"
I pushed him away. I pushed the only person I wanted by my side away. I couldn't listen to more of what he had to say. I realised all of this but hearing it directly from him shattered my heart. Running up the stairs to cry my heart out was the only thing I could bring myself to do now. I locked the door shut and threw my sober self on the comfy bed.
I thought I was in love with Khalifa. I accepted to marry him because I thought I loved him and it's obvious that I don't love Khalifa.
What do I feel for him then?
Pity?.
I know I didn't love him completely and we were planning on him helping me fix that but he's just not what my heart wants.
What I want.
He has done everything in this world to please me and my daughter. Najmah loved him, he helped me raise Najmah while Khalid was soaking himself in his stupid ego and misery. He has insulted me, done a lot of Crazy things for me but Khalid loved me genuinely.
With all of his heart and everything he had. He has realised his mistakes now and has accepted them and now he wants to move on.
Without me.
Without the love I have for him.
I felt my phone buzz in my jean pocket and I took it out.
It was from an unknown number. They sent me an address to some place. This was probably where Najmah was.
My baby.
Unknown
• 100 S Santa Fe Ave Los Angeles.
I tried calling the number but no one was answering. I wrote down the address on a sheet of paper and a phone number I tore from a jotter I had. They could probably un send the message and leave me clueless and in distress right?.
A different number was calling me this time. Where are all these numbers coming from?.
" Hello"
" Welcome back Baby doll" Oh my Allah. It was the witch again. " So I sent you an address, get there in 30 minutes, alone or I drop your baby down a chipper. I am so tired of hearing her whine non stop. It's irritating" I could hear Najmah. She was crying, loudly. Subhanallah. " What are you doing to my daughter" I raged as I looked for what I could smash around the room. " Come get her" She hung up.
The witch hung up.
I screamed my lungs out as I threw my phone angrily on my bed and let the hot tears roll steadfastly down my cheeks. Najmah wasn't doing okay.
They were hurting my daughter, I needed to save her.
Alone.
I was willing to take any risk. Najmah wasn't fine and I had limited time to get to her. The police were the last people I wanted to involve in this.
I quickly grabbed a white coat that stopped right above my knee and wore my flats as fast as I could. It was going to cover the shirt and jeans I was wearing. I fixed my scarf hurriedly and threw my phone and purse into my coat pocket, alongside the address I jotted down and headed for the door. It was 3:15pm so I needed to reach the address by 3:45pm.
" Faryah are you alright?, we heard you scream" No. She said alone.
I couldn't put my daughter in danger. No. " Faryah open the door" That was Ethan. " Goddammit, we're going to break this door open if you don't open it" Khalid yelled as they continued struggling with the door.
I wasn't going to put Najmah's life in danger. She wanted me alone so I was going to give her that. I looked outside the big window and realised I could jump from it. I jumped out the window and fell into some flower beds in the garden and I quickly ran out of the house and towards the gate. The maids and cleaners weren't around by this time. I could easily get past the body guards and security guards if only I stayed calm and held a big smile.
It worked.
I hurriedly boarded a cab immediately I got out of the house and I tried to bring my phone out to show him the address.
It wasn't with me. I probably dropped it when I jumped out from the window.
I couldn't go back in now. I had the paper I jotted the address down in and I quickly showed it to the cab driver as he drove on the road.
It wasn't going to take long before they noticed I wasn't in the house. They were probably checking the other rooms before they alerted the guards. They couldn't find me now.
I was going to bring Najmah home.
In Sha'a Allah.
Khalid
" She's not in here" Sophia said with worry after I broke Faryah's room door down and we looked properly inside it. " Check the other rooms Sophia" Why was she trying to make us all have heart attacks. She was definitely not inside her room. We heard her scream and we rushed here in time. Where could she have gone to?.
I honestly wasn't going to be able to take it if anything happened to her again. This was why I didn't want her go to come to LA.
This is the reason why I said it was a very bad idea.
There was nothing suspicious in her room. Everything was pretty normal and in place. Where could she have possibly gone to without saying anything to us?.
What was wrong with her?.
" She's not in any of the rooms" Ethan said as he and Sophia came back to Faryah's room. " I'm not sure she's in the house. Why would she leave without saying anything?. Ethan go ask the body guards if they saw Faryah leave the house" Sophia asked as Ethan walked closer to the window in the room.
" She went out through the window" Ethan muttered as he looked outside window. " She probably jumped out when we came inside the house so we couldn't stop her from leaving" He added as both I and Sophia moved closer to him. " oh my goodness, yes. It's very easy for someone to jump to the ground from here"
" she couldn't have gone that far. The guards probably saw where she went to" Sophia added as she and her husband went out the room. I took out my phone and tried to track her number down but it said she was still here. She left her phone behind.
I dialled her phone number and moved around her room to see if I could find it and yes I did. She dropped her phone when she jumped out of the window.
I quickly rushed out, back to garden and searched under the flower beds that were right below her room window and I found it. It wasn't damaged or anything, luckily.
I needed a passcode before I could gain further access into her phone. All I could try was 1234 and other random numbers but of course, it wasn't helping.
" They saw her leave Khalid. They're trying to look for her now" Sophia panicked she paced round the living room. " Do you have any clue what Faryah's pass code is?" I had one last shot to try and figure out her passcode or her iPhone was going to get disabled and it was going to shut down completely. " how do you expect me to have a clue on that?" she snapped as she continued pacing around. " what do we do now?" She was crying.
" There should be something on the internet that can help us guys. Calm down Sophia please" Ethan commented as he hurriedly tapped his keyboard.
" Can I see her phone Khalid?" I handed it over to him immediately he asked. " Sophia, say " Hey Siri, what time is it?" as calmly as you can"
" How's that going to help?"
" Sophia obey your husband please" I was losing my patience honestly. Anything could be happening to Faryah now.
Maybe she was abducted?
She screamed so maybe someone frightened her.
No.
The body guards saw her leave and she was alone.
Why will you run away without saying anything for goodness sake Faryah?.
Miss Hae Soo probably contacted her again. That could be it. " I'm in" Ethan yelled heroically and I snapped the phone right out of his hands and checked her call log. An unknown number called her and she received it but the call lasted for only 30 seconds. I tried calling the number but it was turned off.
Miss Hae Soo contacted Faryah.
I tapped her messages and found a message from an unknown number, different from the one that called her right at the top. Jackpot.
They sent an address to her, that's where she went to. They probably told her to go alone and she obeyed.
Oh my goodness Faryah.
" Call Director Malcom Sophia. Faryah's meeting up with miss Hae Soo"
" oh no. Faryah" the way she was crying was irritating me. " I'm going to go get her. Call the police. I just sent you the address" I forwarded the message that was sent to Faryah to Sophia since she had her phone number.
I was willing to kill anyone that laid their dirty fingers on Faryah.
No one was going to hurt her again.