/* Somethings occur for a reason while we try our best to prevent them from happening, then after things get messed up, nothing we try to do, will make the situation better so we stand still in the corner and make the simplest move ever, hoping to fix what was broken. But will it be helpful? */
Chapter 33:
Zack's POV:
Everything passed like a blur, one moment Nadia was looking at me with disbelief and disappointment in her eyes, and the next instant, she hit the door vaguely and ran away, leaving me flustered and angry at Anna who decided to put her nose in things that weren't concerning her.
She would regret it...
I froze in my spot because the idea of losing Nadia would kill and devastate me, I wouldn't handle it. However, it didn't mean that I would leave Anna get away with what she did since she did it purposely although I warned her to leave things between us.
I never meant for anyone to know about what happened in Chicago because it was so intimate that I wanted to praise that moment in my mind forever, but things never worked the way I wanted them to work. I fought with grandpa two days ago and in a moment of anger, I blurted that Nadia was my real wife.
It all started the day I went to sign some papers in the office, grandpa called to tell me that my father kept insisting on coming back. I knew based on the low tone he was using that he would forgive dad quicker than expected. My temper flared and our argument heated.
At the end, grandpa said that he would tell Mr. Mathews everything because marriage wasn't a game; I told him that everything was real and that the game ended long time ago but he didn't believe, that's when I said the thing that I would hate the most in my life, I related our night in Chicago with the companies.
I didn't even think that way, I only wanted grandpa to believe that our pretending game ended and that I was really happy with Nadia because despite everything, we fell in love with each other.
At the end of our conversation, we came up with an agreement that no one would mention anything to Mr. Mathews since it would only put us in unnecessary problems. However, Anna, who was standing by the door, somehow heard me talking and she assumed that I was taking advantage of Nadia.
I spoke with Anna and told her what really happened but she seemed convinced that my marriage with Nadia was fake and she even tried to make me believe that Nadia wasn't good for me and that I needed someone better by my side. I tried to be calm and maintain my composure, but Anna's words made me angrier with every second that passed.
Flashback:
"Why can't you see it?" Anna questioned, putting her hand on my upper arm "Nadia will never be the one for you, she might be smart and beautiful but you two don't match"
"And who told you that we don't match?" I retorted, taking two steps back, making her hand fall to her side.
"I could hear it in your tone on the phone" She smirked at me, knowingly "You two used each other for your own benefits, you've got an arranged marriage with a deal"
"Our marriage is none of your business, it might've started fake but we're perfectly happy now" I hissed at her because she was making false assumptions.
"Happy?" She threw her back from laughter "Please Zack stop this crap, if you were really happy, you wouldn't have mentioned your night in Chicago to prove it"
"But may I know why you're suddenly interested in my love life?" I dared her, lifting my eyebrow "As far as I know we're good friends, not even that close to put our noses in each other's lives"
"I have always been interested my dear, you just didn't notice it" She spoke lowly, moving closer to me "I was waiting for you to notice what I felt for you, but you were oblivious, then you went and married that fake wife of yours, she's not even that honest" She sent her hand to my cheek but I stopped it in the air.
"Never, ever, think of saying such thing about her, and don't think of repeating what you just said" I pushed her away lightly, not wanting to hurt her then added with a threatening tone "I will act like I haven't heard you, so stop this drama"
"But, I only wanted to tell you what..." She started saying but I interrupted her.
"I don't want to hear anything from you anymore and don't think of mentioning anythinf to anyone because you would regret it" I yelled at her before exiting my office.
End of flashback:
Anger was boiling in my veins because although I warned Anna to keep her mouth shut, she followed her stupid assumptions and told Nadia her side of the story. Nevertheless, did she really think she would be closer to me if she pushed Nadia away?
She'd be insane if she thought I would leave Nadia get away from me, I would tie her up if it was needed.
However, I wasn't going to waste my time on Anna while Nadia was out there, god only knew what was she thinking about. That's why, I threw Anna one last glare, pointing at her with my forefinger and said "We'll have a serious talk later" Then, I hurried out of the room in order to look for Nadia.
I scanned the room for Nadia but I couldn't spot her anywhere. 'Where could she be?' I questioned myself as I walked through the crowd as fast as I could so that no one would get the time to stop me because wasting time wasn't even an option.
With every minute that passed, I was losing a bit of my patience until I lost it all when ten minutes had gone. Therefore, I inhaled a deep breathe and thought of where would Nadia go if she was confused and hurt. She would want to be alone...
'She would leave' I pointed out to myself as I ran to the exit of the ballroom.
I asked the two guards of earlier if they had seen her but they said that she didn't leave; I insisted and even tried to show them a picture of her, but they shrugged off and one of them said that he wouldn't have missed such a sight if he had the opportunity, which made me almost kick him for his smug comment, but I knew it wasn't the right time, so I just glared at him and entered again.
'If she didn't leave, where could she be?' I scanned the ballroom again for a quiet place but then it clicked in my head 'The bathroom'
I rushed to the bathroom and knocked on the ladies' restroom to check if someone was there but no one answered so I just opened the door, locked it behind me and called for Nadia. I called several time but I got no answer in return.
Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I felt disgusted in myself because Nadia was so sensitive even though she loved being called the reckless heiress, and recently the reckless and powerful wife; moreover, I promised myself to never think of hurting her. At a moment of anger, I hit the bathroom's mirror with my fist, and a sound of shatter filled the small space immediately.
A wave of pain surged up to my upper arm as blood covered my knuckles. I looked at the small pieces of glass on my skin and I thought back to the day when Nadia stepped on pieces of glass; that was the first time I realized that I genuinely cared for her and that I no longer hated her like I thought I did.
I was going to pull the small pieces of glass out when Nadia suddenly went out of a cubicle. I stared at her disbelievingly as she rushed to me, a new wave of hope filled my chest at the sight of her beside me, searching for possible injuries.
"Are you crazy or what?" She yelled at me when she noticed the blood on my knuckles.
"I was angry" I answered her, searching for her eyes but she managed to look at everything besides me.
"Yeah right" She mumbled under her breathe, reaching for a tissue.
I wanted to tell her how I really felt, how much I wanted to wrap my arms around her, and how much I loved her but she was obviously still mad at me so I just kept my mouth shut and kept admiring her from afar.
How could she manage to be so far but yet so close?
She was taking off pieces of glass carefully and gently as if her simple tug would kill me. It hurt slightly but I wasn't focusing on the pain I was feeling, I was gazing at the stray of her that fell on her neck; it obviously bothered her so with a bit of hesitation, I intended to put it away but I ended up brushing her skin in the process.
At the simple interaction of my fingers with her soft skin, she flinched right away, taking a step back with my hand still in hers, which made me wince slightly because of the urgent rush of pain that went all the way to my upper arm.
"Stand still and don't..." She started talking but I interrupted her right away.
"Don't what?" I challenged her "Touch you?"
"Yes"
"Is it because you're disgusted Or because you're still affected by my touch?" I asked her, crossing my fingers for the second option.
"Both" She answered as she reached for her clutch and pulled out a handkerchief.
"You're disgusted?" I blurted out, uncontrollably.
"You used me" She said, wrapping the handkerchief around my hand.
"Nadia" I whispered, trying to wipe the single tear that fell on her cheek "Listen to me, it's not how it looks like, don't believe what Anna was saying"
"I heard you this morning talking with your grandpa" She admitted, betrayal and hurt covering her eyes.
"What did you hear exactly?"
"You even made me your real wife" She quoted in the air with fingers "It was all an agreement with your grandpa to..."
Nadia couldn't even finish what she was saying because the loud bang on the door, made both of us tear our heads to the source of the sound. "Zack? I know you're here, something urgent happened"Â Col's voice echoed in the background but I didn't move until he said 'Mr. Mathews knows everything"
"What happened?" Nadia unlocked the door and asked Col after she literally jumped as soon as she heard what he said.
"They're taking him to the hospital" Col replied quietly.
"Let's go" I said, making my way out of the bathroom, gesturing at Nadia and Col to follow me.
They both followed me without uttering a singly word. Guests kept staring at us running like maniacs but I couldn't care less about them, I only focused on the fact that Mr. Mathews was in a bad state and it was all because of us, or me in particular.
The cars were already waiting for us outside the hotel; Nadia hesitated at first when she saw the driver of earlier opening the car's door the moment he saw us running toward him. However, she shook her head and entered, and I followed her immediately.
"I'll be following you" Col announced as he ran to his car.
Nadia was so silent that I thought she was asleep with her eyes open, she wasn't even moving throughout the entire drive. She was just staring at nowhere, like the last time we were heading to the hospital when Mr. Mathews had a heart attack.
I had a serious urge to pull Nadia closer to me and reassure her that everything would be okay at the end of the day. However, I didn't dare to do it because what happened was my fault and Nadia would never forgive me for that.
We arrived at the hospital after twenty minutes because of New York's traffic lines. We ran to the receptionist who directed us and sent us to the emergency room, where my grandparents were already there; Grandma was sitting on a chair while grandpa was pacing from side to side.
"What did the doctors say?" Nadia questioned grandma the instant we were on an arm's length away.
"It's not a heart attack if that's what you thought of; he just had low blood pressure and fainted" Grandma answered instantly "He's fine now"
"Thank god" Nadia threw herself on the chair, and engulfed her face in her hands, distressingly.
"Is it true?" Grandma blurted out "Is it all a game to you?"
Nadia's head shot up to grandma's direction and she stared at her for few few seconds, obviously lost and out of words. 'What would she answer anyway? Yes or no? Both answers were correct' I wondered, trying to put myself in Nadia's shoes.
"Everything might've started as a game but it ended a long time ago" I admitted when I felt that Nadia was on the verge of talking.
"I don't even know what to say to both of you" Grandma stated, eyeing me from head to toe "I am ashamed"
"Grandma please" Nadia said, moving closer to grandma, who stood up immediately as if something hurtful approached her.
"We'll talk about this later" Grandma announced, heading to stand beside grandpa.
I could sense that Nadia was hurt after hearing grandma's words because her shoulders slumped down instantly and she shook her head twice disbelievingly. She must've thought of what would her grandpa say when he would wake up.
After grandma's statement, no one dared to utter a word as the atmosphere became so heavy with time that anyone could be suffocated there. Col came but didn't talk much, he just asked about Mr. Mathews and Nadia told him what happened, then we became silent again, until a nurse came and told us that they were taking Mr. Mathews to a room for that night.
"The patient is looking for his granddaughter" The nurse looked at Nadia since she was the only young female with us "You can see him for few minutes once he's settled in his room"
"Okay" Nadia offered the nurse a weak smile that didn't fool anyone there.
It was obvious that she was forcing herself to be strong...!!!
A man went out after couple of minutes, pushing a wheelchair, on which Mr. Mathews was sitting. He seemed good but anyone could see that he was sad and he wasn't in his mood at all. We all escorted him to his room but we stayed outside except Nadia who entered with him and closed the door behind her.
"Sharing a bedroom when I was around and making Nadia shy in front of me with flirting and stuff, was it all pretending?" Grandma asked me out of a sudden.
"No, at first, we were fooling ourselves, saying we didn't care about each other, and that we were only forced to be together under name of marriage, but after less than two weeks, our relationship became real" I answered honestly since it was the only thing that would help us in that situation "What we have now is real, our love is real"
I could see Col from the corner of my eye, turn his head when I talked about love; I didn't want to be mean and put salt on his wound since he genuinely had feelings for Nadia too, but I stated what had to be said so that everyone would understand that I wouldn't leave Nadia's side even if they all stood against me.
While Nadia was inside the room, I thought of ways to talk to her, to make her believe and forgive me, even though I never intended to hurt or do anything bad to her. I would tell her that the things I told grandpa were all excuses in order to make him keep our secret hidden, and I hoped she would notice how much I cared for her and loved her.
I was pulled out of my trace of thoughts by Nadia's voice calling me; she told me that we had to talk then she walked ahead of me, struggling with the long dress she was wearing. 'When we're alone, I should give her my jacket' I noted to myself when I looked at her bare shoulders.
We were in the same hospital where everything began, where I realized that Nadia was important in my life and where our friendship started. Nadia walked to the same bench that was under the Jasmine's tree and sat, then she waited for me to join her silently.
"Everyone knows about what happened" She started talking, playing with her fingertips.
"I know" I took my jacket off and placed it on her shoulders.
"I thought of what we should do"
"What?" I questioned, hope laced in my voice.
Maybe she thought of a solution that would help both of us.
"I will call grandpa's lawyer first thing in the morning, I am getting a divorce" She replied, calmly as if she was saying an unimportant thing.
"What are you talking about Nadia?" I turned her around and made her to look at me.
"We're over" She said coldly, diverting her eyes away.
"No, look at me in the eyes and say it" I moved closer to her, lifted her chin with my forefinger, and locked eyes with her.
"We are over" She repeated, slowly and quietly "I don't want to be with you anymore"
'How could she say such thing? Did she really believe the words coming out of her mouth? Was she sure' I questioned myself, looking for convenient answers in her eyes 'I had one way to get the answers I needed'
Still locking eyes with her, I leaned down slowly, sending one hand to her neck and one to her cheek to keep her in place then without even hesitation and after looking at her eyes one more time, I brushed my lips on hers and started kissing her.
I wouldn't let her go...!!!
******
/*So? How was the quick update?*/
/*I updated sooner than planned because for the last two months, I wasn't fair to all of you! I am sorry*/
/*What do you think would happen? What was Nadia thinking about? Would Zack ever give what she wanted?*/
/*The next chapter will be updated in less than a week ( before July 24th, 2017)*/
/*Don't forget to vote comment and share*/
/* Thanks, Kisses-N*/