Chapter 2
Nadia's POV:
"Like an arranged marriage..." I mumbled more to myself.
I honestly didn't know what to answer because Zack came out of the blue and said that he was willing to marry me just because grandpa insisted on it so the situation was pretty awkward especially after remembering that he hated me a lot therefore I had to get convenient answers for all the absurd things swimming in my minds.
"So you're in?" He pulled me out of my train of thoughts.
"Look, I don't know why you're asking me to marry you but when my grandpa wakes up, I'll try to convince him that you're not the one for me" I started talking without even believing what was coming out of my mouth.
"We can just pretend that we're dating until he gets better only" He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly "So think about it" He said before he started walking away but it was out of question that I was letting him go without getting my answers.
"Wait" I called after him, he stopped in his track and turned his head to face me "Why are you doing this?" I whispered loudly because we were in a hospital after all.
"I have my own reasons" He repeated his words of earlier, took a deep breathe but he didn't bother himself to answer my question as he left right away.
I was confused, tired and most importantly afraid because doctors still hadn't given us details about what was happening in the surgery room so the only thing left for me to do was just praying and wishing for the best because nothing could help him in that situation.
Walking slowly, I reached where Mrs. Collins was sitting but Zack was nowhere to be found so I just sat there waiting for anybody to come out of that surgery room but nothing happened since we waited for more than an hour until the doctor opened the door with two nurses as I glanced Zack approaching us...
"We did everything we could do..." The doctor took a deep breathe.
"What do you want to say?" I interrupted him as I stood up quickly.
"Slowly" Zack yelled from behind.
What the hell was happening? My heart skipped so many beats when I was trying to process things in mind; the doctor seemed like he was holding bad news and Zack was acting like the sweetest guy ever who cared about me while in fact, it was quite the opposite.
"The surgery was absolutely amazing but don't put high expectations because his heart is so weak" The doctor continued talking but I somehow couldn't believe what he was saying.
"Really?" I felt my feet trembling as my head span around out of a sudden.
"Nadia, are you okay?" I heard people's voice around me but I couldn't recognize who was talking.
Five years ago, I was in the same position but the situation was different because in the past, I lost my soul in front of that surgery room when dad died but when it came to grandpa, I got my soul back since I lost hope of his recovery especially after knowing that he was talking about my dad and I, before his heart attack therefore, I had decided to do whatever made him comfortable even if it meant that I was going to be with Zack...
"Nadia! Nadia" I felt a warm touch caressing my cheek "Are you listening to me?"
"She'll be okay, you can leave the room" I heard a female's voice saying.
"For god's sake, she's like this for fifteen minutes and you're telling me that she'll be okay" I glanced Zack's clenched teeth, after trying to open my eyes several times.
"Chill out lover boy, she's waking up" The nurse of earlier stated, patting his shoulder while his hand was still placed on my face.
All I could think of in that moment was seeing grandpa on his feet again, yelling at me when I return late from college, admiring late breakfasts with him in the weekends and just appreciating that he was there for me when everyone else abandoned me.
"How's grandpa?" I managed to say.
"He'll be okay, don't worry about it" Zack answered me with a look full of hope "How do you feel?"
"Stop the drama" I retorted because I knew he was acting that he cared about me and I surely hated hypocrites "I'm in"
"You what?" He questioned right away, taking his hand off my cheek; that spot felt cold out of a sudden "Why have you changed your mind?"
"None of your business" I spoke coldly "Now take me to grandpa, I want to see him"
Although I was curious to know his real intentions of being a part of 'our agreement', I didn't want to tell him anything because he was keeping his business for himself so I intended to keep mine for myself also since we were going to be pretending after all.
I only wanted to get up and go check up on grandpa so I tried to lift my head up a little bit but I couldn't since it started pounding and my headache only became worse. I knew that even the nurses would tell me everything about his condition however being beside his room, it made me feel like I was somehow connected to him.
"How are you? The nurse told me you just woke up" Mrs. Collins hurried through the door.
"I'll be fine, don't worry" I tried my best to act like my headache wasn't affecting me
"I'm not, that's Zack's job not mine" She chuckled at her grandson.
"Grandma" Zack yelled at her as I stood between their intense gazes.
"Hum! Take me to grandpa" I spoke to break silence which lived between them.
"Sure honey! Zack, help her" Mrs. Collins pointed at him as I was pretty chocked that she didn't insist that I should have stayed in bed.
Zack put his hand around my shoulder and I instantly shivered but not from coldness, it was the warmth hidden under his skin, warmth I felt when dad patted my back whenever he was proud of me, warmth I hadn't experienced since a long time ago...
What's happening to me?!
I put my head on his hard chest when he was helping me to stand up because my head was spinning around and I didn't want them to notice that since they would call the doctor again and I wouldn't see grandpa soon. However, the sound of his heartbeat was so intense that it spoke volume, so loud that I felt like it was trying to tell me something. I liked it...
Seeing grandpa through the window of glass, lying on that bed was terrifying even though the doctor gave us great news. Nevertheless, I couldn't help tears from falling down my cheeks as my head was still on Zack's chest and he was wrapping his arms around my back and my shoulder.
"What's wrong now?" He put his thumb on my chin and lifted my head.
"It's just he's the only one left for me to trust" I blurted right away but then when I realized that I was over-talking, I stopped speaking.
/*Besides my brother too*/
"You have your friends"
"I only have few but when it comes to the others, they're all interested in my money not me" I chuckled but deep down, I was hurt of what I was saying "Never mind; now go take your grandma home"
"She'll kill me if I leave you alone"
"Don't worry, she won't be alone" A familiar female voice echoed in the background.
We both turned our heads and my heart suddenly speeded its pace. The so familiar women that happened to be my mother, stood there in all her glory. She was still wearing her business attire, she hadn't changed at all, same black hair, same brown eyes and same figure. However, her eyes were puffy and her nose was red. She was apparently crying.
"How are you?" She took few steps towards me "I came as soon as I heard"
"Zack, your grandma is probably waiting for you" I looked at Zack, ignoring mom's question.
"I'll drop her then come back later" He looked confused but nodded in agreement and went away.
As soon as I made sure that Zack was out of sight, I gathered every ounce of gut I had, and walked towards her; 'How could she come like that? After all that time? After forgetting that I actually existed ? But why?' I wanted to ask but I was tongue-tied.
"They told me that he's be okay" She looked at the glass window then when nothing came out of my mouth, she addressed me "How are you?"
"What do you think?" I stared at her eyes, looking for answers but I found nothing "Do you think I'm okay?"
"Well" She seemed taken back because she didn't expect it from me "I know you're strong" She threw her hand to pat my shoulder but I took a step back, throwing her attempt out of the window.
"Strong?" I tried my best not to break down in front of her "I... am..." I tried to talk but I felt like it wasn't worth it so I did what she had been doing for so long... I ran away and I ignored her.
A week after:
Grandpa's condition was getting better and better; in the first day when he woke up, he only offered me a tired grin and few words about how much he was proud of having me as his granddaughter, and the latter literally made me overwhelmed because I couldn't ask for a better grandfather.
The nurses gave us strict orders about his nutrition and that he had to stick with a diet. So I was currently feeding him chicken soup while he kept grumbling saying that he didn't like it. 'What a child he was!' I chuckled to myself as I just put a spoonful in his mouth.
The bowl was almost over when the burst open revealing Zack, he looked mouthwatering and gorgeous; I realized that I was staring at him from the smirk which covered his face so I slapped myself mentally and just helped grandpa finish the few spoons left of soup.
Zack was wearing a grey shirt, black jeans and a black converse as his hair was pushed back in a stylish way. I had to stare at the empty bowl for few seconds to recover from the sight in front of me, since he was absolutely handsome if I may say. However, I wondered why those thoughts of him, never crossed my mind before. Maybe because I was willing to spend quite some time with him in the future or maybe because we met more than ten times throughout this last week. Eghhh...
"Glad you came" Grandpa said the moment Zack entered the room but I glared and pointed at him to just eat with his mouth shut.
"I hope you're feeling better Mr. Mathews" Zack smiled at grandpa, genuinely, walking toward us.
"I am but if Nadia give me a little of air, I can be better" Grandpa pouted at me like a little child who lost his toy.
"Really? Then I better call your real nurse back home to do her job properly" I put the empty bowl on the side table and acted like I was actually searching for my phone.
"Oh no, you're absolutely fine" He rested his hand on top of my knee "I can't ask for someone better"
"I know" I mumbled to myself.
"Where's grandma?" Zack looked around "I thought she was here"
"She'll be here in few seconds!" Grandpa answered him pointing at the seat beside the bed "Have a seat, please"
After a whole week of lacking sleep, exhaustion and tiredness, grandpa had finally recovered and returned to the man I used to know and I couldn't be more happy; however, I still had one problem to solve in order to be relieved, which is Zack's problem since I agreed to the idea of marrying him only for grandpa and it meant that I'd be lying, manipulating and deceiving him by telling him that Zack and I loved each other while in fact, we couldn't even handle each other. And I was afraid that grandpa would blow my cover.
"Mr. Mathews, Nadia and I" Zack looked at me, nervously "We agreed on going on another date" Zack spoke slowly as if he was waiting for my grandpa's reaction which was a cute grin followed with clenched teeth.
"Hurt her and I'll hunt you" Grandpa answered him, coldly "And don't even think of calling her an maniac or a psychopath"
"Yes sir" Zack cleared his throat after few seconds of catching breathe.
"Now, will you excuse me?" I carried my handbag in one hand and waved at grandpa with the other one "I have an exam after two hours so I have to go but I'll be back soon"
"Zack will take you" Grandpa suggested as I immediately hinted at Zack to refuse but like usual he had to be annoying.
"My pleasure, Mr. Mathews" Zack smirked at me which irritated me and gave me a serious impression of hitting his head with a shovel.
"Take care" Grandpa stated as we were about to close the door behind us.
As soon as I closed the door, I caught Zack chuckling and after few seconds, he burst out laughing like I had never seen him before which made me pretty curious to find out what was so funny. Nevertheless, instead of yelling at him, I stood there admiring his cute dimples...
"What's so funny?"
"It's pretty amazing how I'm controlling you before even getting married" He cleared his throat.
"Really then wait to see how controlling me is amazing!" I stopped walking, glared at him, walked back to grandpa's room then I opened the door again "Knowing that Zack has his exam as well, he will take me first home then to college and finally he'll bring me back here; do you need anything?"
"No, just be safe" He yelled from inside the room.
"I what?" Zack whispered loudly.
"Now who's controlling who?" I smirked at him "Now take me home"
"You'll pay for it" He clenched his teeth. His eyes holding my stare for so long before we both took our ways through the hallway.
He walked with me through the hospital's hallways heading to the parking lot where his black Audi R8 was parked; with big steps he took the driver's side and entered the car leaving me outside like I didn't even exist at all which made me want to literally rip his head off.
"Uh sorry, I didn't mean to forget you" He stated as he went out of his car, reached the passenger's seat and opened it for me "I don't always have company"
"What happened to Jasmine?" I smirked at him when I was already in the car.
"What happened to your attitude?" He retorted, looking down at me.
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you said that you didn't care about me to the point that you didn't even know my friends" He answered me with a low tone then he closed the door when I didn't find what to answer him since I was literally slapping myself mentally for my stupidity; meanwhile, he ran to the driver's side and settled-in "Just like I thought, you don't have anything to say"
"Well, this kind of amazes me" I spoke out of sudden after almost five minutes.
"What?"
"As I remember, I made that clear two years ago and you still remember" I stared at him waiting for an answer but nothing came out of his mouth "Just like I thought, you don't have anything to say"
I opened the car's window and rested my head on the side of it with my eyes closed, just enjoying the fresh air which was hitting my face, especially that Zack was quiet throughout the entire road and he thankfully put some slow music, which only soothed me even more as I relaxed in my seat, thinking about the possibility of Zack and I as couple.
'No way' I wondered as my phone buzzed in my handbag, it was a message.
'I'm in the airport, I'll be staying for more than a week, we should hang out later, I can't wait to see you' I read the message, feeling a little ping deep down in my chest as I thought if I should agree or just ignore it.
'We can talk over dinner' I answered after writing a dozen of unsent messages.
'It's good to know that, Love you honey' I received an answer after less than a minute.
'Love you too' I replied immediately, thinking about what happened to 'I love you' instead of 'Love you' they weren't the same thing...
My eyes brimmed with tears at the sight of those messages, it felt like I was still the little girl who just enjoyed having her parents beside her, who was full of life and didn't care about anything besides her grades. I missed those moments and I could give everything to just get a minute back but it couldn't be true, everything was different and nothing would be back to the way it was.
I closed my eyes again, hating the fact that I was in Zack's car since I wanted to be anywhere but around him. I didn't want him to see me in that position so weak and broken, I wanted him to keep the image of the powerful, arrogant and selfish girl he thought I was because it was easier for me to keep him away from me with less possibility of me being hurt.
"Aloha, mother earth is calling you" Zack jerked me out of my thoughts with a punch on my upper-arm "We're in your place, come"
"Oh" I didn't know what else to say because as soon as I faced him, I found him staring at me with an amused face.
"Ouh, I was blurting things out loud" I thought on my mind because since I was young, I used to think out out loud which caused me thousands of problems every time I used my mind.
"Have I said anything?" I questioned, quite embarrassed.
"No, nothing but hurry" He leaned forward, unfastened my seat belt then moved closer to open my door from his side as he was two inches away and I caught my breathe in my throat "You'll be late for college"
"And since when you care about college?" I teased him.
"I don't but hurry"
I jumped out of the car, to face my housekeeper: Angela but we all loved to call her "Ann"; she was an amazing women with a great attitude, she made our lives so much better because she knew how to take care of grandpa when I was late in College and how to be there for me when I needed someone to talk to! Overall, we couldn't live without her...
"Darling, I prepared the shower for you, it's warm" She greeted me with a quick hug as I glanced her daughter: Samantha, 'but we called her Sam', watching us from behind.
"Hey where's your future husband?" Sam whispered in my ear as soon as she approached me and hugged me "Uh he's the cutie in the car"
"Hey you're still young to say these kinds of things" I poked her head.
"I'm six years old" She squeezed her hands to her chest adorably "I'm not young"
"Yeah and I love you a lot" I messed her hair.
"I love you too" She hugged me tightly then ran away heading to our garden.
Sam was Ann's only daughter after her son's death, and she was the only family member she had left since her husband left them the day Sam was born, it was so hard on both of them to handle everything therefore my grandpa and I, we offered them one of our guests' room; and since that day, we lived like a happy family. Moreover, Sam and I, we were like sisters; I just couldn't live without her.
I headed directly to my room after it without even looking for Zack who was still in his car because I didn't want him to be involved in every aspect in my life; I wanted him to be "Nobody" to me since he was harmful and always showed the bad in me, the side that somehow appeared whenever I was around him.
In less than five minutes, I was already in the bathtub; being under warm but not too hot water always gave me power to think clearly and I desperately needed to do that because I was going to take a major step in my life not just a small one. Therefore, I took my time inside, totally forgetting that Zack was out and that I had college in less than an hour and a half.
Time pulled me out of my train of thoughts and brought be back to reality because as much as I wanted to stay home and just lay in bathtub, I had to get going therefore without even thinking I wore bathrobe after drying my body quickly, and went out of my shower, wiping my hair with a towel.
"Hi sunshine" I literally jumped because I got used to being alone in silence then suddenly Zack decided to pop-up in my room.
"What are you doing in my room?" I yelled at him, grateful that I wore my bathrobe since I used to just wrap a towel around my body.
"It was open so I decided to dig-in a little bit" He ran his hand through his wet hair.
"Are you wearing my grandpa's T-shirt?" I observed his clothes.
"Yeah after taking a shower, what are we going to do next my fiancee?" He winked at me with a mischievous smile covering his face, throwing himself on my bed.
"It's fake, you've forgotten?" I smirked at him, drying my hair.
"No, but keep it in mind next time you try to take advantage of me" He stood up, moved closer and blew a breathe on my face which made me literally freeze, admiring the smell of menthe in his fresh breathe "Why are you frozen?"
"I'm not" I took the towel off my shoulders and slapped him with it "I'm not" I repeated as he just stared at me devilishly.
"I can make you freeze though"
"You bet"
"Okay" He grabbed my wrist strongly, pulled me by my waist and hugged me as I yelled at him to let go of me while he just smirked "See, I could do it"
"Wow, what's happening here?" Sam opened her mouth at the sight of Zack and I, hugging.
"Nothing" He tried to pull away but we couldn't do so because my wet hair got stuck on the buttons of his shirt or shall I say, my grandpa's; trying to pull away, we both fell on the bed.
/*How did it even happen?*/
"Hey, can you just stop moving, please?" He shouted on me.
I literally caught my breathe when he was trying to free my hair off the button because we were in an annoying and an uncomfortable position whilst Sam was still staring at us, surprised and hiding her mouth with her hand, giggling.
/*So embarrassing*/
/* Please, don't forget to vote, thank you*/