Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 35876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35876 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 179(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
The truth is in Nik's eyes, and a sob rushes out of my throat when I look at Daria, and I see the same thing as well.
Karen was right.
Again.
She told me again and again not to keep things to myself, and if I had just listened to her, then I would have never ended in this mess.
"Nik, Daria, I'm sorry," I choke out. "I'm so, so sorry." I can't believe how blind I've been. All this time, I was so busy trying to hide my own fears, so busy thinking I wasn't normal, that I failed to realize Nik and Daria have been struggling with the same things as well.
They're just as worried as I am about Io's cancer returning, but the difference between us is that Nik and Daria have learned to live with their worries, which is how it should be, while I...
I'm such an idiot that I literally gave myself headaches trying to stop myself from worrying.
Just the biggest idiot ever that I actually thought a fantasy about a conscienceless doctor fucking me would cure me, just so much of an idiot that when it did happen in real life, I even convinced myself it could end well, and that we'd fall in love and—-
"Are you fucking dying?" Nik's tightly voiced question makes his wife pale.
"Why are we t-talking about dying all of a sudden?" Daria stammers. "Isn't this just about Leah having a wild affair with a doctor she doesn't know?"
"What the fuck?" That's Nik.
"Daria!" I cry out at the same time.
"Leah?"
That voice.
Daria, Nik, and I turn towards it, and I almost feel like collapsing in shock when my gaze once again collides with a pair of green eyes.
"What the hell, Adam?" That's Nik again.
"Doctor?" That's also me again, crying out at the same time—-
Wait.
Did Nik just call Dr. Somebody...Adam?
As in...Dr. Adam Al-Masri, my sister's doctor?
The story he told me about his ex flashes in my mind.
She never understood...what my work means to me.
She bribed my assistant...and someone fucking died.
Everything suddenly becomes crystal clear, and even though I've been an idiot for so many times in the past, this is the one time my brain cells actually work to my advantage, and I start crying again because I can already feel the pieces of my heart stitching themselves back together.
"Please."
So that's why he's said all of those hurtful things.
"Will you let me explain?"
He broke my heart...because I had broken his first.
"I thought you were lying to me," he says rawly. "I thought it was the past repeating itself again. I'm so fucking sorry I hurt you—-"
I want to tell him that he has nothing to be sorry about. Want to tell him that I get that everything is just one huge misunderstanding, and what's important is that we never wanted to hurt each other in the first place.
I wish I could say all of those things, but since I'm crying too hard, all I can do is shake my head, and that's when his face whitens.
"Please, little thorn. Just let me explain—-"
I realize too late that he's mistaken my response for rejection.
"I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sor—-"
He stops speaking when I throw myself in his arms, and as I wrap my arms around his neck as tightly as I can...
He finally hears what my lips are unable to say, but my heart has been crying out all this time.
I love you, too.
Epilogue
Him: I'm on my way.
Me: You don't have to come if you're tired. I mean it.
Him: I'm never too tired to come.
I have to quickly cover my mouth before I end up giggling out loud.
"Oh my gosh."
I nearly jump out of my skin at hearing a sudden gushing tone next to my ear, and I groan when Io pinches my cheek like she used to do when I was still a little kid in pigtails.
"Being in love totally suits you, sis."
Ewww.
Her words make me realize I've been wearing this stupidly cheesy grin while texting with Adam, and although I get rid of it right away, I know it's too late, and my sister's words have Daria squealing yet again while my friends snicker anew and Nik curls his lip in disapproval.
Although all of us have come to the marina's clubhouse to celebrate Io's homecoming, dinner so far has been a torture fest on my part, with the girls teasing me endlessly about how much I've changed ever since becoming Adam Al-Masri's girlfriend.
Hihihi.
I mean, hmph.
It's almost ten in the evening when I get another text from Adam, and I finally have an excuse to escape and wait for my beautiful sheikh-slash-doctor at the lobby.
A few minutes pass before I see a familiar vehicle come up the driveway, and it finally solves one of the many questions I've had about him.
I used to wonder what kind of car a man like Adam Al-Masri would drive, and the answer to this?