“Adelaide will understand,” desperation leaked from my throat in liquified contractions.
“Shewouldhave understood if you told her before your wedding.” Her eyes traced over each of us. Shaking her head like she couldn’t believe the three of us were involved in this. “To think that both of us blindly trusted you guys, only for you to make fools of us.”
Staring at me dead in the eye, she cleared her expression of any disbelief. All hard and no-nonsense. “You’ll tell her today and if you don’t, I will. Now get the fuck out of my way.”
When the door slammed behind her, I slumped onto the couch of my dark office. “How did she find out?”
“She’d been searching through my folders without me knowing,” Osama looked away from me—guilt written all over his face. If Umaima got access to his folders that meant she was on his level and as awing as that was,why the hell did she have to open it now?
“What did she find?”
“Everything,” Hasan grumbled. “She found out about our friendship through group chat. She knows about Eda, your dad, the board members, and your mom.”
“You had all of that in the folder?” Hasan asked.
“Rowlen asked me to compile evidence together as backup. I didn’t think she was digging into me otherwise I would’ve saved it on a hard drive.”
“Fuck,” my head fell back against the couch. “Anything else I should know?”
“Other than we’re fucked, no clue.”
“Where are you going?”
Hasan scowled when I got up.
“To tell her the truth.”
Courage was a hard feat to gain. I learned from Adelaide that you can gain it with simple moments. For the past seven years, I was confident this plan would work. But when the moment finally arrived, I didn’t have the courage to go through with it without Adelaide by my side.
She might hate me for a while.
But I’d rather her hate me than love me obliviously.
FORTY-SIX
ADELAIDE
Chubby greetedme with friendly kisses at the door to which I open-heartedly returned with temperate fluffs.
Tonight, would be our first date as a married couple. No pretending, no running around the bushes—real.
I loved the sound of it.
More than that, I lovedlivingit.
The sun was close to setting. In Christian’s apartment, light flooded in through his large windows—basking the room with hues of sunset—different every day. Today, the colours were unfortunately dull.
Gloomy clouds basked over the sky. It didn’t reflect the giddiness in my heart.
I didn’t know what time Christian would pick me up. Which meant getting ready early—because the earlier the better. Being late for anything itched in a weird chicken pox kind of way and if I could prevent it, I would.
I could go with a dark brown outfit—something close enough to match Christian’s eyes. Blue shirt matched with my dark brown would be perfect.
Tonight, would be about me and him.
About us. Talking. Catching up.Loving.
Skirting up the stairs with a skip to my step, I headed straight for the closet. It was a long walk-in that had enough room to fit a whole queen-sized bed. One side was Christian’s, and the other side was mine. Most of my dresses were ironed and neatly hung which left little work for me.
