CHAPTER FIVE: THE SECOND MEETING
1162 Words
Nadia's POV
Liam woke up at seven in the morning and asked for pancakes.
Not water. Not his mum but pancakes.
“With the blueberries,” he added in a normal voice like he hadn't spent the last eight hours with a fever that made my heart race.
I put my hands on his forehead and noticed that his temperature was back to normal which was a relief then.
I sat back in the chair and placed my hands on my face.
“Mum, are you crying?” He asked.
“No,” I replied.
He decided not to take the conversation further which was way too mature considering his age.
“Can I still have the pancakes?” He asked further.
“Sure,” I replied.
He went back to sleep, as he placed his tiny hands on mine.
Priya was asleep as she had used her coat on her body: her mouth was slightly opened, I allowed her to sleep anyway.
A doctor came in around eight and looked at Liam's numbers and said that the fever had gone and that we could go home by afternoon.
“He is a tough one,” she said.
“He really is.”
Priya woke up after the doctor had left the ward. She blinked at the ceiling for a second then she looked at me.
“What time is it?” She asked.
“A few minutes after eight.”
She sat up slowly as she removed the coat from her shoulders. She looked at Liam first then back at me
“Is he okay?”
“The fever had subsided: the doctor said that we can go back this afternoon.”
“So what's going to be your next move?” She asked.
“About what?” I asked her
She rolled her eyes at me.
“About Ethan,” she replied. “He knows about all of this, what happened next?”
“I don't know yet.”
“You will have to figure this out because he is going to come back.”
“What do you actually want?” She asked in a tender voice.
I didn't answer right away as it took me some time before I could finally answer.
“I just want Liam to be okay,” I said after a moment of contemplation.
Priya looked at me like she was anticipating the next sentence.
“That's not all of it,” she said.
“No,” I said. “That's not all.”
She didn't push, she only gave a slight nod before looking back at Liam.
We sat there in silence for a while.
Then Liam woke up.
“Mum,” he said. “I'm hungry.”
“I know baby,”
“Can we go home now?”
“Not yet but soon enough.”
He looked around the ward, at the IV connected to his body and Priya looked at him with concerned eyes.
“Good morning, Priya,” he said
Priya gave a slight nod as her lips curved upwards.
“The man left,” he said.
“Yes,”
“Will he come back?”
I looked at my six years old son asking questions that I don't have the direct answer to.
“I don't know yet,” I replied.
He nodded like it was a reasonable answer and rested his head against the pillow.
“Can I have the pancakes when we get home?” He asked.
I let out a light chuckle.
“With the blueberries,” he added.
I smiled as I nodded.
I relaxed on the chair as I placed my hands on his ankle and thought about the fact that he had asked if the man was coming back.
Not who he was or why was he here??
But, “is he coming back?”
Six years old and was already asking the right questions. Priya left the ward to get us coffee.
A nurse walked past the ward without entering as the ward was quiet, I stood up and went to stay by the window and I feasted my eyes on the bustling city.
My phone was low as it had a bar left.
I thought about calling my mother: too bad, she had been dead for nine years. I do that sometimes when things get bad enough, reaching out for something that wasn't there in the first place.
I placed the phone down.
Then Liam said from the bed: “I like Priya,”
“Me too,”
“She always comes whenever you need her,”
“Yeah,”
He was quiet for a while.
“The man last night,” he said. “Did you call him?”
“No.”
“Who called him?”
“Priya.”
He nodded slowly like it was a confirmation of something.
“He stayed for a long time,” he said. “Even though you didn't call him,”
I looked at my son.
“He did,”
Priya came back with the coffee, we packed our things as we left the hospital. We stopped a cab and headed to our destination, all through the way, my heart was racing with diverse thoughts as I pondered on the reason that Liam had asked such a question in the hospital.
We got to the house as Liam put on the TV and was watching a cartoon, oblivious to the chaos that he had caused in my heart as a result of the discussion.
I placed the phone at the counter as I wanted to make dinner.
After some time my phone buzzed.
I picked it up.
One message. No greeting. Just an address and a time.
Tonight, at seven o'clock, come alone.
Then a second message
Ethan.
I placed the phone back to the counter as I realized that Priya was watching me.
“What is it?” She asked.
“Nothing,” I replied.
She looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“You did the “I am confused” kind of look” she added.
I shrugged, not knowing the words that I would say to refute her.
I picked up the phone and read the message again.
I had lived six years making sure that Ethan does not find out the truth turns out that he found out anyways.
I put the phone in my bag.
“I need you to tuck Liam into the bed when he gets sleepy,” I said to Priya.
“Why? Where are you going?” She asked.
“I'll explain later.”
“Nadia….”
“Later,” I said. “I promise”
She looked at me for a while then she nodded.
I looked at Liam who was ignoring both of us as he happily watched the cartoon on the TV
Tonight. Seven o'clock
I had no idea of what I was walking into but I was going anyways.
- Writer
