I Want You to Stay

Chapter 21

Hana's POV

I look towards the entrance searching with my eyes for the person Miss Elsie was talking about.

"Anyways, nevermind." Miss Elsie raises her hand up to call for the waiter. We make our orders before proceeding to talk.

"So, what did you call me here for?"

"First of all, how is your daughter? Did you find her yesterday?"

"Yes, I did. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. But thanks for asking."

"Oh, and I wanted to apologise... I didn't know you had gone through the same as me."

"You just assumed you were the only one suffering in this world," I remark, getting her by surprise.

"I don't think that."

"Then why are you finding help from the wrong sources. I've said it yesterday, the minimum sentence for perjury is 6 months and it can go up to two years. I can't imagine not seeing my mum for 6 months nevertheless 2 years." I speak then take a sip out of my coffee, avoiding her glaring eyes at me.

"You like to indirectly call me a liar, don't you?"

"I like to directly tell the truth."

"You know, I liked Attorney Aasim's other assistant much better. What was her name again?"

"Melody?"

"Yes. Why are you even here?"

"Ouch." I pretend to be hurt by placing my hand over my chest and she reluctantly smiles. "I am Mr Aasim's temporary assistant."

"Temporary? As in?" Miss Elsie questions, curiously. I avoid her question by taking a bite out of my sandwich. She doesn't need to know that I am a placement student.

"In the text message, you mentioned being betrayed by Mr Smith. Care to elaborate?"

"Do you have any evidence against me so far?"

"Working on it." I shrug it off. I don't know why she asked to meet here today, but if it's to get information out of me, she isn't getting it.

"You're married?" The question comes out more like a statement.

"Are you assuming or asking?

"I'm..." She pauses when she looks down at the ring on my finger. "Assuming."

"This doesn't mean anything. I wear it because I like it." I explain. Sahil gave it to me on our wedding day, but it doesn't really symbolise anything. The only thing that proves a person is married in Islam is the Nikah contract.

"So I'll assume you're not married then."

"Do you enjoy my company?" I ask, not responding to what she previously said.

"Why do you ask?"

"I'm still eager to know why you called me here."

"You seem like you know a lot already, including what I was going to tell you, so why bother?"

"Then why don't you just seek help with your mother's treatment another way?"

"When did you find out?"

"It wasn't hard to put two and two together. Did Mr Smith promise to pay for your mother's treatment?"

"Instead of worrying about me, why don't you worry about your stalker?" She changes the subject, but I couldn't help but be curious.

"What?"

"You came alone right? You claimed not to know the person in the black hoodie, so maybe you should investigate that instead."

"It could've been a random person walking by. How can you be so sure she was following me?"

"You said she. So you also noticed her, didn't you?" Miss Elsie asks and I refuse to respond. "Anyways, today was not the only day I saw her following you. Yesterday when you left the shop, she was there too. I remember, at some point, she tried to reach you with something in her hand. It seemed like paper. Maybe she has a message for you. But don't fall for that, you should report her if you see her again." Miss Elsie reveals, leaving me in shock.

The female in the hoodie I saw yesterday was actually following me? She tried to reach into my pocket to leave me a paper with a potential message in it? That's crazy!

"Is that why you came to ask me for a ride?" I question Miss Elsie.

"Yes, she got in a taxi to follow you so I made you stop your car while hers continued. I made up the excuse of needing a lift." She explains and my heart instantly tells me I need to inform Sahil about this. What if the figure is part of the 'bad guys' that Sahil keeps talking about?

"Thank you." I finally speak after getting out of my thoughts. "Mr Andrew was right. Although you are witnessing against him, he never said anything negative about you during our meeting. He even mentioned how special you are to him." I pause when Miss Elsie becomes quiet again. "You still like him, don't you?" I ask. For a few minutes, I thought she wouldn't answer.

"More than anything." She speaks quietly. Her eyes becoming watery.

"I think you still go on time of apologising if you go back on your decision before the trial," I say, but she does not respond.

I place my hand above hers, expressing compassion. Miss Elsie looks at me but does neither respond nor does anything.

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I am so sorry guys for the short chapter. You guys for sure know this is out of character because I've never had a chapter this short. I am literally overworked right now as I usually have my chapters ready days in advance but I haven't been well lately so I'm writing my chapters last minute 😩 I'll try make it up to you guys soon in shaa Allah 💕