ELIZA

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE: VISITING

The largest, the tallest... This was the first thing that came to my mind after three days in Dubai.

In Dubai, there are the largest man-made islands called the Palm Islands, the largest shopping center in terms of area Dubai Mall, and the tallest buildings in the world. What I liked the most, were the fountains next to it, which are the world's largest fountain choreographed system located on an artificial lake. We watched the fountains dance, shooting up to a height of about 150 meters to the music of Whitney Huston.

Today we went to Miracle Garden - the world's largest natural botanical garden. We didn't have to go there at all - I saw that Cosmo was bored while seeing the flowers, but for some reason he decided to take me there. We walked along an alley made of hearts, an alley of butterflies, and there were also giant birds and even an airplane made of flowers! I regretted that I couldn't take pictures since I didn't have my phone.

We rested only when we went to the beach. It was sunset in front of a beautiful Sail Hotel. Somehow I became really sad looking at this beautiful view and although at first Cosmo was joking with me, after a few minutes he stopped, seeing that I really fell into a melancholy mood. He put his arm around me and we sat on the sand watching the sun disappear from our sight.

I think I knew it was coming to an end, I was sad that in less than two weeks I would be flying home and Cosmo wouldn't be able to cross the border with me. I was sorry that Tom couldn't see Dubai, I was still worried about him and missed him.

"Do you want to call him?"

Cosmo must have read my mind, because he asked me about it at the moment when I sniffled terribly.

"What?"

I'm sure he meant Tom, but I couldn't believe it. Like why now? Why so suddenly?

And yet, Cosmo handed me the phone. It was his phone.

"You have two minutes, not more," he murmured to me before walking away to give me some privacy.

His behavior was nothing like that possessive Cosmo. I even started to suspect him, maybe he just wanted to test me? However, I wanted to hear Tom's voice so much that I couldn't kid myself that I wouldn't try. Cosmo even had Tom's number in his contacts.

Those seconds of waiting for a connection seemed like an eternity. My heart was pounding like after running a marathon, I had the feeling that it wanted to jump out of my throat, when suddenly...

"Cosmo?" I couldn't confuse him with anyone else. He was surprised, he thought it was my kidnapper and not me calling.

"No, it's Eliza," I said in a trembling voice. Within seconds, I was shaking all over my body, feeling terrible.

"Eliza?" he asked as if he had amnesia and didn't know who I was. But what was he supposed to say: How could you do this to me?  Or maybe: How are you feeling?

"He'll let me out in a week and a half," I said, sensing I was running out of time to talk, so I had to be brief. "I'm not here of my own will, but please, I don't want him to go to jail because of it."

Tom inhaled sharply.

"He deserves prison," his voice was rough, far away, yet I could hear it clearly. I started regretting dialing his number. "He deserves punishment," he added, offended.

"Are you all right?" I asked, changing the subject, but then I saw Cosmo pointing in the distance for me to finish.

"Been better," he growled.

I wanted to tell Tom that I love him, but somehow the words got stuck in my throat.

"I have to go," I hung up quickly.

We spent another week and a half in Dubai. Ten beautiful and at the same time difficult days for me. I wanted to return home, but the vision of leaving Cosmo was horrible. I felt like a summer camp child who had grown so close to his friends for a few weeks that her heart broke whenever the date of parting approached. I even shed a few tears when Cosmo didn't see me. Everything was overwhelming me. The last day in Dubai, however, was different.