Disabled.

Thirty-Three

Previously

She closed her eyes as she placed her hand on top of his, feeling the warmth surround her. Her lips turned into a smile as she slowly opened her eyes. But to her disappointment, her bedroom ceiling was what she saw. She continued to look at the ceiling, replaying what had just happened in her dream until she heard her phone vibrate from where it lay on the night stand.

She reached for it and looked at it to find a message from Mason.

Hey, are you awake?

She stared at the message, unsure of how to reply. Considering she had just seen Jackson in her dream and partly confessed her feelings for Mason, she couldn't find the words to answer. She looked at the time on her phone screen and saw that it was 12:25 am.

Seeing that time reminded her of the Christmas dinner that her family had every year. And even with everything that had happened, they were still going to have it this year.

And so, with that thought in mind, she replied,

What are you doing on Christmas?

- - -

Thirty-Three

A Few Days Later

"I know you don't want to but you have to, Nadia. It's the only way that you can be happy. Holding onto me will only hold you back and I don't want that; I want you to be happy."

"Your happiness is all that matters to me, my love."

Nadia couldn't stop herself from replaying Jackson's words from her dream in her mind over and over as she got ready for the Christmas party. As she looked at herself in the mirror, combing through her hair, she found herself questioning whether she should do what the Jackson in her dream had said: to move on.

Were the words said in her dream even something the real Jackson would have said?

She found herself going back and forth; from agreeing with those words to disagreeing.

Wouldn't moving on be betraying the real Jackson?

Her thoughts were stopped short when her mother knocked on her door before opening it and walking inside.

"You look beautiful sweetheart," her mother said as she sat on her bed, looking at her with a large smile on her face.

"It must be because she's your daughter," they heard her father's voice from the doorway as he entered the room. Nadia smiled as her father walked towards her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"So is he coming?" he asked. She looked at her father with a confused expression.

"Who?"

"Don't act like you don't know that I'm talking about Mason," he said as his smile widened. Nadia nodded as she smiled slightly.

"Yeah he is, but he doesn't know if his aunt and uncle will come too," she said to them. Her mom smiled slightly.

"It's understandable if they can't come. They've been through a lot recently," she said, to which Nadia and her father nodded. Her mother clapped her hands as she stood up.

"Anyways, we should start setting up before people get here." 

Nadia followed her parents out of her room and into the kitchen before helping her parents to set up for party. 

---

Nadia was talking with two of her cousins after the dinner party had started when the door bell suddenly rang. The three ladies turned to look at the door as Mason entered, giving her mother a bouquet of flowers as he said a few words to her. Her mother laughed before inviting him inside. And as soon as he stepped inside, his eyes connected with hers as his lips turned into a smile. Nadia couldn't ignore the feeling of warmth that surrounded her as she smiled back.