Strength |✔️

twenty-nine

Alisha

I wake up to Sanjay tapping me on the shoulder. Yawning, I look and see that I was sleeping on Sheila, while she was sleeping on me. Though I know it's a bit weird to sleep on your boyfriend's mom, but we are tired of everything that has happened in the past 24 hours, so we needed to close our eyes for a bit and just relax.

I look at him confusingly and he clears his throat. His eyes have massive bags underneath and they are blood shot red. "Alisha," he says quietly, "do you mind if I have a talk with you for about couple of minutes?" The hatred that was showing on his face is starting to fade away. I immediately feel a huge sigh of relief go through me.

"Yeah, that's fine," I squeak out. Standing up, he walks me to the corner where Monika and Sheila, who are currently sound asleep, would not be able to hear our conversation. Sanjay leans against the pole and pushes his glasses down to the bridge of his nose. 

"So," I say awkwardly, trying to break the silence between us. "How is Neil doing so far? Do you know?"

"No, they have not gave us news yet," he replies robotically. Sanjay's eyes go down to the ground, avoiding to make eye contact with me. "All we know is that Neil is still in the ICU and his blood vitals and his heart rate is dropping down very low, from a couple of hours ago." It's only been a couple of hours? It felt like a whole damn day to me, to be honest. Then, I look at the clock and see that it says 5:15pm. It's only evening. Monika's reception would be going on right now, but it isn't.

I bite my lip to keep myself from crying. "Okay," I say. Sanjay still avoids to make contact with me. "Why do you hate me so much?" I blurt out. "I have no idea what I did wrong to you, to Sheila, to Monika, and to even Neil. I have no idea, uncle. Why do you hate me so much?"

"Alisha, calm down," he tells me. Calm down? Did he just tell me to calm down?

He continues on. "I don't hate you, okay? Not exactly," Sanjay adds quietly. "It's just-- this is the first girlfriend Neil has had, believe it or not. I want to make sure that whatever girl Neil is dating, I want him to be happy no matter what."

"But he is happy around me, I'm pretty sure," I added.

"I know," Sanjay says, groaning. "That's why I called you over so I can apologize to you."

My breath catches in my throat. "You... want to apologize to me?"

He chuckles. "Yes, Alisha." Sanjay pulls out his hand. "I'm sorry for excluding you out of our family. I'm sorry for saying those things about you and your dad and your mom and what happened to you. I am truly very sorry."

For a second, I don't believe him. But then, when I really look into Sanjay's eyes, I see the amount of desperation in them, that he needs someone with him while he goes through Neil's recovery. I see the amount of regret in his eyes, that he actually feels bad.

"Please say that you forgive me, Alisha," he says desperately. "Please. I very deeply apologize."

I look at him and clear my throat. "Okay," I say. "I accept your apology, uncle."

Sanjay looks at me surprisingly and raises his eyebrows, as if he's very surprised by what he heard. "Really?" 

I nod my head again and laugh. "Yes, really. I do accept your apology."

Sanjay grins and pulls me in for a hug. I feel a bit awkward at first, but I decide to let that awkwardness go and I hug him back. It's okay. He needs you and you need someone as well. Then, I hear noises coming down the hall.

Sheila and Monika look at us very weirdly, as if this is the first time seeing Sanjay hug me, which is true. I look at Monika, who cleaned up her face, but still has her bridal jewelry and clothes on, and she weakly smiles at me. Immediately, Sheila and Monika joins in on the hug. 

I feel warmth and closeness all around. I feel love, compassion, and security all around. I feel so loved by Neil's family. I really do. But, Neil needs to recover. He really does. I don't want to lose him. If he does, I'm going to hate myself and James and this whole universe surrounding me. I don't want James to take away Neil, just like he took away my mother, my sweet, sweet mother. Her precious memories come back to me, and a tear falls down from my eyes. Sheila immediately wipes it away and caresses my cheek. "No need to cry," she whispers. "You have us now. Your own family." I smile at her and she smiles back.

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A/N:

Yikes, I'm crying again! Mostly because the ending of this chapter got to me AND this book is almost about to end. NOO!

Though, there is some light in this book now. Let's see how Neil's recovery goes...

Til then, stay tuned for future chapters.

-ru <3