Because he loved him..

25. Anxiety

*Amay's point of view*

*Present day*

I smiled to myself. Ray has a date tonight. It wasn't as if it's a rare thing. It's just that finally, it feels like he is softening up and that girl Christina might be his endgame.

I chuckled. Kids these days. That girl, Kiara was so young and weirdly, she reminded me of Sam somehow. There was just something about her face that felt so much like Sam.

Sam; it felt wrong thinking about him now. He was someone's husband now, someone's father and I am here; miles and miles away from home.

I sighed. All these years and my heart still manages to mess up things for me or maybe that is just my mind going overdrive.

I hope it works out between Ray and Christina. It would be nice to see Ray finally settle down.

Even Paul's aunt and our boss, Bethany agreed with me on this. She is something else though; a formidable woman who can sniff out trouble before it even began and she makes sure that her staff is treated properly.

And she bakes these extraordinary cakes. Even her recipes were so ingenious. I loved her line of spiced cakes especially. Somehow, she mixes refreshing flavours in her cake that only have just enough sugar in them for them to be called sweet.

There is just one thing that makes me avoid her unless she is cooking. She keeps dropping not so subtle hints that her nephew, Paul likes me and how perfect we would be for each other.

Apparently, Ray had told her that I had been in a few abusive relationships and she made it a point to regale me with the importance of Self esteem at every opportunity she found.

She could have written a few books on self esteem herself with how much she emphasised on it.

Despite all this, she was an old woman and needed her rest. So, tonight when she was resting, I snuck down to the cafe from the room I shared with Ray upstairs.

Bethany had forbidden me from working in the cafe after 6 PM.

She insisted that I needed the time off but I always found something to do in the bakery.

On his last visit, Paul had brought some plants for the cafe and it had raised my spirits to the sky. Even though Ray had rolled his eyes at that, I knew better than to believe that he was anything but impressed.

So now, there were potted plants to be watered, chairs and tables to be rearranged and blinds to be dusted. The rest of the staff had left for the day.

I decided to get a head start on work tomorrow. Weekends at Cloves and mints were busy. It was also the time for Paul's visit. I sighed. I knew Paul was a good man but I felt....

I felt as if my relationships were doomed. Only my relationship with Ray had survived the tests of time and that too because Ray was ....Ray.

I wondered about future sometimes. What if Ray's wife didn't like having me around? He was going to have to marry someday. How will I survive his moving out?

Should I ask Paul out myself? Ray was not all that impressed with Paul but that might be because of the fact that he was very possessive of me.

He often said that I was too nice for my own good and that I needed someone streetsmart to hold me in check. And obviously, Paul didn't fit the bill but I knew even Ray grudgingly respected Paul.

Sometimes he would joke that any guy wanting to marry me would have to stay near him so that he could keep an eye out for me.

Ray, Bethany and Paul would anchor ne back to the present whenever I would start drifting along the lanes of past.

Someone knocked on the door and I jumped. It was dark and we had turned off the lights outside because we were closed so, I could barely make out the outline of a man standing outside.

"Yes?"

"Can I get something to eat?" I heard his muffled voice ask.

"Err... We are closed right now but we would be happy to serve you tomorrow."

"Please don't do this. I am really hungry and there aren't any other eateries nearby. "

I sighed. "Okay. Hold on a second. I turned the latch from inside and the door opened with a creak."

The man didn't wait for me to step aside and almost pushed me on his way inside.

I was affronted. I turned back but when I saw his face, I felt my face turn pallid. My heart threatened to run out of my body. For a second, I couldn't breathe.

No. This can't be true. He was dead. Did someone spike my food again? Am I hallucinating?

"Ka.....Karim?"

*A cliffhanger! Who do you think this is? I would love to know your thoughts about it*