Rewind

by Mariam Alaa

  When I asked her about it, she brushed it off claiming that the reason behind it was that she wasn’t there with me when I found it. That she feels like she’s an idiot for messing up things with me before my wedding, for not getting to be there when I found the perfect dress, and for not getting to share my happiness.

  To lift up her mood, I got out the white box from under the bed and opened it. Lexi gasped when she saw the dress and kept on gushing on how I’m going to be the ‘most beautiful bride of the century’.

  While Lexi was observing the dress, my bedroom door suddenly slammed open. When my eyes caught who it was, it widened a tiny fraction before I lashed out as I got up from my seat and started rushing quickly to push him out of the room.

  “Don’t you know it’s a bad omen when the groom sees the bride’s wedding dress before the wedding?” I cross my arms over my chest as I face my fiancé whom I try desperately to block out his view of the insides of my room yet shamelessly fail due to the height difference.

  “And don’t you, Evangeline Williams, know how much I missed you?” He stares at me with his beautiful jade green eyes and gives me one of his dimpled smiles- the one that causes the entire female population to swoon.

  The same one that forced me to fall head over heels for him.

  Since it’s only been less than a week since I’ve last seen him, a light blush forms on my cheeks, and I offer him one of my smiles. “I missed you too.”

  I turn back and tell Lexi to return the dress and put it away before Mr. Curious here manages to glimpse it, and that’s when the whining starts.

  The whining of a 5-year-old.

  God! I’m marrying a child.

  “Oh come on!” He stomps his feet, “Isn’t it a bad omen if I see the bride in her wedding dress just before the wedding starts? See, it says if I see it on you before the wedding, but it didn’t mention it’s bad if I see it alone.”

  “You just made that up. No, I won’t let you see it now. You’ll have to wait just a few more days.” I chuckle lightly at the frown that was starting to appear on his face.

  “Anyways, why aren’t you ready yet?” His eyes asses my onesie before they return back to my irises.

  “Lexi here.” I point at her back in my room. “Made time pass real fast that I didn’t even figure out it was afternoon already.”

  “Well, time flies when you’re with the one you love.” I give Lexi a pointed look, thinking she was just joking around just to catch her giving Adrien a stern face.

  What is the matter with her?

  When I look back at Adrien, I see him eyeing her with the same expression.

  What the hell is wrong with them both?

  I mean I’ve always known that my best friend and my fiancé never got along since forever, and even though it’s always felt like a heavy burden in my back and bothered me a lot at first, I accepted it. My several attempts at figuring out the reason behind this mutual, shared dislike between them failed because whenever I mention it to one of them, they always shrug it off claiming they’re just not that comfortable around one another. I know this isn’t the reason, though.

  I just really wish one of them tells me, so I can at least try and fix it.

  Trying to ease the sudden tension that started spreading in the atmosphere, I tell Adrien to go ahead and wait for me downstairs while I get ready and change. Just as I finish telling him that, Lexi states calmly that she has to leave before storming out of the room with a furious look on her face, bumping Adrien’s shoulder roughly on her way and leaving me in my tornado of thoughts.

  The main one of these thoughts was ‘what the hell just happened?’

  My heart does a little flutter as I look around the restaurant in total and utter disbelief. Covering my mouth with both of my hands as I spot the red roses decorating the people-free space and the lit candle on the table, I smile a totally genuine one, feeling grateful for having such a romantic soon to be husband.

  “You didn’t have to,” I say softly, “It would’ve been okay with me if we just went to a normal date in a normal restaurant with actual people in it.”

  “Well, you aren’t just a normal person; you’re special, and you know it.” He places a hand at my lower back, causing my body to tense slightly under his touch.

  “So are you.” I return his smile.

  Slowly, Adrien guides me towards the table while the chef makes his way towards us to offer us his menu. I’ve always known that Adrien’s parents were loaded, and I can’t say that it didn’t bother me at first because it did, but money was never the case nor the obstacle when the love you shared was real.

  His parents own a business firm similar to the one my parents own, but their success is a fame-worth success and that was what’s bothering me. At first, when he told me his parents own the ‘Sandersons Incorporation’, I was worried of what people would say once they heard the Adrien Sanderson, son of Gabriel Sanderson, was engaged.

  I could already imagine the headlines of the newspaper: ‘Evangeline Williams- Adrien Sanderson’s fiancé. Is she truly in love or simply a gold digger?’

  Sadly, it wasn’t just my imagination back then; it did happen, and I totally dreaded it. Once I was declared his fiancé, the media went over the top trying to dig into our private life which was another thing I was dreading.

  Despite my parents not being as rich as the Sandersons, they still are. They were keen, however, to avoid interacting with people out of their business world to avoid having the world’s devastating attention on our private lives.

  The Sandersons, however, simply didn’t care.

  “So, what would you like to have for lunch?” Adrien directed his attention from the menu in his hands to me. “I already know what I want to order.”

  “I don’t know; I’ve never been to here before, so as long as its chicken, pick me something out yourself.”

  After Adrien ordered our food, I thought it’d be a good idea to discuss with him this Evelyn thing just so I’d keep him up to date, so I started telling him everything from the beginning of when I saw the photo to when my mom explained everything, or I was planning to, but I never got the chance. Once I mentioned Evelyn and the photo with Adam, Adrien’s eyes turned darker and his total calm, loving stance from before turned into an angry and hatred-filled one.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask him bewildered, “Do you know them? Adrien! Wait, where are you going?”

  He stood up from his seat with a furious look on his face putting on his jacket hastily before rushing towards the exit and leaving me without giving any answers.

  He just left me consumed in my anger, confusion and sadness all alone.

  ‘Why do I feel like everyone’s hiding something from me, and how foolish was I to believe that my life will ever be the same?’ Just as the thought enters my mind, I start doing what I do best.

  I start crying.

  Chapter 7

  Not too long after Adrien left, the chef cut me out of my deep stance when he approached me with the wildest smile I’ve ever seen as he held two cooked dishes- each in a hand- with pride. The joyful glint in his eyes instantly disappeared, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion probably because he came with two plates meant for two people only to find me.

  Alone.

  Probably not in my best shape, since my face was drenched in tears.

  Even though the delectable smoke from the chicken that found its way into my nostrils tempted me to snatch a quick bite, I ignored the hunger pangs in my stomach as I genuinely apologized to the poor man.

  When I caught the disappointment in the eyes of the man, who wasted his time on nothing, I gave him a few comments on the beautiful smell of the food assuring him that it would’ve definitely tasted even better. Even though, I would never know because I never got to taste it, the smile that made its way back to his face, when I praised his food, was totally worth it.

  Since my fiancé basically left me stranded all alone in the middle of the street as he was my
ride to and from home, I had no choice other than to stop a cab. I held my right arm straight in front of me in an attempt to stop one driving my way and after the driver stopped the car, I got in.

  “Where would you like to go ma’am?”

  “The hospital ‘Royal Liverpool’,” I surprise myself by saying.

  “Uhh, are you sure? It’s a minimum of four hours away from here.” The driver looks at me waiting for confirmation.

  He’s definitely taken by surprise when I hand him €500 before I offer him a simple smile. “Yes.” I breathe before I continue with a steady voice, “I’m sure.”

  Once he starts the motor of the car and drives away, I look outside the window allowing my eyes to analyze the beauty of nature. Although it’s hardly three in the afternoon, the sky is an odd dark shade of blue: a mixture of slate and cerulean. Drops of water started dripping slowly from the sky, causing people to start taking out their umbrellas as a means of shielding themselves from the rain.

  “Looks like it’s going to rain heavily. Look at the clouds.” The driver distracts me as he points in a direction ahead of him, oblivious to the fact that I’ve already seen how dense they were.

  “Yeah, looks like it.”

  Although I’m a fan of nature and appreciate beauty when I see it, I admit that when it rains, it makes me feel a little bit sad. Sometimes, it makes me feel like I’m off for the rest of the day as if the rain has sucked my entire energy. I’m a hundred percent believer that everything happens for a reason and when it rains, it always matches my mood.

  This has –in fact- led to my firm belief that nature has its way in reflecting on one’s mood in different ways. One might be dancing in the rain with a bright smile etched onto their face, while another might have their tears camouflaged to one’s eyes by the rain

  My phone starts ringing out of the blue, causing me to jump in my place at the sudden noise. Rummaging through my purse, I pick up the phone once I found it and glance on the screen to check the identity of the caller.

  Adrien.

  I groan at the sight of his name and silence the ringtone. Just before I place the phone back in the purse, an idea tackles my mind. After fighting the urge to decline the call and waiting patiently for Adrien’s name to vanish from the screen, I unlock my phone and started searching through the contact’s names.

  UGH! What name did I give her?

  Caroline Forbes <3

  I almost squeal at the sight of her name. Before placing the phone on my ear, I press on her name and patiently wait for her to pick up the call.

  “Evangeline?” Lexi’s worried tone hits my ear.

  Maybe she’s just surprised that I called her in –supposedly- the middle of my date.

  “Hi, Lex.”

  “Is something wrong? Why are you calling me? Did Adrien do something?”

  “Not really; he was just acting really strange and then left, an—”

  “He left you all alone at the beginning of your date?” She whisper yells in disbelief.

  “Yeah, he did.” I let out a sad sigh before I continue, “Listen, I’d love to tell you all about it some other time- I really do- but I need to ask you a huge favor, so are you willing to help me?”

  “Sure, what do you want me to do?”

  “Would you please tell my parents that I’m sleeping over at your house tonight?” I blurt out.

  “W-what? Why?” She asks curiously.

  “It’s a long story, but please help me out here. I’m going to be home really late tonight. At least tell them I’m staying over at your house for a couple of hours, okay?”

  “But you know I’m not the best liar, Evangeline; your parents are going to read me like their tea label.”

  Her worries trouble me since I know she hates coming up with lies, especially to adults, so I come up with a quick idea, hoping it would solve the problem.

  “Listen, I’ll even swing by tonight and stay over for the night so that it wouldn’t be considered a lie, okay?”

  “Fine.” She huffs out before stating, “But you’re in for a long explanation when you get back from wherever the hell you’re heading to.”

  “I owe you big time.” I thank her before hanging up and placing the phone back in my purse.

  I find myself wondering again if I should do this or not, but I find myself wondering even more about what my parents are going to do if they find out that I’m heading to the hospital that took Evelyn captive before she died.

  People don’t seem so adamant on me finding out the truth, and I decided that if they don’t want me to know then I don’t need them to find it out as well.

  I’ll just have to figure it out myself.

  “Have a goodnight, Ma’am.” The driver offers me a nod with his head as I quickly get out of the cab.

  The ride to the hospital was quiet- to say the least. Since I was all alone for the past four hours without my air pods and no games on my phone, I resorted to attempting to come up with a decent conversation with the driver every now and then which, I have to admit, was a complete failure.

  As the driver was an old man –in the middle of his seventies- all the attempted conversations would end up with him rambling on how spoiled and disrupted our generation is to which I would remain awkwardly silent as I failed to come up with a reply.

  It was 7 pm by now. A few hours ago, the rain has stopped, and the sky was now a darker shade of blue that it almost looked black. Tonight was a full moon, and the sky looked so beautiful with all the bright stars decorating it that my eyes were captivated by them- unwilling to look away.

  The sign ROYAL LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL can be easily seen by a person standing a thousand miles away. The hospital looked like one built for royals- literally- that even though it was only a hospital, I kind of felt out of place.

  Crowds of people were heading in, while some others were heading out. An old man with grey hair, who seemed like he could barely stand, was pushing his wife on a wheel chair out of the hospital which made my heart melt at the sight.

  If this isn’t true love, then I don’t know what is.

  I even overheard a conversation that was held by a teenage girl, with blond hair and ocean eyes, who was standing a few feet away from me as she spoke on the phone. At first I couldn’t understand why her chest was heaving in and out so heavily and why her eyes were puffy from the tears staining her cheeks but when I caught on to what she said, it felt like someone snatched my heart out of its place.

  “The results came out; she has cancer.”

  I felt like running over to her in order to offer her the biggest hug I could ever muster but other than the fact that I’m a total stranger, it would’ve felt like an invasion of privacy since I had no right to hear what she had to say in the first place.

  After eyeing the poor girl, who was completely unaware of my sympathetic looks, one last time, I made my way slowly into the hospital. The hospital was completely another thing from inside with all the walls covered in bright white and the floor made of hard concrete. My searching eyes came to a stop at the sight of the brunette receptionist, and my feet started moving before I could even blink.

  “Good evening, ma’am. How can I help you?” The woman says in such an annoying monotone.

  At least she changed the word ‘evening’ to ‘morning’ to ‘afternoon’ to ‘night’ as the day passed, right?

  I offer her an understanding smile. “Hi, I just wanted to know if you keep the files of patients who come by ever since you first opened the hospital.”

  “Why?” She furrows her eyebrows in confusion. “Well yes, we do keep every single file of every patient we take into the hospital, but I have to warn you: if you’re here in order to look into a file of one of our patients, you can’t; those files are private, and no one has the rights to look into them except the doctors, the patients and the detectives.”

  A tinge of disappointment pumps through my veins at the thought that I’ve been stuck in a cab for four hours w
ith a judgmental driver all for nothing, but I won’t give up so easily.

  “Well, can I at least ask someone for general details? I just want to know what happened to my friend like the timing she was admitted into the hospital and when exactly she passed away- please!”

  I think the desperate look on my face got to her a little as she looks around quickly with a hesitant look on her face before she says, “Look, this is completely illegal, and it might cost me my job but since this is for a friend of yours, and you look like you’re about to cry, and I don’t know how to deal with tears, I can only tell you to go and look for a guy named ‘Seth’. He works in this kind of department and he’s a friend of mine. Tell him I sent you, and I can’t promise that he’ll tell you everything you want to know but what I can promise you is that I’ll try my best.”

  I almost squeal in delight. “Thank you so much. If there’s anything I can do to return this favor, please tell me.”

  “There is, actually.”

  I eye her in confusion, clearly not expecting her to ask for something back so quickly and urge her to continue.

  “You’re the daughter of George- the owner of Williams Incorporation- aren’t you?”

  “Uhh, yes?”

  It never crossed my mind that people might recognize me here in Liverpool since almost none of them ever do in London.

  “Then you’re the sister of Trevor George, aren’t you?” She pauses a little as if trying to remember my name. “Uhh Evangeline George Williams?”

  “Yes?” I urge her to continue, not truly understanding where this conversation is heading.

  “I want to meet him: your brother. Just to take a picture I swear-nothing else. My friends are going to go crazy once I post it on instagram.”

  I then slowly walk away from this rambling crazy young lady whose dream, apparently, is to have her post exceed the number of likes of her ‘friend’ Bianca.