Rewind

by Mariam Alaa

  “What is that?” Gabriel eyes the video tape nervously.

  “That, Gabriel, is my free ticket out of your supposedly called truce. A few days ago, I’ve learned something about your dear son -Adrien, and let’s just say that you disowned the wrong brother.” I sent Adrien a disgusted look.

  “What did you do?” Gabriel’s questioning hard gaze falls on Adrien suspiciously.

  “I don’t know what she’s talking about,” Adrien responds, feigning innocence.

  “Oh, is that it then? You don’t know about this security footage which videotaped you personally talking to your two dogs, who were driving the same cars that ‘accidentally’ crashed into us, in the exact place of the accident right before it happened?”

  All of the parents’ jaws as well as my brother’s drop in absolute flabbergast at my words. A few days ago, when Lexi came over, she came clean to me about what she meant that day of my wedding when she called Adrien ‘a killer’. Apparently, Adam has recognized the faces of the car drivers as some of Adrien’s ‘mates’ and so he later returned to the street, where our accident happened, and checked the security footage from that night in the store that owns the camera which was implanted outside. Needless to say, Adrien was the mastermind of the whole thing.

  He is to be blamed for my memory loss.

  “Is that true?” Gina asks, with her hands covering her mouth, as tears spilled down her cheeks.

  “Yes, it is.” Adrien clenches his jaw.

  Gina gasps, feeling terrorized by the new info as if she no longer recognizes her son anymore. Expressionless Gabriel is surprisingly gone and replaced by a really shocked Gabriel with his body shaking violently in anger. My parents’ expressions mirrored Gabriel’s as well as my brother’s, and Adam gave me a small smile, trying to ease all this tension I feel, and it worked.

  “Why would you do that, Adrien?” My dad asks, his voice livid.

  “Their love was a problem, so I got rid of it,” Adrien responds confidently as if what he did is totally justifiable.

  I fight the urge to strangle him because is he for real? He was willing to murder his own brother and his friend, aka me, for the sake of a freaking contract?

  Seriously, where can I find the nearest mental hospital?

  “You’re a fucking psychopath!” Trevor snarls at him, his eyes burning with rage.

  “Unless you want me to call the police right now, Gabriel, you give me your word that I’m no longer an asset to your business, and you leave me the hell alone.” I cross my arms over my chest, seizing the opportunity of Gabriel’s vulnerable position.

  “Fine, you’ve got a deal.” Gabriel sends a dirty look to Adrien before he averts his eyes to me and says, “But this footage has to be no longer existent.”

  Walking over to him slowly, I hesitantly hand him the video tape and assure him as I say, “It’s yours now; do whatever the hell you want with it.”

  “So we’ve got a deal?” He asks, extending his right hand towards me.

  “On one more condition,” I state, hoping he’ll actually agree.

  “And what is that?” He pulls his hand back slightly.

  “You apologize to Adam and start treating him like he’s your own son.”

  Hesitantly, I sneak a peek towards Adam, not knowing how he’ll truly take this, but I find his face a state of a mixture between genuine gratitude and shock.

  “Okay.” Gabriel’s instant answer kind of surprises me since I wasn’t awaiting his agreement- at least not so fast.

  After we shake hands firmly, Gabriel sends a wave to my parents and a courteous nod towards Adam before pulling off Adrien along with Gina towards the front door of the house to leave when I stop them.

  “Adrien, wait!” I yell after him. When his face turns towards me, I ask him the question that’s been bugging me ever since I’ve known the truth. “I have to know: did you ever even love me?”

  For a few seconds, he appears to be thinking about the question thoroughly before he shakes his head with a smirk. “I was just pissed that you chose Adam over me even after knowing we were bound by a contract.”

  I try to ignore the hurt from the stabs of his words but fail miserably, so I ask him my last question. “Your brother got the opportunity to send you straight to jail over the past five years, yet he didn’t because even though you lack humanity, Adrien, Adam still cares about you; he still believes that you can learn to redeem yourself, and he still believes that you’re capable of being a good person so at least answer me this: do you even love your brother?”

  While Adrien was eyeing Adam, a flash of emotion darted through his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came and was instantly replaced by a smirk. “Well, he’s still alive, isn’t he?”

  As soon as Adrien replies, Gabriel drags him along like a grounded child, and they exit the house.

  I didn’t even get a chance to see Adam’s expression at his brother’s words, for mom came over, pulling me in a tight hug before breaking down into a set of tears. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry! I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

  “Don’t worry about it, mom.” I wrap my arms around her, rubbing her back slowly. “I know you will.”

  “Does that mean you’ll stay over tonight?” She asks me, and the hope evident in all of my family members’ eyes caused me nothing but pain, knowing that I’m about to crush it.

  “No.” I eye Adam, pleading him with my eyes to not hate me for this before I explain, “I’m going back to Liverpool.”

  “What?!” He screeches; his eyes hitting the ceiling.

  “I need to move on, Adam. Too much has happened in this city. I just need a new scenery- just for a while, and I promise I’ll be back after I clear my mind from all that’s happened.”

  My parents and Trevor nod understandingly, and they slowly head back to the kitchen, giving some room for Adam and I. With a leisurely pace, I hesitantly make my way to him. His jaw is clenched tightly, as well as his fists. The hurt swirling in his dark grey eyes caused mine to glisten with some tears.

  I place my hand on his, reassuring him as I say, “I’m sorry, Adam; please don’t hate me for this. You have to understand. You made it alive without me for five years; I’m sure you can manage without me in your life for even more.”

  He unclenches his right fist, intertwining our hands as he sighs. “I could never hate you, Evangeline. It’s just that you’re finally free. Don’t you remember that night of the thunderstorm? Do you remember what you told me when you were finally conscious? About giving us a chance? How will I give you a chance- as Evangeline- if the first thing you’re doing after you’re no longer attached to the contract is leave?”

  “I promise you, Adam, that when I think about men, I only have one in mind, so you don’t have to worry about me dating someone else.” I offer him a soft smile to ease his sadness and pick out a small familiar metallic, circular ring before I continue, “I just need some time off, but I’m willing to give us a chance if you’re willing to wait for me.”

  “I’ll wait for however long it takes.” He eyes me softly as he admit, “You’re it for me whether you like it or not. Always have been and always will be.”

  With a wide cheek-aching grin on my plum face, I remove my hand from his, put on the ring on my ring finger, turn my back to him and walk away from this house towards a cab that’ll take me to Lexi’s to say my goodbye before driving me back to the city.

  Back to where it all started.

  Epilogue

  Adam’s POV

  It’s been six months since Evangeline left. Six freaking months have passed ever since I’ve last seen her. When she told me she’s leaving the city, I think I would’ve actually gone mental, but she saved me by her reassurance that she’ll come back. She tamed my protective instincts when she said and I quote ‘when I think about men, I only have one in mind’ and when she put on our engagement ring. I have to say that I totally understand why she wanted to take some time off,
but I didn’t think she’ll be away for that long.

  Now I think I’m really losing my mind.

  Her absence is making me lose my fucking mind.

  Even though we email each other from a time to the other because according to her that is way ‘cuter’ than texting and even though I call her at night sometimes after she finishes her working hours, I still miss her. At first, it was difficult: reminding myself that she’s no longer at my house with me, but, somehow, I think it was even more difficult for her and not just in the ‘living alone’ sense. A week after she arrived at Liverpool, she sent me a long email, explaining to me what exactly she felt after living there for seven days.

  That was her first email:

  Dear Adam,

  It is a really strange and an unfamiliar feeling: waking up at this miniscule, one story apartment, which is absolutely nothing compared to your house, waiting for you to wake up so that we can have breakfast together only for my wishes to get buried in disappointment.

  This happens every day.

  I have to admit that, putting all my arrogance aside, I already miss you.

  For as long as I can remember, my parents have been my life support, for they were the ones handling all my payments. Since I can’t really remember my childhood, I can only confirm this fact by what I really remember: my college years. My parents paid all my college expenses as well as everything I’ve ever bought in my life. At least, that was the case up till the minute I left London.

  Returning to Liverpool has made me realise how hard it is to actually live; it made me realise how hard it is to work just in order to earn so that you can live a normal life. Before I left, I took what little yet sufficient savings I’ve piled up from my father’s money which was enough to get me renting up a small apartment in Liverpool. Realising that I wasn’t going to make it for more than a month without the slow disappearance of my savings, I decided to search for a job and since- you know- I graduated from medicine school in Oxford, I looked up for hospitals willing to hire a new inexperienced doctor and guess where I ended up working?

  Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

  The same hospital that took us in on the day of our accident.

  Although I’m working there as a doctor’s helper, maybe even a nurse, I’m really happy with what I do. For the sole reason of my inexperience of being a doctor, the hospital decided to offer me the job, benefiting both them and me. As for them, they were in a real need of a nurse to aid both the injured and the ill patients, and as for me, other than the fact that I’m being paid a decent salary, I’d like to think of it as a training step for me before I become a real doctor, setting up a clinic of my own.

  Don’t worry, though; when I set up my own clinic, it’ll be in London right next to you.

  Even though many workers at the hospital would disagree with me, Adela and Seth are actually good people. Adela, who has a hilarious sense of humor, was the receptionist who greeted me at the hospital when I came by asking for questions about Evelyn, and Seth, who tried to help me that day, was –well- Seth. Never would I have ever thought that either of them would turn out to be my friend later on, but here we are. These two, though are my friends, have the most twisted sense of friendship because despite many people questioning if they’re truly friends, they actually are.

  They just have a funny way of showing it, but I kind of think it’s cute.

  No need to get jealous while reading Seth’s name.

  If it makes it any better, sometimes, I think these two are secretly in love with each other or something; they just don’t know it yet, or maybe I’m a creepy shipper for the duo.

  Anyways, I’ve basically told you everything; now it’s your turn.

  Give me something soon, or I’ll stop answering back your calls.

  Yours,

  Evangeline

  When I read this email, I couldn’t help the stupid smile that made its way to my face. My heart literally dropped when she so easily confessed that she missed me, and I was absolutely glad that I was not the only one hallucinating Evangeline’s presence in my house. It took me a while to get used to the fact that I’m all alone again. Don’t even get me started on the ‘yours, Evangeline’ part because just reading it made me feel something I couldn’t quiet put my hands on; all I know is that it was a good feeling.

  A really good feeling.

  If Evangeline was right about two things, though, they’re that, yes, even though I would never admit it out loud, her old fashioned choice of emailing is in fact cute. The second thing she was right about is that I did feel jealous when I spotted this guy’s name- Seth, but at least I know now that he has eyes on another woman.

  Despite it taking me a while to respond back as I absolutely loathed typing or texting- whatever it is you want to call it, I did reply. Truth to be told, the first week she was gone is the week I spent doing absolutely nothing but feeling all wrecked up because of her abandonment, but ,of course, this is far from what I told her.

  I didn’t want to lie to her, but I didn’t want to make her feel guilty over the fact that she left- at least, not after she seemed to be building a small life for herself. She didn’t sound as miserable as I did, hence I didn’t want to destroy that for her.

  The last email I sent her was three days ago, and this is what I wrote to her:

  Dear Evangeline,

  It’s been so long, but I just hope you’re happy there.

  I know that it’s been a while since I’ve last written to you, but I hope you know how sorry I am. It’s just that I got accepted to work in this company ‘Renishaw’, and even though it’s been only a few days, it’s already stealing a lot of my time. I really hope you’re not too mad; it’s just that I’ve been kind of bored recently.

  Thanks to you, my relationship with my parents is now repaired. Ever since that night of your confrontation with your parents, my mom calls me every weekend asking me to visit them so that we can have dinner together. Even though things aren’t really like how they were when I was young, it’s still better than I could’ve ever imagined. My father asks for my help sometimes at the company, and he’s actually starting to treat me with some respect.

  Adrien, though, spent a lot of his time avoiding me as much as I did to him. To my surprise, however, he showed up a week ago at my front door, asking if we could talk. I swear he was acting so strange, Evangeline; he kept shaking ever so slightly that I would’ve missed it if I wasn’t so attentive to him. His eyes were kind of bloodshot, and his skin was a strange shade of pale.

  I’ve never seen him like this.

  Guess what he even wanted?

  Adrien walked into my house once I invited him in and did something I’d never thought he’d actually do: he pulled me in for a hug, and he started begging me to forgive him. One thing I’ve known about Adrien for as long as I can remember is that he never asks for forgiveness- let alone beg; he always said that he was too arrogant for that, but here he was. He even kept rambling it repeatedly like some kind of a mantra.

  Despite how I always dreamed for the day I see him like this, I didn’t know what to do. We kept talking for like two hours or so, and I can promise you that that was the longest conversation I’ve had with Adrien ever since I was nineteen. After slowly talking things out with him, he explained to me that he felt like he was suddenly given a wakeup call when he realized that he has no one by his side. It suddenly dawned upon him that he’ll die ‘alone and unloved’, and he promised me that he’ll change because the idea of no one showing up at his funeral frightened him.

  I told him that I’ll give him a chance because even though he drove over my life with his car intentionally and even though he stabbed me in the back too many times, he’s still my brother, and it kind of killed me to see him like this. Reading this choice I made, I hope you really get me, and I know that I may be dreaming for the impossible, but I really hope that one day you’ll offer him a second chance too.

  Now comes the tough part becaus
e Lexi asked me to tell you this. Take a deep breath, please and try not to kill her for not immediately telling you this: Lexi and Trevor are dating. Yes, Lexi- your best friend, and, yes, Trevor- your brother. Just don’t hate her because believe me when I say that she had her reasons. Other than the fact that she felt that it would’ve been extremely awkward to tell you that she’s dating your brother, she felt even weirder when she thought about admitting to you how she’s had a crush on him ever since you were kids. Believe me, it was a surprise for me too, so don’t take it too hard please. According to Lexi, it just happened once your brother went up to her this one time after you left and started apologizing for treating her like crap.

  There’s a thin line between love and hate, you know?

  Honestly, they look pretty much serious, and don’t even get me started on how your brother acts around her. They called me this one time asking me if I wanted to hang out with them, and unfortunately I accepted the offer.

  I swear to you, Evangeline that I’ve never regretted anything more in my life.

  In this café we went to, your brother would send deadly glares to anyone looking at her whether accidentally or on purpose, and he even did it to me like what the hell? I was only staring back at Lexi because she was talking, and it would’ve felt weird to look at Trevor while Lexi’s talking. Plus, he should know better than to feel threatened by me out of all people, knowing that I only have my eyes on only one person- you.

  This is all I have to say.

  I’m calling you tomorrow, so you better pick up because it’s been a while since I heard from you.

  I really miss you, Evangeline, and I hope you come back soon.

  Stay safe.