I was bombarded by his confessions but at last, I finally discovered the real Nick which I desired to ascertain. The Nick I used to know, the one I met in Versace bomber jacket who wounded Abs' forearm, the one whom I confronted by the Business School porch and the one who attacked me at Moss Lane and Didsbury were nothing compared to the real Nick who cried his emotions out in front of me. His beautiful self was repressed by his dark identity from his wretched past. I don't think it was fair for him to move on this way.

"Hey, you're an invincible forgivable guy," I leaned closer, coaxing him. "Sure you can get yourself out of this."

"No son of Hussaini Pholadi can escape from this shit, especially when he is the only child," Nick said bluntly.

"How about escaping to Haiti or Bissau and resume your volunteering work?" I asked. "You love volunteering. That's what your mom entrusted you with, right?"

"I'm weak without her, I don't think I can," he said quietly, mouth still trembling.

"Come on, you're the strongest person I've even known after my grandad and me of course," I wiped his tears and kissed his wet nose. He forced a smile and chuckled to my cynical remark. I stretched my arms around him, embracing him until I can no longer hear his cries. "I love you, Nick Pholadi."

His damped beautiful hazel eyes slowly flit into mine. "How much?"

"If Morales was alive, I'll take him down for you," I pledged.

"Please don't talk bullshit," he jested. "Just say something hypothetical like bringing the world to me, I'd still accept it."

I giggled, feeling relieved to see the healthy colour glowed in his face. "Does it make you feel horny if I call you Ne'matullah?"

"No," he said abruptly before slowly re-evaluating his answer. "I don't know, maybe. Why?"

"I think I'm horny right now," I smiled slyly.

"Nope, not here," he shook his head immediately. "I don't want to come here the next day and look at this sofa differently."

"Okay, we need to get you home, but I need to get rid of that musty blanket before your gossip crew finds it the next morning," I told him, pulling the stained blanket away. "Where's your shirt anyway?"

"No shirt."

"So, you're saying that you came here in your sweatpants barefooted?" I asked in alarm. He nodded. "You're mental! It's bloody cold outside. I'm going to clean you whole."

"I'll be honoured if you do," Nick beamed. "But you need to take the wheel for me."

"You're still paralysed?" I cocked my eyebrows anxiously.

"Not really but I just recovered from electric shock. What do you think?"

"But you said it was a small current," I argued.

"Apparently that small current was capable of sending painfully severe shock to my muscle tissue 'till I'm completely knackered."

"Okay," I withdrew my breath. "What's available outside?"

"Jagger and Spidey," he answered cheekily.

"Which one would you recommend?"

"Which one are you confident to drive?" he asked back.

"Are they manual or auto?" I responded.

"Why don't you take a gander at them?" he suggested.

I marched out of the office and found both of Nick's Jaguar X351 and McLaren 675LT Spider parked side by side by the porch waiting for me to assess them while Nick remain rested indoor. For as long as I can remember, I never bothered to appreciate any of the ultra-modern features in any of his rides except for enjoying their speed and his inexorable playlist of mellow songs.

Jaguar X351 (Jagger)

McLaren 675LT Spider (Spidey)

I noted that both cars have no gear stick but X351 had a radio-knob-like rotary gear selector nestled inside the lower centre panel with Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive and Sport indicator written in its respective initials arranged accordingly above it. The 675LT Spider however, had its gear selector in a form of buttons arranged vertically with emergency signal on top, followed by Drive, Neutral and Reverse.

"For Jagger, the rotating gear knob will pop up after you start the engine," Nick explained after I returned from my inspection. "Then, you just rotate the knob like you would usually do when you want to crank up a volume. But if it doesn't elevate, you can still twist the knob like normal."

"Erm... It's okay, we'll go for Spidey then. Jagger sounds like too complicated to handle," I retreated. Nick rolled his eyes upwards, letting out a heavy annoyed sigh. "I can drive a car, Nick. I just can't drive yours," I defended.

"They're just like any other cars, Zahida. Even a five-year-old can drive them. You'll do fine," Nick assured. "But make sure you apply the brake pedal when you want to select the gears. And also, be mindful of its speed transition. You can use the gear shift pedals on the steering wheel to control them. Left pedal to reduce the gear, right pedal is for otherwise. Applies for both cars."

"Can we take Uber instead?" I suggested, realised that his instructions gave me the hibbie jibbies.

"Can you not be an idiot?" he snapped.

"What if I scratch any one of them? Will that cost me three months of my salary?"

"Zahida, I don't care if the wheels fall off, you're far more valuable than all three of my cars combine," he said wearily under his breath.

        🍀✨☘️🍀✨☘️🍀✨☘️🍀✨☘️

Photo source: 

https://www.auto-data.net/en/jaguar-xj-x351-5.0-v8-supercharged-510hp-17474 (Jaguar)

https://www.alastairbols.com/cars/mclaren-675lt-spider-chassis-001 (McLaren Spider)