Not everything seen is real

Sweet_Sultana

***

When I got home I met Jabir waiting for me.

He sat outside on the verandah with his head down with a twig in his hands swinging back and forth. Good thing I had dropped off my mum's car in the hospital, she's on a night watch and would be needing it. It made it easy to sneak up on him.

Slowly, I tiptoed taking extra care not to alert him to my presence—and I almost did, however he stood up at the exact moment I was close and I ended up bumping into him and almost losing my balance.

His arms went out immediately in my defense, encircling me possessively.

"Uhm...Hi," I cleared my throat.

"Hi," His voice was husky and his eyes held mine completely.

"Uhm...," I looked down at his arms around me.

"Oh! Sorry!" He muttered softly as he helped me to my feet.

I smiled and sat down where he was a minute ago. He did same.

"How was your journey?"

"It was okay."

I stared at him. He has his eyes shut and his hands protruding backwards.

"You are okay, right?"

He nodded. "I just missed you...a lot."

"Sorry...date with Hannah."

"I know." He sighed, "Still missed you though. I drove like crazy to catch you before you slept."

"I'm sorry."

"Just sorry?" He teased

I smiled shyly."I missed you too."

"Marry me, Rei." He said out of a blue which forced me to look at him. He was looking at me too. I looked away first.

"Aman is back!"

"What?" He seemed taken aback

"I met him earlier today when I went for a walk and then on my date with Hannah."

"Are you okay?"

He was worried about me even though he had just proposed and I had just told him my ex-husband was back. Typical Jabir.

"I am I guess," I mused softly. Jabir knew everything. The letters, my job, everything. I still have that habit of spilling out the truth in front of him like my very own truth syrup. "He asked me to marry him too."

"What did you say?"

"I laughed and then I vomited. I felt sick, really sick."

"And now?"

I sighed."I dunno, Jay. He said I should read the last letter."

"Do you want to?"

"Maybe." I exhaled softly. "I honestly don't know."

"I think you should."

I looked at him. He still has his eyes shut but they were now strain lines on his face. He was trying very hard to remain calm for me. I couldn't love him more than I did at this moment.

"Do you want to read it to me?"

He opened his eyes and held my eyes. I smiled at him and I saw him relax visibly. I dipped my hands into my bag and pulled out the brown envelope. I handed it over to him.

"You walk around with it?" He sounded surprised

"Weird, isn't it?" I laughed weakly in a bid to lighten up the truth behind that. He simply smiled too and then he'd opened the letter and then he'd looked at me.

"Are you sure this is okay?"

I nodded, smiling. I couldn't have had it any other way.

However he hesitated. But after sparing me a look as if he was giving me one last chance to back out, he began reading.

Dear Reima,

          I've written you a lot of letters all of which had  all gone unanswered. I don't know if you read them or simply shred them to pieces, however I have hope since none of them were returned. It at least means you have them with you and hopefully  you might have read them.  I pray you have.

         You might not remember, but I do. I remember everything. The accident, your dad and us. However there's something I need you to know. It is not your fault! None of it is.

            I know it'll probably be hypocritical if I however say that I never blamed you for my screwed up life. I did.
I hated you. I lost everything because of you and I wanted you to feel the pain too. However I ended up messing up things even more and for that, I'll be eternally sorry to you

      Amar is getting married. And yes, we finally made peace. He is a different person now. Fatiha is good for him. She helped...alot. And therapy. And you. I don't know how I could have survived without knowing you were out there, knowing I could meet you again if I am strong enough. And ultimately it was you who healed me. And now I'm coming home to you soon.

        This time around, I am not leaving without fighting. I love you, always have.

Yours lovingly
A. H Jibo

Jabir folded up the letter carefully obviously distracting himself or perhaps giving me a moment to myself, to gather my thoughts. However I wasn't there, or rather my mind wasn't. It seemed to have wandered away to the beginning. To his first letter to me. His twelve pages long letter to me. Or rather, biography.

(1)

Growing up, I was a sick child. I spent my childhood in an apartment with big machineries and round a clock doctor's supervision. No one believed I'd live this long, I bet no one expected me to. I was alone there with no family taking care of me. The bills were paid off of course, but in the ten years I spent in America, I never met anyone who was related to me. Not even one. No father, no mother, no siblings.  No nothing! Just me and a very beautiful apartment.

But something changed a few months before my fifteenth birthday. I knew I have been feeling stronger, better even and could withstand a fair amount of pain, but I hadn't realised how great that was until Dr Patel, my doctor, explained to me what he called my miraculous recovery.  My body, he said, had undergone an unexplainable mutation and had cleansed any trace of Virus X  which had once inhabited my body. Virus X, he explained was an unknown virus which I had been born with. It was a phenomenon science couldn't explain. I should have died long ago, but the virus was neither killing me nor letting me live either. My case was special considering not even an atom of the virus was found in my mother or my twin brother.

I had stared shockingly at him. I couldn't believe I had a family and a twin. And in the days that followed, I was simply ecstatic. Of course I have alot of questions, but at the time, it didn't matter especially since Dr. Patel had told me I'll be going home to them in a few weeks time. I could hardly wait.

It didn't matter that they didn't want me all this years but suddenly they needed me now. It didn't matter. I was sick and tired of Dr Patel,  Nurse Grace and my tutor Arthur's faces and was glad to be finally out. Which by the way was my first time outside. I had been too sick to be outside. I was euphoric.

They were nice people, kind even, but I'll be lying if I said I didn't have any reservations about them. However in the matter of days, they've all given me a reason why they should be trusted. For it soon came to my notice that my mom and brother thought me dead, only my dad knew. He hid the truth because he didn't want to get my mom's hopes up. She had been devastated the first time she lost me and I was just a day old.

My mother is a beautiful,  petite woman. She looked so small, so pretty and so fragile that I never get tired of staring at her. Her eyes, Rei, held a rare kind of light, a truth which was made apparent by how much she loves. They we're simply, magical. But they were also sad eyes. There were moments I'd catch her staring longingly out the windows. I never knew why. I never get to ask either. She never gave me chance in between me loving her and she loving me even more. Amar too

He looks exactly like me. It was like staring into a mirror, the only difference between us was our eyes.  His was raven while mine is a rich shade of amber; a side effect of virus X. And we became inseparable. At least we were until that day I had found out the reason why I was brought back.

The day my world came crashing down. The day I had met you for the first time.

I remember hissing thinking a cliffhanger. I guess I was sort of expecting him to do something annoying like that. He never fails to disappoint in that specific department but he had me trapped, and like he'd probably assumed, I flipped over to the next page and didn't stop until the very last page.

But not anymore. Not this time.

"Jabir," I called his name softly.

He stared at me but didn't say anything.

"Yes!"

"What?" He sounded taken aback

I smiled. "Yes, I will marry you."