Sorry for being late🙏

Haajar closed the door behind and quickly started to walk towards Alessia. However, she could not take more than two steps as she found Alessia with William who was on the floor, finding it difficult to breathe.

"What happened?" She rushed to them. "Should I call the ambulance?"

"No," William said softly. "I am getting better."

"We still need to go!"

"It is okay, Haajar," Said Alessia who was sitting on the floor next to him. " Get us some water, please."

Haajar dashed towards the fridge and handed her a bottle within a few seconds. She was frowning deep and her heart was beating fast. "It is okay William. Everything is fine. We will get through this. We will get through this." William shook his head before closing his eyes. He drank some water before he took a deep breath. Alessia and Haajar stayed glued for five minutes, observing his every move. When his breathing went back to normal and his frown disappeared Alessia stood up and walked to her desk. Haajar kept staring at him for a while before following her boss. Alessia has closed her eyes with her hands, trying to calm herself down.

"What happened? Is he fine? Are you fine? Should I get you some water too? I will wait a moment." Haajar quickly walked to the fridge again and brought back another bottle. Opening it, she handed it to Alessia. "Drink it, it will help you." Like an obedient child, Alessia followed her instructions.

"Thank you. It happened all of a sudden. He is taking this very hard on himself. I feel bad for him. He is such a great human, Created such great life, talented and humble. He does not deserve this. He deserves to have a great life with great business and family!" Haajar turned around and saw William lying on the floor. It was clear he was in discomfort, he seemed in pain. Without wasting another second Haajar pulled out her phone and texted one message to two people.

Emergency! Today we will have a meeting at William's house.

Meeting Agenda- Comfort and Distract William!

Around seven in the evening, Haajar was standing on a pavement, waiting for Alessia, who went to a department store. They were outside William's house when Alessia remembered something and walked away. Haajar was advised to go inside but she decided to wait for her. It had been five minutes and Haajar was expecting her any minute. However, rather than her came Raiyan, running. "I am sorry I am late! Is everything alright? What happened?"

"I think he had a panic attack. He refuses to go to a doctor but from my experience, I believe it was a panic attack. He is taking it too hard on himself. This case and the situation is eating him more than he would like to accept. he refuses to see any doctor so we decided to be there for him. It might not be safe to let him be alone."

"That is true. Good thinking, we should be there for him, he got no one else. Any news on when his sister is returning to the country? Maybe when she comes it will be better."

"She is not here because even she is hurt. The same man hit two targets with one arrow. She needs someone to be there for her, I am not sure if it would be okay for them to be together. Sure they will support each other and they won't feel lonely but a person bleeding cannot band-aid someone else."

"He got no friends? There must be someone, at least one."

"We only know about his sister. Maybe we can talk to him and see who else can be helpful. For today let's be his people."

"Copy that."

In the next few minutes, Nadia joined them and last was Alessia who took a few minutes to instruct them on their agenda and then they were knocking on the door. William knew his friends would have a plan, but all of them would be at his house, he did not expect that. A smile surely made its way to him however as they sat to talk, his face dulled down.

"It was a difficult day. Nothing special, everything was just as messed up as it has been. I do not know what exactly triggered me, but something sure did. I keep thinking about my ex, about that cheater, about my school days, about the friend who pushed me in kindergarten. Everything that has ever gone wrong, I keep thinking about it. That must have caused it all. But for now, I am done with me and my life. I do not want to think anything more. So please you all talk. I am done talking, now I will listen."

Haajar and Nadia exchanged glances before turning to Alessia who had every eye on her. She gave a nod of her head before motioning towards everyone. "Then let us go for our second speaker. Who would like to speak?" Everyone looked at each other but said nothing. Nadia looked to her right and then to her left before slowly raising her hands. "Can I go?"

"Of course, love." was Alessia's response.

"Okay. So I am Nadia. I was very little when my family fled to the UK as a refugee. We are from Estonia, and the invasion made us move. I could not speak any English back then. I only knew Estonian and some Russian. But my family and I worked hard. We learned the language, got ourselves familiar with that world and took all sorts of jobs. As we didn't have much money, our education is a little bit of a question mark. It was very difficult growing up. But life was proceeding. Back then I didn't think but we were happy, so happy. Then I got married and moved to the US. Which was good again. Until my husband started to make new friends. Terrible friends. That was when life started to fall apart. Sometimes I want to cry, a lot and sometimes I feel it would be fine. If we could escape a scary event and make a living in Queen's land then why will I not be able to do that again? Why can't I start over again and make a great life for me and my kids? If my parents did it, why can't I do it? I will do it, I will make a great life. Maybe I am too scared, but it is okay. I am sure my parents were scared too. So I will walk their path and make a beautiful life, just like the one I had." Nadia wiped her tear from her left eye.

"That is brave," Alessia said with a smile. "So proud of you my girl. So proud."

"It really is brave," William said. "Very brave. Bless you, kid."

Nadia smiled before wiping her tears. Raiyan smiled at her before shaking his head. "I will go next," he caught their attention. " I have been having a hard time too. With so much work and the case, things have been only getting more and more difficult. I wake up every morning and think, today will be a different day, yet when I drop on my bed at night things are still the same. I really don't know what to do. I do not understand what must be done. I haven't seen my chair in weeks." Nadia frowned and looked at Raiyan. "I have started to miss it. I must do something about it or else I will never see my chair again."

"Chair?" Alessia asked with a frown on her forehead.

"Yes, my chair. I don't get any time which is why all my clothes are still resting on my chair, trying their very best to hang in there and not fall. They are too many and the chair is too small. They will fall tomorrow, I feel."

Alessia kept looking at him without moving. Suddenly William started to laugh, starting the laughing riot in the room.  "I really thought it was something serious!" Alessia said as she laughed at her client.

"It is serious. Soon I will have no clothes left to wear. They will all get dusty and ruined to be worn again. What will I do then? I am no bill gates to buy the whole closet in one go. If I don't have clothes what will I wear to work? This is a serious issue that affects my bread. I need to do something about it." 

"I will come to your house tomorrow and get them sorted. Do not worry," William said as he chuckled. 

"You are my only best friend. What will I do without you?" Raiyan said with his arms raised high making William chuckle again. Haajar smiled as she saw William. Then she looked at Raiyan and smiled wider. Feeling at ease Haajar took a deep breath. Following their meeting, they had dinner together. The girls then decided to leave for home and Raiyan decided to stay with William. It was nine-fifteen and the girls were coating up when Haajar remembered something. She quickly walked to Alessia and said, "Hey, have to heard the name Vanessa before?"

"Many times. The first one was in kindergarten. A friend of mine had that name. The second-grade teacher had that name. a fifth-grade classmate had that name, college friend and oh, yes my daughter also shares that name. Had to name her after my husband's grandmother who he was close to."

"Wow," Haajar chuckled, "Okay. During this case, maybe in some paper or somewhere. I mean Raiyan's case. I feel there is something."

"Vanessa? I am not sure. What happened?"

"My friend Noor, who was about to get married to Raiyan's brother said his wife's name is Vanessa and that hit something. I feel I saw it in some document but I cannot remember well."

"Her name is Zara. Why did she think it was Vanessa? Maybe she made a mistake."

"She was confident and even I am. I saw that name somewhere." 

"Saw what where?" Raiyan asked coming closer to them. 

"Did your sister-in-law ever go by the name Vanessa? Noor baji said that's the name she told her," Haajar said in one breath. 

"Actually she did. She also carried the names Shaila and Emily. Her father was into too many businesses and most of them brought him enemies. She had to live in hiding for many years and had to change her identity as well."

"What was your brother doing being involved with such a family?" Nadia asked with a frown. 

"That is what we all have been wondering. That was why my father was so against it. They are scary people."

"Who you are sueing," Alessia said with a shake of her head. "I wonder who is scarier you or them. For us, YOU." Everyone started to laugh making Alessia smile. She looked at the watch which made Haajar shake her head. 

"My jacket! Just a second, I will get it and then we will leave." As Haajar turned around Raiyan extended his hand towards her. 

"Here, I got it for you. You left it on the couch."

"Oh, Thank you." Then they all walked out together. Raiyan said his goodbye from the door and the rest walked to Alessia's car. 

"I must say you are awfully comfortable with Raiyan. You are comfortable with no one. Not even me. I feel the day you become a well-known lawyer you will kick me out."

"It is your firm."

"That is not the point but I do not think you are ready to talk about the point."  Frowning Haajar got in the car and they drove away while Raiyan was helping William with the dishes. 

"Thank you Raiyan. It means a lot."

"No one ever did dishes for you? You have a very ruthless group."

William smiled. "I do. But thanks for today and also for staying here with me. I will have to admit even I was a bit concerned about staying alone. It is funny how I was never scared as a kid but now I am worried to be all by myself at home."

"It is okay. We all are subject to fear. And life is something we all fear losing."

"That is true. But more than life I fear losing my chance to succeed. I do not want to die a failure."

"And you will not. Do you know why I know you? Because my father thought you were a great person, it is because I idolised you. You do not idolise anyone, you idolise those who are great. And the other day I was reminded of what my father said. He told me, he liked how you work and how you faced every problem. He said your business bounced back from a major crisis and you did it brilliantly. In Nadia's words, if you can do that once what makes you think you cannot do it again? You started as a no one and with no experience. Now you are starting as a great entrepreneur with tonnes of experience. I think Sir, you are at an advantage here. You will succeed more than anyone I know. You will!" 

William smiled as he kept the bowl aside. "Thank you for saying that. It really made me feel better."

"I am glad I could help."

"I wish I can be of help someday to you too. Actually, I think I can be of help to you now."

"How? I would love to get business advice from you!"

"Business? Learn it from someone else. I am talking about something else. Haajar?" Raiyan looked up at him immediately. "That was the fastest you have ever reacted."

"Ah. How do you know? How come everyone knows?"

"Your eyes keep turning to her every now and then. Any time I look at you, you are looking at her. It's impossible to not know."

"Oh. I did not realise that."

"Of course, you didn't. That's love." William looked down at his feet and calmed for some time. Raiyan allowed him to and in the meantime finished the dishes. "You know," William began after a while, "after my experience, I have been thinking how terrible this whole idea is. Fall in love, get married. Why? Just live. Never fall in love, never get involved with any other human. But every time I think about you two I get excited. It feels nice. My first instinct was to stop you but now I want to say something different."

"What will that be?"

"Live. But with your heart open. Sure love hurts at times but there is no feeling better than it. I get angry and I get negative, but deep down I know those were the best days of my life and I am thankful I got to live them. So go and live it. The future is uncertain and you don't know how you will end up but do not stop yourself. Allow your heart to be happy, the happiest it can be. Then sure allow it to break." Raiyan chuckled making William smile. "I think this will work out really well. You two are good people and I can see that your souls have chosen each other. So my advice, do not waste your time."