Zain's phone dinged with a notification almost immediately after he'd landed in New York and was going through the processes to retrieve his car from the airport. Plucking his phone out of his pocket, Love's message appeared.

Think about what I told.

The message made Zain grimace, and he shoved his phone back into his pants pocket, annoyed.

He thought back to Love seeing him off at the airport, all the things she'd said that had so disturbingly unsettled him, and his frown deepened.

"...I think Emma really wants to be with George. She's happy by his side and she can't be even sure what she'll be in for by your side. Zain, she doesn't like how you make her feel, and you forcing her to choose you is quite unfair. I mean I wouldn't choose you if I were her..."

Zain had gazed into her eyes fiercely, summoning an intimidating scowl, but the spitfire had only raised her chin in defiance, holding his gaze. Luckily the announcement of his flight saved him from hearing more of her unnerving words.

"Goodbye." He'd muttered, leaning down to kiss her cheek when her next action made him freeze. Cupping his cheeks, she'd kissed him.

She'd pulled back, looking shocked at her own action. Zain had only nodded awkwardly and turned to leave, not quite able to comprehend why she'd done it.

Sighing as he entered his car, Zain pulled out his phone and texted back. Whatever.

Barely 10 seconds later, his phone rang with caller ID displaying Love's name. "Hey, fake friend." He said after picking up.

"I'm the best friend anyone can ever have, okay?" Love said. "Oh so you arrived in New York safe and sound. Now I hope your mind is sound enough to think of all that I told you."

"Love..."

"I'm not forcing you. This is just advice from someone who cares. Take it or leave it." Then she paused for a while. "Zain, about the kiss..." There was an awkward silence from her end which was quite unusual of her. "You know you hot right?" She was back to her normal self. "I just couldn't let you go without kissing you, you know. I caught us on spy camera and I'm gonna brag to my friends about kissing a hung."

Zain chuckled, unable to help himself, knowing she was joking with the last part and that her explanation was a lie. Now that he thought of it clearly, he realized the real reason why she'd kissed him; she had feelings for him.

It had been obvious in the way she always looked at him, the jealous looks she frequently gave Emma. Hopefully, those feelings weren't too much. The last thing he needed was someone pinning for him as badly as he was pinning for Emma.

"Hey, I'll hang up now, Love. Talk to you later?"

"I'll definitely call you." She enthused, then hang up.

Starting the car, Zain drove out of the airport and made for his parents house. While he was on his trip, his mother had called, berating him for letting her find out from his father and not him that he was in Miami. The woman still refused to accept that he was an adult, that he didn't need to tell her everything he did with his life.

He'd promised to come see her when he arrived. At that time, he'd viewed it as an obligation, but today he was going because he was desperate. He badly needed someone to talk to, someone to help him sooth and sort out all the emotions swirling inside him. Normally, he would've gone to his best friend, Kevin, but he felt his mother was the right person for the job at this moment.

He suddenly recalled Love's confident assertion at the airport, and his heart squeezed. You're not in love with her Zain, you're obsessed.

Throughout his flight, those words had kept on resonating in his head, venturing into depths that begun to unleash more doubts.

Reaching his parents house, he parked under the canopy and went to press the bell at the main building. A minute later, it snapped open to reveal a middle aged woman, Olivia, the cook.

"Ah Zain, my boy." She crooned as she reached to stroke his cheek, and Zain had to resist a groan. Olivia had been with them for as long as Zain could remember, which was since his childhood, and much like his mother, she didn't seem to want to accept that he was 30 and fully grown.

"Olivia, is my mum home?"

The woman nodded as she stepped back so Zain could enter. "Home she is but she's not expecting you. Beware, she's been grouching a lot about how you barely come to see her and just went on a trip without first informing her."

"Don't even tell me, Olivia. I know I'm getting an earful today. So where's she?"

"She's watching TV in the sitting room."

"Thank you, Olivia." Zain smiled as he made his way to the large sitting room. He paused and gazed at his mother as she brushed locks of her dark blonde hair from hair face, trying to concentrate on the Mexican telenovela she was watching.

"Olivia!" She shouted without looking away from the TV. "Who was at the door, please?" Then she tilted her head, and her eyes fell on him. Brown eyes gazed at him warmly before the warmth was chased away with a grimace as she turned back to the television muttering "He decides to finally show up."

Rounding the couch she sat in, Zain leaned against the headrest and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll spare you the complaints and just apologize, Mum. I'm sorry mum, but you have to understand that I'm an adult and..."

"Now that's a very good apology." His mum snorted sarcastically.

"Okay fine. Look." He crossed his wrists and held his ears. She turned to look at him, then looked away again, and Zain could see she was battling a smile. "That's not enough."

"What mum? You want me to kneel down instead?"

"That'll be better." She huffed.

"You can't be serious, mother." Zain rounded the couch so he could look at her face to ascertain how much she meant the order. "You're joking right?"

She stared at him for sometime with a stoic expression, then her face broke into a smile. "Of course, I'm joking. Now come here." She chuckled as she opened her arms wide, and Zain leaned down and fell into her embrace, feeling the love as it enveloped him.

This was home.

Nudging him back a little, she patted her thighs. "Come rest your head on mummy's lap, baby."

Ugh. Rolling his eyes, Zain climbed into the soft settee, closing his eyes as he placed his head on his mother's thighs. "How are you, mother?" He asked, holding his breath for her answer.

"I'm fine, dear. And the doctors say my heart keeps getting better and better." She answered, a sense of exuberance echoing through her words.

Zain exhaled the breath in a sigh of relief. They'd found out his mother had a heart condition after she'd had a heart attack, the result of hearing his father speaking to his lover over the phone two years ago. Zain had flew back and swore never to forgive his father if anything happened to his mother.

She'd recovered well from that attack, but it'd taken some months for her to heal enough to decide to forgive his dad. Her reason was that the conversation she'd heard involved her father telling his lover that he was breaking up with her because he loved his wife and felt guilty about what they'd been doing.

But things had become more strained between he and his dad, the fear that another betrayal from the man and his mother wouldn't be able to take it, lurking.

But he didn't deceive himself with the good health he could sense his mother had. He knew that there was no way the heart condition could be completely cured unless there was a heart transplant which was much too risky, but during such circumstances, one can only hope that the person can stay long enough with them.

"Are you going to tell me or should I just guess? I can feel that something is bothering you. Come on, tell me." His mother mused, ruffling his hair with her hands. "Women issues?"

His mother hand always been perceptive, and her presumptions were barely wrong if ever. "You know me so well, mum."

"Well that's why I'm your mother." Her voice rang with imminent mischief. "Besides, I was beginning to worry you're getting too old."

"Mum, I'm just thirty!" He protested as he raised himself a little to glare playfully at her.

"Oh yes, and you're gonna get 31 in two months." She retorted. "You know you should've gotten married at 25 and having 10 children by now." She chuckled softly after that, the rich sound reverberating with playfulness and warmth.

Stilling as the claws of a painful past begun digging at his chest, Zain tell silent, regaining his voice seconds later. "You know why I didn't get married at 25, mum."

"Oh.." His mother trailed off, seemingly realizing her mistake and her words for the gravity they held within their dark depths. "I'm sorry, dear." Then she was back after a few seconds. "So what's the problem now. You're not sure whether you like her? She doesn't like you back? Before that, who's she?"

"It's her, mum." He'd held himself back from telling his mother about his situation with Em not because he feared she would judge him which she wouldn't have, but because he hadn't wanted his mother to be part of the 'let's disuade Zain' group. But today, he felt he needed her advice more than ever.

"You mean the same one you were in love with years ago and had to let go because of the... illness?" She paused for some seconds. "Your love for her was truly strong, huh? So what's the real problem? She doesn't love you anymore? She..."

"She's married."

"Oh son." His mother raised him gently by the head so he was sitting and looking her in the eyes. "That's so bad. I..."

He didn't let her finish. "But I want her back, mother."

He felt her tense, eyes flashing with uncertainty, seemingly at how to react. "Son, I..."

"Don't tell me I'm doing the wrong thing like everyone is doing mum." He pleaded, taking her hand between his. Then he briefed her on everything from how he'd returned to New York to find Emma married with a child and the things he was doing to get her back.

His mother took a deep breath after his telling, deep in thought. "So basically, from what I'm able to deduce from this, Emma didn't rediscover her feelings for you on her own."

"Someone had to be the causing factor." He reasoned.

"You forced her into the realization, and now she's confused and uncertain how she feels. Besides, she has a daughter who's happiness must always come first for her."

"But I can make her daughter just as happy as George can." He wanted his mother's support desperately.

"You've not given her a choice, son, and don't tell me again that you feel she loves you more. It could be the other way. She could love George more and that's why she doesn't want to leave him. It's a possibility you have to accept."

"But I love her, mother. I can't live any longer without her. I don't know what my future will be like without her." Tears stung his eyes, falling immediately his mother's comforting arms wrapped around him. Em's absence in his life had left a deep void, one he was certain only she could fill.

His mother held him till he calmed down, till he slid across the couch and once again put his head on her lap. Then she spoke. "Tell me son. Why do you think Emma will leave her husband for you? Does he abuse her?"

"No. George... He's a good man." He sighed. "But I think she's not happy with him."

It was the first time he was having to admit that his initial belief that Emma was never really happy with George was wavering more than the sea did in a minute. And now he was having to face the reality that he was the cause of the ever-present agony in her eyes nowadays.

An agony who's reason was much too unsettling for him - that she didn't want to leave George.

"Listen son," His mother begun, massaging his scalp with her fingertips. "When you love, you make your love's happinesses your own, her tears your own, and make sacrifices when necessary. Maybe you're merely in denial even though your heart tells you she's happy with her husband."

She paused for sometime. "Maybe she's still not made a decision becuse you don't make her feel she has a choice. She's afraid you'd still stay adamant even if she declares George is the one she wants to be with."

"She can't be in love with the two of you at the same time, son. One has to be some sort of confusion or another emotion mistaken for love. But she's an adult. Let her decide which is which and accept whatever she decides." That was the last he heard, his head on his mother's lap as he succumbed to the weariness-induced sleep.

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We have just a few chapters to go guys! Thank you for reading!