It'd been three days. Three long days, and Emma had been avoiding him like a contagious disease. He was restricted by security the first day of the three. They told him they'd been given strict orders by the CEO to not let him in. He'd tried to call but her phone never reached through, he'd gone to the restaurant they usually ate and she wasn't there. It'd been going on for three fucking days.

And it was pure torture being deprived of her. Goodness, why couldn't she understand that the only thing he wanted to do was make her happy.

Chucking down his beer while sitting with his best friend at the table situated at the quiet spot in Andrew's bar they liked to sit most, Zain looked at Kevin who was drinking his own cold beer, looking quite grim. Things in his marriage wasn't going so well because his wife insisted on having a child.

Kevin had been telling her for quite a while now that he didn't want a child, but the truth was he quite did and was only hiding a secret from her. A secret he feared would destroy his marriage.

And yet, his silence was also wrecking more havoc than he'd imagined.

Zain realized there wasn't much to do about Kevin's situation, but then he was the one who stood the potential of getting some help from his best friend. But of course he couldn't come off so directly. "You know, things between Emma and I have been going quite great."

"Hmm, has it?" Kevin asked nonchalantly even though Zain sensed the curiosity in his tone.

He smiled. "Yeah, I finally told her I was still in love with her and planning to get her back."

Kevin glanced at him as if he was a bragging child that a parent was forced to listen to. "What happened to waiting for the right thing?"

"I don't think any other time would've worked better." He prided, hoping his broad smile would emphasize his almost nonexistent victory. "I told her after she kissed me."

"She what?" Kevin asked, flabbergasted.

"She. Kissed. Me. It was on the day I took her to see her father at my house. After leaving, she came back and that was when it happened." He frowned. "But after that she started giving excuses like she did it only out of impulse. An impulse of gratitude or that sort of thing."

"Peharps it truly is. After all, you helped her to discover some facts about her past." Kevin said exhaustedly.

"Come on, bro, you're also going to give me that shit? It's obvious that she only said that to escape from what she feels."

Kevin took an impatient swig of his beer. "Emma has never even mentioned anything to you about how or what she feels."

"Sometimes, you don't need to be told to be able to read a person's emotions, most especially if you have an emotional connection with that person."

Seemingly exasperated, Kevin glared at him. "Why the fuck do you always share these nonexistent progresses with me anyway? You know I'm not a fun of that particular zeal of yours in capturing a married woman."

Wanting to thaw his frustration, Zain took a drink if the cold beer from his bottle. He couldn't get angry if he expected Kevin to help him. "I share it with you because you're my brother, and you're there to understand my needs and to support me."

"Why, Zain? Why can't you forget about her? I understand that your love is so strong it survived 5 years of distance, but she is married Zain. It doesn't matter how much you love her, sometimes, love is all about sacrificing for the other person's happiness."

Feeling bitter, Zain retorted condescendingly. "You mean sacrificing even when you know that the other person isn't completely happy in her new life?" He sighed. "Love can be about sacrificing, but sometimes too, it's about persisting and not giving up when the other person is being reluctant."

"Emma is not being reluctant, Zain." Kevin leaned forward, a glint in his eyes indicating the motive to persuade. "She's being reasonably determined and peremptory. You're only refusing to read it. She's a married woman who has a daughter. You should've seen her on her..." Here Kevin froze for while in a way that made Zain question the rest of the sentence.

Kevin continued after taking a deep breath. "Bottom line is that she really appears to love her husband. Why can't you believe her? Hell, Zain. There are a lot of women out there. Perhaps if you tried a little harder to get over your feelings for Em, you'll be able to fall in love again. Who knows?"

"I can't forget her, Kevin. She's a drug." And he was stupidly addicted to her. Not being able to see her for the past three days was driving him crazy.

Kevin suddenly looked stricken and appalled. "So you'd rather destroy somebody's life just to satisfy your addiction? You've committed emotional murder. You've killed the humanity and consideration for other people's thoughts and wishes that you had over the past five years."

"That is why you refuse to listen to Emma and still insist that she loves you despite the fact that she says the opposite. That is why you aren't considering that little girl she has with her husband. You're not clearly thinking about how she'll feel. To her it'll be you destroying her happy family. You're not thinking of how characterless you're making Emma appear."

Anger shot through Zain at Kevin's continues discouragement. This was when he needed his brother's support the most. Especially whenever he was alone and doubts plagued him and he begun questioning the worth of still pursuing Em.

"I'm not trying to make her appear characterless, Kevin. Because believe me, I'm not planing to become the other man. I know I'm worth more than that. And I know that she truly loves me. I can feel it."

"Would you stop saying that? It infuriates me that you keep on deluding yourself." Kevin fired angrily suddenly.

Zain clenched his hand around the neck of his bottle furiously, holding back from making his reply a lash out. "What's even more infuriating is that my brother refuses to support me in accomplishing the one thing that will make me happy." Well, his words backfired anyways, but Zain had no urge to calm himself. He felt as if on a leash where his voice rose higher as he went.

"Try to put yourself in my shoes. Just imagine you could never stop loving her all the time you were away from her. You basically went through with an unpromising treatment for your cancer because you saw the two of you together when you got back cured. Your love for her and the thought of reuniting with her was what drove you on to eventually get cured. Just imagine coming back with so much hope and finding out that your life is married."

Zain leaned forward so he was glaring into Kevin's eyes. "Would you so simply give up the love and let the nightly bouts of tears and longing, and your reason for living go to waste? Would you let go of her if you sense that she still has feelings for you?"

Instead of answering, Kevin nodded his head a little as if a realization had just crushed on him. Looking back at Zain much calmly, he mused. "It's not love, Zain. What you feel for Emma is not love."

"What?" Zain asked, incredulous.

"It's not love. It's just some kind of twisted resentment. For five years after your separation, even while away from her, you'd still been pinning for her and still wanting her, never making any effort to forget her. While she on the other hand barely took a year to move on. You're bitter and looking to see that you'd really meant something to her five years ago and that you were as unforgettable to her as she was to you. You just want to satisfy your ego."

"I'm not fucking trying to satisfy my fucking ego. Why the fuck do you keep saying that every time we discuss Emma?" Zain demanded, feeling upset.

"Sometimes you talk as if she's a prize that you want to reclaim. A trophy that you'd lost to your rival and want to get back. That is not how love works. That's fucking ego."

Zain chose to stay silent as he ordered another beer. So as not to plunge Kevin into am even acerbic mood than he was after arrival, though he knew he hadn't scored much points to get the other man to help him. Kevin chose to finish the little rest of his.

When the cold beer arrived, Zain took an instant chuck, hoping to cool the rising chaos inside. He waited a few minutes while drinking for both he and Kevin to calm down. After the lull, he looked back at his best friend pleadingly.

"Kevin, you know the two of us are like brothers. I help you when I can and you help me when..."

"Bottom line, what do you need me to do for you, Zain?" Kevin asked, sounding annoyed.

Zain sighed, uncertain his request would touch Kevin. "Em has been trying to run away from me and what she feels for me for the past three days. She's restricted my entrance into her fashion house, she won't pick up my calls. I need you to call her and... "

He was right; his request didn't touch Kevin, for his eyes flashed with disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with you. Five minutes ago I was trying to dissuade you from continuing your stupid pursuit of Em, and right now you're asking me to help you do that very thing?"

"Bro, listen. I'm dying inside. I need to see..."

"I'm sorry, bro. But please don't involve me in this. Goodnight Zain." Kevin stood up, and without a direct eye contact with Zain, he walked away. Perhaps it was because he feared Zain would be able to convince him.

Sighing, Zain teetered his chair on it's back legs and polished off the rest of his beer. He stood up, tossed some money on the table for both he and Kevin's drinks, and was just about to leave when a guy who'd been sitting at the table beside he and Kevin's approached.

As he approached, Zain realized that he looked rather familiar but not in a bad way. "Hello." He said.

"Hello." Zain said.

"I really didn't mean to, but you and your friend were loud enough that I couldn't help but hear what you discussed."

"So?" Zain asked warily.

The guy sat down and Zain was forced to do the same. "I went through a similar experience. Though I went away seeking for greener pastures but was falsely accused, arrested and jailed for theft. When I was released a year later after evidences were found in my favour, I came back and found out that the woman I'd been with had gotten engaged to somebody."

Zain tried to remember where he'd seen this guy before. Then it clicked. He was the man who'd been arguing with a woman at the restaurant the first day he and Emma had gone out for lunch together about weeks ago ago. "So what happened?" he felt intrigued.

"She told me that she didn't love me anymore. My friends and family told me to let her go. But I saw that she was merely in denial because she was upset that she didn't hear from me for a whole year, so I went on to fight for her love. I didn't regret it." A broad smile touched the man's lips as if in reminiscence.

"How did you get her back?" Zain saw the ray of hope in his own situation brighten into a star.

The man chuckled. "Find a way to get her to bed man. That's my advice. Get her to surrender to you." He patted Zain on the shoulder as he stood. "Just fuck her."