Zemira

Since joining Saved - Ford hotel's NGO wing for destitute women - time had flown by faster.

Every morning at six, my alarm went off. I would be ready before eight and by nine, I would be in my office, ahead of my schedule. My evening therapy sessions continued with my therapist appreciating my efforts for maintaining a healthy living by exercising and keeping busy.

Small acknowledgements, small pats on my back boosted my morale. My motivating factor was how I managed these rough few months. My will to live, to not end up as a lump on the bed pushed me further into a robust style of living, away from the enticing call of alcohol and parties.

Though in recovery, there were times when the overpowering past had the power to transport me back to the day I was molested or the one when I saw Leo for the last time. However, I was stronger than before to swim my way back to the present.

"How can you love someone who won't love you back? I mean, it simply makes no sense." It wasn't just Kiera and Jake who had asked that question time and again.

I pondered over it, only to conclude love never required rationale or understanding. Though Leo didn't reciprocate my feelings, it didn't vitiate mine.

My office door rattled before it opened. I straightened in my chair, shoving away my daydreaming. Unlike his surefooted walk, dad walked in aimlessly. Blazing behind him was Kiera.

"Wow, both of you together today! It's not my birthday, isn't it?" I said, my quick wit falling on their deaf ears.

Dad didn't say anything. It was Kiera who pulled out a chair for him. All he did was plop on it. His palm rested his face, covering it. I turned to Kiera whose deepened frown made waves of worry lash in my gut.

"Is everything alright? Did something happen?" I asked, my fingers already digging into my cuticles.

Kiera gestured at my chair and I sat in silence, letting the two get to the point. Every passing second built up my anxiety.

Was this about Leo? Did something happen to him?

Was I in the news for some other wrong reason? Were our shares crashing again?

Like all things I carried no control over, I pushed those thoughts away. Leaning over the table, I inhaled deeply, tilting my head up to address my guests.

"Please tell me why you both are here?"

Dad nodded his head from the veil of his palm like the very sight of me could somehow hurt him.

It was teary-eyed Kiera who cleared her throat and answered. "Antonio."

One word. One name and my world were grabbed and plunged back to that dark day in August. 12th of August, on a Monday, when a predator found me alone and tried to harm me.

No matter how many counselling sessions I sobbed and ranted in, that image of me unable to fend for myself, of my uncried tear and unheard screams were some clear pictures in my mind that never grew hazy. They never ceased to exist.

I wasn't ashamed it happened to me. I was ashamed of the helplessness that empowered him.

"What about him?" I straightened from my chair and walked over to Kiera who fidgeted with the tassels of her bag. She didn't dare to look up at me, just like dad. "Do you know about..."

I wanted to confirm if indeed I was on the right page. Dad nodded in silence. Gray pants of his soaked big, fat teardrops jerking from his eyes. He still didn't answer.

"Are you ashamed of me, dad?" My question tossed up his head.

"Never." He moved across, lessening our distance. His stern nod answered the rest. "I am..."

The crimson streaks on his face, his puffy eyes and his heaving chest conveyed dad knew of the information for more than a few hours. Maybe since yesterday. Suddenly his absence since dinner made sense. He must have gone hunting for an answer, lying to me about work.

"Dad."

I held his strong arms. Those, which secured me when I crossed the streets, ones which lent me support when our loved ones passed away. Those same set of strong, reliable arms suddenly felt fragile.

"Why are you crying?" I watched my strong man break into tears, fresh, heavier streams wetting his cheeks. "I braved through it, dad. I didn't give up. And you know what, I wasn't alone, I promise. Leo, he... he helped me a lot."

Dad still didn't respond but tugged me tighter into his embrace. He patted my back, his muffled sobs resonated from the corners of my soul. It killed me to know that one wrong decision of mine hurt dad.

"I wasn't there when you needed me the most. My child had to lean on someone else's shoulders." He patted the back of my head, peeling me away from him. His hands held me near to him, close enough to be gazed at from his tear-filled eyes. "It took that bastard of a man, Dave, for me to realize what his vile son did to you."

Tossed up in the air, dad's words remained suspended for some time before tracing their way back to my ears.

"What did Dave say?"

Kiera moved a step closer, her hand aligning over dad's trembling hold over me. "Dave threatened uncle to withdraw the case you'd initiated."

"But I didn't..."

The reality of matters struck like a lightning bolt.

"We think it's Leo," Kiera continued. "He must have initiated the case. I don't know how but your face or reference wasn't anywhere, not even in the video evidence. In all places, you appear as Jane Doe. I think Leo testified on your behalf..."

Even after months of silence, Leo came through as my guardian angel. Though he was miles away, his care streamed from his gestures.

"My child," dad called out, his right palm cupping the side of my face. Tendrils of worry spread across his reddened face as he tried hard to shift his gaze off me. "It seems there's not enough proof to keep Antonio away for long. Dave Brenton is using everything in his power to get his son back."

The glitch in the plan. I could see it on their faces and feel it in the air.

"Without proof and a statement from the victim, he'd walk free," Kiera whispered.

The man who destroyed my life, whom I rendered the power to and who wielded it over me like a sword, was now given a chance to breathe the same air as me. Walk the same grounds as me.

My legs began trembling. I dragged a long breath, exhaling with such force that my chest decompressed to twice its size. "Not on my watch."

I had enough time to understand and process the day that scarred my soul. Sure, it would take years before I carried that scar without the burden it rendered now. However, I refused to let Antonio walk free because I wanted more time to sit in therapy and talk things out.

I refused to create another victim because I thought it was easier to hide behind the mask of Jane Doe and watch the play unfold.

If Antonio has no shame in doing what he did, why should I be the one in hiding? Why was I running and cowering behind sealed documents and helpful alibies?

"Kiera," I turned towards her, holding onto dad's arm. In a way, I was channeling his anger and my determination to course through my veins. "Please arrange an interim press meet or something. Get someone, anyone... who can be trusted with the news and who'd help in relaying it. We need all hands on deck now."

Kiera and dad shared a look. Then she smiled, delivering her trademark million-watt grin.

"What is it?" I asked, unable to decipher their unreadable reactions.

"Actually there's someone who wants to help," Kiera said, pointing towards the door.

For a moment, my heart lurched. I hadn't seen the person for months together but there she stood in my office, confident as usual.

"Hey, Zemira." Haley waved at me and I mirrored her reaction.

The last I remembered, she tried to kiss Leo and he broke up with her.

"Dad, Kiera, can you give us a moment?"

My friend and dad nodded and scurried. In the silent confines of my room, Haley moved closer.

"I wanted to say–" she began

"I'm sorry, Haley."

"Sorry for what, dear?" She held the corner of my table, eying me.

"I became the wedge between you and Leo–"

"Oh no. No, Zem." She waved her hands in the air, dropping her bag on a chair. Moving closer, she held my shoulders. "You did nothing wrong. Leo and I... were never dated. It was just a... Anyways, when I saw you two together, I got a little jealous." She surrendered her hands up. "It wasn't my proudest moment."

When the time came for my side of reasoning, Haley halted my speech with her arms crisscrossing across her chest. "Let's get to work, Zem. We'll have all the time later to talk about my insecurities and Leo and your love life."

Laughter rumbled. "There's no love life, Hales."

"As if..." She rolled her eyes. "But that's not the important thing for now. Right now, I want to help you and Leo."

Her words paced faster than a bullet train and I had trouble catching up. When she clapped near my face, my chain of thoughts broke.

"Snap out of it, Zem. We need a strategy for everything from now on."

"What strategy?" I asked. "I told Kiera to arrange for a simple press conference."

"There's nothing simple when you're going after an empire." There was a spark in her eyes that both thrilled and scared me. "We're going to get back at the Brentons for what they did."

"Why are you helping me? Don't you still work for them?" I wasn't merely doubting Haley. I was doubting everything about the Brentons except for their elder son.

"Not anymore." Falling back into a chair, Haley crossed her leg and watched me intently. "Not since I came to know about Antonio. After what Leo told me..."

My ears stood up, my heart launched from its place. I wanted to rattle her, asking her to narrate everything he said, yet I played calm like his name never affected me.

"You want to know what he said. Isn't it?" Haley's face lit up. I nodded casually, trying hard to hide my desperation. "Again, we have a lot to do so I'll give a gist. He said that though he couldn't help your business, he'd ensure you aren't punished for loving him or being close to his family."

A smile broke over her face, one that Haley delivered before any big reveal. "You mean the world to him, Zem. He's an idiot to not acknowledge it but his actions say it all the time."

Miles away, at that moment, Leo ensured I was further buried under his love. A simple gesture had me realize the irreversible truth. I never needed to get over him.

~

Love may not always require reciprocation. After all, the condition with love is love itself ❤️