ᴋɪɴɢ ʀᴀꜰᴀᴇʟ: ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ ✓

⭒35⭒

If you give your secrets to the wind,
You should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees
{Khalil Gibran}
_______

I had just ended the call with my family a couple of minutes ago. They were unaware of what happened, due to obvious reasons, but a small part of me wanted to inform them of my life thus far.

But then again, their ignorance was my bliss, as it meant they were unaware to my problems. Tears wetted my eyes and soon after they fell along my cheeks. What had my life come to oh Allah?

I tried to hold back a sob, leaning against the sink. During my time fighting off the wetness in my eyes, I hadn't realised I'd stumbled into the female bathrooms. It could have been the male bathrooms and I wouldn't have cared right now.

Everything in my life was going downhill and I was letting that happen. The demon at my tale for this stupid marriage. Being involved with the Mafia. Antoinette's life in danger because of me. The constant lies that I'd been feeding to the Mukhtars. And not mention my own family.

When would it all stop? I kept asking myself, hoping my mind would give me an answer, but all I'd been met with was a blank wall. An empty shallow shell.

The bathrooms door opened, immediately causing me to wash my face. Only then did I have the confidence to meet the person when my tears mingled with the water. Thankfully it was a visitor, judging by the lack of uniform and pristine looking hair, who'd offered me a short glance before disappearing behind one of the stalls.

No doctor, including me, looked that put together, even if it was on a calm day at the hospital.

Drying my face with the inside of my hijab, I exited the bathroom, feeling fatigued all of a sudden. Thankfully there was only a couple more hours left of my duty.

Having checked all my patients beforehand, it wouldn't hurt to visit Antoinette. Informing the doctor of my absence, I walked to her room, giving the door a quick knock before making my presence known.

Antoinette's visage radiated joy as her eyes set upon me. I returned a grin. Although, that soon faded with the consequences of my actions plaguing my mind.

She seemed to have picked up on my mood as she urged me forward with her arm. I walked towards the chair, sitting down. Without so much as a second thought, I took her pale freckled hand in my own and sobbed. Nothing I said would be understood by her, but I still had to get this guilt off of my chest.

"I'm so sorry Antoinette. You're not going to understand any of what I'm blabbering but I'm so sorry. I put you in danger and and your hurt because of me. If I ever meet your family, I don't know what I'd say to them. I'm so disappointed in mys-" she cut me off.

"Laila, child, quiet down por favor. None of this is your fault" I looked up suddenly, with a wet face and snotty nose.

W-was Antoinette speaking English? And that too fluently? Was I dreaming? Were my emotions this haywire that they'd affected my mental reasoning capacity?

Antoinette seemed to have caught the confusion on my face, as a grim look appeared on her own. She didn't suit it. She looked better when she'd smile, or give me her motherly look.

"H-how?" was all I could muster.

She sighed in defeat, her chest heaving up in a long intake of air, as if she was pacing herself. Was there something I didn't know? Well there actually is a lot you don't know. My smarter half told me.

"Laila. Im not who you think I am" clearly, otherwise you wouldn't be speaking fluently in a language I thought you had no idea of, for the past two and a half months! But I didn't say that. I kept quiet and waited for the meaning behind her cryptic words.