Chapter 16: Meeting Him Again

She got up early as usual and got ready for school. Farhan was still sleeping, and she went to his room to wake him up.

Sara removes his blanket, “Get up, we’ll be late for school.”

Farhan told her, “No, we won’t. It’s only 8 o’clock right now, let me sleep.” He puts the blanket on his head again and she takes the blanket off and throws it on the ground.

Sara surprised, “Oh my God, you’re naked.” She turns away; he had only his shorts on.

Farhan laughs, “You better not do it again.” She turns to face him, “What makes you think that you can go back to sleep? I can see you in your short because you’re my fiancé and I don’t have a problem with that.”

He got excited, “Really? Then I should” He goes close to her to kiss her, but she pushes him back on the bed.

“Nice try but get ready in ten minutes and I’ll be waiting for you downstairs at the dining table. Get it?” She goes downstairs and eats breakfast. He got ready and came downstairs smiling. He ate his breakfast, and they went to college together. The university was close to his house, but he still drove to the university. “It’s beautiful. Hey, you remembered your promise, right?”

“Yes, I will show you around.” They get out of the car and he goes to the bench where his group was waiting for him. He had a really big group and Sara recognized some of the students because she saw them at the grocery store yesterday. “Come, I’ll introduce you to my group.” There were three girls and six guys. He introduced Sara to everybody, and Sara was smiling. He told her that he had two best friends, which he went with from middle school to college. One was Shahid, and another one was Jamal, they were also from Pakistan.

Shahid told him, “Hey, Farhan. Your fiancé is very beautiful. You’re very lucky.” Sara smiles and he saw her beautiful dimple. “Oh my God, she got such a beautiful dimple; I wish I had met her before you.”

Sara joked around with him, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to get engage with him, but I didn’t have a choice. He was pressuring me so much that I couldn’t say no to him.” Everybody started laughing.

Farhan told her, “you have class at ten.”

Sara told him, “Yeah, I should get going. It was nice to meet all of you.”

Farhan hugged her and she went to her class. She heard Farhan’s friend teasing him because he didn’t tell anybody that he was engaged and now everybody was mad at him for hiding his engagement. Sara didn’t have a problem with him telling all his friends that she was engaged because now nothing mattered to her. She was living her life for what her parents wanted, and she thought that there are lots of people who do that. When they don’t have a purpose in life, then they just follow what other people tell them. So, that’s what she was doing.

She used to go to college, hang out with Farhan on the weekends and with his group during her free time between classes. They used to have lots of fun, sometimes they all used to go out and skip their classes, but Sara never skipped her class because she was a biology major, and it was very hard for her to miss even one lecture. She was totally concentrating on her studies and didn’t pay attention to anything else. She called her parents every day to let them know that she was doing fine, and Farhan and his parents took good care of her. She told them that she’s very happy being with them.

It was October when her biology teacher told her that their class will be going on a seminar in LA for three days and they’ll be staying in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, which the college will finance for them. She had a really big opportunity to go to the seminar, but she was afraid that what if her parents refuse or if Farhan’s parents won’t let her go. So, first, she called her mother because she knew that she was the only one to make everyone agree.

The phone ringing, “Hello, Mom. How are you?”

Ayesha answered, “I’m fine, honey. How you’re doing? Are you having fun there?”

Sara replied, “Yes, mom. I love it here.” She was talking softly with her mother because she didn’t know how to ask her mother, but her mother knew her daughter very well.

Ayesha asked, “Is there something you wanna tell me?”

First, she hesitated, and then she thought that it was only her mother who she was talking to, so then she told her. “Mom, there is this seminar that I have to go to with my biology class, which is in LA and I just wanted to tell you that I might not call you because I’ll be busy with the seminar thing.” Her mother’s voice sounded worried and asked, “Is Farhan going with you?”

Sara told her, “No, mom. He’s not in my class and you have to make his parents understand that this seminar is very important for me to attend because my teachers think that attending this seminar will help us succeed in the future.” Her mother didn’t know what to tell her daughter because she was away from her already and now, she wanted to go somewhere else without any family members. “Mom, please.” So, she agreed because she wanted her daughter to be happy.

Ayesha said, “I’ll call them and tell them that it’s very important to you. Are you happy now?”

Sara got excited, “Thank you, mom. I love you. Bye!”

Ayesha was happy to hear her daughter's voice, “Take care, bye.”

They hang up and she also told Farhan on the way, but he wasn’t happy letting her go alone. He felt something wasn’t right, but he also didn’t have any choice because he loved her and wanted to see her happy, so he didn’t say anything to her. Farhan told his parents and Sara’s mother also called them to let Farhan’s parents know that it was okay for her to go to the seminar. So, she packed everything, and it was Friday morning, when they had to leave, and they were coming back on Monday. Farhan went to drop her at college, and she went with her class on the bus. It was a long journey that she had to deal with. She hated going on the bus because it made her vomit, but it was good that somebody was there with her to give her company. There were two girls from her class, which became her friends.

Jessica was one of them, “Hey, I’m so excited to go to the seminar and you know what Mr. Colon told us that we can go out and look around when we are finished with the seminar.”

Sara was surprised, “Really? That’s great, then we’ll go out and have fun.”

Monica was the other girl, “Yup, girls.” They scream and Sara was laughing at them. Sara had thought to make her life more enjoyable instead of just thinking about Aaron and make her life miserable. She had to move on and that’s what she was doing.

After 6 hours later, they reached the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Everybody got out of the bus and went inside. Mr. Colon went to the receptionist to get the room keys. He came and told that everybody has a room partner and Sara hoped that she’s roomed with Jessica or Monica because she didn’t know anybody else very well. She knew everybody in the class, it was just that she wasn’t very close to others like she was with Jessica and Monica. Her wish came true, she was roomed with Jessica.

Sara told her, “I should have wished something else.”

Jessica asked, “What’s that?”

“Nothing.” Everybody went to their rooms and Jessica and Sara went to theirs. “I’m so tired, it was a long drive.”

Jessica said, “Me, too.” She lay on the bed and the room had two beds, which Sara and Jessica loved it. “It’s such a nice place, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it’s beautiful.” Whenever she was with Jessica, she reminded her of Neha because she used to be scared like Neha. She starts again, “I’m so scared being alone.” Sara smiled, “You know what you’re like my best friend Neha. She’s the same like you, scary cat, but don’t worry, I am with you. Nothing will happen to you, if something does, then I’ll come to save you.” She laughs again. “I’m gonna go and take shower now and we’ll go outside.” She takes shower and gets ready while Jessica goes and gets ready. “Are you ready, Jessica?”

Jessica told her, “I think we shouldn’t go out right now because it’s already dark.”

Sara loved the nights and said, “I love to go out at night.”

Jessica was really scared if something bad happens since they were in a new city, “Mr. Colon will get mad if he finds out.”

Sara liked to take risks as always, “No, he won’t. Everybody’s going out because this is their chance to see LA and Mr. Colon left the hotel as soon as he got here. So, don’t worry. Let’s just go.” They get out of the room and goes to the receptionist to tell her that they’ll be out and if Mr. Colon asks about them, then she should tell him that they’ll be back around 10 or 11. It was eight already and they went out.

Jessica told her, “Look, Sara. I’m really scared and I’m going back. I can’t go with you, why don’t you take Monica with you?”

She didn’t want to force Jessica, so let her go and gave her the room keys. “Alright, you can go back to the room and I’ll be back around 10. I’m just gonna walk around here and you can call me if something happens.”

Jessica answered, “Okay!”

She runs back to the hotel and Sara starts walking toward the street. She started thinking about her life and Farhan. She liked Farhan as a friend because he made her happy all the time and made her laugh, but she was afraid because she wasn't going to do justice to him if she marries him. He was there when she needed somebody and she was missing him at this time because they used to go out at this time and hang around at different places, so she thought that she should call him and tell him that she was missing him. She gave him a private call and then hang up when he answered. She was laughing so much at the stupid thing that she just did. She went so far from the hotel that she didn’t realize and so started walking back to the hotel.

Farhan answered the call, “Hello?”

He kept saying hello, hello, but Sara didn’t say anything. She called him like four or five times and started laughing so loud that some guys were standing at the light looked at her. She got really scared because she was alone at night and nobody was there with her, but she was a brave girl. So, she walked slowly the other way away from the hotel.

They were following her; there were three men. When she saw that they were so close to her that she started running and they were running after her. Suddenly, she heard somebody firing bullets in the air and heard a police siren. So, she ran the way where she heard the police car’s siren and the men stopped following her because of the police. She started crying and sat down on the street and she didn’t know where she was. She wanted to call Farhan, but she didn’t want him to get worried about her because that’s the reason they didn’t want her to go all by herself. She calmed herself down and tried to call Farhan, but she couldn’t.

Suddenly, she saw that those three men were standing behind her and she could see their shadows on the floor. She stood up and started running again. They were running after her and she saw a police car. She went there and saw that nobody was in the car. They were after her like they knew that the police weren’t in the car.

The tall man said, “Hey, sweetie pie, come here.” The men came closer, and Sara prayed to God to save her. Immediately, she saw the police came downstairs from an apartment and she ran to the police officer.

Sara told him, “Please, help me. These guys are following me.” They didn’t run like the police were with them and they stayed there. “Please, help me.” The police guy laughed, and those three men also laughed, how could they wanna lose such a beautiful girl.

The police officer said, “My, My, My…..” She turned the other way and started screaming and crying at the same time.

Sara screaming for help, “Help, …. Help, somebody, please help me.” Somebody came downstairs from the same apartment and it was Jack. The police and the other three men were coming toward her and she saw Jack.

Sara called out to him, “Jack,” she ran to him, “Please, save me.”

The police officer asked him, “You know her?”

Jack told him, “Yeah, she’s Aaron’s girlfriend. All of you leave before Aaron finds out what you guys were about to do.” All of them ran and the police officer drove off. Sara started crying and didn’t pay attention to what Jack had just said. “Hey, are you alright? What are you doing here?”

Sara was crying so much and didn’t want to answer his questions, “Can you take me to my hotel? Please.” She was crying so much.

Jack told her, “Yeah, wait. Let me go get my keys.” He goes and gets his keys. He drives and she was happy that Jack helped her.

Sara said, “Thank you, thank you so much. I will never forget this.”

Jack was happy to see Sara, “You don’t need to thank me. You’re my best friend’s girlfriend and,” she interrupts him before he could say anything else, “I’m not his girlfriend, stop saying that.” She got really mad.

Jack told her, “Whatever he did was the right thing.”

Sara was still crying and was mad at the same time, “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s all over.”

“You don’t know what he’s going through.” He was about to tell her what had happened.

Sara stopped him, “I don’t want to hear another word about him and if you keep talking about him, then I’ll get out of your car.” He doesn’t say anything else and drops her at the hotel. She gets out of the car. “Thank you, Jack. Thank you for everything. I really appreciate whatever you did for me today, thank you once again.”

Jack told her, “Stop saying thank you. It was the right thing to do, plus I also did because Aaron loves you.”

She ignores whatever he said and goes inside the hotel, “Bye!”

Jack waves his hand at her and starts talking on his phone. She goes to her room and sees Jessica was sleeping. She changes clothes and goes to her bed. She starts thinking about what happened. She thought that Aaron still loved her, but then why did he leave her and didn’t even went back to check on her. She was really mad and couldn’t forgive him for whatever he did. Still, if she did forgive him, she couldn’t go back with him because she was engaged to Farhan and she already gave so much pain to them. So, she doesn’t want to give them the pain again. Farhan was there when Aaron left her, so how could she forget that. She told herself that she will never forgive Aaron and goes to sleep.

It was six when she woke up. She got ready and woke Jessica up.

Jessica told her, “Girl, you really wake up so early. I want to sleep more. It’s only 7 right now and I don’t want to wait for the seminar to start. I’ll wake up around 9 and we’ll be ready by the time seminar starts.”

Sara rolling her eyes, “God, I don’t know what to do with you people. My fiancé is also like you, he wakes up at the last minute. Alright, fine then. I’ll go downstairs and walk around a little.”

Jessica sleepy said, “Bye.” She gets out of the room and goes downstairs. She goes to the receptionist and asks her to give her a call when her teacher comes downstairs. When she turns to go outside, she sees Aaron sitting in the lobby and turns back to face the receptionist.

Sara’s heart started beating so fast, “Oh my God.” Sara didn't know what to do because she saw Aaron and she was freaking out.

The receptionist asked, “Is everything alright?” because Sara was panicking.

Sara told her, “Yes.” She tries to run, but Aaron caught her by the arm.

Aaron pulled her, “Trying to run away from me.” She doesn’t even look at him and pushes his hand. She runs back to her room and he runs after her. “Please, stop and listen to me.” She doesn’t say anything, and the receptionist follows, “Is everything alright, sir?”

Aaron replied, “Yeah,” She gets inside her room and locks the door. He asks the receptionist, “Do you have another key for this room?”

The Receptionist told him, “Yes, sir, but I'm afraid that I can't give you the keys. It's against our policy.” Sara was really mad because Aaron was gonna come to her room.

Aaron getting annoyed, “To hell with your policy, I want the keys right now.” He was the son of the richest man, so nobody could refuse him, and Sara was listening to him inside the room.

Jessica woke up with all the noises and asked, “What happened?”

Sara lied, “There is a guy following me and you have to tell him that I’m not here. Okay?” She was whispering to her. Jessica went and opened the door.

Jessica asked, “Yes, can I help you?” When she saw Aaron, she was shocked because he was so handsome that she didn’t know what to say after seeing him.

Aaron answered, “I’m looking for a girl, she came in here and her name is Sara.” Jessica was just looking at him and didn’t say anything. “Is she in there?” She nodded and moved away from his way. He came in and saw Sara.

Sara yelled at him, “Just get out.” She was yelling at him and Jessica was looking at them. Even the receptionist came and looked at Sara yelling at Aaron. “I don’t want to talk to you, just get out. I said just get out.” She was pushing him out of the room.

Aaron was grabbing her from the hands, “Please, just listen to me. I need to talk to you; you need to know why …..” She interrupted him before he could say something else, “Sara: I don’t want to hear anything. Just get out.” She pushed him out of the room and shut the door. He was knocking on the door.

Aaron talking from the other side of the door, “Come on, Sara. Open the door, please. You have to listen to me. I won’t go from here until you don’t listen to me.” Sara stayed inside till the seminar started.

Jessica asked, “Do you know him?” She was curious to know who he was and what he was doing here.

Sara lied to her, “No, I don’t know him.”

Jessica fantasized about him, “he’s so handsome and he also looks rich.”

Sara getting irritated by her fantasy, “Just get ready, or else we’ll be late for the seminar.”

Jessica said, “Alright, ma’am, but I must say he’s very hot.” She goes and gets ready. Her teacher called and told them that he was waiting outside on the bus and they have to go downstairs in five minutes. Sara was really confused because she didn’t want to see his face and he was waiting for her outside. She opened the door slowly to see if he was outside and he was waiting for her outside. “He’s still outside.”

Sara told her, “Yeah? I don’t know how we’re gonna get to the bus.”

Jessica trying to be the brave girl, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle him.”

Sara rolling her eyes, “Yeah, right? Nobody can handle him.” She thought that's why she was getting scared and why she cared for him. So, she opened the door and goes out with Jessica in front of her. She walks behind her, and he grabs her from the waist. “Let go of me. I said let go of me.”

Aaron was holding her tight, “Just listen to me.” She was hitting his arms.

“No, I don’t want to listen to you. Just let go of me. I have to go.” Jessica was standing there watching them. He turns her to face him. For the first time, she looked at him after he left.

Aaron said, “You have to listen to me.” She was pushing herself back, but he wasn’t letting her go. He held her so tight that she couldn’t release herself.

“Let me go, Aaron.” She started hitting him on his chest and was struggling. Jessica came over, “You’re hurting him, Sara.” She stopped her hands and Sara looked at Jessica, “You're saying that I’m hurting him; you don’t even know what he did to me.”

Aaron immediately said, “That’s why I need to talk to you.”

She disagreed, “No, I don’t want to hear anything.” Her teacher came upstairs and saw that Aaron was holding Sara. Jessica got scared because she was afraid that Mr. Colon would get mad, “What’s going on here?”

Sara told her teacher, “Mr. Colon, look he’s not letting me go. I don’t even know him.”

Mr. Colon recognized Aaron, “But I do. He’s Aaron Lawson. His father is the richest man in the world. It’s nice to meet you.” He takes his hand toward Aaron to accept. Aaron doesn’t let go of Sara and holds her with his left hand and shakes Mr. Colon with the right hand. “You know Sara?”

Aaron said, “Yeah, She’s my girlfriend.” Sara speaks immediately, “No, I’m not.”

Mr. Colon was confused for a bit, “Yeah, she’s right.” Aaron was confused, “she’s engaged to Farhan.” When he heard that he lets go of her hand and she ran downstairs without looking back, but she heard Mr. Colon tell him that. “He’s such a nice boy. Well, I should get going because we have to go to the seminar.” Jessica was asking questions to Sara, but Sara didn’t want to answer her questions. She had to because she didn’t want to lose her good friends. Monica was also there when Jessica told her everything she also wanted to know if Sara knew Aaron.

Jessica asked, “Is he your boyfriend?”

Sara told them, “No, he’s not. Why are you asking me this question when you already know that I’m engaged to Farhan?”

Monica asked, “But then why did he say that you’re his girlfriend?”

Sara lied to them, “I don’t know why? Maybe he has some mental problem that’s why or maybe his girlfriend looks like me.” She was so confused now because right here her friends were bugging her, and Aaron was here when she’s engaged to Farhan. She didn’t know what to do and hears her phone vibrate. She answers it. “Hello?” It was Farhan, and she was so mad that she answered the phone in an angry tone.

Farhan got a little shocked and thought about what might have disturbed her, “Hey, I think I called at the wrong time, is everything alright? Are you okay?”

Sara relaxed and answered, “I’m fine. I was just thinking about you.” She lied to him and spoke normally, so Farhan won't know what was going on.

Farhan was confused, “Really?”

Sara lied, “Yeah,” She was telling her friends that it’s her fiancé. “I really miss you.”

Farhan was a little shocked because of the way she was talking, and asked, “When are you coming back?”

“We’re coming back Monday,” told him.

Farhan was missing her too and was not happy about her going there alone, “Oh I see, when is the seminar?”

Sara told him, “We’re on the bus right now to go to the seminar.”

Farhan asked, “Are you having fun?”

She didn’t know what to tell him because she didn’t want to lie to him and she wanted to tell him the truth, but she couldn’t. “Yes, a lot. Can I call you at night?”

Farhan replied, “Sure. Take care of yourself and have fun, Okay?”

Sara was in hurry to hang up, “Yeah, Bye.”

She hangs up and thinks about the past when she really missed Aaron and he wasn’t there for her, but Farhan was there and helped her move on in life. She didn’t even care what Aaron wanted to tell her, but she wanted to know why he left her and why he did that to her. The bus stopped and they were at the seminar. Mr. Colon told everybody to go inside and stay together. Sara was happy that Aaron wasn't coming back and now that he has found out that she's engaged to Farhan, he'll never come back.

She went inside and listened to the people at the seminar. It was 2 in the afternoon when the seminar finished. All of the students came outside to go back to the hotel. Sara was happy that Aaron didn’t come back, but she was also afraid that what if she doesn’t see him again? She loved him and wanted to be with him, but she couldn't. She convinced herself not to get weak because if she gets weak, she’ll hurt everybody, her family, Farhan, and his family. They were at the hotel and Jack was there waiting for Sara.