Chapter 19

Valen’s POV

For seven days, Veyra lay in my bed like she was dead. I thought she might be gone. If not for how Dr. Ashuwizi always came by twice a day to check on her while always avoiding my father, I would have been cooked. I was so worried. I barely left the room, at the same time, I felt so betrayed. I was fighting in my mind whether I should hate her or still love her. I wanted her to be awake first so that she can tell me the nonsense she didn’t why she did it. I wanted to see the look in her face when I confronted her.

Day by day, my anger grew. And it felt like my love was diminishing, but I knew otherwise.

Some days, I would just want to shake her awake and ask her why she betrayed me

Gina was always there through it all. She was there for me. She was at my receiving end. Whenever I needed to shout, I will shout at her- she will sob, and I will hold her. I was putting everything on her-my emotions, my pain, my disappointment, every fucking thing

"I'm leaving Veyra in your care," he said. "I trust you will take care of her,” Alex had told me the day when he called to check if his sister was with me. When he said he wanted to speak with his sister, I told him that she was sleeping. I was hiding it from him.

He told me he would be gone for one month because of the outside pack constructions , and that made my work easier and my worry less. If Veyra going to be unconscious for a while, I didn’t leave Alex looking for her and risk him finding out

I didn’t know why I was protecting Veyra. Maybe just because I had not gotten closure at that point

With Alex gone, nobody seemed to notice that Veyra was missing. Her pantry business was closed anyway for the week, and people assumed she was just taking a break- after all she needed new workers and none had come yet.

When I got worried other people might find out about Veyra missing , Gina told me that she would handle it. So overtime, anyone who asked Gina about her best friend, she would tell them that Veyra was sick, nothing serious.

On the eighth day, Veyra's eyes finally blinked open.

I was sitting in the chair beside her bed -half drunk from drinking too much wine while looking at her and cursing under my breath because she cheated on me. This was when I saw her eyelids flutter. I felt so happy that she was awake, but that was short lived. My anger returned

"Veyra," I said.

She didn’t reply to me immediately. She just looked around confused. She was very weak

“Veyra,” I called Again

This time around, she tried to speak, but only a weak sound came out. Dr. Ashuwizi had told me this might happen - the drugs could affect her ability to talk for a while.

I thought I understood what this meant before she woke up, but at that point it made me very angry. I really could not wait for her to get well before asking her to start explaining herself to me.

Another seven days went by, but she was like a ghost. She could barely sit up, or do anything. To make matters worse, she could not speak properly. She only just winced and made small noicesaround. I was forced to feed her because she could barely feed herself. I had to start taking care of her. I would bring her water, feed her, and prepare food for her. I hated that I didn’t trust anybody to do these chores

Gina still came around. Whenever she came, she would spend a little time with Veyra and then spend the rest of the time with me. She was spending more time with me then she was with Veyra

Finally, Veyra got better. She got fully conscious and the doctor said he would limit his business. Voice came back and she started speaking with me. She would always talk to me, but I would not reply. She said something was wrong

“What is wrong, Valen?” she always asked until one day I decided that it was enough

“Go meet the man you were with the other night!”

“Not this again…” she said weakly. “Why do you always accuse me of cheating on you?”

“Accuse you?” I was flabbergasted that she would dare to turn this around against

“Yes. You have been going on and on about this cheating thing. I told you I am cheating on you with anybody,”

I almost went, but I held myself. "We need to talk," I said, dragging my chair so that I will be opposite her and look her dead in the eyes

"Valen," she said softly. "What happened? I remember going to the pantry to get more cake for the celebration, and then... I cannot remember anything else. How did I get here? I have been wondering ever since I gained back my consciousness, but you have not really spoken to me"

"Don't even start pretending," I said firmly

“What do you mean?” she looked at me with her eyebrows raised

"I want to start acting like a victim here? Like you don’t remember anything? That is an old trick, Veyra!@

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about," she said. "I really don't remember. Why would I lie to you?”

“You I’ve always been lying to me, don’t ask if it is new,” I mutter under my breath

“What did you say…”

"You were doing drugs," I said, watching her face. I wanted to see the look on her face. I wanted to hit up with the fact that she was doing drugs before bringing up the fact that she cheated on me. “You were doing hard drugs. Do you want to die? You have a death wish

Her eyes went wide. "What? No, I don't do drugs. I… don’t… I don’t understand”

"Or you are just being a motherfucking liar!," I cut her off.

“Valen!” she looked at me wide eyed

“So let me get this straight, you are a liar, you are a drug addict and you are a cheat.

"A cheat?" She sat up straighter, wincing in pain and holding her belly instinctively. "Valen, what are you talking about? I don’t like this talk from you. You always accuse me of something that I am not doing@

"I saw you," I said. "I saw you with that man."

"What man? I don't know what you're talking about."

She looks so confused. For a moment I almost felt self doubts. But then I remembered the photos Gina had taken. The evidence. Thank God for evidence. If not, I would have started doubting myself

"I knew you'd deny it just like you have always been denying," I said, reaching for the file I'd prepared. Of course I had it printed out. "That's why I took pictures."

I threw the file at her, and she caught it with confusion, still all over her face

"Go ahead, you fucking lowlife cheats," I said hatit the way I was talking to her. I had never ever ever talked to her that way in my life- this was just an exception. "Look at them. After seeing those things, look at me in the face again and lie”

This was the moment I was waiting for- the moment of confrontation. The time where I will show her the pictures and see what her face looks like. I had told myself that if she was genuinely sorry and said the truth immediately, I would take her back.

The look of horror filled her face.

"What… " she started, then stopped. “I…” she started again, then stopped. She dropped the photos on the bed in confusion, picked them up and looked at them again. Tears fill her eyes. She looked so confused.

"You don’t have anything to say?" I asked. "I have got you red-handed now and you don’t have any lie to tell me!?”

"I don't remember this," she whispered. "I swear to you, Valen, I don't remember any of this."

"You don’t remember," I said sarcastically. "Now you have amnesia. Very perfect excuse. I don’t blame you, you just got out of a coma, and now you can claim to have memory loss if you like!”

“Valen, I am telling the truth I don’t remember any of these…” she said desperately

“What else don’t you remember? Your name? Me? Your age? You fucking man that you slept with in that old abandoned building!?” I screamed half annoyed, half mocking her lame excuse. “How disgusting of you, Veyra? Of all the places you chose to cheat on me, it was in public? Where anybody could find you and laugh in my face?

"No, you don't understand," she said, looking up at me crying . "The last thing I remember is going back to the pantry. After that, everything is blank. I would never cheat on you…"

"Oh shut up and stop lying to me!" I shouted, standing up. "You have cheated on over and over again. Lying makes you look disgusting in my eyes. Gina told me everything. All the men you've been with, all the times you've cheated on me."

"Gina?" she suddenly paused for a moment. "What did Gina tell you?"