In hindsight, getting into a stranger's car just because a kid asked you to was not exactly a smart decision but how could you say no to a sweet little girl, who had been through something so traumatic just a few moments ago? At least that was Samira's reasoning for following the man while holding his daughter in her arms.
As soon as they reached a sleek black car around the lake's boundary, the man retrieved two car seat towels from the back seat of the car and handed them to Samira.
"I usually keep these for backup. In case, Flower spills something in the car," the man was explaining but Samira was already busy putting a towel around the kid.
The kid sneezed again and the man didn't waste any time, he quickly called someone as he got into the car. Samira, however, stopped before climbing into the passenger seat. Even though she couldn't afford this car, she grew up around high-class people, so she could guess how much damage her wet dress could cause to those nice-looking leather seats. Samira quickly covered the passenger seat with the second towel before sitting on it.
". . . yes, now," the man ordered over the phone before starting the car.
He slightly glanced over at Samira and noticed the towel over the seat but didn't say anything. On the other hand, Samira started to dry the little girl's hair with the towel as she looked at Samira with her doe-eyed smile. Samira softly smiled back at her.
This. This was her dream once. A dream of having a little girl or boy like this kid. A dream of a family. A happy family. But now all of those dreams felt like a stab to her heart.
"So do you like your birthday present?"
"You don't deserve him! A gold digger and moocher like you never deserved him."
"On top of all things, you are still lying? I cannot believe I gave birth to you. You are a disgrace."
"You are no longer any daughter of mine. You are a stain on our name."
"You are the cause of all my problems right now, you know that right?"
"Don't you dare show your face here, again."
"It's not my fault you are so gullible, Samira. It's just so easy to fool you."
"Are you crying?" A small voice broke Samira's trance and brought her back to reality. She looked down to find two small hands cupping her face. "Why are you crying?"
With a jolt, Samira realized thinking about those harsh words had brought fresh tears to her eyes. Samira quickly wiped the silent tears and stole a glance at the man feeling embarrassed. She really had to cry in front of a stranger like that? But even if the man heard his daughter, his eyes remained trained on the road ahead and Samira was thankful for that. Samira turned back to the little girl and smiled brightly.
"Sorry, honey, I was thinking of something," Samira pulled the towel around the kid more snuggly and asked, "You didn't tell me your name."
"Evelyn Huang!" The little girl squealed. "Like my grandma."
Samira's heart brightened hearing the little girl.
"You know my grandma was my favorite too. She was the one who named me."
"Really? What's your name?" The kid asked with wonder in her eyes.
"Samira Sa–" Samira hesitated for a moment before saying her last name. "Sahani. Nice to meet you, Evelyn."
"She sounds like you Daddy," the kid spoke looking at her father in excitement. "Like you always say me to say nice to meet you to everyone."
"Because that's good manners," said the man to the girl, before speaking to Samira. "Einar Huang. Nice to meet you, Miss Sahani. Also here."
Without taking his eyes off the road, Einar held out his dry suit coat towards Samira, which he took off before jumping into the lake.
"Umm. . ." Samira looked at him confused.
"You are shivering," Einar said matter of factly.
He was right. Samira didn't even notice despite the heater on in the car, she was shivering because of her wet clothes. Automatically, she refused to take the coat, like she always did. Like she always felt she was imposing on the people around her.
"Oh no, no, it's fine," Samira said quickly. "I am fine. You don't have to bother –"
"Please, Miss Sahani, you saved my daughter," His eyes were still on the road but he sounded sincere and to Samira's surprise a bit worried.
But most importantly it was kindness, something Samira didn't get in a long time. Something people around her made her believe she didn't deserve and she was so used to feeling like that, that even though she saved this man's kid she didn't expect it.
"Thank you," Samira said taking the coat and carefully shifting in her seat to wrap the coat around her with little Evelyn on her lap. "Also, call me Samira."
With a small nod of his head, the man fell silent. Samira had a feeling, he probably didn't like talking too much. But despite his lack of words, he had this calming presence just like the lavender scent coming off his coat. His tall and intimidating demeanor looked dangerous indeed, like when he talked to that tall woman about his daughter, but the way his entire personality softened around his daughter was very endearing.
"We are here," Einar said a few minutes later as a tall, wide pair of gates opened and he drove inside a beautiful property.
A beautiful combination of greens and flowers filled the garden on both sides of the long driveway, which led to a lavish modern dark purple house. A nervous-looking blonde guy with glasses, who looked like he was in his late thirties, was waiting in front of the house. As soon as the car stopped he opened the passenger seat door and Samira climbed out of the car with the kid in her arms. The man with the glasses did a triple take on Samira's face, looking absolutely shocked as his eyes shifted between the little kid and the coat around Samira's shoulders.
"Is the doctor here, Dave?" Einar spoke up.
"Yes, sir," Dave, the man with the glasses nodded quickly and followed Einar as he led Samira inside the house.
Sure enough, a kind-looking and pretty female doctor was waiting for them in the living room of the house. Not to mention, the house looked as beautiful as it looked from the outside, if not more. Everything around looked expensive and meticulously planned like the pictures people see on the internet or in advertisements for interior decor.
"Please wait for a few moments, Doctor Ito. Flower needs a warm bath and a change of clothes first," Einar said without leaving any room for discussion.
Samira was surprised to see the way he kind of ordered a doctor and the doctor just took it gracefully.
"Of course, Mr. Huang," the doctor smiled.
"Alright, Flower, come," Einar extended his arms turning to little Evelyn.
"No, I –" Evelyn began but Einar spoke again.
"You will see her after your shower. Now come on, quickly take a bath, and let Miss Sahani – Miss Samira do the same."
Evelyn looked at Samira, who smiled at her thinking this was just a ruse to get the little girl to a warm bath. But Evelyn didn't look convinced so Samira looked down and met her eyes.
"Evie, darling, listen to Dad or you will catch a cold, and we don't want that, right?" Samira spoke softly as one does when talking to a child and after a moment Evelyn shook her head.
"No, I don't want cold . . . but you promise you will be here?" said Evelyn holding out her pinky towards Samira and she held the little pinky with her own.
"I promise," Samira nodded and finally Evelyn let go of her a little for Einar to take Evelyn in his arms.
"Dave, show Miss Sahani the guest room," Einar ordered Dave and turned to look at Samira. "Miss Samira, please take a warm bath as well and change out of these wet clothes. We can talk after that."
"What? No, no. I don't need –" Samira tried to decline again but two quick sneezes took over leaving her a bit embarrassed.
"Oh no . . ." Evelyn's little forehead crinkled in worry. "You will catch cold too if you don't listen to Daddy."
Hearing Evelyn, Dr. Ito chuckled but quickly turned it into a cough, Dave fixed his glasses looking away probably hiding a smile and even Einar's lips quirked upward. Seeing them, Samira pressed her lips together as she turned pink in complete embarrassment.
"Dave, show her," Einar ordered before dashing upstairs with Evelyn.
"This way, Ma'am," Dave led Samira towards a room a little far from the living room and Samira followed him silently, except for the occasional sneezes.
She completely forgot between all of this, how easily she caught a cold. Especially in this summer-monsoon kind of season and sometimes in spring too. Nathan, Samira's fiance – or now ex-fiance used to get pretty upset when he had to look after her when she would catch a cold.
"That's the washroom, Ma'am, and here are some clothes that Sir asked me to buy," Dave said gesturing towards a bag on the guestroom bed.
"I am sorry, what?" Samira blinked thinking she definitely heard wrong because she was lost in thought.
"That's the washroom, you would find almost everything you need these," Dave repeated pointing towards the only other door in the lavish guest bedroom, then he turned his focus on the bag on the bed. "I didn't know for whom Mr. Huang asked me to buy the clothes, I thought it was for his cousin, so I ordered the things she usually orders. Sorry, Ma'am. I can go and bring something else if you don't like it or there is an issue."
"Oo . . ." It took a moment for Samira to process what Dave was saying. "Oh, no, no, you don't have — Anchoo." Samira sneezed again and started shivering again but reassured him. "Please don't worry, I am sure it's fine."
After apologizing a few more times and asking her to call him if she needed anything, Dave finally left her alone and without wasting any more time, Samira entered the washroom. As expected the washroom was big enough to be a room itself with bathtubs, shower spaces, and even benches in front of the mirror and sink.
Samira took off her clothes and stepped under the shower. Lukewarm water washed over her and slowly tears started to fall from her eyes and got mixed with the water running down her body. Just for a few moments, she forgot why she was at the lake, why she gave up on life, why she thought the world wasn't worth living.
Memories of the last 24 hours started to flood her brain and she started sobbing harder.
"Hold the lift! Please!"
Samira shouted at the guy, who just entered the lift and the guy immediately stopped the elevator from closing as Samira balanced a large box of cake and three different bags of decorations and gifts and ran towards the elevator.
"Thanks," Samira breathed out as she got into the lift.
"Floor?" The guy asked reaching for the floor buttons.
"19th, thanks again," Samira smiled at the stranger as he pushed the 19th floor button.
"No problem," the stranger smiled back. He eyed the large bags and the huge box in Samira's hands. The pretty box of cake was a dead giveaway. "Birthday?"
"Yeah," Samira couldn't help but grin widely. "My best friend's. She is turning 25 today and I'm surprising her with these."
Samira held up the cake box and fixed her grip on it.
"With her modeling jobs and my business, it's been a few hectic weeks and we barely see each other. I know she pretends that it's fine but I know she misses hanging out as much as I do," Samira kept on talking and the guy just gave her a small awkward smile but she was oblivious to it. "We have been friends since we were in pre-school, and since then we have been inseparable. We are practically sisters. Just with different parents."
Samira chuckled at her own joke. She had a habit of rambling and oversharing when she was excited, something her fiance Nathan absolutely hated. But she couldn't help it today, she was just so happy and excited that she finally got time from her work to surprise her best friend Chloe on her birthday.
The guy quickly got off on his floor and after waiting for a few moments, Samira happily trudged to her friend's apartment on the 19th floor. She had already checked on Chloe to make sure she wasn't in her apartment. She already had a set of extra keys Chloe had given her a long time ago and she knew Chloe's door passcode. Samira opened the door and stepped inside carefully so as not to drop anything from her hands. But before she could close the door completely, she heard noises coming somewhere from the apartment.
Samira froze in her place. No one was supposed to be at Chloe's place, Chloe herself told Samira that she wasn't home. For a second Samira thought it was an intruder of some kind. Maybe a burglar or maybe a stalker? Chloe was a model and a big online influencer so she often faced problems with stalkers. Panicked and a bit scared, Samira was about to reach for her phone to call Chloe when a string of breathy moaning sounds made everything very clear.
It was Chloe's voice and by the sound of it, she was very busy. Samira pressed her lips together to stop herself from chuckling. Of course, that was why Chloe told Samira that she wasn't home. Chloe was always the more adventurous one between her and Samira, or that was how Samira liked to describe her friend. Chloe had never been one to have long-term relationships, she was more of a one-night-stand girl while Samira only had been in one long-term relationship for the last five years. But Samira was never the kind of friend to judge Chloe for that.
Samira just thanked the gods that she didn't see something indecent and decided to leave quickly before Chloe got interrupted and found out Samira was there. She was almost out of the door when she heard another voice.
"So do you like your birthday present?" Asked the breathy male voice and Samira's world stopped.
[To be continued]