It was around 9:00 in the morning when Jalil looked at the blinding sunlight through the glass window of the hospital room with his eyes half-opened.
He scratched his left eye with his index finger and let out a yawn.
"You're awake?"
He glanced in the direction of the voice, then nodded in response to Eliza's question. Jalil slowly got up and gently stretched his arms, then yawned once again.
"What do you want to eat?" Eliza asked as she fixed the food served for him by the hospital. "You're definitely a VIP, you know? They prepared a lot."
Jalil looked at the food on the table and grimaced a bit. He had no appetite for those foods, even though they looked delicious. He was looking for something that would satisfy his taste buds.
He was startled as Eliza suddenly came closer to him. He slightly leaned backward when she put her palm on his forehead.
"You still have a fever," Eliza said, then went back to the table and prepared the spoon and fork. "What do you want to eat first?"
Jalil cleared his throat, still flustered at how close Eliza was to him earlier. "Ah. Can I brush my teeth first?"
"Of course. Do you want me to assist you?"
Jalil aggressively shook his head. "No need. I can do it myself."
"Okay," Eliza continued, preparing his food.
After a couple of minutes, Jalil went back to his bed and watched Eliza pour a glass of water and put the plate with rice and a fried egg on it on the movable small table attached to his bed.
"Tell me if you want to eat anything else beside that." Eliza sat on the couch where she slept and scanned her phone.
Jalil didn't want to be rude to the hospital, so he started eating his breakfast, although it wasn't the one he was craving. He kept on glancing at Eliza, hesitating to request.
"What?" Eliza asked in a serious tone, then shifted her gaze from her phone to Jalil.
Jalil averted his gaze and scratched the back of his neck. "Uh. Can you buy shrimp soup for me?"
"Of course."
"Please, don't tell Grandma," Jalil added, which made Eliza's brows furrow.
"Why?" Eliza stood up and walked closer to Jalil, then stretched her arm towards Jalil.
"Just... don't," Jalil's brows knitted in confusion as he stared at Eliza's palm in front of him. "What?"
"Money. You want me to buy shrimp soup. I didn't bring my wallet here," Eliza replied, then she moved her eyebrows up and down.
Jalil just looked at her with his resting face. "Do you think I did? I was unconscious when you brought me here. Do you expect my soul to bring cards or cash?"
Eliza sighed, then rested her arm down. "Then just eat what you have here. I'll cook when we get home. You're going to be discharged later anyway."
Jalil could do nothing but eat another spoonful of his food. "Did my grandparents know I'm here?"
Eliza shook her head as a response. "Jeffrey told me not to mention anything to them."
Jalil nodded. "Jeffrey really knew what to do."
"I'll go to the restroom." Eliza was about to leave the room when Jeffrey opened the door. "Oh. Good morning."
"Good morning." Jeffrey greeted her back with a smile, then he walked towards Jalil. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," Jalil replied.
"Uhm, I'll leave you first," Eliza said, which got their attention. She received a nod from Jalil and a sweet smile from Jeffrey, then she left the room.
Actually, she wasn't going to the restroom, but to buy shrimp soup. She was persuaded by Jalil's pitiful face. Also, she knew what it felt like to crave something when you were sick.
"Hahh. Why am I doing that man a favor? It's not like he is my real hus—shit!" Eliza stepped backwards, and her arms were raised as someone bumped her and spilled a cold coffee on her beige-colored shirt.
"My God! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"
Eliza raised her head to look at the person who spoke. She was wearing an elegant silver dress and was holding her matching purse on her right hand and an empty cup to her left. She was wearing heavy make-up, but it didn't ruin her beauty; instead, it enhanced her face even more and made her overly attractive.
She was way too tall—taller than Eliza, to be exact—although her stilettos were just two inches high.
Eliza's brows furrowed as she stared at the woman who was now wiping the blot on her shirt. She was familiar to her, but she just couldn't remember where she saw her or when.
"Gosh. It stained your clothes," the woman said, then her eyes met Eliza's.
Eliza just waved her hands and smiled at her. "It's okay. Don't worry."
"No. That's not okay. Uhm, what about I will buy you a new pair of clothes and—"
"No. No. It's really fine. It was an accident," Eliza insisted, but the woman showed a bothered expression, which made Eliza sighed.
"Alright. Uh. There's a store nearby. We can go there," Eliza said, then a wide smile formed on the lady's face.
"Great! Let's go!" The woman said, then she walked ahead. Eliza followed after her but was stopped by one of Jalil's bodyguards.
"I'm fine. I'll just go to the store nearby," Eliza told the bodyguard, but he was still hesitating to let her go.
He looked at the lady who was waiting for Eliza, but he couldn't recognize her since she was already wearing a facemask.
"I'll go with you, ma'am. I can't risk your safety," the bodyguard said.
Eliza glanced at the woman, then sighed as she looked at the bodyguard again. "Okay."
They went inside a small boutique while the bodyguard waited for her outside. Eliza still couldn't shrug off her thoughts; she was trying to recognize her.
"Have we met before?"
The woman paused and glanced at Eliza. "No. I don't think so."
"Oh, you kind of look familiar to me. I think I saw you somewhere."
The woman shifted her gaze to the clothes that were hanging in front of her. "Well, I have a common face. A lot of people often mistake me for someone else."
Eliza nodded. "Yeah. Maybe."
"This one is pretty. What do you think?" The woman raised a white shirt that was almost the same as the shirt she was wearing right now.
Eliza smiled at her. "That's fine for me."
"Okay! We will take this one," the woman energetically said, then she walked towards the pants section. Eliza was just quietly following her behind.
"What's your size?"
Eliza shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't usually look for sizes. I'll just fit them."
"Oh, really? Then you'll fit some. You have a small waist, so I guess..." The woman hummed while looking at the piles of pants. "Let's get the sizes small, extra small, and medium. Is that okay?"
"Yeah. Sure,"
Eliza went to the fitting room shortly after she took the three pants that the woman had picked for her. She chose the small size of black pants, and then she went out of the fitting room. "This one fits."
"Okay, perfect. Let's pay now." She giggled, then excitedly headed to the cashier.
Although Eliza felt a bit weird about the woman's behavior, she still played it cool while observing her.
She wasn't sure if this was normal for wealthy people to shop for a stranger just because they were sorry for what they did or something.
She was oddly too friendly towards her. Was it because she recognized her as Jalil's wife? Eliza was so busy rationalizing that she didn't notice the woman walking towards her.
"Here you go," the woman said as she gave the paper bags to Eliza.
"Thank you," Eliza replied, then took the two paper bags from her hand. "By the way, what's your name?"
The woman tilted her head and showed an innocent smile. "Jean. I'm Jean."