"What's your plan now?" Jeffrey asked. He was seated on the single chair, beside Jalil's bed.
Jalil didn't respond, but his gloomy reaction was enough for Jeffrey to know his answer. He cleared his throat and tapped Jalil's shoulder. "Everything will be fine. Let's figure it out."
"We lost almost half of the clients. I don't know how to tell my grandparents." Jalil's voice was low; stress and worry were obvious in his tone.
They both looked at the door as it opened, and Eliza came in with a plastic bag in her left hand. Jalil's brows knitted as he noticed she changed her clothes. "You went home?"
Eliza shook her head and went towards the table where Jalil's leftover foods were. She removed the plastic bag from the soup container, then took a clean small bowl and poured the hot soup from the container into the bowl.
"You took so long. The restroom was just a meter away from my room," Jalil remarked. Jeffrey glanced at his best friend in wonder after noticing the slight annoyance in his voice. "You also changed your clothes."
"Someone spilled coffee on me, so we went to a store, and she bought me these new clothes," Eliza simply replied while peeling the shrimp, which were placed in a different container, and directly dropping them into the soup one by one.
Jalil's half-brow was raised. "You went with her?"
"Yes. Don't worry, one of your bodyguards went with us," Eliza answered, then she prepared the bowl of soup and a spoon on a tray and put them on Jalil's bedside table.
"What's this?" Jalil asked in confusion. Because of his fever, Jalil lost his sense of smell temporarily, which made him unaware of the aroma of the shrimp that Eliza was preparing. Also, the shrimp were drowned in the soup, which gave him zero idea what kind of soup was in front of him.
"Shrimp soup. You requested it, so I bought you one. I have no time to cook. But your bodyguard assured me that's tasty."
Jalil's expression changed into subtle excitement as he stared at the soup. While Jeffrey's brows were knitted, he wondered at his best friend's reaction.
"Careful, that's hot," Eliza added, then she cleaned up the garbage on the table.
Jeffrey stared at Jalil, who was now enjoying and devouring the shrimp soup. He just effortlessly consumed the shrimp since they were all peeled off.
"When did you start eating shrimp?"
Jalil halted at Jeffrey's question. His eyes shifted to Jeffrey, then he sat properly and cleared his throat. "Maybe because of my fever?"
"Usually, when you're sick, you'll crave your favorites," Eliza said.
Jalil just shrugged his shoulders and continued eating. "Just let me enjoy my food, please."
Eliza and Jeffrey stopped talking and just watched him eat in delight.
It was exactly 8:00 in the evening when Jalil was discharged from the hospital after his fever had totally cooled down.
They rode Jeffrey's car since Jalil was advised to rest for a couple of days and driving was on the list of things he shouldn't do. Eliza also didn't know how to drive, so they had no other choice but to use Jeffrey's car.
Jalil had a personal driver before, but since none of them knew about his contract with Eliza, he didn't let anyone of them drive or stay at their house after the wedding. He wanted the secret to remain only to the four of them, including Vasquez. With this, it was safer.
"Take us to the mansion," Jalil said, which got Eliza and Jeffrey's attention.
"Mansion? Like your grandparent's mansion?"
Jalil just nodded in response to Jeffrey's question.
"But you were advised to rest," Eliza said.
Jalil just looked at the dark street through the car's window. They waited for him to speak after he took a moment of silence.
They couldn't read the emotion on his face, and his eyes were concealed by the dark surroundings, which made it harder to see his expression. However, his aura was giving off a heavy vibe, just enough for them to feel his worry, loneliness, and stress. Jeffrey knew Jalil was unexpressive sometimes; that was why he was trying to screen his real feelings.
They heard him let out a long sigh, and then he glanced at them. "I'm homesick," he replied.