Emily should've listened to her mom to not chug down a lot of water during the flight but as the rebellious teenager she thought she was, she didn't listen and regretted it now. Emily and her family were on their way back from vacation In Paris and she wanted more than to land the plane herself and run to her room because not only was she tired but she had not met any cute boy throughout her stay in the so-called city of love which kind of bummed her out. She looked at her phone and saw the time. It was still three hours left until they arrived and there was no way she could hold in her pee for that long. She finally caved in and decided to go relieve herself but not forgetting to check if her anklets were still on. She got up and walked down the aisle towards the rest room but something caught her eye. A dashing young man with a loud neon orange bomber jacket had his eyes closed listening to something on his earpiece, although it took just a second but she admired him before reaching his side and muttered he had a nice jacket. Positive he didn't hear her; she kept on walking towards her destination. After relieving herself with so much shame directed at her bladder. She came out and walked the familiar path down back to her seat and as she approached the bomber jacket guy, she heard him mumble she had nice anklets but she didn't dare look back to see if he had said it or it was her imagination. She walked briskly back to her seat with her heart pounding but for the first time she finally had her special moment.
As Emily's plane touched down, the familiar sound of the engines faded, replaced by a buzz of excitement in the air. She and her family navigated the busy airport following the signs to the baggage claim area. While Emily was waiting for her stuff to materialize among the crowds and luggage carousel, she noticed her purple suitcase and then she felt a presence looming over her from behind her and she turned to see who it was. It was bomber jacket guy and he was really tall. He offered her a smile at her confused expression and then volunteered to help her with her luggage. She only nodded in response and watched him lift it easily as if it didn't weigh a ton. Her heart skipped a bit as she met eyes with him, who looked warm and encouraging. She reached out to take the other small bag that came through but he also reached out to do the same which made Emily blush. Together, they effortlessly hoisted the bag off the carousel, signaling the start of an unforeseen encounter that would permanently transform both their lives.
It's been two years since that fateful encounter and one year six months since they started dating. Bomber jacket guy's name was Darius Booker but I call him Dari for short. We hit it off right there at the airport after he escorted me to my family and that was it. We exchanged numbers and stayed up all night talking cause according to him the only way to beat jet lag is to stay awake for a really long time. From then on it was a full-blown romance and I was positive he was my soulmate and I was his. We were always together but the only issue was we hid it from our families. Apparently, our parents didn't like each other as they were rival business partners but also, they each had people they wanted us to marry which was always a sore topic as I refused to let it happen. My dad tried to do the same to my elder sister and she left us without warning this year, right after our yearly vacations. It's been five months since then she hasn't contacted me not even once but I understood where she was coming from the more, I stayed at home and hid my relationship with Dari. Things were a bit tensed at home but nonetheless I was still going to college and I couldn't wait to move in with Dari. But before that, we had decided to announce to our parents that we were together and they should stop forcing us to go on blind dates because we had found each other. We had scheduled a brunch with my parents to officially meet him but my dad wasn't too fond of the idea but he relented after my mom convinced him.
Dari had gone all out for the brunch because he was really nervous but was confident that our relationship will be accepted and dare, I say it, celebrated. We made a reservation at 'The Climax Restaurant' that was the talk of the town. I still had no idea how he managed to do it but I keep forgetting he comes from a third-generation wealthy family. We had set the time to meet at the restaurant with my parents at seven p.m. Unfortunately, I had not been feeling too good since I had woken up that morning. I woke up feeling tired and a bit dizzy with a touch of migraine but I couldn't let that spoil Dari's efforts at wooing my parents. I took some Tylenol and washed it down with water and then went downstairs to meet my already dressed up parents waiting for me. We arrived at the restaurant right on time and I saw Dari already waiting for me outside with a huge smile across his face. I could tell he was nervous but he was doing a better job at hiding than me with my headache getting worser by the minute. The reception ushered us in to our reserved booth and sent for the waiter to come get our order. Dari soon took initiative and spoke to my dad while trying to make conversation but my mom was the only one being receptive. My dad soon gave in after Dari spoke of a sport team he was supporting and that made my dad relax, but soon after noticed that I was not saying or eating much because of my splitting headache. I tried to join the conversations as best as I could but all to no avail as I started feeling very nauseous all of a sudden.
I excused myself and went to the restroom only to throw up everything I ate which wasn't much but it seemed like a lot. I fixed myself up a bit and then went back to the table but my sick demeanor didn't go unnoticed by my parents with Dari who looked all puzzled and my dad looked livid instead. Dari asked me what was wrong and I told him I must have eaten something bad because I threw up everything which made him touch my head and realized that my head was hot to touch. My dad reached over from across the table to touch my head and recoiled from the heat emanating from me. He was shocked that he didn't notice that I was sick throughout the meeting and he was angrier at Dari for not noticing as well. I told them I was fine but he still went ahead to reprimand Dari as if it was his fault for not noticing that I wasn't feeling well. I told him not to blame Dari because I was the one who didn't want to reschedule and I was the one who decided to hide my illness from them and after all he was being hypocritical since we came from the same house and he also didn't notice I was not feeling well as well. Since he was busy being too harsh to Dari from the very beginning was just looking for an excuse to blame him. He immediately took to offence that I was being disrespectful towards him and I was never this way before I met Dari. He was sure that I had picked up bad habits from him but I didn't get a chance to reply because my mom eased the situation by pushing the focus on my poor health and the need to take me to go see a doctor which leveled the tension that was building across the table. Dari even apologized and helped me get up to take me to the car but my dad snatched my arm instead and insisted he was to take me to the hospital. The valet brought the car round and I was ushered into my parent's car with Dari following in suit. I insisted my dad to just drive me home because I wanted to cry over the disaster of how the brunch turned out which was all my fault but my dad wouldn't hear me.
I dozed off after a futile protest but was shook a bit by someone trying to wake me up to come out of the car. My dad actually listened to me and brought us home, I knew he would because he was never a fan of hospitals. I managed to turn around to see if Dari had followed us home but he was not anywhere in sight. Apparently, my dad had stopped on the way to the hospital and spoke to Dari to leave and come back tomorrow as it was already late. He somehow managed to convince Dari and sent him home but then drove us back home to have our neighbor nurse come checkup me that very night. After the nurse came over who was mums' friend, she insisted I went to the hospital the following morning but she gave me pain killers instead and oral hydration therapy for my stomach. I thanked her and went to bed but was followed by an excruciating headache which seemed to last for hours. I don't know how I fell asleep but I was pretty sure I fainted due to the immense pain from my head and also my ear. I starting hearing sounds which became very painful. My gut told me that was only the beginning of something not good.