“So that you remember Rodrick, like me, is busy. Try not to give him too much trouble.”
“Too much trouble? I don’t intend to give him any trouble at all. I just want to live my life.”
“That’s exactly what worries me. Call me when you arrive in London.” He sounds upset, and it makes me sad.
“Kaled, I love you.”
But I won’t stop chasing my happiness because of that,I add silently.
“I love you too, Jazmina. Take care.”
London
One week later
“So, are you having fun?” Adeela asks over the phone.
“Define ‘having fun.’”
“Did you wake up in a bad mood?”
“I have to have lunch with my guardian today.”
She laughs.
“I’m glad you find that funny. I feel like locking myself inside my apartment and pretending no one’s here.”
“You’re having lunch at your apartment?” she asks, and I know exactly why.
A single man and a single woman alone inside a home . . .
Even though Kaled is liberal, Adeela has deeply absorbed the way we’re supposed to behave. I, on the other hand, don’t see anything wrong with a man and a woman having lunch together.
“No. We’re meeting at a restaurant. His suggestion.”
“Why do you antagonize him so much? Rodrick is not a bad person.”
“I don’t think he likes me.”
“Gee, I can’t imagine why,” she says sarcastically, since I told her everything that happened that night on Vicenzzo’s yacht more than a year ago.
“He didn’t need to interfere.”
“Kaled would’ve done the same if it had been Rodrick’s sister.”
“Poor girl. Maybe I should meet her and get her sympathy, considering she had to deal with him her whole life.”
“He doesn’t have family, as far as I know. Maybe some distant aunts. Other than that, he’s alone in the world.”
“I had no idea. What happened?”
“I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that his mother died and he was raised from a very young age by his stepmother. She used to be the nanny and eventually married his father, but when Rodrick became a teenager, they both passed away.”
My heart tightens in my chest.
Maybe he has his reasons for being so sour. I feel ashamed for judging him.
“Whatever the case, try to behave, Jazmina. If you want to be treated like an adult, especially by your brother, then act like one.”