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Valeria
“And please check the packaging for any leaks. Yes, I want you to go the factory and check them personally—”
Someone knocked on the door, I pulled the phone from my ear and said, “Give me five minutes, please.”
I continued talking to the employee until he understood what he had to check after visiting the factory and the chemical lab.
“Come in.”
I read the paper in front of me, my fingers tracing over the Braille. The person who had entered wasn’t light on their feet like my assistant. The feet felt heavy but soft. There was a change in air as someone deposited something on my desk, looming close to me.
Before I could ask them who were they, I heard him.
“Hello, my sweet one,” Khalid greeted me, standing in my office. In London. In front of me.
I stood up, ready to hug him but held back, remembering the times he had made me scared and worried about him for the past month. Ignoring me as if I didn’t exist.
I cleared my throat. “Hello, Khalid. What are you doing here?”
He seemed nervous. I could sense it in his voice. He wasn’t here as the Prince of Azmia, he was here as Khalid.
“I came here to apologize for being a stupid fool, Valeria,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I may or may not have gifted your painting to you. It’s at your house by the way.”
My lips parted. “What?”
“Uh, yeah. I didn’t feel right keeping it with me, so I decided to give it to you.Rose Colored Sorrowis yours, Valeria.”
I blinked at him, walking into my office, feeling him close to the desk as I paced. Khalid was in my office in London, apologizing for being stupid and gifting me the painting he had made.
“Why?”
“Because I love you.”
He said it as a fact.
I didn’t reply as he continued. “You don’t have to say it. If you want to slap me, do it. But all I want is to talk with you, sweet one.”
“I don’t want to slap you.” I frowned at him.Was he okay?
“Thank God,” he sighed. “I have something else to say.”
“Sure.” I didn’t care what he had to say. He was in my office, apologizing—
“My grandma wrote your name for corneal transplantation. We have them ready and you have a week to think about it. If they match with yours, you can have your sight back.”
I had to lean on the desk. I had known so little about her and yet she…
“I couldn’t believe it too, Valeria. But she even wrote it in her will with the help of Rahim, our advisor, so you can have your sight back.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and straightened up. I fought back my tears and said, “So, you show up in my office after ignoring me for a month to apologize to me, gift me your painting, and tell me I can have my sight back?”
“Well…yes. That’s about it.”
“I hate you.”
He took a sharp breath upon hearing me. “I can understand that you would, I ignored you—”
“I hate you so much, Khalid.”