Trackside Romance

TEN: She's here.

*FAREED JARMA'S POV*
Hotel de Crillon,
France🇫🇷 🇫🇷🇫🇷

"Bro, I think someone is calling you on the phone," Louis announced as he entered the Gym room. Setting the barbell back into the bench rack, I sat down, wiping the sweat off with a towel after hours of intense workout to distract my mind. Grabbing a bottle of water from the freezer, I gulped it down before pairing my AirPods to my phone and answering the call from Khalil.

"Rjay, I hate to say this, but you are a genius!" He exclaimed the moment I answered the call.

"I know I am a genius, but may I ask why?" I responded with a chuckle.

"That girl, what's her name? Meenah's friend, Aysha—yeah, Aysha Bashir, released a video online explaining what happened that night at the birthday party. She spoke of how it was all her fault, not Meenah's, so people need to stop blaming Meenah and It worked wonders; now people are sympathizing with Meenah, not pointing fingers as they did before." He explained.

"Yeah, I personally called Aysha and she detailed everything that happened to them that night. I instructed her to make that video so the public would grasp that Meenah wasn't partially at fault. It's time for everyone to cease falsely accusing her and hurling dirty names her way," I replied. Instead of words, I heard sniffs from his side, or perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me. "Are you sick or something?" I asked with wrinkled brows.

"I'm not; I'm just emotional because your love is something I've never seen before, but you both are too stubborn to accept your mistakes and get back together," he said in a mocking voice. My hand instinctively met my face in frustration; Khalil could be such a fool.

"You are sick, Khalil," I pointed out. Just then, another call came through, and I paused to check who it was. The caller ID revealed it was none other than Billy, Meenah's best friend. Puzzled about why she was calling, I promptly hung up on Khalil and answered her call

"Assalamu'alaikum, Rjay," she said.

"Wa'alaikum assalam, Billy. How are you doing?" I asked.

"Alhamdulillah. Uhm, I called on behalf of Meenah," she began, her tone sounding serious.

"If you want to plead on her behalf, please, you don't have to—" I attempted to interject, but she cut me off.

"Meenah has been admitted to a hospital," she announced, dropping the news like a heavy bombshell, leaving me momentarily breathless as I tried to process her words.

When I finally gathered myself, I asked worriedly, "Why? What happened?"

"Well, it's nothing very serious. The doctor said it's because she's been worried, dehydrated due to lack of eating and she's showing signs of depression," she explained. I sighed, running my hand through my hair; I'm responsible for this.  "I just thought to inform you about her condition because I know, no matter what, she still matters to you, and you care for her a lot. Fareed, I really hope you can see how much Meenah loves you and is really heartbroken right now," she added, her voice carrying genuine concern.

"Thanks for informing me, Billy,"

"You are welcome, bye," she said, ending the call. I returned to my conversation with Khalil, narrating everything that she had said.

"Subhanallah! That's bad. May Allah grant her quick shifa," he prayed, and I muttered an Ameen before he continued, "Guy, please na beg I dey beg, try forgive this girl. She has paid for her mistakes already. Ameena is one of a kind. You'll never find someone as good as her. Look at me for example, I still haven't found the woman for me and it's all because they are the same, after my money. But you got the blessing, Meenah loves you, and you are allowing her to slip away."