52 Barn Street

◾CHAPTER XI◾

"Here, drink some water." I placed a glass of water in her hands. It took good five minutes to calm a nearly hysterical Laila down. We were now both settled on a couch in the living room.

"But Laila." I gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "A child is good news, right?"

She nodded slowly. "I know, I know but..." she sniffed and tucked a piece of her short hair behind her ear. "It's so...so unplanned and unexpected. I mean...I just recently got a job at the prosecutor's office a-a-and I'm supposed to get married this spring! By then, I'd only look like...like a bloated whale. I can't get married looking like that!" She nervously rambled.

"Laila, breathe." I plucked the glass of water out of her fidgety fingers, placing it safely on the coffee table. "Don't get ahead of yourself. By the way, getting stressed out isn't the best thing for you right now."

"You're right. I'm sorry." She sniffed.

"And hey, congratulations on your new job. I know you've always dreamt of working at the prosecutor's office one day." I placed my hand on hers.

Laila, finally, cracked a smile. "And it's like a dream come true. I work as a paralegal there, but the job isn't as fancy as it sounds." She softly chuckled.

I was left with a bittersweet feeling in the pit of my stomach and an out-of-place emotion I couldn't exactly pinpoint.

Who am I kidding? Of course can pinpoint the emotion; it's jealousy, as much as I hate to admit it.

Laila already had her whole life figured out, a husband, her dream job, and even a baby to add to the mix!

And I? I was still a grieving mess with no clear-cut direction in life. I had made the decision to quit travel vlogging and tendered my resignation letter to the travel agency I worked with. That left me with nearly nothing. Jealousy tasted bitter in my mouth
.
I shook those thoughts out of my head-they don't help me in any way.

"But I do wish I could travel around the world like you do,"Laila spoke, oblivious of my inner conflicts.

"Really?"

"Of course! How cool that must be. I haven't told you this but, years back, when we both parted ways, I was so jealous of you because... because you were able to do just what you loved. And I watched every single one of your travel vlogs wishing I were you. It was so obvious you were happy."

I simply stared at Laila. The irony of everything almost made me laugh out loud.

"Yeah, I was. But I...I quit." I couldn't meet her eyes so I pretended to be so interested in the wall behind her.

"I understand." Laila said the last thing I expected to hear. "But you know you don't have to...draw your entire life to a halt."

I distracted myself by brushing imaginary specks of dust off the couch. "Let's...talk about something else, yeah? Like, you never did tell me who the lucky guy is." I gestured to the beautiful ring resting on her index finger.

Her cheeks flushed as she toyed with the diamond on her finger before wiggling her fingers in the air. "Well, Tim and I-"

Hang on. Tim?!

I gasped loudly and eyes widened in mild surprise. "Tim as in sergeant Timothy Chang?!"

She nodded in affirmative, taking hesitant sips of water.

Sgt Timothy Chang was a dark haired, enthusiastic junior officer a couple of years back before I had left Aldwell. Now a newly promoted and more mature sergeant, sporting a beard, he looked a lot more different the last time I saw him at the precinct.