From hate, to Lust to Love

15 How can I avenge you?

"Just leave them alone, please" I cant do this anymore.

"You know me Ami. I would do anything"

"Ok, then what do you want me to do?" I asked him clearly confused. I don't want his money or him.

"You will stay for 3 months in this house. After 3 months we will decide" what is there to decide?

"What I am going to do for 3 months if I may ask?"

"You will regain everything I snatched from your life" He said. Oh, the arrogance.

"And how is it so?"

"I have made a team who will take down all the pics of you from the net. To start with it is not you. It is just the face of you" he said quite angrily.  "Hook or crook they will do it and it will take a week to clean the net" He added.

"I know you love charity. So I will allocate certain amount of money from my business, and you will carry out all the charity projects on behalf of me. You will make dinner for us from next week" he said all decided my role in his house.

"I f*cked it up, and it is time I make it right" finally he added.

I sat back on the chair and thought about this. Right now, I have no were to go. I know some parts of me are broken and I need help if I am ever to live a happy life again. And like it or not, I don't have anyone out there waiting to take care of me or help me.

"I agree, provided you reinstall my mother back in the house. I isn't used for a hard life. I want her comfortable and happy"

"Not when she is with your step father. That man ruined me. I was imprisoned for 2 years for his action and betrayals" she said firmly.

"What happened?"

And the story shocked me. I know Asad is a vain character but I never thought he would go down to stealing, then send an innocent man to prison for the crime he committed.

"Revenge is a poison that can kill the one set upon it. Can't you see Robert, if you had only listen to me, or had given me the benefit of the doubt, today we would have been happy in our own lives. I would have a family by now with children, and we'd be friends. But now look at us? Until your dying day, you will regret what you did to me. Just let go. Past is past. You can not change it. You are stronger now. I will stay in this house as long as you want even as a house maid if you promise all your acts of vengeance against anyone and everyone will stop. You give me your word of honor, and I will stay until you ask me to leave" I told him. The cruelty he can subject others, must stop. If I have to try.

"I will leave everyone except for my grand parents and aunties. I am after their blood and I will have it" I was shocked to hear the anger and hatred in his voice. If I thought he was angry with me, that is before I saw his face now.

"Why?"

"None of your business" he said sharply.

"You see, sadly this is exactly why I should stay away from you. You don't have an ounce of forgiveness or empathy for others. Anyone's life is game for you. You can hurt others without any remorse in your heart. You will be all nice and kind to me until there is something go missing in the house. Then you will check and re-check. It is time before again you decide with or without evidence, you ought to avenge me for something. You will start the process again, this time more violently and aggressively. It is a vicious circle, which you will never get off. There will be many more victims. But guess what?? You don't care. I will leave. Either I stay or go, nothing is going to change"

"You don't know what happened to me. You don't know my story. How dare you assume things?" he was shouting at me. When someone shout, it has become a habit of me to retrieve. I kept quite but I was feeling the fear.

*************************************

I cant believe I shouted at her. She look fearful now, like I would strike her again. I felt disgusted. What sort of animal have I become?

"Come with me. I will show you something"

I extended my hand to her. But she didn't take it. So I walk her to my balcony facing the sea. After the sleep, Amira looks relax and some of the tension I have seen before have left her. She will recover, or June will make sure she does.

"You know my past isn't something I talk about ever" I unbutton my shirt while she looked at me in stunned surprise, I showed her my back, which is scared beyond recognition. I heard her taking a sharp breath in surprise. She was terrified to see my suffering. So I told her the entire story, from my birth mother abandoning me to how I came living next door to hers.

She was very empathetic. She listened to everything I had to tell  her including how I am planning my revenge on them.

"What can I do to make you change your mind about going after your family?"

"Don't you understand. They are not my family. If it wasn't for revenge, I wouldn't be this successful in life. I wanted them and anyone who hurt me or done wrong on me to pay"

And she said something, I was thinking hard hours after she left and stayed even with me for days. In her most impersonal tone, she asked me "How can I avenge you for what you did for me?"