Chapter 504: Lies
Immediately, Dawn hung up. She dialed Jamal’s number as she headed for the door.
She couldn’t believe she had been so worried all this while, not knowing that he had not only tried to reach her but had probably come to pick her up.
His phone rang, but he didn’t pick up. "Come on, Jam."
Her heart began beating faster as she tried again.
Still, he didn’t pick up.
"What’s wrong?" Adam asked as he joined her. He had noticed the change in her face.
Dawn slipped her phone into her bag. "Lucy left because she got a call from Jamal saying he was coming to pick me up."
Adam looked at her. "Why didn’t he call you?"
Tears gathered in her eyes, her heart beating faster. "Because he couldn’t reach me. I think he came around when I went with you to fix my phone."
Adam’s face softened with understanding. "Oh."
She looked at her phone again. "Now he’s not answering."
Adam stepped closer. "He’s probably busy. Let me drive you home."
Dawn shook her head. "No. It’s fine."
"Dawn. This is my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on fixing your phone, you would have been here when he came. Please, let me take you home."
"You didn’t force me. I’ll get a cab."
Adam watched her. "Please, Dawn."
She looked at him. She was already feeling uneasy. The last thing she needed was to create another problem.
Dawn shook her head. "I’ll get a cab," she said firmly.
If only she had been this firm earlier, she wouldn’t have missed Jamal.
Adam nodded slowly. "Okay. Let me know when you get home."
"Thanks for today," Dawn said before walking away.
As she flagged down a cab, she called Jamal again.
Still nothing.
She stared at his name on the screen.
A strange fear settled in her chest.
She had an uncomfortable feeling that when she finally saw him, something would be different.
Away from there, Jamal sat alone in his living room.
He had been sitting there for hours without moving much. His jacket was still on. His car keys lay on the table. His phone rested beside them.
Every few minutes, the screen lit up.
Dawn calling.
Every time the screen lit up with Jamal’s name, his heart ached.
He had always been big on communication and preached it, but he had come to realise today that not every feeling could be communicated, and he couldn’t even explain how he was feeling to himself.
Jamal closed his eyes.
He could still see her standing outside the spa with Adam. He could still see Adam holding her hand. He could still see the smile on Dawn’s face.
His chest tightened.
When the phone started ringing again, Jamal reached for it but did not answer.
He placed it on the couch beside him. "What am I supposed to say?"
He rubbed his face.
He knew he should answer the call.
Dawn was his girlfriend. The mother of his son. The woman he had always thought of as his wife.
But he could not bring himself to talk to her while his heart felt like this.
The phone rang again.
This time, he looked at the screen but it was not Dawn.
It was Lucy.
Jamal hesitated for a second before picking up the phone and receiving the call.
"Jamal, where are you?" Her voice sounded worried.
"I’m at home."
"At home?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yes."
"Are you ill? Did something happen?" She asked again.
I frowned, "I’m fine."
"Then why didn’t you pick up Dawn as you told me you would?" She asked, sounding more annoyed now than worried.
Jamal sat up. "I went to the spa."
"You did? When?"
"I went there right after our call but she wasn’t there," Jamal said, since that was the truth.
He didn’t have to tell her or anyone else that he had seen Dawn flirting with the spa manager.
Lucy went quiet. "That doesn’t make sense. I went there with Dawn, Jamal. She was there when I went in for my session."
"I know."
"If you know that, and you didn’t see her when you got there, why didn’t you call her?"
Jamal looked down. "I didn’t want to bother you. You told me I interrupted your facial earlier. I didn’t want to keep disturbing you."
Lucy sighed. "Jamal." Her voice was soft now. "You should know by now that even if you interrupted me a hundred times, I would take your call a hundred times."
If it were on a normal day, Jamal would have smiled at that or said something sweet to Lucy, but he said nothing now.
Lucy continued. "I left Dawn at the spa because I thought she was with you. I assumed you had picked her up as you said you would."
Jamal frowned. "Is she home now?"
"No."
"What?"
"She just called me." Lucy paused. "She said she had been waiting for me the whole time."
Jamal’s brows pulled together. "How long?"
"I left almost three hours ago."
Jamal’s frown deepened. "She had been waiting for three hours without realising you left already? Why did nobody say a word to her? How could you miss her if she was sitting in the waiting area?"
Lucy sighed. "Those are good questions, Jamal. But they’re not important right now. Call her."
Jamal looked at the phone in his hand. "I will."
They ended the call.
Jamal stared at Dawn’s name. For a few seconds, he did not tap on it.
As upset and hurt as he was, he had not intended to leave her there stranded.
Not wanting to overthink it, he dialed her number.
Dawn answered immediately. "Jam," she said, relieved that he had finally called back. "I’ve been trying to reach you."
"Sorry I missed your calls. Where are you? Lucy just told me you’re at the spa. I could come get you."
Dawn smiled, glad that he sounded pretty normal. "That won’t be necessary. I got a cab already. I’m on my way home."
He closed his eyes. "I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. She told me you were just getting your nails done. I figured you’d get across to her when you were done."
Dawn paused, wondering if he had not come to the spa. "She said you told her you were coming to get me. Did you show up?"
Jamal’s heart twisted painfully at her question. "Yeah. I did. But you weren’t there. And there was no way to reach you. Did you go somewhere?"
There was a short pause.
"Yes. My phone fell, and the screen got cracked, so I went to fix it. I guess you called while it was with the repairer. Sorry," Dawn said apologetically.
Jamal sat up and opened his eyes. "It fell? What happened?"
Dawn laughed awkwardly. "I was sort of distracted. Actually, I was checking for a message from when I bumped into someone, and the screen broke."
"So you fixed it? Or the someone fixed it?" Jamal asked, guessing that the someone was Adam.
It all sounded like a typical scene in a rom-com.
Something about Jamal’s tone made her hesitate. "Well, he insisted on fixing it,"
Jamal’s fingers tightened around the phone. "When did you finish fixing your nails?"
Dawn glanced at her watch. "Some time around 1 p.m."
Jamal looked at the clock. It was past 4 p.m. now. "How did you miss Lucy? Weren’t you waiting at the waiting area?"
Dawn looked out through the window of the cab. She was silent for a minute. For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that she had been talking to another guy for so long that she lost track of time.
"I must have missed her when I went to use the restroom." The lie came out quietly.
Jamal’s brows pulled together. Somehow, he suspected she had just lied to him.
He did not ask anything else.
"I’m sorry for the misunderstanding," he said. "If I hadn’t told Lucy I was coming to pick you up, she wouldn’t have left you there."
Dawn sighed. "It’s fine. If my screen hadn’t broken, I would have been there when you came." Her voice softened. "I’m actually happy you came, even though I didn’t see you."
Jamal said nothing.
"I was worried about you all day."
His chest tightened.
For a brief moment, his mind went back to the scene in front of the spa.
Had she been worried about him while holding hands and flirting with another guy?
The thought hurt so much he couldn’t breathe.
He swallowed hard. "I’ll come and pick you up soon so we can leave for the exhibition."
"Alright."
"See you soon."
"Okay. Love you."
Jamal hesitated. "Love you too."
The call ended.
He lowered the phone.
For some minutes, he sat still as he replayed their conversation in his head.
It didn’t make sense to him that someone as smart as Dawn would sit in the waiting area for almost three hours without figuring that Lucy had left the spa.
The least she would do was check in to know why Lucy was taking so long or ask the receptionist.
He hesitated for a moment, not liking what he was about to do, but he did it anyway.
He picked up his phone and called the spa.