Jaddi
Jaddi’s eyes scanned the hotel lobby. Her head pounded as she moved. The impact of each step caused a searing pain to spread across her ribs. The bruise forming on her stomach already had the outlines of a perfect shoe print.
A scuffle of feet sounded from behind her, followed by a clanging crash. Jaddi jumped; an image of David’s deranged grin danced before her eyes. With a racing heart, she spun around to find a gold-framed porter’s trolley lying on its side and suitcases strewn across the one of the indoor flowerbeds.
She smiled at her own stupidity and shook her head. The movement unleashed a new wave of pounding and a torrent of swear words to rage through her. What he’d done to Samantha, what he’d been about to do, to both of them. A line of sweat prickled the skin along her spine. She tried to shake the images away but events of the afternoon replayed on repeat in her mind.
‘Are you OK, miss?’ a woman’s voice asked from behind her.
She nodded and started walking again. She was fine. It was Suk she needed to focus on. There’d been a flash of realisation when the sole of David’s foot had connected with her body and sent her flying through the air, where she’d seen with absolute clarity that Suk meant more to her than anything else in the world, and that included her family.
She loved her parents and Halima, Ravi, and her nieces and nephews. She loved her family home and the playful bickering with Ravi and Halima over who’d set the table for dinner, as if the walls of the home they’d grown up in had the power to rewind the clock and make them squabbling children again. She loved the celebrations and traditions, and Punjab festivals, especially Vaisakhi, but she loved Suk more.
It had taken the impact with the floor to jolt those thoughts away, and replace it with another: had David hurt Suk, or worse?
Once David had been taken away, the hotel security team had searched every corner and every cupboard of the suite and found nothing. The relief had been brief. Where was Suk? Had she left the hotel? Left Vegas? Left Jaddi forever?
Tears began to stream from Jaddi’s eyes as her pupils darted in one direction and then another. She wandered into a corridor away from the main lobby. There were doors on either side and a wide set of double doors at the end. Gold plaques with room names sat above the doors – Business Centre, Ball Room, Banqueting Suite, Boulevard Room.
A dizziness begun to swarm her thoughts. She’d lost her. The thought drained the last molecules of energy from her body. Her back scraped against the wall as she sank to the floor.
‘Jaddi?’
Jaddi lifted her head, her mouth dropping open. Suk stood in the open doorway to the business centre. Behind her sat a bank of computers and a row of telephones.
‘I … I thought I’d lost you.’ Jaddi’s voice rose to a squeak as sobs attacked her body.
Suk crouched down alongside her. ‘Hey, hey, hey … what’s going on?’
Jaddi nodded and wiped her eyes. ‘Sorry, it’s been a … a long afternoon. I’ve been looking for you.’ A burst of love exploded inside Jaddi as Suk reached out and wrapped her hand in hers. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. You’re right. We should be together. I’ll call my mum and dad today. I’ll tell them everything. I didn’t think I could live without my family, but I was wrong. It’s you I can’t live without. If they can’t accept me for who I am then I’ll have to live with that. But you were right, I am strong, we’re strong, we can do this together, but please forgive me.’
Suk squeezed her hand. ‘I forgive you.’
‘Really?’ Fresh tears ran down Jaddi’s face.
Suk smiled. ‘If you’ll still have me?’
Jaddi laughed. ‘Um, let me see – yes.’ She dipped her head and touched her lips to Suk’s, sending a warmth pulsing through her body. A moment later, Jaddi pulled away. ‘You should come with us to South America. Lizzie and Samantha won’t mind.’
‘I’d love to, but I can’t. I need to be on my own for a while. Without my family, and without you. I need some time to think about what it is I want to do.’
‘Oh.’ Jaddi stared at Suk. A different type of fear wound its way through her.
‘I meant career-wise, nothing else.’ Suk laughed. ‘I’m not going to change my mind about us. Besides, I just sent my mum an email saying goodbye, and one to my brother telling him where he can shove his proposal to ship me away to India. Even without you, I realised it was too late to go back, but it does mean I’m out of a job.’
‘I’m so sorry I outed us.’
‘Don’t be,’ Suk said, leaning closer and kissing Jaddi again.
‘What will you do?’
Suk smiled. ‘I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll go back to college. The only good thing about living at home all these years and hardly going out is that I have a pretty decent amount in my savings account.’
‘You always said you’d be a vet if you had the choice.’
Suk nodded, her smile spreading. ‘I know. Crazy, isn’t it? I can’t believe I’m doing this. We’re doing this,’ she corrected. ‘I know none of it will be easy, but for the first time in my life I feel excited about something.’
Just then, Suk grabbed her hand and pulled it close to her. ‘What’s this?’ she asked, staring at the raw indentations on Jaddi’s wrist.
‘It’s nothing, I’m fine.’ Jaddi pulled her arm free.
‘It’s not nothing, Jaddi. What happened to you?’
Hot tears scorched the rims of Jaddi’s eyes. ‘Just a corkscrew-wielding maniac who wanted to rape—’ Jaddi’s word stopped forming in her mouth as heaving breaths consumed her body.
Suk pulled her closer and held her tight.
Sometime later, when the tears had run dry, Jaddi lifted her face to Suk’s. ‘I really am fine, it’s just the shock.’
‘Tell me what happened.’
Jaddi nodded. ‘I think I’ll need a glass of wine in front of me for that.’
‘Done.’ Suk stood up, before reaching her hands out to Jaddi and pulling her to her feet.