Chapter 68: Impatient

Chapter 68: Impatient Jamal’s entire body stiffened. His ears rang, his vision blurred at the edges, and for a moment, he thought the world had tilted on its axis. His breath came in short piercing bursts as his brain tried to process what he had just heard. Dawn. She was Dawn? The Dawn? His Dawn? Jamal looked up at her. His head was spinning. His body felt too hot, too cold, too numb all at once. How could she sit there so calmly when she had so easily shaken the ground beneath his feet. His entire world had just shattered and rebuilt itself in the span of a minute? He opened his mouth, but he didn’t even know what question to ask first. "No," he whispered, shaking his head. "No, that’s not... that’s not possible. This doesn’t make any sense." His voice was hoarse, strained, as if the words were being dragged from his throat. Abigail’s heart raced as she took in his reaction. "Why? You’d rather Genevieve is Dawn?" Jamal didn’t hear her. He couldn’t. His ears were still ringing. He let out a breathless laugh, his hands shaking as he rubbed them over his face. "This... this doesn’t make any sense. None of this makes sense. How can you be Dawn? How can you tell me that it was Dawn I met five years ago? How can you tell me we have all been mistaken all this while and let you live like this?" he muttered, still too dazed to register anything else. "We? Who else do you know that knows me?" She asked, watching him carefully. "JAMAL!" Abigail snapped impatiently, snapping him out of his daze. Jamal focused on her again. He could see the impatience in her gaze as she finally rose from her seat to face him. "I’m sorry. I’m just finding it really difficult to process everything..." "I don’t care whether or not you want Genevieve to be Dawn. I AM DAWN, and right now I need you to focus and answer my questions! We don’t have all day to be here. You can go back to your flustered state after we leave here, but for now I need answers!" She said, commanding his attention. Jamal nodded, rubbing his eyes. His heart was still pounding and he was anything but settled but if what she was saying was the truth which he believed deep down was the truth judging by how he felt more connected to her than he did with Genevieve, then he needed to focus and give her all the answers she needed. "What do you remember? What do you want to know?" He asked, holding her gaze. He was going to process it all later. Much later when he was alone he was going to think about how he had actually accidentally met Dawn five years ago and how he had fallen for her without even knowing she was the one. For now, he needed to focus on her, Jamal told himself as he watched her, and then he realized that her lips were moving but he wasn’t hearing anything she was saying because he was still in his head. Seeing the way she was glaring at him right now because she could tell he wasn’t listening, he remembered their very first meeting and how she had looked at him much the same way when he called her a kid. Without thinking, he covered the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. Abigail tried to push him away, "Are you crazy? I said I need answers not a hug! Get off me," she hissed, but Jamal didn’t listen to a word she said. He held her tightly. So tightly as if he was scared that she would disappear again if he let go. As he held her, he remembered how he had been so devastated because he thought Genevieve was Dawn. He remembered their meeting five years ago and how he had felt so drawn to her without knowing. He remembered all their conversations and all she had told him and he remembered that she was the first and only lady he had ever slept with and despite everything he had also been her first as he had always hoped it would be growing up. He didn’t realize that his whole body was trembling as he held on to her or that he was now weeping. Abigail frowned, wondering why he was trembling, and then she heard his sniffle and her frown deepened when she realized he was crying. Why was he crying? She mused as she stood still in his embrace, wondering what she was supposed to do with a grown man who was acting like a crybaby. He had said Dawn was his best friend, she remembered. Even if she didn’t exactly remember him, she had meant something to him, and from all indications she still meant something to him whether or not she was Genevieve. That should count for something, she told herself as she raised her hand and began to pat his back. "Who could have thought you are such a crybaby after being so rude to me at the airport?" She muttered under her breath, and Jamal who was crying chuckled when he heard her. Jamal pulled back to look into her face, and seeing the tears on his face made her heart clench. Jamal didn’t say a word as he just stared at her face. Abigail gazed at him, her heart racing as he raised his hand to her face. Jamal’s eyes roamed over her features as if he was committing it all to memory. His thumb brushed her brows, and her eyes fluttered slightly, and then he brushed her cheeks as he touched her nose. His hand moved to her lips. Abigail held his gaze despite the fact that staring into his eyes made her want to close her eyes and rest her head on his chest. Jamal’s heart raced as he reacquainted himself with the features of the one and only woman he had been privileged to love. It had been harder to forget Abigail than it was to let go of Genevieve as Dawn. He had tried to forget Abigail. God, he had tried. But some part of him had never accepted the loss. And now, here she was, standing right in front of him. Not just as Abigail, but as Dawn. The thought that Abigail and Dawn were one blew his mind. Abigail swallowed, "Jamal..." "You’re so impatient," Jamal said with an amused smile, "How did you grow up to be so impatient?" Abigail scowled at him, making his smile widen. "Don’t worry. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I have a lot of questions myself. But for now I just want to revel in this moment," he said softly before she could say anything. Abigail looked at him hesitantly for a moment then asked, "So, you don’t mind that I’m Dawn not Genevieve?" She asked, trying not to sound insecure or inferior. "Why would I want Genevieve to be Dawn? You’re the only one fit to be Dawn. My heart recognized you even when my brain did not. And that’s all that matters."