Chapter 3

After getting over her past with Adrien, Zafirah visited his house more frequently. It was quite astounding to see that Zafirah visited his house to meet up with Mia. They had become fast friends once they sat together and had a frank conversation about Zafirah’s lack of any remnant feelings of attraction for Adrien.

Zafirah had assured Mia that she was over Adrien, was happy for him and she believed her. The woman was a genuinely nice person with a big heart. It still baffled Zafirah that Mia was one of the nurses at her hospital and she was the reason Adrien had met her.

Their story was so adorable. It did cause Zafirah to long for something like that when she heard their story but, she had gotten over it rather quickly. She didn’t have the time to waste on pondering about the ‘if only’s’ of a made-up future.

Zafirah felt bad for the two of them as well since her being in coma had put a strain in their relationship but she was glad that it had worked out in the end. Her illness had caused way too much damage to the world around her as she was a prisoner to it. That thought was something that hit her with immeasurable guilt and sadness.

She had somehow managed to put both her life and Adrien’s life on hold as she had succumbed to the deep sleep. She even felt bad just thinking about the fact that there was a very big part of her that had hoped that he would be by her side, stuck in the same phase that she was. That wasn’t love, that was loneliness.

Between her frequent meet ups with Mia and Annette, Zafirah hadn't exactly done much over the last three months. Now, after almost nine months of being out of the hospital and her father’s successful recovery to normalcy, Zafirah was ready to fight for her work. In the meantime, Annette had managed to rope in an unwilling Zach as well to do their bidding.

One fine Saturday evening in the middle of March, as the family gathered around the table to eat, the easy-going dinner table conversations took a drastic turn towards a stressful yelling session. The house was echoing with the aftereffects of the full-blown yelling match.

With Mr Rodriguez was ranting on in his thunderous voice about how he would rather die than let Zafirah go back to work and Zafirah refusing to back down from her stand, the evening had turned out to be quite an eventful one for the Rodriguez household.

Mrs Rodriguez and Annette almost in tears while trying to calm down both Mr Rodriguez and Zafirah. Poor Zach was left to with the worst job of them all, he was stuck being the mediator, trying to calm the situation but failing miserably. So, he too ended up shouting.

This reminded him of his childhood. When they were kids, it was always Zach’s job to mediate between Mr Rodriguez and Zafirah who seemed to log heads at way too many topics but they always made up by the end of the day all thanks to the efforts of Mrs Rodriguez.

Zafirah had never seen her father so livid. He wasn’t even this angry when Zafirah had managed to get a scratch on his brand-new Rolls Royce when she was seventeen. She was scared for his health and on the other hand, Mr

Rodriguez was scared to lose his daughter all over again.

Both of them were scared for the right reasons and screaming out the wrong ones. Mrs Rodriguez had had enough of their barbaric behaviour. Getting up, she angrily stomped her way towards the kitchen followed by a flustered looking Annette.

"Come on dear, help me out with this. I know of a way to get those two to stop." She told Annette as she handed her a pitcher.

“When Zafirah used to live with us, they'd often get into heated conversation due to both their hardheadedness and this was the most effective way to stop them.” Mrs Rodriguez told her.

Mrs Rodriguez had an unusually effective way to deal with it. Requesting Annette to fill the pitcher with cold water, they made their way back to the bickering lot. Annette was at a loss of words about the whole situation.

Once at the table, Mrs Rodriguez took the pitcher and emptied it on Mr Rodriguez and Zafirah while Annette stood there, shocked at the scene that had unfolded. Doused in cold water, they started to laugh uncontrollably while the others joined in.

Zafirah recalled the countless times her mother had taken that drastic step to bring the situation to an end. Those were some fond memories of the numerous dinners that had ended in the same way. Soon, the situation was forgotten. Just like old times.

Annette stood stupefied as Zach went up to her and hugged her.

"You are about to marry into a mad house, Sweetheart." Zach whispered in her ear causing her to let out an incredulous laugh.

"Now, listen up you two. Zafirah, will go to work." Mrs Rodriguez announced, earning a shout of victory from Zafirah and a groan of refute from Mr Rodriguez.

"Let me finish." She spoke.

"Zafirah, can go back to work but only on one condition. She will have to work along with Theodore. I think it’s a fair bargain." She finished.

"No, absolutely not. I refuse to work with anyone. It's my job, why do I have to share my responsibility with anyone?" Zafirah protested.

"Either that or you can stay at home forever. The choice is yours. Now, do we have an agreement?" Mrs Rodriguez asked. She was the boss of the house alright.

"I suppose, I could live with that." Mr Rodriguez agreed. All eyes were on Zafirah now.

"Fine. We have a deal." She reluctantly agreed.

"Now, let's finish having dinner, shall we?" Mrs Rodriguez said in an authoritative tone.

"You have to teach me that." Annette asked Mrs Rodriguez. The woman was a genius and definitely could teach Annette a thing or two.

"Trust me my dear, you'll need it. Especially if you are in the Rodriguez household." She laughed.