The Accidental Wife by Sara Islam

"I don't just like it. | love it. | love everything about it," | tell him. | want him to know that I'm truly grateful for his

presence in my life and all that he has been doing for me.

| enjoy the swooshing sound of the waves as | stare at the sea for a few seconds. | want to start a conversation

with Silas, but | don't know what to talk to him about. | feel like there are millions of things we can discuss

together, yet | cannot think of one of them. "How have you been? | haven't contacted you during the past two

days," Silas starts the conversation. "Why haven't you contacted me?" | ask. | want to know more about this

mentality.

"l was

giving you space, to be

e honest," he admits, keeping his eyes on me. Something about his gaze makesfeel like he doesn't see

anything else whenever we are together but me. "I don't want you to think that I'm love-bombing you, Rosie. The

last thing | want is for coerced into being within any way." He is very considerate, and | love that about him.

"Thank you for that and... | didn't do much except for going out with Everest once," | tell him. The way he tenses

when | mention going out with Everest makeswonder if | should have kept that piece of information to

myself.

you

to feel

"Where did you did you go? If you don't mindasking, of course," he tries his best to sound casual.

"He tookto a nice park, and we sat by a pond. We talked about a few things, then he tookback home," |

tell him.

"Did you have fun?" he asks. There's something about the look in his eyes | cannot decipher.

"I did," I admit, hoping my answer won't upset him.

I'm glad that you had fun. You need that." If he's hurt, he does his best to conceal his true feelings.

"What about you? What did you do during those days?" | change the subject.

08:37 Mon, Oct 14

Chapter 128

"I went out with Knox, spent twith my family, and prepared for this date," he replies.

"| love everything about it. Thank you so much," | thank him again.

00067%

"And you're going to love the food. | made sure to have the chef cook your favorite," he tells me. "Would you like

to eat now?"

"That would be great. I'm starving." | say with a small smile.

Silas motions for somebody behindand when | check, | find a waiter walking towards us with a tray of food.

When the waiter sets everything on the table, my stomach growls at the delicious smell of the food Silas has

chosen.

The way he knowsis mind-blowing. | don't even know if this is because the fact that we used to date or

because he has knownfor years.

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To

Silas and | agreed to stop referring to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend when he realized how uncomfortable

| was with the whole situation. | could easily see that he didn't want that, but when | made that request, he

agreed because he wantedto be at ease. He asked if we could spend ttogether and | agreed, knowing

that he was a huge part of the last six months of my life.

How would | connect with the missing years if | don't have any connection with a huge part of it? More

importantly, how could | ever find it in my heart to completely kick Silas out of my life when he has been nothing

but nice to me? He has been very helpful and caring and | cannot just tell him to walk away. | cannot do that to

him.

"Do you think we can sit closer to the shore?" | request, looking at him after we finish eating The food wasn't just

good. It was phenomenal. The way he has taken care of all the details makes my heart dance with joy:

"Whatever you want, Rosie," he says, getting up from his seat. He walks towardsand carefully helps me

stand up. "Maybe

into your | should carry you. We don't want sand to get

cast."

| think about it for a second, then nod, knowing that if sand gets into the cast, it will be a big hassle. In one swift

movement, Silas picksup. I giggle as | wrap my arms around his neck and unconsciously let my head rest

against his shoulder. Being carried by him feels familiar and nothing about it feels unnatural. It's like | belong to

his arms. ilas setsdown once we're close enough to the shore, then takes a seat beside me. The salty breeze

of the sea makes my hair fly around and no matter how many times | try to tit, | find it impossible to do so.

Silas takesby surprise when he takes a hair tie out of his pocket and hands it to me. When | look at him with

a smile that surely depicts my confusion, he looks atand says, "You always forget to bring a hair tie with you

whenever you go out and | noticed that, so | always carry one withjust in case you need it." Why does he

have to be so caring like that? | have never seen somebody as caring as Silas before except for my dad. | have

always admired the way Dad loves Mum and | never thought that | would be lucky enough to find that kind of

love for myself. Yet, here | am with a guy who is is offeringa unique kind of love and | cannot bring myself to

remember how much | used to love him. know t that during college, we used to live in the sapartment

complex, but... did we use to text a lot?" Fm trying to get to know how our relationship used to be because | am

scared that if | ended up walking away, | would be abandoning something | would never be able to find again.

"Yes, we used to text a lot," he answers and reaches for his phone inside his pocket. He unlocks his phone

without hiding the screen from me, but I look away, not wanting to violate his privacy. He handsthe phone

that is open on our Whatmessages. "Feel free to read them all if you want."

| take the phone from him and start reading our messages. They bring a smile to my face when | see how playful

we used to be. We seemed pretty in love and every part of my heart wants to remember how we used to be.

"Thank you, Silas," | say, looking into his eyes. "Thank you for being patient with me. | know that this isn't okay

and what you're going through because ofis too much to handle, yet you haven't complained at all. Not even

once." 08:37 Mon, Oct 14 Chapter 128

"I will do anything for you, Rosie. | want you to be sure of that," he says, leaning towards me. He places a soft

kiss on my forehead. | have thought a lot about walking away because | feel that | have caused him too much

pain, but the way he is withis preventingfrom doing so. | wonder if | stay for longer without being able to

remember anything about us would cause him more pain than walking away now.

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