Chapter 40: Chapter 40
The ringing of her cell phone woke Rakia from her sleep after she had made love with Dashtan a few moments ago. But when she woke up and checked her surroundings, she found him nowhere, not even in this room. Rakia covered her body with a thick blanket and once again looked around for Dashtan, but all she found was her loneliness. The ringing of her cell phone had stopped because she didn’t answer the call. She let out a long sigh as she closed her eyes for a moment.
“I regret it now,” she said but a second later she smiled and shook her head weakly. Her cell phone rang again and she lazily answered the call.
“Hi, are you awake? Sorry for not waking you up, I had a meeting that I almost forgot about.” Dashtan’s voice came from the other end of the line. Rakia smiled while biting her lower lip, her face flushed with embarrassment but she quickly pulled herself together.
“Um, thanks for calling, but you still left like you ran away after screwing someone’s daughter.” Rakia looked down. Dashtan laughed softly and it reminded her of the man’s sigh during their lovemaking moments ago. Rakia unconsciously squirmed where she was currently sitting.
“Do you want something?” asked Dashtan who was trying to persuade. It was Rakia’s turn to laugh.
“Right now, you’re trying to persuade me,” she guessed.
“Too obvious, huh? That’s it then. I won’t offer anything else,” Dashtan said, intending to joke.
“You can’t just back out, Ash..., since you’ve asked then I’ll ask for something.” Rakia thought of a few things.
“Alright, quickly, what do you want.” To be honest, Dashtan only intended to tease the woman and it seemed that Rakia was very easily provoked. Rakia also mentioned her desire to buy a large pizza. Dashtan laughed because he didn’t expect the woman to ask for food. He thought Rakia would ask for something like an expensive item. Rakia was only confused by Dashtan laughing at her wish, but she was amused by the man’s laughter.
“Why, too funny, huh?” asked Rakia as Dashtan’s laughter began to die down.
“Yeah, I find it funny, I thought you’d ask for something expensive, or something weird. Well, if that’s what you want, I’ll be home by five,” Dashtan told her. The call ended after Dashtan ended the conversation first. After she put her phone back on the nightstand, Rakia went to take a shower, went to the kitchen and told Mrs. Hunt to cook lunch while she put her on laundry duty.
Rakia chose to spend her time watching a movie on the big screen television while lying on the long sofa in front of the television. After eating lunch and taking her medicine, she had nothing else to do. Finally she decided to be lazy, for that one thing she honestly couldn’t remember the last time she did it because all this time, she was busy working and didn’t have time to just retreat to her room, watching her favorite movie for example. When she was with Ben, she spent so much time with him that she didn’t think about taking time for herself.
In the middle of the movie she was watching, Rakia fell asleep until late afternoon. Mrs. Hunt woke her up because she was going home soon. Rakia gently rubbed her eyes to get rid of sleepiness and regain her perfect vision. She only nodded when Mrs. Hunt said goodbye. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall in the living room, it was five o’clock in the afternoon. He also walked to the swimming pool to enjoy the beautiful afternoon atmosphere. However, as she was walking to the sun lounger to sit there, she slipped and fell into the pool. Rakia tried to swim to the surface but when she realized that her leg had not fully recovered and was causing pain, she was shocked by the pain. She exerted all the strength she had but was unable to bring herself up, instead sinking further and reaching the bottom of the pool which was apparently quite deep. Rakia took off the elbow stick she still wore on one of her elbows and tried to push her body up, but she still needed her legs to swim. Until finally, she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, her lungs seemed to shrink as they began to lack oxygen. She coughed and managed to swallow quite a lot of water through her mouth and nose, causing her to pass out. Her hand holding her elbow stick slowly let go of it and it rose to the surface but not her body which was still at the bottom of the pool.
Dashtan who had just arrived noticed the quietness of the house. He started searching for Rakia’s whereabouts after removing his shoes and slim fit suit and draped them over the arm of the sofa in the living room.
“Rakia...,” he called out but got no answer. Dashtan checked the woman’s room and he did not see her there. He went up to the second floor, also not there. He moved to the kitchen and did not find her there.
“Rakia...,” he called once again in a louder voice, but his voice only echoed in the living room. As he turned toward the glass door that led to the swimming pool, he rushed there with his heart pounding. He scanned the area but didn’t find Rakia there until his gaze fell on the woman’s elbow stick floating on the surface of the water. Dashtan stared at it in panic and without thinking jumped into the pool water. He was even more surprised to find his wife unconscious. He quickly pulled her up to the surface and laid her on the edge of the pool for an immediate rescue.
“Rakia... Stay with me, my love...,” he said like a mantra that he repeated in a low voice as he continued to provide cardiac PCR assistance with his hands after noticing the woman’s weakened heart.
“Come on... Rakia... Wake up.” Dashtan stared with panic and anxiety mixed within him after a few moments of manual heart pumping but the woman showed no signs of life. He had also performed mouth-to-mouth breathing several times, but to no avail.
“Rakia... Please... Wake up. “Dashtan said that without stopping pumping Rakia’s heart. Until the woman suddenly coughed loudly and let out quite a lot of water from her mouth. Dashtan immediately breathed a sigh of relief while closing his eyes briefly. Rakia opened her eyelids slowly and vaguely caught Dashtan’s figure.
“Ash!” she said, to which Dashtan responded by immediately bringing her body into the man’s arms.