Is this destiny?

In the garden…

Imani found Jamari on the bench opposite from the giant cage with birds. The cage is covered with a cloth because the temperature drops during the night and it gets chilly. Also, it allows the birds to sleep without disturbance.

Jamari turned to the sound of pebbles that moved under Imani's feet.

He wanted to ask her how she found him, but then he remembered that all of them have a lens that allows them to track each other, so he asked the next question: "Why are you here?"

"I want to talk to you."

Jamari forced himself to look away from Imani. "There is nothing left to say."

Imani's heart cracked. Is it really helpless? How can she talk to him if he is shutting her out? "Will you listen to me? Please?"

"I can't tell you what to do and it seems that you want to say something so… Say it and be done with it."

"Jamari, why are you ignoring me? How long is this going to last? I miss the time we spent together."

Jamari pressed his lips into a line. He didn't understand why is Imani here and why is she saying these ambiguous things. Doesn't Imani know that she is only making everything worse? "Imani, why are you torturing me? You know how I feel, and you told me that you don't feel the same. Just… leave me alone. I will get over it eventually and so will you."

"What if I don't want you to get over it?"

Jamari's head snapped toward Imani and he scrutinized her. "I don't need your pity."

"What if it's not pity?"

"There is no need to force yourself to say things you don't mean."

"What if I'm not forcing myself?"

Jamari bolted to his feet and shouted angrily: "What if!? What if! What if I don't want to hear your lies!?" Jamari took a deep breath to compose himself before continuing: "I know that you feel guilty for hurting my feelings and that you want us to be how we were before, but that is not possible because for me that is not enough. I can't go back to pretending that I didn't give you my heart and you stepped on it while talking about some bullshit how you see me as a brother and that there is nothing better than that. Al, Ron, Daniel, Tejan, Ade… they are all your brothers and I wanted to be more than that."

Imani was not sure what to say to get Jamari to calm down. When he is raging like that, there is no point in talking.

She took a step closer toward him and saw that Jamari frowned. Does he really hate her now? She struggled to keep her tears from falling. "I see that you are angry."

"Yes, I am angry! For me, you are much more than any other girl and I am pissed that you are putting me into the same bucket with everyone else."

"You are not the same as everyone else."

"I don't believe you." Jamari squeezed through his teeth.

Imani bit her lip and wondered how can she get Jamari to believe her? She knows that she hurt him, and he does not want to listen out of fear to get hurt again, but… She got an idea. "Give me a minute…"

Jamari looked at Imani who dashed back into the main villa and he shook his head in disbelief. Why is she so persistent? It would be better if she gives up because like this, she is only stirring his heart.

He plopped back on the bench and put his face in his palms.

It didn't take long before Imani returned with a small box in her hand.

Jamari frowned when he recognized the box as a present from JoAnna. It contains an ampule of truth serum.

"Stop…" Jamari said when he saw Imani taking it out. Is she trying to inject him? He will not allow that! There is no way that he will pour his heart out again only to be trampled on.

Imani pressed her lips into a line defiantly and injected herself with it.

"Why did you do that?" Jamari asked with disapproval obvious in his voice.

"You said that you don't want to hear my lies. Like this, I won't be able to lie. We both know how the serum works. Ask me anything… I will be unable to prevent myself from answering. And I will tell you the truth." Imani said with desperation in her voice while taking a seat on the bench next to Jamari.

"Why are you doing this?" Jamari asked in a half-whisper. He felt as if the strength left him. All this is confusing and exhausting and he does not want to hear the truth. He already heard it that evening after Disneyland.

His eyes widened in disbelief when he heard Imani's next words…

"I am doing this because I care about you. The last two months without you were unbearable. I am missing you. And if you think that I am lying because the serum still didn't kick in, ask me the same in a few minutes and you will see that my answer will not change."

The truth serum or not, Jamari had difficulty believing it. Or maybe it's true and she is missing his presence as a brother. "You are missing me because you are used to spending a lot of time with me. Find someone else. I'm sure that in no time you will not think about me."

"That is not true. I tried. No matter what I did and how many people were around me, I was lonely. And this is not me missing my brother, because I never missed Al, or Ron, or Tejan, or anyone else. The only boy I ever missed was you."

Jamari narrowed his eyes at Imani suspiciously. "What happened with no fireworks and no things fading away and other things which you don't feel with me?"

Imani remembered Masika's words. "Not all relationships start with explosions. Some start from friendships, and I heard that those are the strongest relationships because two people know each other well before the romance starts. I don't know if it will work, or how it will end, but I know that if I let this end like this, I will regret it forever."

Jamari exhaled. "You hurt me."

"I'm sorry. I did that because I didn't understand my own feelings."

"This feels wrong. Forced. You are telling the truth now, but that does not mean that next week or next month you don't go back to seeing me as a brother. I can't go through that."

"I understand, and that is fine. I'm not asking you to forgive me and that we start dating or to pretend that the last two months didn't happen. How much I noticed, you spent almost a year showing me that I am special to you. Give me the same. Let me show you that for me, you are more than a brother."

Imani saw that Jamari relaxed and she scooted closer to him.

Jamari shot her a side-glance with a frown. Why is she leaning on him?

"I feel chilly…" She explained her action.

Jamari removed his suit jacket and draped it around Imani's shoulders. "You should think about the weather before you decide to come out in such a revealing dress."

Imani glanced at herself. It's short-sleeved, but other than her arms and neck, nothing else is exposed. She told herself not to bicker about it.

Imani pulled his jacket tighter around her and smiled. "Thank you."

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