Phobia

I was walking thru the lobby when I saw Shawn seating down on one of the couches. He was reading a newspaper with his legs crossed. He was wearing a navy blue long sleeves shirt and faded jeans. His slick black hair was styled by wax.

I walked towards him. "Hey handsome." I said.

Shawn looked up from the newspaper he was reading. When he saw me he smiled. "Hey baby." he replied. He stood up and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

I smiled at him. "Let's go?" I asked him.

"Sure." Shawn answered.

He took my hand and held it while walking to the hotel entrance. Not long the valet attendant arrived with Shawn's car. Shawn ushered me to the passenger sit and he walked to the driver's sit and we left.

We were driving on a road lined with trees on both sides. "Where are we meeting your friend?" I asked Shawn.

"We're going to meet him at one of the prospect houses you can look at." he answered.

After a short while we arrive at a drive way and entered the gate. I see a two story wooden house. It was simple yet beautiful snd elegant. A lady in her mid thirties is at the front door. She was wearing a black business suite and slacks and white inner shirt.

We exited the car and walked towards her.

"Good morning Ms. Versales. I'm Linda Carter. Shawn here endorsed you to me." the woman extended her hand and gave a warm smile.

I shook her extended hand. "Thanks Linda, please call me Queenie." I replied and she nodded.

"Well let's get started. This one here is one of the many houses I'm marketing." Linda gestured at the house. "Please come in. Let me show you inside."

The interior was welcoming with a nice smell of wood. She showed us one by one the interior. All in all the house was nice. Then she lead us to the back of the house. I hear the waves splashing and the smell of the sea breeze.

Not far from the back of the house is a cliff overlooking the sea. It was not as high as the one at our old villa. I started to shiver and fear engulfed my whole body. Linda is talking but I can't comprehend what she was saying. I was locked in place where I stood. Shawn stopped in front of me noticing that I wasn't moving.

"Queenie?" he asked when he saw me rooted in place.

I was shivering with fear and can't move an inch. My legs felt like jello and they gave in. I fell to the ground seating and shivering.

"Queenie what's wrong?" Shawn asked worriedly. He crouched beside me.

"Please take me away from here." I said.

Shawn picked me up gently. I dug my face in his shoulders shivering.

Inside the house Shawn sat at the couch with me cradled on his lap. He was caressing my hair until I have calmed down.

"Are you okay now?" Shawn asked after a while. Concern was etched in his face.

"Yes. I am sorry about that." I said. "I had a panic attack."

"A panic attack?" Shawn asked curiously.

I nodded. I am stilled cradled by Shawn in his arms.

"I don't know why but since then I have a fear of heights. Specially ones overlooking the sea." I explained slowly. "I haven't told you yet but I have amnesia. I don't have memories before 8 years ago. So I can't remember why i have fear of heights."

I felt Shawn tensed under me, he was silent. It's like he has so many questions he wants to ask but he had hold it in.

"Do you want to go home and rest?" Shawn asked me.

I shook my head. "No. I'm fine now. I can go on. Let's just avoid places with heights, okay?" I asked and forced a smile.

Shawn frowned. "Alright. But rest for a while." he said.

"Hmm." I nodded and rested my head in his shoulder again. "It's warm here with you. I'll be better in no time."

Shawn hugged me closer to him as if shielding me from danger.

***

It was nearly evening. We have went to at least three houses more. Shawn was driving me back to my hotel.

"I guess I'll pick the house just near your place." I told Shawn with a smile.

The house was a two story stone house with 5 bedrooms and a pool. It was a great place because it's near downtown but the neighborhood was not crowded. Well it is a neighborhood where the upperclass of N city lives so it is safe and secure.

Shawn just nodded. All the way Shawn's face was serious.

"What are you thinking?" I asked. "You had that face all afternoon."

"I'm sorry. I was the one that referred that house by the cliff. I didn't know you had a phobia with heights." Shawn said guiltily.

"It's not your fault." I said and reached his hand and held it. "I never told you I was afraid of heights. So it's fine." I smiled at him.

He smiled sadly at me. He took my hand that was holding his and kissed it gently. All the way to the hotel he didn't let go of my hand.

***

Gerald was sitting at a bar drinking whiskey when Shawn arrived.

"Hey man." Gerald nodded to him. He gestured at the bar tender for a glass of whiskey. The bar tender put the whiskey on a glass and added ice and gave it to Shawn.

Shawn sat beside Gerald. He drank all the contents of the glass in one gulp.

"Hey Shawn dude take it easy." Gerald was surprised. Shawn was not man fond of alcohol. But if he drinks that fast then that means he has some kind of problem. "What's the matter?"

"Jill." Shawn answered.

Gerald was puzzled. "What about Jill?" he asked.

"I am 100% that Queenie is Jill." Shawn said. "She had amnesia 8 years ago. She was found by the shore near their villa by her now adoptive brother Troy Versales."

Shawn gripped the glass hard his heart started to ache. "Bar tender another glass please." he said.

Gerald was quiet and trying to process this information. The bar tender gave another glass to Shawn.

Shawn took a sip at his glass. "Queenie and I took a look at a house near a cliff overlooking the sea today." Shawn continued. "Jill loved that kind of scenery back in the past because her mother. But now seeing the cliff and hearing the waves she was terrified." he continued.

Gerald didn't need to be a genius to put two and two together. Any person that had a near death experience in anyway will be terrified to come close to it again. That, he knew it was one evidence that Queenie is Jill.

"It's my fault Gerlad. It's my fault why she became like this." Shawn was in agony. He took another sip from his glass.

"Shawn don't punish your self even further. Now you are sure she is Jill you can make up for your past mistakes." Gerald tried to comfort Shawn. "What are you planning now?"

"I want her to remember but also there is a side of me that doesn't want her to." Shawn was having conflicts. "I love her, I love her so much. I want her to remember me, remember that our love started in the past. But I'm also afraid. What if she remembers? What if she despises me when she remembers how I have abandoned her because of a one time fault she has made. That I didn't gave her another chance, even a chance to explain."

Gerald was at a loss. He doesn't know what to say. He was also Jill's best friend and he knows how he also despised Shawn after what happened.

"If she despised me, I don't know what to do. I don't want to lose her again Gerald. I can't lose her again." Shawn said. "This past 8 years I felt empty, like I was just a doll. Working and working but can't feel anything. When she came back I feel whole again. I can't lose her this time. I can't bear to." agony was all over his face.

Gerald gave Shawn a pat at his shoulder. They continued to drink in silence.