THIRTY-TWO

ANISHA'S POV

"We need to come up with an escape plan", I blurted out. I looked at Dylan who was staring at me, seemingly lost in thoughts of his own.

"An escape plan, yes. That's what I have been thinking about, and I have a headache already. This man Eden has a large team of armed bodyguards, and that makes it very difficult for us." Dylan sighed.

"Can't you try again and talk to someone to help us escape?" I suggested in desperation.

Slowly, the handsome man shook his head and responded, "we can no longer take that route. After what Eden did to that thin man, none of them will be willing to help. And who knows what he will do to me if I repeat that."

I faced the floor and no matter how hard I tried, the tears began to flow.

"Don't cry. We will make it out of here," his voice was calm, and before I knew it, he was using his thumb to wipe off the tears which were falling down my face.

I did not know what to say, because I had lost hope of ever leaving that place.

"Well, fate has brought us together". He stopped. I also remained silent. Then he went on. "As it is, we don't even know if we will make it out. These might be our last days, so it's best for us to enjoy them before we die. Escaping is proving to be impossible, and while we think of other ways, we better not cry ourselves to death."

I shook my head in resignation. When I looked into the future, all I saw was darkness. In fact, it was a blessing to me that I was kidnapped together with Dylan. When I thought of it; I thought if I was by myself, probably no-one was ever going to put much effort in finding me. I had Liam too, the son of the rich la Martina; so that too worked to my advantage. Each time I thought of that, I saw rays of hope.

"If we make it out of here, Anisha, I invite you to come with me to a faraway place for a holiday, somewhere far; where we can relax and enjoy ourselves for a whole week. Liam can come with us!" Dylan's optimism moved me.

"Where will we go? Are you saying you want to take me for a holiday?" I asked in shock.

"Of course. We have been through a lot together. We will need time to rest and forget about all this."

"And we will need some professional counseling, I guess. I am traumatized," I was able to tell that my tears were threatening to fall afresh.

"We will definitely need that," he agreed with me.

"We're all going to die in here," I mourned. "We are all dying."

Dylan coughed and rubbed his eyes. My mind told me that no matter how tough he tried to be, he too was losing hope. I looked aside before I decided to change the subject, "my hair is all tangled now. I don't remember the last time a comb ran through this hair."

"Let me untangle your hair for you", Dylan offered.

He stood up and started using his fingers to untangle the hair. It was the most relaxing and exciting experience for me. I felt happy. Although at first I wanted to refuse, I felt like it was no use refusing. I knew that once we left that place, there was never going to be a chance again for me to see and talk to Dylan. He would go back to his world; a world of the rich and the famous, while I went back to my own world. So why not?; I asked myself. I thought well, let me allow him. Maybe one day I will look back on this day with great memories and tell Val, "he untangled my hair using his own hands."

"You have beautiful hair," he commented, causing me to smile.

*.*.*.

When I was dressing up Liam, Dylan stood next to me and he watched me.

"You do it so naturally. It's like you have been a mother yourself," his voice was full of admiration.

"Liam is like a son to me. I started working for the la Martina family when ma'am Larissa was four months pregnant. She used to make me talk to the baby every day, and she insisted that I sing for him daily", I told him.

Slowly I lifted the baby and kissed him. I made him stand on his feet and he was laughing. Liam was in a very good mood. I slowly let his hand go.

"Walk, Liam", I urged him. The little boy remained standing, holding on to the couch. He looked at us both and smiled.

I took one of the empty water bottles and waved it in front of Liam.

"Come get this bottle," I urged him.

Both Dylan and I were kneeling on the floor in front of Liam, and he started taking some steps forward. I wanted to scream in excitement after seeing Liam walking for the first time, but I dared not. I knew that my scream was most likely going to distract him and cause him to lose focus. He held on to the couch and took a step forward. Dylan and I receded, widening the gap between us and the child.

I called out to him, "come, come get this water bottle". Liam stood staring at the bottle, smiling.

"Walk Liam, walk", Dylan encouraged him. And then the little boy lifted his left leg, and before I said anything to encourage him some more, he lifted the other leg and made two more steps forward before he fell down.

"Dylan! Dylan!! Did you see that!" I screamed out. "Liam walked!! Liam walked!! He took his first steps!"

"Yes I saw it. He just took his first steps." Dylan smiled and called out to Liam, "Come, little man".

Liam kept staring at me and gave me one of his wide cute smiles.

"He's looking at me, he's not even looking at you! He loves me more!" I teased Dylan.

"Ok just watch and see that he actually loves me more!" Dylan said. He started to make funny faces and called Liam to go to him. The little boy just stared and laughed.

"Come to me," I called out to Liam.

"But it's not fair. Look, you have that bright bottle, while I have nothing to entice him", Dylan complained.

"Ok I will put it away", I said as I threw the bottle behind me.

I then started making funny faces, and Dylan was also making funny faces at the child. The little boy held on to the floor and used his little hands to support his body. He surely looked like he was going to fall again, but I helped him to stand back on his feet.

Liam was looking at Dylan and then at me, his gaze kept moving between us. Then slowly he walked again. One step, two steps, three and four. And he fell into Dylan's arms.

"He came to me!" he exclaimed in excitement.

I feigned pain as I hung my head to the side.

"You are really good with him." I admitted.

"I spend most of my time with little ones," Dylan stated.

"What gave you the idea of wanting to become a pediatrician? What motivated you to take up this job?", I could not help but ask.