Risking losing Sidoreli, who had the same feelings for her, understood her too well, and tried so hard for her happiness by trying to make him jealous? Anila had not fallen behind her head yet and wished that she never fell.
 
    It had been days that she was obsessed with wearing a dress for the next meeting in the company to please Sidoreli more. She had missed that happy version of herself and wanted him to feel as important to her as he made Anila feel.
 
    The long-missing clothes in her wardrobe gave her the same sense of class and elegance as in the past, and she didn't think at all about the reason why she hadn't worn dresses for six years, but only about how much Sidoreli would like her.
 
    The fact that they hadn't told anyone yet that they were going out together and no one in the company knew for sure excited her, when she thought that they were dating in secret and in public, they had to behave formally with each other as if there was nothing between them.
 
    She put on her caramel coat over her white knee-length golf dress, walked around her room to see how comfortable the white high-heeled boots would be, and picked up the black bag at the head of the bed, ready to go out.
 
    Sidoreli considered the end of that year as the end of the time as well, to convince Anila regarding him and Amarildo Idrizaj. His brother, Leonardi, would soon return to Albania, and he wouldn't be able to hide his dating with Anila any longer.
 
    He was talking on the phone with his sister, Alketa, when Anila entered the company's yard alone, and upon meeting her gaze, it was as if the whole future unfolded before his eyes while she walked with self-confidence and pride, affected by the look she had taken from him: this woman was dangerous.
 
    She possessed the energy of the light as if she were synonymous with oxygen. She gave all the love and care that could make someone feel very important and took the risk of falling into total depression if they no longer had her in their life.
 
    Like a crystal clear vision, he saw everything; if he continued dating her, he would risk suffering in losing her just to have her in his life, no matter how long it was written. Anila would have the ability to make him feel extremely powerful with the heart she gave him. She could take that source of strength from him whenever she wanted, leave him taken down, and without a single drop of energy after.
 
    Everything was shown to him to collect his mind and give up on her because such a woman was only for a great soul. The past that she had needed pretty broad shoulders to bear its weight, and Sidoreli felt ready to do whatever was asked of him to be that worthy of her.
 
    She looked so beautiful from her passion for life, which she exhibited in her bright eyes, that he couldn't look away from her, bewitched by that light. Her confidence added even more elegance to Anila. She knew her worth and openly challenged the suitors, who wanted to make her a part of their lives, by remaining classy and with the personality she possessed, that if they couldn't reach her level, it was only their fault because they didn't try to deserve her but wanted her, as if they had every right over her to have her for free and then take her for granted. Every word they would say against her, to justify themselves and explain why they couldn't attract her attention, would show how much evilness they had in their souls.
 
    Sidoreli was forced to act unaffected by her when he noticed an employee entering the company's yard behind Anila, and he ended the call with Alketa.
 
    Anila understood his gaze and slowed her steps so that she was alone with him outside. She stopped to take out her phone from the black bag and looked at the time, although she had a watch in her left hand.
 
    "Hello, Anila!"
 
    "Hi," she smiled at Keida, waited for her to enter the company building after greeting Sidoreli, and bent her lips more in a smile while looking at the tattoo artist, who kept a fixed gaze in case someone would suddenly come and Anila would be placed in an unwanted position.
 
    That situation made Sidoreli think that they had arrived at an appropriate time to discuss their dating.
 
    "How are you, boss?" She extended her hand, fully aware of his surprise and confusion that Anila was showing that she had that much faith in him that she wanted to touch him. From the self-satisfied laugh that had put him in such a position, she seemed to be enjoying the moment.
 
    "Good," he answered dryly, seemingly indifferent to the flirting with her eyes and the touch of her hand as soft as a rose petal, when meanwhile his lungs were feeling the need for all the oxygen of the Amazon forests at once and his arms to surround her body and kiss her.
 
    Looking at his face defiantly, to make Sidoreli even more inobtrusive, wasn't difficult at all for Anila. For her, it was enough to look at the pink apricot-coloured lips, and she suspected that hers didn't have that natural colour like his, because she had been wearing lipstick for a long time, and it had given her a dark shade of the pink colour that didn't stand out, the strongly heavy gaze of his deep jade to green eyes, that made it difficult to choose one, since the existence of the other couldn't be denied, and the energy received from him as if he were a person, who knew what was going on around him, but he didn't rush in acting without thinking through, and her eyes sparkled with amazement, that how much beauty that kind of strength expressed in that way gave him. Showing her feelings openly without hesitation had always come in handy in such cases.
 
    He made sure they weren't under anyone's gaze when he complimented her on the outfit.
 
    "You will leave me without working with this beauty that you have. I won't be able to focus on anything but you."
 
    Anila hid half of her lower lip under her teeth, elated by his words.
 
    "Thank you! Where will I sit during the meeting: next to you or in front of you?" She used her usual teasing look, which also showed the hidden meaning of that question.
 
    "Wherever you want."
 
    "I'm sitting nearby. I have a feeling that I'll be more comfortable.
 
    "OK, you go to the meeting first." It seemed impossible for Sidoreli to just keep talking so intimately.
 
    "All right, boss. I'll be waiting for you." Anila had the nerve to even smile at him innocently, as if that conversation wasn't as intimate as it seemed to him, and she smirked upon entering the building.
 
    The assumption that he would make her pay by putting her in the same position convinced her more that she would live the latest life with that man, who easily adapted to her type. She had no complaints about living in that version of the future.
 
    Sidoreli found her sitting to the right of his chair, and Anila immediately stood up as a sign of respect for him. The other managers widened their eyes, confused by her action, and looked at each other, not understanding why she had stood up and whether they should do the same. Sidoreli's sitting at the head of the table ended their time to decide.
 
    Anila brought the chair closer to the table and opened the prepared work file, smiling at the positive energy she had as a businesswoman. She felt like the main characters, for whom she had once wanted to work as a book translator, while in those moments she completely saw herself as one.
 
    "This is the penultimate meeting for this year," said Sidoreli. "We will have another meeting on December 30, and then we will meet at the beginning of January next year after the holidays to make the general inventory of this year."
 
    "When will the announcement about the organisation of the year-end dinner come out?" Ilirjana asked.
 
    "Tomorrow evening."
 
    "Because Christmas is approaching and everyone will be making their plans, that's why I'm asking. Usually, in the years before, it used to be decided since the beginning of December."
 
    Anila looked embarrassed at Ilirjana, as if the latter had meant a reprimand for her and not Sidoreli.
 
    "Yes, I'm aware," Sidoreli replied, unaffected and fixing his escaped gaze on the file in front of him, when her foot touched his.
 
    Intentionally or not, he couldn't understand it at those moments, nor did he understand if Anila was waiting for him to remove his foot first or wishing so that neither would move. He clamped a smile on his straight lips with the promise that he would take revenge on her and decided on the second alternative.
 
    During the entire meeting, they rarely looked at each other so as not to raise suspicions, and Anila had the desire to challenge him even more by standing as innocent and not at all like someone with hidden intentions in her mind.
 
••••
    "I believe that along with the plan to get my attention, you are also thinking about how to escape from such traps of mine," he said to her the next day, while they were going to his studio.
 
    "Since your traps are not that dangerous, I don't have to think of any escape plan," Anila replied goadingly, and she looked blankly at a white truck parked in front of the building next to his studio.
 
    "Is that so?" Sidoreli laughed at her provocation. "Don't be surprised when you lose, then."
 
    "Wait," she looked at him sceptically, and they both stopped a few steps near the studio, facing each other. "You don't think that you can win against me, do you?"
 
    He chuckled at her confidence that she would definitely win, and Anila hid her mouth with her left palm placed over her lips, which were open in surprise.
 
    "Sidorel!" she laughed at him. "Okay, go ahead and dream. What can I say?" She raised her shoulders, seeming hopeless. "But you'll be disappointed in the end, so prepare yourself."
 
    She turned towards the road ahead of them, and her heart stopped when she saw her short black sweatshirt, her jeans and trainers of the same colour, along with the coat and the thick black golf, accompanied by grey jeans and white trainers, that Sidoreli was wearing, reflected in the large mirror, that two men were transporting from the truck to the entrance of the apartment building.
 
    She turned around immediately in shock to the smallest cell in her body, and the traumas of her past began dancing in her mind through the memories of Blerimi.
 
    All that time dating with him and thinking about him, when she had been alone, while he had been planning how to rape her. How many times had he seen her and, meanwhile, imagined such a crime against her? And she had thought that he had been thinking he liked her too, when in fact Anila had only been his target. She had had the whole future laid before her eyes, but she had been willfully blind and had ignored that warning.
 
    Her gloomy face was further darkened by her tearful eyes. How had she been so light-minded and allowed herself to be trampled? She should have fought harder for herself that night. If she had taken any self-defence courses instead of living the latest life by travelling around the world and shopping in malls, she wouldn't have a body like garbage left in those moments.
 
    The latest life! The ignorance life would be more correct to say, she felt hatred towards her past self when she judged her in that way, regret and pain for her present self, and longing for Brunilda, who had tried to save her, but Anila had refused her help.
 
    "They left." Sidoreli didn't think it was appropriate to put his hand on her shoulder as a sign of support and not even to be near her, lest he say something wrong and she would be hurt more than she seemed she was.
 
    He had guessed how badly mirrors could affect her, but that she would break like that, as soon as she looked into one, he hadn't considered it such a serious state. Someone must have hurt her a lot by touching her without her permission, and not only that, he was certain of it now.
 
    How could he take away that kind of suffering that he saw in her dead eyes? Against such a traumatic crime, it was nearly impossible to win.
 
    Anila would rather have lived locked in a room for the rest of her life than have been seen by him at such a low psychological level.
 
    "Shall we go to the studio or somewhere else? What do you want?" asked Sidoreli gently.
 
    "To use medicine or a knife," Anila sharply implied suicide, and he was left speechless. That time they were together, and Sidoreli, of course, wouldn't allow her to hurt herself, but when she was alone, who protected her from such thoughts?
 
    "No, you're just tired. As soon as this moment passes, you will give up on medicines and knives." He tried to change her mind, but he realised that the effort was wasted when Anila lowered her head in despair and hopelessness to believe that one day she would be able to recover. "Come."
 
    He walked first towards the studio, but she didn't follow him. She looked up, the light in her eyes gone, replaced by the thought that they should no longer be together.
 
    'Don't!' Sidoreli asked silently on thin ice.
 
    Anila looked down at the pastel grey and reddish bricks of the pedestrian street. She agreed to go with him to the studio, just so they could talk through things there and end their dating. On that day, it had been the mirror. What about the next time? How long were they going to keep living like that? How long would he endure? Giving up on each other was the right choice.
 
    Sidoreli closed the glass door, turned on the heating conditioner and the light, and lowered the two layers of the shutters so that no one could see them when they talked.
 
    "I don't want to waste more of your time," Anila said coldly, without looking him in the eye, as she stood next to the wall near the tattoo chair. "We went too far."
 
    "Who said you wasted my time?"
 
    "I'm not waiting for you to say it." She didn't have to look at him to know that she had his serious gaze on her; she felt it. "I understand it myself."
 
    "You understand it wrong," Sidoreli explained in a sharp tone. "Not a single second with you has been a waste of time for me. If I could go back in time now, I would still have chosen to go out with you because..."
 
    "Sidorel, enough!" Anila demanded furiously. "Why are you this way?" She looked at him with the same feeling in her eyes. "Why do you want to convince me that everything you do is worth it for me? That I am not a living corpse, as I think I am, but a very beautiful sunflower?"
 
    "Because you are a very beautiful sunflower."
 
    "OK. You know what? You only want to play. I don't want to talk to or see you anymore," decided Anila.
 
    He grinned adorably at her, and she furrowed her brows, indignant at him for not taking what she just said seriously.
 
    "I'm sorry." Sidoreli apologized. "I can't help but think that you're so beautiful when you're angry," he contemplated her confused gaze, which softened from fatigue, to argue any longer.
 
    "This relationship should end here," suggested Anila. "It will be much better for you."
 
    "Relationship?" He looked at her questioningly. "You and I are in a relationship?" His lips rounded derisively from her conclusion, and she was stunned in embarrassment.
 
    "I said it as an expression, not because i want to make you think that we should be together," she swore with sincerity in her eyes.
 
    "I liked it. It was very beautiful," Sidoreli gave his opinion. "Why not be true, too?"
 
    She dilated her eyes even more at his proposal, and her heart suddenly lifted. 
 
    "Anila, I don't think anything negative about you except that you are a very special person, and I want to have you closer in my life. What do you think about me?"
 
    She avoided his question, but Sidoreli didn't give up.
 
    "I think you're very handsome," she replied timidly, not daring to look him in the eye. "Strong, smart, and a very kind gentleman."
 
    "You think correctly," he smiled. "I encourage you to continue like this."
 
    "Sidorel, I feel terrible when I see how many difficult positions you are putting yourself in because of me." The twisting of her lips was accompanied by the rather glistening of sad eyes from newly formed tears.
 
    "What positions?"
 
    "The mirrors that you have removed from the company. And the New Year's Eve dinner is delayed only because of my fault. Restaurants have mirrors, and you don't accept them for me."
 
    "That was fixed yesterday, Anila. I have ordered a restaurant to be open just for us, and they will remove all the mirrors that evening."
 
    "See? The way we have started, you will end up buying all of Albania for me."
 
    "Why not?" It didn't seem impossible to him. "If this makes you happy..."
 
    "This is a situation where I have to adapt to the world and not the world to me."
 
    "You just don't give up on life. That's all I ask of you."
 
    "I don't want you to be upset because of my fault." Her eyes were filled with tears.
 
    "I'm not upset, Anila," Sidoreli looked at her with compassion.
 
    "But the others think negatively, as to why you don't allow mirrors in the company, and they talk bad about you."
 
    "What do you say, I want to know; their opinion, or your opinion?"
 
    She sighed deeply. "My opinion."
 
    "Only your opinion, sunflower," he removed the loose hair from her face and strained himself from touching her body. "I only care about your opinion."
 
    Anila felt the weight of her heart equal to that of her whole body. How could he touch her? Did he not feel disgust at all? How could it occur to him that she was worth so much for him to do whatever he could to have such moments with her?
 
    Sidoreli closed his eyes with his soul in the thread of the string, that he might have gone too far and that she would push him away at any moment. He didn't want to walk away from her and let her go, but his heart didn't allow him to keep her, even if she didn't want to stay. He'd rather torture himself and respect her decision about them, whatever that decision was, than let Anila suffer from his selfishness.
 
    He looked at the reluctance and, at the same time, the desire in her eyes to say 'yes' for them and to be together.
 
    "Sidorel." Anila's breathing became more frequent when he looked at her lips to kiss her. What if he suddenly lost his control, and if she asked him to stop, he wouldn't? "Sidorel."
 
    He placed his right index finger on her lips and silenced her instantly.
 
    "Leave me in control," he asked in a low voice, and Anila, frozen with her heart in her throat, diverted her gaze to the confused dilemma.
 
    She wanted to trust him and give him a chance, like she was looking for a chance in life. She wanted to be with him and have a normal life like so many others, but that required such a great battle to be fought, and she wasn't sure her soul could handle any more battles when there were very few options for victory.
 
    But there were, and she had to focus on such a fact like he did; he fought for her, despite the fact that sometimes the opponent in the battle, who tried to overthrow Sidoreli, was Anila.
 
    She looked into his eyes, which were waiting for her answer and ready to step back forthwith if she rejected him, and she accompanied the slightly approving smile with her hands placed on his chest.
 
    In life, there will be wars, no matter how hard we try to avoid them. We can only choose who is worth the risk of losing those wars.
 
    Sidoreli stopped the desire to kiss her with all his strength at once and, without waiting for her to gather herself, to continue further.
 
    Anila shut her eyes when he brought his head closer, took a deep breath, as if she were going to dive underwater, and felt her whole being go into shock when he kissed her. That shock was replaced by instant happiness in the form of feeling as if, until those moments, she had been under the effect of some dark magic and Sidoreli had just saved her.
 
    He put distance between them for just a second and, overcome with desire, to be once again under the effect of the dazzling euphoria of the touch of her lips with his, he kissed her again. The blood through all the vessels in his body reached another level of fury when Anila returned the kiss, implying that she also wanted them to continue, and his left hand instinctively found her neck to deepen the kiss between them.
 
    His right hand was hindered by her thick sweatshirt from feeling closer contact with her body, and Anila came to his aid by taking it off, but she looked shyly at him, that she couldn't undress further. She didn't want to test herself and realise too late that she had crossed the limits and had spoiled the moment between them.
 
    Sidoreli shook his head with his eyes widened by the stupor of his feelings for her and how she was taking over his entire being in hypnotism.
 
    "You're going to traumatise my soul. I won't belong to any other person but you." His prediction made Anila arch her lips, ecstatic.
 
    "Because you won't want to. It will always be me." She looked sweetly at his lips, lightly ran the thumb of her right hand through their tender pink colour, and kissed them.
 
    He followed her pace and leaned her back against the wall behind her to dominate over her, but Anila didn't give up immediately and maintained her position while kissing him with all the passion possible, which Sidoreli couldn't keep under control to not be manipulated by her and ignore the reasoning. That all-encompassing fire from her touch and kisses was being injected into his blood, to become one with it and as vital as the blood was.
 
    The heartbeats were at their peak when Sidoreli was able to break away from her lips and follow the kisses along her right jaw and neck.
 
    Anila reacted with a faint moan when his teeth caressed her skin in a bite, and Sidoreli smiled between the kisses.
 
    He focused his gaze on her and waited for Anila to catch her breath while holding her in his arms.
 
    "Will you be my girlfriend?" he asked between irregular sighs.
 
    "Yes," Anila chuckled at the time chosen by him to ask her. "I don't want to traumatise any other soul except yours. Only you deserve such an honour."
 
    "If the reward is great in the end, I accept the agreement." Sidoreli kissed her as hard as he wanted.
 
    "You will benefit a lot," Anila promised tauntingly before surrendering to that kiss and adding her dose of passion to his strength.