"Sounds familiar." I lied, watching her carefully.

"It does?" She asked, almost as if mocking me. "Happy to know Walid mentioned me." She smiled, causing my mind swirl with all kind of thoughts.

"Natasha!" Another woman called out as she made her way towards us. "What are you doing here? Let's get going, Zarina is waiting." The middle aged woman spoke.

"I saw her with Walid." Natasha said, motioning towards me, making the older woman look at me, taking in every part of me. "I just wanted to introduce myself but it seems like Jasmin here doesn't want to talk to me."

"I-"

"Walid came here for a meeting, she's probably just someone from work. Come on honey, let's go." The middle aged woman interrupted me, pulling Natasha with her.

I watched as they disappeared from my sight before letting out a sigh in relief.

Maybe it was Walid's sister and the woman his mother?

Shaking away the thoughts I looked around and noticed Walid making his way towards me, his three friends beside him.

They were all dressed in dark formal clothing. You could see how much power they had by just one glance at them...

My eyes fixed on Walid. He was talking on the phone, yet his eyes were set on me. The bright sun made his eyes the lightest brown and I stopped myself from smiling.

"How are you feeling now?" Isak asked once the three men stopped in front of me, Walid a bit away from me still talking on the phone.

I realized he was asking because of last night's events and instantly felt nervous. He had been there too when all that drama had occurred.

"I'm okay now thank you for asking." I managed to say.

"It's a shame." Isak said abruptly while shaking his head, seeming very serious. His words caught everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You choosing Walid over me. You have very bad taste." He spoke in a matter of fact tone.

Both Rashid and Zaid let out a sigh as they shook their head at him. I felt relieved too. I had thought for a moment he was planing to fight me because of last night's incident, but thankfully he was only playing around. Most probably to annoy Walid.

Before I could say anything, a loud sound echoed and Isak jumped away. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from laughing after Walid smacked his neck.

"Say that again after you've stopped coloring your hair, you ginger." Walid exposed him while Isak grunted, scratching his neck.

Isak was actually very tanned in complexion but you could tell it was a fake tan.

I wouldn't even know that his sandy blonde hair was not his natural color if Walid hadn't mentioned it.

"Make sure to come see me when your tan and hair color has faded. I want to see the ginger you." This time I was the one teasing him, making him huff.

"Both wife and husband is bullying people. Match made in heaven." Isak muttered, his words made my heart do a flip and I looked at Walid.

His gaze was already fixed on me and I felt like we were thinking about the same thing.

"Whatever, I'll let it slide. You're too beautiful to be punished." Isak added.

Walid's  jaw tightened and his eyes turned hard. Isak was grinning, as if he had hit the jackpot. But his grin faded quickly when Walid moved towards him.

Before I knew it, Isak was sprinting away from us.

"I'll deal with you later." Walid mused before turning to Rashid and Zaid, who were fighting back their smiles. "Take care of the matter. I'll meet up with you later."

"Sure." Rashid nodded.

"Zaid, how long did you say you would be gone?" Walid asked.

I looked at Zaid and noticed a dark emotion in his eyes at the mention of him leaving. It made me wonder where he was going, but I held myself back from asking. It could be something personal he didn't want to share with me.

"Four months, maybe more." He answered, the dark emotion replaced with a stiff one.

"Try to come back soon." Walid said and forwarded his hand for a fist bump.

For an ordinary person, those words would sound empty. But me slowly getting to know Walid, understood the deep meanings behind his words.

I smiled and admired their relation to each other. You could tell the group of four men, were more like real brothers than just friends.

Some more words were exchanged before we said our bye and parted ways. I followed Walid and noticed we were heading the opposite direction of his car.

"What matter were you talking about?" I finally asked.

"Nothing that concerns you." He looked down at me as I walked beside him.

"Okay. If it's going to be like that, I don't want you to interfere in my matters either. You seem to be doing that a lot lately." I retorted, making his expression change immediately, knowing well I was talking about Jalil.

"I want to play football." He informed abruptly.

"What?" I let out confused.

"I don't have a ball. But I could always chop off your head. The inside of it is empty anyways, it's useless you keep it for decoration purpose only." His cold self was back.

"At least I'm not brainless enough to force someone to marry me for entertainment purpose." I let out, anger clear in my words and voice.

He stopped moving beside me but I stomped away from him. I knew whatever I said was harsh. I knew I should've not brought up the forced marriage again and again.

However, what did he really expect? I would just follow all his orders and do as he said? I would quietly pretend like I wasn't kept in the dark? I would just give up on finding out the reason behind our marriage and why so many people were trying to kidnap me?

Shaking away the thoughts, I continued getting away from him until I found a safe spot. I sat down on the soft sand. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I stared at the sea and felt instant calmness as the sound of the waves echoed in my ears and the musky smell hit my nose.

"He doesn't understand. He never will." I mused, watching the water fight the wind, forming strong waves.

I felt a strong connection as I watched the process. It felt like I was the water on the surface, just floating around calmly, wanting nothing else than peace. While Walid was the wind, causing the strong waves in my life.

Walid had entered my life like a heavy wave. He was like the energy passing through water, making my life move in a messy circular motion. It also felt like he was the wind blowing on me, just like the wind blowing across the surface of the ocean, the friction creating beautiful waves.

Beautiful....

It was indeed beautiful. If I had thought about this months ago, I would see it as something negative. I would hate Walid for being the wind to my water. But today, I felt happy.

I didn't know the reason behind my happiness. I just knew Walid could now be with me forever. I just had to close my eyes and listen to the wind blowing on the water.

Letting out a sigh, I leaned on my arms and closed my eyes. I felt a shiver run down my spine as the sound of the waves blessed my ears. I didn't understand why I was feeling like that.

It couldn't be.....

My eyes shoot open and I straightened up. It couldn't be. The unknown feelings I had, were nothing else than attraction.

Yes, I was just attracted to Walid. There was nothing more serious than that.

My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a presence beside me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Walid sitting a bit away from me.

"Don't walk away like that again." He said, not turning to me once as he stared at the sea in front of us.

"Why not?" I asked, moving the hair strands sticking to my eyes because of the wind.

"It's not safe for you." He finally looked at me, his gaze fixed on me intensely.

My body relaxed suddenly and I felt all the anger I had for him moments ago, disappear.

"I was completely safe before marrying you. What changed? No one knows about our marriage, then what do they want from me?" I asked, sounding desperate for an answer.

I was desperate. I wanted to know and understand the problem. I wanted to know why his guards sneakily followed me everywhere. Why those men reacted that way after seeing me in his garden that night. Why they tried to kidnap me. Why I was unsafe in my own town...

"I told you, when the time is right you'll know." He shrugged, as if it was not a big deal.

I released a heavy sigh and turned back to the sea. My fingers clenched around the thin chain around my wrist.

"I'm just so worried..." I spoke whatever I had in my heart.

"About what?" I heard him ask.

"Everything." I breathed out.

"Well, don't be worried then."

"Oh, I didn't know I could do that. Thank you so much for informing me." I rolled my eyes.

"You're welcome." He paused, a long silence fell upon us. "What's bothering you?"

I didn't answer until I knew how to form my words. "My sister...I just keep seeing her everywhere. I miss her a lot lately."

I looked back at the sea with a thick curtain of clear liquid. "Do you have nightmares?" His words made me come back to my sense and I pushed back my tears.

Dreams...hallucinations...for me, they were the same. I remember at one point in life, I didn't even know when I was dreaming and when I was awake when seeing my sister in front of me.

But I couldn't tell him about the hallucinations. He wouldn't understand. No one would...

"Not exactly but I do see her in my dreams. She's always trying to speak, but nothing comes out." I said, feeling a shiver run down my spine as the wind got stronger around us.

"Maybe you feel guilty and can't let go of the guilt. You want another chance, you want to question her decision, even if it's in a dream. You just want your answers."

His words made me think about how right he was. The guilt I had felt over the past years was not to be played with.

I had always known that, but the way he explained it to me, made everything so much clearer in my mind.

I did have questions. I did want to get one last chance where I could ask her why she did it. So she could tell me her problems...

"You're right. The funny part is, I don't even know why I want answers when it's too late anyway. She's never coming back.." I said, feeling a pain so harsh in my heart, like someone cut my heart in pieces with a blade.

I looked at my side when his warmth suddenly surrounded me. He sat down beside me, taking my hand in his. I felt my heart jolt at that small gesture of his.

Walid's fingers traced the chain around my wrist, his intense gaze focused on it.

"Sometimes, people don't hurt us as much as our minds do by overthinking." He paused. "You shouldn't let the guilt take over you. There can be many alternative answers to a question but the correct answer is alway one sole answer. Maybe your sister doesn't want you to know that answer. Maybe she's happy just the way things are."

A long silence fell upon us. I could hear the waves getting stronger and stronger, making slight panic appear in my already aching heart.

His words made me think back to that day, five years ago. How my sister had left me, blood all around us as she fought for her life. Her fingers had clasped the thin pearl necklace around my neck, causing it to break. The white pearls had dropped to the ground, slowly - one after another.

After a while, the white color of the pearls, which once associated with morality and freedom, had turned into the color of sacrifice, danger and courage. They had turned red for my sister's sacrifices. They had turned red for the threats causing danger for my sister - and they had turned red for my sister's courage.

She had taken her own life, stopped her own heart from beating. But, she had never showed even once how sad she was.

I remembered her as the girl who woke up with a smile and fell asleep with a smile.

That was the reason for the guilt I was feeling.

How had I not seen the pain behind that smile?

And that was the first question I wanted to ask her.

Did she forgive me for not noticing something was wrong?

That was the second question I wanted to ask her.

Why did she do it?

That was the last question I desperately wanted answers for.

However, Walid was once again right. If she had wanted us to know what had troubled her, she would tell.

She chose to not tell us. She left this world, taking all the answers with her.

If that was the way she wanted it to be, then it should be like that...

I finally looked at Walid. We stared at each other for a moment and a smile formed on my lips.

"I know that I will never need a therapist when I have you." I admitted.

"I guess you just know how it is when you've been on the same boat." His words caught my attention.

"Have you?" I asked, almost not hearing my own voice.

"I guess you could say that we've fought the same battles."

After experiencing that pain, holding my older sister in my arms as she slowly closed her eyes forever, I had prayed that not even my worst enemy should experience that pain.

Yet here I was, married to a person who had fought the same battle? Hearing him utter those words made me forget all my pain, and think about the pain he had gone through.

I couldn't ask him who he had lost. I knew from experience how hard it was to speak about it.

The tear that streamed down my eye made me come back to present and I looked up at Walid.

His intense gaze was already fixed on me and I didn't have to say anything. We spoke the unspoken words through our eyes.

The eye language, the strongest form of communication.

I rested my head on his chest before wrapping my arms around his strong torso. Closing my eyes, I leaned into him, feeling like I was walking on air. It felt like he was holding himself back, because he wasn't moving for a while, but it didn't take long before he finally gave in to the emotions he despised.

I smiled when his arms suddenly wrapped around me tightly, making me feel like I was where I should've been long time ago.

It felt like - home.

~

Sighing, I finally cleared my mind from all the memories and thoughts. It felt good to finally find some solutions for some of the problems bothering me at least.

I wasn't making any progress with my current situation though. Walid was refusing to answer my questions about our marriage and I stopped asking him. He had promised he would tell me when the time was right, and I just hoped the right time would come soon.

Almost an hour had passed, with me leaning on Walid's chest, a comfortable silence had surrounded us. Walid had his arms wrapped around me this whole time while my back was resting on his chest as both of us had stared at the sea in front of us.

We had been lost in our own different but very alike thoughts. I was wondering who the person he had lost was...

I wish I could do anything to help him, but from personal experience I knew it wasn't that easy. The pain would never disappear. It would always be there.

"We spent too much time here. Let's get going. It's not safe." Walid spoke suddenly, his words making me straighten.

It was beautiful and painful while it lasted, but he was right, it was time to go back to reality.

"You're talking like you wouldn't take a bullet for me." I joked.

"I wouldn't. Your presence is useless to this earth. At least my people here needs me." He said seriously, referring to the people of the town.

I turned to him gave him a fake smile before standing up. "Thank you. At least now I know how much you hate me."

"Hate is a strong word...and emotion. You're not worthy of such strong-"

I plopped down in front of him on my knees, making him end his sentence midway. The danger was clear in my eyes as he backed away from me.

He wasn't quick enough and my hand, which had collected a fair amount of sand, raised and aimed at him. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned when the wind blew the opposite direction and the sand hit my face instead.

I could already see his smirk at my failed attempt of getting back at him. I finally opened my eyes and rubbed them so there was no trace of sand left.

"You are so annoying." I let out, looking up at him.

"I did nothing." He smiled in amusement.

I huffed and turned around. Just as I was about to stand up, I felt a presence behind me. My hands quickly moved to my hair and I pulled the lengths to my front. I turned to him and sure enough, he had his hand half raised, the shocked look on his face making it clear that I was one step ahead of him this time.

"Too bad you didn't get the chance today." I said challengingly as I stood up. The shocked look on his face had made me feel satisfaction, even though the backlash that had taken place moments ago.

I knew by now that whatever inconvenience that happened between us, he would always go for my hair. I didn't understand why he found it satisfying to wrap his fingers around the lengths of my hair and torment me. However, he didn't get the chance today.

"We'll see about that. We have all day left." He said, an intense gaze focused on me.

"No we don't. You said you would take me somewhere but it's been a long time I need to go home. My mother will start worrying if I'm not home in the next ten minutes." I said, motioning for him to get up.

Walid's dark eyes were fixed on the sand in front of him before a heavy sigh was released from his lips. He got to his feet and I couldn't help but smile until my eyes landed on what he forgot on the ground. My heart did a flip as I watched him pick up the weapon and tuck it behind him somewhere in the waistband of his pants.

My attention moved away from the scene and I decided not to comment anything. My words didn't matter to him anyway....

"Let's go." He said and we started walking down from the small uphill and towards the beach.

"By the way, who is Natasha?" I asked suddenly, thinking about our meeting when we passed the spot where she had approached me.

Walid's steps halted and I followed his movement. "How do you know her?" He asked, giving me a serious look.

"She approached me when I was waiting for you. She wanted to know who I was." I told him, ignoring the bad feeling I got when thinking about the intimidating looks she was giving me.

"What did you tell her?" He asked another question, making me cross my arms.

"I didn't tell her we are married. Why are you so worried?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'm not worried." He said, his eyes turning dark before he walked away. I sighed and followed him. "She's just a relative. No one important."

"Do you hate all your family members? First your brother now Natasha?" I said, making him give me a look. I shrugged and followed him until he stopped again.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion when he looked around, his jaw clenched and eyes burning with furry. "Something is wrong." He mused before I could ask. I gulped and looked around, not noticing anything being out of order.

"Everything looks fine." I let out but soon enough noticed that there were no people by the beach. It was completely empty.

"The guards are nowhere." Walid said before grabbing my arm and pulling me closer as he pulled out the weapon from his waistband.

I felt my heartbeat quicken as fear and panic took over me. I looked around fearfully but didn't see anyone. My fingers clasped Walid's shirt.

"You piece of shit." Walid muttered suddenly. The hatred in his voice scared me, including the way his hand raised with the gun pointing at someone behind me.

"That's no way to welcome a friend." The man speaking behind me made my heart flip in fear.

I didn't really understand what was happening. The only thing I understood was that this wouldn't end well. I had a very bad feeling.

I slowly found the courage and turned around. My eyes almost widened when the unknown man had his own gun pointed at us.

I tried to remember if I by any chance knew who he was, but I was sure that I didn't know him. I backed away slightly when I noticed his dark eyes were fixed on me while he seemed to be lost in deep thoughts. He didn't show any emotions, which made it harder for me to figure out what he really wanted.

"How are you Jasmin?" He finally asked, putting down his weapon. "You know, I'm actually very disappointed in you. All these years passed and you didn't once ask about me nor came and visited me."

His words confused me as different possibilities swirled in my mind. Was he someone I knew? I didn't remember him or anything related to him...

Walid suddenly moved, hiding me from the man's view.

"Careful. It won't take me a second to blow up your brain." Walid said mockingly, still pointing the gun at him.

"You see Aydin, this is the only thing I dislike about you. Your habit of interfering. Both you and me know that I should be the one blowing your brain up for putting your dirty hands on her. But everything has it's own time and place, doesn't it?" The unknown man said in a matter of fact time.

My eyes widened and I gasped. What was he talking about? What was actually going on?

Walid let out a humorless laugh as he lowered the gun, in a way of showing he wasn't scared. "'I'm still waiting for the day you make your words clear by taking action rather than giving empty threats, Mikael." He spoke.

"I would love to do that, once you stop with sneakily trying to win things that belongs to me." The man named Mikael answered.

Things? What things are they fighting about? Maybe it was something business related...

"Takes one to know one." Walid's words made Mikael's eyes darken. "To be fair, you did a lot of progress today. You finally decided to be a man and face me at least." He added.

"Both you and me know about my visits." Mikael said, a evil look plastered all over his face.

"You were visiting? I thought we were playing hide and seek." The sarcasm was clear in Walid's voice and I clenched my fingers in nervousness. The atmosphere was too tense...

Mikael's eyes stayed on Walid, as if he was trying to stay calm. He finally smirked when his eyes moved to me and spoke up. "I came to talk to Jasmin."

My fingers clenched Walid's arm in fear. Mikael's eyes followed the movement and I noticed him disliking my actions.

"If you leave Jasmin out of this, then maybe I'll consider talking to you calmly." Walid suggested, making me look up at him. His eyes met mine and I could see the worry he had for me. I tried to reassure him through my eyes not to worry about me.

"How can I leave Jasmin out of this, when all of this is about her?" Mikael calmly spoke, making me look at him in shock. 

"About me? Stop beating around the bush and tell me what your problem is?" I finally spoke, noticing my voice shaking in anger. What did he even want from me? I didn't even know him...

"Seems like you don't know anything but that's why I'm here. To tell you the truth about how you belong to me." Mikael said.

His words made everything spin around me. I felt my panic take over as I examined him, trying to see if he was being serious or playing with me.

"Don't." Walid warned through gritted teeth, his body tensing.

"Sooner or later, she has to know where she actually belongs." My mind blocked everyone out as Mikael spoke. I started thinking about the whole situation and my heart did a flip.

I felt the vicious moisture form in my eyes as I looked up at Walid. "Is he the reason?" I asked, trying to hold my guard and not break down crying. Walid's eyes softened when I took a step back. "Is this why you married me?"

He didn't even need to answer, the regret in his eyes gave me whatever I needed to know. I felt my heart ache as everything started making sense.

"Married you? What the hell are you talking about?" The loud voice of Mikael made me turn to him.

He had been very calm and collected all this time, but now I could see the anger radiating from him. His whole body was shaking and his eyes were fixed on Walid.

Suddenly, his hand raised and he pointed the gun at Walid. "No!" I screamed out.

He didn't listen to my plea as he fired again and again. Everything was spinning around me. I didn't really understand what was happening other than Mikael shooting at Walid again and again as the bullets hit Walid's chest. My screams were louder than the sounds of the firing.

I didn't know how or when I kneeled down beside Walid as his almost lifeless body landed on the cold ground. I felt like exploding when my hands turned red with his blood as they roamed around his body.

I had a hard time breathing when I noticed a bullet had hit a dangerous spot between his neck and shoulder, causing blood spilling from the wound. I felt warm red liquid on my hands and my eyes moved to his.

My heart ached and it felt like my heart would stop beating any second because of the pain I was feeling. I couldn't even hear anything as I disappeared in my own word, almost like tinnitus taking over my ears.

I screamed out his name suddenly, I screamed so loud I felt like I would break into pieces. I couldn't stop myself. I was in pain....