The loud music blasting from the speakers had finally stopped and the hall was slowly getting empty. All my colleagues had already left but I had to stay behind to say my final goodbye to the sponsors.

Fortunately, it was over and today had been the last show for the week. A few days had passed and it was Friday already, meaning I was going back home tomorrow morning.

To say that I was tired would be an understatement. Even though everything went by smoothly and I had control over most of the things, I couldn't help but wonder now and then what I was doing at a fashion show.

The things I did for people...

"Oh, there she is!" I heard someone say from a distant. I turned to see the sponsor, Ingvar, make his way toward me together with a man I didn't recognize.

I smiled and stood up. "Just who we were looking for, Jasmin, this is Kian, the owner of the model agency I work with. Kian, Jasmin." He motioned towards me.

Kian, who seemed to be in his late thirties, forwarded his hand to me and I shook it. "Nice to meet you." I greeted.

"The pleasure is all mine. It's a shame we didn't meet earlier. I actually wanted to talk to you, do you mind?" Kian gestured.

"Of course." I followed him, leaving Ingvar behind.

"I've been watching you over the past days-" He cut himself off when I gave him a look. "Oh no, not like that." He quickly corrected with a chuckle. "It's just part of my job to constantly look for a new....talent." He finally found the word.

I wrapped my arms around myself as we made our way from the backstage to where the runway was.

"And?" I asked.

"And I hate beating around the bush so I'll just get straight to the point. If you're interested, I would love for you to give modeling a chance."

I almost chocked on my own saliva at his words but I quickly composed myself and tried hard not to laugh.

Modeling? Me? I wouldn't even make it out of the backstage before falling flat on my face and he wanted me to...

"I'm 5'5."

"That doesn't matter. The industry has improved a lot and nowadays we have models of all heights and sizes." He explained.

"Well, I'm sorry but working as a model is the last thing that interests me. You probably already know but I came here just to replace my boss because he couldn't attend for personal reasons." My words made his brown eyes look away and a sigh escaped his lips.

"I just saw a lot of potential and thought I could give it a shot. It's your decision in the end, but you do know that you can make a lot of money don't you?" His question angered me a bit.

He was just one of those with power that thought they could make someone change their decision by mentioning money.

"I'm actually in uni for a reason. To become what I want to become, work what I want to work with and earn the money that I want to earn. Thank you for the offer though." I smiled. "It was nice meeting you, it's getting late I have to go."

I turned on my heels and walked away. "Wait." He caught up with me. "I'm sorry I think my words offended you. I didn't mean it like that. But, if you do change your mind here's my card. By the way, I know you're muslim and you have to ask your parents permission first. Maybe that's what's stopping you from accepting my offer? Or maybe you're thinking it's against your religion? We've got a lot of muslim models, I can introduce you to them and you'll realize that it's nothing wrong with working as a model."

I stopped and turned to him. "There would be no need for that." I smiled and took the card from him.

His eyes glinted until I tore the card right in front of his face. "Next time, make it make sense please." I threw the pieces at him and stormed out.

"What did he want? Did-"

"Nothing important Ingvar. It was nice working with you. Thank you for taking care of me. I need the last signatures on the forms Jalil gave me." I interrupted, taking out the documents from my bags. "Here."

I watched as Ingvar silently signed them before handing them over to me. "I should be the one thanking you for being here. I would love to come visit Rosew one day, I've heard a lot of good things about it." The man in his mid thirties spoke.

"You're more than welcome." I smiled and said my goodbye.

Ingvar left with his team and I packed the last items into the bag before I decided it was time for me to leave. I looked over the place one last time, to see if I had forgotten anything.

I noticed that almost everyone had left, including Kian. There were just a few workers left working on the runway.

Sighing, I picked up the two bags and made my way towards the staff exit. I pulled out my phone to call the driver to drop me at the hotel we were staying at.

It was our last night and I was so glad we were going back home in a few hours...

Just when I entered the round hall, the lights turned off. My heart almost stopped and I looked around in the darkness.

I was about to turn on the flash on my phone but was beat to it when light emerged from the middle of the hall. I stilled when I saw the scene in front of me. My heart started racing and I didn't dare to move.

In the middle of the round hall, was a round table with a lightbulb dangling right above the table. But what scared me, was the man seated by the table, his back turned towards me.

It was still dark around the hall, because the small lightbulb only gave light to a small bit of its surroundings.  However, I knew that I had to step forward in order to see who the man was.

I debated whether I should call someone on the phone but the man spoke up suddenly.

"I just want to talk, no need to cause a scene." That was the first thing he said, his voice very unfamiliar to me.

Gulping, I put away my phone and dropped the bags to the floor. The workers were still here, what could he possibly do?

I hadn't even brought the weapon with me because of the security...

Making up my mind, I took steady steps towards the table, making sure to keep a good distance away from the table.

I rounded the table and the light in front of him made me see him clearly. Well, almost clearly because the sunglasses he had on wasn't helping.

The man was dressed in all black with a bulletproof vest on. He had dark brown hair and a short beard covering his jaw. More than that, I couldn't make out his face.

"What's going on?" I finally asked, stopping a bit away.

"Won't you take a seat?" He raised his eyebrow. I noticed his right foot tapping on the floor repeatedly, almost like he had a hard time sitting still.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I asked, ignoring his previous words.

"Sit. I just wanna talk." He repeated.

"Why should I trust you?" I asked.

"You have to. Sit."

For a strange reason, no panic was taking over me. Even though I knew that the man in front of me probably had his men surrounded around the hall, making it impossible for me to run away.

I felt numb as I took a seat in front of him. I tried to look through the sunglasses, wanting to see his eyes.

Why was he hiding them from me?

"I've been waiting for this day." He announced suddenly, his voice low. "And finally it's here." His whole posture changed together with his voice as he slammed the table in front of him lightly. "Me and you are gonna have so much fun. We have so much to talk about." He chirped and straightened up.

I stared at him for a few moments with my eyebrows raised.

"Don't give me that look and start talking instead. Isn't that what women love to do? To gossip? I'm just trying to make you comfortable. So tell me, how's life? How's family? I heard you got married, how's your husband? How's his family? I sincerely hope everyone is okay. Isn't it time for baby number one to be on the way though? If it's not, then it's even better. I hate kids. I'm sure you hate them too. Especially the tiny ones that doesn't know how to talk. All they do is cry. I hate people who cry. If I had the ability to change one thing in this world, it would be the ability for humans to form tears. People say bullshit like tears are the words our heart can't express. That's just a stupid thing to say. We have a mouth for a reason, or for many reasons. But one of them is obviously to be able to speak and express what we feel. We don't have to discuss that now though. I'm not that bored. Just, how are you?"

Moments passed and we sat in silence as he finished his cigarette. I didn't know if he was being sarcastic or serious. It was too soon for me to know. But I definitely knew where he came from when he mentioned Walid.

"Did Mikael send you?" I asked, trying to ignore the smoke hitting the tip of my nose.

"Now you're offending me. How are you openly objectifying me? I'm not a package to be sent around. You're pointing a finger at my self respect." He shook his head in disbelief and this time, the sarcasm was clear in his voice.

"So you do know him?" I let out.

"Obviously, he's my bestie. We gossip everyday about you. Doesn't that make him my bestie?"

"About me?" I paused. "Listen, I don't have any intention to sit and talk to you or Mikael. I'll never forget what he did and it's good he didn't come here himself because this time I wouldn't hesitate to shoot him." I slammed the table in front of me and stood up.

"Why would he come here? I'm the one who wants to talk to you, not him. Although, he did tell me to tell you he hasn't forgotten the promise you made him and he'll be back for  it." His words made my heartbeat quicken. "But that's not important for today. Let's leave that behind. And what happened between Mikael and Walid that day was just an act on anger. We don't plan to kill Walid.....yet."

"Just shut up. I don't want to hear anything coming out of that stupid mouth of yours." I almost screamed out, proceeding to leave.

"You better get back to your seat. You can't leave until I'm done talking." He shrugged. "The exits are blocked."

My shoulders slumped and I took a deep breath before getting back to my seat.

"What now? Is this where you tell me I belong to you and I'm supposed to be with you?" I asked, recalling Mikael's words.

"No, that would be disturbing." His words made me furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Mikael is like my brother." He informed.

"What do you actually want from me? Can someone just for once answer my damn question?" I let out furiously.

He watched me in silence for a moment before leaning back in his seat. "I see, your husband is giving you a hard time." He almost mused to himself. "Does he beat you?"

His sudden question caught me off guard. What the hell was his problem?

"No he doesn't. Not that it concerns you. Who are you? And why are you hiding your eyes from me?" I asked, my question making him laugh.

"My eyes can't handle light. Maybe one day, when I've gotten them fixed I won't need to hide them from you." He explained.

"No need for that because I won't see your face again." I promised.

"Aww, too bad I thought we were having fun. If you're that bored, let me do something about it." His words made my eyes widen until he held up his hand in surrender. "I meant just have a chat or something."

"I don't want to talk about anything with you. Let me go." My eyes narrowed and I glared daggers at him.

"You won't get this chance again. And trust me when I say it, if you let this chance go....you'll regret it for the rest of your life." His words seemed to have a deep meaning behind them, making me lean back in my seat and think.

The whole situation was confusing me. I knew that there was no use of me asking him about his identity because he would never tell me. But it wouldn't hurt to listen to what he had to say...

"So what's the plan what are you planning to do, tell me a story?" I asked sarcastically, making him smirk.

"That's not a bad idea now is it? Let's start right away because we don't have much time. But which story should I tell?" He pretended to think.

I stared at him for a while and realized he was actually serious about the story thing. I sighed and spoke up.

"Your favorite story."

"Right....my favorite story..." He trailed off.

Suddenly, silence took over the room and I waited for him to start in confusion. It took him some time but he finally started talking.

"Long story short, long time ago...there was a small boy who lived in a small town with his family. His life was perfect until one small inconvenience happened. The town he lived in was corrupt. It was in the hands of a big and powerful family. It didn't affect him until one day, he was walking home from school with his twin sister. It was just a ten minute walk home, but the boy had insisted to play in the deserted football field before going home. They played and played until it was time to go home. The kids were just leaving when three cars pulled up. Armed men got down from the cars and blocked their way. The window of the car that was closest to the kids rolled down. Just until the eyes that were covered with a pair of sunglasses were shown. The man had stared at the kids a few moments before the window rolled back up. His sister was picked up and thrown into the car. She was just eleven. The boy screamed, shouted and tried to fight the armed men, but they were all just laughing at him. He even cried, but nothing had happened. He could hear his sister's painful screams. He could even see through the open car door, he could see everything but the predator's face."

I had not expected to hear him utter a story so vile, making my heart almost stop beating. 

"They left after throwing out the girl's almost lifeless body. Her uniform was all covered in blood and she was starting to lose consciousness, but before her eyes closed...she picked up the ball and held it. With the ball in her arms, the brother picked her up and ran to his father's friend, who was a doctor. He left his sister there and ran to the powerful family's house. He stood outside the gates and screamed. The guards by the gate asked what his problem was. Just then, one of the man from the incident appeared in front of him. He picked the boy up from the collar and threw him away. The boy threatened he would tell the whole town about what they did. He had said those words and left, oblivious to the fact that a car was following him. The man who had followed stopped the boy on the way and mercilessly tortured him, almost choked him to death. The powerful family threatened they would repeat whatever they did to the sister if he didn't disappear from town. The boy ran one the last time to the doctor's house. He found his parents there, crying. His sister woke up and he told her about him having to leave. She begged him not to. He promised her he would be back, if only she promised not to tell anyone about who it was. He knew his parents wouldn't stay silent. They would end up at the gates, where he had been moments ago, begging for justice. But, justice would not be served. Instead, the family would hurt the parents like they had hurt him. After convincing his sister, he said goodbye to her. She told him she would keep the ball, and return it to him only when he returned. And, just like that...his time in that town was over and he left silently, not informing anyone, he couldn't look anyone in the eyes anyway. That boy left....and didn't plan on returning....ever."

A pin drop silence fell on the room. I didn't even notice it, until the only thing I could hear was my heart beating loudly.

I didn't know how much time passed as we sat in silence, staring at each other. The wetness on my face interrupted me from my trance, making me finally move and wipe the tears that had left my eyes subconsciously.

"How is it your favorite story if it's your first time telling it?" I asked.

"How did you know?" He asked, oblivious to the lone tear on his face that had escaped his eye while he had told me the story.

"You were crying while telling it. You said you hate people who cry."

"I guess, I hate myself then." He was quick on his feet, wiping his face hastily. "Well, I hope you had a good time. Our time is over now." He said suddenly, his tall frame proceeding to leave.

"Wait." I almost shouted, making him stop and look at me. "You can't leave without telling me the rest of the story." I walked up to him.

He smirked suddenly, crossing his arms. "I'm in no mood to tell part 2 of the story. Let's catch up another time, huh?"

"You can't do this. Please." I felt the tears form in my eyes. How would I ever be able to go to sleep without knowing who the people in the story was?

"Ah, don't be sad. I know you'll miss me, but if you don't go out that door right now...the people your beloved husband has sent to spy on you will walk in and see me here. We don't want that now do we? No, no...don't look at me like that! I'm not threatening you. I'm just informing you, if they walk through that door, they'll shoot me and boom I'll be dead....and there will be no one to tell you the rest of the story. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

I nodded, getting his message. "One second." I rushed back to where my bags were and hastily looked through one of the bag. I found and piece of paper and a pen. "I won't tell Walid, but only if you promise to give me a call on this-"

The room was empty when I turned back around with the piece of paper in my hand that I had just written my number on.

I let out a frustrated sigh and I bent down to zip the bags. My legs gave up suddenly and I sat down on my knees.

I wanted to cry and scream but knew that I couldn't jump to conclusions. I just couldn't...

The town he lived in was corrupt. It was in the hands of a big and powerful family.

I shook my head furiously. "No, no, no!" I let out, tears forming in my eyes.

He left his sister there and ran to the powerful family's house.

"Oh God...please.." My head shook subconsciously and I was fully crying now.

The powerful family threatened they would repeat whatever they did to the sister if he didn't disappear from town.

"It can't be..." I whispered.

But, justice would not be served. Instead, the powerful family would hurt the parents like they had hurt the boy.

I covered my face with my hands and cried, begging for my doubts to be just doubts and nothing else...

~

I stepped inside the hotel room silently and put the bags to the side. I took a quick shower and prayed my evening prayer before getting ready to sleep.

I left the bedside lamp on and laid down on bed. I laid still for a few minutes until I turned around and faced the jacket. My fingers trailed on the suit jacket and I snuggled closer to it, taking in the cologne that was still there even after weeks.

The fragrance was a memory of that one person. Just like the jacket was.

Walid had given me his jacket that night I had pushed him into the water. The next day, I was at the beach house packing my bags to go back to my parents and the jacket had to go with me...

Just like a few days ago, when I had packed for this trip...I didn't know why but I had packed it with me. I didn't regret it though...it gave me the warmth I needed.

My mind wanted to wander back to the man from earlier but I quickly shut the thoughts away.

I couldn't bare to think about those dreadful thoughts...

I made myself think back to the memories I had made with Walid and I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

Would there even be any more memories of us together? Given what happened a few days ago...

Not to forget, I had to confront him about my sister. I had to ask him for the truth...

I knew that his answers were going to decide our future together, even though I wasn't ready...I had to ask him soon.

Pushing away the thoughts, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. A long time passed but I didn't fall asleep, the frustration making me stand up.

I made my way to the window and looked out at the empty street. That man had mentioned Walid had sent his men to look after me...

It was surprising. I would never have guessed Walid would go against his words and actually send someone after me. But he did.

Well, at least he cared.

I spotted the car parked down the street and shook my head but couldn't help but smile as I made my way back.

Pacing back and forth, I tried to tire myself so I could fall asleep.

Sighing, I gave up knowing it was useless. Instead, I picked up my phone and searched up the Aydin family on the internet.

Before I could even press on the first article, my phone started ringing.

My breath almost hitched when a number I didn't recognize appeared on the screen. I stared at the number for a few seconds, knowing exactly who the caller was.

"Hello?" I picked it up.

There was a few moments silence on the other end before he finally spoke up. "How are you?"

My heart almost stopped beating upon hearing his voice. No one would understand how much I had missed hearing it....

"Good." I replied shortly. "And you?"

"Good." He said.

I laid down on the bed, the phone still glued to my ear.

"Are you still angry?"

Walid's sudden question made my fingers clench around his jacket as I pulled it closer.

I didn't answer his question, and moments later heard him sigh.

"I know I've been a fu-" He cut himself off, not wanting to swear. "As I was saying, I've been a di*c-" He cut himself once again and lowly cursed but I heard him clearly.

I bit on my lower lip, trying hard not to smile.

"I've been a despicable person. I hurt you, made you cry. You don't deserve that. You deserve all the happiness in the world. From now on, I'll give you all the happiness in this world. I'll treat you like a princess."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he was talking strangely, almost like he was reading something in front of him. I heard a sound, as if someone had smacked another person, making my confusion grow even more.

"I deserve to die-" He cut himself off and another smack was heard, this time the person that got smacked winced, making me realize Walid was not alone after all.

"I mean....yeah never mind that. As I was saying, I deserve to be your slave for the-" He cut himself off once again and this time I understood what was going on.

Someone had written all that for him to say and he was reading it out!

I didn't even have to guess because I already knew who that someone was...

"Uh, I mean....I know I deserve the worst. And I can say this....is that a 5 or 8?" I heard him try and whisper the last question, making me bit harder on my lip as I held myself from laughing out loud.

"It's 9!" I heard the second person trying to whisper.

Like I said, I didn't have to guess to know it was Isak who had suggested and helped him with the stunt.

"And I can say this 900 times but-wait are you stupid? Who the f*ck puts 900? It's supposed to be a-hundred or a-thousand times! Are you trying to f*ck with my mind? I swear to God I'll kill you, get out of my sight and if you ever make me do these kind of bullshit again I swear-just leave. Out."

I heard Isak try to defend himself and a few sounds of things breaking before it was silence on the other end.

"Did he leave?" I finally asked.

"Yes." Walid sighed. "I know I'm just making this worse, I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were thinking, that's enough for me." I stated, a smile forming on my lips.

Silence took over once again until he finally broke it.

"What do I have to do?"

I turned on my back and looked up at the ceiling. His question made my heart beat faster in nervousness.

"Tell me a story." I replied.

"What?" I heard him ask and I could already see him furrow his perfectly shaped eyebrows. "What story?"

"Your story..." I trailed off. "If you want me to be there with you, you have to tell me how Walid Aydin was created. I want to know everything about you. Just like you know everything about me, my family, my past and just simply everything."

"You won't like that story." He informed.

"Doesn't matter. I want to hear it. Not now though. When we meet again."

"Hmm." I heard him let out, making me sigh.

"Why do you keep pushing me away?" I asked.

"I'm not." He defended.

"What's with the 'hmm' then? That's the simple definition of no I'm not gonna tell you anything." My words made him chuckle.

"I think it's more like okay I give up, you win."

"Don't 'hmm' me again it irritates me." I turned back on my side and pulled his jacket closer to me.

His previous words made me think about the fact that we both had missed each other to the extent we didn't even care about our ego or pride.

Especially Walid...

He had put aside everything and picked up his phone to call me. He had not cared about him staying away from me, like he had decided to do a few days ago.

Even though it took him five days to do so, he did it in the end...

"I like you when you're irritated." He said suddenly, making my cheeks flare up.

"You like me?" Those words were obviously the only thing my mind picked up on.

"When you're irritated." Walid pointed out.

"Oh..." I let out.

"It's a shame you're irritated most of the time." A smile formed on my lips and I looked away from no one in particular, shyly. That was until I noticed what I was doing and quickly composed myself.

"Whatever....why are you not sleeping? It's one in the morning." I took a quick glance at the time.

"I don't know, why are you not sleeping?"

"I don't know." I repeated. "Let's sleep."

And just like that, my phone was glued to my ear until I finally closed my eyes and disappeared into the darkness.

~

"Simran I'm serious slow down!" I warned, sinking into my seat.

She just laughed at me from the driver seat and continued speeding recklessly.

I would only sit in a speeding car if it was Walid driving it. I know I had told him differently but I trusted his driving. But Simran on the other hand had made my head hit every surface in the car because of the sudden overtakes and brakes she slammed.

"Who did you bribe to get that license of yours, please share his info so I can sue him for putting my life in danger." I spoke from the backseat.

"Oh come on. It's not that bad." I could see her smirk before she overtook someone, making my head hit the window.

Why was the seatbelt so useless?

"Jasmin's right, slow down!" Mariam, my second colleague said from the passenger seat.

Both Mariam and Simran worked at the salon as hair stylists. I had known them since I started working there and both of them were amazing souls.

"We're only forty minutes away. I just want to get home now so both of you shut up." Simran let out, turning the volume up, making the Bollywood music she had made us listen on the whole three hours ride, blast in the car.

Sighing, I closed my eyes and leaned back.

It was 9 in the morning and we were finally reaching home. I was more than relieved, I missed my family a lot...

However, the unknown man I had met yesterday wasn't leaving my mind. I didn't know how long I had to wait for him to reveal the names of the people in the story. I just knew that I would go crazy because of the conclusions my mind was jumping to.

My never ending problems just seemed to add up to the list...slowly but safely.

In two days, it would be 31st august. The day my sister was supposed to turn 26...

Shaking my head, I looked out at the streets we were passing and tried to focus on that instead.

"It's so strange, I've been trying to reach Sir since forever but can't get through." Mariam said suddenly, referring to Jalil.

"He couldn't attend for a reason, maybe he's busy with something personal." I said, making her shrug uncertainly.

"It's just he doesn't even reply to the messages. Maybe you should try Jasmin, he'll surely reply or answer if you call him." She wiggled her eyebrows at me, making me roll my eyes.

"Stop with that. But if you're that worried I can give it a try. Maybe-"

The sudden loud and abrupt sound from outside followed by glass shattering and breaking made me flinch.

I was in shock and didn't notice when I threw myself down, in hopes of taking cover.

Everything seemed to be happening so fast yet so slowly. It took my mind moments to realize what was actually happening.

The loud sounds of the bullets hitting our car suddenly felt very distant.

I hid my face in my hands, wanting it all to be just a bad dream. But it wasn't. I looked up and noticed Simran had been shot, blood was running down her arm.

Our car swirled a few times before it hit a tree, coming to a complete stop. I laid down in complete silence as the horn went off because of Simran's head resting against the wheel.

Suddenly, I heard firm footsteps coming toward us, making my hand reach out  to my bag, having a hard time to unzip it and pull out the weapon hiding there.

The seatbelt was suffocating me but I didn't dare to sit up. With the gun in my hand, I waited for the worst to happen.

Believing, it was the end for me...