~~~~~Walid~~~~~

Picking up my prayer beads from the dresser, I turned around and went up to the bed. I stood by the bed a few minutes, watching Jasmin sleep. The sun was falling on her face, making it glow even more than it usually did. I would never get enough of her.

I left the room and looked for Ariana. I found her in the terrace with Rashid. Upon noticing me, both of them jolted away from each other.

"I was just..." Rashid trailed off, scratching the back of his head when I approached them.

"You were just what?" I asked, purposely disturbing him.

Even though the two of them were engaged, Rashid held his distance from her. The reason to that was obviously me. He respected me enough to not get close to her before their wedding. And I respected him for that because I didn't want him to cling to her.

However, them meeting now and then sometimes didn't bother me. I trusted both of them.

"I'll be outside." Rashid said, running a hand through his hair before quickly disappearing from my sight.

I looked at Ariana who's eyes were glued to the floor in front of her. I handed her Jasmin's phone and when we were done talking, I left the house. Pasha, Isak and Rashid were already standing by my car.

"Did he arrive?" I asked, approaching them.

"Yes, we emptied the hammam and took him there." Isak replied. "But, another thing. We found this with Jalil. Maybe you'd want to look into it." He held out a ring in front of me.

Frowning, I took it and pushed it into my pocket before getting in the car. Pasha joined me and I drove towards the bazaar with Rashid and Isak following behind.

"The news hasn't reached Asaf, has it?" I asked, glancing at Pasha who was busy cleaning his revolver.

"Not yet, hopefully it'll stay like that until Kamran is out of here."

"It has to." I took a left and entered the street leading to the bazaar.

"All these years and we still don't know why Asaf is after Kamran's life. What could they possibly be fighting about?" Pasha's eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.

"Doesn't matter. I need Kamran alive. I wouldn't give a f*ck what Asaf wants and why." I said, a little bit of lies hiding in my words. I needed Kamran alive...for now.

Stopping the car a bit away from the hammam, I stepped down and looked around. Isak and Rashid arrived as well and we made our way towards the hammam.

The few residents of the area stopped what they were doing upon noticing us and they started shouting their greetings. I nodded at them in return.

Another man was sitting on the side, playing the instrument tanbur in hopes of earning some money. "Do you want to earn a good tip? Let's go we're going to the hammam!" Pasha pulled the man with him.

We entered the first room and I looked at the weapons that Kamran and his men had handed over.

I nodded at the guys and soon enough we pulled out all our weapons as well. Everyone stilled upon noticing Pasha pull out his shoes to reveal two pocket knives hiding there.

"What? A man can get kidnapped! They could come handy then." He shrugged when he noticed our looks.

Sometimes I wondered why he was my right hand but then again, his sharp mind could cover for the dim-witted personality of his.

"Of course. Only a dumb man would want to kidnap you and not search you for weapons. Takes one to know one." Isak winked at him.

I took off my clothes and wrapped the bath towel around my waist. The guys did the same and we entered the hammam. The steam hit my face as I looked around.

"Aydin." Kamran acknowledged, exiting from the shower room and approaching me.

"Welcome, Kamran Khan." I shook his hand that he forwarded, our eyes locked and we tried to read each other's faces for a hidden motive. "Hope you didn't have a trouble meeting up with me so...discreetly. We just have to be careful nowadays, there's not much loyalty left in the world."

"You said that right. Everyone is trying to fix a future for themselves." He nodded. I stared at him blankly before a smile formed on my lips, knowing well where this meeting would take us. "Rashid, Isak, Pasha." Kamran nodded, making the guys nod back at him.

We took a seat on the side, just by the marble basins on the floor. Rashid, Isak and Pasha went to the basins across from us and started cracking jokes with each other, their laughter echoing in the hammam. Kamran's men stood silently by the side, not moving.

"You guys never fail to surprise me. Between all the bloodshed, you always find a way to let loose and enjoy." Kamran stated.

The musician started playing the tanbur, the  sound of it echoing in the room.

"We have to, Kamran Khan. If there's one thing we've learnt from the bloodshed....it's to enjoy every second of it." I turned to look at him.

"That's an interesting ideology. I dream to follow it one day, preferably the day your brother stops aiming at me every chance he gets." His words made me lean back and turn on the water to fill the basin.

"He will cause you no harm." I informed, picking up enough water in the plastic container before holding it out for him. He took the container from me and held his gaze on me for a while before pouring the water over his head.

"And the proof to that is?" He raised his eyebrow. "That's what I thought, you can't guarantee my life. Where as, Mikael can. Me shaking hands with him was more than just beneficial for me."

"I could've supported you better than Mikael." I declared, pouring water over my head to ease the effect of the steam.

"You couldn't. I needed someone to shake hands with so I could form a stronger state. I have many threats to my life. Mikael came just in time and forwarded his support. Do you really think it would work out if I sat at your table? With Asaf's shadow over me all the time?" I stared at him blankly but I knew his words held the truth.

Asaf had ruined everything for us...like always.

"So, you chose to eat from Mikael's table?"

"Yes, I did. You wanted to meet me and I came here one last time for old times sake." His words made me nod.

"I see, thank you for the respect. If you could do one last favor for old times sake..." I trailed off.

"Tell me." He motioned for me to go ahead.

"I just want to know who your new partner is, clearly there's Mikael. But the other one, the one no one knows about." I started, making him smile.

"That's a dangerous favor you're asking for." He paused. "But, for old times sake." He added, giving me a nod. "Like you mentioned, no one knows about him...not even me to be honest. His name's Jibril and he's been a partner of Mikael since many years back. There's not much more to it."

Jibril...so that was the name behind the anonymous man.

"That's all I wanted to know." I forced a smile, turning to the man who was holding out a tray of fruits for us. I motioned for him to give it to Kamran and looked at Isak who poured cold water over Pasha's head.

If only I could soak away all the dirt entering Rosew that easily...

~

I looked around the neighborhood, feeling my chest tighten for an unknown reason. The time I had spent here, staying as Jasmin's neighbor was unmatched.

I didn't realize how much I enjoyed this neighborhood until now. It gave me the peaceful and warm feeling I couldn't find in that big mansion I called home.

I had found all the blessings in the house I was standing in front of. All thanks to Jasmin of course.

"Walid." Ameer stepped out, approaching me. We greeted each other and he lead me inside. I informed him about the situation with Mikael and I could see the stress forming on his face. "How should we protect Jasmin?" He asked, running a hand over his face.

"There's not much more we can do. She's safe at my house. I'll take care of the rest." I announced.

We talked and I enlightened him a bit more about the situation. After some time, I left when we were done talking.

Sammy suddenly appeared in front of me when I closed the door behind me. He was holding a ball against his waist and he looked up at me with narrowed eyes.

"I have been waiting for you." He said, trying to sound scary.

"Why?" I asked, holding back my smile at his failed attempt of trying to intimidate me.

"My sister is missing since two days and last time I saw her, you forced her with you in your car. I'm willing to pay the ransom, let her go." His eyes narrowed even more if possible.

"Ransom?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes, ransom. Isn't that what you came to talk to my dad about? The ransom? You kidnapped my sister." He glared at me.

"How much are you willing to pay?" I asked, crossing my arms and looking down at his tiny form.

He thought about it for a second before reaching his free hand into his pocket. He pulled out a handful of small marbles and held them out for me. "You can exchange these with ten dark blue ones. The dark blue ones are worth more." He tried to reason.

If only his sister found out her brother was trying to exchange her with a few pieces of glass marble balls...she would pull him by his ear like I had seen her do many times before.

"I'll pass." I purposely said.

"Really, is this how you want it to be?" His tiny eyebrows raised. He nodded to himself and looked around. "Boys!" He shouted, making five other kids his age appear from their supposed to be hiding spots. I had noticed them hiding as soon as I had stepped out of the house. They all circled around me, trying to scare me. "You're not the only one with the gang. Hand over my sister, now."

"Your sister is at home." I told him.

"She's not. This is her home and she's not here." He frowned.

"Yeah but she's got another home too. You can come and visit her whenever you want. In fact, you can bring these dons with you. My brother, Alauddin plays football too. He's the best player in his team. You can play with him at our house, you'll learn a lot of skills from him." His narrowed eyes softened, my offer interesting him.

If there was one thing I knew about the little guy was his obsession with football.

"Hmm, if you insist." He nodded before turning to his friends. "We'll go visit my sister tomorrow. Be ready....and prepared. Maybe it's a trap." He tried to whisper the last part but I heard him.

I couldn't stop my smile as I looked at the dons in front of me. Childhood was definitely something a grown man missed sometimes.

"I'll send someone tomorrow to pick you up." I said, suddenly feeling someone's eyes on me. I tried to discretely see who was watching me from the house beside.

"Sammy, why are you blocking his way?" I heard Jasmin's mother scold and I turned back around to see her make her way towards us. Sammy and his gang ran away to the backyard. "They didn't disturb you, did they?" She asked, stopping in front of me.

I stood still and watched her. It was kind of the first time she had spoken normally with me, which was why I was taken aback. "No, they didn't." I said when I came back to my sense. "Although, I promised him to take him to his sister tomorrow. If you don't mind."

"That's not a problem." She nodded. I was still surprised and moved to leave but she stopped me. "Ameer told me everythingI...I just want to say thank you for saving my daughter from that animal." That explained her sudden change of behavior.

"I don't know what Mr Ameer told you, but I married your daughter for my selfish reasons. Mikael was part of that reason but definitely not the main reason. So, you can continue hating me." I informed, not wanting her to think of me as a hero who had saved her daughter. I was far from a hero.

If Ameer had suggested our marriage in order to save Jasmin, I had went on with it because I had wanted to.

Yes I had wanted to save her, but only because I couldn't even imagine Mikael putting his disgusting eyes on her. And that was definitely for my selfish reasons of wanting her to myself.

"I don't hate you, I never hated you." She said, her eyes falling to the ground. "Fourteen years ago, the day Alav attacked us...made me loose my oldest son. Jasmin doesn't know about it, I never told her she had an older brother. I've buried the pain in my heart for the past fourteen years. The way I treated you, was because of my love for Jasmin. I guess, you could say I became evil while trying to protect my only daughter and son left after loosing two of them already. Now, when I heard that Mikael is the leader of the city that took my son away from me, and there was a contract that said him and Jasmin will have to get married....I feel relieved. Relieved for whatever you did for my daughter. I couldn't even imagine what would have happened if an animal like him had taken Jasmin from me. I would've had no reason to live then..."

The woman standing in front of me was strong indeed. She didn't even shed a tear while telling me all this. I wouldn't understand how it felt for a mother to loose her children, I could only imagine.

"I'm sorry for your loss. God tests us in many ways. I'll protect your daughter with my life and whatever happened fourteen years ago, won't repeat itself." I said, even more determined to protect my city now.

I wasn't the only one who had lost my sister that day, Jasmin had lost a brother she didn't even know about. And just like me and Jasmin, many others had lost their loved ones that day.

But this time, it would be different. I would be ready for Mikael...

~~~~~Jasmin~~~~~

The strong sun on my face made me frown. I got up and looked around the bright room drowsily. I noticed Walid was nowhere and turned to look at the time.

It was 9 in the morning...

Sighing, I pulled up my legs and wrapped my arms around them before leaning down. I had managed to put aside my emotions last night and fallen asleep. I had sensed Walid being very disturbed and I let him sleep without trying to explain myself.

Not that I could explain myself. No explanation could justify what I had done. I had jumped to conclusions without even bothering to ask anything. I had made assumptions about something so disturbing...

It was true that Walid was hiding something from me. He wasn't answering my questions regarding our marriage. I had trouble trusting him fully. But that still didn't give me the right to make stupid assumptions just because I had found a photograph in his room.

Now that I thought about it, it sounded so silly. I had found a photograph in his room and assumed he had something to do with my dead sister.

That was very troubling but another thing that broke my heart was me finding out he had lost his mother and sister. How did I not know about it? Yesterday, Ma had mentioned someone named Zarina being my mother-in-law...

A thought hit me and I realized how stupid I had been. She was talking about Asaf's mother, as in Walid's step mother. That must've been Zarina.

Suddenly, the image of Asaf yesterday sitting in the terrace with a cake in front of him appeared in my mind. I decided to not think much of it. I had already done enough damage and jumped to conclusions. I couldn't do the same with Asaf. I didn't even know why I was so paranoid about everyone knowing my dead sister.

It was decided. No more associating my sister with my husband or in-laws and no more doubts!

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. I got down from the bed and went to open it. "Good morning!" Ariana stood there with a tray in her hands.

"Good morning. Why are you in such good mood?" I smiled as I let her in.

"Rashid is back." Asiya said suddenly, appearing at the doorway with another tray. "Poor man was gone for a week and this love struck teenager is acting like he's been away for a year."

I couldn't help but chuckle while Ariana glared at her sister. I had heard a while ago that Ariana and Rashid were engaged but sometimes it left my mind completely...

"Shut up." Ariana said to Asiya before looking at me. "Jasmin, I thought all three of us could have breakfast together. I hope you don't mind. We can sit outside, it's such beautiful weather."

"Of course, why would I mind. You guys go ahead I'll just wash my face." They nodded and went to the terrace while I went to wash my face. I joined them when I was done and sat around the table.

Ariana was right, it was beautiful weather. The kind of weather where the sun was shining and birds were chirping, bringing peace to ones soul.

However, peace was something I didn't have...at least not until I had talked to Walid about what had happened.

"Walid told me to tell you to be ready at around twelve. He's gonna come home for lunch and then take you with him to the bazaar." Ariana said bluntly, her words surprising me.

"What? Why?" I asked confused.

I had thought he was so disappointed in me he wouldn't even want to look at my face. But here he was taking me out with him...

"What do you mean why? Aren't you happy you can leave the house for a few hours at least." Asiya said while pouring tea for us. 

"I am...but why all of a sudden?" My eyes landed on the cigars lined up in front of me. I stared at them for a moment before looking back up at the sisters who were seated across from me.

"I told you, Walid was just being paranoid because you were attacked. Did you really think he would lock you up here forever? He's decided to take you to the bazaar with him probably because it's safe there. But still, it's a progress. Soon, you'll probably be allowed to go anywhere." Ariana explained.

The bazaar was their family base anyway. People usually called it the Aydin's bazaar. Walid would obviously think it was safe for me to go there. But still, it made me slightly happy that he was trying at least.

"And after yesterday, the way you stopped eating and your tears that weren't stopping, he had to do something about it." Asiya added.

"About that...I'm sorry for putting you two through hell yesterday. I've been nothing but a disaster." I apologized, leaving out the reason to my tears.

The two sisters had been with me almost all day yesterday while I had cried like a baby. They had asked me many times what the problem was but I had ignored them. They had taken care of me like their own sister and I would never forget that.

"Don't say that. I can't even imagine what you're going through. What Walid did was wrong, he forced you into a marriage. Realistically speaking, that's more than just wrong." Ariana paused, her eyes piercing into mine. "And the fact that he did it for the reasons he did it for, makes it worse. I would understand if it was between life and death. But it wasn't-"

"The reasons?" I interrupted before she could finish. I could clearly see she knew something. "Stop giving me that look and tell me, why did he do it?" I asked, feeling my heart racing. "He keeps telling me it's because of Mikael...to save me from him. But I know there's more to it."

Ariana sighed. "I thought you knew by now. I mean, isn't it obvious?" She asked and I shook my head. "He married you because he wanted you. There were many other ways he could save you, but he wanted you that's why he married you, simple as that. There are many other women he comes across and helps from trouble all the time. If he was to marry every woman he helped, he would have more than a thousand wives now."

I let the information sink in and realized she was right. I had thought about that possibility myself at some point. But the way he had treated me when we first got married didn't let me believe in it. The reason to that was obviously me not knowing or understanding Walid. I still didn't know him fully, but at least now I knew that his way of showing he cared was completely different than others.

Just weeks ago I had thought I was the burden on him and he had been forced to marry me. Then, I started making the assumptions about my sister and him. I started to believe he had married me just because I looked like my sister and he wanted me just for that reason.

But now, it made more sense. Not to forget, he did mention he had seen me two years ago. That explained the way he was looking at me the first time I saw him...and then the way he just decided our marriage a month after that.

I was the one he wanted...

"You're blushing!" Ariana interrupted.

"I'm not!" I defended and straightened up while Asiya chuckled. "Let's eat." I suggested, changing the topic.

Ariana stared at me for a moment before shaking her head and picking up her drink. I understood fully why she was thinking I was crazy. But she didn't know what I had been thinking the last few days...

I wasn't romanticizing how Walid married me. It was just that finding out that he married me for me and not because I looked like my dead sister sounded much better.

However, no matter what reason....it was too late now anyways. I couldn't imagine my future without him...

~

I looked at myself in the mirror and put on the mascara and blush I had gotten from Ariana. I was even wearing her dress since I didn't have any of my clothes here.

Earlier when I had breakfast with the two sisters, Ariana had handed me my phone. Walid had given it to her and asked her to deliver it to me.

After breakfast, I called my mother and talked to her. She seemed pretty calm which relieved me. I didn't get to talk to my father. Even though I knew about the main reason about my marriage, I was still suspicious about him.

My father was a doctor and he had hired goons to follow me as guards. That didn't make sense. And the way he had just went on with Walid marrying me, I should've had known from the start that something was not right. Walid had told me back at the beach house that my father had nothing to do with our marriage, but I started to doubt it now.

After taking to my mother, I called my friends and they had been worried for me. Thankfully, they calmed down upon hearing I was okay.

Pushing aside the thoughts, I left the room. I found my way to the stairs and as I made my way down the stairs, I looked at the couch area where people were seated.

Even from the distance I recognized one of the girls as Natasha, the girl I had seen at the beach before Walid had been shot. She looked up at the stairs and her eyes landed on me.

"Jasmin's here!" Ariana let out happily and stood up from her seat on the couch before walking up to me. I smiled at her as she lead me to where the women were seated. "Let me introduce you to Asaf's mother." Ariana almost whispered.

We stopped in front of them and the two women raised to their feet. They were looking at me from top to toe and I felt thankful to Ariana for giving me one of her prettiest summer dress because she had wanted me to look 'special' when going with Walid...

The first person Ariana introduced me to was Zarina. It was the woman I had seen looking at me with a blank face when I had first arrived. Zarina stared at me and greeted me from afar, not bothering to crush me in a hug like Ma or aunt Sofia had done.

"It's nice to finally meet you. I wish you both a happily married life. If you need anything, I'm here." She half-smiled after the introduction and excused herself. I watched as she disappeared out of my sight before looking at the second woman.

"And this is aunt Zarina's sister, Nafesa. She's staying with us over the summer. Although summer is technically over..." Ariana trailed off.

"You don't miss out on a chance Ariana, do you?" Nafesa huffed, making Ariana give her a fake smile. It was clear that the two of them weren't on good terms. "At least don't do it in front of the new bride." She added and walked up to me. "You're just as beautiful as I had heard. Welcome to the family. If you ever need anything, I'm always here."

Ariana scoffed at her words while the woman in front of me smiled before disappearing to where her sister had went earlier.

"I'm Natasha, we've already met. You do remember, don't you?" Natasha stopped in front of me.

"Of course I remember." I smiled, taking in her brown eyes and curly brown hair. "I hope you got your answer now." I referred to her asking me who I was that day.

"Yes, I did. I'm very surprised though. I've been wondering for the past two days who Jasmin could be and it turned out to be you. The world is so small, isn't it?" She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Yes, it is." I nodded. I didn't know what to think of the girl in front of me. She seemed friendly but not at the same time.

"I'll see you at lunch then." She smiled and left, leaving me and Ariana alone.

"Is that your cousin?" I asked Ariana, making her quickly shake her head.

"It's Nafesa's daughter." She informed.

"But I met her a few weeks ago and she said her name's Natasha Aydin." I recalled.

"What? That's crazy. She's definitely not a Aydin." Ariana muttered. "Leave her, let's go it's time for lunch. Everyone must be waiting. You know, when Walid's father is here, we have at least one meal together. It's usually dinner at 6. All the men come home and we all eat together and then the men go back out to what they were doing." Ariana informed as she lead me to the dining room.

We entered the big dinning room, making my heart sink with nervousness. There was a long table in the middle and Ma, Sofia, Zarina, Nafesa, Natasha, Alauddin and Asiya were already seated around it.

I would never get used to the big family...

"Welcome, Jessy." Alauddin suddenly said when I took a seat beside Asiya. Ariana took a seat beside Alauddin who was seated across from us.

He smirked at me when I restrained myself from telling him my name was Jasmin not Jessy. I faked a smile at him, making his smirk grow.

My eyes landed on Natasha who was seated on the other side of Alauddin. She was already staring at me.

Everyone started chatting with each other while we waited for Walid to arrive. I turned to Asiya. "What's her problem?" I asked, motioning slyly towards Natasha who was still staring at me.

Asiya smiled nervously, fiddling with her fingers. "Don't mind her, she has a habit of staring." She tried to lie.

I let it slide and didn't think much of it. Walid suddenly arrived making my heart do a flip as soon as his eyes met mine. Like always, he looked dashing in his black attire.

I noticed Rashid beside him who then went over to the other side of the table to greet his mother-in-law and the others. I didn't look away from Walid until he took a seat beside me.

"Walid, it's so good to see you around the table after such long time." Natasha suddenly said while everyone else was busy talking among themselves.

My eyes were glued on Walid and he just nodded at her before looking at me. His lip twitched and a faint smirk formed on his lips when he noticed my expression.

I quickly composed myself and cleared my throat, "What do you want to eat?" I asked him, uncertainly looking up at him. I still didn't know if he was mad at me or not...

"Are you on the menu?"

His question made me almost drop the glass I was holding but I quickly clenched my fingers around it. I felt my face heat up and I looked away from him. Fortunately, no one seemed to have heard him because everyone was talking.

To distract myself, I quickly put some fried flatbread stuffed with mashed potatoes on his plate. It was an afghan dish called bolani and I knew he liked it because I remembered he had finished all of it the day I had served it for him in my backyard.

When I was done, I didn't even get the chance to breath before he did the same with my plate. My eyes widened when he kept filling up my plate.

"Stop it. It will go to waste, I won't be able to eat all of this." I almost whispered, not wanting anyone to hear me.

"Your fault for not eating yesterday. Next time you stop eating, I'll make you eat triple as much. Understood?" He raised his eyebrow at me, finishing filling my plate.

I narrowed my eyes at him and he motioned for me to start eating. Giving up, I started eating. Just then, my eyes landed on Natasha.

She was staring at us...

I looked back up at Walid and he was busy talking to Rashid who was seated on his other side.

Ignoring her, I started eating the food in front of me while chatting with Asiya. I couldn't help but feel thankful for her and her sister. If it weren't for them, I didn't know how I would survive this. They made me feel a part of the family just in two days.

Suddenly, as Asiya was telling me about her wanting to study and become a dental surgeon, I felt something on my thigh.

I slyly looked down and saw Walid's hand casually resting on my thigh. The gesture made my heart almost stop beating. My eyes traveled up to him and he was leaning back in his seat, busy talking to Rashid. It made me realize he had subconsciously done the act.

He didn't even know that such small subconscious act of his made a whole thunder build inside my heart...

Trying to ignore it, I restarted my conversation with Asiya and leaned back when I was done eating. "What did I tell you about finishing the food?" Walid's low voice was heard a bit too close to me.

His hand disappeared from my thigh and instead he lifted it up to rest it behind me on the head of my chair as he leaned down.

"I can't eat anymore." I almost pleaded, looking up at him only to notice how close our faces were to each other.

"Fine, I'll let it go this time." He announced.

I couldn't help but smile as I looked up at him, making him raise his eyebrows and shake his head slightly in a way to ask me why I was smiling.

"Nothing." I shrugged, not being able to stop my smile. I myself didn't know the reason behind my smile.

He stared at me for a moment, amusement lingering in his eyes before swirling his prayer beads in the air and standing up. "Let's go." He said so only I could hear. I stood up to follow him. "Alauddin, I'll be at the bazaar. If there's anything, call me."

Alauddin nodded and everyone suddenly looked at me when I proceeded to follow Walid and Rashid who had already walked a good distance away from the table.

"Bride, where are you going?" Aunt Sofia asked suddenly.

I stopped and turned to her. "To the bazaar?" I said more like a question than answer.

Nafesa suddenly snickered, looking at me with pity. "There should be a limit to ignorance. What makes you think you can go there? Walid clearly told everyone you can't leave the house." She spoke.

I suddenly understood why Ariana wasn't a fan of this woman...

"Jasmin." Walid suddenly shouted from across the room for me to hurry, oblivious to Nafesa's words.

"I'm going with Walid. If you'll excuse me, I don't want to keep him waiting." I smiled sweetly, making the smug look drop from her face.

Turning on my heels, I left the dining room and briskly walked outside. Walid was waiting by his car, talking on the phone. As I made my way towards him, I almost bumped into a man.

"Sorry!" I said, taking a step back.

The man who was almost the same height as me looked up and froze when his eyes landed on me. I was about to walk past him but stopped when I noticed the way he was looking at me.

His narrow eyes were wide open and his chubby cheeks had lost it's color. His face was clean shaved and he was wearing a black suit with his belly peeking through.

"Y-y-you." He stuttered suddenly, his face turning paler than before.

I raised my eyebrow at him in confusion. "Do I know you?" I asked, not remembering knowing or seeing him before. "Why are you looking at me like you've seen a ghost?" I couldn't help but smile as I questioned.

"Russell, I would be very thankful if you'd please make way for my wife. It would save me the trouble of coming over there and smashing that big head of yours." Walid suddenly interrupted.

"H-his wife?" The man continued, not looking back at Walid.

I looked at the weird man one last time before shrugging and walking past him. I approached Walid and stopped in front of him.

I just hoped I didn't offend anyone back at the dining table. But Nafesa had been the one to try and mess with me. I had been kind enough to respect her age and not make a fuss about her openly calling me ignorant.

I pushed away the thoughts. I had more important things to focus on, she was just a guest in the house who would leave soon anyways.

"Did anything happen at that fashion week? Anything odd?" Walid asked suddenly.

I stopped my hands from shaking as I got a flashback of the man with sunglasses. The story he had told...

"No." I shook my head.

"Are you sure? Was there no one named Kian that approached you?" He asked, making me still with shock.

"How did you-" I stopped myself from questioning. Of course, he always knew everything. Not to forget, my father's men that had followed me. "There was, he offered me a modeling job and I obviously refused." I said, knowing well he already knew about it so there was no point in lying.

But if he knew about that, how did he not know about the man with the sunglasses? Something wasn't right here...

He nodded before pulling out a ring. My eyes widened and just as I was about to smile in happiness, he spoke up. "Do you recognize this ring?"

Of course....why would he get me a ring? He had already married me. Why would he bother getting me a ring?

I tried to hide my disappointment and took the ring from him. I inspected it and knew it looked familiar. Suddenly, my eyebrows furrowed when I remembered where I had seen it thanks to the simple and unique color of the ring.

"Yes. I had seen it at the shop weeks ago. That day I....I got into uncle Razza's car and went to the mall. I even met Jalil in that shop when I was looking through the rings. I liked this ring and..." I trailed off when I realized what I said. "Where did you get this ring from?" I asked suspiciously.

I was so confused at the moment...

"You don't worry about that." Walid said, a dark emotion taking over his eyes as he snatched the ring from me. He let out an audible sigh and the emotion disappeared from his eyes as he put the ring back in his pocket.

I wanted to ask him what was going on but decided against it.

"So, what are we waiting for?" I asked when he crossed his arms and leaned against his car.

"Rashid, he went to pick up something I forgot." He informed and I nodded. Suddenly, his eyes glued on my face and I fiddled with my fingers nervously.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, pulling my hair behind my ear.

"You'll start blushing if I tell you."

His words made my face heat up anyways and I looked away, feeling shy all of a sudden.

Fortunately, Rashid arrived and Walid stopped looking at me in a way that could make my body start shaking.

Walid opened the door for me and I silently got inside, not missing the way he inhaled the scent of my hair as I passed him...