Couple of days passed and Thursday arrived. Walid had been ignoring me all these days. He didn't even look my way neither slept in the same bed as me. Instead, he would come home late and fall asleep on the couch.

I was so sick and tired of both of us repeating the same procedure over and over again. Could we not just put our ego aside and communicate like two adults instead of being angry and ignoring each others existence?

What I had said couple days ago had affected him a lot. I understood he was angry and didn't want to talk to me. I couldn't even tell him to stop ignoring me because that's what I also did all the time. Ignore him as soon as we had a small argument.

Our whole situation felt complicated. I was so confused and didn't even know what to do anymore. I had many things in my mind. I needed to also find out if there was a connection between Walid's mother's and my sister's death.

Taking a deep breath, I left the room early in the morning after getting ready and tried to find a helper.

"Good morning. Can you take me to Asaf's room?" I asked the helper I found in a random hallway.

She quickly nodded and I followed her. She left after leaving me at his door and I didn't hesitate to knock on the door.

The door flung open and Asaf's expression changed when he saw me, like it always did. His eyebrows furrowed, his icy grey eyes squinted before he slammed the door shut on my face again.

Why were all of them so moody?

Having enough, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. He stopped walking away and turned slowly upon hearing me enter his room.

"Do you want to die?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

"You need to grow up and treat me with respect. I have no fault in whatever is going on between you and Walid." I crossed my arms.

"You have some nerve coming into my room mentioning his name! Who do you think you are? Don't forget who you're talking to." He threatened.

He did scare me a bit because I didn't even know him. I had never talked to him before and I didn't know what he was capable of. Not to forget, Walid had warned me not to associate with him but I didn't care. I had some questions and I wanted answers.

"Why do you hate me so much?" I asked the question I always thought about asking when coming face to face with him.

He took a deep breath and ignored me as he went to his dresser and started putting on his watch.

"I asked you a question."

"Get out of here before I make you." He spoke, not even looking at me.

"Do I know you from before? Have we met before?" I asked again, still standing a good distance away from him.

"No." He finally replied.

"The first time we met, when you came to the beach house...you were shocked to see me. Why did you react like that?"

"You looked like Annabelle, I got scared." He shrugged, still not turning to look at me.

I ignored the insult of him calling me a ghost and finally asked the question that had been bugging me for a long time.

"Do I remind you of someone?" My question made him stop moving.

He stood frozen for a moment. "Yes, Annabelle."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Did you know Ansara?"

All of a sudden, he turned around and strode towards me. He was fuming when he stopped in front of me.

"Why would I know your sister? I have no business with you or your family so get the f*ck out of my room." He spat, his dangerous icy eyes piercing into mine.

"I never said she was my sister..." I let out, the doubts I had increasing drastically.

He stared at me for a moment before letting out an evil chuckle. "You think you're that smart? You're married into our family why would I not know your whole family history?"

My eyes roamed around his room and locked on the white tulips put in a beautiful vase on his bedside table.

Those tulips were the ones that made me question if Ansara and Asaf knew each other. A few days ago, I had caught a helper arrive with fresh white tulips and when I had asked about them, the helper told me Asaf wanted fresh white tulips in his room every other day.

They looked exactly like the ones someone put on my sister's grave every special occasion...

"Please Asaf, if you know something about my sister's death please tell me." I begged, not having anymore patience to sit around and wait for things to unfold on itself.

"Have you had a drink or two? What the f*ck are you talking about! I'm telling you one last time, get out of here." He took a step closer, making me back away.

I noticed his anger had grown to an extent where I should just shut up and leave. I did exactly that, I walked away and heard him slam his door and lock it.

If he didn't know her, why did he get so angry?

My thoughts were interrupted when my phone rang, it was an unknown number. I picked it up without putting much thought to it but froze when I heard the person on the other line.

"JASMIN!" The man beamed loudly, making me almost go deaf.

I recognized the voice. I had listened to him telling me a story. I knew it was him.

"Who's this?" I still asked to be sure.

"Aww, don't be mean. I'm sure you remember me." As he spoke, I quickly made my way to my room and closed the door after me.

"What do you want?" I asked, feeling the stress take over me.

"And here I thought you had waited day and night for my call.." He pretended to sound hurt.

I had been waiting weeks ago, I wanted to know who the people in the story were. But with time, I had given up and tried to forget about him and his story.

"Did you attack my car that day? Did you try to kill me?" I asked, remembering the traumatizing attack that had occurred just the day after I had met him.

"I would never hurt you." His words confused me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Mikael wants you alive." I cringed at his words.

"Why did you let me go that day then? Why did you not take me to Mikael?" I hated even saying his name.

"There's no fun in that. We're gonna burn down the whole city, kill your beloved husband and his family. Then you will proudly walk back with Mikael, hand in hand."

My chest heaved up and down and I wanted to scream my lungs out from how suffocated I felt. I wanted to strangle him and Mikael for being so vile.

"Both you and Mikael can go to hell. Not even over my dead body I will go to him. I'm married to Walid, don't you get it? I'm with Walid and nothing will ever change that. You can rot in hell and don't ever call me again." I cut the call and stopped myself from throwing the phone across the room.

I tried to calm down but my panic just grew as I walked back and forth. I felt wetness over my face and didn't even know I was crying.

Taking deep breaths, I did everything in my power to calm down and not let the anxiety take over me. While doing so, I prayed to God for Walid's safety.

~

As I stepped up the left staircase in the main living room, my steps halted upon hearing Walid talk to his friends.

"I'll just take a walk around the house." He told them and I turned to see them nod as he got up from the couch and left the house.

We had just had dinner like usual and Walid still didn't look my way. Everyone had left for their room to rest and I was also on my way to do so but a thought stopped me.

I had to talk to him and apologize for my idiotic words that I had uttered that day. I had tried to talk to him for the past days but I never got the opportunity. He was either sleeping or disappeared into thin air whenever I saw him alone.

Changing my route, I hurried down the steps and quickly followed him.

I saw him striding towards the backyard and I struggled to keep up with his pace. Once he was only a few feet away from me, I slowed my pace and could finally breath properly.

As I walked behind him, I tried to find the courage and determination to actually face him. His anger was something I sometimes couldn't bear.

But I had to remind myself it was my fault indeed. I had said something terrible and I had to fix the damage.

Suddenly, he stepped out from the gates at the back, making me halt. Would he get angrier if I stepped outside too? He had said clearly I couldn't take a step out of these gates. Would the guards who were patrolling even let me out?

Taking a deep breath, I carried on walking. To my surprise, the guards didn't say anything and Walid silently kept walking.

I knew that he knew I was behind him. He always knew.

I watched as we neared the beautiful pathway that me and Walid had walked on before. Or more like, he had carried me. It was the day he had told me he would leave for a month.

My eyes landed on the bench we had sat on that day and a heart warming feeling took over me.

When I looked back up, Walid was nowhere. My breath hitched and I swung around and just like I had expected, he had been standing behind me.

"What do you want?" His cold voice made me almost cower with fear.

"Nothing-I mean, I-"

"For someone who's scared of being killed by my hands, you sure do have courage to follow me here." His stinging words made me look down at the ground.

"Walid, I'm sorry. I really don't know what I was thinking saying that. I know you'll never hurt me." I started, not daring to look up at him.

"You think as well? I didn't know you were capable of that."

I glowered at him. "At least I'm saying sorry and genuinely regret my mistakes. Unlike you who doesn't even feel any remorse calling me names and  putting me down every given opportunity."

"Are you done? Go back inside." His dark and dangerous eyes made me almost shiver.

"No I'm not done. I'm saying sorry and you're gonna have to accept my apology. You can't ignore me for the rest of our lives." I demanded, his eyes suddenly squinting at me.

"First, what makes you think you can force me to accept your apology? And second, what makes you think we're gonna stay together for the rest of our lives?"

His words felt like a slap to my face and I felt all the color drain from my face. He was already tired of me? Did he plan on divorcing me and dropping me back at my parents?

How could he say that after I committed one mistake? I compared him to Mikael and then asked him if he would ever kill me. I know it was foolish of me, but he wanted to leave me just for that?

"You don't want to be with me...?" I finally managed to let out, barely hearing my own voice. I felt the tears prickle in my eyes and I tried hard not to let them fall as I diverted my eyes from him.

"Well, I can't possibly put you in any risk. I might end up killing you someday." He shrugged nonchalantly while I had a hard time to even breath properly.

"I didn't mean that. I know you're never going to hurt-"

"It's too late now, you said it. You had that question in your mind. If you hadn't felt any sort of threat from my side, that question wouldn't even pop up in your mind." He muttered, the coldness radiating from him made me feel weak and vulnerable. "I'm not gonna repeat myself again, go back inside."

He walked past me and I hesitated but followed him again.

"So this was your plan? To come into my life, turn my whole world upside down and then just walk away after a little inconvenience? Who do you think you are?" I spat, walking beside him.

"I'm someone with many girlfriends, I don't need a dumb wife."

My blood boiled but I tried to stay calm. "Yeah, I forgot about your many girlfriends. How about you go to Linda with the long and beautiful legs and leave me the hell alone."

"You're the one following me." He pointed, looking down at me and then looking back up at the path we were walking on.

"Don't get used to it, this is the last time I ever try to fix things with you. You don't deserve me anyway. You're just a rude jerk. Don't you ever get tired of treating me like the dirt on your shoes? Or no wait, I forgot. You treat dirt with respect because it's very precious. I'm below dirt. I'm a nobody. I don't even have the audacity to be your maid. I can't even be compared to your guard dog, you respect him more than me. In that case, you're right. We shouldn't be together. I'm stupid and brainless right? You need a smart and beautiful wife by your side, which I'm not. So go back to Linda and marry her! I give you permission to get a second wife. Not even just second, while you're at it, marry Natasha as well and live for the rest of your life happily with them and spare me!"

Turning around, I proceeded to walk the opposite direction he was walking and go back into the mansion. I hadn't even taken a step when a sudden grip on my hair stopped me.

I winced when he pulled me back to face him. I didn't even try to release his iron grip on my hair because I knew it was useless.

"If you continue giving me such headache, I might actually consider marrying them both." He said, making me huff angrily.

"Consider? You've already made up your mind. I just gave you a pass!"

"You gave me a pass?" He let out a dark chuckle, like he was mocking me.

"Let go of me!" I warned. "You don't want me so why are you even bothering?"

"Did I say that?" He asked suddenly, making em confused.

"You did, looking straight into my eyes." I reminded.

"I guess I didn't mean it. Just like you didn't mean the shit you said." He shrugged, once again making my anger rise.

"What do-" I cut myself off when I realized what he meant. So he just said all that to get back at me? To set an example of how much my words hurt him even if I didn't meant them? "How can you be so mean? How can you fall so low!"

"Watch your mouth." He warned.

"Are you done?" I asked just as challenging. "Now let me go and go enjoy your walk."

"I'm not done." A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes and he leaned down. I knew exactly what he was trying to do, making me lean back from him as much as possible and turn my face away from him.

"Don't even try!" I let out, wiggling in his grip. Like always, he didn't accept defeat and held my jaw with his other hand as he left a harsh peck on my cheek.

It lasted seconds before he released his grip from me and straightened. "Now you can go."

With a flustered face, I scowled up at him, purposely wiping my face to irritate him. He warned me through his eyes but I didn't care and turned around to walk away.

"And one more thing. Pack your bag." I froze upon hearing his words and the traitorous tears made it back to my eyes. I turned around slowly and upon seeing my reaction, he quickly spoke up. "We are going somewhere tomorrow."

Relief washed over me but I didn't let it show. "Where?"

"You'll see." He replied shortly.

"I'm not going anywhere with you!" I made a decision and turned around to finally walk away.

As I made my way back to get home, I felt his presence behind me.

"I didn't ask you, just pack your damn bag." I heard the brat talking behind me but I ignored him as we reached the main doors of the house.

I stepped up the few steps and Pasha suddenly appeared in front of me. "Where's Walid-oh the-"

"He's packing his mommy bag, didn't you know he's due soon since he's acting like a moody pregnant woman?" I asked when I saw the confusion on Pasha's face.

I walked past an even more confused Pasha, ignoring the hard gaze I felt on me.

~

"Did he say where we're going?" I asked Ariana who was helping me pack a bag. I had refused to do it first but she had somehow convinced me, afraid of Walid's wrath if he found out I wasn't following his orders.

"Nope, but he's bought summer clothes so I guess it's somewhere hot." She was more excited than I was.

"I don't want the things, I'll pack my own clothes." I stubbornly stated.

"Don't say that. He asked me for help to buy all of this and that's something big coming from him. I would never imagine Walid would ever ask me for help to get a woman the best things there is on the market. These are gifts from him you can't say no to it."

My heart did a jump on its own but I didn't let it show on my face. "He can take it to his other women. I don't want it."

"Other women? Jasmin, please. His eyes are on you only, when will you realize that?" She sighed.

I made my way to my section in the closet and started looking through my summer dresses. "When he stops rubbing it on my face that he has girlfriends." I muttered.

"He's just trying to annoy you." She started but the murderous look I gave her made her change her statement. "He's an evil creature and doesn't deserve you."

"Yes, exactly. I'm just going on this trip for your sake. Or else, I wouldn't even breathe the same air as him." I informed, making her nod quickly but I saw the way she was trying to stop herself from laughing. I frowned and went back to my task. "I can't find anything to pack! Why didn't he tell me before so I could go shopping myself? Oh I forgot, I'm not allowed to step outside."

"Just take the clothes he got you, they are really beautiful and he will get really happy if you wear what he bought." She tried again.

I debated for a moment before slowly walking up to the bags. I pulled out the first dress and inspected it. He did have a good taste..

"Since I don't have anything else, I'll pack these. But I don't care about his happiness." I started putting the dresses in the empty suitcase.

"Yeah sure, I know you don't care about him." I heard Ariana utter and I was sure I heard sarcasm. "Don't forget the slides." She reminded. I scowled and pulled out the pretty shoes and tossed one after another into the bag. "Careful, that's Dior!" She winced.

"Why did he get so many? I don't need that much. Ariana you should've told him not to buy so many things. How long are we even going away for?" I asked stressfully.

"I think he said over the weekend. You'll probably be back on Monday." She replied, helping me pack the final things. "And yeah, there's a swimsuit in this one." She said and quickly put the dust bag underneath the other clothes in the bag. She looked very suspicious doing so making me confused.

"Why would I need a swimsuit? Are we going on vacation?"

"Well duh, what did you think?" She let out.

"I thought it was something work related." I stilled suddenly, remembering our conversation last week.

I had mentioned I wanted to go somewhere hot and tropical, was that why he was doing this...

My heart fluttered once again and I felt a blush creep over my face. Even in the chaos, he had still made up his mind to take me out of here for a few days. He did it for me...for my happiness.

"Save the blush for later." I heard Ariana say and I looked up before giggling and hitting her with the dress I was holding in my hands.

He was indeed a moody brat. But a brat that did actually care.

"Where is he by the way? It's getting late." I frowned, looking at the time that was past midnight.

As if reading my thought, I heard the door to our room open and I could hear from the footsteps it was him.

Ariana looked at me in awe and I rolled my eyes. "Did we forget anything?" I asked and looked through the bag.

"Nope, close it now it's done."

Nodding, I zipped it and put it down by the side. Just then, Walid stepped into the closet. I caught his eyes and immediately looked away and occupied myself with tidying up the few dresses spread everywhere.

"Walid, won't you share with us where you're going?" Ariana asked, her eyebrows raised mischievously.

"No." Was his simple reply and I heard him look through his clothes.

"At least tell Jasmin, she's curious to know." I reminded myself to kill Ariana.

"She can stay curious. Why would I care?" He spoke so nonchalantly making me almost rip the dress in my hands.

"Come on you guys, you can't possibly go on a trip while staying angry with each other. How will that work? You're supposed to leave all the negativity and have lots of fun! Or else, what's the point!" Ariana sulked.

"Be quite and get out of here. And don't run your mouth telling people, I told you no one can know." He spoke, taking his things and leaving the room.

"Why can't anyone know?" I asked Ariana after she rolled her eyes at him.

"It's for your safety. It's better that way. Anyways, I'm going to sleep. I'll see you in the morning before you leave." She promised and left after I nodded at her.

Safety...

The memory of that man calling me today appeared in my mind and I shivered. What if they tried anything? What if Mikael attacked us and Walid got hurt? Why was Walid taking that risk...

With slumped shoulders, I walked back to the room and sat down on the bed. My mind got occupied once again with all the dreadful thoughts.

I wanted to tell Walid about the man but I couldn't. I had thought about it all day and the only conclusion I came to was Walid getting angry after finding out and going out to attack both Mikael and his partner. There would be bloodshed...

Shaking my head, I pushed the disturbing thoughts away.

Maybe I should tell Walid that we shouldn't go without telling him about the unknown man. It was too risky after all.

I waited until he had showered and he stepped out of the bathroom and made his way straight to the couch before tossing himself on it.

He was still angry at me when I should've been the one angry for the trick he played on me.

Sighing, I got up and walked up to him. His eyes were set on the phone in front of him as he went through it. I couldn't help but want to inhale the aromatic scent radiating from him but I stopped myself from embarrassing myself.

I waited for him to acknowledge my presence but it was like I was just as invisible as air.

"Excuse me." I let out. His eyes finally moved from his beloved phone and he looked up at me. "You should've been the smart one here, but since you've lost your brain somewhere...I should remind you that we are in no condition to leave this town. It's a big safety risk that I'm not willing to take." I finished, crossing my arms.

He studied me for a moment before a small smile formed on his lips. "I think we should take the risk. After all, you're a witch. You got superpowers right, you'll surely use them to protect me."

"Stop calling me a witch! And go to the circus and make jokes there, I don't have time for it. I'm dead serious about cancelling the trip." I let out a heavy sigh.

"I think I know the real reason behind your fear, Jasmin." The way he spoke and the way he said my name made my knees weak.

"What?"

"You're just scared of going somewhere with me alone. You're scared of what's gonna happen when me and you are completely alone, with no one to disturb us, not one single soul." He spoke so innocently.

I didn't have to look in the mirror to see that my face was flushed red. "What nonsense are you talking about? It's nothing like that, I...I'm not scared...why would I be...who do you think you are!" I asked him for the second time of the day and I realized that was the words that left my mouth when I didn't have anything else to say.

"Are you sure Jasmin? Because it feels like you're a big coward for being afraid of such natural things." He continued to mess with me, making me open and close my mouth repeatedly, lost for words.

"You're saying all this just to make me change my mind. You think I'm stupid?" I finally said, gathering all the courage.

"Not at all." He shook his head, making me narrow my eyes at him. "Your middle name is Einstein."

"Fine, if you want to risk our lives then who am I to interfere. You make the decisions, remember? I'm just your doormat. Do as you please." Turning on my heels, I made my way back to the bed and laid down. "And don't forget to book separate rooms for us since you're sleeping on the couch already, might as well sleep in separate rooms."

"If you want me to come back to bed, just say it." He stood up suddenly, striding towards me. Panic took over me but I found the courage not to move. He had tried to show me how big of a coward I was just moments ago, if I ran away now...he would put a stamp on me.

The lights turned off and it didn't take long before I was roughly pulled back until I hit his chest. His strong arm sneaked over my waist and he held me tightly.

"Walid...what are you doing?" I tried to sound stern but my voice deceived me while my heartbeat accelerated.

"What do you mean what am I doing?" He spoke just by my ear, making me shiver and get even more nervous. "Shh and go to sleep." He said when I opened my mouth to protest.

"Fine, but I'm still angry with you." I reminded, my body finally calming down.

"Good." He replied sleepily. "Me too."

A small smile formed on my lips and it didn't take long before both of us fell asleep. Even though I tried hard to to keep myself awake and cherish the moment he was holding me in his arms so securely and perfectly that it felt like a sin to even move an inch away from him.