PROVINCE OF APULIA.
BARI, ITALY.

THE NICOLAUS, HOTEL.

Imad desperately tried to make his feet to stay rooted on the floor in the site, to help his friend look for the perfect place to set out their business -what they are there for- but he couldn't. Not after how Lateefa manage to goad him and push him into going to see Amirah. He didn't know when his feet capitulated and took him out of the site straight to hail a cab. He came with the whole team and can't exactly take the rented SUV and go back to the hotel for his own selfish reasons.

Besides, he can't tell them that he is going to see whether his personal assistant is faring well or not. That'd look suspicious to the people around them that knew about their past, he does not want that much attention. It's actually the last thing on his list, getting aired on things he is not sure himself. He won't stop blaming that stupid soft side that won't erase Amirah from their lives. He still does not love her like he did before, he is sure of that.

He made it to the hotel in a record time and quickly went to the floor he knew Amirah and her friends are in. He's made sure to know where she is just in case they need to work on something quick and it is just a floor below his and Salim's. He should've bought some eggs for her, she says it helps calm down the pain with lots of coffee too. Well, he can easily order it from room service if he gets there, he decided ruefully and continue his journey to their floor.

Just as the elevator opened right on their floor showing the rows of doors and read out room 201, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw someone opening the door and coming out of it. And that person is not Amirah!

Nazir walked out of the room adjusting his shirt, walking straight to where Imad is, in the elevator without looking up so Imad took the chance and slip out of the elevator to a small corner where he is sure Nazir won't see him. He is busy redoing the buttons of his shirt anyway, he won't notice anyone there if from what he is thinking is exactly what has happened in that room with Amirah and Nazir. Why is he thinking so bad about this?

He pushed those dark thoughts from his head, Amirah is not like that. Or is she not? She's entirely changed from the person he's known, that is the main reason behind their failed marriage so why not? He was also like that after their divorce, a fucking womanizer and a drunkard. That almost took him to the brink of losing his own shits together had it not been for the greatest aid that came to him through his older brother, Shaddad.

He cannot be sure, he does not trust her at all to even think about her being so pious anymore. If anyone knows what she's done before that failed their marriage, they'd help him pat his back and comfort him. This doubt will keep building in his chest and there is no way he does not feel that they did something. Something happened inside that room, he is feeling it in his guts but don't know what to do about it. It is so strong that it constricted his pectorals in a weird way.

Did Nazir rape his personal assistant? That won't be the fact since he did not look like he's struggled to get what he wants.

Was she acting all sick so she can shackle up with this man she's been with? He knows about Nazir Jalo's reputation with women, just didn't know he was a womanizer and that Amirah will jump right onto him because his bank account is fat as his toe. They were on a date yesterday, maybe they are taking it to the other level like those non Muslim foreigners do? You can never know with this generation, they are always up to no good. And the fact that he's been through same thing, maybe that is why he is feeling all those things.

His heart thudded loudly in his chest, the avalanche of betrayal getting influx in his chest. Does he even have that right? They are not together anymore and he's used more women than he wished to count. This should be the scores settling right? But why does it feel like she just push through a dirk in his chest and twisted it messilessly? As though she is out for his blood this time around and not his heart.

Just when he started caring? She had to back stab him like this in the most cruel way? What was he actually thinking? Trying to give someone who's betrayed him without second thought a second chance? Was he actually thinking that she's changed and mend her ways after they went their separate ways? How naive and stupid of him to think like his nineteen year old self all over again. He's been there, won't ever go back there. He won't cede to this plots of hers, it is all satanism.

With that thought and mind settled, he yawed around to leave when the elevator dinged again and in came Nazir holding three paper bags filled with what looks like fruits, eggs and coffee. He walks with purpose, long legs reaching the room immediately and use the key card in his hand to open the door effortlessly, he's done it before anyway. Imad watched from his hiding spot, mouth hanging low to the carpeted corridor.

Oh damn, it was no rape alright!

He meandered back to the elevator and straight to his suite where he made sure there is no alcohol or anything that can drag him back to his old self. At times like this, he needs Usayma more than anyone but she is not here, he needs to learn how to deal with these emotions by himself. Amirah has ruined him, it is no news to anyone but why does it always hurt time and time again? He is not even back in love with her fully like he was before but it still hurts so fucking much to think about her name.

He cannot even feel his chest anymore, it is getting constricted so he jumped off the bed and rummaged through his suitcase to get his medicines. He's been using them for three years already prescribed by his older brother, Shaddad. He hates depending on those pills for his own mind to be in track but he cannot help it. It keeps augmenting and proliferating with the mere thought of what he's seen few minutes ago in the corridor. His ex wife with another man in a secluded hotel room.

Amirah had sex with Nazir right? She's been looking for deep pockets from the looks of it. He's heard that she is financially unstable, that is all he knows and the fact that her brother in-law and her older sister are in India currently treating his cancer. He never gauged out more than that, he does not want to know more and get hurt brutally like everyday. All he wants to do now is still using the pills and be back to his normal self.

It does not look like that is going to happen anytime soon.

His chest plummeted, it had him doubling over on the bed before reaching for his phone to give his brother a call. He didn't contact any of them till date, not even after what his sister had said when she stopped by in his office. He wants to take his time and needed space which he is still bathing in, it won't last as soon as he gets in touch with them. His brother don't mind whether he contacts him or not, he hardly ever talks to anyone other than his talkative wife -Falak- that can't seem to keep to herself.

His brother picked the phone and as usual, keep mute and waited for him to talk. "I am feeling it again..." He paused with a wheeze, breathing quickly and very hard then rasped further, "My chest is tightening more than it has ever done. It hurts so much. The pills are not working now." This voice sounded so weak, so unlike his voice.

A sigh escaped his elder brother's lips, he is the only one that knows about the problem he is facing. He is a cardiologist after all.

"Didn't I tell you not to take it all the time or you'd depend on it and it'll stop it's effect?" Shaddad pinched the bridge of his nose from the other end. He hardly talks when it is not businesslike in the hospital, it takes all his energy.

Imad gritted his teeth, desperately trying to stop the pain from spreading over like it did in the past that got him hospitalized for a whole week and comatose for two days. Damn, he has suffered a lot because of Amirah but still he was trying to stick to her like a sleaze gum underneath dirty sandy shoes!

"I had to. It always pains all the time I remember. Can you suggest something stronger?" He beseeched, as if he is some drunkard or drug addict asking for stronger drugs to decompose his thoughts.

"Suggest something stronger? Are you out of your mind?" The rhetorical question is left hanging in the air, silence taking over only to be destroyed by the cacophony of Imad's breathings, trying to stop the pain from spreading throughout.

Imad squeezed his eyes shut whilst shivering in pain, not knowing what else to do. "I feel like dying, it hurts than all the other sessions I've had. What should I do?" There was this need and pain in his last question that stopped his older brother from lashing out on him.

"Just gulp down cool water for now, sit down and close your eyes. You need to focus on much more happier memories than the heart breaking ones. Because if it takes over this time around, you might not wake up from that dormant sleep. Don't take those pills ever again. Get to the hospital as soon as you come back." Shaddad smoothened the lines across his forehead, not liking the way he sounds like a therapist and not a doctor.

After the heartbreak his brother went through three years ago, he's went through so much trouble all by himself and asked for help last minute when he was about to lost it all. Not even the doctors in Chicago could help him reawaken his old self. He called him one night and explained all that has been happening to him even the reason he's let go of his wife, he was so emotional then that he ranted it all out to him but ask him to keep it a secret.

It is hard keeping that promise though, his wife can be very persistent and if she has a whiff that he knows about it and didn't tell her, hell will break loose, he is sure of that. But since he does not talk unnecessarily, he was able to keep it just for the sake of it. Not sure until when she will get it out of him though. She is his weakness!

"Thanks, bro. I'll be there as soon as I come back. Can you please pass my regards to mom and dad?" The request wasn't answered but he is sure his brother will send them a message just because he does not want to talk. Yes, that is how quite the man it.

Imad did as he was told, tried brushing all memories of Amirah like he'd done before to wipe her existence from his life. It worked back then but now, he could only view Nazir leaving her room adjusting his freaking shirt!

Why was he there with his non-mahram in the same room when no one is around anyway? Isn't he a Muslim? He knows she is one too, so why cross that line and jump into her room when she is that vulnerable? God, it is so hard keeping that picture off his head, that incestuous photo that could quell the heart. He quaffed water, cold one too.

-*-

Amirah groaned, not liking the disturbance that came from the door, she just manage to get herself to sleep only for those girls to come back. Why didn't they take the key card with them since she is already inside the room?

She groggily made it to the door, tightly securing the robe around her and the cap placed on her head by Lateefa before they left. She opened the latch and matched back into the room without waiting to see who was at the door. Her thoughts, Lateefa and Kamilah are already back from the site and they've spent more hours than she felt sleeping. Had she slept that long? She could swear it was just an hour ago that she lied down on the bed.

"Uh, Amirah?" She jumped on her feet, almost losing her balance but got it back at the last minute. Did she just hear a masculine voice instead of Lateefa's bratty one or Kamilah's mature one?

Slowly, she meandered around to see Nazir standing by the door, he didn't walk in. Her eyes widened, blinking rapidly to make sure she is not seeing things just after having one date with him. She is sure she didn't like him enough to think about him talk less of seeing him around her. He is ubiquitous and she is not in love with him. Which means, he is there in front of their door and she is only exhibiting a robe!

"Excuse me." She ran inside the room and took the hijab Kamilah used to pray Fajr before they left and wore it quickly.

Nazir looks guilty, his eyes falling down on the floor as if she is still wearing a robe and not hijab, she almost rolled her eyes. She is not sure whether he lowered his gaze earlier while she was wearing only the robe. God, she never expected to see him standing there all tall and mighty.

"I'm sorry for coming unexpected. Just heard you were sick from your friend."

She scrunched her brows in confusion. "They told you I was sick?"

"No, I overheard them talking about it before they left for the site and thought to come keep you company."

She felt the need to turn him down immediately so she can go back to sleep and change the heating pad cooling down. "Oh, but I'm fine so you can go with them."

"You don't look good. At least get some rest while I watch over you, don't have any problem. I hope I'm not intruding?"

Amirah almost sighed in annoyance, why does he care so much? They just met few days ago and started talking less than twenty four hours ago. She forced a smile, not wanting to become a bitch or her inner Jedi to play fandango.

"Oh, alright. I'm really sleepy so you can occupy yourself with the television and the juice inside the fridge with maybe leftover pizza the girls left." Amirah yawned and made her way inside the room locking it behind her.

What? You cannot be too sure of strangers nowadays. She is just being cautious, too many horrendous news she's heard and seen to let her life play out like that. Not that Nazir looks anywhere near those type of people but looks could deceive too. Hers deceived more people than she can count too, she knows that very well.

But she didn't know another man got the wrong idea of seeing that man inside her hotel room. Right, she was really stupid allowing a man inside the suite while she is alone and vulnerable. She is too exhausted to give a damn or give two flying freaks, her mentality wasn't there. Not like the man easing his broken heart in a suite above hers.