Haris' point of view.

A silence filled the dining room when she marched off, an uncomfortable one. My mother had stormed after her. Emiliana was unique, she dared to challenge me even though I intimidated her. Her energy brought life to our lifeless surroundings, she made the place feel alive. She was the only one who actually dared to involve herself in a situation she had nothing to do with, I despised that side of her. I couldn't allow her to affect my every day life that much. Her departure was for the best, her best and even mine. If I kept her close to me I would get too addicted to her energy and I wouldn't be able to let go. I didn't want that, ever. I had promised myself to stay away from love. No love for me.

The warm embrace we shared earlier was still glued to my mind and even to my heart. I usually don't hug, but she felt vulnerable and petrified - that in combination with my good mood resulted in an exception. After the phone call my mood changed drastically, once again. I had to force myself to stop thinking about the little moment we had, it was nothing but a friendly hug and I had to ignore it. My brother Amar brought me back to reality when he broke the heavy silence.

"Anessa, tell me how you received that bruise on your arm" Amar spoke with a hint of firmness. I turned to him with pure shock written across my features. Amar was the only calm person in our family, he was very gentle and kind. Of course, he would question me and disagree at times but he had never questioned Anessa before.

"Uhm, what do you mean?" she stuttered as her gaze fell onto the table.

"You heard me" he shot back, his voice was stern. His eyes were slowly turning darker, he clenched his jaw.

"Uhm, she grabbed my arm" she replied, her voice wasn't as stable as it was previously.

"Why did she grab your arm?" he continued his questioning.

"Because she's mental!" she screeched as she slammed her fist against the hard wood. I shot up from the chair to make a statement.

"Don't you dare slam your fist against this table" I lectured as I stood up. I couldn't tolerate a disrespectful behaviour directed to my brother in my household.

"You're a sad excuse of a woman, Anessa. Because of your lying, Emiliana just lost her job, congratulations" Amar said with an expression of disgust appearing on his face "when your own husband laid his hand on you she came to save you from the beating" he angrily added. The moments flashed back in my mind, Emiliana had tried to save Anessa from being beaten, it takes a lot of courage to stand up for someone else. Especially a man who is about to loose his mind.

"Dino, take her away from this table. I can't stand to see her right now" I demanded and my brother exhaled loudly. Dino tugged at his golden chain as he tried to calm himself down, after a few moments he harshly grabbed her arm and dragged her to their bedroom.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" Amar angrily spoke to me.

"Shut your mouth, before I shut it for you" I threatened as I took a step towards him.

"You fucking humiliated her in front of everyone and she was innocent" he yelled at me, his face was turning red. He was furious.

"I don't care what a maid has to say" I yelled back as I hardheadedly attempted to convince myself that I didn't give a fuck about Emiliana.

"You are out of your mind. You do care about Emiliana, that's the problem Haris. She has courage and is a hell of a woman" Amar angrily ranted, his eyes borred into mine. He clenched his jaw as he kept staring at me.

"Why didn't you defend her then, if you care so much?" I questioned as I took a step back, I crossed my arms as I was waiting for his response.

"I- I don't know" he lowered his head in shame as I shook mine.

"That's what I thought" I muttered as I strode past him.

The following days I made myself busy with work, I wasn't willing to allow the emptiness take advantage of me. I shut off any human feelings during the day which eventually caught up with before I went to bed. The environment in the house had turned lifeless again and I convinced myself that I didn't mind. Dining with the family was back to being stiff, we barely uttered a word if it wasn't about work. I sighed loudly as I approached the mansion in my SUV, I was aware of what was awaiting - a deep silence. As I entered the household I was met by my mother, she was formally dressed as always.

"Good evening, son" she greeted me as she pulled me in for a hug.

"Good evening" I casually replied back, as I was about to go upstairs her voice prevented me from doing so.

"How about we dine in town tonight?"

"Sure" I shortly replied as I made my way upstairs, to be honest I didn't care at all.

"Do you have a restaurant in mind?" she continued asking

"No, mother. You can ask your daughter in law, she has all the time in the world to find a decent restaurant suited for us" I replied rather harshly, why the hell did she ask me to mention a restaurant when she had Anessa?

"She's not going" my mother dryly replied

"Really?" I sarcastically asked "does her arm still hurt?" I added trough gritted teeth. I was a professional at triggering myself in order to piss myself off. For a second my mind drifted off to Emiliana as I understood how unfair it had all turned out. I was definitely responsible for Emiliana's departure, however it was for the better.

"Haris" my mother warned, I shook my head and lastly went upstairs as I noticed that the conversation was about to turn into something irrelevant.

Me and my entourage, also known as my family entered the restaurant with class. The men were wearing suits, as usually. We brought security, just in case. Even Anessa decided to tag along, her arm wasn't as sore as we thought. We were escorted to a table by a waitress. Dino attempted to make jokes with her but it ended up with Anessa making a scene, as usual. She didn't have the intelligence to behave as a normal human being in public, the attention had to be on her. Because of the scene Anessa threw in front of everyone the head waiter apologised and introduced us to a new waitress. My gaze was set on the waitress who was slowly approaching our table, I recognised her eyes, those warm and soft brown orbs. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and as she was getting closer and closer my throat went dry. It was her - Emiliana.