Ruins of Autumn

62• Fading Star

•One day before the prologue•

    Anila turned her house key twice to the right and pushed the black door forward. The fragile feeling of familiarity, which had been created the second she had seen the apartment in the video sent by Sidoreli, became stronger when she crossed the threshold and entered the house.

    The light colours around her made her feel like she was in her comfort zone. She took off the white heels to leave them on the bamboo wooden shoe rack on the right side, then the sky blue jacket that she had combined with the trousers of the same colour tone, along with the white shirt, and walked barefoot on the very open sand-coloured parquet.

    Under the excuse of checking that everything was in order, as she had left it before she left the house two hours ago to buy the dress and the pendant that she had found online, she took a look around the house with the cartoon bag in her left hand, where she had the dress and jewellery.

    First, she walked into the small living room, saw the dusty gold-upholstered sofa, the white round table between it and the television on a white TV stand as well, and the floral paintings hung on the pastel cream-coloured wall.

    Then she walked to the left, towards the hall, where the kitchen and the bedroom were located. She opened the door to the left, looked at the closed rectangular window, the square white dining table on the right with four hazel chairs around it, the cleaned furniture in front of the table, and headed to the bedroom to put the dress in the wardrobe.

    She sat down on the double bed with the dried cinnamon bedspread, left her bag to her right, and looked out the closed south window in front of her, feeling no fear that at any moment she would receive the news of the release of her footage with Blerimi; they were erased, Visara and her parents were safe, and she had only the present on her mind to enjoy. The past was banished by her decision to choose the version of herself that was accompanying her and achieve the best possible version she could be.

    No one was going to attack them, no one was going to kill Sidoreli, and no one was going to rape her. She repeated that sentence over and over again throughout the afternoon to convince herself that everything was going to be okay. They would go out together, have fun, and then return home safe and sound. She deserved to create such memories in her life, and he deserved Anila's effort to spend a normal evening between them.

    Sidoreli managed to save her from the beginning of overthinking with the message he sent her that he was waiting for her in front of the apartment building.

    'I won't be late.'

    He read the answer returned within a minute by Anila as he rolled the keys to his house, his car, and his studio through the fingers of his left hand and repeatedly reminded himself to behave as discreetly as possible so as not to cause her negative feelings.

    He was content that she had thought of him and had taken such a step, knowing how much danger there could be. He had wanted to turn off the phone completely to be totally focused on her, but he had put the phone on vibrate since that was all he could do. Maybe one of his family members needed his help, and he couldn't break away from his responsibilities even for a second.

    The sound of the heels on the entrance stairs of the apartment building caught his attention, and he turned his head towards the doorway.

    His seduced eyes by Anila stared at her with all the possible concentration and admiration. The sweet short pink dress, tight across her chest and stomach, that had a plunging neckline, fell in shallow sides, and was wide from the waist to a palm above her exposed knees, her heels of the same colour as the dress, and her hair with loose waves, parted in the middle, captured his chest, as if he had drunk a vigorous cocktail, and Sidoreli wasn't feeling strong enough to withstand looking at that excessive beauty for a long time.