𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

46

Airah POV:

"It's been a long time." I slowly stand up, trying to open the door of the car behind me. I had unlocked it. Just as I pull the handle, a click sounds in the air, and that's when I notice that my key is in his hand. "Looking for this?" he laughs. I gulp, trying to stay calm.

"What do you want?" I stare at him for a moment.

"What I want?" He laughs and takes a step closer. I sink back into the car. He slowly examines me, my face, and then his eyes drop to my stomach. "You. I want you," he says, and my eyes widen. Suddenly I feel nauseous.

"How do you even have the guts to say that? After insulting me in front of everyone by running away with someone else, you dare to say that? Am I a toy?" I all but shout, my voice echoing in the empty basement. He steps closer until his shoes are almost touching mine.

"Don't you love me?"

"I despise you. You disgust me," I hiss.

"Is that because you have now fallen for your shit of a husband?" My blood boils at that. I take a deep breath, stopping myself from popping his eyeballs out.

"Don't you dare say anything about him. He showed me what love actually is. He accepted me when you threw me away. He is everything you could never be. He picked up the pieces you shattered and made me whole again. I won't tolerate you disrespecting him. Ever."

His smirk falters for a moment, and I see a flicker of something in his eyes-maybe regret, maybe anger-but I don't care.

He steps closer until his shoes are almost touching mine. I try to push back into the car, but there's no place. "Whatever, he's still a piece of shit," he mocks in my face. I slap him across the face. The sound echoes in the basement, loud and sharp. The girl who was sitting in the car mustn't have heard because she's a bit far from me. "I told you I won't tolerate anything against him," I say through gritted teeth. His jaw tightens, and a wicked smirk forms on his face. He raises his hand to my face, and I plaster myself against the side of my car, trying desperately to avoid his touch. But I fail. His finger runs down my cheek, sending a shiver down my spine, and he tilts my chin up.

"Did you enjoy the show on your walima ceremony?" His voice drips with venom.

My eyes widen. "What do you mean?" I demand, though a part of me already fears the answer. He doesn't say anything, just watches me with that cruel glint in his eye, and then the realization hits me like a punch to the gut. "You sent her?" My voice is barely above a whisper.

"Ahh well, I just told her and she barged into your wedding. Not my problem," he shrugs, nonchalant.

"Were you the one whom she ran away and married?" I ask, my voice trembling with anger and disbelief.

He laughs, a cold, mirthless sound. "You figured it out pretty quickly."

My mouth hangs open in shock, and for a moment, I'm unable to speak. How can anyone be this heartless? "Ilham is your daughter?" I hear myself say, the words feeling strange in my mouth.

"So she named her Ilham..." he says to himself, almost as if he's lost in thought.

"Why-how can you be like that?" I stammer, my voice breaking.

"What?" he asks, feigning innocence, but his eyes tell a different story. I just stare at him, lost for words. My heart aches for that little child. Good thing she got adopted. "You don't even know, do you?" He raises his eyebrow, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "That Aliza left her at an old orphanage." He shrugs, "both of them are none of my business."