Where My Demons Hide

Chapter 21

    I was sitting on a couch in the living room and Saniya was sitting on the armrest of it. She was unnecessarily close to me and I felt her eyes on me, but I chose to ignore her. Praying Haiden would be back from wherever he was soon, I just read the newspaper I held in my hands.

    After a few minutes, Saniya finally broke the silence by asking, "What are you to Haiden?"

    I pretended to be unaffected by the question as I looked at Saniya. She was staring at me, looking curious, and I noticed just how gorgeous she was. Her dark brown eyes were huge and her lips were rosy and plump. Her skin was a light brown and her thick black hair ran down her back in waves. She was stunning, which left me momentarily awestruck.

    "He seems to care about you a lot, but he's never mentioned you before," Saniya said when I remained silent. "He fought so hard to get you out of that cell."

    I tried not to get offended when I heard he never spoke about me. But then I remembered how I never spoke about him either, which led to us being equal. It seemed like we were each other's little secret.

    Staring at Saniya, I didn't feel comfortable with telling her what Haiden was - had been to me. She wasn't like the others. She didn't isolate and shoot me dirty looks, so I knew if I could talk to anyone it could be her. But yet, my past with Haiden was still something I wanted to keep to myself.

    "You can trust me, you know," Saniya said, surprising me. "I'm on your side. Don't tell Lydia this, but I think you and Haiden would be cute together."

    I blushed at that, but something in me snapped. After all the troublesome guys I had befriended, befriending a girl seemed perfect. I had always wanted to confide in someone about everything, so desperately I decided to with Saniya. She seemed nice and because I desperately needed to let everything out, words began to tumble out of my mouth.

    "Haiden and I used to be best friends five years ago," I confessed, feeling relieved as finally someone other than I knew. "We used to spend everyday together and suddenly one day he disappeared. I guess it was to join this gang."

    "It makes sense that you guys were best friends," Saniya said, looking thoughtful. "Haiden's doesn't care about much. His priority is his gang and our mission, so it was a surprise to see Haiden so upset about you being here. Were you two in love?"

    My face felt hot at the mention of love. We weren't. Well, I didn't think Haiden ever reciprocated my feelings. So looking down, embarrassed, I shook my head.

    "No, we weren't," I answered. "Haiden just meant a lot to me."

    "Did you love him?"

    "Yes," I admitted, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. "I did love him."

"Do you still?"

Her question caught me off guard. There was no denying Haiden still meant a lot to me, but I didn't think I loved him. I didn't know much about him anymore, so loving him seemed a bit farfetched. But yet, my heart began to pound against my chest and my cheeks turned rosy, which led to me wondering how I really felt.

Because I was feeling honest, I said quietly, "I have no idea."

Saniya's eyes softened at that. A small smile appeared on her face and I wondered why. The last thing anyone would want was for their hostage to love their leader, so I didn't understand why she seemed happy by my news. But then again, I didn't understand why I was confiding in one of my captors.

"Well for what it's worth, I hope Haiden realizes you're better than Lydia," Saniya said, surprising me. "You're a sweet girl and Lydia... Well, she's not. A guy like Haiden deserves better, which is you."