Floor 68.

XXX. - Dauntless.

Hello there lovely readers. The chapter is finally here and I hope you like it.

WARNING; this chapter contains a lot of swear words and material that could be triggering to some readers, so please read at your own risk.

This chapter deals with a topic that may be hard to handle to some. Please note that I am nota professional so it is hard for me to write about such a sensitive topic. If you are not comfortable with it, please stop reading without flagging my story or reporting it to Wattpad; it's all I have. Thank you.

As usual, happy reading. Vote, comment and share because sharing is caring. Please don't be silent readers! xoxo

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The smell of coffee and cigarettes tickled Duke's nostrils as he made his way inside the spacious kitchen, only to stop on his tracks, his blue eyes falling on Cihangir's back. She sat on the kitchen stool, her back straight, her dark-raven hair freely falling on her shoulders while a dying cigarette was between her slender index and middle fingers. Duke stood by the door frame, watching her consume her poison in solitude. Taking one final drag, Cihangir finally leaned forward, crashing the cigarette in the ashtray and then she blew the smoke away as if she was aching under too much pain. Duke firmly entered the kitchen and made his way towards the refrigerator, avoiding any kind of visual contact with the girl he longed the most for.

"Good morning.", he lowly said before drinking his glass of milk down, as if it was an alcoholic drink that would give him the courage to look at her in the eyes.

Cihangir didn't bother to reply, she just looked at him and nodded and Duke found the silence that wrapped them unbearable. He searched in the back of his mind for something to say but he was only met with the blankness of his thoughts. Wasn't it ironic that the same people who barely could talk to one another now were the same who had endless night conversations and timeless laughs? What happened to them, – he asked himself while his face shadowed with anger and sadness – what happened to the wolf and the warrior?

"Good God–", Duke started with a half smile towards his friend. "We barely look at each other."

Cihangir rested her steely gaze on him and he actually could have sworn he felt the coldness of her eyes electrify his body. He supported her gaze, long enough to see that behind her indifference, laid an ocean of hurt and pain that she couldn't overcome and so, he shamefully looked away.

"I hate this. I hate what we become.", he confessed with a heavy sigh as he poured himself a cup of coffee. The air was thick of all the emotions that ran through them, the words and confession they would never give up, the actions that were wrong but felt so right. As they stared at each other in silence, both hid a thunder in the depths of their heavy hearts and their scarred souls struggled under languishing passion. Cihangir's lips slightly twitched into a scarce smile as she lit another cigarette; there was no way around the mess they created so she might as well smoke to the remains of a friendship that used to be and a love that she would never see. Both of them were ashes and coffee; fascinating, poisonous, deadly and elusive.

"We were almost there.", Duke said, his voice emotionless and the light that ignited her fire seemed to suddenly die.

"Almost.", Cihangir absentmindedly repeated upon taking a long drag of her cigarette. "I almost saved my family. I almost saved you. You almost understood. You almost stayed.", she whispered, intently looking at the ashtray that was filled with cigarette butts and grey dead ashes that resembled her heart.