Chapter V: In your time

"I will wait for you till the day I can forget you or till the day you realize you cannot forget me"

Herryicm

Dr. Norah the strong minded woman, has lost control at the edge of two glasses of wine, it was like her drinking a truth revealing serum, and the only truth she had hid for years was her broken heart and unfulfilled romance

"I loved you" Norah with tarnishing pain in the heart pronounced her words like if they were her last,

"I know" the man with board shoulders whispered to the girl whom he was carrying on his back, his eyes became blank and his face lost color, he was never afraid of no one but her

"Am I that ugly to you?" she asked hanging into him with teary eyes and a bitter voice, her question hurt him hard, was it really her being ugly, the girl that half Italy is in love with, or was he just cold toward her and his own feelings, what was it truly?? …

"you are not" he replied with a small sound,

"So why? Am I unable to be loved by you?" she asked , her eyes turned red from all the flowing tears, she was wounded by the years that brushed her away from him, day by day she would count until the days turned into rugged years

"I love you" those were her last words before she dozed on his shoulders, as he carried her to his penthouse down Rome, adjusting her petit body on his comfy bed, a place that no woman has stepped foot in but her, he stopped for a moment watching her face that haven't changed a bit, playing with some loose lock of her hair, he smiled timidly and whispered to himself and her "I love you too Orah, I always did"

.....

Meanwhile Gabriel that reckless brat sat alone, drinking his whisky and enjoying voice that the instruments would play, he loved jazz and specially longed for it when it's sad

"Sitting alone? "a voice from behind resurrected him from the hollow in where he was drown

"I guess" he replied with a fainting smile facing Ida, the cousin that always carried a smile on her face, he was a joker himself, but nothing last forever.

"What is her name?" she asked looking through his tired eyed and waiting for his reaction to read

"You talk about whom?" he replied broking the eye contact, more like avoiding her eyes and nodding to the bartender to add him another strong portion of vodka

"The one you are waiting for" Suddenly the playful Ida turned calm, looking right through his soul, he felt naked infront of her, unable to lie, to hide the torment the desire and the anguish

"You are assuming things Ida" he replied, drinking his well aged Vodka, feeling her piercing eyes, stamping his glass so hard on the counter

"I do " she said calmly when she realized that her words were heavy and did nothing but pained his old wounds, Gabriel the careless man suddenly looked like Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders

Both stayed for the long night that couldn't seem to end, drinking and talking about everything but their old scars, and crippled broken hearts …

...

"Do you think the kids would resent us for what we did?" Isabella who was reading her favorite book asked her husband lying near her with a worried look that made her wrinkles shows more

"I don't know, all I do know is that love can finds its way to people" he replied to his beautiful wife kissing her wrinkles and smiling at her

"Just like it did with us" she said smiling at him whom she knew her entire life,

"Si , just like us" he replied, "I just hope they would give themselves more time " Senior Ilyas added after a short period of silence

Few moment passed only for Dahlia to knock the door of her grandparents room, another night of nightmares dragged her there, Isabella smiled and looked into her husband's eyes with delight,

"Come in Bunny " Ilyas said looking at his little princess with her red eyes and little bunny doll in hands

"I'm sorry Nonno, mummy and Ida aren't here and I couldn't find peace alone in my room" the five years old spoke her words like and expert trying to convince her Nonno(grandpa)

"It's okay baby, come in, there is always space for you bunny" Ilays replied with a very gentle face, who would believe that he was actually the Senior Ilyas Marouikous

...…

On the other hand, Rumina drank so much, suddenly the strict firm girl has been replaced by this little kid that smiles and hugs others

Jasper was a heavy drinker, few glasses of wine did nothing but a twitch, all he did was smiling all the way to their hotel suit, discovering this weird side of her

"Why do you keep on calling me Mina?" Rumina asked with red flushed cheeks and kept staring at him for a while

"Cause you are" he replied not looking into her face, until she took his head between her hands and fixed it on her

"What do you mean by that?" she again asked biting her red soft lips, all tipsy and drunk

"It's just like that" he replied and tried to pull his head away from her grip, not knowing her reaction, it was then when she pulled him closer and her lips touched his, a new sensation clashed on their heads, her touch, his heavy breath. Deeply kissing each other, every second on her made him sloshed and liquored up, for a moment he wished she would wake up the next morning not regretting a bit of all this, they reached a way where bitterness sounded sweeter then honey itself

The next morning, was a surprise, clothes ripped, a ruined room and two wasted bodies close to each other on a bed they never shared

"What happened?" Rumi asked at the sight of her body wrapped in sheets, the hanging out still there, her head felt dizzy and nauseous

"huh" Jasper who couldn't open his eyes" Apparently we made a mistake yesterday" he added and turned his head away from the light skipping the curtains and pulled his arm around Rumi's waist

"Apparently you are okay with that" she said out of shock when his arm touched her stomach, and his face found relief at her chest ," Jasper " she added alarming him

"Mina, we are grown, married and sane. We did what any couple eventually does" he replied at her alarmed call

"What do you mean couple?" she asked looking at him unable to move while her body under his grip ,"Our marriage is a business deal, you said it yourself" then added

"It was never to me, I married you because I wanted to" he stood up and looked into her eyes, kissed her forehead and leaned closer, "No one can force me, everybody knows that"

"Okay we will see about that " she said, ignoring his gaze and trying to rise up from bed, but she couldn't all crippled in there, "Would you please hand me something to wear, I don't know" she pleaded while he looked at her with amusement and smiled at her face mischievously

"Here my shirt would fit" he handed her his gray shirt which she received happily and kept staring at her sweet groom in order for him to turn his sight while she dresses up

"Ah you want me to get out of the room" he replied when he finally got the cause of the stare " Is there anything left, I didn't see yesterday? " he questioned with a smirk

"Just go" Rumina said angrily

A while after, he came out of the bathroom only to see her wearing his white large shirt, a sight that took him to places and feelings that he hoped he would forget, a girl that he wished he could think no more of

A month later

"Mr. Rupert I won't be her for the next two weeks, it's all on you" Rumina finished signing the papers and informed her head secretary of her absence

"I already scheduled everything, at the head quarter in New York, the private jet will be ready by noon" Mr. Rupert replied to her with all the pride he has, he was a man of honor, very smart, Rumina trusted him when it comes to work

"Well done, you always empress me" she said as a compliment, what made a little smile escape him firm lips, "Ah my clothes?" she asked as she realized that her suitcase isn't ready yet

"Well I've noticed that you slightly gained weight, so I asked for one size bigger clothes and it's all arranged" Mr. Rupert replied like if he read her mind, everything was ready he knew how precise she was

"If you say so" she replied and picked her bag and car key and went toward the lift

The words of Mr. Rupert rang in her ears and she checked herself on the mirror hanging there, "He was right, I think I gained some weight?" she said to herself

"Would you please just listen to me" when she was about to reach the car, jasper swiftly took a grip of her hand and stopped her with pleading eyes

"No, I thought we talked a month ago, you are not to be trusted anymore" she replied with a blank expression like if the old Rumina Marouikous took her place back

"Please, please just listen" when he heard her he started begging for her to just listen to him

"What? Huh what are you going to say that would change my mind" she asked raising her voice tone and showing her rage and fury

"I don't know something during the last few weeks started to change, you are like this puzzle that I had to solve, a mystery but I can't seem to understand a bit of you, you are hot and cold, you never smile yet Dahlia maneges to change that in seconds, the man that keeps on calling and sending me letter about how you belong to him, the tattoo in your back, who are you truly Mina? Sometimes you talk like her, you even sound like her" he recited everything that he have been keeping inside, tears fled his eyes and his heart started racing inside his ribcage who is this woman standing in front of him truly? That's all he kept asking

"Like whom hah one of your lost girlfriends?" she asked all bruised even him is comparing her to another, she always wanted to have her own place in this world yet people won't even allow it

"Like Mina" he said with a faint voice holding her petite figure with his long board arms trying to look inside her eyes , they say the eyes are the windows of the soul, maybe her eyes wouldn't be lying as much as her face, astounded she stood there in a massive shock her mouth couldn't release a single word to defend herself when deep down she knew who was that person that he is looking at inside of her...

The question electrified her, and slowly she fainted in his arms, the earth beneath her started shaking as the light slowly was turning off until she lost her conscious

"I'm sorry" that's all she managed to say to him before she fell unconscious