HANA I inhaled the scent of his shirt I found in my laundry bucket. He was here a few hours ago. My room still smells like him. Why does he have to leave without waking me up? What was the last thing we did? I didn't remember. My phone rang for the fifth time. I reached out to it, thinking it was Bash. Like last time, it was Shalini. I swiped it and attended the call. "Where were you?" She yelled from the other side. "Did something happen? I have been trying to reach you for an hour now." My lips trembled when I tried to talk. "He is gone," I tell her. "He is just gone." "Hey," Her tone softened as she talked. "What do you mean he is gone?" She questioned in a low tone. "He left," I sobbed. "Without a goodbye." "Isn't that what you want, Hana?" She asked me. I nod my head, as tears flood my eyes. "We still have a month. It hurts, Shalini. It fucking hurts to know that he won't be here with me." I heard the tapping of her footst
HANA Mateo is not at all happy with my decision to visit Bash. "I can't live like this," I tried to explain. When did this happen? When did I become so close with my two colleagues that my body refused to step out without convincing Mateo that whatever I was doing was for my own good? "I need a closure. I will just talk to him and I can't reach my sister. I need to see her too." I felt awful for wanting to meet my sister when I was actually going to meet Bash. I never would have gone just to see her. That realisation only made me feel more selfish. I put Bash above everyone. "You are going with hope for the future, Hana. Not for closure. No matter what you told yourself, that's the truth." Mateo declared, and Shalini punched him on his biceps. "What's wrong with that?" She asked him. "What's wrong in hope for a future with the person?" "That will only make you an emotional fool," He says. His eyes darted to me, "You are more practical than this."
HANA Someone held my wrist and dragged me away from the crowd to a secluded place. I am still looking at the person I loved, whom my sister called Cillian through the large French windows. He gave a polite smile to Lilly, my sister's best friend. His smile was so animated or that's what I thought. I sensed large hands, wrapping around my shoulder, and I immediately jerked away. "Hana, it's me," Ahmet said, removing his white mask. Relief flooded through my body. "Ahmet," I whispered. "What are you doing here?" He asked me, concern visible on his face which is odd because he never showed emotions in the months I have known him. "I..." My throat clogged, expecting the worst but I forced my words out. "I came for Bash," I tell him. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it immediately as though he wanted more reasons for my presence here, and somehow he managed to guess them in less than five seconds. "You should leave,
HANA "You always do that," Mickael whispered soothingly. I raised my head, looking at him blankly, my cheeks were stained with tears I didn't want to shed. But they escaped anyway. "Pressing your knuckles to your eyes so that you could stop yourself from crying. I would suggest against it. Cry as much as you want." I shook my head, doing the same damn thing again, pressing my knuckles to my eyes gently. "I don't want to cry over them. It only reminds me of how foolish I have been." "What happened?" He asked me, pulling over at the side of a vacant road. I shook my head again. I know Micheal won't judge. In fact, he will take my side. But I can't take the pity anymore. "Tell me whom do I have to put into a coma? For you, I will." I felt choked up and teary. But I laughed at his words. "Me, put me into a coma," I tell him honestly. If I get a chance to forget everything and sleep, I will. I
HANA It really feels like a goodbye now. I am in denial. I am still looking towards the airport terminal gate as though he would magically appear from it if I look hard enough and say that this is all a joke. I waited for seven hours here, and when the final announcement for the departure of my flight was given, I knew, it was over. I don't want to believe it. But it's over. I didn't remember how I reached Istanbul or in what state I was. I slept through an entire day. When I woke up, I packed everything that reminded me of Bash, the dresses I wore on our dates, his shirt which had been my nightwear for three weeks before I took the dumbest decision of my life, the backpack I took to New York, the cups he bought, the shoes he gifted and the bedsheets, pillow covers, skincare products I applied on his face, everything I packed and hid it in a cupboard except for my body. It's the biggest reminder of him. I don't know how to get out of this body. Then I started dee
HANA 'There are better men, Hana. But you will remember me. Just me. I will live here. You will remember me, just me.' I opened my eyes with a gasp. The echo of his voice is still loud in my head. I pressed my knuckles to my eyes. Wetness coated on my skin. I became breathless not with the ache in my heart but with anger. I have to do something, anything to prove that he is just a phase of my life and I can easily forget him. But the more I try, the more I fail. He is engraved in my heart and skin. I stomped through my house with the newly found fury. 'Why?' I screamed. 'Why me? What did I do?' In that fury, I did something I never thought I would do. When Mateo asked me again what happened in New York, I told him everything about Cillian and Violet. By the time, I completed, his eyes looked so red. "Son of a bitch," He muttered. "I am so sorry, Hana." He says, pulling me into a hug. I still find it uncomfortable to adjust to
HANA We stared at her in silence as Shalini said what happened in Chennai. "I know she never liked me. She wanted someone to take care of his son. She wants a housewife for him. But I was here. I was so sure that Akash and I could handle her. In most parts of India, even to start an event, we check for the good and bad times. It's a marriage, a union of two families. So when our horoscopes didn't match, she simply said no. Even Akash didn't want to go against her words." She stared at the wall before her blankly as though she was watching the past unfolding on it. "Then I became pregnant. I told him that." She turned her head to look at me with teary eyes. "He said I am trying to trick him into getting married. He said he doubts that I am loyal. Can you believe it? He fucked me in his room with his parent in their garden. Then he..." She burst into tears as I held her, rubbing her back. "If we did the DNA test, it would prove your innocence," Mateo suggeste
HANA "Placenta Previa" The doctor repeated her words. "Miss. Shridhar has experienced hypertension, and she has high blood pressure during pregnancy." My lips trembled when I spoke, "Since when?" The doctor gave me a gentle look. I hate how she is calm and composed and looks at me sympathetically while I am losing my cool with every passing second. I might destroy her entire office soon. "We have diagnosed this in her twentieth week. We have explained to her that she has to choose whom to save, herself or her baby." She explained. I nod my head, thinking back to her pregnancy days. There was a time once she bled. "So in other words, she knew that..that...she would be in a coma or most probably die if she gives birth?" I am still staring at the calendar on the wall behind the doctor's seat. For some reason, I couldn't look at her face. I might lunge at her and kill her. But that was just my shock speaking. The doctor did what she could. I know it.
BASH There's going to be a war and that's not the end of it. I am sure whatever breathtakingly stupid reason compelled Alessandro to kidnap Colton's daughter is going to cost all of us. When I looked at the girl who was hardly nineteen or twenty years old, sitting quietly in the corner of the room, feigning courage, all I could think was how familiar her eyes were, just like my bee's. "Why the hell did you bring her here?" I questioned Sandro. "We caught Romero. Her father tried to kidnap Mateo and failed miserably. It's a tit for tat." "Colton failed because I was there. I don't think it's a good time to play tit for tat." The girl in the corner sniffled, catching our attention. I walked to her slowly so that I wouldn't startle her. She shifted where she sat. "What's your name?" I asked her gently. "Luna." "Hana and Luna. Sisters indeed." Vincenzo commented for the first time. That's when the girl named Luna who was Hana's half sister
HANA "I couldn't walk," I complained, sprawling across the bed. "You don't have to." Bash placed a chaste kiss on my cheeks before buttoning his shirt. After I asked him to marry me last night, Bash brought me straight home. We couldn't even make it past the front door before he was inside me, his thrusts urgent and intense. He took me on every flat surface. It felt like a sex marathon. I didn't know when I passed out after coming multiple times. When I opened my eyes again, he was inside me, his hands caressing my head. I was so satiated but when he looked at me with those intense green eyes, I begged him to take me again, my pussy hot and throbbing just for him, for my man, for my Bash. As a result, I can't even pee because my pussy feels like it's burning. Oh, God. It will hurt like a bitch for the next two days. But last night was incredible. That's all that matters. Watching him roll his sleeves, revealing the veins on his muscular hand made me hot and bo
HANA For Bash, to talk like an adults with me is him being inside me. I joke about it all the time, and I even got annoyed when he did that when we were discussing the most important decisions in our lives. But now, I missed that feeling of being filled up and conversing. I should have cherished them when they last. I shouldn't have avoided them before. Now the fear of losing that kind of bond gripped me. Now, he is sitting on the edge of the bed, his back to me when he asked me what happened in my old apartment. Now we are discussing like real adults when my body and heart craved what he attuned them to. I told him everything Jonathan disclosed to me. With every truth, his back stiffened and I fought the urge to reach out to him. A long whelming silence followed after I completed speaking. After what felt like an eternity, he got up and paced back and forth in the room. "So, Colton is your fucking biological father? He raped my mother, Hana. He abused her and drove her t
HANA I used to think that this life could not break me more than it already has. I am wrong. I always am. It can become worse and worse. I didn’t expect my dad, I mean Jonathan to show up at my old apartment. When I looked at him, I didn’t see him. I saw that hand raise to slap, I heard the yelling, I saw the shards of glass on the floor, and I heard the fights between my parents. That’s all he has ever been to me, a trauma. “You are making a mistake, Hana.” That’s the first thing he said to me. It’s either I am a mistake or I am making a mistake, never a how are you? I can’t blame him though. He lost the investment because I ran away from the marriage. I sucked in a breath, carefully taking a step back. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?” An ugly smirk spread over his lips. “Your boyfriend isn’t that powerful, Hana. He cannot stop me. He cannot stop Colton.” My father is many things, but he never ever trembled before someone. He has too much pride to admit that
BASH I had a text message from her an hour ago saying she was going to her apartment to pick up some things. I called her immediately. She picked after the third ring. “Bash, can I call you again? I am in the middle of something?” She immediately said, her voice was breathy. “Where are you? Are you alone?” She paused and lied, “Yes. I came to pick up some things. I will call you later.” Then she hung up on me, making me ball my fists. SHE LIED TO ME. My chest rose and fell in erratic bursts, each breath heavier than the last at what I’ve learned till now. My fists clenched and unclenched at my sides. I look at David for one last time before stomping out. “Nice,” Sandro commented from behind. “If there’s anyone who can do that she is the one.” With a sudden, fierce motion, I grabbed his collar, yanking him off balance and slamming him hard against the brick wall. “What the hell are you implying?” Sandro’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. “I wonder what makes you lose
BASH “What do we have here?” I asked Sandro who was clearly amused with me for god knows what. “You do realise that this isn’t a corporate meeting, momma boy?” Marco commented with a smug face. They are all wearing black as if it’s s uniform. But they gave me the vibe of goons in movies who nods their head to whatever a stupid villain says. I’ve just arrived from a meeting with Mr. Sato whom these idiots couldn’t know. It’s a waste of time to explain anyway. “You do realise that I can buy your men with this suit right?” I commented back. Marco sneered. “You can’t buy anything with money.” “Says the guy who failed to protect a kid and who kills for the very same money.” Honestly, everything these guys do is to gain some extra money in illegitimate ways. Although that could be wrong for men like Elio, Sandro and Vincenzo. It’s not just money they want. They thrive on bloodshed, power and control which are useless without money in my opinion. Marco raised his voice
HANA Calling him clingy is an understatement. He wouldn’t let me out of our bed for a second. All the food was served in my room. It’s been 24 hours since I had gone downstairs. 24 hours of blissful sex, food, chatter, laughter, and sleep. For a second, I wished the time to stop here at this second. I hop out of the bed, stretching my hands. I didn’t notice where he came from. In one swift motion, he tossed me on the bed, with him above me. “You are not going anywhere.” He says, grinding his hardness against my pussy. Less than thirty minutes ago, he was inside me, chasing his orgasm. But my need for him started to grow with every passing second. Wetness pooled between my legs. I don’t have the panties on. My shirt rode up when he tossed me on the bed, leaving me exposed for his sweet torture. “I am sore...Oh my gosh...” I didn’t get to complete the sentence before before he slide inside me. My eyes rolled back, my lips parted with the fullness. “You
BASH “We need you here.” “Hey, hi, Marco. Good morning. How are you?” I drawled, sitting on the couch in my living room. “That’s how humans converse nowadays. Oh, I forgot. You aren’t one of them.” “He he he. Very funny, Cillian. I would have laughed if it was a good joke.” “I wasn’t joking,” I told him as a matter of fact. I heard him sigh from the other end and muttered something under his breath. If it was any other person, he wouldn’t have let that go easily. “We need you here. We brought someone for questioning from the Matri,x, and I have no fucking clue why Sandro thinks it would be better if you were here. You are the Capo’s son after all.” He muttered something inaudible and I’m sure he took it as an insult to make me involved in his torture session. But, I got the underlying message. Sandro always wanted me to be involved in their so-called regular lives to prove a point – that I’m not capable of being their Capo. This is true, why be a capo when I can
HANA "What the ....oh my god! How did you find me again?" I looked at Seb who was glued to Bash's leg, and tried hard to climb over him. "He is coming out of nowhere. He either wants my leg to climb up or my thumb to suck. Did you see this?" Out of these two, Bash was more complaining. I shook my head laughing at him. He likes to think that he is not good with kids but I think he would make a great partner in crime with the said kids. "How about we come to an understanding? You make a sound before you attack my leg because I'm scared that I'll hurt you. He feels like a pillow." "He can't understand that, Bash," I told him as a matter of fact. "Oh, he understands everything just fine." "He is just seven months old." "Really?" He took out his phone and showed it to the junior. "You want it?" He asked our Seb and he eagerly threw his hands up to reach the phone. "See. He understands what he wants to understand." Shalini watched everything sil