Xhemin's head was turning and her emotions were very unstable as she held into the rails of the stairs. Instead of waiting for the elevator to open, her shaking legs dragged her into the fire exit. She walked a few floors down, swaying to and fro, her tears were all over her face and her cries were making her lose her breath. When she can't take it all anymore, she screamed as loud and desperate as she could and fell from her knees.

Xhemin was now wailing. She wailed so she could push out all the emotions that were filling his heart- all the anger, all the pain, the regrets, the longing. She just let it all go with her desperate cry as if it was the only thing that was keeping her sane. If not for her cries, she could have fainted.

​​

While on her feet, Xhemin closed her eyes trying to recall the face of her beautiful Winter. She tried to remember every detail of him, his long lashes, his perfectly carved small nose, his very small lips and the pale color of his skin. The memory was terribly heartbreaking especially when she was robbed of all the opportunity to be her mother. They left him with nothing but his memory. They-including the sister she pitied and considered helping all these days. It felt like she betrayed the memory of her son just by considering helping and believing Collet's innocence. Damn that angelic face! She was nothing but a murderer!

Right then she couldn't believe that her Winter was a victim of Collet's jealousy. She couldn't believe her beautiful son died just because of that. It wasn't enough of a reason, it simply wasn't fair. Was this all the part of the bargain of being the Lagdameo woman? She hoped there was something else more reasonable and more justifying than that reason alone, but there was none. That fact only made the pain more unbearable.

Xhemin held into her heart miserably as she was starting to lose her breath. She tried to cry harder to unblock whatever was making her breathless but nothing came out of it. She felt like she was slowly robbed of all the oxygen inside her, slowly killing her but just before she succumbed into helplessness, she felt a warm hands on wrapping on her face and when she looked up, she saw Darryl kneeling in front of her.

"Xhemin what is happening?" Darryl's hazel eyes looked miserable than she had ever seen. He still doesn't have any idea why her wife tried to kill her own sister but seeing how Xhemin was losing it all, made all his questions the least of his concern. "God! Can you just tell me what's happening with you?"

Xhemin couldn't just open her mouth for anything but her cries. She held onto his hand desperately and pressed her own head toward Darryl's chest. She knew very well that his warmth was something that could help her calm down and so she helped herself.

"Tell me, tell me at least something," Darryl begged. What Xhemin did was a huge scandal far greater than what Collet caused a few days ago. He became aware of it while he was chasing Xhemin's car as Dannah finally told him so when he called her for some help. However, Darryl knew that Xhemin would not make things as bad as killing her sister just because of that interview.

"She...took...away...my...Winter," Xhemin mumbled as she struggled to steady her breathing. Just after she said those words, her tears started building up again.

Darryl didn't get what she said and he thought she was just having a traumatic breakdown so he kissed her hair as she was under his arms. Seeing Xhemin in a state like that made Darryl felt the worst and he swallowed the urge to cry. "Winter is long gone my love, nobody can take him away now. He'll always be in our hearts,"

"No...no..no…." Xhemin turned to look at him in the eyes. Then she mustered all the strength to tell him, "She….she… Collet...killed...my Winter...Collet killed my Winter! She killed my baby! She took my baby away from me! She killed my poor Winter like he was nothing,"

Darryl clearly heard what Xhemin said but he was having doubts on how he understood it. It was like he didn't want to go with the idea that Collet, as his wife confessed to him, killed his son.

"Xhemin Collet would never-"

"Don't ever tell me that! I've told myself the same when I learned about it and wished it wasn't true. But she did. That Collet that we all thought was just a spoiled brat undisciplined child, was a murder," Xhemin surprisingly was able to reason out.

Darryl's expression turned miserable in an instant. "But why? How?"

"I don't know! Ask her!" Xhemin shouted not because she was mad with Darryl but because she wasn't just feeling right about everything, "Probably because of her obsession with you! Go and ask her! You were best friends, right?"

Darryl wasn't able to answer Xhemin's confrontation. Instead, he cupped his head and later combed his hair of frustration with what he had learned.

"You shouldn't have stopped me," Xhemin continued, ��You should have not shown up and stopped me from killing that woman!"

"I'm going to kill her! I swear Darryl I'm going to kill that woman! I would not spare her mercy and I don't care if your family will haunt me for killing their betted daughter in law!" Xhemin shouted at his face and immediately stood with the intention of going back into the studio to continue what she had started.

Xhemin was a few steps up when Darryl grabbed her hand.

"Don't you dare stop me again or I'll never forgive you for it," Xhemin threatened, her expression contained all her resentment and frustration not only with his husband and also with his family who sheltered and took care of the murderer who killed her son.

***

"No.You'll not stain your hand with her blood. " Darryl's voice sounded solid rock. "She already ruined you once. I won't allow her to ruin you again,"

"I won't-"

"Let me do it," Darryl cut her in and the way he said those words, Xhemin felt the intensity of it, "It's just right for me to do it. Please let me do it,"