Inaya's POV

I blink a few times as well as rub my eyes to make sure what I was seeing is real.

There are three men, all dressed in black and the fourth man is dressed in a mix of black and white.

Two men hold one of guys as the one wearing black and white stares at him. His expression is not readable because I'm not close enough. His white shirt is smeared in the colour red, which I assume is blood.

He looks like he's been beaten but everyone's in such a bad shape that I can't tell whether the blood is his own or someone else's.

As he stares at the man being held, the man in black and white isn't slumped at all, his body is clearly too muscular for that, yet it is just as relaxed as his face. He's almost smiling - smiling as if something good were about to happen, but in a most sinister, vile way.

The silence around me is making my heart beat sound louder than reality.

Then, suddenly, the man, who looks like as if he's the leader of the whole thing going on, whips his head to meet my eyes directly. Then, the world feels like as if it falls through my feet.

He squints his eyes and I know for a fact he's seen me because he's staring straight into my eyes. This sends a jolt of goosebumps throughout my body as a feeling of darkness clouds my mind.

This isn't good. This is not good.

I quickly look down at my lap and begin to pray feverishly. As I slightly tilt my head up to peak at the scene a few seconds later, and to my horror, everyone had disappeared.

I start frantically sweating. It's like that feeling when you see a spider in your room and seconds later it disappears, sending you into a frenzy because now you don't know if it's closer or further away from you.

"Hey." Rachel says, making me physically jump off my seat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

I let out a sigh of relief. "No! It's okay. I'm glad you're back with a nice cup of tea." I smile.

"I brought you your favourite! French vanilla cappuccino!" She grins.

My heart melts at her sweet gesture. "Thank you so much! You really didn't have to."

The rest of the way was a nice quiet ride back home. I couldn't stop thinking about what I had witnessed though, it was absolutely frighteningly violent.

Should I report it to the authorities?

Maybe not... I don't even know exactly what the culprits look like. I wouldn't be able to give any type of description. I know for a fact that the cops will not take it seriously.

But I couldn't shake off the feeling of dread that passed through me when my eyes met that man's.

As I make my way inside the house, I hear yelling.

"We should get her married and out of this house!" My uncle yells.

"Then, who's going to cook and clean everything for you?" My aunt says calmly.

Oh, they're talking about me.

I slowly and quietly make my way up the stairs, not wanting to eavesdrop.

As I was turning into my room, I bump right into Haraz.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you." I quickly apologize as I take a few steps back.

He holds my hand, making me jump back further but not being able to because of his grip.

"Where do you think you're going?" He smirks.

"I-I'm... to my room. I'm going to my room."

Haraz has been tormenting me like this ever since I've moved into this house. I've never seen him as more than just a cousin or brother but he just doesn't understand that.

"You know... If you just marry me, I'll be able to join you in that room and we can have loads of fun." He smirks.

"N-no, thank y-you. I'm sure you can find someone better than me." I try to walk around him.

"Fine. We can have fun without marriage. No strings attached." He blocks my path.

"Haraz! Stop sexually harassing Inaya!"

Haraz rolls his eyes as I thank Allah over and over again for Mehar's timely entrance.

He lets go of me and I quickly flee to my room.

He has been making our encounters extremely inappropriate for as long as I can remember. It has gotten even worst since I moved into their home.

"Sorry for my brother's ugly personality." Mehar says as she takes a seat on the bed.

"He doesn't have an ugly personality... He just needs..."

"Some serious mental help? Needs to be put in prison?" Mehar finishes the sentence, which makes me laugh. "So... How was work?"

I tell her about what I saw and Mehar looks as if she's thinking hard about something.

"Hm... I did hear that some shady Italian mob activity goes on around that area. You would expect things like to happen in New York, not here... But I guess it's even easier to do it in such a non-suspicious town."

I gulp thinking about what are the odds that I would witness mob acitvity...

"No... I don't think it was anything serious. Maybe just some guys beating up another poor man because they're bullies or something." Because this explanation sounds more logical than the mob.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Mehar shrugs it off. "So, you're working tomorrow, right?"

I nod.

"You need to stop taking all the bullshit my dad throws at you. You wake up early, clean, cook, and everything, yet he still doesn't appreciate you." Mehar huffs.

I give her a sad smile. "I don't blame him, he thinks I'm the reason why his brother and sister-in-law are dead. I'm just grateful he even decided to take me in under his roof."

"I'm so sorry. He should know better than to go blaming anyone on sight." Mehar frowns.

"It's okay. You should get going, you have school tomorrow." I pat her hand.

Mehar decided to continue her studies after she graduated with her B.A. in accounting. She has a part time job at a bank but also goes to school full time. I'm so proud of how well she's doing in life, Mash'Allah.

She nods and takes her leave.

Just as I was about to close my eyes, my phone dings, notifying me that I got a text.

I pick it up to see that it's from Caterina:

"You have to tell me what you saw today after work. I keep telling you our work area is shady, but you don't listen. I'm going to start dropping you off from now on."

I smile at myself thinking about how Cat cares so much for me. I'll fill her in about what I saw, tomorrow.

As I was drifting into sleep, that man's blurred face kept appearing in and out of my head. I couldn't remember much details about his appearance, it's mostly a blur but the fear that he invoked in me is something that I just can't seem to shake off.

It almost felt like not only did he see me, he memorized me.

I'm just being silly and overthinking it. When am I not overthinking things?

- - -

A/N: Dominic is making an appearance real soon. 👀

Also, I'm watching the second season of Elite & I'm lowkey sad about Nadia's development as a character. It just happened so quickly 😔 But everything else is lit lmao.

Next Update: Thursday, September 12, 2019.