Inaya's POV

"Inaya?" Cat whispers with her hands on her mouth.

Her eyes are glossy with tears and her hands wobbling.

Tears well up in my eyes as I stare at the person I've been longing to see. My best friend. My sister. My soulmate.

My emotions swirl like ocean currents, deep and strong. The tears flow down my cheeks and drop from my chin. I stand there, just a statue. I don't know if it's out of shock or something. Maybe because of this wave of sadness that just washed over me.

Why am I sad to see her? Am I sad? Or is this happiness?

Then, why does my chest feel so heavy? Maybe guilt for not trying to reach out sooner?

I don't know! I don't know why I'm feeling so much all at once!

I fall to the ground, hard. My knees digging deep on the floor, aching.

Caterina runs towards me and holds me in her arms. This was my breaking point. This is when I begin sobbing so loud that my whole body trembles. I couldn't breathe, let alone be able to form words.

I hold Caterina tighter. Just as my world fell apart, it somehow began to put itself together the second she held me.

I want to tell her how much I missed her. I want to tell her how much I love her. I want to tell her I wasn't arrested or being framed for murder. Or at least not yet.

"My sweet, Inaya. I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner. I'm so sorry." She sobs onto my shoulder.

"I missed you so much. I'm sorry I didn't try reaching out." I couldn't let her go.

I was so afraid that if I let her go that she'd slip away or I'd wake up and it would just be a dream.

"You can't just walk into my fucking house without my permission to make so much commotion." Dominic sighs with annoyance.

"You! You fucking bastard!" Caterina yells at him as she helps me stand up. "You kept her hidden here for God knows how long and you didn't tell me shit. I told you I was looking for her. You knew!"

"Do I look like someone who'd tell you?" He raises a brow.

"I wasn't fucking asking, I was ordering you to tell me. I used up all my resources only for her to be here; at my own bitch ass cousin's house." Caterina is fuming.

Cousin?

Dominic only rolls his eyes, I effected by her words.

Cat places her hand on my cheek. "Did he hurt you, Inaya? He has a habit of traumatizing women he comes across. Are you okay? Why did he take you?" She then turns around to look at him and her tone of voice takes a 180. "Why the fuck did you take her?"

He crosses his arms over his chest. "You know this. She saw everything."

"She didn't see shit! Even if she did, does she look like a threat?" At this point, Cat looks like she'll combust from all the anger.

"It didn't matter. She witnessed it." He states.

"So? What's the big fucking deal? What the hell did she even witness?" She asks.

"She witnessed..." Dominic pauses, as if to choose his words carefully. "West side."

His sentence was incomplete and I didn't understand. But, I think Caterina did because her eyes quickly widened for a bit, then she tried to regain her composure.

"You could've fucking handled it better! Do you know what her uncle is telling people? That she's dead." Her words slip out.

"Is that my problem?" He asks.

My heart drops. "He's telling everyone I'm dead?"

"Oh, shit. Sorry, Inaya. I didn't mean to drop that information on you like that." Cat's voice drops.

I shake my head. "No, that's alright. Maybe it's better this way. He wasn't very... fond of me anyways."

"Mehar and Haraz are so upset about it." She tells me. "Mehar prays for your wellbeing every night. Haraz... he misses you."

"Who's Haraz?" Dominic's voice suddenly turns stern.

"None of your business." Cat bites back.

"Caterina, I asked you a question, who's Haraz?" He sounds like he'll attack.

"And I said it's none of your fucking business, Dom." Cat doesn't even look his way.

I'm in such awe of Caterina's bravery. I haven't seen a single person be able to talk to Dominic in this manner without batting a lash.

Everyone's walking on eggshells around him. One word, he'll snap and someone might end up dead. But Cat, she's my knight in shining armour. Never afraid to protect me, no matter the circumstances.

Her tone softens again. "Has he hurt you? Are you being fed? You look like you lost weight."

"I'm fine. Angela has been coming around to keep me company. Nick has been a good friend too." I try to smile.

"Angela? You were in good hands, then. I'm sure those two tried to keep you sane with this demon around." She laughs and I couldn't help but crack a smile.

Every time I look at Cat, I can't believe my eyes that she's here.

"I'm taking her with me." Cat announces.

"You can't." Dominic steps up.

"Who's going to stop me? You?" She laughs.

"Caterina, come with me." His expression is grim.

"Are you going to hurt her?" I ask quietly.

Cat snorts. "If he tries, he'll end up dead with me."

"Cat!" I exclaim. She shouldn't say things like that.

"Sorry, no, he won't try to kill his favourite cousin." She winks at me.

I'm going to guess they have a trusting relationship and he actually won't try to kill her.

"Caterina!" Dominic's impatient voice calls out.

"Who put his panties in a twist?" She raises a brow.

I couldn't help but let out a loud laughter. "Cat, oh my God."

She winks as she walks away to follow Dominic back in the theatre room.

God, I missed her so much. No would ever know how much I really missed her. She's like the sister I never had and the sister everyone wants.

I remember this one time in elementary school–probably in grade 6 or 7–when I started wearing the hijab permanently, there was a group of boys who'd tease me.

They'd call me names and tell me I don't belong in this country. Can you imagine? Kids who were only 11 or 12 spewing such hateful comments?

But, in that area, it wasn't as diverse as it is now. My sudden change probably came as a surprise and they didn't know how to handle it.

Caterina wasn't having any of it. She challenged them. She told them to meet her after school if they weren't... scaredy-cats. I told her not to do anything but she didn't accept it. She said they needed to set straight.

To this day, I don't know what happened that day after school...

The next day, the boys came back profusely apologizing. They even said they'd even deal with people if anyone tried to hurt me because of my hijab.

Whenever I asked Cat about it, she'd always brush it off. She said she taught them a lesson the way her family taught her to deal with mean people.

Now that I think about it... her family... what did she do to those boys?

10 minutes later, Cat comes out feeling defeated.

"Sorry, Inaya." She sighs. "You're going to have to stay here with this demon a little longer until we can sort some things out."

"You sure I can't go with you?" I frown, my heart feed heavy again.

"I don't have a choice. If I could, I'd take you away right now. Dominic's right about something for once in his life and I really wish he wasn't." She tries to make me understand.

I know she wouldn't say this unless she actually cannot take me back with her.

"About what? What is he right about?" I ask.

"Nothing." She smiles, shaking her head. "I'll tell you when you're ready."

Everyone always keeps me in the dark. It's like they're afraid I'll snap if I hear one more bad news. I've been holding it together for so long, why does everyone think I'm so mentally fragile?

However, I don't push it. I only nod.

"Shall we go to your room and catch up?" She grins widely.

"Yes, please!" I smile.

"Caterina, can you leave my house?" Dominic asks, annoyance lacing his voice.

Cat begins mockingly looking around. "Did you hear something, Inaya? I didn't hear anything either. Let's go!"

- - -

A/N: guess who's back? That's right, it's me! 🙋🏽‍♀️

Next Update: Saturday, December 7, 2019.