"Ay! Ay Hadiyya!" Someone snapped their fingers in front of me.
"Dessert." Daina gestured towards a tasty morsel of chocolate cake I could not take my eyes off.
"Whag iss wogf wigh yfou" she narrowed her eyes at me, mouth full and the sight was funny.
"Nothing. I just zoned out." I chuckled.
I picked up the fork to devour my dessert to every last bit. I even forgot my little situation. That's the effect chocolate could leave on me.
Until he approached me himself, while I waited for Daina outside the washroom.
"Hadiyya, if I'm not wrong?"
A cold shiver ran down my spine. I couldn't look him straight in the eyes.
"No? Ha ha...you must've got the wrong person." Real smooth Hadiyya, real smooth.
"I don't make mistakes."
"That must get boring." I retorted.
Silence.
He stared.
I gulped.
And stared.
I felt uneasy. Especially under his scrutiny. I couldn't think straight.
Then he broke it. "Do you remember me?"
Of course I do.
"No?"
"Aren't you bad at pretending." A slight smirk spread across his face.
I tried my best to put on a brave face but was failing miserably. I eyed the washroom, Daina must be out any minute. But I both wanted her, and did not want her to come. She's gonna have a lot of questions.
Besides, we were standing in a crowd full of people, there was even probably some paparazzi out here.
He wouldn't try anything right...?
"Oh I wouldn't wanna hurt you.."
Sigh.
"Just a few questions."
"Wh-what do you w-want?" Why why why. Why so shaky. He cannot do anything to you.
His face turned serious and he inhaled a sharp breath. He closed his eyes and slowly opened them again, each movement contributing to my anxiety.
"Do you remember the man who killed your mother?"
All the color drained from my face.
One sentence.
One sentence had cold fire running through my veins, and my lungs pumping in more air. One sentence was enough to rile me up and turn me into the monster I really am.
One sentence and the stupid old Hadiyya was gone. This was indeed what I was afraid of.
"What about him?" My voice was seething with unhidden venom. I raised my chin and met his eyes boldly.
As for him, the look that crossed his face was one that I could easily decipher.
Pure vengeance.
**********
When the party was over that night, I had two incredibly absurd events to think and dread about.
One, Yusuf, as he said his name was, was not indeed my enemy. He had a lot in common with me and he was not one of his men.
He said he would want to talk to me later, and I did not entirely like that idea because one, he was under the spotlight simply because he's the son of the stinking rich owner of Benz India Ltd. and two, I don't think it's the best of ideas to talk to a person from my past as I don't remember much of it.
