"You must come with us, Victoria," Ellie's tone was firm.
"But wouldn't I be an awkward extra among all of your friends? Besides, I need to make some preparations for the deal Victor had expanded with my company," Victoria tried as softly and logically as possible not to accept the firm invitation.
"Don't be such a bore, Vicks girl—"
"Vicks girl?" Victoria was flabbergasted.
"You're my friend, too. We sealed this new bond right when you helped me with the period cramps reliever, whatever its name," Ellie was passionate about her speech. "And all the preparatory work can be done successfully in work days. Now, don't tell me you don't get a day off each week!"
Now, Victoria had no other way but to accept the invitation as she was trapped perfectly.
The truth was that Victor would be there. And Kate, too.
Now, Kate was an incredible person. Victoria had no doubt about it.
Yet, for some reason, how Victor was with Kate always made Victoria feel awkward.
A question persistently surfaced in those moments—were they attracted to each other—Victor and Kate?
If the answer came out positive, Victoria feared she had disrupted the destiny of their love.
But it was always a possibility, wasn't it? Victor could be in love with someone even when uttering his marriage vows to her. After all, he wasn't a willing participant in it.
Victoria returned home quite late that evening after another stroll around the area with her camera. Well, bit was more like a photo drive, as her injured foot wouldn't let her walk for long. So, she just aimlessly drove around and got down wherever necessary, not getting too far from the car.
While clicking some great shots, an idea came to her mind to make a story about homeless people. It was potentially going to be a hit, just like her last story about struggling models, which the EDN had appreciated a lot and paid her a hefty amount for it. Undoubtedly, crossing paths with George, the self-proclaimed king of the homeless, had a huge motivational part behind this idea.
Every coincidence brings a fated destination.
Stepping out of the elevator, Victoria walked down the corridor to Victor's apartment. It was slowly turning normal for her, unlike the first couple of days after the wedding.
Someone was wailing badly—there was a frightened and dismal quality to the voice.
Her steps slowed down due to her trying to locate the source. It was coming from Sumaia's apartment. She realized and paused in front of her door.
In a state of uncertainty, Victor stood there for some time, not knowing whether to knock on her door and ask her what was wrong. Soon, that uncertainty transformed into alarm as a male voice also sounded alongside the sailing, and it was fast nearing the door.
Turning around, Victoria hurtled toward Victor's apartment door—limping and huffing quietly. However, she didn't close the door completely. Through a minuscule gap, she watched.
She recalled the bruise on Sumaia's face that morning and stayed extra alert, extra quiet. Surely, the man she had seen coming out of Sumaia's was not a good person. What if this was the same man?
And indeed, a man in dark clothing like that day walked out—the one she had witnessed blurrily through the peephole.
Sumaia couldn't be seen today. However, her gasping cries were starker as they wafted out through the now-open door.
Victoria covered her mouth and stifled the gasp of surprise as the man's face ultimately came into her line of view.
Adi!
What was he doing here visiting Sumaia frequently?
With a loud thud that signaled his wrath, he closed the door and left with long, loud strides.
Victoria, too, closed her door entirely now that she had discovered his identity and was a bit fearful about getting caught by him right at this moment. Until she heard the ping of the elevator doors closing, she waited in silence. And then she shot out into the corridor and started banging on Sumaia's door.
Sumaia's wailing fell quiet suddenly. Of course, because she heard the banging. Yet, there was no movement from the other side.
When Victoria twisted the knob, she realized Sumaia didn't lock the door after Adi slammed the door close.
She thought for a second only—then she opened the door and walked in, making up her mind. The poor girl might have gotten herself into a big mess with that evil excuse of a man.
The apartment had the same layout as Victor's. However, the living and dining areas didn't have enough furniture a person would normally need to spend their daily life. Unlike the other day, most of the lights were switched on to give her a clear view. The sitting area consisted of a few cushions. The dining area was entirely empty except for a small refrigerator next to the kitchen door.
Was the girl new here? Victoria wondered.
Although it was not an apartment complex for highly affluent people, the rent still required a steady monthly income. So, the chances of Sumaia being completely broke were not possible.
Or was it?
Some circumstances make even the most impossible things possible.
Sniffling sounded from the bathroom.
"Sumaia..." Victoria walked to the slightly ajar bathroom door. She wrapped his knuckles in it. "It's Victoria. I must be trespassing, but I heard you—" she skipped the word crying with a slight pause and continued, "The door was not locked, and I was worried about you. So, I came in without your permission to check in on you. You alright, Sumaia?"
Even the sniffling had stopped now.
Victoria asked again, this time with urgency, wondering if something had truly gone massively wrong.
"I don't need help," came a demure, trembling voice a few long seconds later. And it signaled the opposite of the words uttered. "Go away."
Victoria's guts said the girl needed someone right that instant. That voice of a suffering human soul confirmed it.
So, she pushed the door open and stepped in, and what she witnessed numbed her for a second. It took her back to memory lane.
She shook her head, clearing images of the past that returned with a dark, evil hue.
"Sumaia!"
The girl was half-dressed in a pair of loose trousers and a bra—all white. This made the bruises about the upper half of her body clearly visible to Victoria.
On the bathroom floor, Sumaia gripped a broken shard of glass tightly in her right hand, which was obviously part of that smashed wine bottle lying next to her, rolling on the floor. She gripped the shard of glass so tight her skin had sliced open from the force, and blood trailed down her wrist. Nevertheless, the most horrific thing was that she was aiming for the end of that glass shard on her other wrist, where a slice at the vein of life could turn into the last disaster for her.
"What the bloody hell are you doing, Sumaia?" Victoria yelled. "Drop it now!"
There was no reply from the girl. She just stared at Victoria blankly.
"Please don't," Victoria inched closer to her, avoiding stepping on that smashed bottle. She had already created history with glass shards. Now she needed to save this girl from creating another without injuring herself.
But Sumaia seemed determined.
Cautiously, Victoria knelt in front of Sumaia on the floor. And unfortunately, she felt a small shard of glass piercing into her flesh. It was her good leg, damn it!
However, she pushed her own pain away as a more dire issue was at hand now.
From this close, she had an even better view of all the bruises and cuts that decorated Sumaia's body. "What did Adi do to you?" Victoria's voice shook.
His name brought Sumaia out of the daze she was in. "How—" she stammered. "How do you know his name? How do you know him?"
Sighing, Victoria caught her hand. "I'll tell you. But first, let me take this," and grabbing a hand towel, she carefully took the piece of glass from her hand and threw it away.
Around twenty minutes later, the girls sat inside Sumaia's bedroom. They sat on the mattress that was on the floor, as Sumaia did not even have a bed.
As there were no wardrobes also, Victoria guessed the girl probably kept her clothes and other belongings inside those two luggage bags at the corner of the room.
There is a low table, however, in front of the window. There were some sitting cushions on one side of the table and a small Matt spread on the other.
Victoria had thrown a bath towel over Sumaia's shoulders after cleaning her wounds. She insisted on taking Sumaia to the hospital, but the stubborn girl denied it firmly.
Now, sitting next to her, Victoria revealed how she knew Adi. "I hope my solid kick left permanent damage on his twinky," she said at the end of her story.
For the first time today, a smile cracked up on Sumaia's face. It made Victoria discreetly sigh in relief. It was not a full-blown laugh, alright, but they were definitely going somewhere.
"Are you always this cool?" Sumaia asked. "This full of light?"
Lowering her head, Victoria looked down at her hands. She played with her fingers, saying, "Light is always on the other side of darkness. They're like the two sides of the same coin," she looked up and stared at the bruise on Sumaia's face.
Noticing where Victoria was staring, Sumaia moved her head in a way that strands of her hair slipped down to cover it.
"I've worn marks like them the number of times I can't count," Victoria's voice was distant, as though it was an echo of a distant place. "Today, seeing you is like encountering a mirror for me where I found a glimpse of my younger self." She sighed, clearing off the daze, and smiled coldly. "It turns out a wrong parent can't give you the right memories. Also, Adi attacked me after I attempted murder on his twinky. The bruises from that incident still remain, although they are lighter now."
As an act of empathy, Sumaia's hand reached out to hold Victoria's. The trouble in the girl's eyes had lightened, Victoria noticed. The reason, certainly, was the fact that they both shared pain of a similar kind. The relatability caused the walls around Sumaia to collapse.
"Back in my home country, my parents fixed my wedding with this man double my age right after I finished 12th grade. My family is financially average. However, they have a history of marrying off their daughters early—with or without the daughters' consent and to the men of their choice for many generations, and they refuse to get out of this sick system. But I had dreams in my eyes and craved to take control of my own life," there was a dazed but troubled look in Sumaia's eyes. "So, in the newspaper, I found this agency that could recruit women as foreign workers with zero investments from the interested workers' sides. It said housekeeping, caregiver to the elderlies, and some other professions. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to get a job fast that wouldn't require any instant education or monetary investment on my part and would keep me far away from my family's grip—"
It was Victoria's turn to hold Sumaia's hand firmly. She didn't disrupt her.
"It looked Godsend. A solution to all my problems, but it turned out these evil people had set up traps for fools like me." Her face tightened, and brows furrowed in despise.
Victoria's eyes glossed, hearing how this innocent girl's story turned for the worst as she described how she was brought to the states and forced into prostitution.
Adi was her first client. He was her abuser and her escape from that hell. He was also someone who promised her a way out of her peril. That he was an actual prince gave her the impression of a fairytale — her own personal fairytale.
However, her innocent soul wasn't aware that not all princes are heroes. Some are villains, rescuing only to ruin.
"It was all going good for a few days when he brought me to this apartment under his name and gave me some money to survive. But soon, other shades, uglier ones, started to surface—" she paused for a moment and let out a shuddering breath. "Sometimes, he started appearing here drunk, and his touches would turn violent. And he has these weird issues regarding women working. He has restricted me from working to earn my own livelihood—"
That last bit Victoria could very well relate to. So, that information didn't surprise her.
"His constant mistreatment, abuse, and restrictions have been making it necessary for me to sever my ties with him. This solidified for me when one night, he drunkenly shared with me that he had gotten engaged to someone who would match his royal status." Sumaia laughed sardonically. "He never planned to marry me."
Victoria exclaimed, "Just thinking or planning to break your ties with him won't do, dear. You need to implement it. I know that guy. You should stay as far from him as you can—"
"Why do you think I'm covered from head to toe with bruises and blood," Sumaia chuckled with a sarcasm that felt too sad, too helpless. "I'm an illegal immigrant and can't even call the cops to save myself. And now ADI's threatening to report me to call the cops on me himself or get me back to the place he rescued me from. I have no idea which place would be better or safer for me—my family back in my home country, that disgusting place where women are mere products or services for men, or this apartment as Adi's secret mistress forever."
In silence, both the girl remained.
Victoria realized there were people in a more tremendous mess than her.
While all the other options felt too risky, Victoria suggested to Sumaia what she herself would have chosen, "Then you need to run, Sumaia."
Sumaia stared at her. And by looking into her eyes, Victoria realized that this idea had indeed crossed her mind.
"It's a big country, and if you really plan it well, it can be possible to run away to a distant place safely while wiping out all the traces on the way..." And Victoria trailed off along the way.
Was it truly the only way for this girl? Was a stunt similar to this—the only way for herself?
~
Word Count: 2364
~
A/N:
Hello everyone,
I safely arrived in Japan on the 26th of last month. However, I had a high fever while traveling (thank god it was not covid). I also fell down badly on the airline's bus during my transit. I'm truly grateful to the journalist and a kind woman who helped me--they were on the same flights. Then started the nosebleed for several days, I don't know if it is because of the fever, the jetlag, or my falling down. Please, pray for my fast recovery as I've so many places to visit and write about all of them to you guys, and I can't wait. Anyways, here I've started writing again.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter.
Please let me know your views.
Do you like Sumaia's character? Do you like her track? Most importantly, do you like the solution/suggestion Victoria has given her?
Please don't forget to vote, comment, share! Fan/follow to get notified whenever I update.
Lots of love,
Lara.