TatianaThe words that spewed out my mouth burned in my chest, louder than the pounding of my heart. I couldn’t keep the fury bottled up any longer from when Hasan had defended Miss Treton and now that I overheard them flirting, it just enraged me more. “You want to fuck your teacher now? How shameless can you be?” Hasan’s ‘what-on-earth-are-you-on-about’ look felt like a knife twisting deeper into a wound that wouldn’t heal.“You think I want to sleep with her?” Hasan questioned, disbelieved etched on his face. He begins to walk out of the living room when I yelled after him, mimicking his tone. “You think I want to sleep with her?” I spat. “You just let her waltz into the house like she owns the place. You expect me to sit there and watch after you openly flirted with you and you sat there thinking with your lazy ass dick?”Hasan scoffed, the casual way he dismissed me only fuelled my anger more. “Taty, you’re crazy. She’s my tutor. OUR mom gave her the go ahead. Get over yourself
HasanThe metallic taste of blood still lingered on my tongue.I hadn’t meant to bite Tatiana that hard. But the rage I felt, coupled with frustration and guilt had driven me to that kiss. My fingers still tingled from touching her face, and my groin throbbed from where she’d kneed me. Fair trade, maybe. But my pride was wrecked. Again.I stood in the middle of the living room, chest heaving, Tatiana’s voice echoing in my head like a curse I couldn’t cleanse.‘I wish Mom would have let you rot in that orphanage.’That one hit differently. Deeper and dirtier, like salt in a wound that had barely begun to heal. And then, right when I was about to kiss her again, and like life loved nothing more than to test my limits, I heard a polite little throat-clear behind me.“Am I interrupting something?”I turned, heart still pounding, coming face to face with who had spoken up. Miss Treton stood at the entrance, clutching a leather folder to her chest. Her navy coat hugged her figure like it ha
TatianaAs soon as I heard Hasan’s car pull up in the driveway, I staggered downstairs. Emily had sent me a message sometime in the morning, where she detailed how Hasan had accused her of being the mastermind behind the video and the photos.I had been raging with anger, which subsided after a while, but with Hasan back, the anger came spiralling back a thousandfold.Emily was my best friend. My soul sister. We were moulded from the same clay, and I knew she would never do something like that, despite me having hurt her in the most despicable way. So, having Hasan accuse her of something so ruthless; when she has been nothing but understanding, is something I could not tolerate.I was already downstairs, and as soon as Hasan walked through the doors with his backpack thrown over his shoulder, I marched toward him. Standing close to him, I used all the strength I could muster and pushed him against his chest, but the asshole was too strong and too huge to even budge.“What the hell ar
HASANAt school, I am wary of everyone who smiles at me. Tatiana might have said that the blackmailer who came to her while she was in the toilet had the voice of a woman, but I was still suspicious of everyone. I mean, anyone could fake a voice these days.While classes drag on, I shift my gaze from everyone in class, analyzing why they would want to hurt us. I started with the most obvious ones.Dave and Emily.Although Dave and I haven’t really spoken in a while—and by "a while," I mean since the retreat—he still had reason to hurt Taty. I mean, I did publicly humiliate him for kissing her, and although he swore never to, I couldn’t entirely rule him out.And Emily, she was her best friend. She has been by her side since the video went public, and Tatiana had already confirmed that I was the boy in the video. She was understanding. Too understanding, if you ask me.I mean, you find out your best friend has been lying to your face and fucking your boyfriend—well, supposed boyfriend—
Tatiana“Hasan! Where are you running off t—”The words blur out as I stop at the balcony, a few feet away from the stairs, watching Hasan’s interaction with Mom. His shoulders look tense—more tense than they had been when he was freaking out over whatever he saw on his phone.Mom’s gaze meets mine, and I feel goosebumps all over me. Her stare is cold and full of disappointment, like they have been since the video leaked.She pulls her gaze away from me, and I watch her lips move before she walks past Hasan. Hasan turns, his gaze following Mom’s behind as she mounts the stairs, and when they finally collide with mine, he shrugs. I squint my eyes in a bid to communicate with him but quickly square my shoulders when Mom meets me at the balcony.“Why are you here?” she questions in a tone that would make even the toughest soldier vomit all war secrets.“Nothing. I saw your car pull up in the driveway, and I thought I’d come help with your bag,” I lie, unable to meet her gaze.Mom stares
Hasan“What do you mean ‘gone’?” she asked, sitting up straighter. The panic on her face made it difficult to continue, but now that she was starting to feel comfortable with me around, I decided being entirely honest – no matter how bad the situation was – was so much better than lying to her.“I had them stored in a secure folder,” I explained. “Password protected. I checked the day the video leaked… and the folder was empty.”Her breath caught. “How is that even possible?”“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “No one knew about it. I labeled the folder where the videos were in such a way that if I ever lost my drive, no one would access it. But I was wrong.”Tatiana’s eyes narrowed slightly. “So what? You think someone hacked you?”The panic I’d been bottling up burst open then. My voice came out louder than I meant it to—sharper.“I’m being blackmailed, Tatiana!”She flinched, and I hated that. I hated the way my voice made her recoil, like I was another thing she had to brace herself