Thick silence descended upon them like a curtain, blanketing the atmosphere with its eerie presence. Najmah pushed off the door frame and advanced towards him with hesitant steps, her mind muddled with the events of the last few hours, unable to comprehend what he had just uttered. "What did you say?" she came to stand beside him, raising a hand to cradle his face but he inched away from her, leaving her hand hanging in the air.  "I want you to leave Najmah," he enunciated, looking at anywhere but her.  "What do you mean leave? Leave the room? Leave the house? Leave Istanbul?"  "Istanbul."  "What? Aslan, what is going on?

Kano, NigeriaNajmah lay numbly at her side, curled into a ball as she stared unblinkingly at the swishing curtains of her room. She was paralyzed with hurt, hurt that she had given him her all and now, she was left with nothing.The second time they had kissed, he asked her to trust him; that he would never hurt her. Who would have thought that they were just empty promises. And for what? Just to have her high on his affection and leave her dry? What could she have done to deserve such treatment from him? He should have let her be, he should have divorced her when the time of their agreement had elapsed. But no, he didn't. He decided to toil with her emotions just to let her go in the end.Everything he told her was a lie, and she found it hard to believe that she was so stupid to think that it was all true. She hated herself for wishing that he had followed her, that he had a good reason for doing what he did, but what c

Lale's hand faltered as she struggled to sketch in the book she was holding, guilt gnawing at her conscious. She tore the paper and curled it into a ball, throwing it into the other piles of her messed up sketches. That had been her state ever since her talk with her brother.Could she have been too harsh on him? It was his fault anyway, he was the one who had made the stupid mistake of letting Najmah go, and she was only doing what a responsible sister would have done. Lale knew that telling him he was the same as the man who had fathered them was rather too harsh. In her defense, he was so stubborn and perhaps that was the only thing that could break through his charade of nonchalance.Sighing, she dropped her pencil and leaned her head on the headboard mulling over their conversation. She only hoped he would forgive her for what she had said. Lale picked up her vibrating phone from the nightstand, a smile gracing her lips before morphin

Swinging her legs on the ledge, Najmah couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to jump off the balcony of the two storey building.Either one of two results would occur; if she didn't die on impact then she would surely break her neck and maybe a couple more bones if she was lucky.'Man, that would definitely suck.' she shivered, drawing her shawl closer not because she was cold or anything but the thought of breaking her bones or initiating her death brought shivers down her spine.She wondered what others who had taken the leap thought in between the moment of letting go and making impact. Did they ever regret the decision of ending their lives? Did they ever look at the ground as they surged towards it and wondered what it might have been like if they hadn't jumped? Maybe not."Najmah what are you doing?" Hanifa gasped, rooted in the doorway."Just thinking," Najmah replied coo

There were moments in her life when all she ever wanted was to talk to someone, someone who understood her and there were moments when all she wanted was to be left alone. There were also moments when all she wanted was...something but nothing; she had no idea what she wanted, but she knew she wanted something.Najmah paced the length of her room, wondering about what she wanted at that moment. Her heart was in turmoil and her mind was muddled, her hands numb from all the painting she had done from the day before and the day before that.Mayhap she had exerted too much pressure on herself she thought as she wriggled her hands. A searing pain wound its way through her whole body and with a sigh, she arched her back to relieve herself of the pain.She dropped down on her bed with a huff and stared at the ceiling, refusing to think about the events that transpired the day before.As if pricked by a thorn, she