[A year and a half later…] "Mr. D'Souza, you are not understanding the situation. I only agree with you partly. This deal will definitely do my company some good, but we are still going to be doing no less if this deal doesn't go through. Can you say the same about your company though?" Claude spoke into the phone's speaker, his feet never stopping once as he made a beeline out of the airport's terminal. A small army of uniformed men followed him closely, their sharp eyes trained to detect any sort of danger.  "Now, you are talking." A heavy chuckle left the man's lips as his free hand came up to push his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. "I will send the finest of my men to take care of everything. All you need to do is make sure that there's nothing wrong on your side." The smile never left his lips even when he was bidding his goodbyes. "It was good doing business with you, Mr. D'Souza. I look forward to seeing you at the

"Hello, Dr. Lawrence. Fancy seeing you here."  Her entire body was glued to the spot, too frozen for her to even turn around and confirm her suspicion. But how could she ever doubt it? She knew the voice just the same as she knew the owner of it. She could never forget how it used to make her feel. Especially when he would utter sweet nothings into her ear, making her feel nothing but loved. Though those days were gone. They were now a part of a past which was meant to stay buried in the past. It was meant to be unearthed—not now, not ever.  "You won't even look at me now, huh?"  She was brought back to the present by the same deep, husky voice.  "No." She shook her head as she smiled to herself. "It's not like that. I wasn't expecting to see you here." She finally gathered enough courage to turn around and face the man who had been haunting her dreams for months now. Yet, h

"Claude?" Her voice brought him back to the present.  "Huh?" "You were saying something?" She reminded him and watched as an understanding look flashed across his features.  "Oh, yeah! I-I wanted to send you something back then but it was something personal so I decided to bring it to you myself. It was then I found out that you had moved cities." He paused for a while as he reminisced about the past. "I was so mad at myself back then for not keeping an eye on you."  "You know I would have hated it if you had me followed." She interrupted him.  "Why do you think I didn't assign guards for you?" Claude rolled his eyes. For him, her security was the only thing which mattered the most. So, instead of doing it himself, he talked to her father. The old man was kind enough to agree with it as long as Claude promised not to intervene.  Ayla

"I-I am so sorry." In between her loud huffs of breaths, she apologized to the man who was sitting in silence with his phone in his hand.  "Two hours? Really, Ayla?" He shook his head as a sigh of disbelief left his lips.  "I know, I am sorry. Why do you think that I am feeling bad here?" She covered the rest of the distance between them and settled on the chair across from him.  "You could have at least sent me a text to inform me that you were running late? I wouldn't have to sit here all alone, looking like a fool." Claude huffed out in annoyance as he pocketed his phone.  "I would have but I had no means of contacting you." She was genuinely feeling guilty about making him wait for so long. What bothered her the most was the fact that he was still waiting for her to arrive even after two hours.  "How so?" He narrowed his eyes. "Your phone was working

"I would have lost you forever."  "You are saying as if you have me in your life right now?" Ayla shook her head but her words didn't wipe off the downturned smile from Claude's face.  "You don't understand, Ayla." He sighed. "I would have lost you forever." He repeated his words from earlier again.  "What does that mean now?" She failed to see the gravity of the situation.  "I mean I would have lost you quite literally, as in the definition of the word lost." He leaned forward, burying his face in his hands. "You asked me why I couldn't risk exposing him to the police, no? It was because he used you to threaten me."  "How exactly?" A frown made itself evident in between her brows. "How did he use me to threaten you, Claude?" She was somewhat able to connect the dots together now, but she refused to accept the truth. It was too heavy for her to bear.