She has been keeping that secret in her heart for years and years, risking her every relationship. She has been accused. She has been hurt. She has been scarred. But she never defends herself because that means she has to reveal her dreaded past. So...
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"Oh my God," Zarmina gasped as she stared at the photo scattered of Ayla's feet. "What the hell?" She picked up the stained photos.
"He is going to hurt Zach." She stumbled back on the bed. "What am I going do, Zarmina?" She covered her face with her hands.
"You need to tell him. He needs to know and be careful." Zarmina locked the door behind her just in case if someone decided to barge in. She handed a glass of water to Ayla then started picking up the scattered photos.
"I can't tell him. He will ask questions that I don't have answers to."
"You do. You have the answers to all his questions, you just don't want to answer them. I don't know what happened between you two, but that man is crazy in love with you. Like it's almost unrealistic. You seem the same as well. God, the way you guys look at each other..." Ayla's head shot up as she heard the girl in front of her. "You both seem to forget all around you. So yes you do have the answers to his questions. You just don't want the confrontation."
She looked away, knowing that her roommate of a few days was right. Zarmina's light brown eyes held so much truth even without knowing anything of her past as she calmly sat there on the floor picking up the stained pieces of her past.
"From your reaction, it doesn't look like you are seeing something like this for the first time."
Ayla shook her head, ruefully.
"Whoever this is," Zarmina held up the envelop, "will not stop if they stalked you like this so discretely. You have to tell him, Ayla. He needs to know. He deserves to know. If for nothing else at least warn him to be safe and cautious of his surroundings. If anything ever happened to him, you will not forgive yourself so tell him."
"If it wasn't for me, none of this would happen to him. I should have never came here." She stared at the now enclosed envelope.
"You think closing your eyes and running away from all this will stop? You have seen it before I suppose, did it stop?"
"No." She gulped. Her hands curled around the edge of the bed. She stared at her boots clad feet. "It doesn't stop."
"How long?"
"Eleven years." Ayla bit inside of her lip, stopping herself from crying. "It stopped in between," When I killed him, She wanted to say. "But it started again since I reconnected with Lala, Rabail, and Zach."
"Damn it... Eleven years. That's too long to live in fear." Zarmina gasped with sadness. "You have to tell him. He needs to know. You'll have plenty of time before the party at the Palace. Talk to him."
"I can't... I can't go. He'll be in danger. I will cause him danger."
"What about you, Ayla? Who gets to save you?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you. You need to save yourself before you can save anyone around you. So pull it through, turn the damn tables, get your people together, get the man you love in your confidence, and fuck this person over." She threw the envelope on the bed. She really sounded like a Princess or a ruler at the moment. "And the Palace is the safest place for you guys right now. I'll ask Dad to send more security with the cars okay?"
