Anna finished getting ready and stepped out of the house, only to notice one of the guards speaking to a woman at the gate.
Her brows drew together in curiosity as she walked toward them.
"What happened?" she asked, imdiately drawing both the guard’s and the woman’s attention.
Anna studied the woman for a few seconds. She didn’t look like a beggar or soone with ill intent. In fact, she appeared well put together, though there was a hint of urgency in her posture.
"Madam," the guard said, turning to Anna, "this lady says she wants to et Mariam."
He hesitated before adding, "But Madam Mariam isn’t ho."
Anna looked back at the woman. Now that she was paying closer attention, she noticed the desperation flicker across her face. The mont she heard Mariam wasn’t ho, her expression visibly fell.
Anna’s instincts stirred.
"That’s fine," she said calmly. "She can wait inside until Mariam returns."
The guard nodded in relief and stepped aside.
Anna turned to the woman with a polite smile. "Please co in, Ms—"
"Dorothy," the woman replied quickly.
Anna inclined her head and gestured toward the house. "Please, Ms. Dorothy. You’re welco to wait inside."
As Dorothy stepped past her, Anna couldn’t shake the feeling that this visit was anything but ordinary.
***
They soon found themselves seated in the living hall.
Anna sat across from Dorothy, her posture relaxed, but her eyes missed nothing. Dorothy sat upright on the edge of the couch, her hands clasped tightly in her lap, fingers twisting against each other every few seconds. She kept glancing around the room, not in awe, but with the cautious alertness of soone who felt out of place.
Anna noticed it all.
"Would you like so tea?" Anna asked gently, hoping to ease the tension.
"That would be nice," Dorothy replied after a brief pause, her voice polite but strained.
Once the tea was served and the silence stretched again, Anna leaned back slightly, offering a warm smile.
"You seed quite eager to et Mariam," she said conversationally. "May I ask how you know her?"
Dorothy’s shoulders stiffened for a fraction of a second before she answered.
"We were neighbors," she said. "A long ti ago."
Anna nodded, as she could finally make sense with her response.
"She must have left quite an impression on you," she added lightly. "You looked... disappointed when you heard she wasn’t ho." she joked trying to ease the tension.
Dorothy lowered her gaze to the teacup in her hands. "She helped once," she said quietly. "More than she probably realizes."
Sothing in her tone made Anna’s attention sharpen, but she masked it behind her friendly smile.
"I see," Anna replied softly. "Mariam has always been kind that way."
Dorothy smiled faintly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She took a small sip of tea, her hands trembling just enough for Anna to notice.
The only ti Mariam had ever helped her was when Dorothy first ca to live in that place with her children. Her husband had died due to liver failure, leaving her alone with two young kids to raise, with no support and no one to lean on.
If not for Mariam introducing her to the job she was currently doing, Dorothy had no idea how she would have survived. That was also the reason she felt indebted to Mariam, especially when it ca to everything happening with Kira.
"I think I should leave," Dorothy suddenly announced, catching Anna off guard.
"But Mariam hasn’t arrived yet," Anna said, confused, watching the woman fidget restlessly.
"I will co so other day," Dorothy replied hastily. She turned to leave, her movents rushed and unsteady.
"Wait," Anna said, instinctively reaching out.
Dorothy panicked when Anna caught her wrist and gently pulled her back to stand in front of her. The mont Anna noticed how pale the woman’s face had gone, she imdiately loosened her grip. Dorothy pulled her hand back and clutched it to her chest, breathing unevenly.
"I don’t know what’s worrying you so much," Anna said softly, careful with her tone. "But trust , I was only trying to ease things between us."
She had not ant to frighten her, yet even Anna could tell sothing was terribly wrong. Dorothy had been nervous from the mont she walked in, and now that unease was impossible to ignore.
Dorothy swallowed hard, her fingers curling into the fabric of her dress as guilt settled heavily in her chest. She had never been good at hiding her emotions, and now they spilled over in her eyes, shimring with unshed tears. Anna’s gentle tone only made it worse.
"I... I’m sorry," Dorothy whispered, her voice trembling. "I didn’t an to act so strangely."
She lowered her gaze, unable to et Anna’s eyes. The weight of everything she knew pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe. But then she rembered sothing as she looked at Anna.
’The daughter of the woman Kira had attacked.’
The mory struck her sharply, like a sudden blow. She rembered the news, the chaos, the fear in Mariam’s voice that day. She rembered how wrong it had all felt, how she had prayed it would not spiral into sothing worse. And now fate had placed her here, face to face with the very person who had every right to know everything.
Dorothy’s chest tightened.
"Your mother was the one Kira attacked that night."
Anna’s eyes widened the mont the words left Dorothy’s mouth. The incident had been all over the dia, splashed across every channel and headline, so it should not have surprised her. Yet the more Anna studied the woman standing in front of her, the more she realized this was not sothing Dorothy had learned from the news.
There was fear there. And guilt.
"How is she now?" Dorothy asked, her voice careful, almost fragile.
She hesitated, her lips parting as if she wanted to say more but did not know how. After days of wrestling with her conscience, she had finally gathered the courage to speak to Mariam about the man she had seen that night, the one who had taken Kira away.
He was dangerous. Dorothy had known it the instant their paths crossed.
Even rembering him now made her spine prickle with unease. She had only seen him a few tis, yet each encounter left her shaken, a cold tremor settling deep in her bones, as if her instincts were screaming at her to stay away.
Anna stared at the woman for a few seconds, trying to process everything that had just been said. She was about to respond when the sudden ring of Dorothy’s phone cut through the tense silence.
Dorothy flinched.
"H-Hello," she answered, pressing the phone to her ear.
Whatever she heard on the other end drained the color from her face. Her eyes widened in terror, her breathing turning shallow as if the air had been knocked out of her lungs.
"I... it’s him," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I know it’s him."
A sob escaped her as her fingers loosened around the phone. It slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a dull sound, leaving Anna frozen in place, confusion and alarm crashing over her all at once.
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