__________________________________
Content Warning: Sensitive Content
this Chapter contains sensitive content that may be unsuitable for certain readers.
__________________________________
While growing up, Ines never really felt that she lacked something, she was never short of money and influence being the only daugther of the richest family in the country, nor she was short of beauty since she luckily inherited all the best treats from both her parents.
Although she can't proudly say that she's the smartest person out there, but with money and the help from her parents and her "actually very smart" brother, most of her problems were solved.
She never had a shortage of friends, boyfriends, opportunities.. she could always easily get whatever she deemed "lacking" in her life.
That is until the day she realized she lacked something that can never be obtained .. she was lacking as a "person".
She remembers that day in detail, in fact, her whole family would never move on from it.
Her brother was already married for nearly a year at that point, she has never been a fan of Noursine, in fact, If she was given a chance she would rather get Noursine out of their lives since she has been nothing but trouble since she came. So.. seeing that the couple's already troubled marriage was heading to far worse lengths with every passing day Ines started to have a little hope that her brother will finally see how toxic his wife was, it was clear to the blind that he was failing to keep matters under control, she kept thinking that it was better and easier if he just got a divorce so soon, her mother shared her same opinion.
actually, Ines on many occasions gave a "helping" hand to let her brother see how his marriage was a big mistake and that it was better for everyone if they just got a divorce.
Indeed Eliyas loved Noursine, but after all the problems they had what love was left! once he leaves that toxic woman he definitely will find someone much better, this was what Ines sincerely believed.
But that day changed her view on matters drastically, it was a weekend, she was in the villa at the art room trying to release her stress by painting when she suddenly heard Eliyas loudly shouting:
_"Help! Please! Somebody call an ambulance!! Help!"
after Hearing this, and even before knowing what was happening, her heart already started beating faster out of terror.
Since she was already on the second floor, She could tell the voice was coming from Eliyas and Noursine's room's direction so she immediately ran towards it, but as she was about to reach her destination, her steps came to a halt when she saw that the floor right outside Eliyas's room was stained with blood, to be more precise, the floor had a lot of messy prints of shoes, and they were all bloody red.
As if this alone wasn't enough to send shivers to her bones, she saw few servants gathering around the room's open door and stepping on those bloody prints as if they couldn't even see them, or worse.. as if those prints were nothing compared to what was happening inside the room, Ines barely had anytime to gather her courage to walk further when a certain servant who has just reached the room shrieked horribly the moment she had a look inside through the open door.
hearing this frightening scream, Ines's feet became heavier that she could barely walk the rest of her way.
Arriving to the room.. She finally inderstood why the servant shrieked, she barely had the heart to look at what was happening in front of her eyes herself: Noursine was lying unconscious on the floor drowning in a flood of her own blood, looking paler than a sheet of paper.
While Eliyas was sitting on the ground beside her, his clothes were full of blood, he was hugging her to his chest and begging her to wake up.
Ines immediately had a strong surge to throw up, she has never witnessed something as horrible as this.
Eliyas has always been calm and composed, even in face of the most shocking of events, but that day, he was simply lost in his terror.
His hands were covered in blood and shaking nonstop, he continued to desperately call Noursine's name as if she would wake up, he was trembling violently and looking pale himself, it all looked so horrible that Ines, before even knowing what exactly happened, already started praying that Noursine just survives or else, clearly, her brother will never recover from this.
His phone was thrown on the floor beside him, the phone screen was turned on and covered with blood, he probably attempted to call an ambulance but he failed in his panic.
While Ines stepped further inside and was still looking at the phone, Eliyas attempted again to hold it and call for help, it seemed like he was so out of his wits that he didn't even notice there were other people in the room around him, the moment he held his phone with his trembling hands covered in blood, the little device slid and fell down on the ground again.
Someone shouted that they called an ambulance already and they were on the way, but Eliyas looked like he didn't hear a thing, he desperately tried to take his phone from the ground again, and again.. all in vain.
when Ines walked close enough to stand in front of him, he finally noticed her, so he lifted his head, he looked at her and begged:
_" Ines.. please...."
the rest of his words only came out as a choke, they weren't even audible for anyone to hear them.
the look on his face at that moment, was something that will come haunt Ines repeatedly in her nightmares, that extreme pallor and the utter fear and despair in his expression, she dreamed about that moment often after that day, and it still made her heart quiver every single time.
But in real life, when she actually lived this moment, she in fact couldn't and didn't do a thing to help her brother, instead, the surge to throw up suddenly became unbearable so she quickly ran to the bathroom and left her brother behind, even after emptying her stomach she instinctively refused to get out of the bathroom not to face that horrible scene again, because it was far beyond her tolerance, and only when Noursine was taken out of the room that she finally got out.
In the end, she left her brother alone at the moment of his life where he needed her help the most, she deeply regrets what she did, and it was because of this, that she felt for the first time how lacking and despicable of a person she was.
When she later reached the hospital, the whole family was already there, her mother was sitting with Nana and trying to calm down the old woman, while her father was busy doing damage control and trying to prevent this news from reaching the media and make Noursine's stay at the hospital as secretive and secure as possible, usually her brother takes care of such details, but then, how could he do that this time round, when Ines saw him.. her heart ached to see that he was silently sitting on the chair at the waiting area only absently staring at the space in front of him, literally gone of this world.
Even when Ines's father, Mr belguassem, tried to ask him about what happened to know what to say to the police who were already there to investigate, Eliyas still looked like if he wasn't even hearing what his father was saying, needless to mention that he didn't speak a word, no matter what everyone said and did they still failed to get even one word out from him.
his clothes and hands were still full of blood, although Ines's mother kept begging him to fix his appearance for the sake of Nana and the people who were curiously watching him, it seemed that her words couldn't even break their way into him, it was so heartbreaking to see him in that state that his mother quickly stopped nagging him to change his clothes and instead ended up giving him a tight hug while crying for him herself.
When the doctor came to meet the family finally bringing news to them, he informed them that Noursine lost the baby, the whole family except for Nana and Eliyas didn't even know Noursine was pregnant to begin with! that is to include the shocked Ines!
Still, she didn't even think of blaming her grief-stricken brother for hiding this truth from them, because this news seemed to devastate him as if there was any space left for him to be more devastated.
After receiving the news.. He finally went out of his state of absence and spoke for the first time.. he desperately begged the doctor with a barely heard whisper:
_"My wife.. Please save my wife."
In fact, it was only at that day that the Filladis really understood how deeply Eliyas was attached to his wife, Ines included, As she kept remembering everything she did to separate the couple she felt sickly horrible, why did she do that for?? if it was to make her brother happier than she clearly was doing the exact opposite of making him happy! she never even noticed that she was wrong, how could she be so lacking in judgment and so blinded?
Was she always this horrible of a person?
Noursine's situation was only getting worse with every passing moment, they were told they brought her so late to the hospital, since there was really nothing they could do Ines's father suggested that they go back home and resume their usual activities not to raise any sort of suspicions and attract people's attentions since it will only make the already difficult situation more challenging, finding that his suggestion was indeed making sense, they all left the hospital except for Eliyas and only decided to visit during visiting hours.
2 days later, as Ines was at the hospital genuinely praying for Noursine to make it, she was surprised when her mother pulled her aside and took her towards Noursine's room at the ICU, they were not allowed to enter the ICU unit, but after using a lot of "influence" they were allowed to stand outside the door and have a peek inside the room, as they did so, they saw the unconscious Noursine lying on a bed there connected to all sorts of devices, while Eliyas was sitting on a chair beside her fixedly looking at her while his tears fell silently. it seemed like he lost a lot of weight and aged several years in just 2 days, he didn't make the sligthest move.. he just kept looking at her as if the moment he looks away she will be gone forever, As Ines watched her brother being in such awful state she asked:
_" Aren't we not allowed to go inside? how is he there?"
_" Noursine's condition is only worsening, the doctors are saying she most likely won't make it, so they allowed Eliyas to see her, maybe this will be his last time."
Ines barely had time to digest the awful feeling she had when her mother continued:
_" Wallahi if Noursine makes it I will never cause her any troubles anymore, Wallahi I'll accept her as my son's wife from the deepest of my heart, I will not ask anything from her if only she survives this, may Allah have mercy on us.. if she dies today my son will be lost with her!"
But the damage they did was already irreparable, even after Noursine -to god's mercy- was saved later, nothing was never the same again.
And even when Ines and her mother never tried to hurt her anymore, and wished and prayed for her to be forgiving and live normally with Eliyas again, Noursine still asked for a divorce.. and left.
That accident was truly an eye opener for Ines, she realized how awful she was and promised herself to be someone better, she vowed to never wrong someone again in her life..
that is until Akrem Houdil walked into her life, and became her next victim and regret..
Author's note:
kindly refer to Chapter 13, it's closely related to this epilogue.