Aisha's mind was a frantic knot of guilt and fear. The low murmur of her parents, Valentina and Alistair, discussing her wedding date with Karmen had been a constant background noise since the previous day.
While the silence between her and Karmen, following their argument last night, only amplified her distress. He hadn't called, and she hadn't dared to reach out.
'I'll be exploiting Karmen's genuine feelings if I keep asking him for help, relying on him to solve my problems. It's been selfish of me from the start,' she thought, her fingers anxiously picking at a loose thread on her sleeve. 'I have to tell my parents I can't marry him. I just can't.'
But then, the ice-cold memory of her mother's threats, Valentina's words, flashed through her mind. 'I have to make a decision before it's too late. My mother wouldn't actually harm her, would she? She was just saying that to scare me... right?'
