I returned to my apartment in the city two days later, and I felt like a new woman. Gone was the sad, tearful mess that had run away to her parents’ house when things got tough in the city with a boy, and back was the Yasemin I knew and loved before I had ever met Massimo Mancini.
I was excited to be back in classes from tomorrow and most importantly, to see my friends. I had hoped to start it off by ordering in food with Luciana, but she had texted me earlier to say that she would be spending the rest of the week at her boyfriend’s place since his roommate was out of town until Monday. I was a little disappointed, but without a doubt would have done the same if I had a boyfriend. But I didn’t, so I couldn’t.
I was glad to be back, but that break was very much needed.
To treat myself, I ordered myself a large pizza and some fries, and while I waited for it to be delivered, I got in the shower. There was nothing better than taking a shower before climbing into bed for the night.
Dressed in only an oversized shirt, I towel dried my hair as I walked to my room. I had briefly been in here before when I dropped off my bags and grabbed a shirt and towel for after my shower, and I hadn’t paid attention to anything, but something didn’t feel quite right.
Call it a sixth sense, but I could tell that someone had been in my room since I had been away. I had never felt this way before in this apartment, and I could tell it wasn’t Luciana either as she hadn’t been here since Monday herself.
I pursed my lips and glanced around the room. Everything looked just like how I had left it Sunday night when I left, but I could just tell that something wasn’t quite right.
It was the small things. For instance, there was a small dent on my bed, as if someone had sat there. My desk chair was also angled slightly to the right which I never did. My pile of textbooks which I usually kept in one tall pile at the corner of my desk, pushed against the wall and where the windowsill started, was no longer in the corner. It was more central, as if someone had pulled them to have a flick through them.
There had definitely been someone in here, but I sincerely doubted that it was Luciana.
I gnawed on my bottom lip as I mulled over the thought. Giving in with a sigh, I reached for my phone and went to my messages.
Yasemin: Did you tidy my room while I was away or something?
She texted me back a few minutes later.
Luciana: No
Luciana: I closed your window when you texted me on Monday, but that was the only time
Yasemin: Okay, thanks
Luciana: Is everything alright?
Yasemin: Yeah
Yasemin: I think I just forgot the messy state I left my room in when I left
Yasemin: I can’t seem to find anything
Luciana replied with a laughing emoji and clicked off my phone before dropping it on the bed. It wasn’t true that I couldn’t find anything. The issue was that my room didn’t feel natural, and far from the state that I had left it in. But if Luciana told me that she hadn’t gone through my stuff, then I believed her. She hadn’t done it once before in all the time that we’d been living together, and I sincerely doubted that she would start to do it now.
It wasn’t a big deal that my belongings had been shifted around slightly, and perhaps it was me in all my rush to leave from here on Sunday night, but it really wasn’t that big of a deal. And when the notification flashed on my phone that the pizza delivery man had just parked up, all thoughts of someone being in my room vanished from my mind.
I sat in front of the TV in the living room as I worked my way through the pizza. Three slices were usually enough for me but when my phone started blowing up halfway through the movie, I nibbled on a fourth slice as I texted my friends on the group chat.
Rizwan: When do you get back, Yas?
Rizwan: Classes just aren’t fun without you
Yasemin: I actually got back today
Rizwan: Thank God!
Rizwan: We have Brown tomorrow, and I couldn’t imagine having to go through her class without you
Yasemin: Professor Brown is the most boring person I know
Yasemin: Don’t worry, Riz
Yasemin: I would never put you through such torture
Tia: Umm…hello?
Tia: When did you start leaving the city without telling us?
Ethan: We were worried about you, Yas
Nala: Tia was especially worried about you
Yasemin: Sorry, guys
Yasemin: I didn’t mean to make you worry
Yasemin: I just needed to get away from the city and everything for some time
Not even a second passed by before my phone starting ringing. I didn’t need to check the caller ID to know who it would be.
“I was really worried about you,” Tia sighed as soon as I picked up the phone. “But I know what it feels like to be so overwhelmed by everything that you just needed to get away. I just wish you would have told us. Or at least one of us, so we would know that you’re safe.”
“I know, Tia. I’m sorry,” I apologised, my lips turning down into a small pout.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“Not really,” I murmured. “I spoke to mama about it a lot these past two days and now that I’m back, I just want to leave everything behind me and move on.”
“If that’s what you want, then I can respect that,” Tia told me even though that I knew she was absolutely dying to ask me about what had happened. “Even though I’m desperate to know what happened, I’ll respect your boundaries and keep my questions to myself.”
A second passed. I was surprised when it stretched into two seconds but then she caved by the third and all I could do was laugh.
“Can you at least hint to me what happened?” Tia whined. “Did something happen at the party after you went outside after Riccardo?” she asked, her voice growing quiet and serious the more she spoke. “I haven’t seen you since the party and when you texted on Monday to say that you had headed back home for a few days, I felt so guilty for not following you out outside then. I’m so sorry, Yas. I won’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”
“Oh, Tia,” I sighed, my lips tugging down at the corners. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Thankfully, nothing happened but since we’re being honest here, it was close to happening.
“What do you mean?” she gasped, and I had to gulp and take in a deep breath before I told her the truth about what happened on Sunday. Or at least as close to the truth as I could without infiltrating myself with he who shall not be named.
“After I followed Riccardo outside that night at the party, we spoke for a bit. He was upset that I had slept with someone recently and he blamed me for calling up that guy even though it was a dare.”
“He doesn’t have the right to speak to you like that,” Tia was quick to jump to my defence. “One, you’re literal strangers and two, he’s throwing so many red flags right now, babe.”
“Yes, I totally agree! Anyway, we spoke for a while and then he kissed me. Admittedly, I didn’t push him away, but it didn’t feel quite right. I felt a little sick so I pushed him away and went out to the front to get some fresh air.”
“Please don’t tell me what I think you’re about to say,” Tia whispered, her voice trembling with emotions.
“I won’t go into the details but long story short, it turned out that Riccardo had slipped the date rape drug into my drink. Thankfully, there were some guys out there to help me and keep Riccardo away from me. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done without them.”
“Oh my God!” Tia gasped. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Yas! And I’m sorry for not being there for you either. I can’t begin to imagine how that must have felt.”
“I’m just glad it’s over,” I whispered into the phone, this being the first time that I had actually addressed my feelings and thoughts regarding what Riccardo had done to me – or rather, attempted to do to me – after the incident. When my eyes began to sting with tears, I was quick to blink them away.
Thankfully, Tia didn’t ask about the guy that I had slept with at work – twice now – and who hadn’t texted me back even though he had said he would drop by to see me the next day – and I guess he did…except, he was five days late – and for that, I was immensely grateful.
While those two days leading up to Monday had been immensely overwhelming already, that night had been the last little push I needed to fall over the edge.
Having to speak about it now would have just brought up the recent memories. Memories and feelings that I wasn’t ready to deal with right now.
Tia and I spoke for another half hour before Nala called me and it turned into an hour long, three-way phone call. We talked about absolutely nothing and everything at the same time, and it was just the session that I needed to get my mind off things.
It was nearly midnight by the time we hung up, so I turned off the TV and retreated to my bedroom. Even though I had been calling in sick at work these past two days, I didn’t have a shift tomorrow. In fact, the only thing I had going on were two classes in the afternoon, so the plan was to sleep in tomorrow morning before finding out which one of my friends were free so I could get a spot of lunch with them.
I had some making up to do for going AWOL like that.
My arms were stretched above my head as I yawned widely, all but dragging my feet as I approached my bed. My eyelids were starting to feel heavy, but I wasn’t nowhere near tired enough to miss the crumpled-up piece of paper on my bed.
Had that been there before? I hadn’t noticed it either before or after my shower, but I hadn’t paid much particular attention either.
My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion as I reached for the ball of paper. When I unfolded it, my eyes fell upon the number thirteen.
What was going on here? Had this fallen out of one of my textbooks? Had that particular class been that boring that I had started to write numbers in big font and then scrunch up the pieces of paper? Either way, I was way too tired to think about this so after a quick disposal of it in my bedroom trash can, I pulled back the sheets and slipped into bed.
My eyelids drooped with sleep, and I released a sated sigh as I snuggled into my bed.
As much as I loved my parents’ house and it was always such a pleasure to go back and spend some quality time with them, this apartment had been my home for the past three years and it felt good to be back.
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Layla Knight
30.01.2022
