For a while, Zane stood in front of Maya's door, his heart was heavy. He wanted to knock and say something, but he was unable to find the right words. He sighed for a while and then turned away.
After a while..
He entered into a luxurious place with smooth marble walls and a big soaking tub built into the floor in the Japanese style. The tub was filled with hot water that had a mild, soothing sandalwood aroma.
The water rose to Zane's shoulders as he got into the tub. He leaned his head back against the edge and closed his eyes for a time, but his mind would not allow him to rest. Like a tidal wave, memories of the past came flooding in.
She was around 12 years old, When I first saw her. She was standing in his father's grand hall, a timid girl with Messy hair and teary eyes, carrying her little luggage.
From the stairway, he gazed at her with interest, he was thirteen at the time. He had questioned his father, "Who is this?" In a sharp voice, his father announced, "She's staying with us now. Treat her with kindness."
He recalled how uncomfortable she had initially been, But as he and Darius played tag in the garden with her she became more at ease and her laughing could be heard throughout the hallways. They had spent hours together, viewing the stars, climbing trees, and sneaking into the kitchen for sweets.
She was simply Diana back then, his friend and partner in mischievous activities. She was not involved in the ruthless society they would inherit, nor was she a member of the gang. She was only a little girl with a hopeful heart and lovely eyes.
Zane opened his eyes and sighed, the memory fading. The icy weight of reality remained despite the water's warmth. "What has gone wrong?"
Then his memory of the moment when everything changed began to return. His father's death had started a competition between him and Darius over iron gang leadership.
As memories flooded back, Zane stared at the moving water. Diana was later his everything, and he had once thought she would always be by his side.
However, one morning she suddenly vanished. He was still troubled by the note she left behind: *"I can't stay with you any longer, Zean. This gang violence is not something I want to be part of. I want to live a peaceful life away from all of this. I am sorry for leaving you Zean."*
He was lost by her sudden departure. For weeks, he questioned everything—was this fight with Darius, this struggle for power, truly worth it? The love of his life was gone, and the brother he grew up with had turned into his greatest enemy.
If it hadn't been for Maya, he might have lost everything. At a time, when he lost motivation and the will to fight for gang leadership, his mother had introduced him to Maya.
Thanks to Maya's constant support, he had slowly regained his confidence. With her at his side, Zane changed the momentum, taking back the control of the Iron Gang from Darius and making it rise back to its peak again.
But now, sitting there, Zane's thoughts drifted back to Darius. His brother was dead—killed by his own hand. He stared at his palm, the weight of his actions sinking in.
His mother and aunt had only ever asked one thing of them: "Promise us you'll never fight each other to the death."
With a heavy sigh, Zane felt the weight of his guilt pressing on him. He had broken that promise, and no victory could erase that.
Zane sighed deeply, running a hand through his damp hair. The weight of everything—Darius's death, Diana's return, the boy who might be his son—pressed down on him like a suffocating blanket. He wasn't sure how he'd face his mother and aunt now. How could he explain what he'd done?
After what felt like an eternity, he rose from the tub, water falling down his muscular body. He wrapped a white towel around his waist and stepped out into the adjoining room, rubbing his face wearily with another towel.
He was shocked to see Diana seated on a chair. The Diana he remembered was not her. Her beauty had diminished into a more quiet elegance. Her face was free of makeup, and she was dressed simply, in a wrinkled blouse and a loose-fitting skirt. Her eyes bore the weight of a life full of hardships, and she appeared exhausted.
They were silent for a moment, both looking into each other's eyes. Zane stood there, his chest tightening as he took in the sight of her. This was not the confident, carefree woman he had fallen for. Time and hardships had shaped her into the woman she was now.
Diana looked at Zane, and said, "I understand that you're upset with me for going away, but I had no other option, Zane.. You and Darius were constantly fighting, dragging yourselves deeper into gang violence."
"When I found out I was pregnant, I felt hopeless about our child's future. You told me you don't want children and also who would look out for our child if you were hurt? I... I believed that the only option was to leave." As she talked, she started crying uncontrollably.
Hearing all this, Zane's eyes grew darker, he said, "Don't you feel even the slightest bit of shame for taking my son from me, Diana? I didn't say anything before because of the boy.? You think he was safer without his father? You should have known—he was safer here, with me, than out there, alone with you."
"And Darius... he's dead now. Do you understand? None of this would've happened if you hadn't left and gotten caught."