It was already past midnight but I couldn't get myself to sleep. I either had too much nap during the road trip or I wasn't used to sleeping in a hall full of strangers despite the separate beds. I should have been on a plane by now leaving all these behind. But if what Nick said was true, I might not be able to get on that plane anyway. And I might be dead by now.

I got up, skimming through the dimmed hall for Nick but was nowhere to be found. Thinking that he might be at the cafeteria, I carried along my clutch purse containing my wallet and my phone before leaving the hall.

The cafeteria was empty, except I spotted a couple of residents having a serious conversation by the corner of the hall. As I helped myself with a cup of tea from the self-serve island, I caught a glimpse of Nick puffing his fag outside, in front of the shelter.

Nick already changed into his favourite Real Madrid white sweater jacket, grey sweatpants and his Lanvin sneakers for the night. I quietly approached him, holding my cup of tea as he turned around and acknowledged my presence. I stared at him for a moment and sensed anxiety in his fatigue face.

"What's wrong? Too much nap along the way?" he asked.

"I guess so," I shrugged. "How about you? Why can't you?"

"I don't think I can," he responded. "I just need to make sure that we are safe."

"I thought you said here is safe," I pointed out.

"I hope so but knowing Dad and his connections in London, I can't be so sure that we are safe," he said, sucking his burned cigarette before exhaling the smoke. "I always feel that we're being followed."

"There's something you didn't tell me," I began my riddle. "And something that you didn't tell him which triggered all this. Apparently you went missing since the day you left me. I don't think this is coincident."

"There's nothing coincident about it. He knows I want out but he just can't accept it."

"Why can't he just get another Pholadi as his successor?" I suggested. "Your male cousins maybe?"

He laughed quietly but wasn't in mood to ridicule me for my dumb idea. "He wanted me, sister. No one else."

"But you're not doing a good job either," I said bluntly.

"That's why I am running away from him, making you my exit," he proclaimed.

My jaw dropped, his confession somehow made me flustered with anger. Never have I expected that Nick intended to use me for his own personal gain. All the while, I regarded him as my special, my one and only without realising that he had deceived me. It turned out that he was just as fake as Abs.

"So that's what I am to you, an exit?" I spoke, seeking for a response but he remained silent. "How dare you, Nick? I was feeling sorry for you. You made me miserable for the past couple of months thinking I was the selfish one but you too have been plotting games behind me, haven't you?"

Nick only responded with a shrug, suppressing his thoughts as though it could cause a massive destruction if he was to unleash it. "Maybe I have," he said unenthusiastically.

"Brilliant!" I circled around him in aggravation while containing the tea in my cup from spilling. "Assume all of your plans failed, what will become of you?"

"Dead," he answered.

"Then why didn't he just kill you straight?" I queried in dissatisfaction. "He's going to lose his family business with or without you. Why can't he just end it right away?"

At first Nick didn't answer. He looked down on the pavement, indulging his last puff from the cigarette before flicking it away. I immediately felt bad for probing him with such questions because the answers I sought would lie in Hussaini's mind. But then Nick slowly responded, "He knows that if you die, there is no exit for me."

"Sorry, I don't follow. What is that got to do with me?"

"If you die, I won't be able to find... love and purpose for me to live," he explained. "If you die, I'll be consumed with hatred. I'll grow heartless and hostile just like him. And by that time, I'll be ready. That's what he wants."

I looked at him speechless. I thought I was just a distraction to Nick's battling between his heart and his dad's wishes but I never thought I became an integral part of his decision that my life and death could depend on it. I looked at Nick, weary from sleep deprivation, tired of plotting war strategy in his head. Just like a python, he was facing the battle alone with no bodyguard by his side.