The next day, her family left, abandoning her to face her fate alone. She gathered what she could into her suitcase, while the rest of her belongings were placed in boxes outside the house, hoping a passerby or a person in need might find use for them. She remained in this state for a week without a phone, without money, and with barely any food left in the house.
On the final day, she sat on the doorstep, holding her solitary suitcase and her grandfather's photograph, paralyzed by uncertainty and with nowhere to go. She had no father to turn to, no siblings to remember her, and no husband to shelter her. Amidst this despair, "Jaguar" surfaced in her mind once again. She wondered in frustration: Why did he haunt her thoughts every time? As if he were some hero destined to save her.
"Wake up, Fati,"
She chided herself.
"You have neither a husband nor a lover now. The man you painted in your imagination as the perfect partner was the first to abandon you at the first sign of trouble. He left without looking back, without asking, without even believing you. Isn't this clear proof that you mean nothing to him?"
Despite the harsh reality, his image had been crossing her mind ever since her grandfather's death, lingering like a longawaited lover. She tried hard to banish him from her thoughts, but she realized that clearing him from her mind was impossible unless she first removed him from her heart and she did not know how to find the strength to do that.
As Fati sat on the pavement in front of her gate, she glanced at the last box she had left for charity. Many had been taken, but only this one remained. Her fingers toyed with the necklace given to her by her husband, Jaguar. With a decisive movement as if cutting the final thread connecting her to him she unclasped it and placed it inside the box. She returned to her seat, but her gaze remained fixed on the cardboard box, trying to convince herself that this was for the best.
Her reflections were interrupted by a familiar voice:
- There you are!
It was the mailman, approaching with his signature smile. She stood up to greet him,
- Uncle, how are you?
For the first time, she didn't ask if there was any mail for her. However, he pulled an envelope from his bag and waved it, saying,
- Someone has been waiting for their letter!
Her eyes widened in disbelief.
- Is it for me, Uncle?
He replied with an optimistic smile,
- Yes, it is for you. And this time, I have a good feeling about it. I hope so,
She whispered.
The mailman turned to leave, but his eyes fell upon the box in the path.
- Why is this here?
he asked. Fati replied,
- It is for charity, Uncle. If you need what is inside, please, take it.
He opened the box, glanced inside, and said,
- My daughter will surely love this and other poor kids in our neighbor
He picked up the box and left, while Fati remained where she was, staring at the letter in her hands, lost in a heavy silence.
Fati opened the letter with trembling hands; she feared that such happiness might be out of reach, yet deep down, she longed for even a glimmer of hope. From the intensity of her nervousness, tears blurred her vision, preventing her from making out any words.
Slowly, her vision cleared, and the words aligned before her eyes until the word Acceptance stood out like a beacon in the darkness of her life. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and reread the letter with eagerness; she had been awarded a full scholarship to study surgical medicine at the University of Berlin, covering travel, accommodation, books, and board. She could hardly believe her eyes, and tears streamed down even more heavily until she was sobbing. Then, she lifted her head toward the sky and whispered,
- Thank you.
She stood up and headed straight to the home of her friend, Mary, who welcomed her warmly and sheltered her during that difficult period. Fati stayed with them until she finished her travel arrangements. There, she met Mary's brother, Cailo, who was studying engineering in Munich, Germany, and was visiting his family. Cailo became her lifeline; he provided her with all the information she needed, accompanied her to the airport, and even traveled with her to take her to the university himself. He was incredibly kind and genuinely empathetic toward all she had endured.
Two weeks later, while "Jaguar" was at his mansion, he entered his grandfather's office to retrieve some necessary papers. The servant approached him, holding a tray with a mobile phone, and said,
- Sir, the lady left her phone here last time. I thought she might need it, especially since you haven't been to the mansion lately for me to hand it over to you.
Jaguar glanced at the phone for a moment, then looked away coldly and said sharply,
- Throw it away.
For a moment, he reasoned that she had surely bought herself a new phone by now. But suddenly, a thought struck him, and he retracted, saying,
- Give it to me; I will take it to her.
It wasn't just about the phone; it was a deep seated desire to see her again, even if she were the cause of his grandfather's illness. Jaguar had not stopped thinking about how cruelly he had treated her. In the depths of his soul, he began to realize that she was innocent of the feud between their families and that his harshness toward her had been unjustified.
Jaguar stood before the house, stunned. The place looked desolate, with a For Sale sign and a contact number hanging on the gate. Anxiety washed over him: where had they gone? What had become of them? His primary concern was his grandfather, who had fallen into a coma because of them, but he had never expected them to abandon the house so abruptly.
He circled the house and stepped into the courtyard, finding not a trace of life. He dialed the number on the sign, only to be met with shocking news: her grandfather had passed away, and the house was being sold by the heirs. Jaguar hoped to buy the property in the slim chance of finding a lead, but he discovered the deal had already closed. He stood there for a moment, absorbing the heavy silence, before reaching a final decision: he would have his secretary track her down, no matter the cost.
As Jaguar stood frozen before the house, struggling with his confusion, the mailman approached him and asked curiously,
- Do you know the owners of this house?
Jaguar turned to him, and in a moment of sudden honesty with himself, replied with an enigmatic tone:
- Yes, I know them. The girl who lived here... is my wife.
Jaguar was surprised by his own words; why did he say "my wife"? Had he ever truly treated her as one?
The mailman continued, unaware of the internal conflict raging within Jaguar:
- I am the local mailman. A while ago, the lady of the house gave me a box of clothes to distribute to the poor, but I found this inside.
He gestured toward a gold necklace with a small teddy bear charm and added,
- It looked far too valuable, so I decided to return it. Could you get it back to her?
Jaguar took the necklace, feeling its coldness in his palm as memories of her initial joy upon receiving the gift flooded his heart. He slowly tucked the necklace into his pocket, then pulled out a large sum of money and pressed it into the mailman's hand. The mailman walked away smiling gratefully:
- The lady is lucky to have someone as generous as you!
His words left Jaguar drowned in a heavy silence, realizing that while the necklace had returned to him, he had no leads to find its owner.
As Jaguar was about to leave, he saw a cardboard box near the trash. It was full of papers. He looked closely and was shocked; they were all pictures of him! He took the box to his car and began to look through it. It was Fati; she had carefully cut these pictures from magazines and newspapers.
He also found a diary. It had everything about him: his hobbies, his likes, and even his birthday. Jaguar felt bad because he realized he did not know her birthday or what she liked. He turned the pages and read about her love for him and her dreams for their wedding. On one page, she wrote in big letters: "The Wedding Kiss." She was waiting for that moment, but he destroyed everything. There was no hate or revenge in her diary, only love.
Then, his secretary, Dan, called him:
- Sir, we cannot find the lady. She is not at her parents' house, and no one knows where she is. She has completely disappeared.
At that moment, Jaguar realized he had lost the most expensive treasure he ever owned.