Hala got out. She wasn't wearing anything special. She pulled on an old jacket that had belonged to Samer and stepped out barefoot, almost. The cold air before dawn struck her face, but she felt nothing. She opened the car door from the passenger side and got in. Samer slowly raised his head. His eyes were red, he wore the same clothes, and the scent of sweat and anxiety clung to him. "You got out..." He didn't answer. She closed the door and looked ahead. "Before you say anything... just answer me one question. Who was in the old apartment the last night?" A long silence. Then he said in a hoarse voice: "Rana... and Karim." Hala closed her eyes again. "Together?" "Yes." She didn't scream. She didn't move. She only asked with a deadly calm: "Were they sleeping?" Samer swallowed hard. "They were... together. But not in the way you might first think. Rana was broken, and Karim... Karim was trying to calm her down. Then there was touching. Then there was more."
Hala opened her eyes and looked at him.
— What do you mean "more"?
Samer lowered his voice as if the place itself could hear:
— It means they were touching each other. Karim was holding her by the waist, and Rana let him. Then they retreated to the bedroom. I was outside the apartment. I heard the door slam shut… and I heard other sounds I could never forget.
Hala felt something stir in her chest—not just jealousy, but a mix of disgust and dirty curiosity all at once.
— And you knew?
— I found out later. Karim confessed to me afterward. He said Rana was falling apart and approached him in a way that left no room to doubt what she wanted.
He said he could have stopped… and he knew he should have stopped.
But he didn't stop.
He chose to continue.
And when they entered the bedroom, they crossed a line beyond which no excuse could ever be valid.
Hala let out a short, cold laugh.
“意思是，那个给我发‘你变得危险了’的卡里姆……前一晚是和鲁娜在一起睡觉的？”萨默点了点头。“然后他还会来找我，好像什么都没发生过一样？”“是的。”哈勒姆透过挡风玻璃向外望去，天空开始泛起灰蒙蒙的晨光。“好吧……现在把一切都告诉我。从头开始，别拐弯抹角。”萨默深吸一口气，开始讲述。他说鲁娜在一年半前重新回到了他的生活。她先是打电话，然后“偶然”与他见面，最后那间旧公寓成了每个周四固定的约会地点。起初只是言语、悔恨和回忆，接着变成了肢体接触，然后变本加厉。他说他缓慢地脱下她的衣服，仿佛害怕自己，而她则粗暴地对待他，仿佛要证明自己依然存在。他说那身体既炽热又熟悉，却又被禁止触碰。他说每次结束后，他都在公寓里洗澡，出门时还不停地咒骂自己。
随后，怀孕的消息传来了。接着，卡里姆也来了。卡里姆，他什么都知道，还答应替他和拉娜谈……结果却最终躺在了她的床上。萨米尔说，卡里姆后来向他承认，自己无法抗拒。拉娜先是哭泣，继而大笑，然后将他拉向自己。那一夜结束于那张旧床上，两人赤裸相对，喘息艰难，身体仍在快感与罪恶的交织中颤抖。 哈莱拉静静听着，没有打断。 萨米尔说完后，她轻声问道： “那我呢？我在这一切中又在哪里？” “你……是那个我会回去的妻子。每个星期四，我都试图忘记你，却总是失败。” 哈莱拉终于转向他。 “失败了？” 萨米尔看着她的嘴唇，又看向她的眼睛。 “是的，失败了。每次我回到家，看到你睡着，背对着我……我就觉得自己肮脏。而你，比我干净得多。”
Hala reached out and grabbed the collar of his shirt. She brought her face close to his until their breaths mingled.
—So when I sent you that picture of Karim… and you knew… were you watching us from afar?
Samer whispered:
—I knew you were talking to him. I didn't know you'd end up at the apartment.
—But you did.
—Yeah.
Hala didn't pull away. She stayed dangerously close. Her voice dropped, rough and low:
—When I entered Karim's apartment… he stood close to me. He brushed a strand of hair from my face. He whispered, "Tell me to stop, and I'll stop." But I didn't say anything.
Samer trembled.
Hala continued, her eyes locked on his:
—He didn't touch me that night. But his body was hot. And his scent… was different from yours. And I knew that if he had reached out just a little more, I would have let him.
Samer closed his eyes for a moment.
—Hala…
—Open your eyes.
He opened them.
—I need to know. When you were with Rana… were you thinking of me?
He fell silent.
Hala tightened her grip on his collar.
“回答我。”
“有时候。有时候我会闭上眼睛，幻想身下的人是你。但那张脸是她的，那个声音是她的，那个身体……也是她的。”
哈勒突然松开雅格特的手，退回到自己的座位上。
沉默再次降临，比从前更加沉重。
随后她说道：
“下车。”
“哈勒……”
“下车。我要回父母家。你去那套旧公寓。问问拉娜和卡里姆，他们从卧室出来后发生了什么。我想知道，当我在家等你时，他们是否在嘲笑我。”
萨米尔试图抓住她的手。
哈勒甩开了。
“别碰我。现在不行。”
她下了车。冷风再次扑面而来。她朝父母家的门走去，没有回头。
但在她进门之前，手机震动了一下。
一条来自卡里姆的消息。
“我知道你去找他了。我知道他跟你说了那晚的事。我也想告诉你。不是为了辩解。只是想告诉你，在鲁娜睡着之后发生了什么……以及为什么即使我的身体还残留着她的余温，我却无法停止想你。”
哈莱站在门口。
她读了两遍那条信息。
然后只回了一个字：
“说吧。”
她抬起头看向那辆车。
萨米尔仍坐在车内，注视着她。
她看了他一眼，又看了看那条信息，随后走进屋内，关上了门。
屋内，她背靠门坐在地上，打开了与卡里姆的聊天窗口。
他开始打字。
她开始阅读。
于是，这一夜，所有人都开始坦白……包括那些从未有人敢大声说出口的秘密。
Comments (0)